Interview: Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer Business Executive | February 2012 | PAGE 17
doing work that they find meaningless will not benefit fully from the sense of accomplishment that can accompany meaningful work.
BEX: What is “meaningful work,” and why is it important for the progress principle? TA/SK: Meaningful work is any job or task that contributes to something that the employee values. But work doesn’t need lofty goals in order to have meaning. As long as the person doing the work believes that it’s contributing to something important, then any progress in that work is likely to boost inner work life. But when people don’t understand or respect the work they’re doing, even “getting a lot done” is unlikely to make them feel very good. BEX: You’ve focused on progress as the key motivator in the workplace. What about setbacks? TA/SK: Unfortunately, there is a dark side to the progress principle; setbacks are an important detractor. When people feel that they are stalled in their work, or actually moving backward, all three aspects of inner work life are affected. The negative impact of setbacks is stronger than the positive impact of progress.
BEX: Besides progress, does it take anything else to be happy and motivated at work? TA/SK: Progress is the most important event supporting inner work life, but it’s not the only thing that matters. We discovered two other key types of work events, which we call “catalysts” and “nourishers”. Catalysts are events that directly support work progress.
They include: providing clear goals and sufficient resources, allowing autonomy in the work, and offering needed help. Catalysts support inner work life indirectly, by increasing the probability that people will succeed. The opposite of catalysts are inhibitors. They block progress, and include giving unclear or conflicting goals, and providing insufficient resources. Catalysts can also have a direct effect on inner work life because, by providing support, people feel that they and their work are valued by the organisation. As a result, they feel that their work has greater meaning and that they play an important role. Nourishers are the everyday human connections that
everyone wants. Nourishers directly enhance inner work life. They include: encouragement, emotional support, respect, recognition, and camaraderie. Their opposites are toxins, which include disrespect, dismissiveness, and interpersonal conflict.
BEX: Were there any findings that surprised you and would surprise management and employees? TA/SK: The biggest surprise was that progress is the number one driver of inner work life. That’s news to managers, as well! The progress principle can seem a bit obvious but few people realise that progress is so important; we suspected that recognition and other kinds of human interaction would be more important. The impact on performance also seemed to be a big
The common wisdom is that people must suffer to be creative. But we found that people are most creative and productive when they are happy
surprise for managers. In particular, many managers don’t realise how much creative productivity depends on inner motivation – the drive that comes from enjoyment, satisfaction and personal challenge in the work itself. There were three other surprises. First:
the power of small events, such as “small wins” – seemingly minor steps forward. Small wins, small losses, and many other minor events, both positive and negative, can have a significant influence on inner work life. Managers need to understand that, although the things they say and do often seem minor, they can have a powerful effect on the inner work lives and performance of subordinates.
Second, the power of negative events was also surprising.
Setbacks have a negative effect on inner work life that is stronger than the positive effect of progress. Managers probably have no idea, either. They need to try a lot harder to eliminate the inhibitors and other hassles that can lead to setbacks in the work and thus dampen inner work life. Finally, the importance of inner work life came as a surprise.
Our research revealed how important people’s work was to them personally. Most were not merely working for their salary. They cared deeply about their work, their colleagues, and the organisations of which they were part. Surprising too, was how much inner work life varied from one day to the next, within the same person, triggered by events at work.
BEX: How did you become interested in this area of study? TA/SK: We are both psychologists, and the psychology of everyday work life is fascinating to us. We knew that motivation was an important determinant of creativity, but not how other psychological states could impact creativity. We had found that you could affect motivation and creativity by manipulating and constraining people’s freedom in doing a task. We were particularly interested in how these dynamics would play out in real work settings and what the ultimate effects on performance would be.
BEX: What’s next for you? TA/SK: Like most discoveries, the progress principle raises more questions than it answers. We are now trying to learn how people can best harness the progress principle to enhance their own inner work lives. If people can pay attention to and celebrate the small everyday wins they achieve, they can improve their lives and their work tremendously. We are also very interested in researching inner work life
in other settings. For instance, how it operates in people who primarily work alone (like artists or independent consultants), or for people who telecommute or otherwise work with other people only virtually. We hope you will hear more about this aspect of our work in the future.
BEX: Thank you for your time, learning about your ideas has been fascinating.
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