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The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work

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What really sets the best managers above the rest? It’s their power to build a cadre of employees who have great inner work lives—consistently positive emotions; strong motivation; and favorable perceptions of the organization, their work, and theirMoreWhat really sets the best managers above the rest? It’s their power to build a cadre of employees who have great inner work lives—consistently positive emotions; strong motivation; and favorable perceptions of the organization, their work, and their colleagues. The worst managers undermine inner work life, often unwittingly.

As Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer explain in The Progress Principle, seemingly mundane workday events can make or break employees’ inner work lives. But it’s forward momentum in meaningful work—progress—that creates the best inner work lives. Through rigorous analysis of nearly 12,000 diary entries provided by 238 employees in 7 companies, the authors explain how managers can foster progress and enhance inner work life every day.

The book shows how to remove obstacles to progress, including meaningless tasks and toxic relationships. It also explains how to activate two forces that enable progress: (1) catalysts—events that directly facilitate project work, such as clear goals and autonomy—and (2) nourishers—interpersonal events that uplift workers, including encouragement and demonstrations of respect and collegiality.

Brimming with honest examples from the companies studied, The Progress Principle equips aspiring and seasoned leaders alike with the insights they need to maximize their people’s performance. Less

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Community Reviews

rated it it was ok
over 5 years ago

I've decided to stop reading this book halfway through.
The reason is that the book contains a small amount of simplistic advice, almost no practical methods for implementing this advice, and a large body of narrated stories of people who the writers researched. The narra... Read full review

rated it it was ok
7 months ago

Shelves: non-fiction
Teresa Amabile e Steven Kramer, ambos professores de psicologia, realizaram um estudo com 238 empregados em 7 empresas, a quem pediram para todos os dias preencherem um diário das suas atividades, tendo tudo resultado em mais de 12 000 entradas que foram depois analisadas... Read full review

rated it it was ok
over 3 years ago

One of the main points of the book is a by-the-way in chapter 8 that isn't even mentioned in the chapter title. What doofs! So here's the deal: work nourishers, catalysts and a sense of progress matter. If you are manager, don't leave those things to chance. Instead, make... Read full review

rated it really liked it
over 3 years ago

Shelves: non-fiction
Was prompted to read this book by review by Seth Godin. Primary concepts are pretty much a no brainers once they are explained. I recommend it because it brings light to the common sense we know, but need reminded that we do know. Plus the idea that creativity has many fa... Read full review

rated it it was amazing
almost 5 years ago

This is a great book for leading other people. It helps those leading others to see what really matters to others. It helps focus our efforts at inspiring and motivating others and to help those we lead make progress along the way to meaningful work and a healthy inner li... Read full review

rated it liked it
over 5 years ago

Not bad. It's research, so it takes a while before we get to any practical bits. Once we did get into the meat of it though, there were lots of insights into how managers can cultivate productive work in their teams. I wish I had read this five years ago.

rated it liked it
over 2 years ago

Shelves: business
Good book though I felt it was a bit redundant and long winded.

READING NOTES

CHAPTER 01
Inner work life has to do with how an employee feels about working somewhere and which direction you are shifting theor feelings toward their goal. Do you make them feel good about being... Read full review

rated it it was amazing
over 5 years ago

Shelves: productivity , agile
An enjoyable reading addressing how positive and negative work environments arise and how they affect people's creative problem solving.

This book is based on a study conducted in a set of 7 companies in 3 different industries in which knowledge workers and professionals w... Read full review

rated it it was amazing
over 4 years ago
Recommends it for: Managers and project team members.
Recommended to Scott by: Custom internet search

This book is a psychological look at the human side of management. Rather than measuring employees and productivity with simple numbers or behavioral psychology, the authors conducted a survey of employees at work to judge cognition, perception, and emotion. The employees... Read full review

rated it it was amazing
almost 3 years ago

"The Progress Principle" states simply that progress in meaningful work is the single greatest factor when it comes to creating high functioning teams and work environments. Progress in meaningful work serves as trigger for positive perceptions, emotions, and motivations.... Read full review

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Book Details

Hardcover, 272 pages
Published July 19th 2011 by Harvard Business Review Press
ISBN
142219857X (ISBN13: 9781422198575)
Edition Language
English

Genres

Quotes

If management generally overrides people’s decisions, they quickly lose motivation to make any decision, which severely inhibits progress.
key to leveraging the progress principle: giving people meaningful work.
Our research inside companies revealed that the best way to motivate people, day in and day out, is by facilitating progress—even small wins. But the managers in our survey ranked “supporting progress” dead last as a work motivator.3