SynopsisWhat motivates employees? As a manager you need to work every day what makes them stay-and what drives them to perform at their best. According to Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer the best leaders are able to build a cadre of employees who have satisfying inner work lives: consistently positive emotions; and favorable perceptions of the organization their work and their colleagues. To do this you must create forward momentum in meaningful work-and steer clear of the obstacles that undermine inner work life. Through rigorous analysis of nearly 12000 diary entries provided by hundreds of employees in several different organizations Amabile and Kramer explain how you can foster progress and enhance your people''s inner work life every day-in the process boosting long-term creative productivity. The book shows how you can remove common barriers to progress such as meaningless tasks and toxic relationships and emphasizes how these factors can disrupt employees'' inner work lives. The Progress Principle also explains how you activate two forces that enable progress:"catalysts"-events that directly facilitate project work such as clear goals and autonomy; and "nourishers"-interpersonal events that uplift workers including encouragement and demonstrations of respect and collegiality.About AuthorAll good managers understand the importance of making sure that every member of a team feels personally motivated and necessary throughout the workday lest their work should stagnate and suffer. But what''s the key to igniting creativity joy trust and productivity among your employees? According to recent research the single most important factor is simply a sense of making progress on meaningful work. But creating an environment that fosters progress takes some careful effort.In their new book The Progress Principle Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy Engagement and Creativity at Work authors Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer discuss how even seemingly humdrum events can make huge differences in employees'' emotional and intellectual well-being."There''s no reason no matter how resource-constrained an organization is why managers can''t help employees see the meaning in their work" says Amabile a professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School. (Kramer a developmental psychologist is her husband.To prepare for the book Amabile and Kramer collected confidential personal stories from 238 white-collar employees at seven companies in a variety of industries. Each worker kept a daily diary during the course of a project answering open-ended questions such as Briefly describe one event from today that stands out in your mind.Each diary lasted the length of the project—sometimes as long as nine months. The researchers then analyzed the data totaling some 12000 daily diaries looking for commonalities that influenced "inner work life" which the book defines as the confluence of perceptions emotions and motivations that individuals experience as they react to and make sense of the events of their workday. Tangible incentives—salaries and bonuses—barely registered in the diaries. But the subject of progress or lack thereof loomed large. More importantly diary entries that reported work progress often showed an inner work life surge which in turn increased the likelihood of creative productivity.We found that of all the events that characterized the best inner work life days by far the most prominent was making progress Amabile says. "And of all the events that characterized the worst days by far the most prominent was setbacks—feeling like you''ve lost ground on a project. As a pair progress and setbacks are the main differentiators of the best and worst days..br>About NarratorAll good managers understand the importance of making sure that every member of a team feels personally motivated and necessary throughout the workday lest their work should stagnate and suffer. But what''s the key to igniting creativity joy trust and productivity among your employees? According to recent research the single most important factor is simply a sense of making progress on meaningful work. But creating an environment that fosters progress takes some careful effort.