The positive effect of lots of small wins…

There are some people who provide such consistently rewarding content that I read every word they write.

Dan Pink, the author of DRIVE, is one of those people, and you can subscribe to his blog HERE.

Almost a year ago, Dan had a fascinating interview with the authors of the book, The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins To Ignite Joy, Engagement and Creativity at Work.

If you have a summer reading list, put this one on it. I wish I had read it last year when I first learned about it, but better late than never.

Here’s a sample of the insights you’ll find:

Dan: “…many bosses believe the best way to ensure top performance is to keep their charges on edge — hungry and a little stressed-out. But you found something different…”

(Author) Teresa Amabile: “If people are on edge because they are challenged by a difficult, important problem, that’s fine — as long as they have what they need to solve that problem. But it’s a dangerous fallacy to say that people perform better when they’re stressed, over-extended or unhappy. We found just the opposite.”

“People are more likely to come up with a creative idea or solve a tricky problem on a day when they are in a better mood than usual. In fact, they are more likely to be creative the next day too, regardless of that next day’s mood. There’s a kind of ‘creativity carry-over’ effect from feeling good at work.”

Consider how it feels inside most radio stations — inside your radio station — today.

Now, what can you change to make small wins, engagement, and creativity more, rather than less, likely?