A 1-2 hour presentation.
In a typical company the primary concern is on productivity and the bottom line. But is results-driven work the same as peak performance in the workplace? If not, is there a measure or indicator that does optimize productivity, well-being, and quality of process and product--all at the same time, and no matter what the kind of work? In this presentation Dr. Steve Randall introduces such a measure that can motivate people to ever-higher levels of performance.
This presentation can help you learn:
- The ideal uses and effects of measures used to drive work progress
- The limited effects of conventional productivity measures
- The effectiveness of continually improving involvement as a means for driving optimal productivity, quality, and well-being of employees
- Three ways to define involvement to provide self-actualizing feedback during any job
Highlights and Key Points:
Jack Cunningham . . . asked us what kind of performance we thought tennis players would have if instead of keeping both eyes on the ball, they always had an eye on the scoreboard. . . . The harder athletes try to win, the less likely they are to find their zone. When people are in the zone, all of their attention is on what they're doing, not on what they're accomplishing. The results just seem to flow from this focus of energy and competence. Lots of companies seem to watch only their scoreboard--the bottom line. . . . That gets them out of the zone and invites long-term disaster. p. 49, Managing By Values, by Ken Blanchard
Ideally, a measure used to drive progress in an organization would simultaneously:
- Drive productivity.
- Improve employee well-being and health.
- Drive improvement of quality of product/service and work process.
- Improve the employees' work capacity.
- Allow continuous improvement of all the above.
- Be effective for any work process, product, or environment.
- Be effective for employees from any background or culture.
- Require less and less management support/attention.
Unlike other sources of motivation [physiological, safety/security, social, esteem needs], which extinguish themselves after the needs are fulfilled, self-actualization continues to motivate people to ever higher levels of performance. (pp. 163-4, Andrew Grove, High Output Management)
Optimizing results does not guarantee optimal employee well-being. Employees may produce a great deal during a work crunch, yet burn out in the process. Also, hurrying to get things done dulls our awareness of quality problems and allows us to easily ignore opportunities for personal change and increasing work capacity.
The key to masterful work is continually increasing our involvement. Involvement is the degree to which one is preoccupied, engrossed, "into it," "going with the flow," enwrapped, or absorbed in a work situation.
What's keeping you from being more involved? This inquiry brings awareness to limitations/opportunities.
Mastery results from increasing involvement.
"Awareness, concentration, and energy are refined through a precise process . . . . The more we use them, the more effective they become. . . . there is no limit to how much we can achieve." (p. 53, Tarthang Tulku, Mastering Successful Work)
Increasing involvement improves employee well-being and health. "If we reflect on our past experience, we realize that the times when we work at peak efficiency and with full concentration are also times when we feel joyful and fulfilled." (p. 26, MSW)
Increasing involvement drives improvement of quality. Disruptions in work flow--conflict, unnecessary complexity, confusion, or wasted energy or effort--draw attention to something that can be changed for the better. Defects in a product are discernible only by means of a decrease in our involvement when we are using or perceiving them.
Increasing involvement improves work capacity.
Increasing involvement is effective for any work process, product, or environment.
Fostering a measure of involvement would require less and less management support/attention.
A second way to define involvement is in terms of energy, concentration, and awareness or openness. A high degree of involvement implies: concentration, a melding or identification of worker and objects worked on; energy, or an effortless flow of events; an unrestricted sense of openness pervading the entire scenario.
Charts can be used to measure changes in involvement over time. You can estimate the percentage of involvement by comparing involvement in the current scenario with the full range of your involvement in past experiences, work and otherwise. One hundred percent involvement means that you were as absorbed in the current scenario as much as you had been in past experiences of greatest absorption in a situation.
A third way to define involvement is in terms of 12 dimensions shown on the Optimal Work circle, which is based on research and writings on peak performance, peak and flow experiences, meditation, productivity and quality studies.
Summary: If a company were to encourage employees to focus on increasing their involvement at work--along all three, or all twelve dimensions--there would be a self-actualizing and precise means for continuously improving quality of product and process, health and well-being, and employee productivity and work capacity, all at the same time, and no matter what the kind of work.
See What Guarantees Optimal Productivity and Well-Being? for an article related to this presentation.
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