Are you seeking ‘new thinking’ and 'openness to possibility’ on your team?
We used academic research to find proven solutions.
Introduce a third-party to expand openness to new ideas.
Researchers found expanding group membership to include an outsider led the group to generate 30% more and better ideas, and improved creative output of the most tenured team members most significantly. This process also keeps intra-team rivals from negating each others’ ideas.
Whatever you do,
DON’T hire ‘speakers’.
Inspiration has proven impact on creativity and productivity. But ‘inspiration’ must be an active process. According to research, lasting inspiration requires both being inspired and stating intention to action. Only active engagement with ‘speakers’ leads to lasting inspiration.
Use select specific forms of
story-telling to inspire people.
Meetings can ‘inform’, ‘direct’, ‘entertain’ or ‘inspire’. To ‘inspire’ – and thereby motivate others to improve performance – research suggests two things. First, tell stories that relate to your team – human-scale, concrete, and relevant. Second, tell stories that show likability, warmth, reliability, and empathy.
Practice the ‘ABCD’
of workplace motivation.
Researchers found four dimensions to motivating employees. Acquire: Let them have special interactions; Bond: Facilitate their forming connection with peers; Comprehend: Help them satisfy curiosity and master the world around them; Defend: Protect against threats, promote justice.
