Achieving Workplace Excellence: The Key to Enhancing Performance.

Reflecting on my decades of experience as a leader, manager, and member of organisations focused on achieving exceptional results, I now look forward to my new role in leading the transformation of already successful companies. It has become clear to me that an excellent workplace is essential for fostering growth. Top-tier organizations, celebrated in both the public and private sectors, consistently rank as the best places to work. How can other companies aspire to this ideal blend of business success and employee satisfaction? My experience reveals that the answer goes beyond perks like feel-good-facilities. The real secret lies in fostering a great inner work life—creating conditions that nurture positive emotions, strong motivation, and favourable perceptions of colleagues and the work itself.

When employees are deeply engaged, feel happy, and hold positive views of their co-workers, managers, and organisation, they become more creative and productive. This state of inner work life mirrors the overall health of the company. Consistently positive inner work lives lead to greater commitment and effective collaboration among colleagues. In essence, inner work life profoundly impacts organizational performance. Here, I explore the dynamics of work life and outline three key forces that optimise it.

As leaders, maintaining the 'progress loop' by facilitating progress and removing obstacles is imperative.

The Dynamics of Inner Work Life

Inner work life is the continuous flow of emotions, perceptions, and motivations that individuals experience as they interpret events throughout their workday. This internal experience is often unnoticed by others and sometimes even by the individuals themselves due to unwritten organizational norms against displaying strong emotions or dissenting opinions. Let's examine each element of inner work life:

• Emotions

Emotions encompass both specific reactions and general moods, ranging from joy and disappointment to pride and frustration. These emotions vary in pleasantness and intensity, influencing individuals' experiences and reactions differently.

• Perceptions

Perceptions involve immediate impressions and developed theories about what is happening and its implications. As noteworthy events occur at work, individuals engage in sensemaking to understand them, often unconsciously generating questions and forming perceptions.

• Motivations

Motivation is the drive behind task engagement, effort exertion, and persistence. It includes extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, and relational or altruistic motivation, each shaping individuals' behaviours and attitudes.

• The New Rules of Leadership

Managing inner work life requires a new leadership approach. Conventional management practices—recruiting talent, providing incentives, and reviewing performance—are important but insufficient. These practices assume that performance depends solely on inherent traits, overlooking the significant influence of the work environment and the leader's role in shaping it.

Three powerful forces support a positive inner work life:

1. Making Progress in Meaningful Work

The most critical factor in boosting emotions and intrinsic motivation is making progress in meaningful work. This 'progress principle' profoundly impacts inner work life, yet managers often overlook it in Favor of recognition, incentives, and clear goals.

2. Receiving Catalysts

Catalysts are factors that facilitate the timely and high-quality completion of work, such as clear goals, autonomy, access to resources, and adequate time. These catalysts significantly enhance perceptions, emotions, and motivation.

3. Benefitting from Nourishers

Nourishers are human connections at work, including respect, encouragement, emotional support, and affiliation. These elements foster positive emotions, motivation, and collaboration, crucial for maintaining a healthy inner work life.

Whether you're a formal leader or a colleague, you influence the inner work lives of those around you. Your actions can create catalysts and nourishers while reducing inhibitors and toxins, enhancing both organizational performance and employee well-being. By considering the impact of your actions on others' inner work lives, you contribute to a positive work environment and enable consistent progress for everyone involved. Ultimately, the everyday actions of individuals determine the direction of influence on inner work life and organizational success.