Recently, the term “work engagement” has become popular. It refers to a positive and fulfilling psychological state toward work. Work engagement encompasses enthusiasm, dedication, and high energy. Employees with high levels of work engagement enjoy their work. While performing assigned tasks, they tackle several challenges. Ideas to solve these challenges are generated from a combination of various pieces of information. These ideas only emerge through constant thinking. Observing people who consistently generate ideas reveals a wide variety of characteristics. For example, it has been found that people who regularly take walks are more likely to consistently generate ideas. This phenomenon only occurs when they first input information into their brains to solve the problem before going for a walk. People who can do this in a fun and enjoyable psychological state are highly sought after.
Talents who can mass-produce ideas, flashes of inspiration, and creativity are increasingly valued. These are necessary and important for every person, every company, and every family life. Ideas are born from a combination of experience and motivation. The knowledge and experiences we gain throughout our lives are stored in the temporal lobe of our brain. Various experiences are stored and accumulated in the temporal lobe. Meanwhile, drive, a sense of purpose, and motivation are generated in the frontal lobe of the brain. The drive and values generated in the frontal lobe draw out the knowledge and experience stored in the temporal lobe. Ideas can be likened to the product of the drive of the frontal lobe and the experience of the temporal lobe. Highly productive workplaces appear to create an environment that encourages employees to come up with ideas and enhances their motivation.
What kind of environment encourages employees to generate ideas and enhances their motivation? Companies around the world are struggling to find ways to generate ideas and creativity and increase productivity. Many companies are setting up teams to improve productivity. However, there are cases that teams assembled with talented people do not achieve the results expected. Google analyzed nearly 200 teams to determine which teams produced results and which did not. The results of the study were intriguing. It appears that the excellence of the team members and their type of talent do not matter much. The results showed that diverse ideas and creativity were only possible when psychological safety was established within the team. It has become clear that good interpersonal relationships in the workplace continuously increase productivity.
