What do you think about when you hear the word novelty? Something that is useful perhaps, but not essential to a great experience at work? Well, we might have been missing a trick to not focus more on our brain’s need for novelty and how much it can invigorate us.
But first, let us tell you a little bit about how we approach our work at People Lab. When we think about what makes people happy and engaged at work, we always return to evidence-based theories and models to underpin the work we do for organisations.
Self-determination theory is one of the critical theories that underpins much of our work, and it centres around what motivates us as human beings. The three dimensions of self-determination theory from a work perspective are:
- Autonomy: relates to our need to have a sense of freedom over our life at work
- Competence: relates to our perception of ourselves as being able to do challenging things at work and constantly strive to learn and develop
- Relatedness: relates to having meaningful connections with other people at work, feeling like we belong and feeling supported at work
These factors of Self-determination theory (SDT) feature in our MAGIC-CA model for EX although we use the word ‘connection’ rather than relatedness and competence is captured as part of ‘growth’ and ‘challenge’. The MAGIC-CA model was developed using qualitative insights gathered from hundreds of employees about what makes a brilliant experience at work, so the language we have used reflects the stories we heard and data we gathered. But make no mistake, SDT came through the insights gathered loud and clear.
Todd Kashdan has recently made the case for a 4th dimension of SDT, namely novelty. He talks about novelty in his recent blog post ‘How to Design a Psychologically Ideal Life: The Case for Novelty’. Novelty is without a doubt something that features strongly when people share their Best EX stories with us. Whether it is a new job, a new organisation, a new project, a new challenge or working with a new team, our best experiences often involve an element of novelty.
So what is it about novelty then?
Novelty is an important ingredient in making us happy according to researchers and can prevent a feeling of inertia where everything feels stagnant. This can cause us to become inactive and apathetic.
New, pleasurable sensations and activities was rated as fifth on the list when people rated their “single most personally satisfying event” according to research by Sheldon et al. (2001).
And of course when things are novel they challenge us and help us to grow, which are key to great experiences.
So what could novelty look like in a work environment?
It can be simple practical things like changing the way you get to work, where you sit, what you have for lunch, taking a walk on your lunch break or speaking to a colleague you have never spoken to before. Thinking bigger, it might involve new projects or tasks at work that you have less experience in, being part of the new and unfamiliar. Perhaps it’s taking a new course or learning something new from a colleague? Sometimes it can be getting through a new, unfamiliar problematic situation at work and learning, growing and developing from the experience.
What this teaches us is to not be afraid of new things when they come our way, but instead be curious and explore it. Perhaps it is also easier to be thankful for the challenges that come our way, if we know that they provide opportunities to make us more motivated and engaged at work long-term.
What has been a recent novel experience you have encountered at work? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic!
@Elin
