What makes you happy?
Whatever it is it is personal and unique to you. Yet according to my friend Alex Kjerulf, The Chief Happiness Officer at Woohoo Inc., happiness stems from 2 things – results and relationships. And, if you take it to the essence you cannot argue against that. It is the things that you do and the people that you do them with, and for, that make you happy.
I was reminded of this when I received notice of his latest blog, which included a recording of him being interviewed by David Zinger, founder and host of The Employee Engagement Network, and I listened to the two of them discussing the relationship between happiness at work and employee engagement. I thoroughly recommend that you invest the time (22 minutes) to listen to this (or read the transcript.) It has some ‘real gold’ nuggets.
I found it a wonderful reminder of why I formed Zealise to begin with. You see the principle for me is the conviction that “nobody wants to do a bad job!” Of course that is simply a different way of saying performance is just as important to the individual as it is to their manager. In fact, in light of Alex's insight, it may be even more important! Either way, a key goal for me was enabling people to feel more fulfilled in their work, and I set out to find a way to achieve this.
I did this with my model of employee ownership. This, however, actually addresses the second cause of happiness. That is because, by creating a sense of belonging, it does more than anything to create a binding relationship between employee and organisation. Using David’s simple definition of engagement as “connection”, ownership creates – or at least facilitates – this in a way that nothing else can. It makes work more of a relationship in itself, rather than an obligation.
Yet by breaking down the ‘you versus me’ barrier of industrial relations that has historically eroded organisational performance, ownership also inspires improved personal performance as the individual does more to maximise their contribution. It means you are now working more directly for yourself and hence, by extension, for those you love. All this embeds better performance and so addresses the results aspect as well, helping make people happier. It simultaneously makes work a (more) vital part of life. This engenders greater work-life integrity, enhancing that effect and providing a more effective solution to the work-life balance conundrum that is currently pre-occupying the HR profession.
What do you think? Do you want to join Alex, David and me and help make the workplace a happier, more engaged and more productive place?
Happiness comes to them who opens their door for small treats that life provides to them. So be happy and live longer!