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Out of the Box Club
Happiness At WorkWhat makes us happy at work? What makes us unhappy? And what we should be doing about it? Here are the views of a group of 28 people- members of Performa’s Out of the Box Club. Participants were also asked to identify who was responsible for each factor of happiness/unhappiness: - Self (S) What makes us happy at work?- Teamwork, Communication, Belonging – S,E,O What makes us unhappy at work?- Negative people, Bad managers – E A clear outcome is the high value attributed to the social aspects of work: Teamwork, Relating to others, Communication and a sense of Belonging are the most important source of happiness. Bad people (especially Bad Boss) are the strongest sources of unhappiness. Surprise? (Really now!) Challenge, Accomplishment and Personal Development come second on the happiness list with Recognition and Appreciation a close third. In the causes of unhappiness Discrimination and Injustice are second most important and factors related to work content- Procedures, Delays and Routine - come third. Creativity, Freedom and Fun are also cited by all as very important happiness factors and, to a lesser degree, the physical work Environment. After the theoretical work of Maslow and Herzberg, no big surprises on the money issue: Reward and Salary is mentioned only once as a happiness factor. And yes, people dislike Conflict, low Trust settings, Stagnation and weasel management (Unclear Objectives). Who is responsible - the individual, the employer or others (society, regulatory context etc)? Quite clearly, individuals do have responsibility in shaping their work. They also have the option of changing jobs and taking personal risks although, perhaps surprisingly, security was not considered a factor relating to happiness at work by this group. Interestingly people are willing to take joint responsibility with employers for the positives, but less so for the negatives (presumably managers present in the group did not consider themselves as bad bosses or responsible for bad management!) However employers are very different, even within the same activity and, satisfaction/enjoyment levels can be widely different from one company to the next. Here are some ideas put forward by the group on what employers might do. What should employers be doing about happiness/unhappiness at work?1.Invest seriously in creativity: This greatly increases people’s involvement and generates a lot of positive energy for employers’ benefit. This could take many forms: Performa days- creative workshops, brainstorming, fun sessions, away days, staff creative suggestion schemes etc 2.Break down or modify, traditional hierarchical structures in occasional role reversals among managers and employees. Understand role of others in company/organization appreciate their roles. How about having job-swapping days? 3.Bosses must continuously work on developing and improving themselves. They will then be more open to change themselves and will place a higher value on staff development. 4.Help people manage the professional/personal balance. Google on a small scale- companies to ease hassles away from employees’ working day- eg afternoon kiddiecare, parking spaces, gyms etc- if company is too small they should pool resources with other small companies that are close in location. 5.At departmental or company meetings invite an ‘Outside’ person from other departments or companies, enabling a broader exchange of views. 6.Connect. Listen to employees. Trust, Respect, Appreciate. Don’t blame. Promote Humour. 7.Create loving, warm, safe, environment and offer sensual experiences at work: Carnival, Yoga, Sex, Sports, Amazon, Shock, Sushi, Souvles, all have their place 8.Set-up proper HR departments to do the above (and ensure all management is REALLY involved) 9.Profit sharing by all. How about making this a norm? A call for new working norms? How ready are employers to adopt new, cooler stuff? Score each of these 12 dimensions one at a time. YOUR STAR a. Score 0 to 10 on the level of enjoyment you seek from your professional activity. Link these points to make your IDEAL STAR. b. Do the same (with a different colour) to evaluate the degree of enjoyment you are actually experiencing in your work today. c. Examine the differences closely and take corrective decisions as you judge best for yourself. Find creative ways of applying them. Source: Hubert Jaoui (1990) La Créativité Mode d’emploi
"At the end of our workshop with Performa, not only did we emerge with new creative problem-solving skills, we emerged as a better, more dynamic, more cohesive team"
Kate Thompson, "Creativity enables people to think the unthinkable, do the undoable."
John Hayes & Patricia Hough |