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MOTIVATING PEOPLE
Being Happy at Work Mattersby Annie McKee
NOVEMBER 14, 2014
People used to believe that you didnt have to be happy at work
to succeed. And you didnt
need to like the people you work with, or even share their
values. Work is not personal,
the thinking went. This is bunk.
My research with dozens of companies and hundreds of people as
well as the research
conducted by the likes of neuroscientists Richard Davidson and
V.S. Ramachandran and
scholars such as Shawn Achor increasingly points to a simple
fact: Happy people are
better workers. Those who are engaged with their jobs and
colleagues work harder and
smarter.
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YOU AND YOUR TEAM
Engaging Employees
Best practices for keeping your team focusedand motivated.
And yet, there is an alarmingly high number of people who arent
engaged. According to a
sobering 2013 Gallup report, only 30% of the U.S. workforce is
engaged. This echoes what
Ive seen in my work. Not very many people are truly emotionally
and intellectually
committed to their organizations. Far too many couldnt care less
about whats happening
around them. For them, Wednesday is hump day and theyre just
working to get to
Friday. And then theres the other end of the bell curve the
nearly one out of five
employees is actively disengaged, according to the same Gallup
report. These people are
sabotaging projects, backstabbing colleagues, and generally
wreaking havoc in their
workplaces.
The Gallup report also noted that employee engagement has
remained largely constant
over the years despite economic ups and downs. Scary: were not
engaged with work and
we havent been for a long time.
Disengaged, unhappy people arent any fun to work with, dont add
much value, and
impact our organizations (and our economy) in profoundly
negative ways. Its even worse
when leaders are disengaged because they infect others with
their attitude. Their emotions
and mindset impact others moods and performance tremendously.
After all, how we feel
is linked to what and how we think. In other words, thought
influences emotion, and
emotion influences thinking.
Its time to finally blow up the myth that feelings dont matter
at work. Science is on our
side: there are clear neurological links between feelings,
thoughts, and actions. When we
are in the grip of strong negative emotions, its like having
blinders on. We focus mostly
sometimes only on the source of the pain. We dont process
information as well, think
creatively, or make good decisions. Frustration, anger, and
stress cause an important part
of us to shut down the thinking, engaged part. Disengagement is
a natural neurological
and psychological response to pervasive negative emotions.
But its not just negative emotions we need
to watch out for. Extremely strong positive
emotions have the same effect. Some studies
shows that too much happiness can make
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you less creative and prone to engage in
riskier behaviors (think about how we act like
fools when we fall in love!). On the work front: Ive seen groups
of people worked up into a
frenzy at sales conferences and corporate pep rallies. Little
learning or innovation comes
out of these meetings. Throw in a lot of alcohol and youve got a
whole host of other
problems.
If we can agree that our emotional states at work matter, what
do we do to increase
engagement and improve performance?
Over the past few years, my team at the Teleos Leadership
Institute and I have studied
dozens of organizations and interviewed thousands of people. The
early findings about the
links between peoples feelings and engagement are fascinating.
There are clear similarities
in what people say they want and need, no matter where they are
from, whom they work
for, or what they do. We often assume that there are huge
differences across industries and
around the world but the research challenges that
assumption.
To be fully engaged and happy, virtually everyone tells us they
want three things:
1. A meaningful vision of the future: When people talked with
our research team aboutwhat was working or not in their
organizations, and what helped or hindered them themost, they
talked about vision. People want to be able to see the future and
know howthey fit in. And, as we know from our work with Richard
Boyatzis on intentional change,people learn and change when they
have a personal vision that is linked to anorganizational vision.
Sadly, far too many leaders dont paint a very compelling vision
ofthe future, they dont try to link it to peoples personal visions,
and they dontcommunicate well. And they lose people as a
result.
2. A sense of purpose: People want to feel as if their work
matters, and that theircontributions help to achieve something
really important. And except for those at thetippy top, shareholder
value isnt a meaningful goal that excites and engages them.They
want to know that they and their organizations are doing something
big thatmatters to other people.
3. Great relationships: We know that people join an organization
and leave a boss. Adissonant relationship with ones boss is
downright painful. So too are bad relationships
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with colleagues. Leaders, managers, and employees have all told
us that close, trustingand supportive relationships are hugely
important to their state of mind and theirwillingness contribute to
a team.
Added up, brain science and our organizational research are in
fact debunking the old
myths: emotions matter a lot at work. Happiness is important. To
be fully engaged, people
need vision, meaning, purpose, and resonant relationships.
Its on individuals to find ways to live our values at work and
build great relationships. And
its on leaders to create an environment where people can thrive.
Its simple and its
practical: if you want an engaged workforce, pay attention to
how you create a vision, link
peoples work to your companys larger purpose, and reward people
who resonate with
others.
Annie McKeeis a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania,
director of the PennCLOExecutive Doctoral Program and the founder
of the Teleos Leadership Institute. She is the
author of Primal Leadership with Daniel Goleman and Richard
Boyatzis as well as Resonant
Leadership and Becoming a Resonant Leader.
Related Topics: MANAGING PEOPLE
This article is about MOTIVATING PEOPLE
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10 COMMENTS
Rajeev Menon 3 days ago
Great article! Mutual trust & respect are important to build
great relationships, the basis for any lifelongcommitment.. be it
lifelong jobs or marriages.
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