Creating peak experiences for employees and customers is a no-brainer. You gotta do it.
I agree – it’s a total no-brainer! It’s also easy. And cheap. And companies who do it find that it makes them a LOT of money.
Of course my interest is in creating peak experiences for employees – moments where you just go “MAN, I love working for this company!”
Have you had one of those? What happened – what was the peak experience? How can your workplace give you a WOW moment?
A while back I got a comment from Office Lady in Hong Kong who wrote that:
I’ve been miserable at work and, although it took me almost a year, I eventually built up the courage, and I’ve finally quit my job!!
I think it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made!
And most of all, I’ve found a new job too! No one knows how it’ll go, but a change is definitely due and I’m looking forward to a fresh start.
Your site has definitely pushed me on.
:) One happy Office Lady in Hong Kong
So how did it go? Well, Office Lady is not yet happy at work, and she is asking for our advice:
I’m now at another job and I’m again thinking about leaving (hence I’m here again). Yes, it pays better than my last job, my boss is awesome (I don’t think how anyone can have a better boss), I have benefits and so on.
But the work doesn’t inspire me. It’s boring. And I believe I have more potential and more to offer. My job is like acting as a middle-person, passing on requests and documents between our headquarters in the US and our regional offices all over Asia. I don’t “make” anything. I don’t make the documents. People give me documents, I give them to someone else. People give me documents, I compile them in the right order, and give them to someone else.
In my previous job, what drove me to quit was that eventually, I actually DREADED going to work. I’d actually panic in bed on Sunday night. Here, I don’t dread it, but I just plainly find no point in going to work. I drag my work out throughout the day, just so I have enough to keep my occupied.
Question is, should I leave just after 5 or 6 months here? And go find something that would engage me? Risk losing my income, benefits and not finding a boss as great again?
What a great question – and one that many people face. What do you do when work isn’t all that bad, but not all that good either? Is “OK” good enough?
What would you advice Office Lady to do?
I must apologize – I haven’t been responding to comments on my blog at all for the last month or so and I’ve been seriously lax about it for about three months before that.
Two readers called me on it in the comments – thank you!! I needed the wake-up call.
I feel bad about it, because I used to pride myself on responding to almost every single comment on the blog and I want to get back to that. I have been reading all comments that come in, but that’s not enough to create a good conversation, so here’s my promise: From now on, I’ll devote time to reply to comments on the blog.
I make this promise for one simple reason: the comments here are a continual source of inspiration for me. I have learned so much from your input, ideas, arguments and stories – and the least I can do is reply.
So even though business is craaaaazy busy these days (wooo-hooooo!) I will not compromise on this and I will make sure to leave time in my calendar to make sure that this blog remains an interesting read and a good place to discuss happiness at work.
You guys just have to promise to keep the great comments coming.
Deal?
I’m back. I’m beat. And no wonder – in 11 days I went Copenhagen – Chicago – London – Bombay – Indore – Bombay – London – Copenhagen.
India, especially, was great. Going there was an absolutely amazing experience. I don’t hesitate to call it life-changing.
I went with one big question on my mind: Will my stuff work in India? Will they like the idea of happiness at work? Will my style go over well with Indians? Will my tools and methods work in Indian workplaces? Will Indian managers see the business sense in making their employees happy?
I seriously had no idea. I’ve done my thing in many western corporations, but Indian business culture is obviously very different.
Well, my stuff works in India! Boy, does it ever work. In fact, in India, I’m a rock star :o)
First I spoke at the Indore Management Association’s annual conference where my presentation was a huge hit. People absolutely loved it as you can see from these comments.
The next day it was on to Dewas which is a short drive from Indore where Tata has a plant that makes leather for the fashion industry. Tata is India’s biggest company, responsible for 2.8% of Indias GDP. That’s huge.
I did one workshop for the 20 senior managers at the factory which went very well and the next day I did another full-day workshop for 45 entry-level managers which went even better. Again, people loved the message, the tools and my presentation style.
And then to cap it off, I was taken to Indore again where I gave a presentation to the Indore Management Marshals, a group that meets monthly to discuss management. This group consisted of the member and their wives, most of whom are housewives, so I was asked to also speak about happiness in the family.
That was a fun request, and it made me realize that about 90% of my message actually applies equally well at work and at home. And, again, I was a hit :o)
It was a long trip home (about 24 hours) but I spent the whole time feeling quietly elated – a feeling that persists now that I’m back.
And finally a great big thank you to:
My friend Annette (who is the CEO of Årstiderne) sent me these inspiring words:
Happiness lies in the joy of achievement,
the thrill of creative effort.
The human spirit needs to accomplish, to achieve, to triumph to be happy.Happiness does not come from doing easy work.
It comes from the afterglow of satisfaction after the achievement of a difficult task that demands your best.Your personal growth itself contains the seed of happiness.
You cannot pursue happiness by itself.There is no happiness except in the realization that you have accomplished something.
Happiness thrives in activity.
It’s a running river, not a stagnant pond.
I agree completely. Achievement feels great. We all like to get results, make a difference, contribute value and do work we can be proud of.
My only quibble with this is that achievement is not the only source of happiness at work. I believe there are two things that make us happy at work and getting results is one of them.
See if you can guess what the other thing is :o)
I would like to say a warm thank you to everyone who attended my presentation at the Indore Management Association’s conference. It was an absolute pleasure.
As I said, I do believe that India has a unique chance right now to become not only prosperous but happy – and that means creating lots of happiness at work.
I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and questions so please write a comment here.
James Parr at Omniblog has a great post on happiness at work, and how any company can become happy:
Now you might sit here reading this and thinking “yeah, that’s all very well in another company, but in ours where we’re just making widgets day in day out, who’s going to be that passionate about working for us?” Fair point, in essence. It’s a common notion that we can’t all be Google, with a raft of cool people, eager to sign up. Like many common notions though, it’s complete and utter BS.
You’re worried because you’re not making uber-sexy products, or you’re worried that it’s just too tough to get your warehouse staff excited about stacking boxes right? Well worry no more. Happiness at work can apply to everyone. Call centres (notoriously high attrition rates) can be happy places. Production lines can be happy places. Banks and leisure centres and council buildings and hospitals and schools and compliance units and McDonalds and everywhere else can be happy workplaces! It’s about doing some basic things right.
He then goes on to list 5 things your workplace could try right now.
He also goes on to say some very nice things about yours truly. I’m blushing here :o)
While I’m traveling the world making people happy at work, here is a guest post by Dan Schawbel. Dan is the lead personal branding expert for generation-y. He blogs at The Personal Branding Blog, publishes Personal Branding Magazine, directs Personal Branding TV, and is the head judge for the 2008 Personal Brand Awards.
Ever wake up, dreading your typical routine 9-5 workday? I can picture you waking up, rolling out of bed, getting dressed, running to Dunkin Donuts, dreaming about being successful on the way to work and then finally sitting down at your cube watching the clock until you leave. Now who in their right mind would want to go through such an outrageous process? Today, I write before you, to tell you that you too can be happy at work. You may not be a Chief Happiness Officer or a Chief Technology Officer, but the same concept applies.
Introducing personal branding, the happiness-initiator and guess what, it’s free. Personal branding is the process by which we differentiate ourselves by identifying and articulating our unique value proposition to achieve a specific goal. Wouldn’t you want to be branded as a happy person? People don’t want to be associated with a miserable Grinch-like individual that hates their job and the people around them. Why not start the day with a smile on your face, greet people who walk past you and be perceived as a team player.
Of course, if your job doesn’t fit your brand, then this isn’t possible. Personal branding allows you to use social media vehicles, such as blogs in order to convey your passions, goals and expertise. Now, for free, anyone can have their own website and build a reputable brand name. I used to be in product marketing, but my real interest was in personal branding and social media, so through all of my personal branding efforts, I was able to sculpt a position at my company that I would be content with. You can do the same.
Anyone can achieve happiness, but in order to get to that point, you need to gain confidence in yourself, be optimistic and pursue your passion. Starting a blog is a great way to let others know what makes you happy, and building a community through your blog can link you up with those that share interests, thus you both can be happy. In the workplace, whether you are a consultant or working for a fortune 500 company, your attitude is a reflection of your standing, in terms of customer acquisition and retention. In a web 2.0 world, people deal directly with people, so you need to be a “people person.”
Take Guy Kawasaki for instance. When do you ever see him angry? Never, and that’s because his brand is built on giving back to others, being a good father and sharing business practices.
Being happy at your job is success. If you’re not happy with your job, then build a brand that reflects who you are and be recruited or start a company based on that.
It’s been pretty quiet around the blog last week because I’ve been in Istanbul giving a keynote at the HRDergi conference on performance management.
The message of happiness at work was very well received, and one lady even came up after the presentation and told me that a few years ago she was a high-powered executive for a huge company in Turkey with a high salary and a sports car. Unfortunately, she also cried in the car every morning on her way to work. She then quit her job, finished her phd and started a company together with some friends – and she is now very happy at work. Which just tells me that people all over the world face many of the samme choices in their work lives.
At the conference I also had the pleasure of meeting fellow speaker and author Alan Gregerman who’s written a fantastic book called Surrounded by Geniuses. Alan claims that most businesses contain many, many people capable of genius – but that workplaces rarely allow people to shine. His book is about how to let them shine.
And after one day at home, I’m now flying to Chicago where I’ll be at 1-800-CEO-Read’s Author Pow-Wow – a sort of unconference for business writers. I’m really excited about that and about meeting some fellow business bloggers that I’ve been in virtual contact with already, specifically Phil Gerbyshak and Sally Hogshead.
And right after that event ends I’m going to London for a day of meetings and then straight on to Indore, India where I’m speaking at the Indore Management Association’s annual conference and giving two workshops for executives at Tata.
Whew!
And then home to Copenhagen for some well-deserved R&R :o) I’ll try to blog along the way and I will make sure to upload some pictures to my account on 23.
Business is about results, processes, achievement, success, goals and profits.
Festivals, such as the carnivals in Rio and the Caribbean and other celebrations worldwide, are about music, dance, arts, self-expression, roots, traditions and fun.
So businesses couldn’t possibly learn anything from festivals, could they?
My Bahamian friend Roosevelt Finlayson is here to tell you that not only can workplaces learn from festivals and carnivals – it’s also good for innovation, team work and the bottom line. He’s been studying carnivals for a long time and, yes, his job does involve going to places like Rio, New Orleans, Barbados, Trinidad and cologne to study and participate in their festivals. The lucky bastard :o)
He’s also been applying those insights to various organizations, and now The Global Intelligencer has picked up on it and written an article about his work. From the article:
“Finally there is a philosophy that can be used in the workplace that brings together productivity, a positive work ethic and an environment that the associates will enjoy. Festival in the Workplace has brought together the need to blend the personal needs of employees to attain self-satisfaction as well as the critical activity to achieve excellence for the employer and the customer.”
Check the article out – it’s good reading.
In my opinion, there are many aspects of carnivals that we could introduce in our workplaces that would create more happiness at work. And no, I’m not talking about making ugly co-workers wear masks :o)
What people often forget about carnivals is, that while the actual parade or performance looks fun, a lot of very hard work goes into it. In fact, Roosevelt started his work when he noticed that while many Bahamians seem to dislike their jobs and always do as little as possible, they would work very hard to prepare for the annual Junkanoo celebration.
And according to Roosevelt, this work goes so well because in a festival:
Doesn’t that sound like a fairly good work culture to you?
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