Insights

10 Insider Secrets of Joy at Work

July 2, 2018
Employees experiencing joy at work

Here are 10 traits of those who experience joy at work. I write this from personal experience.

I moved out of an organization last week after 4 years to begin my full-fledged consulting practice. At the farewell, as is customary, people spoke about my interactions with them.

One of my team members said something that sounded like an echo from my past. He said, ‘Ramanan taught us that work can be joyful.’ He went on to say that he had never believed that work could be a source of joy until he began working in my team.

As a matter of fact, over the last 2 decades or so, I have thoroughly enjoyed my work. In fact, the last decade has been outstanding. I have often felt that a weekend is an interruption.

Based on my colleague’s comment, I sat down to decode my experience of ‘joy at work’. Here’s what I found:

1. You will follow your heart

Ever since I have been following my heart, I have been tapping into this seemingly unlimited treasure of joy every day.

Over 2 decades ago, I created a Mission Statement for my life: Contribute to people’s lives.

The pleasure of being engaged in work that is aligned with your life’s purpose in a way that all your strengths are fully leveraged is extraordinary. Seems like sci-fi? Well, incidentally, it is sci-fi for 87% of the world’s population – a 2016 Gallup Survey concluded that only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work. I am blessed to be a part of this minority.

2. You will help others follow their heart

Once you are fully engaged at work and begin reaping the benefits, you begin wishing for it to happen to others around you. I attempt to do this by conducting what I call ‘Spark & Lighthouse’ sessions – spending focused time speaking with my team individually to understand their talents and strengths.

‘Spark’ is uncovering strengths and talents and ‘Lighthouse’ is finding new directions at work in order to leverage such strengths and talents. I have even changed their work profile to align it with their strengths and talents.

Once people locate their strengths and talents and direct them at their work, magic begins to happen. They demonstrate a very high sense of ownership, understand what it takes to deliver, are willing to ask questions and learn, own up to mistakes on their own, escalate issues in time, commit themselves to high quality and productivity and operate independently with a bounce in their stride. They smile more and more often. They require minimal supervision. This frees up the leader’s bandwidth to focus on higher-order tasks.

3. You will leave your work title at the door before you enter the workplace

With a highly engaged team, you will not require your work title to get stuff done. In fact, throwing authority around will be counter-productive. My constant communication with my team is, ‘I am a part of your football team. In the field, we are all equal.’

4. You will trust yourself

As a person highly engaged at work and belonging to the minority 13%, I have to remember that 87% of the world has not experienced engagement the way I have. Therefore, the world at large is likely to dismiss my reasons for joy as something irrational or some mumbo jumbo. In fact, as a reader, you could be thinking the same thing – ‘how can you ENJOY work?’ At such times, I just trust my gut and move forward. It is a beautiful but lonely path.

5. You will acquire the Midas touch

When you and the team operate with a very high level of engagement, magic happens. You meet success more often. You become sure of yourself. Because you are sure of yourself, you can see clearly through what others see as hazy. You guide your team and provide balanced feedback. You are happy to coach them. You take risks, take a stand, take quick decisions and are willing to own up the consequences of your decisions. This leads to becoming a more effective leader.

6. You will thank others

When you are doing well and are sure of yourself, your insecurities fall away. You become more generous. You thank people, give people credit publicly for whatever they do. At the same time, you are strong enough and not worried if you are not thanked or not thanked enough.

7. You will be willing to learn from anyone

Because you are not insecure and you want to be successful, you are willing to be coached by others. With new technologies in your midst, you need to learn from much younger people and you will be absolutely fine with that.

8. You will be empathetic

You are empathetic to others, their personal journeys, their failings, and shortcomings. Your moods will be predictable. You deliver timely constructive feedback and in a private setting, so as not to embarrass the person. You give people the benefit of the doubt and are ready to coach them. You give them time to recover.

If you lead a team but cannot be empathetic, don’t despair. Very soon, you can choose from a variety of robots to form your team – robots don’t expect empathy.

9. You will celebrate

You will celebrate regularly and sometimes, for no reason. You will celebrate yourself and others. You will celebrate with others. You will bring variety to the mode of celebrations.

10. You will be joyful most of the time

You will be happy at work for no reason. But you have to remember that 87% of the world will not understand you…and you are joyful about that, as well.

When you follow your heart, work becomes pure joy and bliss. In essence, you will be enjoying the fruits of High Engagement.

 

Read here a post on how to encourage employees to generate ideas which could contribute to high Employee Engagement.

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