Create Happy, Not Just Successful #Workplaces

As I talk to people across companies, age and demographic slices, I am struck by the plague of unhappiness at workplaces. This includes high performers, fast trackers and well remunerated professionals.

This seems counter-intuitive but is a growing leadership challenge. High performance and individual happiness cannot stay divorced, notwithstanding the hardliner view that workplaces are about business success alone. It neither helps the individual nor eventually the organisation. It is not just about engagement levels at a workplace, which could be a short-term issue. It is about a Happiness Quotient, a bedrock of long-term effectiveness and sustained high performance. How can we create Happier Workplaces, not just successful ones? Places where there is a sense of joy and fulfilment, of trust and collaboration. And yes, tasks get delivered without a ringmaster’s presence.

While there can be an unending number of reasons for unhappiness at the workplace, there are some typical fault lines to look for. And hopefully to work on.

ARE YOU A MANAGER WHO JUST TALKS WORK?

Talk not just about the task but about the person. So very predictably, managers review only work. Just work. But a talent brings to work not just skills but also emotions, aspirations, concerns and misgivings. A wise and empathetic manager must make the time to show interest to co-explore and help address the issues early enough. Very often, they wake up but a little too late.

IS THE WORKPLACE ESSENTIALLY LOW ON APPRECIATION?

Some workplaces are stingy with compliments, appreciation and the little things that make individuals and teams feel appreciated. Some managers might just not even think there was anything that needed a little pat. It was what the person is paid for. I have known a leader who actually once asked what value do employees really make (sic)? In my experience, environments that are low in the practice of positive psychology are unhappier places. No big annual bonus can ever replace the power of a smile or the little thank you.

IS YOUR TEAM HAPPY WITH THE QUANTITY, QUALITY OF THEIR WORK?

No free pizzas and food courts can substitute good work. The tasks must be neither too much nor too little. Excessive and unending lists of ‘to dos’ drain people and confuse them on priorities. Bad and inadequately understood multitasking is a happiness drain. Not having enough on your plate also makes one unhappy. And is the kind of work that one is tasked with really something that the talent looks forward to? Many organisations assign work of a level far removed than the profile of the user. Some tasks are just too mundane and never seem to connect with the larger purpose. It may seem to some that work, especially documents and presentations, is deliberately being constructed to keep people busy. The manager must always be alert and respectful of such cues. There are always constructive solutions but does the workplace pick up the cues?

ARE YOU ALWAYS WANTING TO BE THE FINAL WORD?

In my experience, one of the biggest reasons for workplace unhappiness is a micro-manager, one who wants to know and check everything, and possibly decide almost everything. Sometimes, a close review is indeed useful and even needed. Often, it is overdone. Decisions travel many levels up, technology notwithstanding. No one really owns the decision and the outcome. Worse, it takes away the joy of creating, at least co-creating. Whether one leaves such a workplace or not, the sense of unhappiness is quite palpable.

IS YOUR TEAM AND ORGANISATION DESIGNED RIGHT?

Another reason that makes shoulders droop is faulty organisation design. Maybe jobs are not clearly sculpted. Too many people are stepping on too many toes. Accountabilities are unclear. There may be a formal organisation structure but a stronger informal power structure is what really works. Are the rank and file getting conflicting messages from too many stakeholders? Could the structure and responsibilities be better articulated, both in letter and spirit? Every team has issues of power, influence and politics. Could yours be getting to be a victim of it and living with unhappiness?

DO YOU ALLOW SPACE TO YOUR TEAM TO ENJOY WHAT THEY DO BEST?

Not many managers even know their team well enough. They believe a task well done means the person would be happy. Individual triggers could, however, lie elsewhere. While every role has a lot of routine to deliver, every person should have a fair opportunity to do what they like to do. Managers and organisations who are more self-aware leverage these possibilities for larger collective gains. Others may get the goal sheet ticked off but fail to fully delight that talent. Not only do we contribute to unhappiness, we forfeit such huge possibilities for the corporation.

DO YOUR COLLEAGUES TRUST YOU ENOUGH?

Low-trust environments are not likely to create a happy workplace. Managers who do not walk their talk, frequently track you through others or create shadows to your role are not likely to be communicating high trust. Colleagues who do not surface differences of views upfront but prefer sabotage tactics are not likely to be contributing to high-trust situations. One of the biggest causes of stress and unhappiness is not to feel trusted and included. While trust is a two-way street, not too many organisations consciously work on building this and hope miracles will happen. Or at least accidents of attrition will not occur!

ARE YOU SEEN AS RESPECTFUL ENOUGH?

Organisations are typically battle grounds, each trying to outdo the other for time, attention, resources and rewards. While there is a certain reality one cannot deny, could we manage differences with conscious respect? Is a different point of view needing to be crushed with full force? Sociograms of meetings are an interesting example of how an organisation really functions. Who communicates with whom in what manner? Is there respect in disagreement or adverse feedback? Nothing makes people baulk, become unhappy and withdraw as when they are steam rolled over. Or not included in a deliberation. Or taken for granted. Or when everything goes to a couple of people to decide everything. Being a leader is tough and one has to be the guarantor of respect at all times, even in failures. Or you will surely have an unhappy workplace.

Happy workplaces need not have fancy five-star office lifestyles. They need not also be perk-rich policy environments. They also surely need not by default be sub-optimally performing teams. They just need to be happier environments, more human, more trusting. They need to be situations that make people be themselves. They just need to be experiences of joy and fulfillment, of trust and collaboration. And then businesses take care of themselves.

The writer is the Global Chief People Officer, Cipla. This article was published in The Economic Times on 22 September 2015

https://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-commentary/happy-workplaces-need-not-be-sub-optimally-performing-teams/