Joy at work?

I’ve been thinking about joy, and particularly joy at work.

When I saw the Roosevelt quote above, it prompted me to reflect on times when I felt joy at work. I have my own business now, but in the past I was employed and managing teams. I remember feeling joyful when bursting into laughter about something, or when we came up with a great idea, or when I was in flow as we fleshed out a new concept.

The nature of work has changed a lot since Roosevelt’s time, but the goals of achievement and creative effort are still ones to strive for.

Joy in teams

Richard Sheridan* has done extensive thinking and experimenting in joy at work. At his company Menlo Innovations, not only do people work together in teams of two, they are rotated into different teams on a frequent basis. This contributes to:

• Continuous learning, knowledge sharing, and genuine connection
• Everyone being included
• A sense of safety when entering unknown territory
• A level of increased productivity that comes from being flexible and open to suggestion
• Practice in teaching, coaching, and presenting

As Sheridan puts it, “[Working in pairs] produces a joy in learning that most of us haven’t experienced in years, perhaps since elementary school, when everything was new and all we had to do was absorb it.”

*”Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love”, Richard Sheridan, Gildan Media, 2013

Bring in joy

What brings you joy at work? I encourage you to have discussions in your team about ways to bring more joy into your workplace. Warning: their suggestions may be surprising and challenging, but the result could produce ways to solve problems and take advantage of opportunities that no one’s thought of before.

Pay joy forward

I’d love to share your experiences and thoughts on how to bring joy into work! Add your comment below.

FREE WEBINAR

Join me on Wed, March 27th at 11am (Pacific) for “Becoming a Rock Star Manager: Stand Out, Get Noticed, and Set Yourself Up for Promotion!” Grab some joy - register here.

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