Your happiness, our happiness

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase ‘collective effervescence’??

If you immediately thought ‘celebration’, you wouldn’t be far off. It’s a concept I was just recently introduced to, and it’s quite apt for the moment. Roughly speaking, it is “the sense of energy and harmony people feel when they come together in a group around a shared purpose.” Our shared purpose right now is the pure bliss of being together. The joy of once again socializing with friends, family, and strangers.?

I learned about collective effervescence in an article I read about happiness. The author’s point was that we are happiest when we are doing something together, not alone. And that given that, perhaps it is time for us to rethink what well-being and happiness look like in this country. For too long, we’ve viewed happiness as an individual pursuit when in fact it’s an emotion best experienced collectively. The pandemic has given us a reset, a pause that allows us to question and change the status quo.

My first thought in reading about our need ‘to pursue happiness socially -? through connecting, caring, and contributing’ was, what does this mean for the workplace??

We know work has and will continue to change. There is a massive rise in remote, flexible and hybrid work. Simply put, we’re not spending as much time with each other in the office. On the whole, this is a good thing for most people. Of course not everyone can, or wants, to shift to this type of work, but for many, the benefits for work-life integration are clear. The impact on our life at work, however, are decidedly less clear. That said, mental health, wellbeing, and happiness weren’t exactly flourishing in the pre-pandemic workplace. We were sitting next to each other, but we weren’t connecting. Now we’re sitting apart from each other, and we’re still not connecting. We are overdue for a change.

The data is very clear here: happier employees are better employees, and better employees make for more successful companies. If happiness peaks through shared experience, connection, contribution and caring, then the question is, how do bring collective effervescence into the workplace??How do you bring happiness into this next phase of work?

Right now, companies across the country and world are rethinking what work looks like. They’re tearing down the existing structures, keeping the best parts, and rebuilding from the ground up. This is the moment for radical new ideas.?There’s no one solution to create collective effervescence at work. It will require a series of intentional and unintentional events. What we can do, however, is create a culture where those moments can thrive and grow.?

I think the best way to do that is to open dialogue. If we’re not talking, we’re not connecting, and we’re not connecting, there’s no way for us to share these moments of joy and happiness. To create that dialogue, companies must foster a culture where their people feel valued, seen, and heard as individuals, not just employees. Where they have the space and comfort to share who they really are with their colleagues, not a work persona they think they should be. When you’re able to build that for your people, collective effervescence will arise naturally.?

How would you help build a culture that allows for collective effervescence in your workplace??It's a moment for crazy ideas, and building happiness into the workplace might just be the craziest of them all. I've got some ideas, but I'd rather hear yours. What would a workplace designed for spontaneous, repeated, and consistent moments of collective happiness look like for you?

Kunik Bites

• The 5 day work week is dead
• How parents around the world view the challenge of childcare
• For women, remote work is a blessing and a curse
• How we talked to our toddlers about racism?
• The uneven odds of promotion with hybrid work?
• When school is voluntary?

Kunik Convos?

• Do you consider yourself a paper person?
• Are you doing camps? Are they different this year?
• Hands up - who has had a good parenting fail lately
• ‘Mommy brain’ myth or reality? Dad brain??
• When you’re on vacation, how likely are you to check work stuff?
• Rainy summer activities for kids?