In this third entry in our series on hope and joy, we’ll examine how embracing joy can help you create a happier, more satisfied workplace.
Be honest: when’s the last time you or your team members talked about joy?
No, we’re not trying to sound like self-help icky platitudes here. But before you roll your eyes and move on, hear me out. (Cultivating joy in the workplace is more important than you think.)
Despite what you may have heard, joy is a lot more than something you bring up during trust exercises or therapy sessions. It’s critical to human flourishing, whether at home or in a work environment. So much so, in recent years it’s become a major focus in positive psychology research; indeed, people who are joyful have better mental and physical health care outcomes.
Joy is the opposite of cynicism, and a proxy for so many personality traits essential to being a good team member (and, frankly, friend and partner): openness, self-awareness, resilience, empathy, and more.
People who can regularly feel joy have a hidden but vital superpower. In a roomful of manure, they’re gonna find the pony. Or, in the context of an organization, when things go wrong, they’ll be the ones to point out your best options, what strengths you can leverage to get back on track.
Far from toxic-positivity or pie-in-the-sky rose colored glasses, joyful people see reality for what it is. And then choose to see the joyful possibilities in whatever reality they face.
If you have a joy gap in the workplace, here are five tips for inspiring change.
Tips for Cultivating Joy in the Workplace
Express Gratitude
Maybe a coworker covered for you when you had to pick up your daughter early from school. Maybe your boss had your back when a client made an unreasonable complaint. Or maybe you had a bad month or two but your team members let it slide, fully expecting you to right your ship before long.
Even if you haven’t had these specific experiences, surely you can relate to them. At some point or another you’ve undoubtedly been in a position where you needed a helping hand—and someone was there to give it to you. Maybe it’s only extended once in a while, or maybe it arrives frequently. Maybe it’s small (say, you needed help making a few slides for a presentation) or maybe it’s big, like supporting your bid for a promotion. But chances are, each and every time you felt a deep sense of thankfulness.
When we show our gratitude, the effect is twofold: not only does the recipient get an opportunity to bask in the joyful, luminescent glow of appreciation, we get a sense of satisfaction in acknowledging someone’s good deeds.
Appreciation isn’t only for good deeds, either. You can be grateful for a pleasant workplace, working on projects that you enjoy, feeling respected, or even well-stocked coffee supplies (trust me, not always a given). There really isn’t a limit to gratitude.
Taking a moment to appreciate the good and not dwelling on the bad (there’s time for that!) is an easy way to cultivate a more positive, joyful outlook, in yourself and in others. Seek joy, and chances are you will find what you’re looking for.
Joy in the Workplace Leads to Excellence
Keep Perspective
Maybe you replied to an email a little too sharply or, for various reasons, didn’t perform at your best on a recent project. Unfortunate? Yes. Life-altering? Very likely, no.
When it comes to the workplace, minor (and sometimes major) dramas come and go. Any organization made up of human beings, each with their own personalities, values, and work styles, will inevitably run into conflict. It’s just a part of life, inside and outside the office.
To put a twist on an old phrase, the only constant in life is messing up. What matters is how you deal with it.
The key is to see minor snafus for what they are: understandable, everyday occurrences. This means your response to a frustration or disappointment, whether of your own making or not, should be proportional to the transgression. In most cases, this means shaking your head, apologizing if you erred, and moving on. Or, if someone else is the transgressor, expecting the same from them, but not much more (unless, of course, more is truly warranted).
And sometimes, you can find joy in simply forgiving someone’s quirks. If you can keep calm when obstacles come up, confident that you can get through them, you’ll be far more able to experience work joy, which can’t take root when you’re needlessly stressed.
There’s no need to treat a run-of-the-mill mess-up like a major drama, or, even worse, a catastrophe. Speaking of which . . .
Catch Yourself Catastrophizing
One of the worst habits we can have is “catastrophizing,” aka worrying yourself sick about the very worst-case scenario after something goes wrong, or even before it goes wrong. Here’s an extreme example: someone forgets to invite you to a meeting and suddenly you’re certain you’re getting fired. . Seems pretty ridiculous, doesn’t it?
Accidentally sent the wrong report to a client, or showed up ten minutes late to a meeting because it slipped your mind? Well, neither are great—but they’re not the end of the world, either. Unless your most recent goof is part of a larger, consistent pattern, it’s unlikely it’ll earn you any hard feelings, much less something more severe—especially if you do the proactive thing and apologize for said goof while taking steps to resolve it.
Few things in life are true catastrophes. Especially a minor workplace kerfuffle.
Tip
Joy obviously has a “touchy-feely” rap, so discussing it may, perhaps understandably, make some employees feel awkward or even uncomfortable.
So if you’d like to bring up the topic in conversation, be sure to do it in a more intimate setting (say, during a one-on-one meeting) where people won’t have to worry about feeling judged or looking silly. Better yet, work hard to embody the tips in this article to inspire employees to follow your joyful lead.
Learn how you can cultivate a better workplace with these blogs: |
Be in Awe
Awe can be thought of as a close cousin of joy: when you give yourself over awe, you create the conditions for increasing your level of joy. Here’s how it works.
Awe is “the absence of self-preoccupation,” says Sharon Salzberg, a mindfulness teacher and author, in a recent New York Times article, “How a Bit of Awe Can Improve Your Health.” It’s the opposite of negative rumination and getting stuck in your head; it forces you to look outward, towards the good in the world, whether it’s tangible or not. To pay attention.
I’m not suggesting you spend an hour ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the engineering genius that went into your printer-scanner combo (though it really is pretty impressive, come to think of it!).
But making the effort to fully, deeply appreciate a job well done, a serendipitous encounter, a beautiful design, the closeness of your team, or any other number of small but meaningful workplace occurrences can help you feel small moments of joy day in and day out.
“Let your joy be in your journey—not in some distant goal.”
– Tim Cook
Practice Joy
Joy isn’t an inspirational poster or asking employees to keep a smile on their face. Mandating joy by decree isn’t a smart strategy—it’s emotional labor. As in most things, the best way to teach others what joy is all about is to lead by example. It’s not some elusive experience that occasionally, and randomly appears. It’s waiting to be seen, often right in front of you.
The process of opening yourself to joy takes work. Some people think they may have a ceiling on experiencing joy, but it’s not really true. Even they can think about times when they’ve experienced joy, even if it was unexpected.
Whether something struck you as funny, paid you a nice compliment, or you happened to glance at children playing on the playground, or you simply saw a beautiful sunset. Joy comes in many forms, and at all times. You just have to see it, and harness its energy. Pay attention to how long that energy lasts.
If joyful energy is easily drained a few minutes later by some jerk cutting you off in traffic, that’s important to notice. Joy, like many experiences, is like a muscle. You can cultivate its strength. You may need to practice. Work on holding onto joyful energy for longer, resisting the lure of those messages in your head, or that idiot driver, to forfeit your joy for their angst and annoyance.
Go ahead: seek out joy in your workplace. Even if it doesn’t feel natural right away, before long, with practice, you’ll be appreciating the small things that make life that much more joyful.
Following the suggestions outlined above can turn even the biggest Grinch into a happier, more collaborative team member. What are you waiting for?
Unlock the Potential of Leadership and Joy
Unlock the true potential of your leadership with the power of joy. At Navalent, our seasoned consultants are dedicated to guiding executives like you in cultivating a joyful, thriving workplace. Harness the transformative power of executive coaching and leadership consulting to inspire, motivate, and lead with authenticity.
We know what it takes to lead effectively and build an exceptional workplace. We’ve:
- Coached over 600 C-suite executives
- Performed more than 1,800 transformation projects
- Performed more than 220 organization diagnostics
Embrace the journey to a more joyful leadership. Let’s collaborate and make it a reality.