Get happy
December 8, 2008 · Print this post
Here’s a large, long-term study that shows the network effect of happiness. Simply by feeling good, we can influence people we have never met to feel good too. Happiness spreads.
So many people are not happy in their jobs. And yet, I don’t think it’s a company’s responsibility to make employees happy. Because not every person is a fit for every organization, no matter how impeccably run the company is, no matter how much attention it gives to engagement — the same way that two really nice people may just never fit as friends. Sometimes our expectations, values, goals aren’t aligned, and there’s no way for us to engage deeply with each other. That’s okay. It happens. And it’s better to know, and step back, than to pretend that there’s a good fit. Pretending doesn’t work.
The company’s responsibility is to be so aligned, clear and consistent in its own values, business practices, engagement practices, etc. that every employee can then decide for herself whether the result truly is a happy experience for her. She has all the information she needs to decide, “this is a great fit for me, I’m feeling satisfied and valued and like I’m contributing” — or to decide, “wow, if that’s the direction we’re going, I can’t really get on board with it.”
As managers, we can’t make it our mission to persuade everyone to be happy. Down that path lies poor management. What we can do is be direct, aligned, consistent, transparent, clear, and give people the full picture to respond to. If they respond happily, they’ll become even more engaged. And their resulting happiness will spread — to others they work with, to their families and neighbors, and beyond that to strangers. Maybe to you, or to me. If good management can have that consequence, well, so much more reason to do it.
The original article I read on the topic of “viral happiness” came from this conversation on the Employee Engagement Network, a great resource for managers or anyone else interested in ideas about how to engage people at work.
If you visit the specific conversation on happiness, you’ll see many different ideas about happiness. Some people think companies should focus on happiness as a goal, and others (like me) see it as a result that happens when we do other things right. What do you think?
I find that study easy to believe. I’ve seen it work in my own life. There is no question in my mind that the people in our environment affect us. And happiness is definitely contagious. Even in small ways – just a smile is contagious.
The article mentions the reverse (unhappiness or sadness) not being as contagious – probably because sad people are more withdrawn. But they are talking about socializing mostly, I think. It’s been my experience that in the workplace, sad, bitter, or angry management is very contagious. In the work environment where withdrawal is sometimes impossible, those people affect other people. I’ve seen it happen with myself and with other people. I’ve also found that when the happier person keeps plugging away with basic human considerations, the unhappy person starts to catch on. It might seem to take a really long time, but it can happen.
I don’t think it’s ever the responsibility for any company or any person to make another person happy. Everyone makes their own choices and has to deal with them. I agree that happiness in the workplace is more of a result of doing things right. That’s why I think that the ideas you are putting forth here with your Leader’s Manifesto, and the HAW program you have designed is so important.
If people use the tools you have made available, the world will be a happier place. I really believe that.
Jennifer, I agree that the bad/sad/mad feelings created by poor management do tend to spread in companies. It’s a poisonous feedback system: unhappy people are often very vocal about their perspective, and if enough other people start seeing things the same way… well, that’s often the first step toward major organizational implosion.
In her book Fierce Conversations, Susan Scott quotes a line from a Hemingway story: “How did you go bankrupt? Gradually, then suddenly.” Bad management is a big factor in making the gradually happen.