1 Happinness at work

 

1.1 Find your happiness

Happiness, surveys, at work, age

happiness

Happiness is looking for it. Jules Renard

Everyone has their own interpretation of happiness. However, some universal characteristics of positive psychology (what is good) are often taken into account:

According to a Johns Hopkins University study of nearly 8,000 students who were asked “what goal do you consider very important now?” the main answers were:

To be happy, is to be happy at home but also at work where we often spend a large part of the day. To achieve a fair balance, one condition is to want and be able to make all stakeholders happy:

Desire is the only driving force. Aristotle

Seeking happiness at work is human because it is a deeply intrinsic desire.

According to 2013 Gallup surveys around the world:

For France the figures are 9% motivated, 65% not motivated, 26% demotivated.

So there is work ahead for many people and for a long time.

Happiness causes success and achievement and not the other way around. Shawn Achor

True story 

A study of the (intimate) diaries of 180 nuns, born before 1917, from the school of the Sisters of Notre Dame, provides an answer to the chicken and egg paradox.

50 years later the vast majority (90%) of the sisters, who had a diary with more positive (happy) content, were alive at the age of 85. Sisters alive at 85 years old, who had a diary with more neutral or negative content, were 34%.
At 20 years old, the happy sisters could not be happy because they knew they would live a very long time.

Good health and long life is the result of their happiness and not the cause.

Many studies show that a happy person at work:

Being happy in your job means choosing a job that you would like to do even if you are not paid (or poorly paid). This also involves leaving your comfort zone and fighting your natural temptation to resist change (see § 6.3).

Happiness creates performance

The success of the best workplaces is often attributed to corporate culture and high staff engagement.

Finding happiness at work means:

The 2012 StepStone European survey shows that the factors that most influence happiness at work are primarily:

True story 

According to Gallup surveys in the United States (and other “developed” countries), the percentage of very happy people has barely changed over the last 50 years. While real income per capita has more than doubled, the comfort of life has improved enormously (more material goods, more health, more years of life).

Paradox which could possibly be explained in societies that have become richer by the increase in depression, alcoholism, drugs, crime and the fact that we compare ourselves with our close colleagues and neighbors and not with groups poorer or unhappy.

Certain behaviors can be explained by the feeling of happiness in relation to age (Eurobarometer surveys 1975-2000) shown in figure 1-1.

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Figure 1-1. Happiness and age

The seven major factors promoting happiness are according to Richard Layard:

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1.2 Hierarchy of needs

Maslow, pyramid, needs

pyramid

Happiness is not in having but in being

The hierarchy of needs published by Abraham Maslow in 1943 is now often represented in the form of a pyramid like the one shown in Figure 1-2.

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Figure 1-2. Maslow’s pyramid

Maslow's pyramid shows the priority of human needs and motivators. Under normal conditions, motivation follows a hierarchy of needs: physiological need, need for safety, need for social belonging, need for esteem and need for self-actualization.

Salary is not a motivating factor; it is a physiological need satisfaction factor. But when there is inequality, it can become very demotivating.

The company cannot do much to stimulate happiness and creativity, but it can do much to kill them. Scott Adams

The higher we go to the top of the pyramid, there are more:

The need for esteem is a motivating factor. These are the conditions for wanting to succeed in your personal achievement. Some examples of efforts in this direction:

The need for achievement is the highest motivator. To thrive, everyone must have real freedom (of course “The freedom of some stops where that of others begins”), to be able to live their passion, to find their happiness at work.
 
To simplify, inspired by Chip Conley's pyramids, we can use a pyramid with three levels like the one shown in Figure 1-3.

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Figure 1-3. Simplified pyramid of links and motivations

To find out what passion you may have, you need to ask yourself questions like:

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1.3 Theory X and theory Y

McGregor, theory X and theory Y

theory X and theory Y

Happiness is the only wealth that doubles if you share it. Albert Schweitzer

Douglas McGregor in his book The Human Side of Enterprise published in 1960 divides the image we have of people into two categories (Theory X and Theory Y).

The first (classic) image is theory X. The average human being:

The second image McGregor encourages is Theory Y:

To apply theory Y, top management must:

In the case of theory Y, top management is not concerned with motivating people but with trusting them by giving them:

Top management gradually pushes staff in the direction of Theory Y by knowing how to prepare the ground and gain the trust of all staff. The goal is to make everyone want to get involved in rewarding and enriching work.

True story 

The management of an American company asked itself the question of how to build trust among staff.

A question was sent to all staff. Which category (A or B) do you think you fall into?
A. I feel adult and responsible, I want to contribute and do a good job, I care about the success of the company, I come to work every day with enthusiasm, I can be trusted.
B. I feel safe when I am managed, I work to earn my bread, this company or another it's the same, I'm here for the moment, I don't know if I can be trusted.

The result was 95% A and 5% B.

As a result, management and management simplified many procedures taking into account the trustworthy majority. The impact was largely beneficial.

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1.4 Promote motivation

Motivation, behavior, survival

motivation

There is only one person to motivate us: ourselves! Laurence Vanhée

True story 

In 1993 Microsoft launched the Encarta universal encyclopedia project, with the contribution of hundreds of personalities from around the world. The encyclopedia was sold on CD and DVD then on the Internet from 2000 and was available in 8 languages. Encarta was shut down in 2009 because visits to online encyclopedias in the United States were only 1.27% compared to 97% for Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is a general and multilingual encyclopedia created in 2001 under the GNU General Public License. It allows everyone to write and modify articles, hence its definition as a participatory encyclopedia or free work of massive non-profit collaboration. Wikipedia has become the most visited online encyclopedia in the world with more than 58 million articles in more than 300 languages.

For any project the contribution of millions of volunteers is an unbeatable force.

Motivation explains why behavior occurs (see figure 1-4) and includes:

1-4

Figure 1-4. The behavior

Money (salary, carrot) is often a powerful motivator, especially for routine work. But numerous studies have shown that for complex and especially intellectual work, money is not at all motivating. When you have to show creativity, imagination, innovation, money is often even demotivating.

Tests carried out by numerous scientists show that the mind inhabited by remuneration disturbs creative activities and contradicts the intrinsic need for freedom to choose what one wants to do.

Intrinsic motivation (see figure 1-5) according to Daniel Pink (see his book Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us) is based on three pillars:

1-5

Figure 1-5. Intrinsic motivation

It is commitment that drives performance and not the other way around

Some conditions to promote motivation (encourage staff to work with desire and pleasure):

True story 

In the 2000s, researchers at Cornell University selected 320 small businesses.

The first half of the companies (A) had traditional management. In the second half of the companies (B) the employees were completely autonomous.

The analysis showed that the growth rate of companies B was 4 times higher than that of companies A and they had staff turnover 3 times lower.

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1.5 Involve staff

Happy company, conditions, pitfalls

involvement

A satisfied need is not a motivator of behavior! Douglas McGregor

Always consider staff as adults and responsible people, capable of making the necessary decisions. In addition, collective intelligence makes it possible to obtain exceptional performance.

Motivation is positive and contagious when work is perceived as a need for accomplishment, achievement, self-fulfillment (top of Maslow's pyramid).

Secrecy around pay is an example of a possible source of low morale, poor performance, and high staff turnover.

To give their best every day, staff must feel like they are:

In this way the personnel:

No performance without happiness. Jean-François Zobrist

Figure 1-6 shows how we can progress towards a happy company by creating more happiness for employees and more performance for the company.

1-6

Figure 1-6. The happy company

Some conditions to thrive at work:

pint Pitfalls to avoid:

Self-assessment or that carried out between team members is a way to help us:

Some tracks:

True story 

The Manhattan military project (the creation of the atomic bomb) was moving too slowly. Secrecy was the rule for security reasons and the nature of the project was hidden from all staff.

To move up a gear, the head project leader, Robert Oppenheimer, decided to inform all team members of the nature of the project, its extreme urgency and its critical importance to the end of the war. Unsuspected energy freed itself and work advanced in leaps and bounds.

Informing staff about the mission, giving meaning to their work and trusting them is a guarantee of success for any project.

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