Last week, I was treated to listening to a key note by Shawn Achor at the #WCQI in Nashville on the Happiness Advantage. I listened intently as I was giving a talk on Joy in Leadership in a few short hours…and I wondered if our terminology was similar. It was. Shawn ended his talk with a line, that, if I scribbled it correctly, was: The more we choose Joy, the more we make this world a better place to live.
Fascinating. Deming told us that over 30 years ago, and lots of folks poo-pooed that aspect of his teachings. Deming told managers that their job, in addition to prediction, was to “enable joy in work.” Now Achor had the facts to back up just how powerful Deming’s advice is.
Though I loved Deming’s mandate to managers, I found it hard to explain to tough minded managers. Until a few years ago… and this is what I shared at the conference.
Building on the eloquent explanation of motivation by Herzberg, I have found that Joy in Work has three critical components, and we can actually assess whether we are enabling these component for those whom we lead. It’s pretty straightforward.
Connect. Create. Contribute.
We all have an intrinsic drive to be connected to some sort of community or network and to some purposeful pursuit. We want to create value in that pursuit. And, this is the one that bureaucracy kills… we want to see that value contributed to that purpose and that network.
Look at your calendar from last week. Did you enable people to tighten their connections to the team…to the purpose of your organization? Did you allow them to create value as opposed to just being a ‘resource’, and did you spend your energy blocking or accelerating their contribution to that purpose?
If you have some time…listen to Shawn Achor’s TED talk.
If you’re interested in what I presented at the WCQI, let me know.
