Wednesday, September 30, 2015

MANAGEMENT SPECIAL...................... Creating Happy, Not Just Successful, Workplaces



 Creating Happy, Not Just

Successful, Workplaces


As I talk to people across companies, age and demographic
slices, I am struck by the plague of unhappiness at workplaces.
This includes high performers, fast trackers and well
remunerated professionals.
This seems counterintuitive but is a growing leadership
challenge.High performance and individual happiness cannot
stay divorced, notwithstanding the hardliner view that
workplaces are about business success alone. It neither
helps the individual nor eventually the organisation. It is
just about engagement levels at a workplace, which could be
a short-term issue.It is about a Happiness Quotient, 
a bedrock of long-term effectiveness and sustained high 
performance.
How can we create Happier Workplaces, not just successful
ones?
Places where there is a sense of joy and fulfilment, of trust
and collaboration. And yes, tasks get delivered without a
ringmaster's presence.
While there can be an unending number of reasons for
unhappiness at the workplace, there are some typical fault
lines to look for.And hopefully to work on.

ARE YOU A MANAGER WHO JUST TALKS WORK?

Talk not just about the task but about the person. So very
predict ably, managers review only work.Just work. But a
talent brings to work not just skills but also emotions,
aspirations, concerns and misgivings. A wise and empathetic
manager must make the time to show interest to co-explore
and help address the issues early enough. Very often, they
wake up but a little too late.

IS THE WORKPLACE ESSENTIALLY LOW ON APPRECIATION?

Some workplaces are stingy with compliments, appreciation
and the little things that make individuals and teams feel
appreciated.Some managers might just not even think there
was anything that needed a little pat. It was what the person
is paid for. I have known a leader who actually once asked
what value do employees really make (sic)? In my experience,
environments that are low in the practice of positive psychology
are unhappier places. No big annual bonus can ever replace
the power of a smile or the little thank you.

IS YOUR TEAM HAPPY WITH THE QUANTITY,
QUALITY OF THEIR WORK?

No free pizzas and food courts can substitute good work.
The tasks must be neither too much nor too little. Excessive
and unending lists of `to dos' drain people and confuse them
on priorities. Bad and inadequately understood multitasking
is a happiness drain. Not having enough on your plate also
makes one unhappy. And is the kind of work that one is tasked
with really something that the talent looks forward to?
Many organisations assign work of a level far removed than
the profile of the user. Some tasks are just too mundane and
never seem to connect with the larger purpose. It may seem
to some that work, especially documents and presentations,
is deliberately being constructed to keep people busy.
The manager must always be alert and respectful of such
cues. There are always constructive solutions but does the
workplace pick up the cues?

ARE YOU ALWAYS WANTING TO BE THE FINAL WORD?

In my experience, one of the biggest reasons for workplace
unhappiness is a micro-manager, one who wants to know and
check everything, and possibly decide almost everything.
Sometimes, a close review is indeed useful and even needed.
Often, it is overdone. Decisions travel many levels up, technology
 notwithstanding. No one really owns the decision and the
outcome. Worse, it takes away the joy of creating, at least
co-creating. Whether one leaves such a workplace or not,
the sense of unhappiness is quite palpable.

IS YOUR TEAM AND ORGANISATION DESIGNED RIGHT?

Another reason that makes shoulders droop is faulty organisation
design. Maybe jobs are not clearly sculpted. Too many people
are stepping on too many toes. Accountabilities are unclear.
There may be a formal organisation structure but a stronger
informal power structure is what really works. Are the rank
and file getting conflicting messages from too many stakeholders? Could the structure and responsibilities be better articulated, both in letter and spirit?
Every team has issues of power, influence and politics.
Could yours be getting to be a victim of it and living with
unhappiness?

DO YOU ALLOW SPACE TO YOUR TEAM TO ENJOY
 WHAT THEY DO BEST?
Not many managers even know their team well enough.
They believe a task well done means the person would be
happy. Individual triggers could, however, lie elsewhere.
While every role has a lot of routine to deliver, every person
should have a fair opportunity to do what they like to do.
Managers and organisations who are more self-aware leverage
these possibilities for larger collective gains. Others may get
the goal sheet ticked off but fail to fully delight that talent.
Not only do we contribute to unhappiness, we forfeit such
huge possibilities for the corporation.

DO YOUR COLLEAGUES TRUST YOU ENOUGH?

Low-trust environments are not likely to create a happy
workplace.Managers who do not walk their talk, frequently
track you through others or create shadows to your role are
not likely to be communicating high trust. Colleagues who do
not surface differences of views upfront but prefer sabotage
tactics are not likely to be contributing to high-trust situations.
One of the biggest causes of stress and unhappiness is not to
feel trusted and included. While trust is a two-way street,
not too many organisations consciously work on building this
and hope miracles will happen. Or at least accidents of attrition
will not occur!

ARE YOU SEEN AS RESPECTFUL ENOUGH?

Organisations are typically battle grounds, each trying to outdo
the other for time, attention, resources and rewards. While
there is a certain reality one cannot deny, could we manage
differences with conscious respect? Is a different point of view
needing to be crushed with full force? Sociograms of meetings
are an interesting example of how an organisation really functions.
Who communicates with whom in what manner?
Is there respect in disagreement or adverse feedback?
Nothing makes people baulk, become unhappy and withdraw
as when they are steam rolled over. Or not included in a
deliberation. Or taken for granted. Or when everything goes
to a couple of people to decide everything. Being a leader is
tough and one has to be the guarantor of respect at all times,
even in failures. Or you will surely have an unhappy workplace.
Happy workplaces need not have fancy five-star office lifestyles.
They need not also be perk-rich policy environments. They also
surely need not by default be sub-optimally performing teams.
They just need to be happier environments, more human, more
trusting. They need to be situations that make people be
themselves. They just need to be experiences of joy and
fulfilment, of trust and collaboration.And then businesses
take care of themselves.
Prabir Jha
The writer is global chief people officer (designate), Cipla
ET22SEP15

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