Joy on the Job
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)May 13, 2009 by Amanda Gore
Amanda Gore
In a fearful economy, the best leaders bring positive emotions to work.
Everyone is terrified of the “R” words: recession, reorganization and rescue. They are on our minds and constantly in the news—and they put fear into our hearts. All that fear bubbling around reminds me of Scooby-Doo saying “ruh roh” when things go wrong. Too many people are allowing a sense of “ruh roh” to dominate their work and personal lives and affect them negatively.
There is a sense of hopelessness, disengagement and discouragement that pervades many companies and communities today. The zest, life, energy and enthusiasm that keep the fire alive in personal and professional settings are lost in a sea of feeling overwhelmed with too few resources and too much to do.
We know that maintaining a positive attitude while being overwhelmed can be a struggle for the leader of any team. But it’s more than that; the Harvard Business Review has said that a leader’s mood has a profound effect on the performance of the team. Your mood dramatically influences everyone around you!
To achieve radical results, we need to do something differently; we need to change how we manage our moods, behaviors, thoughts and attitudes. But, most important, we need to change our perceptions, which will then change our feelings. Perceptions drive and affect everything, including attitudes. Whether it’s marketing a brand, making a relationship work, motivating ourselves to do more or be better, innovating, creating, making a contribution, or how we view a set of circumstances, our perceptions and judgments rule over reality.
To change our perceptions—which leads to a change in our feelings and actions—something must touch our hearts. Research shows that for people to change their behavior, they need an “aha” moment—an emotional experience that, in a heartbeat, can change everything.
Consider this scenario: A boss bursts out of his office, his face red with anger. He storms across the office and slams the door behind him. Immediately, every person is on red alert. They have no idea what has happened, but it must be bad. For the next four hours, people are unfocused, as everyone is wondering if they will have jobs tomorrow or if the company is in trouble. Finally, someone has the courage to ask the boss what is wrong. Still angry, he bursts forth with a tirade on how the people repairing his Porsche are overcharging him. For four hours, 20 people were in a state of dread based on the perception that something was seriously wrong. In a heartbeat, when they heard his “reality,” they relaxed and started to work effectively again.
The result is that, if you’re a leader—whether at home or at work—your actions evoke emotional responses in the people around you. Consider this more positive scenario: I used to consult to a pillow-making factory. After the Ash Wednesday fires in Australia in 1983, one of the nation’s costliest natural disasters, the owner opened the factory on a Saturday to donate supplies. He asked if people wanted to donate their time, and they made more pillows that day than at any other time in the history of the company! The workers perceived that their work had purpose and meaning, and they felt they were contributing to something worthwhile. You see, emotional experiences engage and connect our heads to our hearts—where the real wisdom, inspiration, discernment and insight live.
Bring Joy into Your Business
Whether you are the leader, manager or member of a large organization, a small group, a family or a community group, add joy to your performance objectives.
Your joy will reflect what is possible in the face of all the fear, hopelessness and dispiritedness that pervade the business world today.
Imagine a world where people come to work with a joyful heart. People with joyful hearts are enthusiastic, inspired, creative, innovative, responsible, excited, hopeful, fulfilled and engaged; they collaborate and have a sense of purpose and meaning; they serve; they are optimistic, problem solvers, team builders. They feel they are working for something worthwhile and making a contribution. In short, they are the type of person you want working with you or for you.
These qualities are recognized as important in business because most business is about relationships. These and the other steps to joy are fundamental for connections to others and to ourselves. In this “ruh roh” economy, a transformation is needed in the way companies operate. Leaders must find the heart to connect to it—and make sure that all parts of the company, customer and community are connected to that heart.
No more “ruh roh” thinking! Mind your perceptions. Mind your mood. It matters. Spread joy!
About Amanda Gore
As author of four books and an international speaker, Amanda Gore speaks at workplaces around the world and discusses the “importance of creating joyful communities that bring people together productively and profitably.” For more information, go to AmandaGore.com.
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