workplace trends 2012, how (and why) happiness works as a business model, nic marks
DESCRIPTION
Sometimes people think that happiness is a bit frivolous in a business context but Nic will argue that happiness is in fact highly functional. Happiness helps people build stronger relationships, become better able to deal with unexpected events and be generally more creative and innovative. People are happier at work if they are able to be themselves, have a sense of control and progress, are surrounded by people they along with and importantly feel their work is meaningful and socially valuable. A focus on happiness can help make organisations higher performing as well as a better places to work.TRANSCRIPT
Nic Marks
Well-being
Environment What’s LOVE got to do with it?
We are emotional beings
Barbara Fredrickson’s theory of the evolutionary role of positive emotions
1. Positive emotions BROADEN our thoughts & actions: paying more attention, being more creative & playful, open to relationships, and flexible.
2. Positive emotions BUILD psychological resources: resilience, coping, physical abilities, emotional intelligence, social skills and self mastery.
Role of Emotions at Work
Fredrickson and Losado: Positive teams at work
Team Performance
Positivity / Negativity ratio
HIGH (15)
MEDIUM (26)
LOW (19)
Role of Emotions at Work
Fredrickson and Losado: Positive teams at work
Team Performance
Positivity / Negativity ratio
HIGH (15) 5.61
MEDIUM (26) 1.86
LOW (19) 0.36
Role of Emotions at Work
Fredrickson and Losado: Positive teams at work
Team Performance
Positivity / Negativity ratio
Inquiry / Advocacy
Other / Self
HIGH (15) 5.61 1.14 0.94
MEDIUM (26) 1.86 0.67 0.62
LOW (19) 0.36 0.05 0.03
Role of Emotions at Work High performance
teams operate in an expanded chaotic
(creative) emotional space.
Mid performance teams are still
somewhat creative.
Low performance teams ‘collapse’ into
a non-inquiring ‘strange attractor’.
Role of Emotions at Work
Fredrickson and Losado: Positive teams at work
Magic Ratio of Positive : Negative
3 : 1 to 8 : 1
BUT – they do NOT show causality
Happiness at Work
• So does Happiness come from HIGH performance?
• Or does Happiness lead to HIGH performance?
• Or both!
Happiness at Work
Happiness T1 Happiness T2
Performance T1 Performance T2
11 organisations; 2,000+ teams; 140,000+ respondents
Happiness at Work
Happiness T1 Happiness T2
Performance T1 Performance T2
11 organisations; 2,000+ teams; 140,000+ respondents
Happiness at Work
Happiness T1 Happiness T2
Performance T1 Performance T2
11 organisations; 2,000+ teams; 140,000+ respondents
Happiness at Work
Happiness T1 Happiness T2
Performance T1 Performance T2
11 organisations; 2,000+ teams; 140,000+ respondents
Both models fitted the data … but Model 1 was much better “these data suggest that the impact of … [happiness at work] on … performance is twice as large as from performance to … [happiness at work]” Source: Causal impact of employee perceptions on the bottom line of organisations; James Harter et al; Perspectives on psychological science 5(4); 2010
Happiness works! It is a serious business … But somehow it is not being taken seriously
“The management are focused on employees to the detriment of shareholders. Why would I want to buy a stock like that?” Equity analyst quoted in Business Week
“I happen to believe that in order to reward the shareholder in the long term, you have to please your customers and employees.” Jim Sinegal, Costcoi’s CEO, quoted in the Wall Street Journal
Companies listed in the top 100 “great places to work” have outperformed the market every year between 1985–2011 by 2.3 – 3.8%. Source: “The link between Job Satisfaction and Firm Value” Alex Edmans; Academy of Management Perspectives 2012
Role of happiness at work … • Happiness at work BROADENs teams’
“possibility spaces”.
• Happiness at work (helps) BUILD high performance.
• Happiness at work also GENERATES shareholder value
YET … we still have to convince ea lot of people!
50%
% of UK workers that have ever done a staff survey Source: nef’s representative sample of UK working population October 2011
80%
% who thought it made no impact on the quality of their working lives Source: nef’s representative sample of UK working population October 2011
26 www.happinessworks.com
www.happinessworks.com [email protected]