Why happiness is good for business with Jenn Lim

Summary

In this live session, Abby Guthkelch from Facebook Workplace interviews Jen Lin, a global authority on workplace culture. Jen discusses the importance of employee happiness and belonging in driving performance, emphasizing the need for leaders to create supportive environments. She introduces the concept of 'wholeness', advocating for a holistic approach to employee well-being that includes both highs and lows. The discussion highlights the role of technology in fostering community and the significance of aligning personal values with organizational purpose to achieve meaningful work.

Takeaways

• 😀 Employee Experience (EX) is pivotal in fostering a sense of belonging, which enhances performance by focusing on aspects like purpose, trust, meaning, and pride.
• 🌐 Companies must support their people with the right technology and environments to maintain connectivity and a sense of belonging, regardless of location.
• 📈 Workplace from Facebook identified three key rules for leaders to transform EX: supporting well-being, building community, and enabling efficient communication.
• 🔑 Leaders play a crucial role in EX strategies by creating environments that enable happiness and thriving among employees, as well as being active and visible within those communities.
• 🌟 Jen Lin emphasizes that happiness at work is not just about feeling good; it's about creating sustainable, meaningful lives that contribute to a company's success.
• 🌱 The concept of 'wholeness' is introduced, suggesting that organizations should consider the complete spectrum of employee experiences, including both highs and lows.
• 🔗 Technology is a tool that can support remote work and community building, but it must be used intentionally and effectively.
• 🤝 Virtual communities can play a significant role in maintaining workplace culture and employee well-being, especially in a remote work environment.
• 🔄 There's a shift from work-life balance to work-life integration, highlighting the importance of respecting employees' whole lives.
• 📊 Jen Lin's upcoming book introduces the 'Wheel of Wholeness', a tool for individuals to assess and improve various aspects of their lives for better work engagement and satisfaction.
• 🔄 Organizations should leverage the science of happiness to create happier workplaces, focusing on purpose, values, autonomy, progress, and connectedness.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the live session with Jen Lin?

The main focus of the live session is to discuss employee happiness, fostering a sense of belonging among employees, and the vital role leaders play in employee experience strategies.

What is the 'Adaptive Age' mentioned by Jen Lin?

The 'Adaptive Age' is a term used by Jen Lin to describe the current era characterized by rapid technological advancements, hyperconnectivity, and the need for organizations to adapt to change in real time to stay competitive.

What does Jen Lin believe is the key to building a successful organization?

Jen Lin believes that focusing on happiness, wholeness, and creating meaningful lives for employees is the key to building a successful organization.

What are the three rules identified by Workplace from Facebook for transforming employee experience?

The three rules are: supporting well-being, building community, and enabling efficient communications.

How does Jen Lin define 'wholeness' in the context of organizations and individuals?

Jen Lin defines 'wholeness' as considering both the highs and lows of an organization and individuals in a holistic way, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and aligning personal values with organizational purpose.

What role does technology play in fostering workplace cultures and employee happiness, according to Jen Lin?

Jen Lin suggests that technology should be used as a tool to support and enhance workplace cultures and employee happiness, especially in a remote or virtual environment.

What does Jen Lin recommend for leaders to immediately impact employee happiness and wholeness?

Jen Lin recommends that leaders start with purpose and values, engage in exercises to understand individual purposes and values, and ensure they align with the organization's purpose.

How can organizations shift their purpose and align their values, especially if they've been around for a long time?

Jen Lin suggests that organizations can shift their purpose by getting executive buy-in, breaking out into subgroups to realign around a new purpose, and making the purpose relevant to today's society.

What is the 'Wheel of Wholeness' mentioned by Jen Lin?

The 'Wheel of Wholeness' is a tool that represents the different aspects of an individual's life that contribute to their overall well-being, such as mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, purpose, and financial elements.

How does Jen Lin suggest measuring the impact of happiness initiatives in the workplace?

Jen Lin suggests starting with the science of happiness, focusing on levers like purpose, values, autonomy, progress, and connectedness, and measuring the impact of these initiatives to show improvement.

What is the significance of the equation 'Happy employees equal happy customers equal happier company' mentioned in the script?

This equation signifies the belief that when employees are happy and fulfilled, it leads to better customer experiences and ultimately contributes to the success and happiness of the entire company.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introduction to Employee Happiness and Belonging

Abby Guthkelch introduces the live session focused on employee happiness and belonging, featuring Jen Lin, a global authority on workplace culture. Abby is part of the Workplace from Facebook team and emphasizes the importance of employee experience in driving performance and creating a sense of belonging. She outlines three rules for leaders to transform employee experience: supporting well-being, building community, and enabling efficient communications.

05:02

🌟 The Evolution of Happiness in the Workplace

Jen Lin discusses the significance of happiness in the workplace, building on the idea that happy employees lead to happy customers and businesses. She emphasizes the need for a more sustainable approach that also creates meaningful lives. Jen talks about the shift from seeing happiness as a 'nice to have' to a 'need to have' and introduces the concept of 'wholeness,' which includes both the highs and lows of employee experiences. She relates this to the challenges of the 'Adaptive Age,' marked by the pandemic and technological advancements, and the importance of adapting to these changes.

10:03

🏡 The Role of Virtual Communities in Workplace Culture

The conversation turns to the role of virtual communities in maintaining a healthy and happy workplace culture. Jen reflects on the rapid shift to remote work and the need to leverage technology effectively. She stresses the importance of using technology intentionally to support meaningful connections among employees, given the increased reliance on remote work tools.

15:05

🔄 Revising Organizational Purpose and Values

Jen advises on how to realign an organization's purpose and values, especially for older organizations where the original purpose may have become stale. She suggests breaking into subgroups to find alignment on a new purpose and make it relevant for teams or departments. Jen emphasizes that this approach can lead to a contagious effect throughout the organization, prompting a broader cultural shift.

20:06

🌱 Authentic Leadership and Employee Well-being

Jen talks about the importance of authentic leadership in fostering a culture of happiness. She discusses how leaders need to reflect on their own purpose and values and share their stories to create an authentic connection with employees. This approach helps in normalizing vulnerability and encourages employees to be their authentic selves, leading to a happier and more engaged workforce.

25:07

📊 Measuring and Building a Happy Workplace

Jen addresses how to build a culture of happiness, emphasizing the importance of scientific approaches and measurements. She outlines levers such as purpose, values, autonomy, progress, and connectedness that can increase happiness in the workplace. Jen also discusses the concept of the 'Wheel of Wholeness,' a tool for individuals to assess different aspects of their lives for a more holistic approach to well-being.

🌈 Transforming Unhappy Organizations

Jen shares insights on how to move an organization from an unhappy state to a happier one. She explains the process of taking a snapshot of the current state, celebrating what's going well, and identifying areas for improvement. This approach helps organizations to be honest about their current state and work together towards a happier workplace.

Keywords

💡Employee Experience

Employee Experience refers to the sum of all interactions an employee has with an organization, from the moment they are hired until they leave. It encompasses factors such as culture, technology, and physical work environment. In the video, Abby Guth discusses how focusing on employee experience can lead to a sense of belonging, improved performance, and ultimately, a more successful business.

💡Happiness

Happiness in the context of the video is tied to the concept of employee well-being and satisfaction. It is considered a key component of a successful organization and is linked to productivity and customer satisfaction. Jen Lin emphasizes the importance of happiness at work, not just as a fleeting emotion, but as a sustainable state that contributes to meaningful living.

💡Purpose

Purpose, as discussed in the video, refers to the reason for which something is done or created, often used to describe the mission or goal of a company. It is highlighted as a critical element in fostering employee happiness and engagement. Jen Lin talks about how aligning personal purpose with company purpose can lead to a more fulfilling and meaningful work life.

💡Belonging

A sense of belonging is described in the video as a feeling of being welcome and accepted in a group or organization. It is seen as a crucial outcome of a positive employee experience. Abby Guth mentions that creating a sense of belonging can drive performance and is integral to the employee experience strategy.

💡Leadership

Leadership is discussed in terms of the role it plays in shaping employee experience. Leaders are advised to be active and visible, creating environments that foster happiness and belonging. Jen Lin suggests that leaders should lead by example, showing authenticity, and caring for employees' whole lives, not just their work roles.

💡Authenticity

Authenticity is presented as a quality of being true to one's own personality, spirit, or character. In the video, it is linked to effective leadership and the creation of a positive workplace culture. Jen Lin advises leaders to be authentic, sharing their personal stories and values to inspire their teams.

💡Well-being

Well-being in the script refers to the state of being comfortable, healthy, and happy. It is one of the three rules identified by Workplace from Facebook for transforming employee experience. Abby Guth suggests that supporting well-being is essential for keeping hybrid teams engaged.

💡Community

Community here refers to a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing activities, interests, and goals. The video suggests building community as a way to keep workplace cultures healthy and happy, especially in a virtual setting where traditional water cooler interactions are missing.

💡Adaptive Age

The Adaptive Age is a term coined by Jen Lin to describe the current era characterized by rapid change and the need for constant adaptation. It is marked by technological advancements, economic shifts, and global challenges. The video discusses how focusing on happiness and wholeness can help organizations and individuals adapt to this new reality.

💡Remote Work

Remote work is a work arrangement in which employees work outside of the traditional office or workplace. The video acknowledges the shift towards remote work, especially due to the pandemic, and discusses how technology can be leveraged to maintain a sense of community and support well-being in this new work environment.

💡Burnout

Burnout is a state of chronic physical and emotional exhaustion caused by long-term stress. In the video, Jen Lin mentions that burnout has become a significant issue, particularly due to the blurring of work-life boundaries in remote work settings, and organizations need to address this to improve employee happiness.

Highlights

Abby Guth Kelch introduces Jen Lin, a leading authority on workplace culture.

Jen Lin emphasizes the importance of happiness in building successful organizations.

The equation 'happy employees equals happy customers equals happy business' is highlighted.

Jen discusses the evolution of employee happiness from a 'nice to have' to a 'need to have'.

The concept of 'wholeness' is introduced, focusing on the holistic well-being of employees.

Leaders are encouraged to actively engage in creating a culture of belonging and support.

The importance of technology as a tool for enhancing remote work and employee engagement is discussed.

Jen suggests that leaders should start with their own purpose and values to inspire authenticity.

The 'wheel of wholeness' is introduced as a tool for assessing individual well-being.

Employees are looking for respect for their whole lives, not just their work roles.

The need for meaningful connections in a remote work environment is emphasized.

Jen advises organizations to measure happiness scientifically to validate its impact on performance.

A snapshot assessment of organizational culture can reveal both strengths and areas for improvement.

Leaders are encouraged to share their personal stories to foster a culture of vulnerability.

Jen stresses that happiness in the workplace is backed by science and leads to profitability.

The session concludes with an invitation for audience questions and engagement.

Transcripts

hello everyone welcome and happy

thursday to you all thank you so much

for tuning in with us today for the

second of our monthly live sessions in

2021 with thought leaders in the

employee experience space i'm abby guth

kelch and i'm joining you from the live

from the uk

and i'm part of the workplace from

facebook team and today i am so excited

so pleased to be joined by someone who

needs very little introduction the

wonderful jen lin

jen is globally recognized as a leading

authority on workplace culture and has

helped transform transform a load of

organizational cultures through her

science-based approach to happiness

passion and purpose at work she's a

renowned author speaker and the chief

executive co-founder and chief happiness

officer which i love

at delivering happiness which is a

coaching and consulting company that

supports companies to create profitable

adaptable cultures and as i said i'm

thrilled to be exploring this topic

around employee happiness about

fostering a strong sense of belonging

amongst your people and how leaders play

a vital role in employees

in employee

experience strategies not only in terms

of creating and enabling environments

for their people to connect to be happy

and to thrive in but also recognizing

that they themselves need to be active

and visible within those communities but

before i hand over to jen i just wanted

to do a very quick scene set on today's

topic

employee experience is designed to

change culture by focusing on things

that only people can respond to things

like purpose trust meaning and pride

with the ultimate goal of creating this

sense of belonging which in turn drives

performance

companies will need to ensure that their

people are supported wherever they are

with the right technology and

environments so that they can remain

connected but also foster the sense of

belonging at work for their people and

at workplace we've identified three

rules that provide a framework for

leaders to transform employee experience

to keep their hybrid teams engaged and

helped their businesses staying

competitive firstly it's around

supporting well-being

secondly about building community and

thirdly enabling efficient

communications and we believe that if

leaders from across business functions

so everyone from hr i.t communications

operations work together using these

strategies companies can adapt to change

in real time and come out more

successful on the other side and we have

a shorthand for how we think about this

happy people equals happy customers

equals happy business which is why we

are here to talk with jen today now

we're going to have some time at the end

of this live session to answer audience

questions so please do type any

questions that you have into the

comments below up sideways whichever

type of device that you're accessing

depending on where the comment box

is and one of the team will get them

over to me so that i can try and get

through as many questions as we can in

the next 30 minutes so without further

ado i'm going to be quiet and i'm going

to hand over to jen jen thank you so

much for joining me today so where in

the world are you joining us from today

i'm actually in the bay area in northern

california

fantastic and i bet the weather's doing

a lot better than it is in london right

now right

well ironically since we had our tech

check yesterday it's not so we borrowed

a little bit of your london weather so

it's totally overcast and

i spoke too soon when i talked about

california yesterday so

i'll just detract what i said

about sunny california

not happening fantastic

fantastic for those of you who weren't

privy to our tech check yesterday jen

basically said well it always sunny in

california which i thought was a bold

move and as you can see today clearly

that's not working for her so fantastic

so jen i deserved it

you did you did um sorry for sending the

uk weather over your direction so

happiness you know it it's it's in

ingrained in your job title it's

ingrained in in

your your company name etc you know why

do you believe focusing on happiness is

is the key to building and running a

successful organization i'd love to

understand that

yeah i mean you did an excellent job of

just everything you just said in terms

of the intro and prefacing it

it's funny some of the things you said

come straight from my keynotes or

our you know our slides is it that one

thing you said in terms of equation is

what we've been believing for 10 15

even 20 years since zappos days but

basically happy employees equals happy

customers equals happier company but

what we say to that is it's also more

sustainable

but also at the end of that is you're

also creating more meaningful lives and

so that's the only ad i would have to

that equation and so in that order is

something that's you know not not too

new anymore people know that we need to

put people first before our customers

and in order to make them happier

but the last bit about the meaningful

life bit is is what we're really

focusing on what does that actually mean

because

um you know when when dh started

uh 10 years ago it was sort of a novel

idea oh that's really cute you know that

can happen there but it'll never happen

here but now over the years we've seen

it evolve into something that's not no

longer a nice to have it's actually a

need to have and

and companies can call it different

things because we're not married to

happiness we just believe in this whole

concept but it could be you know

well-being it could be flourishing it

could be whatever fits well with your

own culture but in the end of the day

our belief is that the meaningful life

piece is so so important so

for us

we believe that it started at happiness

but we've actually seen it evolve quite

a bit over the years so now i'm actually

using happiness and wholeness and when i

say wholeness is the wholeness of an

organization and the wholeness of an

individual human being

and what i mean by that is

so if we could think about things in a

more holistic way that we have not just

the highs we also have the lows and

obviously we've seen that um

in in right in front of our face in a in

a in a big way in the last year um so

i'm going to meta out a little bit why

this is all important um because

sometimes happiness can be so

you know

can a lot of people can be naysayers

about it but what we think about it and

how we think about it is because we've

had all these major external influences

that we saw over the last year um the

world economic forum calls it the fourth

industrial age but i call it the

adaptive age um i think it has a nice

nice ring to it but why i say that is

because we had you know we had the risk

we're having the recession we were

having the pandemic we were having these

socioeconomic inequalities in the world

um we're having more and more technology

we're hyper connected you know all these

elements were already forming in this

what i call adaptive age but 2020

brought it all at the same time to say

okay now deal with it so

that's where i find the importance of

this whole happiness stuff and wholeness

stuff um

even ratcheted up uh because

because this uh it's just obvious that

we just we can't just you know survive

in this we need to adapt

and by having these more happier whole

cultures uh by prioritizing people and

being able to really be able to use them

in a way that's whole to them but also

laddering up to the purpose of the

company beyond profit and so that's why

we believe in this so much being able to

bring these elements of scientific

happiness and what i call the greenhouse

elements because i believe we're

building greenhouses that are more

adaptive by bringing these all together

then you see that sustainability piece

you see that adaptive piece and then of

course i think what we're all searching

at the end of the day when we you know

go when i say go home from work when i

would turn off zoom or whatever we want

to be happy and we want to bring that

happiness home too and then we wake up

when we wake up the next day to cycle

that over again so i think from that

meta

you know sense of just so many things

are changing what can we control and as

leaders within our organization we can

control what's within ourselves and we

can help other individuals control

what's within them as well and that's

why we always start with purpose and

values is a big part of how do you be

meaning

can you be more meaningfully happy

and that's kind of where we start

yeah no i love it and you know i think

thank you for framing it particularly

around that the wholeness

side of it because i think it is so

valuable and as you say it's about

ensuring that you know that

organizations are creating environments

for people to thrive and as you say it

has to come back to to purpose and

values

you can't you can't create or you you

know you want to create environments

that actually

full pull through the whole of the

employee experience right it can't just

be

a set of values that are say on the

reception wall and that's the only time

that they're sort of you know uh valued

so i'm interested in understanding you

know

let's take it down to this supporting

well-being so i element it was one of

the one of the rules that workplace

we've identified you mentioned it there

in terms of thinking about you know

wholeness about meaningful life about

you know creating um uh the sense of

belonging uh at work

what role you know can

virtual communities uh play in in

keeping these workplace or keeping

workplace cultures and people healthy

and and happy do you think

um well

i think that's part of um thinking about

like the adaptive

in the fourth industrial revolution

uh the future of work was supposed to be

remote and the future is obviously now

so what used to be kind of a tool for

the future of work of having more and

more

remote workforce et cetera

now it's just basically all got shoved

in front of our face of like no

the future is happening now so how are

you going to leverage it so i've learned

a lot from like dh has been remote since

we've been around since you know 2010.

other companies that have done it really

well

even before the pandemic is there's a

lot to learn from that so

one of my friends matt mullenweg who

started uh wordpress many years ago but

now he has a company called

automatic and they've been remote for

many many years as well so just kind of

learning from like what does technology

do it's it's just a reminder that

technology can be our friends and it

should be our friends even more so now

and it's just a tool in the toolbox

and it's not going to be of use i mean

unless you really use it for something

that's intentional uh not just because

it's a cool feature um because

everyone's just inundated and just like

you know tired of all the tools that we

have so really putting a sense of what

the purpose is of this particular you

know with what you're doing with

workplace sounds amazing all the things

that you're saying um are really

conducive to a more engaged

uh work workplace work environment so i

guess that would be my biggest reminder

as like there's more and more tools out

there and there's just gets to be a lot

of noise but just i would really want to

refrain that technology is a friend only

if you make it uh to be a friend and

make it useful in your life like let's

remember if we too creates technology as

human beings it was for us so let's just

try to remind us

of that

i love that dear technology is

definitely our friends as until it goes

wrong on a zoom call and then we sort of

like start you know cursing

so you know you speak to a lot of what a

lot of leaders um you know different

organizations different sectors

different parts of of the world but

what's the one thing that you you really

tell them that they should if you could

tell them to do one thing differently

starting um tomorrow which would have an

immediate impact um on um you know this

more meaningful life this employee

happiness this feeling of wholeness at

work what would you advise them

yeah it really does go back to that

wholeness bit um so

for us and i sound like a broken record

about purpose and values but it's just

so important and from an organizational

standpoint more and more companies are

putting up purpose and values up on the

wall which is which is great you know

but who's actually living them is is a

different story and then basically that

is also uh reminiscent of

if a organization is living it are the

people living it too so as leaders i

think one of the

really straightforward easy steps is to

actually

ask and do an exercise around individual

your teams your employees what are their

purposes and values

once you get that conversation going

that's where wholeness begins because

it's no longer you know that just like

um you know how you're doing topical

kind of

conversations you get to understand

everyone's individual wholeness of

purpose and values and help them

actually ladder up to that of the

organization so that's when that change

begins of i'm not just showing up for

the paycheck i'm actually showing up

because i'm living my own values i'm

living my own purpose and my leader

actually cares about it because it's not

just my skills and what i'm doing on a

day-to-day basis uh he or she actually

cares about my my whole life cycle

outside of work too

i love that the importance of listening

is is so key and and yet um so many

organizations are still sort of you know

moving ahead with uh

with purpose and values that necessarily

they haven't tested out or haven't

spoken um to uh to employees about to

just sense check about uh you know where

where it's um happening

in terms of um

you know thinking about purpose and

values there's a there'll be a lot of

people um listening in today from lots

of different sectors um lots of

different ages of

of um

of organizations and um i i often get

asked you know uh well it's okay for say

a brand new business who you know with a

um say a founder or an entrepreneur

who's basically starting up with a

purpose you know just to put that in but

a much older organization that's you

know been around for for a lot longer

has got a purpose that got set quite

early um on

how do you how do you work with

organizations to help them shift their

purpose what's some of the steps that

they can do to

to change that and align their values

yeah so um it's a it's a big it depends

a typical consulting answer right um so

ideally of course uh you would have the

senior leadership executive

uh

group uh team

wanting to revisit it and wanting to

realign it because a lot of the time

when you have a purpose that's been

around for 5 10 15 years

um

it's just uh

it's it's it becomes a little bit

meaningless when you're actually not

living by it or even asking whether it's

even relevant in today's society in

today's world anymore so ideally when

you if you could get that executive

buy-in to say you know we need to

realign around this and ask ourselves

are we actually living by that

so that's ideal world but of course we

don't live in an ideal world so

the other things that we recommend is

that it's okay to actually break out

into subgroups to be able to

uh

find those that do want to align around

a new purpose and make that purpose for

that team or that function or department

so in that way that you're not really

staying you know just you're not

ignoring what's on the wall already but

you're revisiting to do and refine it

and and redefine it for what works for

you so whether it be you know a team of

five people or that whole uh

function or department uh we've seen

that work really well because then

you're not having to wait for executive

buy-in and once they start showing their

results and metrics of look this

actually works for us like if there's a

decent ceo they won't say well stop

doing that because you're too happy and

you're making too much money so it

actually becomes a contagious effect and

that's i think that's probably uh more

life more likely to happen these days

because it's just it gets really

frustrating to have to wait uh instead

of just doing it

yeah absolutely and i love you

for talking about you know this is like

leadership role to to play in this which

isn't just about enabling um the the the

uh the environment enabling this of like

the the right culture the right um

values and purpose to to shine through

the organization but they themselves um

need to uh to show up and we talk a lot

to uh to clients about authentic

leadership and and the need to to really

lead from um from the front

i'm interested in how you uh how you

advise um uh those leaders about you

know what's the sort of the best way for

them to to to show up to to to really

permeate and and um the

their happiness and the organization

yeah i think um what's really been one

of the most rewarding things about this

uh what we've been doing and just seeing

how a lot of times

leaders come to us and say hey we need

to

we need to you know we wanted to do this

culture transformation or what have you

and sometimes you can tell that it's

like a checking off a box of something

to do on their list

and so we still you know we still engage

in that because there's some intention

there but what the biggest sort of i

guess um

rewards i get is when they realize it's

about them

and it's not about them doing it for

their people or their employees

it becomes kind of like the work that we

do is very reflective of the mirror like

in in terms of like when we one of the

things we say is start with the me um

and that brings authenticity to everyone

in the organization employees um

being able to start feeling like their

authentic what we say weird self but

when leaders do that except especially

at that level uh it's amazing how

you know like asking very simple

questions of you know what why did you

get to where you are or why are you even

here you know digging deep into their

own selves their own purpose and values

their own stories and being able to

share that um within themselves first

and then being having those executive

alignment sessions is something that's

super powerful because they start

sharing these stories they've never

heard about before and you know it's not

uncommon for tears to be shed at that

level which is kind of amazing because

it's all of a sudden like

that's why i've been working so hard or

you know like oh this is for my family

and that's why you know like i should be

spending more time with them you know

like things like that once um

those kind of aha moments come it's just

unbelievable how they start shedding

their you know teflon and and becoming

themselves and then that's when it's the

leadership role to just be who they are

and like basically lead by example and

once others see that and they're walking

their talk and you know how people are

just so perceptive and people not

walking their talk anymore um then

others will follow and want to be

themselves too

couldn't agree more i think normalizing

conversation by actually openly being

vulnerable yourself is such an important

role for leaders to play we've got some

fantastic questions that are starting to

come through to me on chat so i'm just

going to be you know i'm going to take

one more question then i'll dive into

the ones that are coming through and for

me because you know it's it's my show

i'm on camera so i can go first

which is

so yeah

you know yeah yeah exactly well thanks

for today

so

what in from from the research that

you've been doing for the conversations

you're having um you know what what are

employees looking for in the workplace

in 2021 is there any step changes that

have come out of covert you know what

can

organizations really focus on

um

well what's interesting is that the

engagement scores are still

as bad as they were before

it hasn't gotten worse but the reasons

why um have been different and it's more

about the burnout um

of just basically well a lot of like the

zoom time that we have and and

everything is being blended in terms of

what we've called work-life balance for

so long we've actually believed in

work-life integration for a long time

because

at the end of the day it's just the time

we have

on you know in our lives

so i think um this goes back to what

people are looking for is being

respected for their whole lives and it

goes back to the wholeness part um

one of the things that i talked about um

i have a book coming out in october is

one of the tools we talk about is called

the wheel of wholeness and it's

something that every individual can do

so it's it's not just you know assuming

that they're just one dimensional

everyone has a spectrum of what's

important to them in their lives so if

you could imagine like a a pie each of

these

pieces of pie

um represents something else so it's

mental it's emotional it's physical it's

um

it's they're spiritual it's a purpose

it's financial you know all these

elements of things that really matter to

a person whether or not they're stressed

out burnt out and just you know need

something different in their lives so i

think that's really

especially that you know what we've seen

go on in 2020 and still enduring in many

ways

to be able to have those conversations

and actually want to hear them out in

those aspects

there's just a huge level of different

in terms of engagement

um

and and loyalty really to hey if they

care about me as a person

why would i want to look somewhere else

i

cannot wait to read it i think you know

the wheel of wholeness is a fantastic

way of looking at it particularly you

know bring it back to employee

experience we have to think about every

single moment of truth throughout the

employee life cycle and that actually

has to take into account how that

individual you know is feeling about

themselves and you know their whole

selves and not just mapping it into um

the one-dimensional of what we think uh

that needs to play um within an

organization so i'm going to ask you one

of the questions coming in from the

audience um how do we try to build the

culture of happiness sorry how do we try

to build culture with happiness being

the main element of it

i would say that what's been effective

for us because that's where we started

you know 10 years ago or 11 years ago is

because there could be

just really like well i'll just say

there could be naysayers that just don't

think happiness belongs in the workplace

like what

rainbows unicorns you know we can you

know leave that outside but what we

believe because we believe it so

strongly is we always brought it back to

the science so bringing back to the

science of it

no longer like you can't say nay anymore

because it's based on science and it's

producing more profit again no great

leader would be able to say that doesn't

make sense so bringing back to the

science there's a few levers that we

call

um that has shown us the research that

uh can actually increase your happiness

so number one i'll say it again purpose

and values is the most sustainable way

to increase happiness and then there's

other forms too which is a sense of

autonomy or control

senses of progress so making sure people

are feeling that they're developing

learning growing in different ways a

sense of connectedness and this is a

huge one especially now we're in such a

remote virtual world so meaningful

connections beyond just these water

cooler conversations uh meaningful

connections be because you know each

other as a human being

um

and so like these different levers are

just examples of what scientifically can

be done to make a

workplace happier so i would start with

the science and make sure you're

measuring along the way so that you're

showing by doing these things you know

whatever you choose in that bucket of

like and you know i would focus on

what's most challenging at the same time

and then uh tie it to a measurement and

then again no good leader would say well

you're you're happier and you're doing

better like you

get that out of here like there's just

no way so um that's where i would start

fantastic i love it

questions come in can you give us an

example of how you moved an unhappy

organization to a happy one

wow

[Music]

i would say that

there's the people that the companies

that usually come to us

don't readily admit they're unhappy

they're coming to us because they want

to be happier

uh to a certain sense a certain level um

of course when you kind of dive in and

go go under the covers and lift the hood

there are definitely a lot of unhappy

points in there but they don't readily

you know come to with admission like

we're so unhappy usually it's more of

you know we we think we we have some

things going well but you know we think

we can really work on these other things

so

my allergies

sorry about that his insights

thank you

yeah this weird weather that you're

bringing is a

notching of my allergies

it's london it's london

just kidding excuse me

um

so

so yeah i think what um

to reframe that question in some ways is

to actually what we do is we take a

snapshot and bring up a mirror to them

and as part of the evaluation is

doing these surveys to understand hey

there's not you know just is not

everything's going like really badly and

going to hell there's actually really

good stuff going on here and that's the

point of the snapshot and assessment is

saying look look what you can celebrate

and look what's actually happy that's

going on and then look what's causing

unhappiness and these are the things

that we're going to focus on so i think

by doing that it's like not a blanket

statement again it's not it's not like

binary it's totally a spectrum because

even the happiest companies out there on

a list

have unhappy people in there inevitably

so i think it's just being honest and

authentic about that snapshot as an

organization as a leader saying hey

we're always going to be on the spectrum

we're always going to have things we can

celebrate and then we're always going to

have things we're going to work on so

let's do it together and then you get

everyone in line everyone's like can

tell you're not talking bs and like you

know you can have a more authentic work

life

amazing jen i can't even believe that we

are literally got two minutes left and

we're out of time this 30 minutes always

goes so quickly um so sadly we are out

of time um for any more questions thank

you so much for being a fantastic

guest i cannot wait to read your book

out in october i you know the wheel of

wholeness i think is just such a

fantastic um uh tool uh that you know

that people can use um and you know

focusing on wholeness is is it it's so

obvious i can't believe i hadn't thought

about it you know in in before so

are there any final words that you have

for our audience

uh no i mean i think that uh i mean

thank you for being an excellent host

those are great questions i would

actually love to hear uh how everyone's

doing in this space because that's how

we learn more so feel free to reach out

to me at delivery happiness my emails

janet deliveringhappiness.com if you

have any questions at all or yeah if

anything that comes up i'd love to hear

from you

fantastic jen thank you and thank you

everyone so much for tuning in to this

uh this live second episode in our

employee experience series in 2021. if

you missed last month's live uh with the

wonderful dan shaw who was talking about

how to connect your hybrid workforce you

can watch it back on the video playlist

within this channel and we're going to

be back next month with another awesome

guest from the world of work and

employee experience a man who

most people within the hr world will

will be very aware of he's absolutely

fantastic josh berson will be joining us

on the 8th of april so stay tuned thanks

again for watching thank you jen once

again for being such a wonderful host i

could sit and talk happiness and

wholeness with you all day um until next

time thank you all for joining and we'll

see you next month

[Music]

you