Happiness at work A Competitive Advantage indeed
[Music]
two summers ago
i was on vacation in formentera a
beautiful island in the mediterranean
one day i was having lunch with my
partner
in a very nice seafood restaurant called
kanrafalet the location was
idyllic you are surrounded by the sea
you can see a small bay from the
restaurant terrace
and you can smell the breeze coming from
the sea
we were having a really wonderful launch
once we finished the main course i
ordered a mango panna cotta
for dessert a few minutes later
the waiter came with a big smile in his
face
greatly proud and he gave us
this a really special
mango panna cotta on the left
there was this white creamy kind of
pudding dessert
with a lot of mango syrup on top
on the right there was a drawing of a
silly crab
smiling at me and the amazing thing
was that it was made of strawberry
and chocolate syrups
this is how jose combines his job
as a waiter in a restaurant with his
passion
as a painter and he does that
every day later that afternoon
we saw how jose prepared all those
plates
he was in a corner of the restaurant
drawing with different cedar bottles
his ability was amazing and as soon as
he finished a drawing
he put the plate in a pile and started
another
i was astonished when i saw that because
he was so skilled
so creative and he was enjoying himself
so much
imagine what a show among the drawings
there was a boat on the sea a shark
an octopus a bird fly
so my partner asked him why are you
drawing on plates
and jose replied well i love drawing and
in fact i am a painter
and here in the restaurant they let me
do my thing you know
we continue talking and then he said
and by doing this we differentiate from
other restaurants in the area
jose creates 160
drawings like this every single
day and he has been doing it for more
than
11 years
think about it when people do what makes
them happy at work
amazing things happen
my name is joaquin vinas i am an
enthusiastic trainer
in happiness at work and i will share
with you
why happiness at work has become a
competitive advantage
and during this talk you will discover a
powerful tool
to increase both happiness and
performance at work
so what does happiness at work mean
i’m saying this because many times
happiness at work is linked to
nice office facilities with free fruit
and a games room with a ping pong table
it is linked also to having flexible
working hours
or to these social events in person or
virtual
where colleagues have fun with each
other
all these initiatives are fine however
happiness at work is much more than that
in fact most of the activities that i
just mentioned
are done while we are not working
so let me ask you something
think of a great experience that you
have
recently had at work one that really
made you happy what made that experience
so great
think about it did you fix
a complex issue did you have a positive
impact on others
did you make progress in a task or a
project
where you could use your strengths
the trainings that i carry out in
companies i ask participants the same
question
i have never heard someone say things
such as playing ping pong or enjoying
free fruit
quite the opposite most of the
experiences were
task related and in those participants
explain
how they were using their strengths
to reach an objective to contribute to a
mission
or to a purpose or to have a positive
impact on others positive psychology
demonstrates how
we feel happy when we can unleash
our talents at work and this is why
i like to define happiness at work as
the state of well-being
that comes as a result of using
our talents at work i will say it again
the state of well-being that comes as a
result
of using your talents at work
now the question is are happy employees
performing better than
do they get better results
absolutely yes and the reason is very
simple
because when you are happy at work you
are more engaged with your job
and you are more loyal to the
organization if you
stay in the company and you are more
committed
your performance will be higher
therefore
results will be much better
last but not least when you get results
using your strengths as we saw before
you simply feel happier
so here you have this beautiful virtuous
circle that many successful companies
practice
to give you an example the fortune
company
analyzes the 100 best companies to work
for
these organizations apply policies to
improve the well-being of their
employees
it turns out that these 100 best
companies to work for
triple the return on investment compared
to other
equivalent indexes
when people are happy they perform
better especially new generations
millennials and centennials who really
want to be happy
doing what they like at work happiness
itself is a priority for them
so if we want people to perform better
it looks like it is a good idea to have
policies
that help employees feel happy doing
their job and this explains why
happiness at work is indeed
a competitive advantage
so now what can you do to increase
happiness at work
there are many initiatives that you can
take
today i will focus on the one that
from my experience as a company trainer
in happiness at work
is the most powerful one
and this is help people
do more of what makes them happy
in other words let people craft
their job amy grenierski from yale
university
discovered that the one common trait in
the happiest people in organizations
was that they all had modified
tweaked shaped their job
making it more meaningful so they could
use their talents
more this is called job crafting
and it can be defined as the process
that helps individuals
reshape their jobs so that they can do
more
of what makes them happy
this is not about doing only the tasks
that you like
not at all we’ll have a job description
and responsibilities to accomplish but
at the same time
you can really sculpt your job and
modify some tasks
so you can use your talents more
the example of the waiter jose in
formentera is a great one
because he is doing something meaningful
he is using his
strengths and his talent and he is
adding
value to his position and to the
restaurant
if you think this case is a bit unusual
let me share with you another great
example of job crafting
that came out from the trainings icar
reacting companies
in those workshops i use a process where
participants have to define
what their talents are what they enjoy
most and what their strengths are
and considering all these they have to
brainstorm
about what they can do to unleash
their full potential adding value
to the organization and this is the
moment
when amazing things happen
i can remember vividly a sales
representative called
elisa before the training she told me
i like my job but it is boring and not
very fulfilling for me
during the workshop she shared with us
that besides
sales she was passionate about learning
and teaching
after the brainstorming exercise she
felt she could join
both disciplines sales and teaching
to create a specific training in the
company
you could see how she was getting more
and more excited with her idea
she defined her action plan and when she
presented it
to the human resources department not
only they said yes
but they helped her to prepare the
training
five months later she was delivering her
first
session and sometime later she became
a sales coach in the company
look at this you have a sales expert
you have a person that knows the company
and the business
and you have someone that is passionate
about teaching
and all of them are the same person
when people do what makes them happy at
work
amazing things happen
so now how can you as entrepreneur
leader or colleague help others grab
their job
here you have three ideas that we
develop
during the trainings first idea
let people do their job their way
we all are different so we have
different ways of doing things
the more we can do our job in our own
way
the better we feel in fact
everyone loves to leave their personal
stamp
in the job they do we as leaders
have to make sure that objectives and
responsibilities are clear
and we should provide a framework but
within this
if you give people the space and the
autonomy to do their job
their way they will be more committed
and they will feel better
second idea help people
maximize their talents
when you use your strengths and
capabilities
you feel good and perform better
however how do you feel when you cannot
use your talents at work
how frustrated do you get
in a very interesting research about the
job satisfaction
a 27 year old millennial called luis
alberto
said the following many companies talk a
lot about
promotion and career path however
i have never been asked what i like the
most
what tasks i do best or how i
could develop my talent
you can feel in this sentence how louis
alberto is frustrated
for being suppressed and how he would
like to unleash
his full potential doing his job
so if you want your team to maximize
their talents
what if you help them apply in job
crafting
why don’t you have a conversation and
then you ask them
what motivates you what could you like
to do more
how could you put it into practice
and how can i help you with that
imagine that your manager asked these
questions to you from time to time
how would you feel and how would you
feel when he or she
helps you feel happier at work
think about it because you can easily do
that with your team
just by having this conversation
and you will really have a huge impact
in their happiness and performance
third idea craft your job
yourself if you want to develop job
crafting in the company
why don’t you start by yourself
devote some time reflecting about your
unique talents
think about what you could like to do
more
and then define in a realistic way
what tasks you would like to modify or
just
start doing
as a leader give yourself permission
to do more of what makes you happy
not only you will feel better but you
will be
leading by example
so after having seen that happiness at
work is a competitive advantage
and also how to increase happiness by
applying job crafting
i would like to end with a proposal
if you as entrepreneur or leader
want to increase the level of happiness
and performance in your team
sit with them and just ask them
how can i help you so you can do more
of what makes you happy
this is a crucial conversation
and one worth having because when people
do what makes them
happy at work
amazing things happen
thank you very much