Fun. Creativity. Laughter. Engagement.
Bah, humbug. We’re tired of the happiness@work drumbeat.
And we ignore the overwhelming amount of articles and treatises and tomes that explain, in five, eight, ten or 12 steps, how to encourage those smiley faces in the office.
Why?
Is it, as author William Davies insists, because corporate and government interests fix on the happiness quotient, without drilling into the context that started the not-so-content quotient?
Could our sadnesses be attributed to bosses who are negative or simply not great people managers?
Perhaps it’s due to the belief that happiness is 1) up to the individual and 2) somewhat fleeting in its appearances?
We vote for the last. [Even though umpteen studies say that happiness is the ultimate productivity booster.]
Instead, from our forays into Fortune 500s and private firms alike, we find that the real test of engagement at work is the person who’s found a calling, who’s content in what s/he does, and who feels that s/he makes a contribution to the company. Not happiness. It’s all about the nature of the work (thank you, Dan Pink) and the deep-down belief that we make things happen – and that things don’t happen to us.
Others might call it open awareness, the ability to see the big picture and not be held back by self-imposed limits. Or simply another way of defining the ultimate selfie.