Tanzanite, white peacocks and joy-led workplaces.
What do these three things have in common? They’re rare!
Now you may ask yourself, “are joy-led workplaces really that uncommon?”
In reality, if you look at the recently released 2017 edition of the “State of the
Global Workplace” report by Gallup, you’ll find that, although the number of
“actively disengaged people” (i.e. the employees who are frustrated and
unproductive at work and are most likely spreading negativity to coworkers)
has dropped by nine percent in the last eight years, the number of truly
engaged people has not gone up.
These numbers show that although we have reduced the
number of toxic workplace cultures, we have not really
created great workplace environments where people
enjoy coming to work and where they can flourish. Great
places to work should not be something that is rare.
This three-part series will focus on four uncommon
habits that joy-driven leaders employ to refuel positivity
and engagement while delivering predictable excellence.
and since we all like things that are easy to remember,
you can use the word rAre as you begin to practice and
develop these four habits.
l redIScover your relationships: To our human brain,
joy is relational. This means that we find joy through
our connections and relationships with others, which
is why it is frequently said that, “people don’t leave
companies, people leave people.” Because of this, a
typical leader tends to be problem-focused, whereas a
rarE leader tends to be people-focused.
l APPrecIAte your assets: i’m not much of an
accounting whiz, but when i started my own business
i found it interesting that things like printers and
computers were considered assets on my general
ledger, while the people i hired to work with me were
considered liabilities. as an accountant this makes
sense, and common leaders tend to see it this way as
well. however, rarE leaders have learned to look
beyond the budget sheet and appreciate their biggest
assets: their people. People are the biggest compet-
itive advantage we have in our business. Products,
services and processes can be duplicated and
recreated, but our people are unique and the team
dynamic we create with these assets cannot be repli-
cated.
l return to your joy: Life and work don’t always go as
planned. People don’t always behave as you expect
them to. When these unexpected situations happen,
common leaders resort to complaining, avoiding or
throwing themselves a pity party. rarE leaders, on
the other hand, bounce back from these overwhelming
and challenging situations by returning to their joy.
They do this by focusing on the process, not the
outcomes; carving out quiet time to reflect and staying
positive, among other ways. They are able to face their
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