Joy at Work

I’ve been thinking about joy.

I’ve been thinking about joy, particularly joy at work.

Now I run my own small business, but in the past I was employed. I reflected recently on the times when I felt the most joy at work. In general – and bearing in mind these were my own experiences – it was when the team I was working with burst out laughing about something, or when we came up with a great idea, or when I felt in flow fleshing out an idea.

The nature of work has changed a lot since Roosevelt’s time, but the goals of achievement and creative effort are still ones to strive for, albeit more for teams than for individuals.

Joy in teams

Richard Sheridan (Joy, Inc.) has done extensive thinking and experimenting in joy at work. At his company Menlo Innovations, people work in teams all the time, and those teams are rotated on a frequent basis. This contributes to:

·      Continuous learning, knowledge sharing, and genuine connection

·      Everyone being included

·      A sense of safety when entering unknown territory

·      A level of increased productivity that comes from being flexible and open to suggestion

·      Practice in teaching, coaching, and presenting

As Sheridan puts it, “[Working in pairs] produces a joy in learning that most of us haven’t experienced in years, perhaps since elementary school, when everything was new and all we had to do was absorb it.”

Bring in joy

What brings you joy at work? I encourage you to have discussions in your team about ways to invite in more joy at work. Warning: their suggestions may be surprising and challenging. But the result could produce amazingly creative ways to solve existing problems as well as those that you don’t yet know you have.

Pay joy forward

I’d love to publish the changes you make and the effects they have, to encourage others that it can be done. Send your successes to me at Ellia@ThePotentialCenter.com.

Or, if you desire assistance in inviting joy into your team, let’s arrange a time to talk.

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With the right support, any individual, team, and organization can learn creative ways to solve problems. I’m hired by visionary leaders to coach them in creative problem-solving techniques that open the door to a kickass culture of innovation. They experience how Light Bulb Thinking™ helps solve problems in the here and now, and guides decisions about what to do going forward,… while building stronger, happier teams.

Would you like to see what tapping into creative potential could look like for your team or organization? Arrange an exploratory call - email me at Ellia@ThePotentialCenter.com.

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