You feel happiness at work? This feeling has gone from being a personal emotion to an essential requirement for a healthy workplace. To this end, figures such as the Chief Happiness Officer or the Director of Happiness, has become a key element in many organizations. Happiness in the workplace can be achieved by empowering employees with exciting projects, a strong work-life balance, and flexible skill-building opportunities for continued growth.
5 tips to find happiness at work
I share the five keys to keep in mind to achieve happiness (and maintain it) in our workplace:
1. Make use of personal strengths
According to the Gallup consultancy, those people who have the opportunity to do what they like and carry it out at work, consequently obtain greater job satisfaction and performance. It is important to apply small changes that respond to or enhance one’s own strengths. However, it is necessary to spend time discovering them and finding ways to put them into practice.
2. Increase positive emotions
As psychologist Barbara Fredickson points out, experiences characterized by positive emotions make us smarter, healthier, and also improve our relationships. Thus, there are emotions such as joy, humor, optimism, hope and, of course, gratitude, which should always be present in the work environment. Capturing these positive emotions on paper at the end of each working day also allows our brain to have the ability to always detect positive factors versus negative ones.
3. Practice effective mindfulness
An attentive brain is a happy brain. The ability to concentrate is fundamental to our well-being and happiness. Of course, we will always have certain external (emails, phone calls, etc.) and internal (personal problems, anxiety, etc.) distractions that can prevent us from fully concentrating on the task at hand. Therefore, it is necessary to practice concentration and set aside some time to concentrate.
4. Improve interpersonal relationships
The quality of our relationships makes us happier and creates much healthier environments and situations. Behaviors such as being more grateful, actively listening to the other person, eliminating unconditional prejudices, etc., help us to promote quality relationships in the work environment.
5. Set clear goals
To achieve happiness in the work environment, it is also essential to find the impact of what one does. In other words, always carry out our work with a purpose behind it, which allows us to create greater security in what we do. To do this, ask yourself “why do I do what I do?” it can help us to look for that purpose that manages to make us happy.
In recent years, research on happiness at work has accelerated, going from being a trend to being considered a necessity in organizations. For this reason, it is essential that, beyond generating environments of happiness, through greater autonomy, flexibility and agile processes, companies also help, train and encourage their employees to make decisions that allow them to be happy.
Agustin Lopez Guzman Expert in leadership and happiness at work. Consultant, trainer and coach in public and private organizations. Its purpose is to accompany and inspire people and organizations to develop the skills, habits and processes necessary to increase the levels of happiness and well-being to achieve the desired results.