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You are here: Home / Key 1. The Aloha Spirit / They seem happy enough. — Goal!

They seem happy enough. — Goal!

January 2, 2013

“They seem happy enough.”

Does that sentence bother you? It bothers me, for it was said by a manager about his team.

Things are not always what they seem.
And why “they” instead of “we?”
Is there really an “enough” which can contain true happiness?

Here’s a goal for the Alaka‘i Manager to consider in this shiny new year:

Define true happiness in your workplace.

Then ask yourself, “Are we happy?”

If the answer is anything but an enthusiastic “Yes!” you’ll need to get to work to make it so.

I don’t think I need to extol the virtues of happiness for you. Happiness is good — it’s great, and we know it’s far better than all unhappy alternatives. Happiness is a fantastic beginner’s place, from which we’ll leap forward toward creativity, imagination and hope with positive, abundant energies.

Our “seem happy” workplaces can cover a gamut of less than happy circumstance. Survivor guilt and all its hangin’ around relatives are common culprits, where “seem happy” actually translates to “well at least I have a job” or “I guess it could be worse” or “I just don’t have a better idea/option/chance/expectation/opportunity right now; this will have to do.”

None of those things sound very happy, do they. Settling for second best means complacency and boredom have set in, and all striving for better has been derailed.

I truly don’t mean to be negative as the year starts. Knowing the nature of January, I want you, as the Alaka‘i Manager you seek to be, to “Get Real” (in that Pono state of mind described here) and set great goals for yourself this year.

Great goals need not be strategically detailed and pompously complicated; they just have to be good. They have to be worthy.

To set a goal like this —

“I’ll work daily
to assure we are really, truly happy in our work.”

— is SMART: Specific [Use next-stepping. Go for small wins.], Measurable, Aloha-Abundant, Rewarding for everyone involved (including you, Kākou), and Trustworthy. Achieve it, and you’ll be able to trust in the continual success of your culture-building because your best possible foundation is in place; people Ready (see ‘Ike loa for 2013) for Ho‘ohana intentions and Ho‘ohanohano behaviors.

Happiness is readiness.

If you’re looking for a place to start in 2013, managing with new energies and smart intentions, get happy. Happiness in the Aloha Workplace is the best start to have as you Rally your ‘Ohana.

Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin.
Beginning makes the conditions perfect.
– Alan Cohen –

Postscript: The links I have embedded in this posting primarily go to only 3 other articles, connecting their dots: Have you read them?

  1. Going Forward into 2013, with Aloha
    • ALOHA ~ In Grace and Kindness
    • HO‘OHANA ~ The Worthwhile Work of our Choosing
    • ‘OHANA ~ Rally your tribe
    • KĀKOU ~ Speak with Aloha, and Receive with Aloha
    • ‘IKE LOA ~ Student, be Ready
    • HO‘OHANOHANO ~ Demeanor is your Open Door
    • ALAKA‘I ~ Answer your Calling
    • MĀLAMA ~ Serve to Honor
    • PONO ~ Get Real! Visceral is good.
    • KA LĀ HIKI OLA ~ Back to the Beginning is Opportunity
  2. The 10 Beliefs of an Alaka‘i Manager
  3. The Language of We

· Key 1. The Aloha Spirit, Key 2. Worthwhile Work, Key 4. The Role of the Manager Reconstructed, Key 6. The ‘Ohana in Business Model

Comments

  1. Rosa Say says

    January 24, 2013 at 9:15 am

    January 24th Update:
    Just read a good article by Emily Esfahani Smith for The Atlantic: There’s More to Life Than Being Happy. In it, she recalls Viktor Frankl’s bestselling 1946 book, Man’s Search for Meaning, which he wrote in nine days about his experiences in the Nazi concentration camps. She points out Frankl’s relevant wisdom in her analysis of new studies done, concluding: “This is why some researchers are cautioning against the pursuit of mere happiness.”

    As he saw in the camps, those who found meaning even in the most horrendous circumstances were far more resilient to suffering than those who did not. “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing,” Frankl wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning, “the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

    The article resonated with me in light of its timeliness – I had written this posting, and then just a few days later I had a coaching conversation with a manager about the self-motivations of his staff. The question we talked story about, is a direct hit to the practical application of Smith’s article in our workplaces, and why “We don’t manage by the book; we manage by the person.”

    The question stirring our conversation was, “What if an employee doesn’t care about vision, mission, meaning or purpose, but just wants to be happy?”

    Sometimes a person is motivated by the pursuit of happiness, and sometimes the same person can be motivated by the pursuit of meaning: A manager is tasked with knowing which playing field they are currently on, and helping them achieve their goals there, so they can move forward – a great manager is versed in responding to both motivations — and honoring them.

    We will often question people and argue with them, imposing our own shoulds, “But don’t you want this to be more meaningful?” (see the 2nd ‘possibility robber’) when the better approach is to meet them where they are first, and tackle change later when they want it, or feel they newly need it — often we’ll find they’ll initiate that change when they’re ready.

    I encourage you to read Smith’s article in your next quiet moment – she offers much food for thought about this.

  2. Rosa Say says

    April 9, 2013 at 1:34 pm

    From Fast Company Co.Create: How One Company Taught Its Employees How To Be Happier, And What Happened Next

    Snippet:

    …studies show that it pays to make employees happier. In his book The Happiness Advantage: Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work, author and researcher Shawn Achor analyzes the body of research conducted over the last decade regarding how happier employees impact the workplace, and he determines that a happy workforce raises sales by 37 percent, productivity by 31 percent, and accuracy on tasks by 19 percent.

    “It’s irrefutable. We know happy employees are the most successful employees, so happiness brings success, and that brings success to our organizations,” Sole says. “This is a win-win all around.”

Trackbacks

  1. This January, Slow Down says:
    January 8, 2013 at 12:45 pm

    […] They seem happy enough. — Goal! […]

  2. Alaka‘i Managers are the new Energy Bunnies says:
    January 17, 2013 at 11:31 am

    […] They seem happy enough. — Goal! […]

  3. Revisiting the Daily 5 Minutes: Lessons Learned says:
    January 20, 2013 at 12:36 pm

    […] better manager in the space of your own influences. Be an Aloha Energy Bunny, one obsessed with the basic happiness of their well-being ~ Happiness is […]

  4. Life’s 3 Stops in Motivation: Happiness, Meaning, Service says:
    January 24, 2013 at 4:04 pm

    […] This posting is follow-up to a conversation started here: They seem happy enough. — Goal! (published January 2, 2013) … and then commented on here — same place, scroll to the comments, […]

  5. The instinctive, natural selection of Wanting says:
    January 28, 2013 at 10:28 am

    […] We often do try too hard, zooming past the simpler solutions most people want, particularly with underestimating happiness. Life’s 3 Motivators are also what a manager delivers: What we give to our workplaces are paths […]

  6. Policy Changes Ache Groundwork says:
    February 7, 2013 at 6:00 pm

    […] think about how you can help others get ready, (like this, or this), just as ready as you […]

  7. Managing Basics: Study Their Work says:
    April 18, 2013 at 2:13 pm

    […] work which is being done by our people, and we help them become power users, smart, confident, and happy about what they do. We want them to shine in what they achieve because they actually do it perceptively, and they do it […]

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19 Values of Aloha: Index Pages

There are 19 Values of Aloha taught within the Managing with Aloha philosophy:

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