work Tag

There are many good reasons why happiness at work should be considered a priority by all involved (employers and employees). Research clearly suggests, for example, that positive workplaces have higher morale, better engagement, are more productive and attract and retain the best people. Happy workers...

21 February, 2011

We've often written about how to apply the principles of positive psychology in the workplace and in fact much of our work here at The Happiness Institute, and our Executive Coaching & Consulting division Positive Leadership Development, is within organisations and/or with teams. So when Prof....

21 February, 2011

Salary levels are well down the list of reasons given by both happy and unhappy workers for the feelings they have about their jobs. new survey from jobs website seek.co.nz found that among workers who consider themselves happy in their jobs, work environment topped the list...

05 January, 2011

I've writtem much about happiness at work before but mostly (for obvious reasons) my focus has been on psychological and interpersonal variables. That is, I typically look at happiness at work from the perspective of the individual, the team or sometimes the organisation...

09 November, 2010

Now here's a really interesting article from Forbes...

According to a recent survey of 1,500 chief executives conducted by IBM_ã_s Institute for Business Value, CEOs identify _ã–creativity_㝠as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future. The link may initially not be intuitive, but spawning creativity in the workforce comes back to corporate social responsibility. While corporate responsibility is often used in reference to the organization_ã_s interaction with outside communities, it also touches upon how members of the organization are actually treated and valued. How they are treated determines both self-perception and performance within the workplace and is correlated with life happiness in general.

Writers, business leaders and psychologists have long hypothesized about the link between work environments and creativity, and the challenges in harnessing natural human creativity to optimize performance. One scientist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, explains the optimal state of mind, when creativity is at its highest, as _ã–flow._㝠Flow is when our minds and bodies are stretched to their limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something worthwhile and difficult.

The link between happiness and creative _ã–flow_㝠is explained in a Scientific American article that chronicles the results of a study published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. The study found that _ã–With positive mood, you actually get more access to things you would normally ignore_ã_ Instead of looking through a porthole, you have a landscape or panoramic view of the world._㝠In other words, the results suggest that happiness makes people more receptive to information of all kinds, and therefore results in greater creative thought processes. (Note: it can also lead to greater distraction, so read the article).

06 November, 2010

By Vicki Salemi for Forbes.com For Jackie Donovan, director of marketing and merchandising at Fairway Market, coming to the office every morning is a joy, despite the long hours. Donovan manages 30 employees and fields approximately 600 e-mails every day. Although she's never worked harder in...

17 August, 2010

HAPPINESS at work has nothing to do with promotions, pay rises or sitting in the corner office. Srikumar Rao, a Columbia University professor and author of Happiness at Work, said the exact attributes we look for in a career do not exist in any job. Instead,...

10 August, 2010