Do you believe that people work harder when they are happy? Are you a person who feels delighted to help others find what their real happiness is ? Then you surely have a fraction of what it takes to be a Chief Happiness Officer (CHO).
Even though Chief Happiness Officers are not as well known as their C-suite colleagues such as Chief executive officer or chief financial officer etc, they perform a significant function to facilitate an organization to achieve its mission. CHOs are capable of fostering happiness, loyalty and productive workforce by the delivery of happiness to the office.
“Happiness at Work” Be Your Own (CHO) Chief Happiness Officer:
The following mentioned are few tips on how to be happy at work and also about the art of happiness.
1. Skills, interests and qualities required:
Some qualities other than the quality of delivering happiness that are required are tough team building skills, compassion, emotionally intelligent, verbal and written communication skills, efficient people skills, problem solving skills, ability to motivate other people and inspire them, willingness to help, good decision making skills etc. You have to be fun and approachable.
2. Why a company should have CHO?
Happy employees excel at time management, make better decisions and hold other essential leadership skills. Happy employees are likely to be associated longer with the company. Companies can therefore save money on training and recruiting new employees who are otherwise recruited to replace the unhappy leavers.
3. Duty of CHO:
CHO has a duty of creating a work culture that is highly valuable; help enhance employee relations and promote improved teamwork. A CHO is thus an asset for the welfare of not just the public of an organization but for the overall organization itself.
4. Treat everyone like humans!:
It may sound like the understandable thing to do but many organization fail to value each employee as their asset. Bad treatment has always been the biggest factor for turnovers. The employees should be treated like customers in matters of respect, actions, promises and vocabulary.
5. Guarantee the basics:
Before any attempts to make the employees happy, you need to ensure that the basic needs of the employees are covered. Before setting out to making them happier or more happy, make sure they receive timely salaries and no excessive administrative struggles.
6. Pledge to build the right culture:
It is essential to pledge to build the right culture for a long term and sustainable brand. Your main objective has to be of creating the welfare of the customers you serve and for the employees as well.
To make this objective the basis of your business, you will have to commit the time and financial resources. Moreover, it should be your personal agenda to learn and build a right culture.
7. Identify your central values:
You cannot leave your clients to keep guessing values of your company. Thus you will have to initially note down your own values and the values that you wish the company to reflect. Check if they align. Establish core values that you can represent. You will be appreciated by the employees for being genuine and transparent.
8. Cause each one to feel part of larger mission:
You need to define larger visions and purpose that you wish to instill in your employees beyond revenue and money. You need to identify what will be your driving force to work passionately without fear and even if you did not make any profit.
When you identify the answer it will be your new ideal for your business. Next step would be to make your employees feel a part of it in order to make them work behind it passionately.
9. Generate a culture of optimistic interdependence:
It is important to spend time in creating an environment and communication style that will be conducive for you and your workforce to build meaningful relationships. The underlying goal is to generate a bond among the workforce so that they support and have positive reliance on each other.
Employees that are able to work along with each other well will make a fulfilled team that will translate into better client interactions, ideas and products. In turn it will attract more business opportunities, more new clients and better recruits.
10. Form the right team and empower:
You need to utilize your distinct set of values to sort out the best candidates to hire, who will not just embrace your culture but even facilitate to develop it. As soon as you have the right team in place, you need to invest in their development personally and professionally as well as share the profit of your business through proper recognition and rewards.
11. Respect all:
This is one of the best ways to be happy. It is an important tool you must have to generate a happy working at workforce. When you respect the people in your company and their decisions, it will evidently demonstrate to them that you believe them to be vital and valuable.
The employees will not just get high confidence; it will even generate a personal drive for them to value the company and its achievements. It will in turn result into enhanced loyalty, high efficiency and higher quality of work.
12. Building Trust:
After you have built the right team, maintain it by building robust trust relationships. Give them the tasks they are supposed to do, never predict people by guesswork or undercut them.
Support them and provide the liberty they require to complete a work in a timely manner. High level of trust in a firm will generate more accountability and responsibility along with people who give their optimum to the organization.
13. Be the head and lead:
It upsets employees when they are not given clear directions or when the boss keeps changing the goal priorities for no evident reasons. When you have set the defined vision for your business share it with your employees and encourage them to join in, to achieve the same. Demonstrate them how they fit into the vision. It can be done by setting clear and constant goals, one step at a time which will help you and your employees get there.
14. Flow of feedbacks:
To keep the employees happy, highly motivated and on track, it is best to maintain the flow of feedbacks on their work quality. When you spot an error, no matter how minor it is, point it out to the respective employee as soon as it has happened so that the employees learn from it instantly.
At the same time, provide equal attention to a job well performed. When employees are aware of the regular and honest feedbacks from you on their work, they will do their best to improve.
15. Provide employees with a voice:
The distinct individuals who are working for your company have a need to be heard. For this, they must be provided with proper channels, instructions and action path that ensure a rejoinder to their ideas and requirements.
16. Offer them freedom:
Offer the employees freedom to manage time and productivity. Provide them the freedom to customize their work space and freedom to execute their own ideas. When you give people freedom, they become more inspired to work.
17. Be flexible:
You need to be flexible with your employee’s schedule as much as possible. There are surely some tasks that has to be completed under a specific timeframe but when employees need adjustment for a personal reason, plus is willing to be flexible in return such as by staying late for completion then try to make the adjustment. Make sure your people know that it is a privilege meant to be earned and is not a right.
18. Demonstrate Appreciation:
Make sure you are doing something consistently to demonstrate your employees that you appreciate the work they do individually. It could imply ordering lunch for the staff once in a month or holding an impromptu sports event at the foyer.
Be sure that people know that you care. It should be something made fun, relaxing as well as real. Your people will begin to anticipate coming to work instead of feeling dreadful to have come to work.
19. Support Growth:
Sometimes all a person needs is a belief that they can grow. You can turn into the person who pushes them in any stage of their work experience and help them build their strengths and take on more opportunities.
20. Promote effective teamwork:
How a team performs is a direct indicator of how an organization is doing on the whole. You might have hired the best candidates for your company however you have to make them work together and acquire targets. There are only few people who are naturally accustomed to work well in teams. This is where a CHO steps up and offers training, team building activities and constant support.
Finally:
Happiness in the workplace has become a justifiable concern for both employees and employers equally. Firstly commit to build the right team and culture, make simple happiness a value in everything you and your company performs, if you own a business or trying to establish a strong brand.
The manner in which you lead the intention behind the products or services that you serve and the treatment of your employees by you are the factors that help in becoming a Chief Happiness Officer.
