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Happiness at Work: Maximizing Your Psychological Capital for Success

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Our work is such a significant part of our lives; it is important what we consider our Happiness at Work. From the employer's point of view, the difference in productivity between those workers who consider themselves happy and those who do not is very significant. Happy workers have more positive impact on all facets of work therefore the employer must consider "the what and how" of fostering Happiness at Work.

Happiness at Work is the result of an in-depth research study undertaken by the author Jessica Pryce-Jones and her associates.

There are some startling findings from this study that clearly demonstrate the importance of studying and understanding the factors that contribute to happiness at work. For example, "If you are really happy at work, you'll be 180 percent happier with life overall, have 180 percent more energy and be nearly 50 percent more productive than your less happy colleagues."

So what are the factors? According to the study there are 5 Cs that form the basis or foundation for happiness at work. They are contribution, conviction, culture, commitment and confidence. The findings were that the people who contribute the most, that is work the hardest are the happiest at work.

For each factor in the 5 Cs, there is a complete discussion and the results of their study.

After the 5Cs, comes Pride, Trust and Recognition. You must have pride in where you work, you must trust your employer and you must receive recognition for your efforts. And the last piece is "Achieving Your Potential". You will not be happy at work unless you feel you are achieving your potential.

The book discusses each of the 5 Cs in great detail, explaining what each means, how it is developed and fostered and the impact it has on Happiness at Work. At the end of each chapter is a summary statement about the chapter as well as the "top take-away" from it.

This book was the result of a well researched study. So there are some 31 pages of references at the end of the book.

This is a very important study that documents the relation between happiness at work and productivity. It clearly shows how our attitude and beliefs impact our lives, our energy and our results in both work and life.

Although the book is only 190 pages, there is very little white space. The layout is not one that I found reader friendly. There are numerous quotes in darkened boxes aligned on the side of many pages. I find this a bit distracting, I never know when to break from the text to read the quote. While some of the quotes were interesting, they break my concentration on the text and therefore I view them a bit negatively.

Apart from the layout and too many (for my taste) sidebar quotes, the book is an excellent study in employee happiness

There is a lot of value to be gained from this book. But be aware that it is the result of an in-depth study so it is a bit academic. It will probably remind you of a college level textbook.

On occasion, I'll be offered a book for reading/reviewing that seems to come at a very opportune time. This ended up being one of those books... Happiness at Work: Maximizing Your Psychological Capital for Success by Jessica Pryce-Jones. There's no argument that the typical workplace has changed dramatically in the last few years, and I know my reactions have changed along with it. I've been having problems trying to wrap my thoughts around the "why" and "what now" aspects, and this book has given me some new perspectives and insights on things.

Contents:

Prologue; Why Happiness at Work? Why Now?; The Research Journey; Contribution from the Inside-Out; Contribution from the Outside-In; Conviction; Culture; Commitment; Confidence; Pride, Trust, and Recognition; Achieving Your Potential; Happiness at Work: A Conclusion; What Next; References Dramatis Personae; Index

Pryce-Jones bases her work on 5 Cs that form the basis for your level of happiness at work:

- Contribution - your effort and achievement (inside-out) as well as respect and appreciation (outside-in)

- Conviction - your motivation and feeling that you make a difference

- Culture - your work environment and how well you fit into that culture in terms of behavior and interactions

- Commitment - feeling that what you're doing is worthwhile, as well as having a positive feeling towards the work and organization

- Confidence - belief that you can handle the jobs, tasks, and interactions expected of you

Wrapped around these 5Cs are the concepts of Pride, Trust, and Recognition. Pride is having the feelings of value based on what you do and where you're headed. Trust is having faith in the organization, that they will deliver on what is promised and that they can be believed. And finally, Recognition is the acknowledgement from others based on what you do and how you do it. When all of these are considered as a whole and are present for you, you end up with a high level of happiness in your workplace which translates into a much higher level of productivity and satisfaction.

Depending on where you're at and what you're experiencing, you'll likely find that different parts of the book resonate at different levels. For me, the chapter on Confidence hit me hard, due to a number of technology changes we're going through. When you go from being "the expert" to not having all the answers any more, it *definitely* causes your confidence (and by extension your happiness) to take a hit. Fortunately, Pryce-Jones doesn't just leave me stranded in the no-confidence zone. There are solid and concrete ways to address that problem, and I need to take a serious look at changes there. I also reacted strongly to the Trust aspect of the Happiness equation, mostly due to the ever-increasing precarious balance between workload, resources, and budget. It's dangerously easy to become cynical over words and actions, and again that doesn't do much for one's happiness and satisfaction at work.

Another aspect of the book that makes it valuable is the sidebar entries from real people in real situations. A majority of the pages have sidebar margin stories that relate to the happiness aspect being discussed, and those stories move this book from "just another framework" to something that actually matches up with how things work in the real world. Without these stories, I probably would have found myself considering many of the concepts in an academic and theoretical fashion, not applying them to my own reality. With the stories to flesh out the ideas, that wasn't a problem.

Happiness at Work is a very good book for understanding aspects of work that traditionally aren't considered "important." And if you're struggling with a job (either new or long-term) that doesn't seem to have that "spark", you may find out why (as well as how to change yourself and get re-centered),

Disclosure:

Obtained From: Publicist

Payment: Free

Dread and unhappiness are the biggest barriers to productivity. "Happiness at Work: Maximizing Your Psychological Capital for Success" is a guide to keeping one's spirits up throughout one's career. With simple and straight forward language, Jessica Pryce-Jones comes at readers with a massive an assortment of tips and tricks, and explains why happiness matters and why doing something you hate for prolonged periods of time is not going to do you any favors. "Happiness at Work" is an intriguing and thoughtful read on workplace morale, a top pick for any career psychology collection.

The fact that everything is tied to credible research makes this book a real step forward in understanding how to enjoy work and I believe has the potential to be one of those books that gets referenced a lot, i.e., I'd classify it as important work. What was disappointing is that the further I got into the book the worse the editing got. Hopefully, this will be rectified in the next edition of which I'm sure there will be one. Even so, I believe it's well worth reading, in fact I'd go as far as to say if you care about work productivity it's a must read.

I selected Amabile's admonition as the title of this review because I think it offers the single best career advice anyone has as yet devised. It also suggests what may well be the single greatest challenge that business leaders now face: How to get the work to be done in proper alignment with strategic objectives but also in alignment with the talents, skills, temperament, and experience of those best qualified to do that work?

Many years ago, then chairman and CEO of Southwest Airlines, Herb Kelleher, said "If we take good care of our people, they'll take good care of our customers, and our customers will take good care of our shareholders." Year after year, Fortune ranks Southwest Airlines among the companies that are most admired, the best to work for, etc. It is no coincidence that its cap value and profits are greater than those of the next nine airlines...combined.

Now consider the results of recent research conducted by highly reputable firms that include Gallup and Towers Perrin: on average, about 25-30% of employees in a U.S workplace are actively and productively engaged and about 35-40% are passively engaged (doing as little as necessary to stay employed); as for the others, they are actively disengaged, with many of them hostile and having a toxic effect within and beyond their workplace. Companies such as Southwest Airlines, Nordstrom's, The Container Store, SAS, Edward Jones, Wegmans, and Google have no problems with employee engagement.

All this serves as an introduction to Jessica Pryce-Jones's book, Happiness at Work, in which she explains with rigor and eloquence how to maximize "psychological capital for success." She invokes the term "happiness" for the same reasons that Tom Rath invokes the term "well-being" in his most recently published book bearing that term as its title. He agrees with Pryce-Jones that happy workers feel appreciated, enjoy the work they are asked to do and take pride in doing it well, share mutual trust and respect with their associates, welcome and appreciate constructive feedback, are committed to continuous improvement, embrace challenges, and in countless other ways do all they can to help their organization prosper.

Based on extensive research in 79 countries, Pryce-Jones and her associates learned a great about what happiness at work is...and isn't. The specific lessons learned fall within ten subject areas, with a separate chapter devoted to each. Shrewdly, Pryce-Jones also includes a "Top takeaways" list of key points at the end of each chapter. Readers will also appreciate the strategic deployment of several dozen boxed contributions by a wide range of people whose observations are especially relevant to the theme of the chapter in which h they are inserted. These have an authenticity because, literally, they are voices from the real world expressed by those who have direct experience with the given issues, such as:

What value do my contributions have?

What are my major motivations?

How well do I fit in within my workplace culture?

How much do I care - really care - about what I do and how I do it?

How confident am I that I am where I want to be, doing what I want to do?

Of course, each individual worker must answer these and other questions but I think Pryce-Jones is correct that supervisors would be well-advised keep in mind that those for whom they are directly responsible are probably asking most (if not all) of these questions frequently. I presume to suggest that supervisors do whatever more they can do to make their direct reports feel that they are their efforts are appreciated; make their workplace a more enjoyable environment; encourage and support improved communication, cooperation, and collaboration between and among them and others in the workplace; ensure that - to the extent possible and appropriate - direct reports are doing what they enjoy most and do best; and [provide whatever reassurances and encouragement direct reports may need on occasion.

At least some business leaders have little (if any) interest in making workers "happier" and thus will ignore this book. Their focus is on getting workers to produce "morebettersooner" and at a lower cost. In fact, they should check out "The Ten Top Findings That Really Matter" from the iOpener Global Research Study (Pages 28-29). For example, "People who are happiest at work are 47 percent more productive than their least happy colleagues...they take only 1.5 days off sick a year [but] in the public sector that ranges from 11 up to a staggering 20 days...Employees in the top happiness group have 180 percent more energy than those who are most unhappy at work"...those who are most happy are 50 percent more motivated than those least happy", etc.

I highly recommend this book to leaders in any organization (whatever its size or nature may be) in which there is one or more of these needs: to increase positive and productive employee engagement, to eliminate waste, to establish and nourish a culture of transparency and civility, and to maximize co-creation initiatives both internally and externally. If your organization has one or more of these needs, Jessica Pryce-Jones offers the single best source for the information and counsel you require.

This immensely readable book delves into the science of happiness at work and the clear links with work productivity. In the past, happiness was so often seen as too soft an idea to be relevant to the workplace but it is now increasingly acknowledged as one of the key factors affecting work productivity.

This book sheds new light on the transformational effect of happiness in the workplace. I found `Happiness at Work' to be a mixture of sound practical advice backed up by years of thorough research, to insightful analysis drawing readers towards a self awareness of their own levels of happiness at work.

It is made all the more accessible by the fascinating anecdotes accompanying each chapter, with people interviewed ranging from country presidents and well known business leaders through to servers and cab drivers.

With work comprising about 100,000 hours of our lives, we should all certainly want to make the most of it. An inspirational read, breaking new ground - highly recommended.