Happiness at Work: Time-Tested Wisdom Still Valid Today

It may sound strange, but Socrates taught us much about good leadership, inclusion, and innovation. 

Regarding good leadership, expert studies conclude that there is a positive relationship between happiness and organizational performance. Happy people are more productive and efficient at work. Happiness spurs innovation,  smiling people generate more sales, and happy leaders are more transformational leaders. Good leadership generates more happiness at work. Therefore, I believe happiness is something to spread in our work environment. That is why I chose this as the topic for this article. 

Happiness, in this context, is well-being achieved through self-realization, self-sufficiency, and meaningful relations with others. 

The traditional definition of leadership would be the act of guiding a group of people toward a common goal using motivation, support, and delegating tasks. But as described earlier, I believe the role of the leader is to create an environment in which all members of the organization can realize and fulfill their own potential as well as feel comfortable and accepted as they are. Therefore, leadership is not about the leader, rather about what actions and reactions are generated within the team. I believe this is even more crucial today with the younger generations. Younger generations are seeking acceptance, representation, and equality through various movements. We want to be happy at work, where we spend a third of our weekdays, on average. 

I consider Socrates as a great source of inspiration. He continues to inspire leadership 2,500 years after his death, even if he did not write any books. Socrates is considered a pillar of Western philosophy and even a precursor of behavioral cognitive therapy. 

Here are  five actions, inspired by Socrates, I have found important to implement in my leadership: 

Build trust: 

Socrates developed a horizontal relationship between himself and his followers instead of a hierarchical one. He did not start his lessons by preaching but, rather, let his students speak first. Socrates did not give answers but asked the right questions. In this ,students learned how to question and come to conclusions by themselves. They found also that there may be not one sole solution or right answer but several. It is said that Elon Musk utilized the Socratic questioning approach when he started building his rockets. He did not take for granted that rockets need to be very expensive; instead, he studied the cost structure of the rockets. In this way, he discovered how he could make cheaper rockets. By building horizontal relationships we create trust among the teams, which allows members to suggest new innovative ways of doing things. 

Keep it simple:

We need to focus on what is important. In today’s world, we face so many possibilities for action that it may generate anxiety, not only in individuals but also in organizations. Therefore, whenever possible we should keep things simple. Making decisions requires time and energy and the task for choosing is more complex if we have too many options instead of two. Having clear goals helps to focus on the topics that are important. As leaders, we can help team members to prioritize, when needed. Clear and simple communication is crucial, and as Socrates taught, we should say only what is true, useful, and good. Gossip, speculation and unconstructive criticism should be left out.

Focus on what you can influence: 

“God, grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference,” said Reinhold Niebuhr, an American theologian. This maxim utilized by Anonymous Alcoholics also applies well to organizations. 

Firstly, we must identify the things we can and cannot change. We must take into consideration that the topics we can influence may change over time due to technological advances as well as changes in legislation and habits. In any organization there are things we can and cannot change. We may not be able to change the whole organization’s culture or the business environment, but we can change our team culture and our point of view, for example. We should focus on identifying our own zone of influence and on changing the things we can, and accepting what we cannot change. We can openly discuss the problems that are under our own sphere of power and try to find reusable solutions and not waste time on topics that are out of our control. 

Encourage a sense of belonging, filled with optimism, empathy, generosity, humbleness and learning: 

We always divide ourselves and others into in-groups and out-groups. It is  part of human nature. We favor in-groups over out-groups. In-groups are, for example, our compatriots, the members of our organization, and the people in our team. 

It is good to encourage a sense of belonging and create a sense of purpose for the group. We are stronger by working together toward a joint goal. 

To encourage a sense of belonging, highlighting similarities is good since it brings people closer together. We should highlight the values the team has in common, including perseverance, social skills, working together, and thinking big. 

An activity to enhance in-group belonging is to organize a friendly competition with another group. Studies show that a friendly competition against another group increases the loyalty toward the in-group but does not increase negativity toward the out-group. We could enforce belonging by having, say, a team karaoke night, d joint exercises, sing-alongs, or by creating a team motto. 

Other characteristics that generate happiness in the organization include optimism, generosity, humbleness, and learning. “Everything is opinion and opinion is in your power,” said Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Stoic Emperor, philosopher, and a devoted student of Socratic thought. 

We should always encourage our team to look at the positive side of things. Mistakes are made but we can learn from them. Tough situations may be discussed openly to learn from them. Some people see the glass as half full and others half empty; happier people see the glass half full. Optimism correlates with happiness and people who feel optimistic feel better. As a team, we can celebrate wins and successful projects. We can also celebrate learning, and generous acts of colleagues toward each other.  

Humbleness is required in building meaningful work relationships. Socrates said: ”All I know is that I don’t know anything,” which teaches us a lot about humbleness. Usually, none of us is 100% right; rather, people are, in general, partially right and partially wrong at the same time. Humbly understanding we do not know everything and taking into consideration several viewpoints to come nearer the truth is useful. 

Practice to improve skills and learning is important. We can give our team members more challenges to let them learn through projects and allow time to learn.  

At Business Finland, in Finland and Nordic countries, we have values and leadership principles that are very aligned to those described above, which I am grateful for. 

Thank you Mexico Business News for letting me share some of my thoughts on happiness and leadership. I would love to hear your thoughts and best practices on how to enhance happiness in teams.