Increasing productivity at work: helping your team take ownership

Jackie Smith

Productivity is a mix of

• Knowledge, Skills, Attitude

• Focus on task

• Sick leave

• Intention to quit

Happiness vs. engagement

Business case

Agenda: this morning

When we use the SoH@W

Definitions

Overview of the modelBenefits

Research journey

What is happiness at work?

‘Happiness at work is a mindset which allows you to maximize your performance and achieve your potential. You do this by being mindful of the highsand lows when working alone or with others.’

This isn’t just about the highs. It’s about creating a bank which you invest in and then drawn on.

Not just us...

Researchers:

Choices spawn

happiness

“Fun is the secret of Virgin’s success”- Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson

“ Convention dictates that a company looks after its shareholders first, its customers next and last of all worries about its employees.

Virgin does the opposite. At Virgin, employees matter most. It just seems common sense to me that, if you start off with a happy, well motivated workforce, you’re much more likely to have happy customers. And in due course the resulting profits will make your shareholders happy”Richard Branson

Income and happiness in the USA

Source: Layard, R (2005), ‘Happiness: Lessons from a new science’

GDP per Head in $, 2001% very happy people

Happiness at work pre and post recession

Pre recession

Post recession

The business case: intention to quit

Staying in job

30months

9

60months

35months

Comparing the happiest employees with their least happy colleagues

Sick leave

4days / year

7days / year

0.75

2days / year

Comparing the happiest employees with their least happy colleagues

The business case: sick leave

Focus on task

77%time on

task

40%time on

task

51%time on

task

80%time on

taskComparing the happiest employees with their least happy colleagues

The business case: focus on task

The normal curve

So what?

Taking an organization with 1000 employees and just moving the three middle groups up by one standard deviation:

1.74 additional full time employees

2.A$275,000 less in term of the cost of sick leave

3.Or 180 employees and A$705,000 if you go for 2 SDs

For employees who are happiest...

• 180% more energized• 155% happier in their jobs• 150% happier with life• 108% more engagement• 50% more motivation• 50% more belief in their potential• 40% more confidence

These are not standard outcome measures that e.g. most

pulse, team or engagement surveys examine

The performance-happiness model

What you do: your effort and your perception of it

Short term motivation

Feeling of fitLong term engagement

Belief in yourself and

your job

23%

31%

30%

40%

38%

Achieving your potential

50%

Achieving

your potential

Contribution

Confidence Conviction

CultureCommitment

Engagement and H@W

• H@W includes job satisfaction and engagement. But not vice versa: it’s therefore a ‘bigger’ concept

• Data shows you can have high engagement but low happiness

• Social desirability issues

• Engagement was developed in 70s and 80s

• Engagement and job satisfaction tend to focus on organizational/managerial attitudes

Country rankingsContribution Commitment Conviction Culture Confidence

Netherlands Sweden France Sweden Sweden

South Africa South Africa Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands

Australia Belgium Belgium Belgium Belgium

France France Sweden South Africa South Africa

Belgium Netherlands South Africa Germany Germany

Germany Australia UK UK UK

Sweden UK China Switzerland France

UK Switzerland Australia Australia Australia

China Germany Germany France China

Switzerland UAE UAE China Switzerland

UAE China Switzerland UAE UAE

Canada Canada Canada Canada Canada

USA USA USA USA USA

How did we research it?

• 14 focus groups• 67 interviews• A theory – Being Belonging Becoming: 50%,

15%, 35%• Study 1: 193• Study 2: 403• Study 3: 1940• Version 24• Validity and reliability• 5,500 respondents

Yes but...

Does happiness come first?

Or does performance make you happy?

Or perhaps it’s bi-directional?

Boehm J.K. & Lyubomirsky S, 2008, Does happiness promote career success, J of Career Assessment, 16(1), 101-116

When is this suitable?

To assess and respond to issues around performance and productivity including:

•Organizational ‘engagement’

•Change management

•Team or leadership development

•Individual coaching

Tailored success outcomes available to demonstrate ROI

• Errors

• Customer complaints

• Time to market

• Product or project delivery

• Key milestones or deliverables

Features and benefits in group contexts

Features Benefits

Every employee gets a report Results in more buy-in and personal ownership

Tailored outcomes measures Means greater relevance to an organization

In-house accreditation Leads to knowledge transfer: on-going support as required

Pin-points issues and start points precisely

Saves costly intervention time

Achieving your potential: is at the heart of the model

• Feeling energized• Using your

strengths• Using your skills• Learning• Overcoming

challenges

Achieving

your potential

Contribution

Confidence Conviction

CultureCommitment

Why do people do these things?

Achieving your potential: 5 elements

• Energy (indicator)

• Strengths (enabler)

• Skills (enabler)

• Learning (enabler)

• Overcoming challenges (outcome)

Achieving your potential exercise

In pairs: think of a time when you looked back and felt you had achieved your potential•What was the situation?

•What personal resources did it take to make that happen?

•Where was the stretch? What did you do to bridge it?

•What came into play?

•How did it make you feel?

•What themes do you notice that you can use again?

Contribution: the effort you make and your perception of it

Achieving

your potential

Contribution

Confidence Conviction

CultureCommitment

Contribution

Inside-Out• Achieving your goals• Having clear

objectives• Raising issues that

are important to you• Feeling secure in your

job

Outside-In• Being listened to• Getting positive

feedback• Being respected by

your boss• Being appreciated at

work

What you do: The effort you make and your perception of it

Contribution

• 0.7= one of the highest

correlations

• 3:1 + effort not ability

• Indicator of other

relationships

Outside-In

• Being listened to*

• Getting positive

feedback

• Being respected by

your boss

• Being appreciated at

work

What you do: The effort you make and your perception of it

Managers Doing Leadership: The Extra-Ordinarization of the Mundane, 2003 Alvesson, & Svenningsson, Human Relations 56(12) 1435-59

Contribution: being listened to

Bill Liao• Listening for the gap• Listening to judge• Sympathy listening• Listening to recreate• Listening to create• Other

• What do you receive from your boss?

• Your team?• Where do you

operate from?• What would you

prefer?• How can you make

this happen?

Conviction: motivation to perform whatever the situation

• Feeling motivated at work

• Believing that you are effective and efficient

• Knowing that you are resilient when times are tough

• Feeling that your work has a positive impact on the world

Achieving

your potential

Contribution

Confidence Conviction

CultureCommitment

Conviction: the elements

Feeling motivated• Competence

• Connectedness

• Choice

The motivation to perform whatever the situation

Culture: how you fit your organisation

• Relishing your job

• Liking your colleagues

• Appreciating the values your workplace stands for

• Having a fair ethos at work

• Having control of your daily activities

Achieving

your potential

Contribution

Confidence Conviction

CultureCommitment

Your best fit

More

Fixed

More

Fluid

• Relishing your job

• Liking your colleagues

• Appreciating the values your

workplace stands for

• Having a fair ethos at work

• Being in control of your daily

activities

Commitment: the extent to which you are engaged with your work

• Doing something worthwhile

• Believing in the vision of your organisation

• Feeling strong burst of positive emotion

• Being interested in your job

Achieving

your potential

Contribution

Confidence Conviction

CultureCommitment

“ the only way to do great work is to love what you do”- Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

Commitment

Commitment: I want to make a difference by...

• ‘By sustaining nature to keep the planet intact’

Tony Juniper, Environmentalist• ‘By meeting the needs of our teachers and

partners to meet the whole needs of the child’

Kate Scott, Deputy Headmistress• ‘By making a lovely environment for our hotel

guests to be in’ Hotel cleaner• ‘By changing people’s lives, one person at a time’

Martha Lane Fox, Entrepreneur

Confidence: sense of belief in yourself and your job

• Getting things done

• Having self-belief

• Understanding the red thread of your career

Achieving

your potential

Contribution

Confidence Conviction

CultureCommitment

Confidence: self-belief

Context specific

• Experiencing success

• Observing others

• Being persuaded

• Interpreting mind and body responses

Albert Bandura

Your task

• In pairs• Which 3 elements do you have which drive your

performance? How can you leverage these

further?

• Which 3 elements do you need more of to perform

at your best and be really happy at work?

• What are you with-holding currently?

• What can you do to change this? What do you

need?

The performance-happiness model

What you do: your effort and your perception of it

Short term motivation

Feeling of fitLong term engagement

Belief in yourself and your job

Getting things doneHaving self-beliefUnderstanding the red thread of your career

Doing something worthwhileFeeling strong burst of emotionBelieving in the vision of your organisationBeing interested in your job

Achieving your potential Achieving your potential Feeling energisedUsing your strengths Using your skillsOvercoming challenges Learning

Achieving

your potential

Contribution

Confidence Conviction

CultureCommitment

Feeling motivated at workBelieving you are effective and efficientKnowing you’re resilient when times are toughFeeling that your work has positive impact on the world

Relishing your jobLiking your colleaguesAppreciating the values your workplace stands forHaving a fair ethos at workHaving control of your daily activities

Inside-outAchieving your goalsHaving clear objectivesRaising issues that are important to youFeeling secure in your job

Outside–inBeing listened toGetting positive feedbackFeeling appreciated at workBeing respected by your boss

Pride Trust and Recognition: locking the structure together

Achieving

your potential

Contribution

Confidence Conviction

CultureCommitment

• Currently low in organisations

• If these are low, productivity is not sustainable

What about this report?

Case study: Not for profit

Success criteria 1.Maintain ranking in league tables while downsizing2.Improve leadership metrics within Best Companies data reporting

WhatExec team and 1 layer down: audit and i360; team and 1:1 coaching; succession planning (goals), feedback, conflict management; team building

When Intervention = 09-10 and ongoing

Organization: NFPMulti-sited (15) UK-based

It’s all here

jackie.smith@iopener.com