Managing for Happiness

© 2013 Zach Dischner, Creative Commons 2.0https://www.flickr.com/photos/zachd1_618/9941640553

It's a great mistake, I think, to put children off with falsehoods and nonsense, when their growing powers of observation and discrimination excite in them a desire to know about things.

Anne Sullivan, American teacher (1866–1936)

The goal of each organization is to motivate people to be productive together. Most companies achieve this by paying their workers. But extrinsically motivated people aren't necessarily intrinsically engaged. Use the moving motivators exercise to find out what drives your workers and how to make engagement a built-in property of the organization.

It is Sunday when I write this. My spouse has been away for the weekend, which means I've been enjoying me-time for two days. I could have binge-watched a TV series, organized my music collection, or explored the forest on my mountain bike. But I didn't. Instead, I took the opportunity to finish a PowerPoint slide deck. It involved researching terminology, designing slides, positioning images, polishing texts, and fine-tuning colors. Why? Because I enjoy making things. The moment I clicked Save as PDF late yesterday afternoon and reviewed the final version of my slides may have been my happiest moment of that ...