Unlocking Workplace Happiness: Insights from Michelle McCullough

Unlock the secret to happiness in the workplace with our guest, Michelle McCullough, a leading expert in productivity and emotional intelligence. Join us as Michelle shares her fascinating journey from a time management enthusiast to an esteemed researcher on high-performing teams. Discover how her insights from "The Make It Happen Blueprint" and the United States Happiness Report reveal the powerful link between happiness and productivity, and why emotional intelligence is key to overcoming work challenges.

Explore how leaders can strike the perfect balance between authenticity and adaptability to foster a culture of creativity and resilience. By focusing on the emotional wellbeing of their teams, leaders can significantly enhance productivity and innovation. Michelle discusses the mirroring effect of leadership emotions and offers practical advice on creating an inclusive, adaptable, and happy workplace. Unpack the research-backed benefits of nurturing emotional intelligence and see how this can transform team morale and success.

Embrace the notion of happiness as an intentional choice and integrate it into your daily life and work. We'll guide you through actionable steps organizations can take to assess and enhance employee happiness, and highlight the transformative power of joy on productivity and creativity. As the holiday season approaches, we emphasize the importance of personal joy and how leaders can support their teams in this journey. Elevate your leadership skills with insights into the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of leadership, drawn from Michelle's extensive research and expertise.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:05

Welcome to Elevate, a Women's Leadership Institute podcast where we showcase stories, celebrate successes and shift culture. Hello and welcome to Elevate, another Women's Leadership Institute podcast. Today we have a fabulous guest. But first we want to tell you that we are enrolling for all of our programs. We've got the Career Development Series, the Rising Leader Series and also the Next Chapter Series for women who are entering the workforce after an extended absence away. So if you'd like more information about that, please go to our website at wwwwliutcom.

Speaker 1 0:42

Took me a minute there, but we'd love to see you in one of our classes starting in January. So today we get to talk to the famous, the amazing, the expert, michelle McCullough. We're so excited to have her here. She is a speaker, a consultant. She was a fractional CMO before it was cool before everybody knew about it and she's now a lead researcher on productivity and happiness in the workplace. Welcome, michelle, thanks for having me. And she's got the dusty voice because she's recovering from a cold, so we love that. That's great for this too. We always like to get to know people when they come on, so help us know something personal about you.

Speaker 2 1:31

Even as an adult, I think it's the best place ever and it is the happiest place on earth, and I am always counting the minutes until my next trip, which is tonight even. Hopping on a plane after this.

Speaker 1 1:54

Yes. So if you're a Disneyland lover, you should follow Michelle, because she tells you all the good places to eat, all the tips, all the tricks. So it's like joy in a bottle. Okay, I love that. Disneyland, disney World, the tips, all the tricks. So it's like joy in a bottle. Okay, I love that. Disneyland, disney World, or just Disneyland.

Speaker 2 2:07

I mean, I go to Disneyland more often because it's closer, but I get to Florida a couple of times a year and usually stop by and say hi to the mouse and get my favorite treats.

Speaker 1 2:16

I love it. Okay, that's perfect. So today we want to talk about you've been a speaker for a really long time and you recently have talked about high performing teams and also happiness in the workplace, and I was wondering why those themes like why those things are important to you.

Speaker 2 2:37

Well, when I first started speaking, I would speak on time management and productivity. Okay, from the time I was 12 years old, I was like a time management junkie. I begged my mom for a Franklin Day planner Okay.

Speaker 1 2:49

She got it for me for Christmas and.

Speaker 2 2:51

I spent that holiday break, you know, prioritizing to-do lists and writing a mission statement and getting very organized. And so people always said, michelle, how do you get everything done? And so they'd have me come and speak on time management, which I loved and was happy to talk about and speak on, and productivity and to do lists and getting the most done in your days. And so I wrote a book in 2017 called the make it happen blueprint, which is really just 18 practices to live a high performing life without burning out, and one of the practices in there was on happiness and positivity, and over time, what I found was that the companies who had me come and speak just on happiness actually had more productive teams than those who had me come and speak on time management.

Speaker 1 3:36

Really.

Speaker 2 3:37

And I couldn't prove it until I got the research done this year. But what I've been saying for a decade is that happy teams are high performing teams, and as we, as we look at the workforce, look at the employees that are that are reporting to us, if they can't figure out how to manage their own emotional intelligence, then it's really hard to think through. How can I be more productive? Because they their brains are taking over all of the challenges that are happening at home or the disagreements that are happening at the office. And it's not just about putting it in a silo and not thinking about it, but we live in a day and age where we share all of our problems on social media in any given moment, and so we also have to recognize that people are talking about it at the workplace. So how do you help teams understand how to deal with their own individual micro stressors so that they can be productive and get done what they need to in the office?

Speaker 1 4:33

That is kind of mind blowing and I feel like that might have always been in the workplace, but I feel like even more so now that there is such a blend between home and work and everything else. And I love what you said about emotional intelligence being able to manage your own emotions Right so that you can be hyperforming. That's really interesting.

Speaker 2 4:59

The great equalizer for all of us is that we all have challenges. So we all have something that's happening in our life, but how are we able to manage the challenges that we're being faced with, both within the walls of our own home and the challenges happening in the world, and still be able to say, okay, here are the tasks that are in front of me, I've got to get them done, right.

Speaker 1 5:21

Right, because, like after the election, that affected some people and they're like I'm shutting down, I can't do anything for a hot minute, which I think is okay. Right, we all need to take time to do what we need to do, but it's also that balance between taking time and then knowing when it's time to just get it done. Yeah, interesting, okay, so let's dive into that. You were recently able to compile some data around happiness in regards to today's business landscape. Will you share some of your findings from that and what the report is called, if people want to look it?

Speaker 2 5:59

up.

Speaker 2 5:59

Sure, it's called the United States Happiness Report, and what I did is I partnered with a research company out of Texas called the Center for Generational Kinetics.

Speaker 2 6:08

It's my study and my research, but what I did is I was really interested in their methodology, which is we specifically chose a target market. We wanted working Americans working full time or part time, all across the country. So we have it broken down and quoted by region. But we also wanted to separate between genders and generations and see how the different emotional, how the emotional intelligence, is affecting men and women, how it's affecting Gen Z and millennials, and also we did a full section on leadership and productivity in the workplace. So we were really intentional about understanding, like I shared with you before, that I truly believe that happy employees are more productive employees, and so, ultimately, what we were looking at is what are the drivers that affect happiness in the workplace, how does leadership affect happiness in the workplace and how does happiness affect their ability to be better team players or be more creative or be more innovative? And so it was really fascinating to see what happened in the findings and across generations as well, but that's really how it all started.

Speaker 1 7:17

Okay, so it's interesting that you talked about. We've got the men and women. We also have the generations, right, I think four or even five sometimes generations at work, women. We also have the generations, right, I think four or even five sometimes generations at work, and they're all very different, right? I've got younger people that I work with and associate with who are very different from the way that I do it, and then I have people who are older than I am, who do it very differently. All really valid, just really different. So let's take one of those angles either men, women or generational and dive a little bit into that in regards to happiness and productivity.

Speaker 2 7:51

Sure, one of the things that was the most interesting which probably isn't interesting if I had just thought about it a little bit but we talked first and foremost and asked about what are the happiness drivers for them personally. And one of the things that was interesting is that those Gen Xers they said things like family, traveling, music. The younger generations, including younger millennials and Gen Z, said things like spending time with friends and probably just because they don't have families yet, they don't have children yet, but the gap was significant. So there was a 10% higher gap on friends and family and how important that is and so, even though they probably have a family unit parents, siblings, something else their real driver is that. But also, of course, the younger generations are more affected and consider technology to bring them happiness, so music on their phones, podcasts, and so what you would generally assume as a stereotype actually kind of fell in line with what their happiness levels were and where they spent their time. But also on the workplace side, the younger generations value working remotely more than the older generations. But what was interesting is across generational lines, not even generation specific. While 51% of respondents said that they prefer working remotely, significantly we found that those who work remotely actually aren't as happy as those who work in an office.

Speaker 2 9:35

Now, confounding variables right, as a solid researcher, I can't just say that's a definitive answer.

Speaker 2 9:42

But as we dove into the data, one of the things that we're finding is that remote workers are feeling much more disconnected from their teams, and so, especially even those younger generations, they say they don't want it, and yet, at the same time, one of the findings that we were seeing across the board and across multiple statistics is the need for human connection.

Speaker 2 10:02

And if you're not getting it from, if you live far away from your family, or if you're not getting it by coming into the office, then yes, those friend relationships are going to matter so much more, but they also feel that disconnected. And when you have an individual who feels disconnected from the team either employees or bosses, even whether or not they have great relationships or don't that can be a reason they seek and find connection somewhere else and a reason why they might want to leave. And so, as we talk to companies and look at their remote plans, hybrid plans we discuss, like even if you choose to be 100% remote, how are you building that sense of connection? Working Americans across the board said that they want deeper connections with their team and that they want more one-on-one live connections, whether that's live events, whether that's team building activities. They want to be more connected with their teams.

Speaker 1 10:55

So that's interesting from multiple angles because, as a corporate event planner right in my former life, the power of in-person meeting, the synergy that happens I think we are still working to attain the skills to make that happen online.

Speaker 1 11:11

Yes, it's a very different medium. We have many managers in our programs who do really well in managing online because they're intentional about it and some who don't know how to make it happen and are still trying to work through that. But we also found I went to a conference and one of the presentations was from a younger generation. They started the workforce in the pandemic, so it was all remote and what they said is even things like watching your boss do the shortcut on their keyboard, watching your boss do the shortcut on their keyboard right, things that are not in your onboarding plan, or just little things like that in the office that you pick up because you're there, especially when you're new that maybe you don't think about when you're creating the onboarding plan if you have a remote worker or if you've never fully worked remote yourself. So I think that's an excellent point, especially moving forward and especially in the work that we do with a gender lens of females want more flexibility right, and remote work is definitely part of that.

Speaker 2 12:15

Yes, yeah, and that's why I think a lot of companies are mastering hybrid where they can. It gives them flexibility, but then also gives them the connection to the team in the office at least a couple of days a week.

Speaker 1 12:27

Yeah, Because some people are drawn to just projects. Right, they just dive into projects, they get it done. But most people want to like talk to someone about the project. They want to get collaborative feedback. They want to say how do I improve this? And that's all done in real time.

Speaker 2 12:41

Yes.

Speaker 1 12:43

Yeah, okay. So let's talk about generationally. How have you seen companies engage in this research? Do you feel like older generations are more for it? Do you feel like they're having a hard time adapting? What does that look like?

Speaker 2 13:02

What's interesting is, I think, more and more companies are having these conversations, which I'm grateful for.

Speaker 2 13:10

I think that one of the conversations that I continue to have now is actually something that happened as a result of coming to a WLLI event a couple months ago, where we were talking about generations in the workplace and this idea of how do you balance authenticity and adaptability.

Balancing Authenticity and Adaptability in Leadership

Speaker 2 13:30

Right, yeah, how does each generation show up and say this is who I am. Yes, this is what I want, this is what I need to be, from younger millennials all the way up to baby boomers? How do we show up and say this is who I am, please accept me, please allow. This is who I am, please accept me, please allow me to be who I am? And then also, how do we, as individuals who have this authenticity, be willing to show up to the workplace and be adaptable and be able to say listen, I am a boomer and I do it this way, but I have a really growing workforce and, and so I need to figure out how to adapt to different environments without losing that authenticity, and, and so I need to figure out how to adapt to different environments without losing that authenticity, and so the conversations that we're having internally with organizations is where. Where do you teach both?

Speaker 2 14:14

You have to teach the balance between what do you mean by authenticity and adaptability and do you give people and even those two words can be a clue into saying, hey, is this a place where you could be adaptable, or is this a place where you need to show up authentically?

Speaker 2 14:34

And I don't feel like we need to be as leaders. We really can't be saying, okay, we all have to adapt to this one thing right now, because that's what's happening, but I do feel like it becomes more of a dance. It becomes more of a situation where we have to honor what everyone is bringing to the table and we also have to figure out which is why I think that the responsibility at the core blends with leaders, who are the ones who are managing those diverse workplaces, and being able to say how do I allow this person's gifts come to the table because I need them and that's why I hired them? And also, how do we as a company come together and how do I teach my team that they need to bring their individuality and also what they can learn the value from others? So we're spending a lot of time on those two words. How do you balance that's?

Speaker 1 15:21

huge because, even so, I'm thinking of of things like dress, right, yes, authenticity, and dress like I just want to show up, how I show up and get the work done Not me personally, but this is right, this is what some people say, and sometimes that's not appropriate, right, sometimes we do have to have the conversations of well, in this environment, it looks like this and this and this environment looks like this, and so part of what I grapple with is is authenticity, showing up as yourself fully in all moments, or your ability to adapt.

Speaker 2 15:59

I think some of our authenticity is our adaptability. And what's interesting is, you know, I attended an event a couple of years ago from the Women's Tech Council and one of the topics of conversation was how do you encourage problem solving among your team? And they went as far to say that they figure out how to interview for problem solving capabilities, and so that was something that we put into. The research is like what affects your ability to be able to be a good problem solver, and happiness was the number one challenge. No way. Yes what? They said that if they were happier either at home or at work, they would be better able to be problem solvers.

Speaker 2 16:40

Because they can be more creative, because they can be more creative, they're not weighed down by their challenges, and so I mean for me. I was like, yes, I've been speaking this for a long time, but what the research showed is almost every single workplace situation that we tested if they were happier or more resilient, they would be better problem solvers, more creative, more innovative, better team players, more likely to best ways to balance generational contribution, if you will, is to teach them how to be problem solvers, because that is universal.

Speaker 2 17:26

So even and you know I have leaders say to me all the time Michelle, this isn't my job. Like, my job isn't to teach them how to be happy. My job isn't to teach them how to be problem solvers. And they're like those are such soft things.

Speaker 1 17:37

Yeah, no, no, no.

Speaker 2 17:38

Soft skills, yes, but then now the research is showing how it affects the bottom line and how it affects productivity, and and so my answer to them is it may not be your responsibility, but if you're not teaching them, who is? And so, as a boss, even if you're, or a CEO, even if you're not the one who is teaching it, you need to decide do you bring somebody in to teach it? Do you give them a podcast or a book to read? And the research was actually favorable. Like over 60% of working Americans said that they would love to have more books, more podcasts, more resources on the subject. And even if you're not teaching it but you're creating an environment like a book club or a podcast club where people can talk about it, then you're fostering that education. So, whether you bring it in internally or you encourage them to seek it outside, it still should be a business priority, because it will encourage not just happiness but problem solving, productivity and everything.

Speaker 1 18:34

It impacts the bottom line, this sense of belonging. One of the statistics out of your report was 80% of the workforce feels happier when their bosses are happier. Yes, what a mirroring effect, right? Yes, that's very physiological, even the mirroring neurons. If your boss is grumpy all the time or they don't allow themselves to be happy or know what makes them happy, yes, that does impact you. And we work so much, right, if you're in the workforce, you work like 80,000 hours. I think I read somewhere.

Speaker 2 19:09

One of my good friends, ty Bennett. He said your family will always know your boss's name. And just that one idea.

Speaker 1 19:20

I'm like, is that both terrifying and happy?

Speaker 2 19:22

Like interesting, right, but if you think about it like if you go and you spend eight hours a day with someone.

Speaker 2 19:26

When you come home and you're sitting around the table, you're having conversations and you're saying things like I'm trying to think of a name that, as in any of my bosses that I've ever had, let's just go with Tyler, okay, if Tyler is my boss, I come home and I'm like, oh, tyler was angry today, or he was bugged all day long and I felt like I was walking on eggshells and I was just trying to stay away from his office. Or hey, tyler was super fun today or super nice and was engaging and like even simple things like that. We forget that the people who are spending the majority of their waking hours with us are going to be affected by our emotions, and I think that we used to have bosses, now we have leaders and we try to be mentors as best as we can, but we still have to have all of those pieces in. I think that generations ago, even 20 years ago, leaders used to say I have to be professional, I've got to be buttoned up, I got to be tight.

Speaker 2 20:20

I can't show my own personal emotions.

Speaker 1 20:22

Compartmentalized Right.

Speaker 2 20:24

Yes, and while I do think that can be positive, what we also found in the research is it's not just that they want their bosses to be happy, it's that they want their bosses to be personable and they want their bosses to care.

Speaker 2 20:37

And these up and coming generations aren't getting jobs, they're adding something to their lifestyle, and so they don't just want a happy boss, they want a boss that asks them how their day was, and they want a boss that says what are your goals, and not just your goals at the office, but what are your goals out in the world. They want a boss that follows up with them, and so that can be tricky. If you are an I'll say, an old school leader, that is just like come and get the work done and be done, and that doesn't mean that your entire day has to be talking about social things. But especially those younger generations that are looking for a job to enhance their lifestyle, not a lifestyle to enhance their job, they want that personal connection, and so the disposition of a leader can make a big difference on the productivity of a team that is so fascinating because so leadership, right?

Speaker 1 21:34

I studied leadership in my master's program, and it's all about how you face other people, right, how they feel when they're with you. It's not am I a tactician? Do I know how to make the bottom line happen? Because I need to do that too, but really it's about how do you manage people.

Speaker 2 21:55

Yes.

Speaker 1 21:56

How do you manage your influence around people? How do you give influence, influence around people, how do you give influence to people in spaces and those kinds of things? So I think it's, I think it's a. It's a difficult spot for some leaders because that's not taught in MBA school. Correct Not yet Right those emotional skills, because I think that for a long time they were put on the back burners, like, yeah, those are important, but we need the real skills of, like, finance and strategy, which are important too, but they don't really work as smoothly if you don't have these other components around them. Correct?

Speaker 2 22:31

I mean, I'm the one who gets told all the time. Michelle, those are soft skills.

Speaker 1 22:33

I don't have time to deal with soft skills Like we have to deal with profit and loss and everything else.

Speaker 2 22:40

What's interesting, though, is when you look at large corporations, they often advance the worker that excels at their job, yeah, and then they put them in a leadership position. Yep, and that's when soft skills are not just a side hope that that works, but that's like a necessity and so like. In order for a leader to actually be successful, they not only have to be really great at the position that they're managing, but they also have to have the ability to be able to manage the people.

Speaker 2 23:10

And that's what comes in the emotions, what people call soft skills. And that's why I say to leaders and the C-suite all the time just because somebody is very good at their job does not make them a great leader. What makes them a great leader is their soft skills. And, once again, if you, as an organization, aren't teaching the soft skills, they likely haven't learned them. That's not what their career or degree was in. And so, as an organization, if you want to be able to help people climb the corporate ladder or hit their goals and dreams, there's got to be a way that you're teaching these people to, and it's part of the culture of how they become leaders, how they become problem solvers, how they become humans that can interact with the people that are around them.

Speaker 1 23:52

Yes, this is one of my pet peeves, that I've seen a lot. So women often put their heads down and are really good at their job. You know, whatever it is, put the widget in the, watch it right, whatever it is. And then they're like oh, you do that so well. You must be able to do all these other things so well, without, like, the additional allocation of resources to develop them, to help them know that skill. It just seems so random. Why not just let them continue what they're doing and do it better and take the people who want to learn and do those things? I don't know, it just seems so backwards to me. But at least for women, that middle manager spot really is a cliff for many reasons, and this is one of them too.

Speaker 1 24:40

We don't support them as we bring them up and along. Just yesterday I saw a report from OC Tanner that said before you talk about benefits for your people, you need to let your people know that you care. And I thought, okay, that really goes along with this as well. Right, and it's foundational.

Speaker 2 25:02

Yes, the research that we conducted.

Speaker 2 25:04

We asked people what they care about most in terms of, like, remote work benefits the disposition of their bosses, the kinds of, basically, the mental headspace that they go through when they decide if they want to work for a specific organization, and there's multiple factors benefits being included in that.

Speaker 2 25:25

Interestingly enough, one of the number one factors that across all generations, but especially in the younger generations, that they looked at was if they felt like they fit, if they belonged, and so, part of that, if they felt like it was a a social, but also like, do my talents and skills fit and belong in this organization? I thought that really interesting because it wasn't just can I do really well at this job, can I make my paycheck and do they have good benefits? But it's what you were speaking to is, um, do I do? I do? I feel like I will like sense of community that we were talking about, but is this the right place for me? And so they'll weigh that even more than a benefits package or even more than their salary or income and they'll say that those are important things, but they're choosing. Where do I belong?

Understanding and Pursuing Happiness in Workplace

Speaker 1 26:21

Yeah, oh, that's fast. That's a good, I got to write that down, that's good. When we talk about happiness, I want to drill down on this for a minute, because I'm the type of person that if you ask me, I wake up in the morning, you say are you happy? I'm like I don't know. Give me, you know, a couple hours to figure it out. Sure, like it takes me a hot minute, but this, um, I found this definition and then let's kind of talk about how do people know if they're happy? So a positive emotional state, um, with the feeling of fulfillment, engagement and satisfaction. So how do, if people are driving along listening to this, they're like am I happy in my job? Like I don't. That seems kind of like a loaded question to some people, because if you're not happy, maybe you still need a paycheck or. But let's talk about that a little bit. How do you define happy in these studies? How do people know if they're happy?

Speaker 2 27:15

Well, I think that I think your definition of happiness is great. I don't remember the exact definition of happiness that we used in the study for people to be able to gauge what their happiness levels were, but at the end of the day, to me, in the simplest way, happiness is your ability to look at what's in front of you and choose how you want to feel anyway. Choose how you want to feel anyway, and so I think one of the most interesting statistics that came from this is the two statistics that I'll share, as I kind of share this thought. The study showed that men are happier than women and that broke my heart. Okay and significantly happier than women. According to the research firm, they're like. This is statistically significant it's about a 10% gap between men and women.

Speaker 2 28:12

Now, generally speaking, men are more confident than women, and so they're more likely to say sure, I'm happy than a woman who might think about it and go well, wait a minute, she's going to weigh through it. Right, she's going to weigh well, these seven things are going okay. These four things are terrible. Seven is bigger than four, but these four things are bigger, and so there's this whole process that goes into the head of a woman.

Speaker 2 28:29

But one of the statistics, one of the questions that we asked, is do you feel like you deserve to be happier than you currently are? And 87% of working Americans said they deserve to be happier than they currently are. And that word deserve is so fascinating to me because in that word, deserve, and the only open-ended question we ask is what would need to change in your life in order for you to be happier. So we've got a thousand answers of people that range from all kinds of things I need more money, I need a better job, I need my relationship to improve with my sister, like all the things that you would normally expect. But one of the things that I believe is that I think happiness is possible despite the challenges that we have going on in our life at home and at work.

Speaker 2 29:18

Does that mean that every single minute is going to be happy? No, do I feel like everyone should be happy all the time? No, because I feel like one of the greatest gifts of being human and being alive is feeling and experiencing every single emotion.

Speaker 1 29:30

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 2 29:32

And I feel like we can't really gauge happiness unless we've experienced sadness and anger and grief and heartbreak. And so I truly feel like, while happiness is the goal, it's not the only thing that we can and should be experiencing. But what I want the world to know and understand is that, whatever you're feeling right this minute like if you were to ask, if the questions were to cross your desk and you were like I'm I'm not very happy, I'm somewhat happy, I'm very happy, I'm somewhat happy, I'm very happy Even if you were to give yourself on a scale from 1 to 10, just if that gave you some more options about how you're feeling. Asking yourself the question well, what would it take to make me two points happier? And then taking action in our life to make ourselves two points happier.

Speaker 2 30:19

I don't feel like if I were to say, on a scale from 1 to 10, ten, one being not at all happy and ten being very happy, how happy are you right now? And you were to say a four and I'm not saying that that's what you would say if you were to say a four I actually don't think the real answer is how do you get to a ten? I think the real answer is what could you do right now that would make you a six?

Speaker 2 30:32

right right what could you do right this minute that would make you just a little bit happier? And so the study showed that people turn to music, to podcasts, to TV, to friends and family, to nature, to religion, to books.

Speaker 2 30:49

All to those things that we talk about happiness, but that word deserve I put it in it's almost a trip question from a researcher because I don't feel. I think, if you're saying to yourself that I deserve to be happier than I currently am, and my question to you is, is what are you doing about it?

Speaker 1 31:06

Yeah.

Speaker 2 31:07

We can. I think from the time that we're really little, we teach kids that happiness happens at the end of something. You're happy when you go to your friends. You're happy when you get to go to kindergarten Sure. You're happy when you go to high school, when you drive, when you date, when you graduate. Now, all of that is great, yeah Right. But what are we doing to help kids say what made you happy today? What are you doing today that makes you happy? And for adults who are raised in that environment, we are waiting for something to make us happy, because we were told that as soon as we got the jobs of our dreams we would be happy. And here we are and we're not right and we're like dude what?

Speaker 2 31:43

happened.

Speaker 1 31:44

This isn't what I signed up for, or it?

Speaker 2 31:46

actually is what I signed up for. And what was I thinking Like?

Speaker 2 31:50

why, didn't I say that I wanted to have a job where my job was to sit on a chair in Hawaii and sip my favorite beverages, right? So for each of us we have to figure out what that looks like, but I'm on a mission to help working Americans understand that their happiness is attainable and we can take action every single day to have the emotions that we want to have, and that is emotional intelligence. Your ability to be able to change your emotions when you are currently faced with whatever's in front of you is really your superpower.

Choosing Happiness in the Workplace

Speaker 1 32:24

That is so fascinating, this idea of like whatever you want to call it, free will choice, the whole concept of Viktor Frankl, right, there is that space between action and reaction, yes, and that space is your power action and reaction, yes, and that space is your power because when you can control that space and act according to who you want to be and how you want to show up, instead of just how you've always done it, there is real power in that and I love that you called it a superpower. So, if I heard you right, deserve is of course, of course. Of course you deserve to be happy and of course workplace contributes to this. Yes, and there are benefits to employers, um, like the bottom line and productivity, but also the choice truly is in the individual contributor. You can choose today, in whatever situation, to be happy and then set a goal of what that looks like. What does being happier, you know, look like for you? Is that what I heard you say?

Speaker 2 33:27

Yes, I think too often we look at our life like we were talking about women. Well, I've got these seven things and I've got these four things. Um, we look at our happiness as an external force that, if all of these things are going right, then I can.

Speaker 1 33:43

I get all the presents wrapped this weekend, right, if this?

Speaker 2 33:45

then I can be happy. Well, what if you were happy while you were wrapping presents? Or what if you were happy while you were going to the?

Speaker 1 33:51

office.

Speaker 2 33:51

So intentional, like just choosing joy, like choosing into it. And yes, there are some of those who are listening and people that we know that have, um, medical conditions that make that challenging and I pray every day that they're getting the help that they need. And yet, for most Americans, and each of us have an opportunity to look at what could we do, what can I do today that will make me happier, and how can I make that more of a decision that's happening within me?

Speaker 2 34:19

rather than expecting the world to make me a reaction yeah, and that I can be happy and I'm choosing happy and I'm creating happy and I'm being happy whether or not everything else around me is working Right.

Speaker 1 34:32

Oh amen, like mic drop on all of that. I actually was talking. I have two teenagers and I was talking to one of my teenagers about a joy list, which I think I first learned from Tiffany Peterson, who's a speaker and coach about what are the things that bring me joy and am I doing them Right? Because it's kind of like yeah, I'll go to the gym when I have time. Joy is like one of those things. Like when I have time, I'll focus on the things that bring me joy. Or in four weeks, when I go on my vacation, then I'll have joy. So, just as with productivity right In business, things are very intentional if they're working well. I love that we're also bringing happiness into this intentional space, because the people I know who are happy, who have the ability to make a decision and pivot and claim and choose their emotional states actually are happier.

Speaker 1 35:28

Yes, they're more productive, they're creative, they have a great network Like things are good for them. Yes, you know, overall Interesting. Okay, so one of my last questions on here is about action, because I'm like I know you love action. So, for a company, you know, if an HR manager or a leader is listening, what is one step they can take to help their workforce? Gauge if they're happy or not. First gauge if they're happy or not, and then for an individual, what is like, what might be an example of if you were, you know, 2% happier. What does that actually look like in practice?

Speaker 2 36:10

Yeah. So I think for organizations, there's two things that I would recommend. I recommend that there's an assessment of sorts that you, similar to the questions that I sent out to the nation that you're asking your employees how they're feeling and getting a gauge on what actually is happening within your organization. I also feel like you can generally assume that every single worker employee, at every level, wants to be happier than they currently are, and so that's such a sad statement, isn't it?

Speaker 2 36:43

It is. But even if they're currently happy like even the ones who would say that they were 80% happy or whatever even those people want to be happier than they currently are, and I love that because there's just eternal hope for having more joy, and so you can assume that all of your employees want to be happier than they currently are. In which case, what are you doing as an organization?

Speaker 2 37:05

Because I think we've done ping pong tables in the break rooms and cereal in the kitchens and I think that's great, but I also feel like we should be having some of these conversations.

Speaker 2 37:15

We should be saying, hey, our lunch and learn can be about how to be more productive, or it could be like how to be happy. Do lunch and learns provide opportunities for people to have conversations, the interpersonal, bringing books, whatever it is. Bring in speakers, help them find ways and have them talk about what makes them happy, because if they're talking about what makes them see more, then it becomes a contagious conversation where people are like, oh, my goodness, goodness, that's so great. This is what makes me happy.

Speaker 2 37:43

I often ask people what's your Disneyland? Because it doesn't have to be the same as mine. Like what? What is it that lights you up and gets you excited that you could talk about for an hour? Because it just brings you so much joy. And start to have some of those other conversations. Get to know your people and you don't have to become a therapist, but you do have to care about where they are and where they're headed as far as individuals go. If you wanted to be even 2% happier, I feel like, just like I did with my time management daily, weekly and monthly lists, I think we need daily, weekly and monthly joy lists. It's not just making the list, it's what are you doing every day? What are you doing every week? What are you doing every month? Because daily is probably simple things having your favorite playlist, going for a walk.

Speaker 2 38:30

Maybe, it's reading a book and not opening up your phone and spending less time on a screen. But maybe weekly you're doing some deeper things, You're going on a longer hike or you are making a gathering with friends. But really being intentional about your happiness and decide today that if you're one of those people who are reactive about happiness in your life, that you're going to choose to be proactive about it so good.

Speaker 1 38:54

So much knowledge there, okay. So as we head into this holiday season, we're saying choose joy, find your happy, help the people on your teams. It's, like you know, maslow's hierarchy right yes, food and shelter taken care of, but as we move up like belonging, psychological safety, ability to give back impact, all those things come with it, okay. So if they want to have you come or to learn more about the happiness research you've done, how might they do that?

Continuous Learning in Leadership

Speaker 2 39:27

So if you go to speakmichellecom slash research, we have two volumes. The volume one is out. Volume two is coming shortly. Volume one is all about personal happiness and growth and there's a video series that's available there that you could watch as a boss or a team. And then the second, the volume two, is all about leadership and in the workplace, so it's more. It dives deeper into the generations and genders in the workplace as well, and so keep up on that, and you can also find my contact information there. And if you want an assessment or if you want to talk about a training program, I'm happy to help.

Speaker 1 40:02

Awesome and she has an amazing infographic of her research that I love. It's really well done and I think, for me, as an ending note, what I am learning is that oftentimes people think leadership is the end of the road right Because it's the title. I am a leader, but really the best leaders I know are the road right Because it's the title I am a leader, but really the best leaders I know are continuously learning right, Giving and receiving feedback, learning about a new thing, trying things out, and I feel like that's the whole principle right, it's continuously learning. Make a decision, pivot, take accountability for your life and what you want.

Speaker 2 40:43

Amen.

Speaker 1 40:43

Yeah, all right. Thank you so much for coming on, michelle.

Speaker 2 40:46

Thank you for having me in my horse voice.

Speaker 1 40:49

Of course, anytime, anytime.