8 Things Better Than Making People Happy

Making people happy. Sometimes that’s a leader’s ultimate goal, and it’s a nice one. What’s the flip side – an unhappy team? Nobody wants that! It feels good to know the people you lead feel good about their work.

But happiness? I guess it’s all in how you define it. I view happiness as an emotion, and emotions are so fleeting! A word of encouragement, an ice cream sundae, and a raise will all make your employees’ happy, but to varying degrees and for very different lengths of time.

If your scoreboard hinges on making your team happy, you’re going to have many frustrating days as a leader, my friend. Here are eight things I’d rather the people on my team experience beyond happiness. (more…)

Leaders must continually keep their eyes on the horizon and drive their business toward the future while still leading in the present. It’s a difficult balance, planning for tomorrow while still appreciating today.

However, if we constantly live in the future, we miss what’s going on now, and the “now” is what we were dreaming about in the past. It’s finally here, but you’re not. (more…)

Isn’t fulfillment at work something nearly all of us want to find? After all, if we’re going to spend 40-plus hours 50 weeks a year doing something, it should be something that we find personally rewarding. So whose responsibility is it to ensure your workdays are satisfying?

The Leader’s Role

As a leader, you can do many things to influence your teammates’ sense of fulfillment in their work. They include:

  • Creating fun in your work
  • Fostering open communication
  • Making your department a safe environment for sharing, debating, and discussing ideas (more…)

The team leader has a huge impact on what motivates their teammates. What brings your teammates to work each day?

The Check

The check is all about working for money. After all, we need money to live, and a job provides a paycheck. When we work for the check, we probably don’t find our work life too fulfilling, but hey, it’s a job and we do it for the money. The paycheck is our success. (more…)