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GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL
AUGUST 9, 2021
COMMENT & OPINION
GUEST COLUMN Molly McCoy
3 tips for promoting employee happiness
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romoting happiness and overall well-being in your workplace can lead to employees who are more committed, driven and even more effective leaders. Our teams spend most of their day at work, and the difference between a bad day and a great day often can be as simple as being happy. Happy employees are more likeable, creative and cope better with work strain. They also have a deeper sense of purpose and find true meaning in their work. It seems so simple — yet happiness is tied to nearly every positive outcome we could hope for in our organizations. So, how do you create a happier workplace? Here are three tips for promoting happiness and workplace well-being in your organization. Overcome negativity It’s quite natural for humans to identify the negative, but negativity makes it harder to find solutions and to problem solve. Move away from negativity quickly by encouraging and empowering your team to brainstorm solutions or ideas when they present a less than ideal observation. One easy way to do this in the moment is by responding to a complaint with the question: “So, what solutions can we come up with to make this better?” It automatically turns negativity into a challenge to collaborate on ways to fix a problem. Using that creative side of your brain can stimulate new insights and analytical thinking. In the end, the organization wins, and a prob-
lem has been solved thanks to a creative and empowered team. Use strengths It sounds simple, right? Research has shown that people who use their strengths are six times more likely to be engaged at work and are three times more likely to report having an excellent quality of life. Encouraging your employees to pursue their purpose and shine in areas that bring them joy leads to a more satisfied and productive team. You may want to take advantage of one of the many strengths-finder assessments online, host a workshop or simply sit down and have a one-on-one conversation. Follow-up by creating mentoring or enrichment opportunities based on your findings. Then sit back, relax and watch your team shine. Make time for fun Resurrect casual Fridays or a new “dress for your day” policy. Celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and promotions. Create a “Fun Committee” and task them with creating culture-enriching engagement experiences this summer, and throughout the year. The ideas can be as small or as large as budget allows. Whether you have a cookout during lunch or schedule one-onone conversations, make your employees’ happiness a priority — and you can watch the wins from this effort through their ongoing performance. As an employer, it’s important to have a vested interest in the
mental health and happiness of your workforce and ensure employees have access to the opportunities they need to be happier, more productive employees. Talk to your health insurance company about the many well-being options available to you and consider uti-
lizing Headspace, an employee mental health solution that can be tailored to fit your organization. Molly McCoy is the director of sales and client services at Priority Health. She also holds a certification in mental health first aid.
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GUEST COLUMN Brian L. Mortimore
Let’s put an end to generational discrimination
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et’s stop generational discrimination. It’s time. In fact, it is as overdue as that book you checked out from your high-school library and never returned before graduation. It is time to stop generational discrimination and recognize the damage that it does. I’m sure you’ve seen it happen where an individual is part of a team or a work group, and their age is different than that of the majority, and in some manner or another, they’re called out for it. Perhaps the comment is complementary (e.g., “It’s good to have a young person with new energy and fresh ideas in the room with us.”), but often it is not. I suspect many make such comments out of an unconscious fear of the unknown. Social psychology identifies the “similarity effect” as those who are similar tend to like one another. This helps explain how people choose their friends, spouses and groups they tend to follow in social media. When personality, interests and past experiences in life are shared, people take comfort in knowing the person they are interacting with is of a similar background. Naturally, generational and age differences can get in the way of the similarity effect. It’s not hard to relate to this concept. Just think about how
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someone’s face lights up when they discover they have a mutual acquaintance or are from the same hometown. If they enjoy the same hobbies, political ideology, or attended the same school, they tend to naturally like one another. To illustrate this, I know I remember exactly where I was when the space shuttle Challenger exploded, but I can’t relate to the feeling of pride others had when they watched astronauts walk on the moon. Big events tend to bring people together because we all share them in our common experience. If we were alive in 2001, we probably remember seeing the twin towers fall, the day the hostages were released in Iran (1981), the ticker-tape parade in New York following the end of World War II (1945), and hearing Al Michaels say, “Do you believe in miracles?!” when the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team forever became known as “the miracle on ice” (1980). But what if we’ve only heard of these events, or worse, had no idea about them at all? These are some notable dates and history, and odds are most readers are familiar with them, but others, perhaps less significant, are probably generational specific. Do you remember when McDonald’s used Styrofoam packaging? Pop culture is loaded with refer-
ences that in many cases transcend generations and in other cases, simply don’t. Recently I explained to my children that older cars in the 1970s had ashtrays and cigarette lighters; which was hard for them to imagine in an era where tobacco use is strongly discouraged. Once at work I used the phrase, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat,” and the entire room of people, made up of multiple generations, understood I was conveying that a problem was bigger than we could handle on our own (e.g., like Roy Schneider did as Chief Brady in the 1975 film “Jaws”). Why? Because the movie has spanned generations. Conversely, another time I walked into the office and said, “It’s time to make the donuts,” and two of our younger team members looked at me, puzzled. Only those who happened to be dialed into TV commercials in the early 1980s will know I’m suggesting I need to get to work, just like the day before, and the day before that... (e.g., like the Dunkin’ Donuts baker in the famed commercials).
These references are fun (much of the time) as they help us to relate to one another and convey concepts or feelings, but they can create a divide as well. I’m not suggesting there’s no place in business for pop-culture references; rather, that we need to be more sensitive to our audience and be prepared to explain them in a manner that doesn’t call someone out or make them appear to be uninformed or naïve. There are currently five defined generations working side by side across a myriad of industries. Most articles written on the subject tend to offer insights as to the nuance and differences between each of the five groups, attempting to help the reader to navigate this seemingly complex pattern of behavior based on who they’re dealing with. There’s no problem with that. Rather, the problem rests in the stereotypes and prejudice that have become so pervasive among groups based on age. CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
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