A Guide to Joy at Work : simplebooklet.com

Hello, Joy!10 years ago, we experienced Joy at Work firsthand and in a dramatic, life-changing way. Since then, we’ve been searching for answers to explain what happened, and why, so we can help others create that experience, and the results that came with it, for themselves.Today, we offer this eBook to help you see joy in the workplace more clearly. It will help you see where you have strengths and where you can focus to increase joy, and the results of a joyful workforce, for yourself.This publication is based on our 20+ years of direct experience leading and being part of large teams that are under a lot of pressure. It’s also based on 10years of data collection, interviews and academic research we’ve done to understand what experiencing joy in the workplace means to leaders and employees. We’re excited that you’re interested in knowing what you can do to have more joy, not just because of the positive impact you can have on the workplace, but because the ripple effect of joy at work is enormous and extends beyond the borders of working. Our hope for you is to find that it’s worth investing in.Joy at Work eBook

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The DetailsThe dimensions ofJoy at Work, signs they’re working (or not) and how they contribute to joy in the workplace.19The BasicsWhat is Joy at Work, what does it mean to have it, and who is involved to create and sustain it.7Joyat Work Thinking: How to apply this to your life at workDo your own Joy at Work Assessment31Create Joy at Work for Yourself32Create Joy at Work with Others33Joy at Work Self-Reflection Guide34Joy at Work Self-Reflection Team Guide35| 5Joy at Work eBookNotes and What’s NextReferences and what’s next for the Joy Research.37Table of Contents

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Welcome to Joy at WorkThis eBook is designed to give you an introduction to the dimensions of Joy at Work and what we’ve discovered through research1and direct experience. This is something you can use for yourself or with your team to bring more joy to your work. We see Joy at Work as this…Joy at Work is employee willingness to:Participate, commit, be accountableTrustBelong and act with cohesionAdapt and growDemonstrate respectAct with integrityJoy at Work exists when:The company, leaders, and managers continually create the conditions and extend the invitation for employees to contribute in this way.Employees constantly accept the invitation.From this definition you can see that joy in the workplace is a two-way street. It’s not solely the company’s responsibility, or the leader’s or manager’s responsibility. It’s also not solely the responsibility of the employee. All have a role in contributing to joy.You’ll also notice that we use the words cultivate, constantly, and continuously. That’s purposeful as well. That’s because we know that you don’t achieve joy at work, and you’re done. It’s not a goal or ultimate destination. It’s something that must be cared for, deliberately, and intentionally. Joy at Work eBook8 |

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| 9Joy at Work eBookHere’s an example: We all know how difficult it is to achieve trust on a team. You must be intentional to achieve it. Trust is earned, often over time or through significant, meaningful action. Once there’s trust on a team, the team can achieve great things. But once you have trust you also know you can lose it. Everything is good, and then suddenly, it isn’t. This means that you must be intentional about cultivating trust all the time. That said, this takes energy, and we know that humans are a moody species. Every day is not going to be a great day. Even so, there’s a way to have a bad day or a bad time and still cultivate joy. Joy at Work is not rainbows and unicorns. It’s not a façade of happiness. It does no good to have fun events, foosball tables, or trendy office space if people don’t feel like they belong. Joy at Work is about what supports people to thrive the most at work, together, individually, through good times and difficult times.2Rather than a destination, it’s a practice. Where this Came FromThis publication is the result of the research that we’ve done so far to understand what it means to have joy in the workplace and how employees and companies benefit. As part of the research, we’ve asked leaders and leadership teams to describe their best team experiences, what was happening that made it that way and the business results of the experience. More recently, we’ve embarked on a project to ask leaders to describe what joy at work means to them and how that impacts their company in the areas of change, decision-making and team performance. Beyond this, we’ve collected data from the public about what the phrase “joy at work” means to them. We’ve also collected data from existing teams about aspects of team engagement and performance, specifically, the quality of information sharing, strength of work relationships, willingness to give and receive help, and comfort with raising and discussing risks.We also draw from our decades of direct experience leading teams as small as five and as large as 450 members, often dispersed nationally or internationally, all working under scrutinized deadlines and all, to some extent, dependent on others to achieve personal success.

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A Few Highlights from the InterviewsIn answer to the question, what does the phrase “joy at work” mean to you, these are common phrases we hear:• Bringing your whole self to work.• Feeling energy and life in our work environment and relationships.• Getting lost in the work I do.• Seeing meaning in my work; knowing I’m fulfilling my purpose.• Being part of something that’s worthwhile and bigger than me.• A feeling of being called to a purpose, not despite the company, but because of the company.• Being clear about what’s important and living it.In answer to the questions, how would you describe the best team you’ve ever led or been part of, and what was happening that made it that way, these are common responses:• We were all there to support each other no matter what happened.• We had a hard goal to go after and we were clear on the destination.• It was hard but we all focused; people helped each other.• We laughed and did silly things to keep ourselves going.• There were no egos to manage.• We debated and tried things.• We took risks and sometimes we failed, but we mostly had confidence that we could recover.This is remarkably consistent.10 | Joy at Work eBook

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| 11Joy at Work eBookObservations about the conversations:• In answer to the question, what does the phrase “joy at work” mean to you, people usually jump right in but often struggle to put words to describe what it means and sometimes appear and sound uncomfortable with their non-specific language. The question is conceptual and not a common business question, which could be an explanation for what we see.• In answer to the question, how would you describe the best team you’ve ever led or been part of, and what was happening that made it that way, people usually light up, especially the more they recall about the experience. They also tell stories about it. The question asks about a personal, specific, and positive experience, which could explain the reaction.A question we ask at the end of our interviews is what questions would they wish our research would answer. Here are a few answers:• Is “joy” the word? Is it the right thing to go after? How is it different from happiness?• Is it possible for leaders to sustain a joyful environment? What are some simple things we can do to make it part of everything?• Why are leaders afraid to talk about joy at work? How can we make it okay?• How is joy connected to the bottom line?All of this tells us there’s interest in understanding more about joy in the workplace and how to get more of it.How to Use this eBookIn the Joy at Work Thinking section, you’ll see guidance to apply the Joy at Work dimensions in three ways: 1. Doing your own Joy at Work Assessment2. Creating more Joy at Work for yourself3. Creating more Joy at Work for and with your colleagues

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Do Your Own Joy at Work AssessmentYou can use simple ways to assess what’s happening in your workplace and how that’s contributing to or diminishing joy. You can also reflect on what you would keep, grow or change if you had your wish.Create Joy at Work for YourselfYou can identify what brings you joy in your work and what you can do to increase the joy you experience.Create Joy at Work with OthersStarting with yourself first, you can identify ways to contribute to the joy of the people you work with and, if you’re feeling brave, engage others in a conversation about joy at work. There’s also a Joy at Work Self-Reflection Guide you can use to support a practice of growing joy, and a version that can be used by a team. This eBook will help you understand what brings you joy in your work and what gets in the way. It will also help you see what you can do to change that in positive ways for yourself, your colleagues and your company.If you would like to see the Joy Research that’s underway as of this publication date, a Joy Research webpage can be found on our company site where you can see our Joy Research Statement. New resources are added frequently as the research progresses, including webinars, classes and a popular literature reading list on joy.3 Joy at Work eBook12 |

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A Closer Look at Joy at WorkThe premise of Joy at Work is not about joy in general but what helps humans thrive in their work. In the research, we’ve identified 10 dimensions that cultivate a thriving workforce:The presence of these dimensions is certainly about how a company is cultivating the environment but it’s just as much, or even more, about an employee’s willingness to act in these ways. In other words, a company’s culture can be designed to create the conditions for these dimensions to exist but that’s not enough. The employee must be willing to act and contribute in these ways.Participation Accountability Cohesion Growth RespectCommitment Trust Belonging Adaptability IntegrityParticipationan employee’s willingness to invest their unique capabilities and energy to contribute to achieving the group’s goal.Commitmentwillingness to remain focused and keep promises even when achieving them becomes difficult and requires additional effort.Accountabilitywillingness to be held to promises made that are expected of their role and of those they declare publicly.Trustwillingness to risk being dependent on others for their personal success.Belongingwillingness to be part of the group with the purpose delivering their unique capabilities toward achieving the group’s goal.Cohesionwillingness to work with the group as a united force to achieve the purpose of the group.Adaptabilitywillingness to consider new information and make a personal adjustment in service to achieve the group’s purpose.Growthwillingness to improve, explore, learn, integrate new information, and take on bigger and more complex tasks.Respectwillingness to demonstrate an understanding of the inherent and unique value of others.Integritywillingness to behave ethically and in accordance with a moral code and personal set of values that are aligned the group’s values.Joy at Work eBook14 |

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| 15Joy at Work eBookAdaptability, Growth -- 3Respect -- 2Belonging, Cohesion -- 4Trust -- 5Participation, Commitment, Accountability -- 6Integrity --1Harder to hide personal willingnessTakes more energy to create strategies to reduce the riskEasier to hide personal willingnessTakes less energy to create strategies to reduce the riskHigherLowerPersonal RiskEmployees put themselves at some personal risk when they have this willingness and act in these ways. For example, Participation is relatively riskier to an employee than Adaptability because it’s easier to see the employee’s Participation than it is to see their Adaptability, which leaves them exposed to punishment if they choose wrong. This is useful to consider in understanding what may be in the way of an employee’s willingness to contribute joy. Below is an illustration of this risk hierarchy. The nature of the risk is described for each dimension in “The Details” section.Employee Personal Risk and EntitlementThe employer has the ultimate authority to decide whether to keep the employee on their payroll. They also have the ultimate authority to decide how employees will be rewarded for their contribution, both in tangible ways, such as promotion and compensation, and intangible ways, such as public recognition, and inclusion in important work. Going further, employers are the ultimate deciders of how employees are treated at work based on the culture and behaviors that are encouragedand tolerated. Short of litigation, which is financially impractical for most workers for most grievances, the employee has few options to change this.On the flipside, there is a significant, known problem with employee entitlement that exists in the workplace. For example, the expert that the company won’t let go because they feel critically

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dependent on them. Their behavior is tolerated. They don’t have to follow the rules of conduct that apply to everyone else. This causes an unnatural employer-employee relationship that is evident and impacts the rest of those in their work sphere. This “grandfathered-in” employee phenomenon is well-documented and has been a fact of the workplace for a very long time.Another example is the employee with a set of expertise or experience that is highly-valued by the company causing an internal delineation of social class. Some expertise becomes the hot commodity over time and shifts as the business environment shifts. With this comes the expectations of special treatment of some and marginalization of others. This type of entitled employee is another influential fact of the workplace.4Given all of this and other dynamics that are surely present, it is significant when an employee iswilling to contribute these Joy at Work dimensions. The expectations and realities of work can easily get in the way.5 Yet when employees as individuals experience joy in the workplace, they benefit. Beyond the basic positivity of the experience, employees also receive health benefits and expand their personal capabilities for use in the future.6Joyful employees benefit a company with performance results. There’s a straightforward motivation for both the employee and the company.A barrier that exists is the feeling that one must experience pain to get the reward, or that one must be serious at work so that things get done. This is a subject of debate that’s cropped up lately with the growing recognition of the value of play and creativity to solve complex problems.7 The invention of Agile, Design Thinking and Gamification as ways to work with natural human talents to explore, learn and solve are manifestations of this debate. But even those can be used in a way that’s bad for people and a company. There is no perfect solution yet. Joy at Work eBook16 |

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| 17Joy at Work eBookEmployee Willingness and CultureWillingness on the employee’s part assumes employee ownership of the decision. With this ownership, a person can think through questions like, how willing am I to act this way regardless of a company’s culture? When do I feel at personal risk and why? What work cultures are too hard for me to thrive in? What cultures or industries would I thrive in? It’s not necessary to have exact answers, but it helps a person raise their awareness of this aspect of their work experience.Awareness can lead a person to find a company culture that’s right for them, which is good, but things change. A company may have a culture that’s distinct but then changes over time influenced by things like growth or retraction of the business, shifting customer expectations, or shifting employee expectations. At team level, cultures change as leaders and team members change. A company’s culture may change temporarily during a crisis. Being aware of this helps an employee recognize the signs they they’ve come to feel they’re at too great a risk personally to willingly act in these Joy at Work ways and when they’re in a situation where they can no longer thrive. Again, this puts them in the driver’s seat to decide what choices they want to make.Employer-Employee PartnershipAs much as it’s known that a company and its leadership must cultivate a Joy at Work environment, the employee has a significant role to play for themselves. They have an influence on the experience of others, including their boss and people they don’t work with directly. The ripple effect of an employee’s work and attitude is significant.Just as much as an employee can have a negative impact, so can they have an impact on the joy others feel at work and how much the humans thrive in their company. If your expectations are low, then you are likely to get what you expect. You can also push the boundaries of those expectations and have a positive ripple effect that moves beyond the boundaries of work and into the personal lives of colleagues.

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Your Personal LegacyWhat do you want your personal legacy to be? As an employee, you will face ethical dilemmas about the right thing to do. What impact do you want to have on others? What do you want to contribute to through your work? How might your colleagues answer that question? How might you help them achieve that through your work collaboration? These are not difficult questions, but they don’t get asked very much. Most people don’t think about their impact on others at work. That’s not a character flaw, it’s just not how we’re trained to think about work. The ripple effect of a person’s work and interactions with colleagues goes far beyond the boundaries of the workplace. It’s unseen yet a significant aspect of the experience of work in a person’s life. Being deliberate about your contribution to that experience is something to consider.Questions to ConsiderToday, many people are asking themselves what it means to work and the place it should have in modern life. Most of us must work to financially support ourselves and others, to be safe in this world and to create the life we want to have. Because that’s true it gets complicated. There are a lot of questions to consider:How am I going to spend my time working? How am I going to allow myself to be treated? How will I treat others regardless of how I am treated? What choices do I feel I have to work to financially support myself and have the life I want? What is a life worth living and how does work factor into that? What does joy at work mean to me and how will I create it for myself and others?Joy at Work eBook18 |

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- Participation -My personal risk level: High (6)What I say…What are signs that participation is working well for a company? 1• Employees proactively ask questions and engage with others to solve problems; actively listen and build on each other’s ideas; seek to work with others who are actively engaged. • Independently research and test ideas; offer potential solutions that build on what the group values.• Learning and improvement is the norm.Joy at Work ThinkingWhat are signs that participation isn’t working well for a company?• Employees do what they’re told and little more; find ways to stall the work so they are not required to spend effort solving the problems the group is working on together; miss meetings or stay silent during meetings.• Employees minimally engage with the group, minimally engage in group conversations and rarely ask questions or offer ideas to solve the problems at hand; a minimal amount of effort is spent to still be considered part of the group.• Delays in progress, missed deadlines, rework, absenteeism, uneven distribution of work, cancelled and/or restarted initiatives; reorganizations or changes in leadership for the purpose of reengaging or reviving the work and workforce.What’s surprising about this dimension?If an organization does not publicly and privately reward participation, or worse, punishes participation, it disincentivizes those who seek achievement and purpose. It also incentivizes disengaged behaviors and can attract individuals who are comfortable working in a culture that lacks effectiveness.2Why is an individual at high personal risk when they are willing to participate? Participation is easy to detect and attribute to an individual based on their observable behavior and the work they produce. A person risks being diminished, ostracized or dismissed if their participation is not valued by the group, if participation isgenerally discouraged or if the group is suddenly out of favor by the larger organization, industry or the public.Why is this dimension an important contributor to joy in the workplace?When individual group members are willing to participate, participation of the whole group can grow. The group is more likelyto experience positive outcomes, such as speed, efficiency and effectiveness and the work itself becomes more rewarding. A highly-participative group can be perceived as well-functioning and likely to produce value. This attracts people who want to be associated with success which can again, increase the potential to improve the capability of the group.Joy at Work eBook20 |

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- Commitment -What I say…Joy at Work eBook | 21What are signs that commitment is working well for a company? 3• Employees seek to become more knowledgeable, try experiments and generate new ideas to achieve the goal.• Without being asked, employees apply their discretionary effort or publicly volunteer to do work the group considers valuable; employees indicate they are enjoying the work itself.• Deadlines are met and the work is considered high-quality.Joy at Work ThinkingWhat are signs that commitment isn’t working well for a company?• Missed deadlines; work demonstrates minimal effort; a lack of interest, urgency or concern about the goal or solution.• Employees use words that express commitment but don’t demonstrate behaviors of commitment; express derision toward the demonstrated commitment of others: “What’s the point? It’s not worth it. We can’t achieve it.”; express cynicism: “We tried that before, and it didn’t work. Leadership doesn’t support this. It won’t work.”What’s surprising about this dimension?Employees often become more dedicated and determined when they are around others who are aligned to the same goal, although they may reevaluate their commitment if they are unsure about the intention, character or competencies of the clearly committed members of the group.Why is an individual at high personal risk when they are willing to commit? Commitment is easy to detect and attributable to an individual through observable behavior and their work. Demonstrating commitment to something that is unpopular or not seen as valuable to the group puts an employee at risk. Committing to a course of action is a tradeoff, meaning, time and effort placed in the direction of the commitment means it cannot be placed in another direction, so choosing wisely is important. When employees believe their colleagues are committed to the wrong solution or goal, pretending to be committed or committed to something they believe is morally wrong, they will analyze the risk to themselves and behave with caution. They may try to convince others, either directly or indirectly, to commit to what they see as the right solution or goal. They mayleave the group if they perceive that staying would pose too great a personal risk or ethical compromise.Why is this dimension an important contributor to joy in the workplace?When people are willing to commit it can create an energizing work experience for the group, build the group’s confidence andlead to surprising problem-solving creativity.My personal risk level: High (6)

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- Accountability -What I say…What are signs that accountability is working well for a company? 4• Information each person needs to perform their role successfully is flowing appropriately and at the right pace.• Decisions are made at a reasonable, expected pace and at the appropriate level and role.• Learning and improvement is the norm.Joy at Work ThinkingWhat are signs that accountability isn’t working well for a company?• Fear causes people to hide, avoid agreements or use indirect language, especially in public forums.5• Decision-making takes longer than reasonably expected; friction and/or reduced information flow slows down work; employees create unsanctioned workarounds to get things done; deadlines are missed, goals are not achieved.• Cynicism and jaded attitudes are common among employees; reputational issues are actively managed with customers.What’s surprising about this dimension?Some companies may decide to use shared accountability as a strategy slow down decision-making enough to consider a wider set of solutions or alternatives. Why is an individual at high personal risk when they are willing to be accountable? Accountability is easy to detect. People declare through their words and actions they are accountable, for example, in agreements they make as an individual with their boss, customers, team, etc. to take action.A person’s role/job title has accountability tied to it. A person is employed by a company to be accountable to do something of value. Although there is often disagreement or lack of clarity about what the accountability is, accountability is tied to everyperson’s role. For these reasons, a person is exposed to consequences if expectations are not met, ranging from embarrassment and humiliation to tangible punishment, such as job loss, demotion, or some other significant loss of status.Why is this dimension an important contributor to joy in the workplace?When people are willing to be accountable this makes it easier for others to understand how to be successful. Accountability answers questions about what’s expected, what the priorities are, who is involved, by when things need to be done and why. The presence of accountability gives people traction to get work done and a roadmap to contribute in a meaningful way.Joy at Work eBook22 | My personal risk level: High (6)

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- Trust -What I say…| 23What are signs that trust is working well for a company? 6• Open sharing of ideas; direct, respectful language; listening to accept and build on the ideas of others; energizing interactions motivating productive action; offers and acceptances of help without concern of hidden agendas or being thought of as weak or strong.7• Experiments; failures responded to with curiosity first, rather than judgment first; risks raised as a common practice with the intent to make informed decisions and without concern for repercussions.Joy at Work Thinking• Decision-making delegated to appropriate levels and roles; information sharing flows at an appropriate pace and detail needed for each employee’s role and level; a general feeling of being set up to succeed.What are signs that trust isn’t working well for a company?• An imbalanced percentage of time and effort spent by an employee managing up; before making commitments that are appropriate for their role and level, frequent checking with or getting approval from the supervisor first.• An imbalanced percentage of time and effort spent by a supervisor monitoring, coaching and directing their employees; supervisors unable to keep or make other commitments as a result.• Careful, measured and indirect communication; hedging when making commitments; energy-draining conversations; alliances frequently made between employees for the purpose of self-protection.What’s surprising about this dimension?The degree of dependency on others and the risk tolerance of those involved are big drivers of trust behaviors.Why is an individual at high personal risk when they are willing to trust? The giver and the receiver of trust each have some amount of risk. A person’s ability to accurately judge the intention, values,character and competencies of others is part of the situation. The supervisor-employee is the highest risk relationship for both parties. The supervisor is dependent on the employee to deliver valuable work, the employee is dependent on the supervisor for fair performance reviews, compensation and treatment, and typically has the power to fire the employee.Why is this dimension an important contributor to joy in the workplace?When people are willing to trust and be trusted, and the organization acts in ways that support that willingness, they are free to focus on the work itself and are not preoccupied with evaluating their risk of engagement.Joy at Work eBookMy personal risk level: High (5)

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- Belonging -What I say…What are signs that belonging is working well for a company? 8• Holding space for others to gather thoughts and share ideas; stating back what was heard to confirm they heard others correctly; encouragement of others participate; open sharing of ideas; appreciation of differences and diversity of thought.• Seeking input from individuals that demonstrates an accurate understanding of that person’s unique capabilities and contribution that can applied to solve the problem at hand.• Specific acknowledgement of a colleague’s work, capabilities and contribution and the value of that to the group or mission of the company.Joy at Work ThinkingWhat are signs that belonging isn’t working well for a company?• Seeking to be heard: Talking past each other; interrupting.• Conformity: Reserved, careful or hesitant participation among group members; unwillingness to debate; discussion dominated by a single voice or set of messages; most conversation/meeting participants are silent; steps taken to avoid beingejected from the group.• Mistrust of Others: Alienation of people considered outside a group; resentment or rumors among groups; isolated employees.What’s surprising about this dimension?On the positive side, belonging can encourage openness and vulnerability. On the negative side, belonging can lead to insularbehavior, groupthink or over-confidence in ideas and the ability to achieve goals.Why is an individual at medium personal risk when they are willing to belong? Belonging to a group puts a person at risk depending on how the group behaves with each other, the ability of the group to create value and the group’s ability to survive difficulties or crises. Reserving the energy invested in the group is a relatively easy way for a person to reduce this risk.Why is this dimension an important contributor to joy in the workplace?When people are willing to belong, there is greater potential for integration of unique talents among members to solve problems. When people feel valued by their organization they are encouraged to participate and expand their contribution.Joy at Work eBook24 | My personal risk level: Med-High (4)

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- Cohesion -What I say…| 25What are signs that cohesion is working well for a company? 9• Active listening between group members; members seeking ideas, input, work and inclusion from everyone in the group to achieve the goal; praise from the group for a member’s contribution; demonstrated group tenacity.• Leaders emphasize problem solving and risk mitigation practices to achieve the goal and purposefully de-emphasize blame for problems; emphasis placed on the group’s achievement over individual achievement.Joy at Work ThinkingWhat are signs that cohesion isn’t working well for a company?• A superficial or obligatory interest in the group’s work; casual, disinterested or aloof interaction between group members; members do their own work which may or may not be aligned or considered valuable to the group; members ensure their individual work is considered value to those that have power.• Competition between group members valued more than achieving the group’s goal; emphasis on individual work over the group’s work; seeking to place blame; questioning the value of other’s work, especially relative to the perceived goal; knowingly ostracizing group members; seeking weaknesses in group members and broadcasting them.• Fiefdoms inside the group; unnatural alliances created with people with power for the purpose of self-protection or advancement.• Degradation of work quality due to disinterest in the group’s success, insular behaviors and the resulting lack of diversity of thought.What’s surprising about this dimension?People who have power in a group (leaders, informal influencers) have a significant impact on a group’s cohesion and ability to be effective. The longer they contribute to a group’s cohesion, the more emotional capital is built and the greater the group’s unity. The opposite is also true: The longer they contribute to a group’s disorder, the more divisions are solidified and thegreater the group’s disunity.Why is an individual at medium-to-high risk when they are willing to act cohesively? Acting cohesively with a group puts a person at risk depending on the intention of the group, how effectively the group workstogether, the ability of the group to create value and the group’s ability to survive difficulties or crises.10Reducing engagement in the group is a relatively easy way for a person to reduce this risk.Why is this dimension an important contributor to joy in the workplace?When people are willing to act cohesively with a group, there’s a greater likelihood the group’s collective effort will have a big impact and members of the group often experience outsized personal growth as a result.Joy at Work eBookMy personal risk level: Med-High (4)

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- Adaptability -What I say…What are signs that adaptability is working well for a company? 11• People praise their colleagues for bringing new information to the group considered valuable; non-combative questions and exploration about how applying the new information solves a problem more effectively.• Openness to try new ideas; experiments; failures responded to with curiosity first, rather than judgment first; learning and improvement is the norm.• Employees rewarded for inventiveness and innovations.Joy at Work ThinkingWhat are the signs that adaptability isn’t working well for a company?• New ideas are shut down, met with suspicion and seen as too risky; significant proof and validation are required before something new is considered; stubborn or passive-aggressive behavior in response to a new idea; employees punished for bringing novel ideas to the group; most work conversations focus on established products and practices.• Missed opportunities considered valuable to the company; loss of customers or market share; loss of high-caliber employees.What’s surprising about this dimension?Adaptability is not as valuable to people who have jobs or work in industries that have a long standing, stable status and market share and has little competition. In this case they often feel the best strategy is to focus attention on their current business, products and practices rather than create something novel. On the other hand, adaptability is seen as highly-valuable to people that have jobs or work in industries that are associated with emerging trends and have high competition, to those that want to invent something novel, or whose job/industry status or market share is changing.Why is an individual at medium-to-low personal risk when they are willing to be adaptable? Adaptability is valued by most companies because most companies must adjust to new factors affecting their business. A person is at some personal risk depending on their ability to keep up with the larger group’s ability to adapt or if they get too far ahead of the group.Why is this dimension an important contributor to joy in the workplace?When people are willing to be adaptable it equips them to see change in a positive way rather than only negatively. It empowers people to take ownership of their experience, see the possibilities and have a positive impact on others.Joy at Work eBook26 | My personal risk level: Med-Low (3)

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- Growth -What I say…| 27What are signs that growth is working well for a company? 12• Employees proactively keep personal professional development plans, engage in mentor-mentee relationships, read and expand their knowledge in areas that the company values, share knowledge with others, experiment and take risks within reason.• Managers delegate work and provide safety for employees to learn new skills and expand their contribution; managers encourage growth by modeling it for others and investing in their own development.• Employees are rewarded publicly for demonstrated developmentJoy at Work Thinkingand outcomes of new skills and knowledge; learning and improvement is the norm.What are signs growth isn’t working well for a company?• Professional development is regarded as a chore by managers and/or employees; managers and/or employees don’t come prepared to have a development conversation; development conversations rarely take place; promotions within the company are rare; high-caliber employees leave the company; difficult to attract high-caliber employees.• Professional development is culturally divisive: Used in a way to differentiate status for a select group of people; a source offeelings of inequity; something to feel guilty for investing in; cause of workload imbalance and resentment.• The company is surprised by business environment changes that they realize should have been obvious.What’s surprising about this dimension?Employees who grow deep knowledge and expertise in an area that is very highly valued can develop a superior attitude and become difficult to manage. A company can become overly dependent on this employee leading to behaviors that aren’t aligned with the company’s values. Companies with forced-ranking performance evaluation systems may discourage employee interest in growth given the focus on a closed-group comparison. In this situation, growth may be regarded by the group as frivolous, a bad investment or abnormal if it isn’t obviously creating a better competitive outcome for an individual.Why is an individual at medium personal risk when they are willing to grow? Most companies value employee growth because their employees are able to expand their contribution in valuable ways. On the other hand, a company may not be financially or structurally able to reward employee growth in tangible ways, such as compensation or promotion, which can create an inherent conflict for the company and for the employee-company relationship. A person is at some personal risk if they don’t grow in a direction that is considered valuable to the group or ifthey grow beyond what the company needs or expects from them.Why is this dimension an important contributor to joy in the workplace?When people are willing to grow, they help the company grow in capability and achieve its purpose. They can see how their contribution has a positive impact, building their confidence and deepening their connection to the company and their work.Joy at Work eBookMy personal risk level: Med-Low (3)

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- Respect -My personal risk level: Low (2)What I say…What are signs that respect is working well for a company? 13• In meetings, group members acknowledge each other; new members and visitors are acknowledged and introduced; active encouragement of all members to participate in the discussion; members hold space to allow others to gather their thoughts and share ideas; body language and tone of discussion is welcoming, appropriate and constructive; there’s an openness to differences in points of view; a genuine curiosity and care in each other’s perspectives and wellbeing. • Group members take a genuine, non-threatening interest in eachJoy at Work Thinkingother’s work; members express how the specific work of others has helped the group’s progress; members share credit or credit the true originator of valuable work; members request to take a member’s work further to advance the group’s goal.What are signs that respect isn’t working well for a company?• Ignoring, passing over, dismissing or discounting the contribution of others; interrupting or talking over each other; unwelcoming or combative body language or tone of discussion; excluding members from the important work of the group; isolated employees; shut-down behavior of employees.• Taking credit for another group member ’s work; not acknowledging the contribution of a member to a group’s success.• High levels of attrition; failure to make progress or gain momentum on achieving goals.What’s surprising about this dimension?Basic respectful behavior is usually expected in a group for it to function well but respectful behavior beyond that often must be earned to avoid it being seen as disingenuous. People considered to have a high status are usually expected to receive a larger amount of respectful behavior from others. A person’s values, experiences, self-esteem and the meaning they derive from their work impacts the degree and eagerness of respect they extend to others. This also impacts the importance they place on receiving respect from colleagues. Respectful behavior is a way for a person to feel seen and heard at work, especiallywhen their unique contribution is understood and valued by the group for group’s purpose.Why is an individual at low personal risk when they are willing to demonstrate respect? It usually costs a person very little behave in basic respectful ways toward others, even those who are considered out of favor by the larger group. A person is at some risk because there’s no guarantee the receiver of respect will act respectfully in return, which could hurt the person’s status in the group.Why is this dimension an important contributor to joy in the workplace?When people are willing to demonstrate respect for others, it encourages this behavior in the group and the group members are encouraged to contribute to the group’s purpose.Joy at Work eBook28 |

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- Integrity -What I say…| 29What are signs that integrity is working well for a company? 14• Employees generally keep their promises to each other; employees admit and own their mistakes and work to overcome them; leaders and managers acknowledge when things don’t go as expected.• A company’s stated values match the way work gets done and the behaviors that are publically and privately rewarded.• Words and behaviors of a leader generally match and are aligned to the company’s stated values; the messages of the company, leaders and managers generally match, and match an employee’s experience.Joy at Work Thinking• Employee reactions to the words and behaviors of leaders are focused on the work rather than interpreting the intention behind the messages of leaders.What are signs that integrity isn’t working well for a company?• Employees spend time evaluating the situation and interpreting the words and actions of others rather than taking them at face value; frequent employee triangulation, checking with others and seeking more information before acting; evaluation, friction and uncertainty slows down work; alliances made for the purpose of reducing personal risk.• Perceived fairness issues, cynicism and jaded attitudes are common among employees; reputational issues are actively managed with customers; mistakes are seen as something to hide; employees blame each other.• Breached agreements between employees and others cause managers to quickly react to solve the problem; micromanaging.• Reputational issues are actively managed with customers; reputational risk is actively managed with the public.What’s surprising about this dimension?The importance of integrity is tied to industry and public expectations. For example, the more an industry/company is understood to present a risk to human life, the greater the perceived need for adherence to a moral code of ethics. This expectation may then be part of the organization’s culture impacting how work gets done and what behaviors are rewarded.Why is an individual at low personal risk when they are willing to act with integrity? In general, it can be difficult to detect whether or not an employee is acting with integrity and it’s usually recoverable if a mistake is made. On the other hand, some jobs/roles are held to a high industry standard for integrity, such as healthcare workers. Acting with integrity can put a person at risk if the company and those that have power do not act with integrity and/or expect others not to act with integrity. Why is this dimension an important contributor to joy in the workplace?When people are willing to act with integrity, their colleagues see them as a reliable, valuable contributor to get things done.It can also lead to the free flow of ideas between people and increased readiness to forgive when a mistake is made.Joy at Work eBookMy personal risk level: Low (1)

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Do your own Joy at Work AssessmentChoose one or two dimensions to assess. You might choose dimensions that are important to you or those you’re simply curious about. Then try an approach below. This is not a thorough or scientific assessment, of course, but it’s useful to note your experience and raise your awareness.| 31What examples of this dimension have you experienced directly?What examples have you witnessed others experience? How recently? How frequently? How does it make you feel? How does it impact your behavior? How does it impact your personal life and your relationships outside of work, good, bad or otherwise?Immediate ReactionsNoticing InteractionsIncremental ChangesFor the next week, notice the behavior in your usual interactions at work -- meetings, casual conversations, texting, emails, etc. What do you notice related to the dimension?What behavior is obviously positive? Why might it be happening? What is the potential ripple effect? What behavior is obviously negative? Why might it be happening? What is the potential ripple effect?If you had your wish about the dimension in your workplace, what would you keep the same, grow or change in some way? Why? What small change could you make yourself that would make a difference? How might you try that small change as an experiment? Joy at Work eBook

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Create Joy at Work for YourselfYou don’t have control over everything you experience at work, but you can grow Joy at Work for yourself. While most people like the idea of growing joy for themselves, they often have only a vague notion of what that means to them.1Tuning into what joy at work means to you is a good first step. Below are some questions to ask yourself to tune in.For the next week, notice when you experience joy at work.When do you feel most satisfied with your work? What’s happening?When do you feel joy in your interactions with colleagues? What’s happening?When do you feel most motivated and inspired? What’s happening?When do you laugh at work? Why?When do you lose yourself in your work?Noticing MomentsReflecting BackIncremental ChangesThink back to the best experience you ever had leading a team or being part of a team.What was that like? What made it that way? What was happening?What did you accomplish because of that? What stands out to you about the experience? How does it make you feel to remember?Look at photos or mementos you’ve kept from the experience. Allow yourself to wallow in it to really remember what it was like.If you had your wish, what would you most love to apply from that experience to your current work experience? What is already happening that’s a lot like your best experience?What small thing could you start or stop doing that would bring you joy?Imagining it’s six months from now and you were successful in making that small change, what would be happening that would make it all worth it?Joy at Work eBook32 |

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| 33Create Joy at Work with OthersStarting with yourself first, you can identify ways to contribute to the joy of the people you work with and, if you’re feeling brave, engage others in a conversation about growing joy. Use the Joy at Work Self-Reflection Guide (see next page) as a tool to remind yourself that you can have a joyful impact on others.How can you bring joy to your colleagues, your team or your boss today?How can you contribute joy to your company?This does not need to be a grand gesture. Keeping small commitments may be enough to bring joy to your colleagues today. Doing this for others can also shift your mood to something more positive.Engage with OthersUse the one-page summary of a dimension to talk about this aspect of joy. What do you notice is working well? How is that impacting the health of the team and value the team creates together? What might you improve as a team? How could that impact the health of the team and value the team creates together?The goal is to specifically avoid critique and judgment in the conversation because that shuts down engagement and reduces psychological safety.2Critique and judgment can be difficult to avoid because most work conversations are about critique and judgment in service to improving the value of the work, but in this conversation it’s not constructive for building relationships. Instead, lead the conversation with a focus on growing your collective strengths and adjusting things that don’t serve the health of the team.Imagine interactions in the future that would truly represent Joy at Work for your team and then select 1-2 smallish things you could start or stop doing to make that happen. Instead of big change announcements, try mini experiments to see how these can work for your culture.3Having a test-and-learn mindset will increase your chances of successfully implementing the change you want.As aPracticeJoy at Work eBook

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Joy at Work Self-Reflection GuideThere are four areas to this Self-Reflection Guide: Your work, your relationships, your team, your company.Each can be a source of joy for you. They can also be a source of negativity and stress that’s not constructive. The guide is meant to prompt you to check-in on how each area feels in that moment and how you can contribute to the joy of others. It’s meant to help you see options for growing joy.You notice we use the word “feel” which may not be comfortable for you. That’s understandable. Discussing feelings in the workplace requires guidance and boundaries that are right for a company’s culture. Otherwise, people will sense danger and withdraw or be concerned that they’ve shared too much.It’s included here because humans feel emotions, plain and simple. People do not check their emotions at the door when they come to work. Most people actively manage their emotions so they can be productive and work well with colleagues. How things feel matters to people. Yet, even if you don’t have a conversation with others about how something feels, it’s useful to ask yourself how these four areas feel because it leads to insights about why and what’s behind that and what you might do to change or maintain that feeling.Tuning in:What question jumps out for you the most? Why?What about that is in your control? What’s not? What can you make better simply through your usual work interactions?For you:What small thing can you do for yourself that would make a difference in how joyful your work feels to you today?For others:What small thing could you do for a colleague today to contribute to their joy?What would improve your willingness to contribute in this way? What’s at risk for you? How likely is that risk to occur?4How can you remind yourself to contribute to the joy of others?Joy at Work eBook34 |

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Joy at Work Self-Reflection Team GuideThe Joy at Work Self-Reflection Guide can be useful for a team that wants to grow joy. To do this we’ve altered some of the questions to apply to a team.| 35The questions about “My joy” can be done silently and briefly as a warm-up and to give people a sense of how they are empowered to contribute joy.The rest of the questions can be done as a group. 1. Each person writes down their answers to each question on sticky notes, one idea per note, and then places it in the appropriate spot on the guide. 2. Once the notes are placed, the team discusses the themes, outliers and what can be done to sustain or grow joy. For each note, identify the thought as:• Opportunity To Sustain (OTS)• Opportunity To Grow (OTG)As a group, decide where you want to focus, perhaps on one thing to sustain and one thing to grow. You can vote using a poll or have deeper discussion first. A useful discussion can be about what you most value as a team – some examples are getting things done, having fun, generating ideas, solving problems, taking risks, etc. – and then decide based on that. You don’t need to spend a lot of timing analyzing. The goal is to agree generally on one or two that the team would be happy to see grow or sustained. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by the implementation of the ideas, design small experiments to try as a team. Periodic check-ins are useful for reflecting on the progress you’ve made. You’re likely to falter at first as you test and learn your way forward. Making progress is more important than being perfect. The goal is to stick to it and make it a practice to be intentional about joy on the team.Decide Where to FocusCheck-in on ProgressReflect and Discuss ThemesJoy at Work eBook

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Boundaries for a Team Discussion The purpose of this team discussion is to tune into what makes work a joyful experience for the team so that you can maintain or grow joy. Because the guide suggests you reflect on how things feel, it’s good to have a few boundaries to make sure the conversation is productive and has a positive outcome for everyone.A Few Basic PrinciplesKeep it light. There’s no need to do deep analysis for the team to benefit from the discussion. No one should be required to share their feelings. Team members should share the point of their own comfort. That said, team members should be careful not to burden the team by oversharing personally.Critiquing or judging your colleagues or yourself is out of bounds. Discussing complaints about yourself or others is out of bounds. Normal work discussions are often about critique in order to make things better. For this discussion, that’s counterproductive. Instead, stay in the positive space to see what you can learn.Thank each other for your willingness to be part of the discussion in service to growing joy for yourselves, each other and those outside of the team you impact.5Alternative Questions to ConsiderTo make this guide work best for you, here are a few other questions you can answer instead or in addition to those in the guide. Select the questions the team would most enjoy discussing.My Joy: When do I feel joy in my work?Our Joy: When does the team experience joy with others outside of the team? What’s happening that makes it that way?Team Joy: When does it feel joyful to be part of the team? What are we doing that makes it that way? How does that contribute to our success as a team?Company Joy: How do we know that as a team we’re contributing joy to the company? What tells us that?Joy at Work eBook36 |

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The Basics1.Ed Cook and Roxanne Brown, ”Joy Research: A Summary of the Research Objectives, Methods, Current State and Next Phase”, The Change Decision, December 18, 2020, https://simplebooklet.com/joyresearchstatement#page=0.2.Marcel Schwantes, “What Does it Take for Employees and Businesses to Thrive?” Inc., August 3, 2017, https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/this-massive-study-just-revealed-the-5-characteris.html.3.The Change Decision, Joy Research, 2021, https://www.thechangedecision.com/joy-at-work-research.4.Glenda Fisk, “’I want it all and I want it now!’ An examination of the etiology, expression, and escalation of excessive employee entitlement.” Human Resource Management Review 20, no. 2 (2010): 102-114.5.Wilson Wong, “The psychological contract: Examines the history, state and strategic implications of the psychological contract,” CIPD, February 2, 2021, https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/employees/psychological-factsheet#gref.6.Barbara L. Fredrickson, “The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology,” American Psychologist 56, no. 3 (2001): 218-226.7.Promila Agarwal and Elaine Farndale, “High-performance work systems and creativity implementation: the role or psychological capital and psychological safety,” Human Resource Management Journal 27, no. 3 (2017): 440-458.The Details1.Sampson Quain, “The Difference Between Employee Participation & Employee Involvement,” Chron, November 26, 2018, https://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-between-employee-participation-employee-involvement-13013.html.NotesJoy at Work eBook38 |

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2.Bruce A. Rayton and Zeynep Y. Yalabik, “Work engagement, psychological contract breach and job satisfaction,” The International Journal of Human Resource Management 25, no. 17 (2014): 2382-2400.3.Brian Francis Redmond and Mary Ann Alderton, “Work and Organizational Commitment,” Penn State University, November 13, 2016, https://wikispaces.psu.edu/display/PSYCH484/12.+Work+and+Organizational+Commitment.4.Keith Ayers, “Creating Employee Accountability,” SHRM, 2021, https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/people-managers/pages/creating-employee-accountability.aspx5.Jennifer J. Kish-Gephart, James R. Detert, Linda Klebe Trevino and Amy C. Edmondson, “Silenced by fear: The nature, sources, and consequences of fear at work,” Research in Organizational Behavior 29, (2009): 163-193.6.Sarah Brown, Daniel Gray, Jolian McHardy and Karl Taylor, “Employee trust and work performance,” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 116, (2015): 361-3787.Edgar H. Schein, Helping: How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help, (SanFrancisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2011).8.Maxwell Huppert, “Employees Share What Gives Them a Sense of Belonging at Work,” LinkedIn, October 25, 2017, https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/company-culture/2017/employees-share-what-gives-them-a-sense-of-belonging-at-work.9.“Group Cohesion,” Iresearchnet, 2021, http://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/group/group-cohesion/10.Eric Berne, M.D., The Structure and Dynamics of Organizations and Groups, (New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1963).11.Martin Reeves and Mike Deimler, “Adaptability: The New Competitive Advantage,” Harvard Business Review, July-August 2011, https://hbr.org/2011/07/adaptability-the-new-competitive-advantage.| 39NotesJoy at Work eBook

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Joyat Work Thinking: How to apply this to your life at work1.Roxanne Brown, “In Search of Meaningful Work,” The Change Decision/Blog, August 28, 2017, (https://www.thechangedecision.com/blog/in-search-of-meaningful-work).2.Amy Edmondson, “Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams,” Administrative Science Quarterly 44, no. 2 (1999): 350-383.3.BJ Fogg, “Start Tiny,” Tiny Habits, 2021, https://tinyhabits.com/start-tiny/.4.Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Chapter 2: A Magic Formula for Solving Worry Situations (New York: Pocket Books, 1984).5.Business News Daily Editor, “Teams Work Better When Employees Care About Each Other,” Business News Daily, March 23, 2020, https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8585-teams-care-about-others.html.12.Carol Dweck, ”The power of believing you can improve,” TED Talk, November 2014, https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve.13.Saad Ali Khan, “What is the Importance of Respect in the Workplace & How it Affects Employees (Explained),” Legacy Business Cultures, October 26, 2020, https://legacycultures.com/importance-of-respect-in-the-workplace-and-how-it-affects-employees/.14.Dr. Henry Cloud, Integrity: The courage to meet the demands of reality, (New York: HarperCollins, 2006).NotesJoy at Work eBook40 |

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| 41What’s Next for Joy at WorkAs of this publication, the Joy Research Project continues, focused on understanding what joy at work means to leaders and how that impacts their companies in the areas of change, decision-making and team performance. Our Research Statement can be found on our website. This is the first major publication of our accumulated research so far. As we learn more, we will continue to publish and update our material. Here are a few practical applications of this research we’re working on now:Career Path Planning: How can this material be used to make career path decisions for yourself, both inside and outside your current employer?Job Interviewing: What tells you the company, team or job role will be a place you canthrive? What are the signs that Joy at Work is present? Employee Onboarding: How is Joy at Work part of your company’s culture and how would you describe it to a new team member? What is expected of the new employee? How can the employee contribute to Joy at Work?Today, we offer several Joy at Work workshops related to the research:• Joy at Work Journeys: Professional development visioning to make career path decisions that bring you joy, now and in the future.• Joy at Work Stories: Leader-Team stories and conversations about what joy at work means, to strengthen connections and build relationships.• Year-of-Joy Vision Boards: Connecting to what brings you joy and manifesting that in your life in near-term ways, daily practices and aspirational goals.Joy at Work eBook

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Teams can grow joy by experiencing change together. In fact, the research tells us that a struggle can bring team members together and can be the best experiences people have at work. It’s about how.Our Change method is based on the concept that joy can grow when change is introduced, even a change people dislike. Using an empathy-in-practice approach, companies can build employee willingness to participate, commit, be accountable, belong, act with cohesion, adapt, grow, demonstrate respect and act with integrity. It’s about how change is done. We offer these courses that apply joy research to change in the workplace:• Savvy Change Leader – Change Leadership development• Change & Joy in the Workplace – Change Management Certification• Change Analytics Concentration – Measuring change progress using data analytics techniques• Personal Change & Joy – Managing personal changeThe Connection Between Change and JoyWe believe Joy and Change go together. Experience tells us that people are not usually upset about what is changing because most employees understand and expect that companies must evolve to meet the demands of their business. Where people get upset is how change is handled. That’s when they feel disrespected or feel others are disrespected. That’s when fear can spread.Joy at Work eBook42 |

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The Change Decision is a Change and Culture company focused on growing joy in the workplace. They work with leaders who are pursuing important change in their company but are struggling to have the impact they want to motivate and inspire their people to change. TCD offers change leadership and change management training, coaching and consulting to make leading people to change mysterious-free and practical. Their method works for different types of change: Technology change, changes in leadership, changes in the way business is done, mergers, as well as the introduction of new policies, services and branding. It’s an empathy-in-practice approach that improves the culture in the process --what they call, joy at work.Roxanne Brown is a well-known change expert with more than 20 years of experience in technology, policy and culture change, and related disciplines. She’s also the former global President of the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP).Ed Cook is seasoned leader of teams and large organizations. He’s a former Navy pilot who spent a year in Iraq nation-building. Ed’s also a Visiting Professor at the University of Richmond and has a PhD in Systems Modeling and Analysis.About The Change DecisionCONNECT WITH US@thechangedecision @joyatworker thechangedecision.com/blogthechangedecision.comLinkedIn Instagram Writing Website@2021 The Change Decision. All rights reserved. | 43Joy at Work eBook

A Guide to Joy at Work

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