Much has been written about the relationship between a happy, positive workplace and an effective, productive workforce but the definition of happiness can be misunderstood. Often workforce harmony is seen as the presence of positive emotions and the absence of negative ones.
On the surface this looks great; but on the inside this happy face veneer can lead to work cultures that pressure people into faking positive emotions. Research has shown that “playing the game” (i.e. faking it) can result in long-term physical and emotional illness.
Associating the state of being happy merely with situational cheerfulness creates another challenge: happiness tends be classified as less serious, superficial and lightweight. For example, this results in universities avoiding the conversation on developing “happy” graduates and adopting a “happiness agenda” for the holistic development of their students. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, campus stress, depression, and suicide rates keep increasing.
Rising depression and suicide rates are not restricted to American college campuses. Currently 300 million people worldwide are suffering from depression. A recent report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) predicted that if nothing is done, in a mere 11 years–by 2030—depression will be the world’s number one illness.
Three steps to happiness
Happiness requires more than positive emotions; it requires two additional constituent parts, purpose and resilience.
Happy people must have a clear and meaningful purpose. And because negative emotions are an inescapable part of life, developing resilience is the third essential component. Resilience enables us to deal effectively with negative emotions when they arise. To do this well requires an experiential inventory of past challenges. Well-meaning “helicopter” and “lawnmower” parents who hover and intercede on their children’s behalf retard the development of coping and resilience for those they are trying to protect. These alarming shortcomings, coupled with runaway digital addiction problems, are the leading culprits of campus stress.
Universities, of course, feed the work force. Employers who are serious about achieving effectiveness and productivity through a happy workforce need to ensure workers are given the opportunity to do engaging, meaningful, and purpose-driven work. Individuals, teams, and subgroups must be able to develop good relationships and experience an earned sense of achievement.
How Do You Protect Your Career from Artificial Intelligence?
While Artificial Intelligence may be surpassing many human capabilities, it cannot yet compete with human emotional intelligence.
As AI continues to rapidly permeate global industry, indications are that jobs of the future will require much more emotional intelligence to complement the sophisticated machines we work with.
Academic institutions face a choice: Should they ignore the AI explosion or play a role in developing students’ emotional intelligence and well-being? Playing it safe is dangerous. Developing student emotional intelligence ensures that universities remain relevant.
Make no mistake: What we are looking at is the world’s fourth industrial revolution. AI demands the integration of physical, cyber, and biological systems; and with it the automation of an increasing number of jobs. Millions upon millions of blue-collar workers around the world will be rendered unnecessary by machinery.
With the unprecedented levels of complexity and change societies are dealing with, and will continue to have to deal with, it is crucial to explore how education systems and corporate talent development organizations can evolve to help students and employees develop self-awareness and social awareness. Without it, they will struggle thrive in the rapidly evolving workplace.
The Human Connection: Good News & Bad News
The good news is that humans bring three dimensions to the job market:
- Physical,
- Cognitive, and
The bad news is that machines have surpassed us in both the physical dimension (#1). Less and less manual work is necessary as repetitive tasks steadily are becoming automated.
Even more bad news is that automation has also surpassed us in the cognitive dimension (#2). For example, Artificial Intelligence is increasingly able to surpass humans in tasks such as chess and medical diagnosis.
So where does this leave us? With #3 as our Alamo, the emotional domain where humans still have the upper hand.
As more and more jobs are automated, the nature of the value humans can add will evolve toward creativity, connectivity with others, and self-fulfillment. Skeptics may say this fourth industrial revolution is the sea rise of global warming seeping into job markets on every corner of the globe.
American psychologist Daniel Goleman defined the four domains of emotional intelligence as: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and relationship management. Many of us in this line of work see the same things differently. Social awareness, for example, I believe is nice but not necessary. My work revolves around helping people align heads and hearts; and know how to regain alignment when life hits a pothole. I am a huge believer in worry management and have done exhaustive research in the field. Each of Dr. Goleman’s identified categories has many subset components, which underscores the width and depth of what is out there to learn and strengthen,
To help people develop their emotional intelligence, few will push back on the value of exercises built around gratitude and emotional awareness to help create some foundational habits to build upon.
If we are to take on the explosive demands, forced change, and disruptive complexities of the digital age, organizations will need happy, fulfilled, resilient people able to embrace it. Universities have a part to play in teaching these essential skills, as do evolving workplaces. Prioritizing this as a strategy is simply good business because happy, fulfilled employees can increase productivity and reduce turnover. People pretending to be happy in the workplace—but who are secretly sad about the lives they are living and work they are doing—is good for no one.
Emotional intelligence is a large umbrella that protects us through life skills, and life skills are equity gemstones valuable to us as well as those we care about. Be aggressive learning these things. Life gets a whole lot easier almost immediately.
Ocean Palmer