Somewhere in the rush for ambition and push for career success, we seem to have forgotten that the real purpose of human life is to create happiness. And if People are an integral part of Corporates, the purpose of business has necessarily then to be....creating happiness alongside creating ECONOMIC value.
This may sound esoteric. The doubter would naturally ask.. "How do you create happiness ? " The answers to that question is very easy. "Through SMILES" !.
The entire journey of People Engagement should be focussed and designed to maximise People SMILES.
SPIRITUAL Fulfilment. Unless people are spiritually happy their ability to contributes to meaningful ECONOMIC value would be seriously hampered. Internal inspiration is critical. If a leader is not inspired himself, his ability in turn to inspire others would be seriously impaired.
MATERIAL Satisfaction. Corporate existence in a way, is a battle for food. People work due to their need for money. Most at least. If the enterprise therefore does not get a right fix on this, the very edifice and raw meaning of work would get shaken up. How much, cash or benefit, now or later, for efforts or results...all these are relevant albeit subsequent questions and only if the leaders have their ears closely rooted to the ground, will they be able to get their insights right. This includes 'psychogenesic' earnings and income.
INTELLECTUAL Stimulation : if you do not stimulate your mind, you will be left far behind ! We grew up believing this. If the nature of the job one does, is repetitive and non-challenging in nature, it leads to boredom and disengagement. This cannot sustain interest of an employee for long, it cannot provide him happiness. He may feel disconnected from the leadership and from the business strategy and thus quit.
LEARNING Opportunity : ! By nature the human personality seeks growth. The human mind is 'learning' by nature. If the nature of the work assignment they do, deprives one from learning new methods, use new tools or upgrade to new skills, the assignment will not sufficiently challenge people. They will get dull & dreary. This certainly cannot make them either SMILE or give them Happiness !
EMOTIONAL Balance : People forever being a body full of emotions, needs to feel safe and emotionally wanted. It's expects the same at the workplace as well. With peers, leaders, colleagues... Individually as well as in different groups, the warmth, the sense of security and a certain familial comfort and affiliation is critical for every employee to desire his association with that department, plant or Company. SMILES vanish when this fails. Where there is emotional deficiency, there cannot be happiness.
SOCIAL RECOGNITION : Being a social animal where identity is recognised and pegged to a predetermined social order in a given sociology. If the nature of assignment done by an individual is not looked upon positively in reference by his contextual sociology, it takes away his SMILE and robs him of his happiness.
Happiness being centrifugal to employees, the enterprise has to design individual roles, nurture a suitable culture and develop a talent ecology to ensure that each domain of SMILES brings tons of smiles to the people who then go about happily creating economic value for that enterprise.
