A brand new ‘Outlook’
Outlook software or Outlook mindware?
It’s a must-have that constitutes the fundamental infrastructure of a corporate set-up. It enables communication between the employees. It facilitates work and contributes to the ethic of ‘organizing’! It’s the greatest contribution of one of the leading technology giants to the corporate world.
It’s the all-familiar ‘Outlook’ – the web-based suite of webmail, contacts, tasks and calendaring services. The entire corporate world would vouch for the efficiency the software brings to any organization. Today it is an integral part of any office.
But has anyone read the subtext? The underlying meaning that seems to be staring at us daily? Or the allegory that it stands for given the mounting stress and discontentment at workplace?
OUTLOOK – the 7 letter word that should ideally go beyond software to include the predisposition of employees towards each other. Yes. What if we all stared at our screens and focused on our ‘outlook’- towards work, employees, teams, culture – towards the smallest atom that goes into creating ,producing, facilitating people, productivity and profits.
What if we plug in a parallel ‘mindware’ called ‘Our Outlook’ every morning when we punch in our entry into the workplace. What if we change our perspective on ‘tasks’ and see them as ‘asks’ of ourselves. What if we focus on our ‘inbox’- that stores grudges, insecurities, complexes and doubts and replace it with ideas, positivity, encouragement and celebration? What if we can create more space for others and their perspectives by trashing our daily conflicts and obsessions. What if we could create a culture of ‘give and receive’ that only propagates a mindful exchange? What if we keep clearing mailboxes daily to stop the hazardous hoarding of ‘junk’ thoughts?
Given this new mindware, one thing is for certain. There would be far fewer breakdowns of either spirit or productivity, far lesser silos between people and processes and a connectivity that creates an energetic environment where the faces behind the screens look chin upwards and smile across the cubicles and dissolve the ‘cabin lines’. There would be a capacity far beyond the measurable units of MB and GB. A capacity that can create more well-being for all.
For starters, can we gaze at ‘Our Outlook’ for just 5 mins a day and switch on our mindware to cultivate an awareness far more precious than any software can afford. Sometimes, it helps going ‘micro’ and making the littlest atom the most significant. It helps focusing on ‘Outlook’.
Social listening, offline!
Social listening or human listening?
It is the digital truth. Everyone’s talking about it. There is almost a movement towards it. It’s what you hear in meetings and briefings. It’s the buzzword that’s uttered with a lot of gravitas – with millions invested in it.
SOCIAL LISTENING.
Social listening is the process of monitoring digital conversations to understand what customers are saying about a brand and industry online.
Marketing teams primarily use social listening for community management, such as identifying customer pain points and providing direct consumer response to questions, complaints, and comments. It is also used to surface feedback that could help to differentiate their brand, product, or service by opening the door to insights.
Insights. That magical word that promises to create a differentiated brand is the tool for most marketers – the magic wand that will somehow lead to fortune makeovers! And yet, does social listening truly take place in actual social situations? How tuned in are we as humans to our surroundings?
We have devised sophisticated technology to ‘listen in’ to chatbots, likes, shares, following, unfollowing, comments ! But are we using our inherent ‘human’ skills of listening in daily life? How often do we have a one on one chat with our co-workers that is outside the domain of ‘huddles’ and ‘presentations’? How often does one know that a colleague has just had an agonizing night of numbing toothache! Or a spouse’s dream that has been annihilated? Or a child’s ecstasy that has taken germ somewhere…
How often does one listen to a grunt, complaint, a whimper, a whine, a compliment, a cheer, a shriek, a worry, a high or even silence? After spending most of the hours on devices, when one finally ‘looks up’, does one really find a ‘better analyzed-to-death’ world that is functioning better? I guess, the answers can be found in the increasing numbers of human succumbing to depression and anxiety.
May be we all have ‘undiagnosed’ tinnitus! Just some noise that is hitting our eardrums and being deflected away. If only we’d unplug and listen – to life around, there may be a solution to a whole lot of ‘pain points’. And breaking news, you don’t have to spend a penny!
The 5 symptoms of a happy organization
So what makes an organization truly happy. Is it an absence of worry? Well, as long as we are human, there will be adequate doses of worry! Is it a team of well-qualified people? Sometimes, companies with the highest no. of experts exude the lowest of spirits! Is it well-paid staff? If money were the key to happiness, the richest would be the happiest! Is it a swanky office? If glass and steel would lead to bursts of joy, people working in small , unassuming office spaces would be the saddest! But is that so?
So how do you scan the happiness quotient. What would be the way to evaluate?
Let’s call them the 5 symptoms of a truly happy organization
- Frequent attacks of smiling
Have you ever walked into an office and felt as if you have just entered a mourning scene? Well, grim faces, robot-like humans staring at their workstations are hardly the recipe for a good vibe. Conversely, what if you would walk into an office where you hear cackle of laughter, smiling faces, a warm glance even at outsiders? The energy of that place is vastly different. There is a sense of joy in the air. One can well imagine the work environment and the happy outcomes in such a place. We all know the pleasure of being greeted warmly by a receptionist even as a stranger. Chances are such organizations deliver a happy work experience.
- Overwhelming episodes of appreciation
How tough is it to offer acknowledgement and appreciation to another? Yet, within companies, this fundamental human ethic is actually considered with a ‘strategy’ built around it. Most company leaders fear an expression of appreciation may lead to corruption of the employees! Consider a different scenario where even the smallest act is appreciated without ‘rationing’ acknowledgement. Surely such a workplace would exude a happy ambience. After all, it is known that human beings are happy when appreciated. It’s a simple law of the universe.
- Loss of interest in office politics
Working in silos or creating pockets and gangs within an organization is the surest recipe for a divisive work environment. True joy and productivity can seldom surface in these places. Yet ‘office politics’ is a well-known phenomenon to almost everyone who has worked in an organization. Yet there are some that actually propagate ‘zero tolerance for office politics’. In such places, there is abundant team spirit and more often than not high doses of productivity. Strategies are used for business, not against people.
- Absence of human hierarchy
Titles within an organization exist to demarcate the work functions. Not to create a divide between people. Sometimes the hierarchy even dictates the body language and conduct . But the truly happy workplaces let go of this hierarchy .For eg., an organization where you see the CEO informally chatting up with a peon reflects a visionary leadership that will only take the ship to happier shores. It’s well known that when barriers between humans dissolve, harmony is the outcome.
- Insatiable appetite for celebration
It’s not only big wins that merit a celebration. Celebration is actually a disposition. It is an innate attitude that inspires people to celebrate the smallest win. Have you ever walked in to an organization where there is always some or the other celebration on- whether it is a birthday or a new business win or sometimes just for no reason? What these moments do is create a positive energy field that attracts even more positivity that encircles the organization into a happy orb.
So while there are many leadership sessions and workshops designed to enhance work and productivity, are they enough if they lack these 5 symptoms? Something to think about.
Be a Chief Emotions Officer!
True, the workspace is all about objectivity, profits and revenue. Those are the prime drivers of most organizations. And accordingly, each person is given a task or goal-post to seek and is then evaluated on the basis of that performance.
But just for a minute, let’s reflect on the real asset: people. And by people, I do not mean titles and designations. It’s ‘human beings’ who have real feelings, real emotions. How often do managers strike up a conversation with their team that is apart from their regular agendas. How many even know the names of their spouses or family members or even where they live, how they exist, their dreams, dilemmas and desires. How many know their pain points and the struggles they are going through. How many even know when a team member is going through a bad day?
Some may be of the opinion that getting personal interferes with productivity. But like they say, we need emotional intelligence (EQ) most where we’re least likely to find it: at work.
That is why nurturing the emotions at work is the key to enhancing not only the life condition of the workforce but also the life force of the organization.
That brings us to the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace. It has been proven that enhancing the EQ of employees leads to better physical and mental well-being, including lower cortisol (Stress hormone) levels. The ability to understand and manage emotions requires the quality of empathy. A true leader exudes a high level of empathy that enables him/her to be more compassionate when dealing with colleagues and employees.
In fact knowing just when to pat someone or just hold a hand or even smile can surpass the most coveted business knowledge. After all, managing emotions is a far greater task than managing millions.
Just what the real CEOs (Chief Emotions Officer) are made of!
-Neeraa Maini Srivastav
Creative Director, author, dreamer, well-being enthusiast, practitioner of many modalities that enhance human potential, Meditation coach.