Happy

How can your organization become one that is happy, where your customers; stakeholders; shareholders; partners; suppliers; and staff are happy?

Some people, including myself, believe that "happiness" is a state of mind. Indeed!

As we phrase the question as "being", not "having". It is because we believe in the "be-do-have" paradigm, so we must first BE happy, so that we are happy DOING what we're doing, which then lead us to HAVE happy outcomes.

Notice we said outcomes and not results, as the latter might give others the notion that it must only be positive results. It is not necessary as it can be not so positive results but yet we are happy with it as we know that we have done our best.

Of course that is not to say that, being happy means even accepting not so positive results. Quite the contrary, as because we are happy, we will evaluate the outcomes, including the process that leads to these outcomes, and look at the positive side of things by asking ourselves what we can learn from the process itself. That is of course about our attitude as well.

Sure, we can go on about the state of mind and the "be-do-have" paradigm but it may not allow someone else, who is not happy concrete steps to work towards happiness.

I believe there are four critical levels that need to be worked on so that we can be happy. Starting at the bottom of the four levels is "personal". If at the personal level, people are not happy then we might as well forget about a happy organization.

Hence, at the personal level how does one work on happiness? I believe it is to do with personal mastery. As we can have an elaborated discussion about personal mastery, here, allow me to offer you the broad steps in personal mastery. In a nutshell, the way, I believe, that one can work on personal mastery is to acknowledge three fundamental concepts; i.e. circle of influence, working from the inside-out, and natural laws.

In our previous discussion we talked about natural laws as laws or rules that operate in the environment regardless of whether you acknowledge it or not. Working from the inside-out is the T.E.A.M. approach, where we focus on our mindset, attitude, efforts, and targets. And finally, the circle of influence will allow you to focus on what you have influence on rather than what you do not have influence on.

Once we have embarked on our journey towards personal mastery then we can move on to the next level. (Note, one never quite arrive at achieving personal mastery as it is a life-long journey without a finishing line) At the next level, which is "interpersonal", our focus is on "engaged mastery".