Students must focus on happiness

Before you stress yourself out about doing better at school and work, remember: A positive mind-set can improve performance on nearly every level — including productivity and creativity.

While conducting a study on Harvard undergraduates, Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage, found that the most successful students were the ones who took care of themselves. Along with working hard, successful students also made time for their hobbies and loved ones.

Students can learn from a trend occurring in the corporate world as executives are moving away from using pressure to motivate their employees and moving toward employee happiness.

I overheard the following conversation in a quarterly operations meeting:

Vice President of Operations: “You’d better straighten out this mess in a hurry.”

General Manager: “I agree. And I would welcome your advice.”

VP: “I prefer pressure.”

Similar scenes play out in businesses all over the world. Many executives believe they will get the best work out of their employees by using fear and intimidation tactics, and corporate cultures vibrate with the results.  It is one of the best-kept, not-so-secret techniques.

This approach to leadership might lead to ulcers, employee burnout and anxiety attacks.

Many people believe that success precedes happiness. They think, “Once I get a promotion, I will be happy.”

Yet, that technique does not work as well as some think.

The January-February 2012 issue of the Harvard Business Review published a series of articles that suggests an alternative approach to management: happiness.

Companies are constantly searching for the next big program that will energize its employees and will stir their creative juices.

Now,  corporate leaders are slowly realizing that if they want a company of winners, they need to treat their people like winners.

Burt’s Bees, a personal-care products company, experienced an enormous change beginning in July 2010 as it began a global expansion. In that kind of do-or-die, high-pressure context, many leaders push, scream and call for more meetings, browbeating everyone in sight.

John Replogle, then-CEO of Burt’s Bees, took what he believed was the high road. Every day Replogle sent at least one email praising a team member for his or her work. He directed his managers to facilitate sessions teaching employees about happiness.

According to the Harvard Business Review article, “Positive Intelligence,” Replogle’s use of happiness, instead of pressure, as his management approach successfully helped the company transition to the global stage.

A recent research study conducted by the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business defined “thriving” people as those who demonstrated 16 percent better overall performance (as reported by their managers) and 125 percent less burnout (self-reported) than their peers. They also missed much less work and got more promotion opportunities than those who are comparatively less happy.

As college students preparing for careers, we should take note of these positive effects occurring in the business world and try to apply them to our lives.  Trends show that if we’re happy, then success will follow.

 

Emily Wang is a sophomore majoring in business administration. Her column “Business Matters” runs Tuesdays.