The disease of a downcast face. You see this disease in those glum and dour persons who think that to be serious you have to put on a face of melancholy and severity and treat others—especially those we consider our inferiors—with rigor, brusqueness, and arrogance. In fact, a show of severity and sterile pessimism are frequently symptoms of fear and insecurity. A leader must make an effort to be courteous, serene, enthusiastic and joyful, a person who transmits joy everywhere he goes. A happy heart radiates an infectious joy: it is immediately evident! So a leader should never lose that joyful, humorous and even self-deprecating spirit which makes people amiable even in difficult situations. How beneficial is a good dose of humor! …
Gary Hamel
He came to my office with a long face. Almost sheepishly, he stopped by the door -half his body in, and most of his soul out- and asked if he could have a word with me. I was in the middle of a task that had already been postponed too many times and the last thing I wanted to do was to postpone it again. But there he was…
Going against every productivity and time management tip on the market, I ushered him in and closed my laptop with a sigh and a smile. I have come to learn that in the long run, one is more successful (at least happier, and to me that is ‘success’) if one decides that people must come before tasks in the list of priorities. My conversation with this colleague confirmed such learning.
He sat down and started listing his grievances. He was sad, he felt unappreciated, undervalued, and demotivated. The source of all his pain? His boss. According to him, the boss always seemed to be mad at him, ready to find fault at every corner, quick to issue poignant instructions over minimal details, and unable to listen or adjust based on his feedback.
As he described the situation, I came to realize how times have changed for the better. There we were, two middle-aged men, openly talking about our feelings at work and the importance of building an emotional compact with our employer, our supervisors, and our colleagues. Although I felt bad about his situation, I was glad that we had been given -and we had taken- the opportunity to go beyond the so-called ‘objective truth’ and delved into the realm of our ‘subjective reality.’
Who would have said some years ago that one of the traits of a successful leader was to ‘transmit joy everywhere’? Please ponder on this. What is the image that comes to mind when you think of THE successful leaders who served as your role models when you were growing up or when you started working? What was -or still is- the archetype? Would you have said that having a “joyful, humorous and even self-deprecating spirit” was a common and highly appreciated characteristic?
Luckily for us, in today’s world, we expect our teams -and our team leads in particular- to facilitate an environment in which the seriousness of the tasks at hand and the effectiveness of their endeavors are not measured by the dourness of their demeanor or the sourness of their interactions. We are no longer afraid of aiming -and demanding- to be happy in the work environment or accepting that our feelings are important elements of our contractual relationship.
How ‘courteous, serene, enthusiastic, and joyful’ are you at work? Are you the cause of somebody else’s pain, frustration, or demotivation? Are you ready to do something about it?
I am well aware that there’s much to be done in terms of getting the balance right, avoiding falling into the opposite extreme in which some tend to believe that the raison d’etre of the business or the organization they work for is to cater to satisfy their every need and sometimes even their whims. But let us not fall back into the mistake of blindly believing Descartes’ first principle: I think, therefore I am (cogito ergo sum) and disregard the power of a smile, the impact of emotions on our productivity, creativity, and well-being. It has taken us centuries to realize that in fact ‘we are, therefore we think’, and that ‘we feel before we think.’
Have a great day!