Can Altruism at Work Generate Sustainable Happiness?

By: Sonia Di Maulo, Founder and Lead Feedback Enthusiast

True or false? Selfish teams are miserable, altruistic teams are the happiest.

An easy answer. Altruistic teams have genuine concern for each other, therefore it makes sense that they are happier.

As a leader, how do you identify selfishness in your team and how do you turn it around?

Not an easy answer.

Based on recent research (more on this below), being altruistic makes people happy and helps to sustain this happiness. Really? Really!

With the upcoming launch of my first book, The Apple in the Orchard: the courage to emerge as a leader (you can like it on Facebook), everything I read lately relates to the key messages in the book:

  • Collaborative team work leads to growth
  • Living systems thrive
  • The courage to emerge enables sustainable change
  • A deep genuine focus on people harvests happiness at work

Selfishness Breads Decay

When I graduated from high school, I wanted to be a journalist. In college I enrolled in my first journalism class.

After two weeks reading the newspaper cover to cover, I dropped the class and started shopping for a new career. I was depressed about the selfish state of our world.

A woman in Bhutan, where efforts to measure Gross National Happiness originated. Reuters

Today (a rare occurrence) I read two newspapers on my morning flight. I started with the Globe and Mail, Canada’s National newspaper.

On the front page? A story about human trafficking.

On the front page of The National Post? A picture of a woman in Bhutan (right) accompanied a story entitled, Are you happier than this woman?

Bhutan is a country whose population is 700,000 and is credited with originating the idea of measuring Gross National Happiness.

For more on the story, visit the National Post here.

In the article, John Helliwell, co-editor of the World Happiness Report was quoted as saying “Altruism is central to the discussions here since it not only makes people happy when they demonstrate it, but because concern for others far away, and not born yet, must underlie any progress towards sustainable [in environment, social, and political terms] happiness.”

The report goes on to explain that “we need a very different model of humanity, one in which we are a complicated interplay of emotions and rational thought, unconscious and conscious decision-making, “fast” and “slow” thinking.”

Leaders, Take Action!

If you are tackling selfish behaviors in your team, you are not alone.  But you can turn things around.

The fastest and easiest way to do this is to model the behavior you are looking for in your team. Recognize and demonstrate that:

  • Collaborative team work leads to growth
  • Living systems thrive (we are all living systems, yet over time we have forgotten what this means, some tips are provided in my book!)
  • The courage to emerge enables sustainable change
  • A deep genuine focus on people harvests happiness at work

What are your thoughts about instilling altruism in your workplace to generate sustainable happiness?

Join the Conversation

Join in on the conversation by being part of The Apple in the Orchard community on Facebook and select or submit an answer to this question: How do you measure the happiness of your team?

You could win the eVersion of The Apple in the Orchard on launch day, April 24, 2012.

 
I welcome and respond to comments below._________________
At Harvest Performance, we use the power of authentic feedback to help Leaders Cultivate Trust & Collaboration. How do you cultivate trust & collaboration to positively impact those around you?
3 plus 1
Sonia Di Maulo (B.A., M.A.) ― founder, feedback enthusiast, speaker, performance improvement professional and creator of award-winning programs ― is passionate about helping leaders cultivate trust and collaboration. Her proven 3 plus 1 feedback strategyharvests passion and boosts individual and team performance.

Five Ways to Learn More!

  1. For more info on me, check out About Me.
  2. Learn how well you are offering authentic feedback and which techniques you can use right away. Take the self-assessment now!
  3. Register your interest for a 30-min complimentary call with Sonia.
  4. Signup to receive my FREE ebook: Foster Motivation: A Feedback Exercise, your first step to cultivating trust and collaboration.
  5. Or invite me into your team or organization to help leaders expose exceptional performance.

 

Connect with Sonia directly at sonia@harvestperformance.ca, Twitter, 450-624-0459, or Linkedin.


April 3, 2012   Posted in: New Posts

2 Responses

  1. Bruno Coelho - May 28, 2012

    Hi Sonia!

    We’re in sync because today I talked about why teams fail when each member believes that he’s better than the rest of the team or he’s in it only for self-serving purposes…

    I also Loved the concept of measuring Happiness! People often take for granted that more economic growth equals more happiness… and it’s so easy to believe that very few people question this and research it.

    I see so much effort in trying to increase GDP like there’s no limited and no trade-off between what you get and what you give.

    It’s true that money is essential for a business to exist. Just like blood is essential for us. But saying that blood is the reason we’re alive makes us look like Vampires! But we’re Humans! We’re much more than blood… We want to create meaning in Life!

    That’s why I believe that a business exist to make meaning. Money is the applause you earn by how well and how many you serve!

    In the beginning of your post you said “I was depressed about the selfish state of our world.”
    When I entered the business world (6 years ago) I was also shocked! However, one of the things that I learnt over time is not to underestimate the power of our daily actions (habits). Small actions done in a powerful loving way have a real impact over time.
    Like Gandhi said: “Be the change you want to see in the World”.

    However, don’t do this for gaining the recognition/gratitude of others. Do it if it’s who you are.

    EGOs that are out of control, with a never-ending thirst for greed, power and recognition are the source of the World’s problems… And why that happens? Is because people believe that those things represent who they are. That’s exactly the definition of self-worth that the Devil would want you to have. There’s so much ups and downs in Life that if we link those things with who we are, not only we’re self-deprecating ourselves but we’re falling short of our potential to become ALL we can be!

    Sorry for the long reply but you’ve wrote about such an important topic that’s hard to stop the words!

    All the best!
    Bruno Coelho
    Bruno Coelho recently posted..Bruno Coelho wrote a new blog post: The reason why you should stop building teams!

       1 likes

    [Reply]

    Sonia Di Maulo Reply:
    June 2nd, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    Hello Bruno!

    Thank you for sharing your wonderful thoughts. “We want to create meaning in Life!” SO true and vital, whether we acknowledge it or not… it’s a seed waiting to blossom in each of us.

    “That’s why I believe that a business exist to make meaning.” Exactly! This is sometimes lost in translation and we bring ourselves to believe that our mission is to sell, produce or service customers. A small change in perspective can yield large results.

    Your comment about “daily actions”… “Small actions done in a powerful loving way have a real impact over time”… powerful indeed. I teach people how to “expose exceptional performance” in their daily lives, at work and play. I have workshop participants practice “exposing exceptional performance” (exposing it to the people committing the small meaningful acts) of hotel employees or conference organizers… and the results are incredible. Participants receive hugs, tears, and words of gratitude… that someone actually noticed their good work.

    Small every day actions and build an avalanche of goodness and meaning. I do agree!

    Finally, on the though about collaboration, it can be easy to lose focus on creating meaning to focus on getting recognition and advancement, especially at the cost of others. A good technique I use to keep focus is to reflect on my actions, my words, and the reactions/feedback I receive on these. Only a self-reflective state can help us build awareness of our actions and whether they create meaning or destruction.

    A great comment, Bruno. Would you be interested in sharing your passion in a blog post? Would love to have you guest post!

    Keep in touch!

    Yours in growth,
    Sonia

       1 likes

    [Reply]

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