The Business Case For Joy

DIGITAL TOOLS MAY BE MAKING US FEEL MORE DISCONNECTED THAN EVER, BUT DOES IT HAVE TO BE THAT WAY?

We have never been more digitally connected than we are today. Zoom, Slack, Teams, and Email allow us to instantly share anything, with anyone. Amidst all of this efficiency and the relentless demands of the holiday season, there's an important question we should all be asking ourselves: Is this the most effective way to work?

A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that it is possible to track the success of a team to the joy that its people report having at work. In fact, the relationship between joy and success is so strong that they were able to break down the consistent elements the best teams had that the rest lacked:

• Harmony
• Impact
• Acknowledgment

The article linked below goes into detail about each of the factors, but what struck me most was a concept that they called the "joy gap". According to the study, nearly 90% of people expect to experience joy at work, yet only 37% report that they actually are joyful at work.

Workplaces that lack joy experience higher turnover, lower productivity, and lower employee satisfaction.

So, how does that all relate to a digital business newsletter?

Digital tools can either be a part of the problem or a part of the solution. When it comes to our teams, our stakeholders, and our communities, we have the opportunity to create moments of joy that were never possible before. We can gift at scale, we can celebrate virtually, and we can have fun with each other remotely.

The short term ROI on a digital moment of joy will never be able to compete with a well-crafted customer acquisition campaign, which raises the following questions: What would our teams look like if we made joy a priority? And (perhaps more importantly): What will they look like if we don't?

READ "MAKING JOY A PRIORITY AT WORK"

Written by Conner Galway, Junction Consulting