A Carol of Control & Productivity, Part 2

Festivity makes us merry, and happy people are usually healthy people. Reflecting on our own experiences, we probably know that the day flies by when we enjoy what we’re doing. Conversely, the day drags by at a glacial crawl when we’re miserable, a sentiment punctuated by studies such as this from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany.

Flying aboard this same sleigh of thought, it might be clear that happy people are productive people. We do less when we’re down—or we simply don’t do as good a job as we might when spirits are high. This is true of our teams as well, especially when we don the looming top hat of the proverbial Scrooge and perpetuate a culture of control and distrust.

Hovering over our teams like an icicle ready to drop chills any semblance of joy and goodwill, consequently freezing productivity. In this TED Talk Chieh Huang, CEO of wholesale retailer Boxed, shares why it's important that we quit micromanaging our teams and start trusting them. People don’t usually respond well when every moment of the workday is out of their control.

Most of us would rather work for a Santa than a Scrooge after all. The frostbite of control can quickly spiral into frustration and disengagement. If we want more of our teams, we must deck the halls with boughs of positive productivity, emphasized in this video by esteemed professor of psychology Dan Ariely, PhD.

By promoting an attitude of compassion, we perpetuate a culture of goodwill. The message that trust builds happiness and happiness subsequently builds productivity is certainly on the blinking red nose of the holiday season. Strike the harp and join the chorus of positive productivity in this new age of work.

“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
- Aristotle