Companies to the test of happiness

Now that the figure of the CHO (Chief Happiness Officer), born a few years ago in the United States, has also arrived in Italy, one could imagine this phrase as an emanation of that culture. The culture of a country that included in its founding act, the Declaration of Independence of 1776, the pursuit of happiness as an inalienable right of every human being. That phrase, on the other hand, is by Adriano Olivetti, a revolutionary entrepreneur, capable of creating an extraordinarily effective and innovative business model in terms of production and, at the same time, extremely attentive to the values of social solidarity.

Today, those words risk sounding utopian, and this statement is not an opinion. According to Gallup surveys in recent years, levels of demotivation at work are very high. In Europe, 40 million workers suffer from ‘work-related stress’, and Italy records one of the lowest figures in terms of engagement, which generally corresponds to low productivity, absenteeism and an increase in accidents at work.

So we welcome the ‘happiness manager’, aware that we do not have to invent anything absolutely new, but only rediscover in a modern key those values that have been at the basis of some of our country’s best entrepreneurial adventures. This is an aspect on which it is very important to reflect, because those of us who deal with emotions are aware of the potential risk hidden behind certain operations (at first glance only positive): the illusion of being able to make permanent an emotional state that by its very nature is transitory, paradoxically exposing us in this way to possible unhappiness. All our emotions are part of a complex network of thoughts and feelings that are fundamental to our emotional health, the dynamic balance between all these components is the most important element for our well-being, and it is precisely this that happiness managers must take charge of.

Let us therefore try to focus on this role to which specific training courses have recently been dedicated. Browsing through the most relevant aspects of this position, highlighted in the training programmes, we note a particular focus on developing listening skills and relational sensitivity, in short empathy. The manager of happiness must become a solid reference point present in the organisation, ready to give voice to the needs of workers, capable of supporting growth by giving visibility and support to the qualities of each one, attentive in fostering organisational wellbeing through the implementation of projects aimed at seeking the best possible work life balance.

Today there are many elements that can positively contribute to the achievement of this goal, beyond the not very comforting data emerging from the above-mentioned surveys. The world of work is, in fact, facing an epochal turning point: the impressive acceleration in the development of technology and digital systems (the so-called Industry 4.0) is bringing about such transformations as to require a profound cultural change within organisations, and a large part of these changes concern the definition of roles and relations between people in work spaces. It is enough to reflect on the data contained in the latest reports published by the Smart Working Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano (which puts the number of smart workers in Italy at 500,000) to realise the profound transformations underway: the need for a redefinition of the traditional boss-collaborator relationship, which involves the issue of trust, individual freedom and the ideas of motivation and responsibility that follow.

Being able to redefine leadership style, make strategic use of communication, which also means knowing how to make the most of moments of real relationships (vis-à-vis), within work teams that operate predominantly in the virtual dimension, are emerging as essential skills to best interpret these transformation processes. Skills that can easily be traced back to the sphere of emotional intelligence, an observation that refers to what Daniel Goleman has stated on several occasions, namely that the key to success at work is determined predominantly by emotional intelligence.

No wonder then to see in the business schools of some of the most important universities (Harvard, Berkeley, London BS) Mba courses and masters in Happiness Management and Positive Organisation. Or at the University of Palermo a course in the Economics of Happiness. The challenge is launched and happiness managers will also play their part.