The word ‘joy’ is not one that you commonly think of when it comes to business planning, sales strategies, creating growth in your business or improving organizational performance. I’m yet to sit down for the first time with one business owner, or organizational leader that has the word joy in their business plan, or that lists creating joy as an output line item. In the business world there’s a tendency to keep things serious and focus on working harder, smarter, doing more and being more to create growth, sales and success. Maybe there will be some fun and joy along the way but fun and joy are certainly not the main game.
So you can imagine the response I sometimes get from ‘serious’ business owners and organizational leaders who come to me for consulting when I start talking to them about how (or how not) they are using joy as a key business tool to lead and grow their business or organization. I ask them about their how they are showing up as a leader and they look at me with a confusion. That is until they too start to see the true power of the energy of joy and how choosing joy as a business strategy can truly transform businesses and organizations.
You see what many business owners and organizational leaders don’t realize is that while yes technical skills and systems and processes are an important component of running a good business/organization, how you show up and the energy you bring to your business/organization matters most. In fact, cultivating authentic, aligned and joy filled leadership is in my opinion, the most missing and overlooked component of business and organizational strategy today. To maximize results you must be willing to understand the energy you bring to your business as its leader, and the attitudes and beliefs you carry that are either helping or holding back your business. Is your business aligned with who you truly are? Do you feel like you are really using your unique gifts and talents to make a difference, does your business bring your joy or are you focused on achievement, money, or feel overburdened by a sense of responsibility? These things matter.
We all have a unique gift and talent that we are here to share with the world and we are meant to experience fun and joy doing it. When you move towards the things that are most fulfilling and life enhancing with joy and pleasure, more good and more success follows. But many business owners end up leading their businesses in reverse. Instead of focusing on what brings them joy – they have become overwhelmed by feelings of fear, lack, responsibility and disconnection. They are not enjoying what they are doing, not experiencing the results they desire. Instead of being aligned with their gift, they are trying to do more and be more taking them away from doing the things that really matter. This sometimes even happens at the expense of their relationships with those who matter to them most. They choose work over fun and family because the fear of not having enough money or not performing is always there. Many people I know start their own businesses because they want to make a difference in the world but somehow lose themselves and their joy somewhere along the way.
Leading researcher in the field of mind-body science, Neuroscientist Candace Pert, PhD said, in a talk she gave in 2003, that humans are biologically programmed for happiness and hard wired for bliss. This finding is based on over 30 years of research. Unfortunately, in today’s society we are conditioned not to choose joy. For some of us our parents taught us by example that we have to work hard to get what we want, others grew up in an environment where achievement was linked to love, many find it hard to comprehend having a business and a life that brings us joy. Some people even feel guilty when they have it good, thinking that their joy must be taking away from other people’s ability to experience joy of their own.
But if we can start to clear this unhelpful programing and start leading our businesses with joy, it actually helps us to focus on what we are really supposed to be doing. When we can trust ourselves enough and connect us to the truth of who really are, it’s much easier to do what’s ours to do.
Let’s take the mine field of marketing strategies as an example. Many business owners struggle to know how to maximize their marketing budget, often paying large sums of money and trying to do multiple things. But if you feel exhausted by the idea of making cold calls or posting on social media 5 times a week maybe this isn’t the best marketing strategy for you? If you’re doing something out of a sense of “I should do it” or “this is what everyone else is doing”, it’s not likely to have the results you want. But if you love speaking and talking at events and this brings you joy, think of the energy you’re putting out and how much more likely you are to attract the right people to your business from this space? When you move towards the things that are most fulfilling and life enhancing with joy and pleasure, more good and more success follows.
Supporting my clients to stop doing things they think they “should do”, clearing the underlying patterns that cause them to avoid joy is a key part of the process. We work on building trust and boundaries so that any time they are faced with a choice on where to put their energy, they chose the things they love doing the most and take steps to delegate or outsource those that don’t.
So earlier when I mentioned I didn’t know a single company that used the word joy in its business planning it was not quite true. I do know someone who knows a lot about serving their true purpose and harnessing the power of joy. Elizabeth Havlicek, former Aerospace Executive and Founder of Elizabeth’s Moments of Joy embraces this idea so much she founded her whole company on the idea. What’s more she quit her high-level, high-paying corporate job to do it. Noticing that no one can stay angry while eating a cookie, Elizabeth’s harnessed her love of baking to focus on spreading joy and gratitude. The company’s business strategy is centered in joy. Believing that food can bring all human beings together as a source of joy, that joy grows exponentially when shared, that one freshly made "goodie" can entirely change someone's day and finally that entirely changing one person's day has a ripple effect, and if they can keep it going, imagine what a difference that could make!
I also now know many business owners (my clients) who are growing their businesses from a place of joy and reaping the rewards both in and out of their businesses through higher and more consistent income, better relationships in and out of their business and a greater overall sense that they are making a difference and serving their true purpose.
If you would like to explore how you can harness the power of joy in your business or organization I would love to talk to you!
Kate Nethercott Wilson is the Founder and Chief Change Agent at Kamaji Tree Consulting, Coaching and Mentoring. Connect with Kate on Facebook and LinkedIn or visit her website www.kamajitree.com