😃 How happy are you as a leader?

Admittedly, the question in the headline may seem strange to you. Very few people associate "happiness" with leadership.

And wrongly so. After all, if you're going to put in all the hard work and overtime that usually comes with leadership positions, you don't want to be unhappy in the process, do you?

Quite a few don't let this consideration get to them. I love to ask my clients at the outset of our work relationship, "Are you happy doing what you do?"

Here's another hint: If you ask parents what they want most for their children, the number one answer you'll hear is, "That they're happy!"

So if it's most important to us for our loved ones to be happy, why not in leadership? And especially at this time of year, I think it's an obvious thought.

So, are you happy in what you do at work? And are the people on your team?

Because if you and your people are, everyone will enjoy performing at a higher level and have more fun doing it.

So, how do you manage to increase happiness for yourself and others? Here are three things you can do right away:

1. Appreciation. One of the easiest levers to use to make others happy is to make them feel important. Or the other way around, when people are unhappy, it's often because they see themselves as unimportant and don't get recognition. If you yourself are in an environment where you don't get appreciation and can't change that, it's time to leave that environment. So: tell your people how important they are often.
2. Personal Growth. People are often unhappy because they don't grow much. Personal growth is a very powerful lever for more fulfillment and more happiness. Therefore, set concrete goals for personal growth for yourself and your team, and not only for professional topics.
3. Doing good. Happiness research repeatedly shows that hardly anything makes people as happy in the long term as doing good for others. This can be intangible things such as giving confidence, providing support, expressing appreciation, giving compliments, and so on. 

There you have three ideas on how to make yourself and your team happier. Not a bad thought for the new year, right?

🎄 I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 🤶

We are going on Christmas break. You will receive the next Friday Noon Memo on January 7.