Rediscover Joy at Work

Published by the Harvard Business Review. Read the full article here. 

A year and a half of the Covid pandemic has left many of us bereft of the joy we once felt at work. Add to the losses we’ve suffered the constant need to present ourselves as more “okay” than we really feel and the requirement to always be in response mode rather than pursuing the work we most enjoy and it’s no wonder that we’re mired in malaise. 

“I just want to feel joy at work again. I want to feel like myself,” Susan shared in our first coaching session. “I used to be fairly energized. I like what I do, but now on Sunday evenings I feel flat and I’m almost dreading the week ahead.” 

Susan is not alone. Across different locations, industries, and roles, my clients — driven professionals who have always loved their vocations — are telling me that they just want to feel joy at work again. This isn’t just an idle need for something fluffy; research has shown that joy is an emotional response and outlook that’s vital to our well-being, cognitive functioning, and our performance at work. 

 To bring this positivity back into your life, it helps to understand why it has disappeared. The obvious answer is “the pandemic,” but it’s worth taking a closer look at what specifically is amiss. As a psychologist who studies how ambitious professionals thrive in organizations, I’ve observed four root causes of this current malaise: 

Read the full article here. This article was originally published by the Harvard Business Review.  

 Rebecca Newton 

Organisational Psychologist, PhD | CEO, CoachAdviser