Ideas wanted for book on happiness at work

[Chris Corrigan]

Hi Alexander:

I think a better term than just "happiness at work" would be "flow" as
defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.  He has written a number of books
about this phenomenon, the most recent being "Good Business" which is a
very practical guide to creating the conditions for flow in the
workplace.  It builds on his classic "Flow: the Psychology of Optimal
Experience" excerpts of which you can read here:

http://www.debateit.net/improvethought/flow1.htm

I think Open Space invites us to work in flow, and a key thing for
organizations to consider when using OST is how they can support flow in
organizations, once space has been opened and people realize that it is
possible to work that way.

When planning to use Open Space Tech as an "intervention" within an
organization, I would be remiss if I didn't start the conversation by
asking how we would support the peak experiences that people have in
OST.  I use Michael Herman's quadrants in "Inviting Organization" to
talk with clients about what people can expect to experience as
possibilities in Open Space.  The four quadrants (modeled on those of
Ken Wilber) are purpose, story, structure and action.  Peak experiences
in all quadrants, representing a holistic perspective on organization,
look like this:

Purpose=compassion
Story=vision/dreams
Structure=movement/flow
Action=ripples/peace

I have books that I use to talk about extending these experiences.  For
compassion in organizations, I'm partial to my father in law's new book
from Harvard Business Press called "Toxic Emotions At Work: How
Compassionate managers handle pain and conflict."  For Structure, I'm
partial to "Good Business."  I like Harrison's new book "The Practice of
Peace" for the Action quadrant experience.  And peak experiences in the
Story quadrant can be supported by ideas from a variety of sources
including Joseph Campbell and many others that talk about collective
meaning making using stories, visions and archetypes.

This is critical to plan for, because without follow-up support to
support these peak experiences, people are thrown back into "business as
usual" triggering grief that will need to be dealt with.  It seems to me
that a book about how to extend the flow experience (and the others)
from an OST event into the life of the organization would be very
welcome.

I'll look forward to seeing your book.

Chris

---
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Bowen Island, BC, Canada
http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
chris at chriscorrigan.com

(604) 947-9236






> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Alexander Kjerulf
> Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 2:35 AM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Ideas wanted for book on happiness at work
>
> Hi
>
> I need your help: I'm currently writing a book about happiness at
work.
> The book is directed at both managers and employees, and should give
the
> reader a better understanding of what makes people happy at work, as
> well as a lot of practical tools to use.
>
> If you were reading such a book, what would you like to see in it?
Drop
> me a comment if you have any ideas - good or bad :o)
>
> The reason I ask this question on this list, is that I believe there
is
> a huge overlap between opening space and being happy at work, and the
> book will explore that, as well as many other themes.
>
> Oh, and here's a bonus challenge: Can you give me a better phrase than
> "happiness at work"? In danish we have the word arbejdsglaede meaning
> workhappiness. I find it interesting that this word exists in danish
> (and swedish) and not in, say, english, french or german.
>
> The book is part of my "happiness at work" project, a non-profit, open
> source, open space organization that promotes happiness at work (more
> info here: http://www.kjerulf.com/projectshappinessatwork.htm).
>
> Cheers
>
> Alexander
>
> --
> Alexander Kjerulf
> www.kjerulf.com
> alexander at kjerulf.com
> Tagensvej 126, lejl. 102
> 2200 København N.
> +45 2688 2373
>
> Trænger du til noget arbejdsglæde? Kender du nogen som gør?
> www.projektarbejdsglaede.dk
>
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