#cipd14 The science of happiness

Motivating and inspiring teams and organisations

This session ia led by Stephanie Davies of Laughology

This blog is types live, please excuse any errors or typos!

Stephanie has lit the room with an energy level of 11 out of 10!

but the participants are still in sleep mode!… but they are slowly waking up

how do we help ourselves in difficult situations?

positive psychology is a tool set to enable us to be proactive rather than reactive.

what is laughter… what is humor

laughter – a physical reaction, energy, a release – it is not always positive…sometimes we laugh at a shock. the part of the brain responsible for laughter is the same area as for crying. historically the ability to laugh is there to help us communicate with others how we feel.

If we know that laughter is an effective communications tool, why don’t we use it more?

HBR – laughter should be used at the beginning and end of meetings (Leading with laughter)

Humor on the other hand is a process. It is the way we look at situations or life. Its more of a reaction of how we feel.

Thoughts<>feelings<>actions<>thoughts

the good news is that the brain has plasticity, and our thoughts are flexible. we can change them.

When we feel better we think better, when we thing better we often feel better!

when you ask people to discuss laughter, without any other stimlus most people smile and laugh together. this shows that we can change thoughts and feelings

we are in control of our thoughts, they are not in control of us.

what is important for us is to know our own laughter or happiness triggers. to learn to recognise when our thoughts are not helpful, and knowing a personal trigger to change our state.

reward and recognition in the workplace is important as it triggers our limbic system. it shows we are recognised and valued.

happier people are more productive, they also take less time off due to stress and illness.

when doing something silly, the more mistakes we make the more we laugh and learn

its not about what other people think, it is what we think people think!!!

when we feel happier, the brain makes more connections to lead us to that action or connection anain.. learning!

the same chemicals that we need for problem solving are the same as created by laughter!

What is happiness? Stephanie, showed the flow skills matrix, with the view to exploring what skills are needed to get us to “flow|”

confidence, personal development, positive relationships, support from others and coping skills.

we can learn to be more confident etc, we can change our internal wiring

if your workforce are happy, it makes sense that your customers will be happy, this impacts both productivity and customer scores. (NPS – net promoter score)

FLIP as a model,

Focus (or reframe) – how are others focusing on this, how am I focused on the situation

Language – do not underestimate the impact. what is the lang in the org? think about pattern interupts

Imagination

Pattern breaking

the brain is not lazy, but it does the shortest activity to produce the results, it uses the least amount of energy.

if you do what you have alwa

turn on your people before you turn on your computers