Ikigai in achieving increased productivity at work

                                    

     Ikigai in achieving increased productivity at work

Introduction

 

If we ask Sachin Tendulkar or Saurav Ganguly to sing, they would not be very good at singing. If we ask Cristiano Ronaldo to dance, he would not very good at dancing.

This is because they have find their passion in cricket(Sachin or Saurav) and football(Cristiano Ronaldo) and they are very good(productive) in their respective fields. If we ask Ramesh(interested in digital marketing) to do clerical job, he would not give his best because he is passionate about digital marketing.

 

Nowadays, people are super busy doing their jobs rather than getting the job done.

 

In order to be an irreplaceable piece of your company, you need to find the joy in what you do. Then, the pressure of doing your job will be replaced with making your job done in the best way you can. That is the point where you will meet productivity.

 

Employees are placing a premium on finding fulfillment at work, and organizations are too. Companies realize this leads to high engagement, the holy grail of a happy, productive workforce. Fulfillment and sense of purpose is captured well by the Japanese word Ikigai (生き甲斐, pronounced ‘icky-guy’). In fact, a recent study by LinkedIn found that 74 per cent of job candidates want a job where they feel like their work matters.

A workplace culture thrives when an organisation and its employees identify and nurture their collective purpose.

 

What is ikigai ?

Ikigai is “my reason for being,” the inner purpose for how we make our livelihood. It’s the magical intersection of one’s passions, skills, and vocation. Ikigai is how we make work meaningful and connect with what we do. There’s no reason that our work can’t provide meaning, create purpose, and foster connections in our lives. In fact, it’s a wonderful way to work on projects that we enjoy, which in turn gives us a satisfying work life. Too often, we seek that work-life balance because we’re tackling tasks that aren’t enjoyable and don’t use our strengths, so we look for that sense of fulfilment elsewhere.

The key to achieving Ikigai is understanding and appreciating that currently there is nothing more important than the task in hand; this should drive how you deal with all priorities moving forward.

 

Why ikigai is chosen for increasing productivity?

One great thing between you and superior for a win-win collaboration can be ikigai. It is saying you can't feel empty inside to be comfortable or be satisfied but feel useless. Also, a job can't be exciting without a sense of certainty or even be a delight and fulfillment but without any wealth.

 

By adapting an ikigai-based approach to managing people, organizations can build that sense of purpose and community and see better organizational outcomes. It’s a win-win situation.

 

It’s not only connecting with passion and applying one’s skills. Developing mastery is key. Whatever our profession, mastery of a skill, trade, or service drives customer experience and the financial rewards that follow. It's a virtuous cycle that drives demand and recognition. As ikigai is achieved, rewards come.

 

Good recruiters want to see beyond your resume and get to know you for your passions and skills. They want to understand the type of work you thrive in. While they may not use the word ikigai in assessing candidates, they are looking for it!

 

How ikigai is helpful in achieving increased productivity?

 

With an ikigai-inspired approach, the work meets three goals:

 

1. The employee enjoys doing it and finds it fulfilling and purposeful.

 

2. The employee is good at it (or wants to be good at it) and desires to develop the skills in this area on an ongoing basis.

 

3. The company finds value in the activities and deliverables, which helps the organization to move forward in a productive way.

 

The three goals mentioned above aren’t always one and the same. However, we can find major overlaps between them, as you can see in the diagram. If managers ask a handful of questions to find the overlap, they can usually find a zone of optimized outcomes that fulfills the three. This central point is what I call the “workplace blue zone.”

 

Looking at the diagram, you can also see areas where at least two areas overlap, such as “what the organization values” and “what the employee enjoys” and “what the organization values” and “what the employee is good at.” These are generally acceptable zones as well, which I call the “workplace purple zones.”

 

In the spaces where people are neither skilled nor enjoy, productivity declines and disengagement grows like cancer. These are the “workplace red zones” and should be avoided.

 

We openly discuss corporate goals and employee desires so everyone knows the intentions and progress. Revenue and growth numbers aren’t a secret, and we actively focus on where we are, where we want to go, and how everyone can contribute, which gives a reason to show up with purpose and motivation.

 

Managers can find the blue and purple zones by asking these questions:

1.       What are your strengths? If someone is employed in SEO department of digital marketing agency is also good at google ads, we discuss how certain tasks can balance those strengths.

2.       Where do you want to grow? If someone in SEO department wants to develop skills in google ads, that’s a great fit, and we want to find a way to foster that.

3.       What does the company/digital marketing agency need right now? If we’re hiring for a role in SEO department but a potential employee also has experience with (and enjoys) google ads, that’s an area for potential growth in the future.

 

Asking these questions during the hiring process, and then reevaluating them later, is key.

 

How to drive organisational purpose

 

In the workplace, a collective purpose refers to the shared goals and values of the organisation and its people. It is the understanding of the ‘why’ of the business – why it exists and why it is important. In the absence of purpose, organisations almost inevitably become focussed on metrics, and miss our human need for purpose and our desire to engage in meaningful work. A shared purpose operates as a propelling force behind staff, encouraging them forward with a clear sense of direction and a mutually acknowledged destination.

 

Without organisational purpose, your employees are simply putting in time. Their minds might be engaged, but their hearts will not be. However, when a business establishes a collective purpose it loses the need for a hard-line approach on productivity and innovation. Workers who buy into the company’s purpose are motivated from within.

 

As relates to business, most organisations have a mission or vision statement that communicates what the business is and what it stands for. The problem is that most organisations treat this as a tickbox exercise, rather than a valuable tool that can be used to drive comradery and communicate purpose.

 

To drive organisational purpose, try integrating the following steps:

 

1. Lead from the top. Creating a purposeful workplace requires commitment and action from all levels of an organisation. In order to enable staff to find their purpose, leaders must first strive to find and articulate theirs.

2. Communicate purpose often. Communicating organisational purpose, encourages employees to come on board. This includes the genuine desire to improve the working lives of employees.

3. Anchor your decision making to purpose. In every decision you make, ask yourself, “is this decision in line with organisational purpose?”

4. Get employee buy-in. Ask employees what is important to them and try to integrate their feedback into the overall organisational purpose.

 

Try to work in a space where distractions are limited, especially for deep work that requires acute attention to detail and laser like concentration. This could mean escaping the office or home-office to a quiet coffee shop corner, where the only distracting is the background hum of a barista preparing cappuccinos.

Finally, consider truncating your tasks; firstly into easy actionable tasks that can be quickly and efficiently completed and ticked off (consider finishing the day on this type of task to drive up satisfaction). Secondly, group like-minded or contextually relevant tasks to ensure a further reduction in context switching and a closer affiliation with your Ikigai.

 

How a strong workplace community builds engagement ?

 

The final vital component of ikigai is positive social connection. After all, an organization is a collection of people, and fulfillment comes from the community of people and how they spend their time together.

 

Once the three questions are asked and employees are in the right positions, organizational leaders should focus on building a culture where people feel connected and valued. Digital tools can create this collaborative environment to build trust, continuous learning, and ultimately, higher productivity.

 

Conclusion:

 

An understanding and appreciation of one’s purpose are what drives workers to go above-and-beyond, sustaining them in their wellbeing, and in turn, sustaining the organisation well into the future as these workers will put in their best efforts in achieving better results for organisation.

 

Employees who find their work meaningful, are more engaged, productive, and less likely to change jobs. Organizations with employees who’ve found their ikigai create better customer experience. They are full of happier employees. And tend to be more profitable.

 

References:

1.       An Ikigai Approach To Managing Your People. POST WRITTEN BY

Srikant Chellappa.

2.       The Importance of Ikigai to Increase your Productivity.

3.       Finding your Ikigai: how to drive organisational purpose and engagement.

Written by Stuart Taylor

4.       Ikigai - Finding Fulfillment at Work. By Eric Wenzel

5.       How to use Japanese ‘Ikigai’ to Be More Productive in Business. By Robert M. Henderson