YBB Newsletter

Welcome back to the You Burn Bright newsletter, monthly inspiration on self-leadership for insight professionals. I’ve certainly got that back-to-school feeling and it’s got me fired up to put the first half of the year behind me and think about my mindset afresh.

This month I am talking about harnessing the power of joy. 

“Let’s be the party of joy” sang Oprah at the Democratic National Convention.

And it got me thinking - is joy an under-used superpower in our agencies?

I’ve been as guilty as the next person for frequently saying “it’s been a tough year,” but I am now asking the question:

Even if it’s true, how helpful is this messaging? 

With only 8% of UK employees highly involved in and genuinely enthusiastic about work,* it feels like now is the time to put more joy into work. 

Look forwards, not back

My old boss at Flamingo, Maggie Collier, held this mantra and I think it’s very powerful. 

As leaders of agencies or teams or as line managers, we can all be guilty of indulging in a negative narrative, complaining about difficult clients or colleagues, decisions that haven’t gone our way and unfavourable circumstances. But maybe we’ve got a bit too hooked on hardship and are not pausing to notice the impact of this. 

As our Labour government is finding out, an over-emphasis on the problems created in the past is knocking business and consumer confidence. Just yesterday the GfK consumer confidence indicator showed that confidence fell sharply in September from -13 to -20.

As leaders, if we’re not painting a positive, joyful vision for the future and a pathway to that, then how can we inspire and motivate people to come with us on the journey? 

Enthusiasm Drives Action

Enthusiasm is a key, but overlooked metric.

Enthusiasm is not action, but it does create the conditions for action.

When there is enthusiasm, there is momentum. When there is momentum there is energy, and when there is momentum, ideas, creativity and brilliant work will flow. 

3 Ideas to get the Joy Flowing

Measure It: You can’t manage what you’re not measuring. Take a qualitative or quantitative temperature check on how enthusiastic your team are feeling about their work right now and about the future. Understand the drivers and blockers to feeling joy at work.

Pick One Thing: Painting a positive picture of where the team or agency is heading and having a joyful culture is part of the solution, but taking action to improve internal processes is often what makes work more enjoyable for people on a day-to-day basis. It can feel overwhelming to tackle everything, so pick one thing to work on at a time where you can demonstrate impact and a commitment to improving people’s work lives.

Get Comfortable with Joy: We can find the idea of joy and enthusiasm insincere. Or feel that it puts distance between us and the people we lead if our tone clashes with how people are feeling. I’d argue that it’s not an either / or. We can BOTH acknowledge that this is a difficult time AND give reasons to be joyful.

To challenge this belief try asking yourself: What’s on the other side of this discomfort - for you, for others, for your agency? 

*Bruce Daisley, The Joy of Work, 2020

Want to work with me?

I help talented insight professionals become more effective managers, and more strategic leaders.

I run 121 and group coaching programmes within agencies.

I also run cross-agency leadership development programmes. Starting mid January I will bring together first-time leaders and managers (AD/D level) for a weekly 75minute virtual coaching session and ongoing support. Topics include: confidence, enabling and empowering others & building client relationships. Starts mid September. Only £595pp.

Curious? Or want to get my point of view on a specific team or business challenge? - get in touch at zoe@youburnbright to book a chat.

Thank you for reading

I would love to hear any feedback you have or topics you’d like covered. And please share with your team, colleagues and friends, if you think they’d enjoy the read.