#101: How to Be Happier at Work with Aoife O'Brien

Aoife O’Brien is the founder of Happier at Work, with the mission to solve the problem that 85% of employees are disengaged at work. Using her research-based Happier at Work framework, she partners with leaders to focus on: workplace culture; cultivating balance; and empowering leaders. Her work supports employees to thrive and to reach their full potential, and while supporting organisations increase their bottom line. Aoife is the creator of the award-winning Imposter to Empowered® programme. She is a self-professed data nerd, with a 20+ year career in market research in the fast-moving consumer goods industry working with clients like Coca Cola, Unilever and Heinz to solve marketing problems using data analytics. Aoife has been featured by several national media platforms and public speaking events talking about imposter syndrome, fit, employee engagement, productivity, and remote working. Her award-winning podcast, Happier at Work®, features a combination of interview-based episodes as well as solo podcasting, and has a global audience of over 100k. She has lived and worked in Dublin, London, Perth, and Sydney and has a MSc in Work and Organisational Behaviour, a Diploma in Executive and Life Coaching and a Certificate in Career Coaching. Top 3 Takeaways Find the fit. Aoife’s experiences led her to the conclusion that fit is what’s needed to be happy at work. This led her to identify her Happier at Work framework. Meet their needs. As leaders, we want to put our people in a position to succeed. We need to give autonomy, share clear expectations and help others discover and utilize their strengths. Happiness is possible. We spend a lot of time at work, so we need to take steps to make it enjoyable. Whenever work feels like a struggle, it’s a sign that we need to discover what’s not working. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source “I became obsessed with this idea of fit. I did my entire dissertation on this concept of fit.” “As studies from various different global organizations will show that most people are not actually that happy at work, and probably people think that you can't be. But to me, there is this framework to it that if you follow, then that will drive your happiness at work.” “There's people talking about values, there's people talking about strengths, but the needs piece is something that we need to address.” “The interesting thing with these needs is it's not just about making sure that the needs are satisfied. It's about finding that balance.” “All of this needs to be underpinned by psychological safety. We need to feel able to share what's going on for us. We need to be able to speak up, to challenge the status quo.” “A lot of the time people feel like they're not reaching their full potential. So they feel like they have so much more to offer, but they don't necessarily have that opportunity there.” “Sometimes people just think, ‘Well, that's just how work is. That's how it's supposed to be.’ And maybe they don't even realize that they have that issue until they uncover all of these things, until they start talking about what's going on for them.” “The only people that leave are the people who are not aligned with the organization and that's okay because actually, they could be draining other people, they could be bringing morale down. They're not a good fit to be working in your organization anyway.” “Most organizations these days are very clear about the values that they have. I'm not sure that they're very clear in terms of stating what behaviors are expected and what behaviors are not expected around each of those values. And then even beyond that, I think there's a lot of companies that might be great at saying, ‘This is what the values are' but then not holding people to account.” Connect with Aoife Website: https://happieratwork.ie Assessment: https://happieratwork.scoreapp.com Happier at Work Podcast: https://happieratwork.ie/happier-at-work-podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aoifemobrien