Meaning at Work: Using Group Facilitation at Organizational Meetings to Enhance Work Meaningfulness 6th European Conference on Positive Psychology Moscow, June 26-29, 2012 Ib Ravn and Nina Tange Program on Organization and Learning Aarhus University, Denmark

The good life 1.The pleasant life: Positive emotions 2.The engaged life: Flow & use of strengths 3.The meaningful life: In the service of something larger than yourself 4.Positive relations 5.Achievement (Seligman, 2011) 2

Research project in Denmark: ”Meetings that create value and meaning” Three partnerships: Bank and local and state government agencies Intervention: We trained 150 managers in meeting facilitation Pre- and post-measurements: Does this increase meaning and value creation? 3

Meaning in meetings You experience meaning ”…when you find… events to be parts of some larger whole…” (Dewey 1910: 117) To be involved and have a say in the organization is meaningful because it connects you to the larger whole The organizational meeting is potentially a forum for connecting to the larger whole 4

Meetings often lack meaning Goals are unclear: Exactly what are we supposed to accomplish (that will connect us to something larger)? Manager talks too much and it’s not relevant to me Discussions are unfocused and incoherent Meeting participants are passive, bored or alienated = A meeting often disconnects employees from the larger organizational whole. 5

What is the meaning of life? Terry Eagleton (The Meaning of Life, 2007): 1.Realize one’s virtues, potentials, strengths, needs (Aristotle’s eudaimonia) 2.Helping others do the same: meet their needs (love, as in the Christian caritas) Realize your potentials Be valuable to others 6

Meaning in work life: Four factors 1.You realize your potentials and use your strengths 2.You use a unique combination of your strengths to make a contribution (Drucker, 1999) 3.Your organization is valuable to its stakeholders: value creation vs. value appropriation (Ghoshal, 2001) 4.You work with others to accomplish this: A productive community 2. Contribution 4. Productive community 7 1. Realize your potentials 3. Value creation

Your time to reflect What did you find interesting in that model? Talk to your neighbor (5 minutes) We hear some of your thoughts 8

Use personal strengths and potentials (1) Discovering strengts ”What energizes you in your work?” ”When you are at your best at work – what do you do?” Divide tasks according to this. 9

Contribution to work (2) Anchoring the meeting goals ”How does this goal influence your work?” ”How and what can you contribute towards the shared goal?” 10

Organizational value creation (3) Let’s hear it from the customers Storytelling What do we do well? What could we do even better? 11

Productive work with others (4) When we are at our best Interviews for a group of colleagues: ”Recall when your productive work together was exceptionally good: What did you do? What did the others do?” ”How have your colleagues contributed positively to your productive work together? - Something you have been grateful for” ”When did you experience positive emotions like joy, pride, thankfulness, interest, hope, fun or inspiration – in you productive work together?” 12

What energizes you in your work? Think 1 minute Interview the person next to you: Mention one or two things and explain why What strengths are you using in these situations? How can you use this knowledge in the future? 2 x 5 minutes 13

More on meaning and meetings Bains, Geoffrey m.fl. (2007): Meaning, Inc., London, Profile Business Drucker, P. (1999): Management Challenges for the 21th Century. Harper. Eagleton, Terry (2007): The Meaning of Life. Oxford University Press. Ghoshal, Sumantra, Christopher A. Barlett og Peter Moran (1999): A New Manifesto for Management, Sloan Management Review, 40(3): Ib Ravn (2007): ”Meetings in organizations: Do they contribute to stakeholder value and personal meaning?” Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, Aug (Google) Ravn, Ib (2009): ”Meaning in Work Life.” First World Congress on Positive Psychology, tinyurl.com/meaning-work Ravn, Ib (2011): Facilitering: Ledelse af møder der skaber værdi og mening. Hans Reitzel. 14