What is eudaimonia?? And what does it have to do with my company?
Fostering a healthy culture is directly linked to happy healthy employees, which of course leads to better productivity in quality and quantity. That’s why creating the conditions that give your employees the best chance at flourishing at work is critical. That’s where happiness and the concept of eudaimonia comes in.
The word eudaimonia combines eu (good) and daimon (spirit). In common-speak, it is a life well-lived, or human flourishing. I have a review at the bottom if you want to read more from a systematic review on eudaimonia (Huta & Waterman, 2014).
How to encourage eudaimonic well-being at work
There are 4 basic attributes that individuals must develop: Authenticity, Growth, Meaning, and Excellence. And below are 7 ways to encourage these attributes.
1. Express your company values and communicate them
Everyone should know your values and you should not only speak them but live them. Encourage conversation around the vision you create for your employees so they can embrace that larger purpose as well.
2. Write down your biggest goals
Encourage employees to express their larger goals, the ones that are purpose-driven. These don’t have to be company related, and in fact should be more personal and reflect their own core values. For example, some of my big goals are “to help people who are struggling” and “to stand up for marginalized groups.”
3. Develop and refine skills and capabilities
Every employee is good at something (or many things). Successful companies with healthy cultures and flourishing employees recognize that, and help their people to find the skills and capabilities that fulfill them. Maybe you’re good at giving advice, or you’re detail-oriented, or you have an ear for music. Whatever it is, help them develop the skills that bring them joy. This may mean to re-purpose someone from one kind of position to another in the arc of their relationship with the company, and that’s okay.
4. Focus on relationships
This might seem obvious, but social connections at work play a major role in well-being. Encouraging new relationships and giving them openings to sustain existing ones can be as simple as calling them now and then to check in.
5. Foster balance
All people engage in activities because they’re either personally rewarding (i.e., intrinsic motivation) or externally rewarding (i.e., extrinsic motivation). Part of a healthy work-life balance is understanding that there are things you love to do, and other things you have to do. Yes, life is full of responsibilities and activities that are extrinsically motivated, but when they have even a few side hobbies that are self-motivated, this can bring them joy can be helpful in the long run.
6. Being authentic and true to yourself
When people are free to express what they feel are do not have to leave it bottled up, they become more authentic. Of course, this doesn’t mean “getting your way” all the time. And sometimes we have to agree to disagree. But allowing people to be true to themselves with permission for self expression is a key part of eudaimonia.
7. Support positive activities
What are some things you can provide to promote eudaimonia.
- Volunteering one’s time
- Giving money to someone in need
- Writing out one’s future goals
- Expressing gratitude for another’s actions
- Carefully listening to another’s point of view
- Confiding in someone about something that is of personal importance
- Persevering at valued goals in spite of obstacles
This article was adapted from Psychology Today, originally published by The Berkeley Well-Being Institute.
References
Hursthouse, R. (1999). On virtue ethics. Oxford University Press.
Huta, V., & Waterman, A. S. (2014). Eudaimonia and its distinction from hedonia: Developing a classification and terminology for understanding conceptual and operational definitions. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(6), 1425–1456.
Steger, M. F., Kashdan, T. B., & Oishi, S. (2008). Being good by doing good: Daily eudaimonic activity and well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(1), 22–42.
