An injured industry

happiness is no longer a nice to have

Sports injuries are a fact of life. But if half the team on the field was injured, no one would expect them to perform at a professional level, and the coach would probably be looking for a new job very soon.

So why do we keep demanding top-level performance from our workplace teams when so many are injured with burnout or emotional strain?

We can criticize younger generations all day long, yet they come to us with quite valuable advice: being happy at work is a universal right everyone can claim. And it’s the right path to choose.

When not dealt with properly, the issues that stem from not seeing workers as humans run through the entire organization, taking a toll on everyone: workers, unable to afford the handicap in achieving what they want comparing to happy workers; and companies, trying to stay afloat, compared to those able to create an environment where collaborators can execute at their highest and actually enjoy what they do.

How do we get out of this mess? Technology is the only way to leverage emotional-development tools across the board, with universal access to all organizational levels, for companies of all sizes, in any region. Access to deep soft-skills development tools and actions is no longer a right reserved for those with leadership status. Workers and teams need to understand and deal with their emotions. Managers and higher ranks, as workers themselves, need to do the same and be able to work these tools into the relationships with subordinates and superiors.

This is not the sales pitch for yet another emotional-intelligence workshop. This is a wake-up call to acknowledge that intellectual work is more than intellectual tasks.

Everyone is responsible for making it work. This responsibility goes hand in hand with the power anyone has to change the status quo and make things better (insert Spiderman/uncle Ben quote here, although originally attributed to Voltaire). We need to team up across the board and commit our efforts as company leaders, investors, and influencers to this cause. From spreading the word to investing in products, or taking tangible action as direct leaders of technology teams.

We at Yerbo are here just to help us all to tackle these problems. And I’m personally having my skin in the game.