Creating the Organisation of the Future:

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Creating the Organisation of the Future High
Well-being in a Low Carbon World 1st November
2007 Robertson Cooper closing the well-being
gap Nic Marks founder of centre for
well-being nef (the new economics foundation)
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Who are nef?

• An independent UK think-tank (founded 1986)
• Inspired by 3 principles
• Ecological Sustainability
• Social Justice
• Peoples Well-being
• Well-being programme set up in 2001 to address
  question What would policy look like if peoples
  well-being was its aim?
• centre for well-being - 2006

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nefs centre for well-being

• Centre for well-being
• Re-thinking Progress
• Developing new ways of measuring
• Challenging public policy to focus on well-being
• Helping organisations develop a well-being
  approach - well-being_at_work
• The Organisation of the Future High well-being
  and Low Carbon

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The Organisation of the Future
Profit
People
Planet
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The Organisation of the Future?
Profit
People
The Future Spot?
Planet
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GDP and Life Satisfaction A Challenge to the
Political Status Quo
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Happy Planet Index
European (un) Happy Planet Index July 2007
nef www.happyplanetindex.org
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2050 80 reduction in CO2
Resource efficiency to improve by over 80
Life Expectancy 80yrs Life Satisfaction 8/10
2050
60 - 80 reduction in CO2 emissions
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The Organisation of the Future

• Low Carbon
• Innovative production processes
• Less physical products
• More relationship building with customers
• High Well-being
• Customers well-being
• Employees well-being
• Shareholders ???
• Other Stakeholders ???

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The Organisation of the Future

• How to create a Low Carbon Organisation?
• Legislation will appear (hopefully!?)
• Companies that can innovate will gain strategic
  advantages
• Your employees are your biggest asset
• Their well-being, engagement and creativity will
  be key

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Shareholder Value
In a knowledge based economy, intellectual
property and human capital account for as much as
80 of a companys worth whereas 50 years ago
80 of a companys value came from buildings,
plant, land and inventory. HUMAN CAPITAL is
rented not owned. High performance needs to be
coaxed not coerced. Robert Grossman Blind
Investment, HR magazine, Jan 2005
Companies share valuations
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Your Experience of Work

• Well-being at Work
• Set of 8 questions about your experience at work
• How often do you find your work
• Interesting, stressful, enjoyable, boring,
  rewarding, difficult, exciting, frustrating

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Experience of Work
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Experience of Work
stressful
difficult
frustrating
Exciting Interesting Rewarding Enjoyable
boring
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Well-being at Work
stressful
difficult
frustrating
Exciting Interesting Rewarding Enjoyable
boring
Job SatisfactionR250
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Well-being at Work
stressful
difficult
frustrating
Exciting Interesting Rewarding Enjoyable
boring
Job SatisfactionR250
Work-Life Balance R218
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Well-being at Work
stressful
difficult
frustrating
Exciting Interesting Rewarding Enjoyable
Motivation R259
boring
Job SatisfactionR250
Work-Life Balance R218
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Well-being at Work
stressful
difficult
frustrating
Exciting Interesting Rewarding Enjoyable
Motivation R259
boring
Job SatisfactionR250
Work-Life Balance R218
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Good Jobs
Source Good Jobs Nic Marks CIPD report on
Employee well-being June 2005 www.cipd.co.uk
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Good Jobs
Source Good Jobs Nic Marks CIPD report on
Employee well-being June 2005 www.cipd.co.uk
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Good Jobs
Source Good Jobs Nic Marks CIPD report on
Employee well-being June 2005 www.cipd.co.uk
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Factors that create Good Jobs
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Factors that create Good Jobs
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Insights from Science of W-B

• Evolutionary role of emotions
• So-called negative emotions have been
  well-understood but what are emotions such as
  happiness, joy and contentment about?

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Evolutionary role of Emotions

• Evolutionary role of Negative Emotions
• Anger
• Fear
• Disgust
• Depression

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Evolutionary role of Emotions

• Evolutionary role of Negative Emotions
• Anger gt FIGHT
• Fear gt FLIGHT
• Disgust gt REJECT / SPIT OUT
• Depression gt SUBMIT

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Evolutionary role of Emotions

• Evolutionary Role of Positive Emotions?
• Happiness
• Joy
• Contentment
• Until recently considered simply as a SIGNAL OF
  GOOD FUNCTIONING

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Evolutionary role of Emotions

• Barbara Friedricksons theory of BROADEN and
  BUILD is however revolutionary
• Positive emotions BROADEN our thoughts actions
  paying more attention, being more creative
  playful, open to relationships, and flexible.
• Positive emotions BUILD psychological resources
  resilience, coping, physical abilities, emotional
  intelligence, social skills and self mastery.

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Role of Emotions at Work

• Friedrickson and Losado Positive teams at work
• Study of 60 Strategic Business Unit teams, each
  of eight people, all from within the same
  organisation.
• The SBUs performance categorised in terms of
• Profitability (SBU profit loss accounts)
• Customer satisfaction (surveys interviews)
• 360 evaluations of team members
• Each utterance in meeting was coded in terms
  of
• Positivity (support, encouragement, appreciation)
• Negativity (disapproval, sarcasm, cynicism)

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Role of Emotions at Work

• Friedrickson and Losado Positive teams at work

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Role of Emotions at Work

• Friedrickson and Losado Positive teams at work

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Role of Emotions at Work

• Friedrickson and Losado Positive teams at work

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Role of Emotions at Work
High performance teams operate in an expanded
chaotic (creative) emotional space. Mid
performance teams are still somewhat
creative. Low performance teams collapse into a
non-inquiring strange attractor.
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Role of Emotions at Work

• Friedrickson and Losado Positive teams at work
• Magic Ratio
• Positive Negative
• 3 1
• to
• 8 1

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Evolutionary role of Emotions

• Hidden benefits of (so-called) Negative Emotions
• No pain, no gain can initiate character changes
• Awareness connection to deeper selves
• Learning wisdom and perspective can come from
  suffering and loss
• Modesty, empathy, care and social concern -
  experiencing and coping with negative emotions
  can help us connect to others

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Creating the Organisation of the Future

• REDUCING the CARBON INCREASING the WELL-BEING
• The SOFT Stuff is the HARD stuff
• COAXING performance - Employer-Employee
  relationship should be a mutually beneficial
• Fostering CREATIVITY is the key to responding to
  a changing world
• Measure what MATTERS well-being and carbon
  audits to build on internal best practice and
  tackle negative trends.

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• Contact Details Nic Marks
• nic.marks_at_neweconomics.org
• Other reports downloadable from
• www.neweconomics.org
• Power Potential of W-B indicators
• Well-being Manifesto
• Happy Planet Index 2006
• European Happy Planet Index 2007
• www.happyplanetindex.org