Dr. Sharp has three degrees in psychology and an impressive record as an academic, clinician and coach. He runs one of Sydney’s largest clinical psychology practices and a highly regarded Executive Coaching practice. Dr. Sharp is the founder and Chief Happiness Officer of The Happiness Institute, Australia’s first organisation devoted solely to enhancing happiness in individuals, families and organisations.
Dr. Sharp is also a bestselling author and sought after public speaker.
Here’s what I discovered from Dr Happy:
- People expect happiness to come to them. We need to make it happen for ourselves. If we don’t ask ourselves what happiness is for us then it’s going to be very hard to achieve especially in a work context.
- The latest and most powerful happiness tool that he has developed is the CHOOSE model:
- Clarify – what would a flourishing life look for you as an individual/team/organization? Healthy living – you need to have energy to complete your goals. Energy provides the fuel.
- Optimism – don’t worry if you haven’t been born as a natural optimism as this is something that can be taught and practiced.
- Others – building positive relationships in our personal lives, at work and in our neighbourhood. Research shows that happy people have better quality and more relationships.
- Strengths – rather than fixing weaknesses we need to build what we are already good at. Weaknesses shouldn’t be avoided but the focus doesn’t need to be solely on what isn’t working.
- Enjoy the moment – focus on what you have, be grateful for it.
- Why should business leaders and managers care about the happiness of their staff? Happier workers are more productive, achieve more, are more collaborative, have lower absenteeism, higher customer loyalty, higher engagement levels and better resilience.
- People leave their managers not their jobs so it’s important to provide positive leadership. Make an effort to have fun at work; with staff, suppliers etc as this can lead to greatest productivity. Create a positive culture ands plan in positive way for future development.
The final speaker in this series of Happiness at Work is Uta Langley who has been training and coaching in business for 20 years, helping people to be more effective and happier managers, communicators and presenters.
