How Happy are you at work? - self inquiry 1 of 8

The purpose of these Self-Inquiry sections is 1) to stimulate your thinking about key concepts and ideas from the science of happiness at work and relate them to your own experience, and 2) to give you some ideas about how you might approach measuring happiness at work on your own. 

My results from 

Self-Inquiry 01: Happiness at Work (1/2)

3 of 7  (10% of those who completed the survey responded the same) 

Does your score ring true? Does it feel like your score captures what is most important to you in aspiring towards greater happiness at work?

Yes. I'm not satisfied working in an environment that I find is 

• using outdated resources
• not relevant to the needs of 21st century students / societies / work force
• not interested in understanding its learners, nor adapting instruction to address their needs
• does not measure its own effectiveness
• is opting to protect the status quo rather than challenge the way it does things,

Where I have attempted to introduce new approaches - approaches to professional development that are considered leading edge and enthusiastically adopted elsewhere - they have not been integrated. Instead, they are treated as vanity projects. When I go, they go. 

Result? An absence of professional growth, difficulty in making a meaningful difference to the program (no interest in really improving it), undermining my sense of purpose. 

Did your score make sense to you? Does Job Satisfaction feel like it taps into something that contributes to being happy at work? Why or why not?

Yes. Very much. I scored low for job satisfaction and based on PERK, much of it seems centered on purpose. To be more specific, there is a lack of opportunity to make a difference as an educator not because I lack the desire, nor the experience, nor lack the professional or leadership skills to do so. On the contrary. The desire is there, the experience is there, the skills are there, even the interest of my some of my colleagues is there. Instead, the working culture support is not there. It discourages the exercise of such desire, leadership and innovation through a lack of recognition for such efforts by expatriate staff to which I belong. It opts instead to only provide it for local staff.

My results from 

Self-Inquiry 01: Happiness at Work (2/2)

Answering four question on a Subjective Happiness Scale, originally developed by happiness science pioneer Sonja Lyubomirsky

4.3 of 7  (23% of those who completed the survey responded the same) 

I'm surprised that I scored higher here. Upon reflection, I found that I generally try to make the best of any situation so I work at finding opportunities to grow despite the absence of them through my work.