Ugly Efficiency: Discover the Secret Power of Beauty

The benefit of beauty is joy.

Utility—by itself—is ugly. When you add beauty to efficiency, you build human organizations.

Ugly organizations are effective, efficient, and joyless.

Let yourself be joyful.

The benefit of beauty is joy. Image of a colorful desk with a "choose joy" on it.

Joy is hard when:

  1. Achievement is everything.
  2. Problems are the center of attention.
  3. Perfectionism beats you down.
  4. Entitlement governs your attitude.
  5. Concern over unhappiness is everywhere.
Enjoy work or hate life. Image of a person facing the sunrise with open arms.

Joy List:

Make a joy list. What aspects of work bring you joy? Things that delight are beautiful. There is no energy in bleak organizations.
What’s on your joy list…

  1. Achievement.
  2. Relationships.
  3. Learning.
  4. Reaching milestones.

When you brag about work, you’re talking about beauty.

The Beauty List:

#1. A morning without email.

Designate one morning a week as no-email morning. Tell the team to turn off email. All communication is by phone. No Zoom either. If you use Zoom, turn off the camera.

#2. Outlaw gray.

Add color to your workplace.

Transform your life by reflecting on joy. Image of a kid standing on his head.

#3. Treat people like dogs.

Sometimes I wish I were a dog. When you come home, you spend a few minutes with your dog. You scratch her behind the ears. You say playful things.

How can you treat people like dogs at work?

#4. Add plants.

Green is good.

#5. Play music.

People should hear “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” when they walk into meetings. If not that, play some classic rock like “We Will Rock You.”

I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. Image of Helen Keller with her teacher Anne Sullivan.

#6. Surprise.

A little variety refreshes the spirit. Too much change causes stress.

  1. End meetings early.
  2. Have food.
  3. Take the chairs and table out of the room. Movement is good.
  4. Give 5 minutes for a team member to share an efficiency tip.
  5. Begin with good news.

#7. Think about people.

You’re an ugly leader if all you think about is getting stuff done.

How can you do something beautiful today?

What forms of ugly could be eliminated at work?

Dig deeper:

The Destruction of Potential and Joy

7 Ways to Be a Happy Leader Today

Rediscover Joy at Work

Category : Leadership Development