Parenting Lessons: Managing for Happiness while focusing on Relevance

I had a friend visiting my family. With a smaller child who was requiring some attention for food and later for occupying time, both my friend and I were readjusting to ensure that the child stayed happy. After the child had its food, we were showing the limited toys I had or the TV shows the child saw. The friend ensured that both the toys or the shows were relevant and age appropriate. After my friend left, I was thinking about how parents had that innate thought process of managing for happiness while delivering playful things with meaning!  We understand that people learn when they are happy. That learning is channeled for relevance for value. But how much do we practice this "Managing for happiness while focusing on relevance" in managing ourselves, our team, our products, etc.? 

If experience had taught me one thing, then, that is that we don't see things as they are, but we see things as we are. We put our own lens through which we see everything! This is the reason why people with scientific facts and evidence claim there is global warming and then others refute it because of extreme cold and snow in unpredictable places! The truth does not lie but we see the portion of the truth and not the entire truth! Good managers and great leaders see beyond abstraction and see where things could be! Whether it is people for skills and competency improvement or processes for experimentation and continuous improvement, nothing gets accomplished when people collectively don't collaborate and challenge themselves to share the need to be a part of something bigger than themselves. 

When a child is happy the learning occurs. The parent does not give everything the child wants but drives the focus for relevance. Somewhere along our professional journey, people become complacent with the status quo. This could be due to other life priorities or unwillingness to commit to learning! If learning stops, growth stops! If we want to grow, learning should continue! So, why are we limiting ourselves to what we can learn in the early childhood days but fail to continue that childhood like curiosity continuously in personal and professional lives? 

As I thought through this process, I thought that product management and project management as part of program and portfolio management should also look at people and process in a different light! "Manage people for happiness and focus processes for meaning" is my thought. If we ensure people are happy and the processes are meaningful (avoiding mura, muri, and muda), then, people will self-organize, challenge the status quo, and demonstrate leadership. If people are unhappy and processes are bureaucratic or confusing, people get demotivated, settle for mediocrity, and withdraw! Yes, there are many motivation theories (Maslow's Hierarchy, Hertzberg 2-Factor theory, McClelland Theory of Needs, Vroom's expectancy theory, McGregor's Theory of X & Y, Ouchi's Theory of Z) and each has a solid base on multiple fields with their proven track record. 

Suggested Step	Brief Explanation
Build for Happiness	Think of Ikigai that focuses on profession, passion, mission, & vocation) People are not going to be happy if one focuses only on profits, products, platforms
Manage for Innovation	Innovation need not be tied to roles & responsibilities.  Remember that good innovation management means roles & responsibilities are across multiple departments. Incorporate innovation in everything we do - incremental, continuous, and radical.
Accelerate for Learning	Don't promote a "fail fast" culture that compromises learning; instead, nurture the "fail forward" culture where learning thrives.  Don't build methodologies (company specific processes) that deters learning. Fail forward all the time. This is when you learn! Failure is too great an opportunity to miss learning.
Experiment for Customer	Relentlessly focus on customer. The world today is more about the customer's customers than just the paying client! Don't rush to product persona without creating a market persona! "Persona" is not people and so does not represent the voice of customer or voice of business. Actively Listen!
Play for Success	Promote "role" swaps. Don't just think in other's views but walk a mile in their shoes.  Incorporate alternative thinking (risk management) with explorative experiments  Explore childlike testing (unscripted, ad hoc) for quality from the beginning (this is beyond manual and automation testing)
Nurture for Growth	Create the culture that you want Operate as though your work is your own business Lead for transformation and not for transaction

In my humble opinion, none of these theories are adequately accommodated in today's middle management or executive leadership. The rush for quick wins to keep the business afloat seems to have seized the day. Ethics are compromised and design patterns are deprioritized to fit methodologies (note, I didn't say framework). To some extent, the middle management and executive leadership needs to hit the "reset" button and rethink how to manage for happiness and focus on processes for meaning." Tabulated above is my blueprint for these steps.

What are your thoughts? Would you agree? Add, Change or Modify anything? Share your thoughts!