As we continue with this video game series, I slowly realize how much of a nerd I am…  (Wait, Andrew, you didn’t know you were a nerd before?  I guess self-awareness isn’t a skill you have…)  Anyway, last week we looked at lifting each other up with a game called Child of Light.  This week I want to challenge the assumption that engagement and happiness is the same thing by looking at a game called Bloodborne.

Bloodborne is a horror action adventure game, where you play as a character that has to defeat monsters in order to stop a plague that is affecting the town.  It has gorgeous design with an intriguing story.  Overall, it’s a scary experience with some awesome looking monsters, and it’s hard.  I consider myself a pretty decent gamer and I died a lot.  It’s one of the hardest games I’ve played in recent memory and one of my favorites.

I was playing the game one night and having a particularly tough time defeating a nasty creature.  My wife was reading a book on the couch while I kept dying.  Eventually she says, “You’re dying a lot.  That must be frustrating.  You can’t be very happy with this game.  It can’t be very fun.”  I told her, “It is hard and is frustrating at times, but not all games are supposed to be happy go lucky.  I’ve actually enjoyed this game so much more than many others, because of its difficulty.  Sure I die a lot, but then when I advance I feel like I’ve accomplished something.”  Now maybe you aren’t a video game player screaming at the screen as you try to survive attacking a horrendous monster, but have you ever experienced something like this in life?Do you have a hobby or activity that you like to do, where it is difficult AND rewarding?

What does this have to do with work?  I feel that we sometimes confuse engagement with happiness, so we try to drive happiness instead of engagement.  We try to drive happiness by being extra nice, minimizing conflict, etc.  Happiness is important, but it’s not the same thing as engagement.  Not all situations are happy go lucky.  Trying to drive alignment in impossible situations is not always fun.  It’s challenging.  Trying to change processes to better serve customers is not always fun.  It’s challenging.  Standing up and being the voice of the customer isn’t always fun.  It’s challenging.  This is okay though, because some things should be tough.  Some things should make you go back to the drawing board again and again.  We work in a complex environment, so if everything was easy it wouldn’t be worth doing.  However, once you accomplish those things, you should feel an immense amount of pride.  There is more to engagement than happiness.  There are things like the thrill of a challenge, team culture, reward and recognition, a mission that calls to us, etc.  If you just focus on happiness a person slows down when the happiness is gone.  If you drive engagement, when things get tough, the person just smiles and says, “Bring it!”

The challenge:  Are you focused on driving happiness or engagement?  How are you driving engagement?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry