“Wonderbringers”: How to dissolve work-life stress with awe
- Epic experiences such as touring the Grand Canyon or seeing an artistic masterpiece elicit awe and wonder.
- Such feelings have been shown to diminish stress, boost life satisfaction, and heighten our sense of connection with others.
- Parker argues that wonder can also be found in everyday experiences and suggests ways to weave these into our workplace culture.
For our money, the world’s best workplace isn’t found anywhere in the world. It’s orbiting roughly 250 miles above it: the International Space Station (ISS).
For more than two decades, astronauts have worked aboard the ISS to maintain the station and conduct cutting-edge scientific research in fields as diverse as physics, microbiology, astronomy, and medicine. And as the name suggests, these astronauts have come together from cultures, countries, and walks of life.
It’s no space vacation, though. Living and working in such tight quarters in such an unforgiving environment with people who may not speak your language is a challenging gig. Yet when space travelers return home, many remember the experience with reverence.
As former astronaut Leland Melvin described it during an interview with Big Think: “I got this cognitive shift looking at the planet with no borders and one race, the human race. When I got home, it made me feel so much more connected with everyone around me. […] I felt that we had a common purpose to keep our humanity going forward.”
This perspective shift is known as the “overview effect.” It’s associated with profound emotions, a sense of self-transcendence, and an intense connection to other people and humanity as a whole. A major catalyst for this shift is the awe and wonder one feels after seeing Earth from space.
Stories like these display the hidden power of wonder, and according to Monica Parker, author and founder of the global human analytics consultancy HATCH, leaders who want to create a workplace that fosters inclusion, belonging, and resilience would do well to tap into that power. Thankfully, they don’t have to move their offices into low orbit to do it.
No small wonders
Before leaders can create opportunities for wonder, they need to understand what kinds of experiences elicit it. The obvious answer here is those unrivaled life moments. Seeing our home planet from space certainly meets the criteria, but an earthbound equivalent may include:
- Witnessing the Northern Lights.
- Walking the Great Wall of China.
- Performing the rites of the Hajj with more than a million fellow worshippers.
However, while we think of wonder as belonging to the grand and marvelous, Parker points out that small doses can be found in our daily lives. “We can find wonder in small ways in our own life, and I would encourage you to do so because that’s where the real impact can be,” she tells Big Think.
Whether epic or prosaic, Parker calls these moments “wonderbringers” and divides them into three categories.
Wonder [is] fundamental to our makeup. It feeds our souls.
Monica Parker
The first is nature. These wonderbringers can include striking displays of vastness, such as touring the Grand Canyon or watching a solar eclipse, but they can also be found outside your front door. Gardening, searching for agates on the beach, watching the autumn trees change color, and observing the migrations of seasonal birds can all provide your daily dose of wonder.
The second category is social — that is, the people around us. As before, these can take the form of large gatherings, such as joining in the collective worship or the stadium-shaking chants of a World Cup match. But you’ll recognize social wonder in the presence of a charismatic speaker or tremendous talent, too, and even witness it in everyday acts of kindness, courage, and perseverance. In fact, research suggests that other people are the most common source of awe in our lives.
The final category is cognitive. This is the wonder we feel when encountering profound ideas and concepts. These wonderbringers are common in new scientific discoveries about the universe, explorations of deep philosophical issues, incredible feats of engineering, and musings about the nature of life and death.
That said, Parker points out that these categories aren’t discrete. For instance, music is a wonderbringer that one can enjoy with friends at the pub and study as an artistic achievement. Similarly, a painting can express nature’s wonder while also offering insight into the human condition.
Working wonders (in the workplace)
The examples above make it seem that wonder is easy to find, and it can be. If you know where to look and are receptive, you can discover wonder wherever you are. Often, Parker notes, the reason we don’t experience wonder is due to self-erected barriers.
“One of those barriers is being in a hurry. We’re always in a hurry and might just zoom right past wonder,” she says. “We need to slow down, create the time and space in order to find wonder, and we can do that through what I call slow thought.”
When bringing wonder into the workplace, a leader’s goal shouldn’t be to set a wonder quota for managers to meet. The results won’t be tallied up at an end-of-year meeting. Instead, it’s to provide the time and opportunity to be open to wonder and to nurture a culture where employees feel free to share it with their teammates.
This goal lends itself to a range of approaches, but to get started, Parker recommends considering the following strategies:
- Plan corporate retreats around awe-inspiring environments. National parks, historic sites, and live events are places where abundant wonder can be found.
- Take team wonder walks. Research suggests that even 15 minutes can be enough to improve mental health. While nature is the go-to for such jaunts, markets, museums, and historic districts are good options.
- Invoke nostalgia. This one taps into that social category of wonder and can be as simple as sharing a childhood photo or story at the top of your next meeting.
- Lead with wonder-based qualities such as empathy, humility, kindness, and authenticity.
As is often the case with positive emotions, Parker reminds us, “Wonder shared is wonder multiplied.”
Will wonders never cease
What does wonder do for the workplace? Foremost, Parker notes that moments of wonder encourage connection, which can help us cultivate inclusive workplaces where people from all walks of professional life can do their best work as a team. The International Space Station’s quarter century of success is a prime example.
“[Wonder] enlarges our sense of generosity and community-building, and so we want to include other people that previously we wouldn’t have,” Parker says.
And the benefits continue. Research has also shown that awe and wonder can boost people’s moods, increase humility, decrease materialism, heighten life satisfaction, and reduce stress and anxiety. As such, leaders shouldn’t view wonder as a perk of the job. It should be considered a critical element of any workplace looking to care for its people and help them bring their best to the job.
“Sometimes the notion of wonder becomes, ‘Oh, it’s just a hobby, or it’s nice to have.’ Actually, wonder [is] fundamental to our makeup. It feeds our souls,” Parker says.
