Hi, my name is Dawn Billings. Many people asked me WHY I felt compelled to create a place where people can learn how to create an OverJOYed LIFE. The answer is simple. Every where I travel to speak, teach, train or even for pleasure people share with me they are looking for the same thing personally and professionally -- JOY, Happiness and Success.
At OJL we are dedicated to uplifting, enlightening, and inspiring the employees/members of your company or organization to live OverJOYed and fulfilled lives rich with success, joy, health, peace, meaning, purpose, resilience as well as, personal and professional insight and understanding. If you are looking for ways to transform your organizational culture, increase employee/member retention, to utilize success/happiness tools such as personality insight tests, daily inspirations, mastermind guidance and instruction, and networking opportunities for your employees/members to enhance their lives, and productivity, you have come to the right place.
Most of the resources and tools we offer at OJL cost very little in dollars and cents, but are definitely worth their weight in gold. The biggest cost for these tools is time and effort. You must take the time and put in the effort to personally and professionally develop the knowledge, habits and skills to transform your life. It has taken me over 40 years to research, design, and create these fantastic tools.
I am OverJOYed to share my gifts, talents, tools, life's lessons, years of experience and expertise with you. Dawn L. Billings
SUCCESS/HEALTH
BENEFITS OF A
JOYFUL
WORK CULTURE
Companies who don’t focus on culture have a harder time competing, recruiting, staying relevant and reducing attrition.
A Joyful/Optimistic Culture sets the tone for the effectiveness of the attitudes of the people you lead and manage.
We can help you establish new culture initiatives, and expand the number, and effectiveness, of your leaders.
Why is organizational culture so important?
Culture is a powerful element that shapes your work enjoyment, your work relationships, and your work processes.
Culture can even be more important, than your business strategy because your culture either strengthens or undermines your business and the objectives it is trying to achieve.
In many ways, culture is like personality. In a person, the personality is made up of the values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, interests, experiences, upbringing, and habits that create a person’s behavior. Culture is also made up of the values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a group of people. Culture is the behavior that results when a group arrives at a set of—generally unspoken and unwritten—rules for working together.
Culture is significant, especially because…
-
Your culture attracts talent. Potential job applicants and team members evaluate your organization and its climate. A strong, positive, clearly defined and well-communicated culture attracts the right fit and best talent.
-
A strong positive culture creates a work environment that drives engagement and strengthens retention.
-
Research shows that employee happiness and satisfaction is linked to a strong workplace culture.
-
Organizations with stronger cultures outperform their competitors in financial performance and are generally more successful.
The facts are that businesses have a retention crisis. New Deloitte research shows that culture,
engagement, and employee retention are now the top talent challenges facing business leaders.
More than half of companies and business leaders rate this issue "urgent".
People, especially Millennials, are looking for 3 things in today's workforce.
1. Flexibility, 2. Professional Development and for a company to 3. Be Good, Do Good and Feel Good.
According to a study by PWC, employees of all generations are prioritizing flexibility in their jobs, many employees feel that flexibility in a job is more important than compensation and promotion. Like flexibility, professional development is even more important to people than financial rewards when selecting a vocation.
There are many interesting professional development initiatives you can explore to make sure employees are learning and developing on the job, one of the most interesting, fun and unique is the Happiness Curriculum developed by OverJOYed Life.
Researchers have discovered that joy born out of a culture of positivity and professional/personal development greatly contribute to overall success. Developing and strengthening emotional intelligence, and gaining insight into oneself and others is the greatest foundation for living joyfully.
THE
IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION
Many experts tell us we are living in the information age, but where happiness and success are concerned, I think it is more accurate to say we live in a communication age. Communication is more than simply conveying information. Happiness and success require us to develop real communication skills that dramatically impact how we give and receive information and convey our ideas and opinions with those around us.
Effective communication sounds like it should be instinctive. But all too often, when we try to communicate with others something goes astray. We say one thing, the other person hears something else, and misunderstandings, frustration, and conflicts ensue. This can cause problems in your personal and professional relationships. It is important to develop a variety of skills for both communicating TO others and learning how to interpret the information received FROM others. Knowing your audience and understanding how they need to receive information is equally important as knowing yourself.
For many of us, communicating more clearly and effectively requires learning some important skills. Whether you’re trying to improve communication with your spouse, kids, boss, or coworkers, learning these skills can deepen your connection to others, build greater trust and respect, and improve teamwork, problem solving, and your overall social and emotional health. (Go to 5 Levels of Communication video)
Communication is one of the most important aspects of working successfully with others and yet, too often there is no time or instruction about how to communicate powerfully, respectfully and effectively. OverJOYed Life technology solves this problem as it helps YOU, and your employees/associates, to think about communication on an entirely new level. The results are simply profound.
What is effective communication?
Effective communication is about more than just exchanging information. It's about understanding the emotion and intentions behind the information. As well as being able to clearly convey a message, you need to also listen in a way that gains the full meaning of what’s being said and makes the other person feel heard and understood.
More than just the words you use, effective communication requires you to develop five great communication skills:
-
Active listening -
I created a video that walks your through, step-by-step, listening do's. But honestly. Don't learn to act as though you are listening; really quiet the noise in your brain and actually pay attention to what the other person is saying. (Go to active listening video)
-
Focusing your attention -
Do the person you are communicating with have your full attention? The greatest gift of respect we give to another is our attention. You can’t communicate effectively when you’re multitasking. If you’re checking your phone, planning what you’re going to say next, or daydreaming you’re almost certain to miss nonverbal cues in the conversation. To communicate effectively, you need to avoid distractions and stay focused.
-
Watching your nonverbal communication -
Nonverbal communication should reinforce what is being said, not contradict it. If you say one thing, but your body language says something else, your listener will likely feel you’re being dishonest. For example, you can’t say “yes” while shaking your head no.
-
Asserting yourself in respectful, compassionate ways -
Being assertive means expressing your thoughts, feelings, and needs in an open and honest way, while standing up for yourself and respecting others. It does NOT mean being hostile, aggressive, or demanding. Effective communication is always about understanding the other person, not about winning an argument or forcing your opinions on others.
-
Noticing and managing your stress in the moment -
Can you keep from simply reacting emotionally? Can you use humor to de-escalate a stressful situation? When used appropriately, humor is a great way to relieve stress when communicating. When you’re stressed or emotionally overwhelmed, you’re more likely to misread other people, send confusing or off-putting nonverbal signals, and lapse into unhealthy knee-jerk patterns of behavior. To avoid conflict and misunderstandings, you can learn how to quickly calm down before continuing a conversation.
Great communication is not only a set of learned skills, but depends also a great deal on how well you understand yourself and the listening of those you want to effectively communicate with. Of course, it takes time and effort to develop insight, understanding and great communication skills, but our OverJOYed Life technology makes the learning fun and interesting.
Bringing effective communication home.
Effective communication is not only critical in the workplace, but it is just as important in your home. If you want to learn more about how to bring back the joy and feelings of connectedness in your relationship, visit Relationship Help at Home. This comprehensive 26 week program is not only filled with relationship secrets that can help you heal and strengthen your relationship from the comfort of your own living room, you will be amazed at the great price.
A
PERSONAL NOTE
FROM DAWN
No matter if your company has thousands of employees or only YOU, OverJOYed Life has information and insights that will develop your emotional intelligence (EQ), and strengthen your bottom line. My personal journey is proof that you can learn all of these happiness and success skills and apply them to make your life whatever you want it to be. This knowledge and the applied skills have taken me from severe poverty to a rich life of joy, resources, happiness and peace. They enabled me to go from the little girl with no shoes, to being chosen as one of 80 emerging women leaders by Oprah Magazine and The White House Project. They helped me travel from a broken sense of self, wondering what I might have to say with my small voice that might matter to anyone, to authoring over 20 books, and being selected as one of 15 'Women of Influence' by the Cobb County YWCA. They helped me rise from the lowest sense of self-esteem to the great and high honor of serving women internationally as the CEO and Founder of The Heart Link Women's Network.