Praising people at work is great, but hard. It takes some practice to do well and doesn’t come naturally to many people.

So we have developed an exercise to help teams praise each other and it’s our absolute favorite thing to do in our workshops. And now we’ve put the instructions online, so you can do it with your team.

We have done this hundreds of times and it never fails. It takes about 30 minutes and works in groups of 10 people and upwards. We’ve done it with hundreds of participants, but typically we’ll do it with one department or team, so about 10-50 people.

You will need a flip-over chart and a marker pen for each person. Here’s how to do it, step by step.

1: Give each person a marker pen and a flip-over chart.

2: Ask each person to tear a whole in the middle of the sheet of paper and then put it on like a poncho. The easiest way is to fold the chart into quarters and tear off one corner.

3: Once everyone is wearing their poncho, give people the following instructions: “Go around and write on the backs of other people. Write the stuff you like and appreciate about the person. The stuff they do well and the qualities they have. Write on as many people as possible, write as much as possible but only write it if you mean it.”

4: Then give people time to write on each other. Groups up to 20 people will need about 10 minutes for the actual writing, larger groups may need more time.

5: Once people have finished writing on each other, give them these instructions: “I bet you’re all wondering what people have been writing on you. Please keep your ponchos on and sit down. Now for the next minute, you’re not allowed to speak. You’re only allowed to read what it says on your poncho and to enjoy it. Please, take them off and read them now”.

6: Give them a minute or so to read their ponchos.

7: Ask them to turn to their neighbor and discuss what it says on their poncho. Did anything surprise them? What do they especially appreciate?

8: End the exercise and thank them for participating.

We’ve done this exercise with leaders, employees, government workers, school teachers, school kids, social workers, secretaries, lab workers, prison guards, kitchen staff and many, many other groups and it works every single time.

Participants especially enjoy that:

• It’s easy to give praise.
• It’s easy to receive praise – you don’t have to respond to it, only to enjoy it.
• They learn what people appreciate about you.
• People get praised both for what they do but also for who they are.
• They can save their ponchos and take them out and read them when the need a boost.

My favorite part of the poncho exercise is when you get chains of 5-10 people, each writing on the back of the next one.

Your take

What do you think – would this work in your workplace? Have you tried something similar already? How did it work?

Related posts

• No Lucy Kellaway – public praise is a great thing.
• Top 5 ways NOT to praise people at work.
• Most bosses think criticism is more effective than praise. Here’s why they’re wrong.

Danish workers have a tradition of playing small Christmas pranks on each other throughout December, based on the old folk belief in nisser, little elf-like creatures that hid in people’s houses and played pranks on people.

This is the way it works in many Danish workplaces:

1. At the beginning of December, everyone draws the name of a co-worker without revealing whose name they drew.
2. Throughout December, your job is to play harmless little pranks on that person without getting caught.
3. Just before Christmas you get the whole team together and everyone has to try and guess who’s been pranking them.

This is fun in itself and you can try that if you want.

But lately we’ve been telling workplaces to turn this around so that instead of pranks, you do anonymous acts of workplace kindness. You can leave candy on someone’s desk or maybe decorate their workstation for the holidays without getting caught? The possibilities are endless. Get creative :o)

So this holiday season, be a good nisse.

Last week I had a debate on whether happiness at work increases productivity or not against Jan Kristensen who is Lean Director at Novo Nordisk.

It was a lively and at times contentious debate in front of an engaged audience and we filmed the whole thing and have put it online. There are three videos: My initial presentation (above), Jan’s presentation and then a discussion.

I applaud Jan for his willingness to do this debate and I admire his clearly heartfelt dedication to creating more efficient and productive workplaces.

You can download our slides here and see pictures from the event here.

In my (admittedly biased) opinion, after having read Jan’s phd thesis and done the debate, it’s clear that there is ample evidence that happiness makes us more productive in the workplace and very little evidence against this.

As best I can tell, Jan offered 3 specific arguments for his assertion that happy workers are no more productive than unhappy ones.

1: 14 original studies
Jan claims there are 14 original studies, which everyone in this field cites as proof that happy workers are more productive but that those 14 studies in fact show the exact opposite.

He only mentions one of those 14 studies (hawthorne) so it’s hard to evaluate his claim. But let’s say we grant him this. It still doesn’t support his position. Even if every single one of those 14 studies could be invalidated, it would not serve at all to disprove all the studies that have come since them. I quote several of those studies in my presentation.

2: Low correlation
Jan states that the best correlation found in meta-studies shows a correlation between happiness and productivity of 0.25, which is too low for his liking.

But a low correlation is still a correlation, so at the very least we can say that happiness and productivity are connected. And as I showed in my presentation, there are also studies showing causation, i.e. showing that happiness causes productivity.

3: Difficult to implement
Jan’s final argument is that he and his HR colleagues have tried to implement happiness in Novo and that it has failed every time.

The logical flaw in this argument is clear: People’s ability or inability to implement it has no bearing on whether or not the theory is true.

As best I can tell, Jan offers no further arguments in support of his position.

Your take

What’s your take on this – are happy people more productive? Are happy workplaces more profitable? What evidence have you seen that supports your position? Please write a comment, I’d love to know your take.

This video very elegantly frames the choice we all face – whether to work for money or to do something we like:

Of course, it needn’t always be a choice. Studies show that being happy at work will make you more successful.

Will McInnes is the founder and former CEO of NixonMcInnes, a consulting company in Brighton, England and the author of the excellent book Culture Shock – A Handbook for 21st Century Business.

Will has spearheaded the drive to make NixonMcInnes a happy and successful workplace and in this speech from our 2012 conference he shares their best tips and techniques.

My first book is being republished early next year and as you may know it’s a time-honored tradition to have a quote from someone famous on the cover endorsing it.

Who do you think I should get to blurb my book? Let me know what you think in a comment!

Punch someone in the face, you go to jail. Be a bad manager who ruins employees’ lives for years and you face no consequences.

Why is that? Write a comment – we’d love to know what you think.

UPDATE: The book has already gone out and I’ve received the edits, updated the manuscript and sent it in to the publisher. Thank you to everyone who helped out!!

I am currently updating my first book Happy Hour is 9 to 5 for its upcoming re-release with Pine Publishing.

I wrote the book way back in 2007 and I want to make sure that the book is properly updated and still relevant.

Would you like to help me?

I’m looking for some people to read through the book (or just parts of it) and give me their honest feedback on what I should update.

Would you like to help me out?

If so, here’s what you must do:

1. Write a comment below – don’t forget to include your name and email address
2. I will email you the book as a pdf e-book
3. You read it through and send me your comments back
4. I update the book and will be eternally grateful :o)

Thanks in advance.

I blog a few times a week (usually) but I’m on twitter pretty much every day, so if you want more timely tips, links and ideas on happiness at work, consider following me on twitter.

We’re organizing a 2-day trip to London for 20 Danish business leaders and HR people in January 2014.

We’re going to visit and learn from some of the UK’s happiest and most successful workplaces and see how they approach leadership, happiness and results. It will be intense, fun and incredibly valuably.

Read all about it and sign up here (in Danish).

UPDATE: 11 of 20 tickets sold already. Woohoo!