2 weeks ago I was in London on vacation with my wonderful girlfriend, and while our time was spent almost exclusively on shopping, good food and musicals, I also stumbled on a couple of interesting things, happy-at-work-wise.

At a Pret A Manger (which is Britain’s version of Starbucks with better food) I saw this sign:

The headline is Good jobs, good people and the text is all about how good working for Pret is.

But the best one was this sign in the window of the Prime Time video rental store next to the Earl’s Court tube station:

Happy, smiling staff required. I love it! These are sure signs that happy employees is increasingly becoming something that companies want. They recognize that happy people are motivated, productive and better at service.

And of course the two ways to get happy employees is to give them god jobs (as Pret promises on their sign) or to hire people who are already happy (as Prime Time video does). The very best way is of course to combine these two approaches :o)

You rock and you know it. Your group, team, department or entire company has just reached a major milestone, completed a project, gotten that huge sale or otherwise kicked butt.

What would be a great way to celebrate it? How do you mark your accomplishments?

Write a comment, I’d really like to know!

Starting a new job can be a scary experience. You have new tasks, new co-workers, new rules, a new manager, new everything.

So your mission for this monday is to do something for a person who’s come to your workplace recently. Seek out a new co-worker – say, someone who’s been there three months or less – and ask that person how things are going and what they like about working here.

Get to know that person if you don’t already. Where did he work before? Where does she live? How’s the new job going?

If there’s any way you can help, make sure to offer your advice, your thoughts or your help. New people often appreciate a little help at first and at the very least some positive interest is always nice.

The Chief Happiness Officer’s monday tips are simple, easy, fun things you can do to make yourself and others happy at work and get the work-week off to a great start. Something everyone can do in five minutes, tops. When you try it, write a comment here to tell me how it went.

Previous monday tips.

Coolest. Office. Ever. I thought I’d found 10 pretty cool offices, but Inventionland is wild and weird and I love it. Video here. (Thanks Kareem Mayan and Michael Rizzo).

Aaron Swartz gets his first taste of corporate life after reddit.com was bought by Wired. Gray walls, gray desks, gray noise. The first day I showed up here, I simply couldn’t take it. By lunch time I had literally locked myself in a bathroom stall and started crying. I can’t imagine staying sane with someone buzzing in my ear all day, let alone getting any actual work done. Best commentary on this: Working at reddit: Wired. Working at Wired: Tired!

The executive coloring book. MAN that’s funny. And depressing :o)

One hour ago, I gave my best speech on happiness at work so far to 400 people from the The Directorate for Food, Fisheries and Agri Business here in Copenhagen. I’m sitting in a nearby café totally buzzing with the energy of getting up in front of a big crowd and totally kicking butt :o)

I tried out a completely new format for this presentation, one that involves music, clapping, high-fives, various exercises that are more meditative and of course some presentations by yours truly. It works. No, let me rephrase that: IT WORKS and I rock :o)

The feedback from the participants was amazingly positive. They especially remarked on the format, my energy, the topic (happiness at work, of course) and on the fact that it was accessible and practical.

I can’t wait to do it again, preferrably real soon!! MAN, I love being me.

My friends at WorldBlu are looking for the world’s most democratic companies. Is your workplace among them?

WorldBlu CEO Traci Fenton writes:

The time has never been better for honoring the mavericks of freedom in the workplace, and inspiring others.

The WorldBlu Search for the Most Democratic Workplaces�? is a GLOBAL search from November 1, 2006 until February 16, 2007 designed to identify organizations from the for-profit, non-profit, government, and education sectors practicing organizational democracy.

Recognizing the Mavericks, Inspiring Others:
We believe there are many highly successful and profitable – yet often unnoticed – examples of democracy in the workplace. These organizations are defying convention, rewriting the rules of business, and pioneering the next generation of organizational design and leadership. The WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces�? seeks to shine a spotlight on these champions of freedom and inspire others in the process.

The WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces 2007:
On March 6, 2007, WorldBlu will announce the first annual WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces�? in conjunction with the celebration of Democracy in the Workplace Day.

Learn More + Get Started:
To learn more or have your organization get started now to apply for the WorldBlu List, please go to .

Basically, they need as many organizations as possible to take their scorecard and participating companies not only learn how democratic they are compared to others, they also get specific tips on how they can become more democratic.

Of course there is a huge link between democracy and happiness at work. People who work in democratic organizations are more involved, take more responsibility, are more motivated, more productive and happier than employees of authoritarian companies. This also makes democratic organizations more successful. You can read all about it here.

So go check out the scorecard and sign up your company!

Ever feel like sitting down and having a long quiet conversation with a very wise person? The kind of chat that leaves you thinking more and deeper about you, your world and how to be more yourself.

Reading Jodee Bock’s new book The 100% Factor – Living Your Capacity is just like that. It’s a wonderful affirmation that the world does make sense, that there are simple, deep truths that can help you enjoy it more and that there are people out who have both the experiences and the desire to share those experiences with others.

Jodee writes this in the preface:

When I think back on my corporate career, I identify myself as a square peg in a round hole…

With the benefit of hindsight now, I’m able to see that if I could have created a support system for my seemlingly outrageous thoughts and belief system, I may have been able to communicate my ideas in a way that wasn’t as threatening as it appeared at the time.

Had I known that there were others in the world who shared some of my frustrations about feeling stuffed into the box that was mine on the organizational chart, I may have been able to formulate my thoughts into meaningful dialogue.

Well, as Jodee now knows, there are plenty of people out there who share her frustrations and beliefs and this book then becomes that meaningful dialogue to all us like-minded individuals everywhere. The topics range widely (even wildly) from accountability, prejudice and fear to change, creativity and courage.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes pondering some of the great questions, and would like to peek inside the minde og someone who’s obviously spent a lot of time doing so already. You may not agree with everything in the book, but it will inspire you.

Disclosure: Jodee is a blogging buddy and gave me a free copy of the book to review. I’m also mentioned in the book twice – thanks, Jodee.

Google knows the answer to life the universe and everything.

This joke is for geeks and Douglas Adams fans only :o)

Here’s some typical thinking on workplace stress:

• Mike is getting stressed at work, but that’s just natural these days.
• In fact, if Mike isn’t stressed, it probably means that he’s not really crucial to the organization.
• The solution is to let Mike work less and with fewer responsibilities for a while until he recovers.
• Or to let Mike work more for a while until he’s no longer falling behind and getting stressed over that.
• And of course to send him on a stress management course to teach him all about stress.

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Yes, workplace stress is a serious problem. Yes, the cost to people, businesses and society is enormous. Yes we must do something about it.

But some myths exist around stress that mean, that most of what we do about it isn’t working. Often, it even makes things worse.

Here are the top 5 myths about workplace stress.

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This post is part of a series that follows A.M. Starkin, a young manager taking his first major steps into leadership. Starkin writes here to share his experiences and to get input from others, so please share with him your thoughts and ideas.

There have been some nice successes since last: Our youngest team member has been the most reluctant to buy in to the new deal, and has been looking for work everywhere in our area. Yesterday I heard that because of the way the ambience in the office is developing she has decided to stop looking and start staying. Nice!!

My deputy is taking a lot of initiative. The huge file handling backlog she has been blaming on the system, the management, the company, etc. This week she activated her “out of office”-assistant and decided to get rid of the backlog herself, thus giving the operations team the time they need to reorganize and enable themselves to stop accumulating backlog. I first thought that I would have done it differently, but 2 seconds later I thought: Well, thats excellent! It sends powerful signals about her making a choice about getting busy winning or getting busy quitting.

She has also delegated the task that pertains to her core competence to a colleague, so that she has time to learn her new, self-chosen responsibilities. Learning for everyone, progress….happiness!

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