The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Author: Alexander

  • With Great Talent Comes Great Responsibility – how goals and KPIs demotivate the best employees

    More and more workplaces want to measure everything. KPIs, scorecards and performance goals are supposed to motivate employees and help increase their productivity. But is that really a good way to motivate employees and makes them happy?

    Helle Hein has a ph.d. in management and has done research on motivation for the past 20 years.

    Her research shows that many people are not motivated by metrics and bonuses but by something more meaningful – a professional calling or a cause that matters deeply to them. Leading these people based only on performance measures and financial rewards leads to frustration and a huge loss of talent and motivation.

    In this talk from the International Conference on Happiness at work 2017 in Copenhagen she will show you how your organization can get the most out of its most talented employees, what really motivates people (no, it’s not bonuses) and how to make sure that people feel that their work really matters to them.

  • Only 3 seats left for our next Academy, June 20-23 in Copenhagen

    The Woohoo inc Academy is our most intense and in-dept training. Over 3 days we go over all the theory and practice of happiness at work, ending with an exam and certification. We limit the group size to 25 participants so we have plenty of time for questions and interaction.

    The next  June 20-23 in Copenhagen is almost sold out. There are only 3 seats left and it’s going to be a very international affair. We currently have participants from:

    • Australia
    • Canada
    • China
    • Colombia
    • Czech Republic
    • Denmark
    • France
    • Italy
    • Lebanon
    • Netherlands
    • Morocco
    • Portugal
    • Switzerland
    • UK
    • USA

    If you don’t want to miss out, you should hurry up and book your seat now.

  • If someone you care about is thinking about quitting a terrible job, support them

    This is the ultimate cost of not quitting a job you hate: A British teenage apprentice car mechanic killed himself after being bullied by coworkers:

    On one occasion, the young man said his colleagues had locked him in a cage at the garage by force, doused him in a flammable liquid and set fire to his clothes.

    …

    His father told the inquest that the evening before his death, George had been pacing around the house, saying “I have to quit, I can’t go back there” over and over again.

    Having told his son not to resign from his job and that things would get better, Mr Cheese said he now realised how “ridiculous” this response was.

    First of all, the workplace should be held legally responsible for letting that kind of behavior happen. The supervisor even knew about it:

    George’s line manager, Simon Wright, who admitted to playing a number of pranks on George, told the inquest: “I was in the workshop when a prank was played on George and he was set on fire.

    “It did not go too far. We knew where to draw the line,” he said.

    “It was not bullying.”

    Oh yes it was.

    The main lesson to take away form this is that if someone you care about is miserable at work and wants to quit, support them.

    The correct answer to “I hate my job and want to quit,” is not “You just need to tough it out, things will get better.” The correct answer is “Great idea, how can I help you in that situation.”

    Quitting is not an easy choice but sometimes it is the only choice. And the price of not making that choice can be very, very high.

    Related posts

  • Top ratings for our conference

    The participant feedback from our 1st International Conference on Happiness at Work is and it looks like we hit that one out of the park.
    Here are some of the participants’ comments:
    The fact that we had concrete examples and take aways of each speech, that all the people talking were super inspiring and had so many things to teach each and everyone of us! thank you so much for organizing, keep up the happy work!
    The whole event worked very well – all seems to have been thought about.
    Excellent speakers and a very well prepared conference with a fantastic positive atmosphere.
    Awesome!

  • My 8 favorite pics from our conference on happiness at work (and 1 video)

    Last week we had our first ever international conference with 200 participants from 19 countries and we had a BLAST. Here are my absolute favorite pics from the 2 days.

    Speaker Rowan Manahan channels Gene Kelly (and possibly Mary Poppins)

    Moderator Mikael Kamber, speaker Thomas Vibe and our Japanese attendee Hirokazu Kobayashi lead the audience in an energizing Japanese chant.

    Maria Grosz comes on stage to lead the traditional post-lunch dance.

    Here’s how that went:

    The audience bows down to our final speaker (Tim Dorsett) chanting “We are not worthy.” Don’t worry, there was a point to this :)

    Ending the conference with confetti cannons :)

    The Woohoo inc team celebrates another successful conference with our moderator Mikael Kamber.

    Participants having a good time :)

    Group photo from the afterparty on Friday afternoon after the workshops.

    A great big thank you to our awesome photographer Gareth Garvey. You can find plenty more pics from the conference right here. 

  • How to give 2,000 high fives in one morning

    If you’ve ever been to one of our keynotes or workshops about happiness at work, you know how much we enjoy a high five.

    But this guy has us beat. Watch him give 2,000 New Yorkers a high five in one morning. Awesome!

  • Our First International Conference on Happiness at Work was a HIT!

    Last week we had our first ever International Conference about Happiness at Work.

    We’ve done 7 previous events but they were all in Danish (mostly). This year we took the plunge and made the whole event international and in English and we’re so glad we did.

    200 awesome participants from 19 countries came to Copenhagen to learn from some great experts, researchers and practitioners and by all accounts they had a GREAT time.

    In the preliminary participant feedback, 95% give the conference the highest rating.

    We’ve already released the first video from the conference – my talk on The Science of Happiness at Work. We’ll be releasing more talks over the next weeks – follow this blog or subscribe to our newsletter if you don’t want to miss them.

  • Using the Science of Happiness to Create Happier and More Successful Companies

    Using the Science of Happiness to Create Happier and More Successful Companies

    Happy workplaces are more profitable and innovative, attract the best employees and have lower absenteeism and employee turnover rates. Simply put, happy companies make more money.

    But how do you create a happy workplace? Many companies try and fail because they focus on the wrong things.

    Some of the best answers are found in the happiness science – a fascinating field with research going on all over the world.

    In this talk from our 2017 International Conference on Happiness at Work I reveal the 5 most important findings from Positive Psychology and how they apply in the workplace.

    We’ll be releasing more talks from the conference soon. Subscribe to our newsletter, if you don’t want to miss them.

  • What a day. What a lovely day.

    Our first international conference on happiness at work is done and WHAT a day. 200 participants from 19 countries met in Copenhagen for a day full of talks by experts and representatives from some of the world’s happiest workplaces.

    We will start releasing the videos from the day soon, but here’s a short video with some of our favorite photos from the day, all taken by our amazing photographer Gareth Garvey.

  • Coming to our conference? Introduce yourself!

    Our first International Conference on Happiness at Work is only a week away. We currently have 200 participants coming from 17 countries and we can’t wait to meet all of you in Copenhagen.

    We would love to know a little bit more about you, specifically:

    1. One thing that makes you happy at work
    2. Your most important question about happiness at work
    3. What you most hope to get out of the conference

    Write a comment below and share your thoughts.