The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Category: Happy At Work

How to be happy at work

  • Happy at work at Southwest Airlines

    Southwest AirlinesThe NY Times has an article about 17 original Southwest Airlines who signed on at the very beginning in 1972 and still work there. Most of these people are now millionaires thanks to the company’s profit-sharing plan, but still work as mechanics, flight attendants or at the ticket counter.

    Why do they stay on? Many people at other companies dream only of the day they can retire from work, so what is it about Southwest that makes their employees stay on far beyond that point? Here are some of the things they say in the article:

    “Passengers — you get a feel how far you can go with them,” she said. “We had businessmen in suits pass out peanuts and pick up trash. We’d see how many people we could lock up inside the lavatory. They loved it. We had them on top of each other. Seven or eight? Quite a few. And those lavatories are pretty small.”
    —
    Though a union shop, Southwest is less bound by work rules than most other airlines. “If you saw something that needed to be done, and you thought you could do it, you did,” Mr. Wilson said.
    —
    Mr. Marcell, 64, lost a kidney to cancer and more recently the disease showed up in a lung. He is on medicine to control its spread. “I’m going to work until I can’t work anymore,” he said. “I just like to work.”
    —
    And Ms. Force, the one-time Esquire cover model, who is 61 and single, just completed chemotherapy for breast cancer and, after six months off, returned to work this month. She does not need the paycheck, with more than 100,000 shares of Southwest stock, valued at about $1.6 million.

    “I love to work,” she said. “Southwest is kind of my family and my husband.”

    How would you like your employees to say things like that about your company? Would you enjoy working at a place where this is a common attitude?

    Southwest’s model for happiness at work is worth learning from, and it’s decribed magnificently in the classic business book Nuts! by Jackie and Kevin Freiberg. Read it!

  • Quote

    Finding your calling is a wonderful thing, but how do you do that? Will you know your calling when you see it?

    Here’s my definition: You know you’re doing the right work when you would rather do it and fail, than not do it.

    – Alexander Kjerulf

  • Let’s go vampire slaying

    Vampire ideas

    Cold, undead relics from a past age haunt the corporate world, spreading fear and carnage wherever they go. These monsters can look good, seductive even, but if you let them, they’ll suck the life force out of you and leave you dead. Or worse: One of them.

    I call them vampire ideas and all they deserve is a stake through the heart. Vampire ideas can be found in stock management philosophy, tired old leadership theories or business advice from an earlier era. Wherever they come from, they’re bad for you and they’re bad for business.

    Here’s a table comparing vampire ideas to actual vampires:

    Actual vampires Vampire ideas
    Can look really good Can look really good
    …but are actually disgusting and evil …but are actually disgusting and evil
    Are undead Should’ve been dead a long time ago
    Suck people’s blood Suck a company’s energy and creativity
    Are deterred by garlick and crosses Are deterred by good leadership
    Can’t enter your house without an invitation Can’t enter your business without an invitation
    Are really hard to kill Are really hard to kill
    Wither and burn in the light of day Wither and burn in the light of logical thinking
    Cast no shadow or mirror image That’s kinda where the analogy breaks down

    So what are some commonly seen vampire ideas? Here are a few examples.

    Fire the bottom 10% of your employees every year

    This is one of the most inhumane, cynical and just plain stupid ideas I’ve ever heard about. Who on earth still believes that this is a good way to do business and to get the best performance from employees. This idea keeps employees constantly afraid, but if that’s what you want, go for it. The exact opposite view is described here and trust me, it works much better.

    If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it

    Vampire ideaConsidering how many things in a business are unmeasured, not to say unmeasurable, this is one more bad idea in need of a final resting place. I’ve written about it previously here. This idea of management-by-spreadsheet stifles new ideas and reduces a leaders focus to things that can be expressed in numbers.

    Long work hours are good for business

    No. They’re not. In fact, laziness will take you much further.

    Nice guys finish last

    That’s not true either. In a networked world it’s more important to be generous and likeable than to be ruthless and efficient.

    Wooden stakeI’m sure there’s more. What vampire ideas do you know, that we should get rid of once and for all?

    Let’s break out the wooden stakes and go vampire slaying together!

  • Conversations / samtalerne – May 31

    The Cluetrain Manifesto reminds us that:

    • Markets are conversations.
    • The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.
    • Companies that don’t realize their markets are now networked person-to-person, getting smarter as a result and deeply joined in conversation are missing their best opportunity.

    Since the manifesto was published in 1999, we have seen the rise of weblogs, discussion groups, wiki sites, chat rooms, podcasts and social networking sites, just to mention a few technologies currently enabling conversations.

    But how are businesses harnessing conversations?

    As part of the Reboot conference, there will be an excellent 1-day event in Copenhagen on May 31st called Samtalerne (the conversations). I will most definitely be there, and so will

    • Doc searls (co-author of the Cluetrain manifesto)
    • Robert Scoble who blogs for Microsoft
    • Euan Semple who introduced net conversations to the BBC
    • Anette Hartvig, CEO of Aarstiderne who renamed their customer service department “Conversations”

    as well as many other very interesting people. Should make for some great… conversations :o)

  • Enthusiasm

    BatteryScott H. Young has a great post on enthusiasm:

    Enthusiasm is like any other skill. If it is continually practiced and exercised, it gets better. If it is not, then it will atrophy. Enthusiasm rarely comes naturally and it must be the result of conscious effort. Practicing the ability to use enthusiasm can keep you excited and driven even in horrible circumstances.

    Go read it, it’s a great piece.

    My ability to be enthusiastic is without a doubt my greatest skill. When some new idea really grabs me, my enthusiasm

    • Makes me do something about it
    • Helps me get others involved by infecting them with enhusiasm
    • Gives me the energy to get through the difficult parts and the problems
    • Lets me believe I can do it – or at least that it will be fun trying

    Enthusiasm also gives me a certain half-blind optimism. I see mostly the opportunities and internally minimize problems and risks. Which is a great thing when you’re trying to do something big.

    Looking back, all of the greatest things I have achieved look nearly impossible on paper. If I hadn’t had my enhusiasm to slightly blind me to the challenges involved, I would probably never have tried it. And I certainly wouldn’t have succeeded.

    So I say be enthusiastic – and let it show!

  • Happy at writing

    Lois McMaster Bujold: The Vor GameLois McMaster Bujold, one of my favorite sci-fi authors, tried a new approach for her latest book: Having fun writing it.

    The first ideas for this book surfaced in June, 2004, when I was out on my back deck trying to soak up some Minnesota sunshine for the long winter ahead. (In other words, I made it up, in a welcome idle moment.) I began writing in August, quite soon after I’d turned in the final manuscript for The Hallowed Hunt. This was to be a book written for my own pleasure, at my own pace, without the constraints of a contract or pressure of a deadline. The duology length came as a bit of a surprise to me, but it was precisely what the story, as it developed, needed. Also a surprise was how fast the writing went; I finished the first draft in Aug. 2006, a mere year after I’d started, the time it would usually take me to write a single much shorter book. It was fun!

    If you’re into sci-fi at all, try reading her Vorkosigan books, featuring Miles Vorkosigan, the most unlikely sci-fi protagonist ever. There’s about a dozen of them and they’re all great fun, my personal favorites being Memory and A Civil Campaign.

    I find it interesting that Lois decided to skip deadlines and just have fun – only to find that her writing went faster and she enjoyed it more. This is at odds with the more traditional image of the artist suffering for her art.

    And the same concept probably also applies at work. Focus less on deadlines and more on enjoying work, and you will find that you get more work done and have more fun.

    By the way: Bujold’s publisher is Baen. Check out the proud motto of the Baen online bookshop:

    If it’s in stock , We have it!

  • Goal-Free Living comes to Copenhagen

    Stephen ShapiroStephen Shapiro is the creator of one of the most exciting concepts I’ve heard about in a long time: Goal-Free Living, which I wrote about previously here.

    I met steve when we both spoke at the Worldblu Forum in DC in October 2005, and he’s a great speaker with a great message.

    Stephen is coming to Copenhagen next week to speak about innovation, his other area of expertise, but we’ve also arranged for him to do a presentation on Goal-Free Living which will happen:

    Thursday may 11th at 5pm – 6pm
    Café Enter, Guldbergsgade 29, Copenhagen N

    You can find more information and sign up here, provided you read Danish. Non-danes can sign up by dropping a comment here. The café only has room for 50 people, so sign up quickly – it’s gonna be great!

    Update: 35 people signed up in the first 24 hours. If you don’t want to miss it, better sign up fast :o)

  • The new-skool workplace..?

    Yesterday I wrote about a new kind of school (well, new-ish, it’s been around for 35 years) where students and teachers make decisions democratically, there are no classes, students do whatever they want all day, and if they want to study something they have to find a teacher and arrange for it to happen.

    In the comments to that post, Danny Mydlack, the director of the video about the Fairhaven School, reminded me that the full video is available at newamericanschoolhouse.com.

    The father of one of the children in the school also commented:

    My son is one of those in the trailer, and in The New American Schoolhouse documentary, which I strongly recommend to anyone interested in this topic.
    …
    Because of my son’s six years at Fairhaven, or perhaps *inspired* by those six years, he is an original. He is himself, crafted by himself over 13-19, hanging out and doing what he wanted. Six years during which he took no classes, but had the opportunity to excel in the ways he found, and wanted, to excel, in an honest and functional educational community.
    …
    On the standardized SAT he took pre-college, he got a 99th percentile on the verbal, and upper-third on the math. He got a scholarship as a consequence. More importantly, he is someone who can make choices on his own, can make eminent sense in any public setting, makes evidence-based decisions, knows what he thinks, and is a pleasure to talk to.

    That sounds absolutely wonderful!

    Now this blog is not really about schools, it’s about happiness at work. I just got so excited about the concept that I had to share it :o)

    But here’s a question for ya: What if we organized our workplaces in the same way as these schools? What if people came to work and could spend their time doing whatever they wanted? What if the company was run not by a few executives, but democratically by everybody in the company?

    Conventional wisdom says that it could never work, but that wouldn’t exactly be the first time that conventional wisdom turns out to be dead wrong. It was certainly wrong about these new-skool schools.

    Here’s what I believe: Not only would it work, it would blow traditionally-run competitors out of the water.

    What do you think?

  • And that will teach them what, exactly?

    When I first read that an employee of an alarm company has sued the company for emotional distress experienced during a company training event I just thought “here we go again, yet another American suing over nothing.” Remember that case a few years ago where a man sued his colleague for farting at work?

    But check out what they did at this training:

    Employees were paddled with rival companies’ yard signs as part of a contest that pitted sales teams against each other, according to court documents. The winners poked fun at the losers, throwing pies at them, feeding them baby food, making them wear diapers and swatting their buttocks.

    Who on earth still believes that this will create an effective learning environment?

    When I design workshops and training sessions, I always try to make it safe and fun. Everything we know about learning says that people learn better when they feel safe and enjoy themselves. In this kind of setting, participants are:

    • More open to new ideas
    • More motivated to learn
    • More prone to collaborate
    • Friendlier and more relaxed

    And here’s the most important thing: In every event I do, all exercises are voluntary. Even though I’ve tried to make everything fun, simple and straight-forward, there may still be elements of the training that are not right for some participants. And who’s the best judge of that? The participants themselves, of course! Therefore everything is voluntary and if any participants would prefer to sit out an exercise, then that is always OK.

  • Happy at work at Microsoft

    Michael Brundage has written a very interesting piece on what it’s like to work at Microsoft.

    The good includes personal freedom, the top leaders, free soft drinks and the fact that Microsoft contrary to popular belief is not evil. For instance:

    Microsoft gives software developers a lot of personal freedom over both the work and the work environment. I order my own supplies, customize my office as I see fit, schedule my own trips and meetings, and select my own training courses. I choose when I show up for work and when I leave, and what to wear while I’m there. I can eat on campus or off, reheat something from home in the kitchen or scavenge leftovers from meetings. I can even work remotely from home (within reason).

    The bad: mid-level managers, internal “cults” and bad work-life balance.

    Compare this with Paul Thurrott’s highly critical analysis of Microsoft’s failure to deliver Windows Vista on time or even with all the feature they promised.

    Two and a half years later, Microsoft has yet to ship Windows Vista, and it won’t actually ship this system in volume until 2007… Microsoft’s handling of Windows Vista has been abysmal. Promises have been made and forgotten, again and again. Features have come and gone. Heck, the entire project was literally restarted from scratch after it became obvious that the initial code base was a teetering, technological house of cards. Windows Vista, in other words, has been an utter disaster. And it’s not even out yet. What the heck went wrong?

    It almost seems like Microsoft is an example of a company that has a huge, tremendously talented and motivated staff, but still manages to create enormous problems for itself. Does this contradict my claim that a happy organization is also a successful one?

    UPDATE: John Dvorak weighs on on the issue.

    All of Microsoft’s Internet-era public-relations and legal problems (in some way or another) stem from Internet Explorer. If you were to put together a comprehensive profit-and-loss statement for IE, there would be a zero in the profits column and billions in the losses column—billions.

    So they’re happy at Microsoft but they make really bad top-level decisions..?