I’m featured in this article in The London Evenings Standard.
What’s especially funny is the way the healthy British scepticism towards happiness does shine through :o)
Category: Happy At Work
How to be happy at work
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Can work make us happy?
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10 simple questions that will give you the best possible start to the new year at work
The beginning of a new year is a great time to take stock of your work life. Did everything going the way you wanted it in 2013? Were you happy or unhappy at work? What would you like to change?
Unfortunately, most people look back and think almost exclusively in terms of what went wrong. The things they should have done. They goals they ought to have achieved. The progress that didn’t come.
We think you can achieve much more by turning that around 180 degrees, so here’s our suggestion for a little new year’s exercise in happiness at work.
Think back at your work life in 2013 and answer the following 10 questions. It works best, if you take some time to do it and if you write down the answers.
- What went really well for you at work in 2013?
- What did you do that you were proud of?
- Who did you make a difference for at work?
- What new things have you learned professionally?
- How have you grown and developed personally at work?
- Who has helped you out at work in 2013?
- Who have you admired professionally?
- Which 5 things from your work life in 2013 would you like more of in 2014?
- Which 5 things from your work life in 2013 would you like less of in 2014?
- What will you specifically do to become happier at work in 2014?
Enjoy – and I wish you a very happy new year at work!
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Should leaders focus on results or on people? The answer is Yes!
This article from Harvard Business Review by Matthew Lieberman asks whether leaders should focus on results or people. It quotes a study by Jamez Zenger from 2009 who found that:
If a leader was seen as being very strong on results focus, the chance of that leader being seen as a great leader was only 14%…
If a leader was strong on social skills, he or she was seen as a great leader even less of the time — a paltry 12%.
However, for leaders who were strong in both results focus and in social skills, the likelihood of being seen as a great leader skyrocketed to 72%.
But here’s the kicker:
Less than 1% of leaders were rated high on both goal focus and social skills.
Ouch!
Our theoretical framework says that happiness at work comes mainly from results and relationships – we need both to create happy workplaces. And while our traditional image of a leader is someone who is extremely results-oriented, it seems that great leaders have both skills.
So why is that so rare? It goes against the way our brains are wired says Lieberman in the article and in his book Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect:
These two networks (results and relationships) function like a neural seesaw. In countless neuroimaging studies, the more one of these networks got more active, the more the other one got quieter…
Its safe to say that in business, analytical thinking has historically been the coin of the realm — making it harder to recognize the social issues that significantly affect productivity and profits. Moreover, employees are much more likely to be promoted to leadership positions because of their technical prowess. We are thus promoting people who may lack the social skills to make the most of their teams and not giving them the training they need to thrive once promoted.
Again: Ouch!
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A Chief Storyteller shares his best happiness tips
In December we did a tour of some of the happiest workplaces in the US to see what ideas we could steal borrow from them.
Above is an interview I did with Richard Sheridan, the founder and Chief Storyteller of Menlo Innovations in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In this brief video, he shares some of the great things they’ve done to make Menlo a very happy workplace.
Among other things Rich talks about:
- How leaders can pump fear out of the room
- Never working more than 40 hours a week
- Eliminating meetings
- Eliminating internal email
- Creating a physical space that’s conducive to happiness at work
Watch it and let me know what you think. Is there anything your company could learn from Menlo? Are you already doing something similar?
Rich is also the author of the excellent book Joy Inc, which I’ve reviewed here.
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Book review: Joy, Inc by Rich Sheridan
Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love by Rich Sheridan came out December 26 and it’s the single best business book I have read in a long while.
Menlo is a software design and development company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They have built a culture that removes the fear and ambiguity that traditionally makes a workplace miserable and made joy their explicit goal.
I have recently had a chance to spend a day at Menlo talking to their founders and their people and I can say with confidence that they are an amazing workplace with a remarkable energy.
How would you like to work at a company where:
- They’ve eliminated meetings
- They’ve eliminated internal email
- Employees can bring dogs and babies to work
- You work a 40-hour work week
- Finances and salaries are transparent
- You get to constantly learn from and with your co-workers
I’ve previously written about Menlo on this blog – especially about their hiring process which is radically different from other companies.
This book is a pleasure to read and has a great story that will pull you right in but it is, above all, incredibly useful.Sheridan clearly lays out the many innovative and effective things they’ve done to create a happy workplace and most of them could without a doubt be translated into any kind of workplace.
You will read this book with a smile on your face and go “Of course – that makes perfect sense! Why isn’t every workplace doing this?”
Related
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Forbes: Managers Should Spread A Little Happiness This New Year
I was interviewed for this excellent article in Forbes. Here’s how the article opens:Nobody needs telling that the years since the financial crisis struck have been tough. Across Europe, the United States and the rest of the industrialized world, employment levels are only just starting to pick up, while growth in emerging markets has not been as strong as many predicted. Even those in work have in many cases found life harder than it was before. With pay rises, promotions, bonuses and other incentives thin on the ground, going to work has been anything but fun.
Alexander Kjerulf is one of a growing number convinced it does not have to be that way. The Danish entrepreneur is author of a book, Happy Hour is 9 to 5, published on New Year’s Day by Pine Tribe, in which he argues that if managers put more effort into ensuring employees were happy at work they would not only create more pleasant workplaces but also improve productivity, innovation, motivation, customer service and the ability to handle change – in short, all the things that managers say are so important.
Read the whole thing – it also features Henry Stewart of the London-based training company Happy.
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Quote
Just found this great quote from Richard Branson, founder and CEO of Virgin.I’m often asked what it is that makes Virgin different. The simple answer is – our people. If it weren’t for a bunch of well trained, motivated and, above all, happy people doing their bit, we’d have never launched a record label, never mind a fleet of 747s.
– Sir Richard Branson
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Random acts of coffee
Yesterday I spoke in Tel Aviv at the national HR Magazine conference and today I’m flying to Las Vegas to visit Zappos (one of the world’s happiest workplaces).Unfortunately my flight was cancelled leading to mob-like scenes at the check-in counter when all the passengers went there at once to get re-booked on other flights. The counter staff were honestly trying their best, but some people were yelling at them and interrupting them. One employee was visibly close to tears.
I was pretty tired and stressed myself. But at one point I asked myself what I could do to cheer the staff up, so I went over to the nearest airport café and bought coffees and cookies for them.
Then I went over to them and just said “Hey, I can see how hard you guys are working, so I brought you coffee and cookies.” It cheered up both the staff and some of the people waiting in line.
I met one of the staff later in the day and she said that it had made her a little happier. She was also carrying the rest of the cookies, which she was bringing to share with some other co-workers.
It took me about 5 minutes, cost me 10 bucks and it even made me able to relax a lot more.
I’m going to do this again – the next time I find myself in a stressful situation, I’m going to see if I can’t do something nice for someone else to lighten the mood.
Have you ever done something similar? Tell me about it in a comment.
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A question for ya: When praise goes bad
I’ve been having a discussion recently with a group of people who believe that praising people in the workplace is bad. Among others, they believe that praising others is judgemental and makes the person receiving praise less confident and more stupid.
So here’s my question to you: Do you agree? When is praise bad? What’s the worst example of praise you’ve seen at work? Do you think praise at work is ultimately a good or a bad thing? Why?
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Steal our best exercise for happiness at work: The Poncho
Praising people at work is great, but hard. It takes some practice to do well and doesn’t come naturally to many people.
So ages ago we 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?
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