The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Category: Happy At Work

How to be happy at work

  • Meetings

    Meetings are one of the most hated workplace activities. Studies show that the more meetings people attend, the less happy they are at work and that meetings are the biggest time waster keeping people from actually, you know, doing their jobs.

    This passage from the book jPod by Douglas Coupland illustrates it brilliantly:

    Here’s my theory about meetings and life; the three things you can’t fake are erections, competence and creativity. That’s why meetings become toxic — they put uncreative people in a situation in which they have to be something they can never be. And the more effort they put into concealing their inabilities, the more toxic the meeting becomes.

    One of the most common creativity-faking tactics is when someone puts their hands in prayer position and conceals their mouth while they nod at you and say, “Mmmmmmm. Interesting.” If pressed, they’ll add, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.” Then they don’t say anything else.

    Heh!

  • Pain and enthusiasm

    Yesterday at the Banff film festival I saw “Crossing the Ice” an excellent documentary about two Australians who attempt the first unsupported walk to the South Pole and back.

    They have no previous arctic experience and though they prepare thoroughly, they still end up battling cold, hunger, physical problems, storms and much, much more.

    But through it all, they had one secret weapon, which one expert described as “ludicrous levels of enthusiasm.”

    Yes, they’re in pain. Yes, they’re behind schedule almost from the start. But they maintain that enthusiasm much of the time under unbearable conditions.

    I’m not going to give away the ending – just find a way to see it somehow.

  • Free Time – A Forgotten Dream

    Benjamin Hunnicutt: Free TimeYesterday some of my most fundamental assumptions about work and life were challenged.

    I had the pleasure of skyping with Benjamin Hunnicutt, professor at the University of Iowa and author of a new book called “Free Time: The Forgotten American Dream.”

    Hunnicutt showed me that about 100 years ago, most people fully expected work to play an increasingly diminished role in our lives. Work hours had been steadily dropping (mostly through the efforts of organized labor) and even John Maynard Keynes predicted that we’d end up with 2,5-hour work days.

    This would create a huge amount of free time in workers’ lives which could be spent in communities, education, sports and leisure. As we all know, that is not exactly what ended up happening in most of the world, especially the US.

    Instead, working hours in America have increased and increased more. Where the ideal used to be having a job that allowed you to make enough money to enjoy the rest of your life, work itself became the ideal and full employment for everyone became a societal goal.

    Also, the ideal has become not just having a full-time job, but having a fulfilling job. One where you can realize your full potential and build a positive identity. However, many people work in workplaces where this is not currently possible. They would be able to seek fulfilment in their leisure time.

    We also talked about good and bad free time. Good free time connects you to other people, let’s you do something meaningful and gives you a positive identity. Think amateur theatre, volunteer work, community service, sports and similar. Hunnicutt and has wife have recently taken up ballroom dancing.

    Bad free time is basically TV. A passive activity that results in no meaningful improvement or enjoyment.

    My work, of course, is to help create happier workplaces. I honestly believe that most jobs can be enjoyable and fulfilling and I believe that this is an advantage to both workers and workplaces.

    But Hunnicutt helped me see that our current notions of what ideally constitutes employment are just that – current notions. We might easily be able to find better ways to divide our time between work and leisure.

    Like IT company 37signals who introduced a 4-day work week, or like Kellogg’s who until the 1980s had 6-hour work days.

    Denmark (my country) is getting this somewhat right. Danish workers have both shorter working days, more annual vacation time (typically 5-6 weeks) and long maternity/paternity leaves than almost any other OECD country. And (not coincidentally in my opinion) Danish workers are some of the most productive and Denmark is routinely ranked as the happiest nation in the world.

    I would personally like to see people enjoy both their work time and their free time but right now the needle is pointing towards more and more work time. I think this is a mistake for both workplaces and workers.

    Ask someone to describe their perfect day and few people would say “Well, I’d go work for 9 or 10 hours than come home too tired to play with my kids.”

    Your take

    What do you think? How many hours do you work in a typical week? How many hours would you like to work? How many hours would your boss like you to work? How many hours would your children like you to work?

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  • Finding Big Mama

    davitaDavita is an American company that does dialysis. They have about 2,000 clinics all over America where 160,000 patients come to get dialysis 3 times a week.

    If you know someone with failing kidneys, you know that getting dialysis is incredibly tough physically. However, dialysis is what keeps you alive. If you can’t get your treatments, after just a few days your body shuts down and you die.

    This became critical after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Remember, this is what the city looked like at the time and many patients couldn’t get to the Davita clinics for their treatment:
    image818450

    Davita employee Brian Applewhite describes one attempt to locate a patient:

    The first thing we did after the storm was start looking for our patients, and I literally had to cut through trees to find them.

    There was one lady that we called Mrs. B. She lived in a low-income area, and I was walking through the streets screaming her name, but no one was responding. I remembered that she once told me that people called here “Big Mama,” so I tried screaming that.

    They pointed me to the house with the big tree on it! Big Mama hadn’t dialyzed in three days, and when I walked in, she said she thought she’d seen a ghost.

    Brian got her to dialysis in time and she made it.

    Two things stand out to me about this story. First, that an employee will go to such length for a customer. Going out into post-hurricane New Orleans must have been scary to say the least.

    But also, the reason he found Mrs. B. at all was that he knew her well enough personally to know that she was also called Big Mama. He had a relationship with her that was more than just transactional – it was personal.

    I hear many stories of employees being good human beings in the course of their work and this one is another great example. Have you ever heard of or done something similar at work? Let me know in a comment.

  • Do job satisfaction surveys do anything?

    Survey

    I am thoroughly skeptical about job satisfaction surveys. Many, many workplaces do them but I have yet to see a convincing example or case where such a survey helped a company pinpoint and fix one or more issues so that employees became more satisfied as a result.

    But I may be wrong. It wouldn’t exactly be the first time :o)

    So my question to you is this: What is your experience with job satisfaction surveys? Have you seen them help in your workplace? How did you do it and how did it help? Or has your workplace also done them with very little show for it?

    Write a comment below, I’d love to know what you think about employee satisfaction surveys.

  • What made you happy at work this week?

    Screen Shot 2013-08-16 at 8.37.58 AMWoohoo – it’s Friday.

    Before you go home from work today, make a list of 3 things that made you happy at work this week.

    Then tell me about them in a comment below.

    And then go home and have an awesome weekend :-)

    Studies show that taking time to focus on the positive things in your life makes you happier – probably because it helps reduce negativity bias. Another study showed that it might be more effective to do it weekly rather than daily – hence this exercise.

  • This is the best thing said about happiness by anyone ever

    George Bernard ShawAs far as I’m concerned, this is the greatest thing said about happiness by anyone ever:

    This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

    I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live.

    I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

    George Bernard Shaw

  • Raises, bonuses and promotions don’t make us happy at work. Here’s what does.

  • 7 steps to handle criticism at work well

    This is how some people handle criticism
    This is how some people handle criticism at work

    A senior leader in a meeting told me that feedback is a gift. How can you ever improve if you don’t know where you need to shore up your skills or work habits?

    That’s some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten and it has changed the way I think about negative feedback.

    Now I use that line on my teenage daughters. I’m not so sure they think feedback is a gift… just yet :)

    – Julie P.

    Many people get defensive or sad when they’re criticized at work. In many cases, the workplace has no feedback culture in place and people are not trained to give or receive criticism in a constructive manner. Giving and receiving negative feedback constructively takes a LOT of practice!

    The best way to receive negative feedback well is to follow these 7 steps:

    1: Listen.
    Actually hear what’s being said. If necessary, ask questions to make sure you understand the criticism fully.

    Here’s an example:

    I reiterate what she said so she knows that I was really listening and since my boss likes to teach and is very detail-oriented, I’ll ask her if she can give me a few tips on how to perform the task better and throw in a few suggestions as well to get her feedback.

    I end the conversation by asking where I’m doing well so I can keep up the good work which is my way of helping her to remember where I excel.

    This also shows her that out of everything that I do, she’s got few complaints and gives her the confidence to give me more responsibilities.

    2: Assume good intentions
    Unless proven otherwise, assume good intentions. Don’t automatically jump to the conclusion that the person criticising you is “out to get you.” Of course, sometimes they are. If so, see below.

    3: Do not get defensive and start making excuses.
    Instead you might say what you’ve learned and what you will do differently from now on.

    4: Don’t take it personally
    Remember that they’re criticizing your work, not you as a person. Never take negative feedback about your work as a criticism of you as a person.

    5: See criticism as help
    Remember that all constructive feedback (including negative feedback) is a sign of interest and a sign that people want to help you do better. It would be far worse for people to notice you doing bad work and not say a word.

    6: Don’t be too hard on yourself
    Remember that everyone makes mistakes and has things to learn. Yes, that includes you. There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes, but making the same mistakes over and over because you refuse to listen to criticism and learn is just stupid.

    7: Say thank you
    Thank the person for their feedback.

    Never put up with attacks in the workplace

    However, note that these steps only apply to constructive, well-meant criticism. Unfair and overly negative feedback is also used as a tool by bad managers and workplace bullies to demean and control others.

    The wrong kind of criticism can be:

    • Overly negative
    • Personal attacks
    • Unfair criticism for something that is not your fault or outside if your control
    • Delivered in an unpleasant way

    Do NOT put up with this kind of attack. If you do it will persist.

    Feedback can be a gift

    All constructive feedback is valuable because it gives you a chance to improve and learn. Positive feedback is easier and more fun (and sadly undervalued in most workplaces) but negative feedback and criticism can be a fantastic thing as long as we do it right.

    In fact, many employees I’ve talked to simply wish for more feedback of any kind. They feel like they work in a vacuum where no one ever notices their efforts, good or bad, and this makes it almost impossible to know whether or not they’re doing good work.

    We desperately need feedback – both positive and negative. Tell me what I do well AND tell me what I can do better.

    Your take

    Have you ever received negative feedback in a way that helped you out? How did you receive it? What are some BAD ways to receive criticism? Do you have a coworker who handles criticism particularly well or badly? How do they do it? Write a comment below – I’d love to hear your take.

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  • What is arbejdsglaede in your language?

    Translate arbejdsglaede

    The good people at Maptia are working on translating arbejdsglaede, the Scandinavian word for happiness at work, into as many languages as possible.

    And you can contribute! You can add your language here.