The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Category: Happy At Work

How to be happy at work

  • The Happiness Hat will hurt you until you smile

    Smile, dammit:

    This is not meant to be taken seriously – this is art. Or social commentary. Or both. The Happiness Hat was created by Lauren MacCarthy, who calls it:

    A wearable conditioning device that detects if you’re smiling and provides pain feedback if you’re not. Frowning creates intense pain but a full smile leaves you pain free! The first in a series of Tools for Improved Social Inter-Acting.

    To me, this is a great commentary to the pressure to be happy that exists in society today. There seems to be a sense that “if you’re not happy, there’s something wrong with you.” Ironically, this makes people less happy.

    Barbara Ehrenreich talks about the same phenomenon in her new book “Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America“.

    Here she is on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

    The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
    Barbara Ehrenreich
    www.thedailyshow.com
    Daily Show
    Full Episodes    		 Political Humor Health Care Crisis

    What we need to remember is, that unhappiness is a part of life – including work life. No workplace is perfect. No job is without problems. And no one is happy every moment of every work day. And that’s as it should be.

    If we expect to be happy all the time at work we are bound to be disappointed. If we consistently marginalize and criticize people who are unhappy at work, we lose some very valuable voices of reason and realism in the workplace.

    When your circumstances are bad, there is nothing wrong with being unhappy; it is only natural. And trying to force people to be happy only makes them less happy.

    So let’s give unhappiness it’s central place in the workplace – as a perfectly natural, even helpful, state of mind. And that, ironically, will lead to more happiness at work!

    Your take

    Have you ever felt pressured to be happy at work when you weren’t? What did that do to you? What constructive role do you see unhappiness play at work? Please write a comment, I’d love to hear your take.

  • Hooray, it’s Monday!

    Below there’s a message for all my Danish readers. For everyone else: I bet you’re sorry NOW, that you weren’t born Danish, huh :o)

    We’re launching a new web site (in Danish) for everyone who’s lost their happiness at work and would like it back.

    Har du mistet arbejdsglæden? Og vil du gerne have den igen?

    Hurra, det er mandag!

    Er du en af de mange danskere, der engang har været glad for sit arbejde, men lige nu har glemt hvordan det var at glæde sig til mandag morgen?

    Vi har nemlig lavet en lynhurtig lille video netop til dig, der har mistet arbejdsglæden – og gerne vil have den tilbage.

    På bare 3 minutter vil du:

    1. Lære den ene, vigtigste ting, du SKAL gøre, for at få din arbejdsglæde tilbage igen.
    2. Forstå præcis hvor farligt og ødelæggende, det er, når du ikke er glad for dit arbejde.
    3. Få en udfordring – tør du tage den?

    Sus ind på www.hurradetermandag.dk og se videoen allerede nu. Go’ fornøjelse :o)

  • Happiness at work at Perrigo

    Health care company Perrigo is looking for more employees and this is how they try to attract them:

    Where many companies present themselves seriously and factually, Perrigo present themselves as a fun, lively, social place.

    I don’t know about you – but it kinda makes me want to work there :o)

    Here are the top three four reasons why Perrigo’s “casting call” is a great way to attract great people.

    1: It speaks to your emotions
    Disney World does the same thing. I’ve seen the video they use to present themselves to potential new employees and it contained exactly NO facts. Instead it was all about all the cool stuff Disney does – from Monday Night Football to Pirates of the Caribbean to their Cruises.

    I saw this video with a group of highly paid consultants and leaders as part of a seminar at Disney University and after that 6-minute presentation, several of the group declared themselves ready to quit their careers and go work for Disney World :o)

    That is the power of speaking to people’s emotions!

    Where most companies try to speak to your logical, rational side, Perrigo’s video speaks directly to your emotions, which is more effective. Many studies in decision-making show that we make our decisions with our emotions and only then do we find the rational arguments to support our emotions.

    2: It’s fun
    Why does recruiting always have to be such a deadly serious process? In fact, studies show that we make better decisions when we’re happy and relaxed. Let’s make it fun!

    3: This video will instantly repel a ton of potential hires
    While many people will be attracted to Perrigo, many others will see this video and think “I will never work for a company that silly.” And that’s a great thing because those people would obviously not fit in at an organization that is happy and fun-loving. It’s much easier to let these people self-select early in the process than to have to read their applications and interview them (and possibly even hire them) only to find later that they’re a bad fit for the company culture.

    4: Employees were involved in making it (Update)
    After I posted this, it struck me that this is especially cool because current employees could get in on the fun of making the video.

    Your take

    What’s your take on this? Does this video make you want to work for Perrigo or run away screaming? Have you seen other companies present themselves in fun, untraditional ways? Write a comment, I’d love to hear your take.

    Related posts

  • Much Better Meetings – for Danes

    Much Better Meetings

    We are extremely proud to be able to announce our newest product, which is called Much Better Meetings.

    Basically, meetings often suck and make people unhappy at work.

    I talked to a friend today who says he has a doctor’s note to the effect that any meeting longer than 10 minutes gives him a nosebleed.

    Much Better Meetings is a complete system, ready to install in any meeting room, which helps you plan and facilitate effective, structured, fun meetings.

    However, I’m afraid it’s only available in Danish so far under the name of Meget Bedre Møder. Read all about it at www.megetbedremoeder.dk.

    Depending on the interest we get an English version may be coming soon.

  • Happiness at work at Atlassian

    This is how Australian software company Atlassian present their values on their web site’s about page:

    Open company, no bullshit

    Atlassian embraces transparency wherever at all practical, and sometimes where impractical. All information, both internal and external, is public by default. We are not afraid of being honest with ourselves, our staff and our customers.

    Build with heart and balance

    Everyday we try to build products that are useful and that people lust after. Building with heart means really caring about what we’re making and doing — it’s a mission, not just a job. When we build with balance we take into account how initiatives and decisions will affect our colleagues, our customers and our stakeholders.

     

    Don’t #@!% the customer

    When we make internal decisions we ask ourselves “how will this affect our customers?” If the answer is that it would ‘screw’ them, or make life more difficult, then we need to find a better way. We want the customer to respect us in the morning.

    Play, as a team

    We want all Atlassians to feel like they work with Atlassian, not for Atlassian. We think it’s important to have fun with your workmates while working and contributing to the Atlassian team.

     

    Be the change you seek

    We think Gandhi had it pretty right when he said “We need to be the change we wish to see in the world”.
    At Atlassian we encourage everyone to create positive change — we’re constantly looking for ways to improve our company, our products and our environment.

    Not only are these some good values to have, they’re also presented in a way that is fun, irreverent and different. I love that number one is “No bullshit” and I love the little icons that support the message.

    Your take

    What do you think of Atlassian’s values? Does your company have values? Do you know’em? Does anyone? Do you live by them? Do they inspire you in any way? Write a comment, I’d like to know

  • Motivation – you’re doing it wrong

    Here’s (yet another) great TED presentation – this one is by Dan Pink and is about the mismatch between what science knows and what businesses do to motivate people.

    Dan’s point is that rewarding performance mostly doesn’t work and often leads to worse performance.

    For tasks that are simple and straight-forward and require no creativity or cognitive skills, extrinsic motivation works fine and promising people rewards for good performance increases performance.

    But as soon as a task requires even rudimentary cognitive skills, performance decreases if you offer performance rewards. And the larger the reward, the worse the performance.

    Related posts

  • My piece for BusinessWeek.com is live. Join the debate on performance reviews!

    BusinessWeekMy mini-piece for BusinessWeek.com on why performance reviews are a waste of time just went live along with a counter-piece arguing for them by Bob Rogers.

    I first blogged about this back in 2008 listing the top 10 reasons why formal annual performance reviews are actively damaging to motivation and happiness at work, including:

    1. Everyone hates them
    2. They become an excuse for not talking the rest of the year
    3. They focus too much on the quantifiable

    I argue that formal review meetings are just a crutch for bad managers who can’t figure out how to give their people regular timely constructive feedback on their performance.

    What do you think? Do you see performance reviews as an essential tool? Or are they just another annoyance keeping you from doing your job?

    Join the debate at businessweek.com.

  • Pop and happiness at work

    You’ve gotta watch this video:

    Watch his eyes when he talks. That’s happiness at work right there.

    Are you as passionate about your job? Do you know as much about your products/field? Do you care as deeply about making your customers happy and helping them make good choices? Are you as free to do things your way, rather than do what everyone else does?

    If you are – kudos! I bet you’re happy at work.

    If not, I humbly submit to you that you are wasting your work life.

    This level of happiness at work is not reserved for a few special individuals who luck into the right career or the right genetic makeup for happiness. Anyone can get it. Anyone!

    And it’s not just that you could. You should.

  • Quote

    I found this quote over at Kenny the Monk’s excellent blog:

    “The people you have to lie to, own you. The things you have to lie about, own you.

    When your children see you owned, then they are not your children anymore, they are the children of what owns you. If money owns you, they are the children of money. If your need for pretense and illusion owns you, they are the children of pretense and illusion. If your fear of loneliness owns you, they are the children of loneliness. If your fear of the truth owns you, they are the children of the fear of truth.”
    – Michael Ventura

    He has a whole post of great quotes here.

    If you don’t know Kenny, you should. He’s a former catholic monk turned consultant and author and he has a very refreshing outlook on all things business.

    I had the pleasure of meeting Kenny in New York last year over lunch. My favorite quote of his is this one, explaining why he quit as a priest:

    I had no problem with God but I couldn’t stand the church!

    :o)

    Now go read his blog

  • Happiness at work at Southwest Airlines

    Here’s some serious happiness at work for ya:

    This is just awesome. It’s silly, playful, fun, loud AND it involves the passengers, making them part of the experience.

    One of the many things I love about Southwest Airlines is that these kinds of people are the heroes of the organization. They’re the ones who are celebrated and held up as shining examples.

    If you can help someone out or brighten someone’s day, be it a co-worker or a passenger, you’re doing your job well.

    This is no coincidence – it’s by design. You can see Southwest’s former president Colleen Barret talk about it here. Just press play, the video will start playing just when she talks about this.

    If you have 25 minutes, watch the whole thing – it rocks!