• My manifesto makes good

    Happy at work manifesto

    Seems somebody read my manifesto on happiness at work at just the right moment:

    So now, I’m stuck. I’ve been doing more or less the same work for three years (the last 12 months have been utter torture). I have learnt nothing new; my bosses don’t understand what I could potentially do (bad communication on my part) and they don’t know what they could give me to do… So, still stuck.

    Sick of it all, I decided to take charge. I want a rewarding career and am sick of being a corporate nobody. By chance, I came across this. It has made a world of difference to my attitude. In the end, planning my escape begins with this positive frame of mind: I am responsible for my happiness at work.

    Yaaaaaay! I live for feedback like this!

    Click here to read my manifesto on happiness at work over at ChangeThis.


  • My Irish radio debut

    RadioMy life is now complete – I’ve been on radio in ireland :o)

    Rowan Monaghan of Fortify Services appears regularly on Dublin’s Q102 station and invited me along for a ten-minute segment on happiness at work.

    You can listen to the whole thing here. I urge you to do it, if just to hear Rowan’s and the presenter’s wonderful Irish accents. And also to read rowan’s hilarious comments on the event, which nearly had me spitting coffee all over my laptop :o)

    And I’ve also been featured in a Turkish newspaper:
    Alexander Kjerulf featured in a Turkish newspaper

    Click the image above to read the whole article.

    It would seem that the idea of happiness at work is spreading far beyond Denmark. THIS IS SO COOOOOL!


  • Designing democratic workplaces

    WorldBlu ListOver at the WorldBlu blog, Traci Fenton has another great post – this one on how we design our organizations.

    Traci does amazing work in creating democratic workplaces, and she increasingly sees companies introducing democracy in the workplaces:

    …entrepreneurs and business leaders take note — you need to spend as much energy and time thinking about the design of your employee experience as you do about your next big idea.

    When I talk about good workplace design I’m not talking about open floor plans in offices or traditional this-is-what-makes-a-great-place-to-work programs. I’m talking about designing an employee experience that engages people body and soul in meaningful interactions and meaningful work. The traditional design of business — call it command-and-control, authoritarian, hierarchal, etc. – can’t, by design, achieve this goal. But workplace democracy does, which is why I believe democratically designed organizations are future of work.

    Democracy at work! I love it! If democracy is so great in society, then why are many businesses still run like third-world dictatorships?

    But what is democracy at work? Here’s a quote from Traci’s recent op-ed article in the Christian Science Monitor:

    What is a democratic workplace? It’s one that uses freedom rather than fear, peer-to-peer relationships rather than paternalism, engagement rather than estrangement. Beyond giving employees a vote, it’s about giving them a real voice in the decisions that impact their job and the organization.

    This isn’t some keep-your-fingers-crossed-and-hope- they-make-the-right-choice way of working; it’s understanding that democracy is the way you tap the full creative potential of your employees to solve the problems you created your organization to fix. It’s understanding that the traditional hierarchical workplace structures that operated on disengagement and the delusion of control are now a recipe for defeat in today’s collaborative world.

    Go check out WorldBlu some more and seriously consider whether your company should be on the WorldBlu list of democratic workplaces.


  • A question for the Americans out there

    QuestionI’m spending this week in Atlanta and Orlando studying how some major American Corporations do business – especially in regards to customer service.

    I’ve already talked to employees and managers at Coca-Cola, CNN – and Hooters :o) You can see pictures from my trip here.

    And here’s something I’ve noticed: Everywhere I go, I ask the same question, namely “what makes people happy at work here.” And I’ve noticed that the answers are never about work itself. People talk about career opportunities, they talk about salary and benefits, they talk about getting free concert tickets.

    No one (so far) has said “Well, I really like my job because what I do is fun, and I get to work with some really nice people.” The closest was Dimitri Shreckengost of Coca-Cola who said that he has many friends at work, and indeed, Coca-Cola looked like a fairly happy workplace.

    So here’s the question: Is that typical? Is that really how most Americans view work – as a means to an end rather than something that could (and should!) be pleasant in itself? What do you think?


  • Det

    Last Tuesday I spoke at The Power of Passion conference in Stockholm which is an annual event arranged by the wonderful people at 4good. I gave the last presentation – after (among others) Pigge Werkelin, a famous Swedish entrepreneur and Renata Chlumska, a lady who has circumnavigated the entire lower 48 American states in a kayak and on a bicycle.

    After I gave my presentation (which was very well-received, if I do say so myself) I was interviewed by journalist Jennie Sjöström who asked some great questions about happiness at work.

    Jennie also brought along a photographer who was determined to get some especially happy looking photos.

    Hence this:

    An article about me in a Swedish newspaper

    You can read the entire article here (it’s in Swedish though).


  • A happy call center? Who knew!

    Pouline AndersenI recently visited the City Call Center here in Copenhagen Denmark, and they’re a bit of a novelty: A call center where the employees are actually happy to work.

    Call centers are not known as the world’s best workplaces and many are plagued by high levels of absenteeism, stress and extremely high employee turnover. In some call centers, new employees typically last only a few weeks before moving on.

    But Pouline Andersen, the founder of City Call Center, decided from the beginning to create a happy workplace and the results speak for themselves. As she puts it:

    “We must be doing something right because revenue has grown by 30% annually the last five years running and we’re about to move to a new office that’s 15 times as big as our current one. Also, our employees say for 1.2 years on average, which is far higher than the industry average.”

    Here’s a video of a chat I had with Pouline where she explains why she chose to make her company happy, and how she does it.

    Part 1:

    Part 2:

    Pouline also sent me some additional comments on how she makes her employees happy, which you can find below. They’re in Danish though :o)
    (more…)


  • This is how I make myself happy at work

    QuestionsTwo weeks ago I had a day that I was NOT looking forward to. I had two speaking gigs on a Saturday (which is great!) but they were in opposite ends of Denmark. I had to get up disgustingly early to make the drive to the first one and then there was barely enough time to finish that and drive 350 km to the next one. After that, it was another 300 km drive home.

    It’s starting to get cold here, so there was no way I could ride my motorcycle that day. That meant renting a car, and I was not looking forward to driving that far in some anonymous Ford or Toyota.

    Which made me think of a question I often get: “So Alex – you make other people happy at work. What do you do if you have a bad day?”

    And of course I have bad days too – everyone does. Happiness at work does not mean being utterly ecstatic every moment of every day. As Emma Thompson says in my favorite movie: “There was always going to be a totally shit moment.”

    But in this particular case, I found the perfect solution. One that transformed the long drive from a chore to a pleasure. To something I almost couldn’t wait to do.

    Here’s my trick:
    (more…)


  • Wanna meet up? In Orlando!

    DisneyI’m going to the US next week to meet with and study some American companies and their approach to customer service. You may know some of them… where was that list… Oh, yeah: There’s Coca-Cola, Delta, Capital Grill and some place called Disney or something like that… Ever heard of them?

    I have some free time in Orlando so if you want to meet and talk happiness at work – or if you know someone in the area that I should meet – just contact me. I have some free time on Wednesday Nov. 14 and Thursday Nov. 15. in the evenings.

    Also, if your company is in Orlando and you need a dose of happiness at work, this is a great chance to book me to speak without having to pay my travel costs, since they’re covered already! You can read all about my speaking gigs here.


  • Get a daily reminder to be happy at work

    Happy at work remindersWhat does it take to make us happy at work? What’s one simple, easy, fun thing that we can all do – that works!

    Well I’ve found one that seems way too simple to work, but does anyway: A daily reminder.

    I’ve recently been working with a division of a Danish insurance company that were seriously in need of some happiness at work. They were stressed out, they were woefully understaffed, they had way too much work AND half the people there were new hires.

    During my work with them, I found that giving them one small idea, action, thought or exercise every day to remind them about happiness at work was surprisingly effective.

    This works because it helps you focus on happiness at work. If you don’t, it’s easy to have every intention of making yourself and others happy at work – and then forget all about it because we’re all so busy at work.

    That’s why I’ve set up a new tool that you can use to make yourself and others happy at work. I’ll be using a website called Twitter to send out tips, ideas, quotes, thoughts and challenges as well as the occasional update about what I’m currently up to.

    If you want to get these updates, you must sign up at Twitter.com and then sign up to follow my account. You decide whether to receive the messages as email, via IM or as text messages on your mobile.

    I’ll be sending messages out daily (more or less) and it’ll always be something simple, easy and above all fun. You can of course stop receiving them any time, if you don’t like’em.

    So sign up now, and see how it works for you!

    Thanks to Tom Nixon for the idea and for convincing me to try it.


  • Top 10 signs you’re unhappy at work

    Unhappy at work

    How do you know that you’re unhappy at work? That something is not right and that it’s time to either make some changes at work or move on to a new job?

    In my work, I talk to a lot of people who are not happy with their jobs. Here are the top ten symptoms of unhappiness at work that I’ve observed. How many apply to you?

    1: You procrastinate
    You really, honestly try to get some work done. But somehow you never really get around to it. Or you only do it at the last possible moment and then only do a half-baked effort.

    Many people view procrastination as a personal weakness. To me, it’s one of the strongest warning signs of unhappiness at work.

    2: You spend Sunday night worrying about Monday morning
    “I never sleep on Sunday night very well because I’m worried about going to work on Monday morning. My job is very stressful and you kind of have to gear up for Monday and getting back into that.” (source)

    One of the worst things about being unhappy at work is that the unhappiness bleeds over into your free time. If you’ve had a lousy day at work, it’s difficult to go home and have a great evening. If your week sucked, it’s hard to have a fun, relaxed, carefree weekend.

    3: You’re really competitive about salary and titles
    You don’t like the job itself, so you focus much more on salary and perks. Knowing that someone in a similar position is paid more than you, or is promoted when you’re not, really eats at you.

    When we’re unhappy at work we get a lot more competitive, for one simple reason: When work doesn’t give us happiness and enjoyment we want to get something else out of it. And what else is there but compensation and promotions.

    4: You don’t feel like helping co-workers
    Your colleagues may be struggling. But you don’t really feel like lending a hand. Why should you?

    One very interesting psychological study started by putting subjects in either a good mood or a bad mood. They were then asked to go down the hall to another room where the experiment would continue. In the hallway the real experiment took place – the subjects passed a man holding a big box struggling to open a door. Would the subject help that person? The experiment showed, that when we’re in a bad mood, we’re much less likely to help others.

    5: Work days feel looooong
    The first thing you do in the morning, is calculate the number of hours until you can go home.

    Ironically, this makes the work day feel even longer.

    6: You have no friends at work
    Friends at work? They’re mostly all jerks anyway.

    Gallup have found in their studies of workplace engagement, that one of the strongest factors that predict happiness at work is having at least one close friend at work.

    7: You don’t care. About anything.
    Things can go well or they can go badly for your workplace. Either way, you don’t really give a damn.

    When you’re unhappy, you care mostly about yourself and not so much about the workplace.

    8: Small things bug you
    Small annoyances bug you out of all proportion. Like someone taking up too much space in the parking lot, someone taking the last coffee without brewing a new pot or someone talking too loudly in the next cubicle.

    When you’re unhappy you have much thinner skin and a shorter fuse. It takes a lot less to annoy you.

    9: You’re suspicious of other people’s motives
    No matter what people do, your fist thought is “what are they up to?” Good or bad, big or small, all decisions and actions made by your co-workers and managers are seen in this light.

    Studies show that we’re also more suspicious of others when we’re unhappy.

    10: Physical symptoms
    You suffer from insomnia, headaches, low energy, muscle tension and/or other physical symptoms.

    Studies show that when you’re unhappy at work you’re more prone to experience these physical stress symptoms.

    Your take

    How many of these apply to you in your current job? Did I leave any important symptoms of workplace unhappiness out? Please write a comment. I’d really like to know your take!

    Related posts:



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