Gene Fowler, the CEO of Fatkat Studios was so inspired by my book Happy Hour is 9 to 5 that he’s now writing a review of it for Progress Magazine.
And while that’s really nice of him, the best thing is the great cartoon he did based on the book. Go check it out – it’s hilarious :o)
Nixon McInnes is a happy workplace. This web design agency based in Brighton in the UK have some great policies including:
They’re also doing very well and will be needing another manager soon, so director Tom Nixon wrote me an email asking how a happy company should hire its managers:
This year I’m going to be recruiting a manager to oversee the website design and development side of our business and lead the team. It’s important to me that we hire someone who will make the team (and clients) HAPPY.
I’ve been borrowing ideas from Semler about inviting the employees who will report to this manager to submit criteria against which we should judge candidates and involving them in the interview process.
But do you have any more ideas/tips for company directors or CEOs who want to hire managers that will make their employees happy?
That’s a great question. Traditional ways to hire a manager fall short because they focus too much on finding a person with the right professional skills and an impressive CV and not enough on happiness at work.
When you hire a new manager the most important thing is to find one who will make the employees happy at work. This makes great bottom-line sense because happy employees are much more productive.
Here are my thoughts on some alternative ways to hire a happy manager that will help you find a manager who will:
1: Let the employees do it
Few companies have taken this further than Semco, so emulating them is definitely a good place to start. Tom and I are both member of the unofficial Ricardo Semler Fanclub, but for those who haven’t heard of his fantastic management style, one of the things his company does is let employees hire their own managers.
Employees define what qualifications the new boss should have and they conduct the job interview. They’re done as group interviews where multiple candidates are interviewed at the same time by the employees.
This seems radical but it has worked extremely well for Semco where people are so happy at work the employee turnover is typically around 1%.
You can read all about Semco in Ricardo Semler’s fantastic book The Seven-Day Weekend. It is without a doubt the single best business book I have ever read.
2: Let the employees formulate some tricky scenarios
If you don’t want to take it quite as far, how about letting the employees formulate some scenarios that applicants can then respond to in the job interviews.
As in “A customer does this, employees react like that, the whole situation is now in deadlock, what do you do?”
These scenarios should preferably be based on specific tricky situations from the company’s past, so you know they’re relevant. Let the employees specify both the scenarios and their preferred solutions.
The cool thing about this is also that it would get employees talking about their expectations for the new manager and let them have a chance to think about the manager’s responsibilities.
3: Ask your customers
How about asking some of your preferred, long-term customers what kind of manager they would like to work with..? Would that be totally weird or..?
It sounds like this manager will be working closely with the customers, so getting their input might be very valuable. It may also make the customers feel valued because you show that you care about their opinion.
4: Look for the right personal strengths
I previously wrote about the VIA strength questionnaire, a test which will reveal your most 5 important personal strengths out of a total of 24.
I suggest having a conversation inside the company about which top 5 strengths your ideal manager should have. Should she possess curiosity or is forgiveness more important? Is humor central or does capacity to be loved matter more?
This conversation is interesting to have in itself and it can give you a much clearer picture of what your new manager should be like.
5: Base it on people’s “Best boss ever”
Start a conversation in the company around these question: “Who has been your best boss ever? What did he/she do? What did you like about that person? How did that person affect you and your work? How did this make you happy at work?”
This will uncover people’s previous experiences with good leadership and give you a profile of the ideal boss.
6: Hire no jerks. Ever!
Hire no jerks, no matter how good they look on paper. Jerks make everyone unhappy at work.
Your ideas?
What about you? Do you know of some cool ways to hire the right manager – one who will make employees and customers happy?
Oh, and if you’re in the web business, Nixon McInnes are currently looking for more talent. Check’em out, they are a great place to work :o)
I talk to a lot of people who are struggling to find a sense of their contribution to the workplace. They keep wondering what their role is, how they create value and, in a certain sense, what their identity is at work.
Do you know what you’re really good at in your job? Where you shine? Do you have a good sense of your contribution to the workplace?
Your mission this Monday is to learn more about your strengths at work by taking the VIA Signature Strengths Questionnaire. This test has been developed as part of Martin Seligmann’s work in positive psychology and indicates what your top 5 signature strengths are out of a total of 24 potential personal strengths.
Here’s how you do it:
This is a great exercise because it helps you discover your personal contribution to the workplace and also to find out of you have strengths that you are not currently using at work. Using your strengths daily is an important factor in becoming happy at work and in life. It will also make you more successful at work.
Finally, a strength-based approach where you look at your personal strengths and how you can use them more at work is a lot more effective and a lot more fun than looking at your shortcomings and problems.
The Chief Happiness Officer’s Monday tips are simple, easy, fun things you can do to make yourself and others happy at work and get the work-week off to a great start. Something everyone can do in five minutes, tops. When you try it, write a comment here to tell me how it went.
India. I want to go there. And make people happy at work.
Here’s what I’m thinking: India is experiencing a huge(!) boom in precisely those types of businesses that need happy employees. The success of Indian businesses is also getting to the point where it’s getting harder for companies to attract and keep good people.
So I’m thinking India needs more happiness at work.
I was thinking that the my book might be hit and that it might make sense to find an Indian publisher. Of course I could look them up and start contacting them, but it’s always easier of you have a personal contact.
So: Do you know someone in publishing in India? Got an idea who I should contact? Or do you have an opinion on whether or not my book would fly in India?
You can write a comment on this post or send me an email. Thanks :o)
Tuesday I was doing a presentation for one of my clients, an insurance company outside of Copenhagen.
As the participants arrived, I noticed that one lady was carrying a bouquet of flowers – so of course I had to ask what that was about. Was it her birthday, or..?
Turns out the flowers were from a coworker, who had just given them to her along with a hand-written card that said:
Not everything that counts can be counted
Not everything that can be counted, countsTo the best co-worker in the world!
Hugs,
Tinna
Needless to say, she was VERY happy about this kind of recognition from a coworker.
And this is a fine example of how we can make others happy at work through recognition, building good relationships, random acts of workplace kindness and just plain taking the time to appreciate the nice people around you.
That is happiness at work, right there.
Tom Johnson heard my podcast about motivation and wrote that:
This podcast from Alexander Kjerulf, called “Why ‘Motivation by Pizza’ Doesn’t Work,” gave me a major epiphany about the reasons behind motivation.
We were on the verge of implementing a member recognition/rewards program in our chapter when Clyde Parson sent me the link. Kjerulf’s podcast was so good I listened to it twice.
In the podcast I argue that there are 4 different kinds of motivation, only one of them works and that many workplaces focus almost exclusively on the other three.
I also talk about how you can foster intrinsic, positive motivation by focusing on fun and results.
Tom then went on to test the method – on his daughter:
I am so totally persuaded by this method that I asked my wife to take down the treasure box charts we keep for our kids at home. In the treasure chest method, if Avery is good by doing her chores and reading books, she gets to advance a square until she eventually reaches a treasure chest square and gets a prize from the dollar store. Seems to work well, but not really. She despises cleaning and it’s always a big struggle.
Today we were doing some cleaning and I made no mention of a reward. The only reward was that I tried to make cleaning fun by cleaning beside her and talking with her. She was Cinderella mopping the floor and loved it. After we finished cleaning one bathroom, she asked if we could clean the other.
First of all, I’m really glad it worked especially when people start trying my tips out on their kids :o) Secondly, thanks for the praise, Tom. Now I’m motivated to do more podcasts :o)
Related:
In my last Monday tip, I suggested asking a co-worker about their best vacation ever as a way of starting a fun, positive conversation.
But this may not always uncover happy memories. Lynn wrote a comment saying:
I’m 34, and haven’t had a real vacation since my childhood vacations with my parents.
The only way I manage to take an entire week off at a time (I work in IT) is when I’m able to schedule a week or two of “unemployment” between jobs, and in those periods, spending money on a trip is not wise.
I’m tied to my email/pager even on weekends and holidays and on the scattered “vacation” days I can take. Most Americans only get 2-3 weeks of combined sick and vacation time in any case, and professionals are expected to read email and be available, even on their days “off”.
I wonder how many people are able to have a real vacation these days!
I also wonder how many people are in similar straits – too busy to take vacations, even if they really need one.
So let me ask you: How do you do it? How do you manage to take a real, undisturbed vacation where you don’t spend much of your time answering work emails, carrying the company’s cell phone or just plain worrying about work?
I think this is a vital skill in today’s work environment so if you have a good idea, write a comment, I’d really like to know how you do it!
Related:
I know this seems too simple to actually work, but trust me, it does!
Your mission on this Monday is to ask a co-worker, at a suitable time of your choosing, what his or her best vacation ever was. Then listen interestedly to the answer and ask some follow-up questions. Good question might be:
This is a great way to get people talking because:
If you feel you need an excuse to ask, you can always do it in the guise of asking for tips for your next vacation.
Why is this a good thing? Happiness at work is very much about good workplace relationships. It’s about making genuine connections between human beings, rather than between co-workers or bosses or employees.
You can’t really make these connections if you only ever talk about work, and you make the best connections when you get people talking about their good experiences. Sitting around the lunch table bitching about the weather, the taxes or your commute does NOT create good workplace relations or, indeed, much happiness at work.
The Chief Happiness Officer’s Monday tips are simple, easy, fun things you can do to make yourself and others happy at work and get the work-week off to a great start. Something everyone can do in five minutes, tops. When you try it, write a comment here to tell me how it went.
I wrote a guest post for Steven Aitchison’s excellent blog on How to change your thinking about happiness at work.
Steve suggested the topic and it’s a good one. Becoming happy at work is very much about changing the way you think – as you can also see in this story.
This is the kind of email I reeeeeeeally like getting:
First of all: Thank you so much for all of your intelligent and inspiring advice about work.
I was working at a retail job and not loving it. In fact, I will admit, I hated for a while and I was the “complainer” that you have written about.I read your articles about having a good attitude at work and about being a constructive complainer instead of just a big pain.
I realized that I needed to look at the positives about my work and quit kvetching. I liked my co-workers and most of the time the job was pleasant. It really helped to have some perspective on a healthy work environment. The quality of my work improved and I enjoyed work more.
When I decided to move to another state I began the process of giving notice. Since I was happier about work and the people I worked with, I was leaving the job on a very positive note. Then the unexpected happened. I found out about a job opportunity where I was moving that was directly connected to my current employer. I wasn’t sure how to make the necessary connections at first, but I started talking to the people I knew at my work and sure enough people were happy to help. After several phone calls and emails, I was talking to the owner of the company that I wanted to work for.
And I am going to have an interview with him soon! He seems to have your philosophy about work: He also values liking your job over money and he believes in a positive, respectful work environment so employees feel valued. During our initial phone interview he asked me: “Which was more important to me: the job or the money”. As I said in a recent post to you, it was easy to answer: the job.
I never expected that a retail job would lead to meeting the owner of a company. Literally, it was all due to treating people well and having a good attitude. I’m convinced. I was pleasantly surprised by the lengths people will go when they like you and like the way that you work.
The whole experience taught me not to take a “little” job for granted, or to take the people you work with for granted. Everything counts.
Thank you for everything!
Pixel Peony
I don’t really know what to say except that I’m really, really happy that people find the blog useful and that this story shows some of the power in a positive mindset. Good luck with the move and the interview new job Pixel P.
What about you? Have you experienced how a more positive approach turned out to be a good thing?
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