Arbejdsglæde
How do you think this word above is pronounced? Make a recording of your best guess (video or audio) and post it here…
We need this for a little surprise project we’re working on. And yes, Danish is a weeeeeeird language.
UPDATE:
Here’s an attempt from the US:
And another great one from Poland:
Nice tries both… but not quite there. What’s your best shot?
Last night I was reading the excellent thriller novel Killer Move by Michael Marshall when I came to this passage where one of the main characters arrives at his office and runs into his assistant:
“How’s…” I struggled and failed to come up with the name of her spawn. “Feeling better?”
This was not something I cared about in the least, but that morning a Danish positivity blogger had suggested going out of one’s way to attempt to get inside other people’s lives and minds, however small and unappealing they might appear, as a thought experiment in connection building.
Now this may be conceited of me but I gotta ask… is that me? There aren’t that many Danish positivity bloggers and this is exactly the kind of thing I write about, eg. here, here and here.
I’ve been featured in The Times, The NY Times, Washington Post, BBC and Economic Times of India but this would be the first time I’ve ever been mentioned in a crime novel :o)
A month ago I had the pleasure of speaking for the first time in The Dominican Republic. I was invited by Proaccion, a local consulting company who did a fantastic job advertising and arranging the event.
70 CEOs and top level managers came to hear me speak for 3 hours about felicidad en el trabajo para la rentabilidad organizacional. There’s an article about the event here (in Spanish).
I want to thank everyone who came for their enthusiasm and all the great questions. People seemed really inspired and from what I can tell the people of The Dominican Republic have a great capacity for happiness in life and a massive potential for translating that into their workplaces.
And I especially want to thank Zoraima, Salvador and everyone else at Proaccion for taking such good care of us. They made sure we had a wonderful time, met many great people and even found a suit for me, so I could attend the private tour of the government palace, since the palace is a no-jeans-zone.
So here – for the first time in years – is yours truly in a suit and tie:
My next international gig is in December in Greenland… so a slightly different culture and climate :o) Should still be very interesting.
I’ve previously blogged about the American company Zappos and how happy they are. I’ve had the opportunity to visit them several times and their energy, vision and culture blows me away every time.
My good friend Jamie Naughton who works for Zappos recently sent me this video from one of their all-hands meetings. This clip is from the Zappos Wishez part of the program:
Here’s a video that explains the program a little more and shows some examples of previously granted wishes:
I love this program because it ties into two of the most important things that make us happy. First of all, the happiness research shows that the best way to become happier yourself is to make someone else happy. I think it says something incredibly positive about us human beings as a species, that we gain the most happiness from increasing the happiness of others.
Also, this program builds positive relationships inside the organization, again one of the most important drivers of happiness in the workplace.
What do you think? Does your workplace have something like this? Could it work? What would it mean to you be able to make a wish or grant one? Please write a comment, I’d love to hear your take.
I gave a speech about happiness at work recently to a Danish IT company, where I talked about the importance of celebrating successes and mistakes in the workplace.
After the speech, one of the developer emailed me this clip from the animated movie Meet the Robinsons.
That’s it right there – failure and mistakes are not embarassing. They’re not meant to be hidden or explained away. Getting it wrong is a cause for celebration.
I wrote about it previously – here are The Top 5 Reasons to Celebrate Mistakes at Work.
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.
The Danish division of the French software company Valtech are very committed to creating a happy workplace. One of their developers, Michael Poulsen, volunteered to be the company’s Chief Happiness Officer for a year and his first initative was to introduce an initative based on the most prestitious award in the Kingdom of Denmark, The Order of the Elephant.
This is how he introduced the idea to Valtech’s 100 Danish employees:
I’m happy to be able to introduce Valtechs first Happiness@Work initiative: The Valtech Order of the Elephant.
Purpose:
To bring all the good things we do for each other out in the light.How it works:
The elephant is passed on from co-worker to co-worker on a weekly basis, with a reason why it is passed to that person in particular.The reason for passing the elephant on to a new co-worker is up to you. Maybe someone helped you move apartment, fix a bug in your code or just have a positive impact on your day by always being happy and smiling.
There are only a few ground rules:
- Whenever you receive the elephant you may only hold on to it for a maximum of one week.
- Whenever you pass along the elephant you need to tell the person you give it to why they receive it and send a mail to michael.poulsen@valtech.dk with the name of the receiver and the reason why. (I’m working on a way to visualize the reasons).
- When the elephant is in your possession he needs to be in plain view so everyone passing your desk can see him (and maybe even ask why you got it… hint hint).
- Optional: Remember to supply him with lots of peanuts.
The reasoning behind all this is based on the Danish pioneer in happiness at work (arbejdsglæde) Alexander Kjerulf. He states that happiness at work is based on two things. Our results and our personal relations.
I hope you all will accept and support the initiative so we can keep it rolling… Elephants get very old you know :-)
Since then the elephant has been circulating around the office, and here are some of the recipients – and the reason why they got it:
The first stop for the Order of the Elephant, on his long journey will be at Michael Gyde Møllers desk. He is receiving the company of the elephant for the next week because he has always been happy to help me when I was in a tight spot, and always did so with a smile, which means a lot to me.
The Elephant has moved, this time to Eri! At Eri’s the elephant will find itself a good home since she with such good humor shares her invaluable insights in the mysterious danish society. Through her cultural background and experience she’s able to help recent visitors to understand Denmark, may it be swedes or elephants :)
Elephant is now moved to Lone. Elephant has chosen Lone because she is always happy and sweet fair and understanding great at project management (so developers can enjoy working on the project)
I think this just fantastic. It is a fun, simple and above all highly visible way to praise and appreciate co-workers. Kudos to Michael for doing this and I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.
What do you think of this? Does your workplace already so something similar? Could this work for you? What does getting praise and recognition from your peers mean to you? Write a comment, I’d like to know your take.
I just discovered a short video on youtube from my keynote at this year’s World HRD Congress in Mumbai India:
In my talk, I told the participants that India absolutely needs more happiness at work. It’s not that workplaces there are particularly bad, it’s just that the war for talent is still going strong. Indian workplaces are facing some stark realities:
In short, Indian workplaces are doing their best to attract the best people, keep them in the workplace and help them perform optimally. The problem is that they’re doing all the wrong things, e.g. wellness programs, bonuses, pay raises, promotions, etc. While there’s nothing wring with any of this, it simply isn’t what makes employees happy at work – at most it makes them satisfied.
In my speech, I tried to focus on what really does make people happy at work – and therefore more likely to stay in the workplace, more likely to do their best work and more likely to try to convince acquaintances, friends and family to also work there. And it seemed to really ring a bell. Here’s some sample feedback from my keynote:
“Your presentation was the best I’ve seen in 20 years in HR.”
“It was really great listening to your talk. I have implemented a lot of it in my life and I can already feel a huge difference.”
“Alexander Kjerulf was the rock star in the World HRD congress this year. He mesmerized participants from 79 countries with a simple yet powerful approach to create a happy work place.”
What is your opinion of Indian workplaces? Are people there happy and fulfilled or just going through the motions?
This guy seems like he’s having fun at work:
And I bet he sells more as a result :o)
Innovation is a term that gets thrown around a lot but it also seems like there is very little new in this area. You keep hearing the same old advice, the same brainstorming exercises, the same admonitions to just open that suggestion box and get everybody in the workplace to contribute their ideas.
In other words, it seems like the field of innovation is somewhat lacking in innovation.
Well, today an excellent new book comes out to change all that. It’s called Best Practices are Stupid – 40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition by Stephen Shapiro and it will challenge everything you think you know about innovation.
I’ve had a chance to read and advance copy and I was blown away by all the great advice in the book. It outlines clearly what any workplace – big or small, private or public – needs to do to become more innovative.
The book is easy to read and the advice is clearly outlined and accessible. It has 40 chapters each of which challenges one of our preconceived notions about innovation.
Here are some of my favorite examples from the book:
Hire people you don’t like. Because the people you like the least are the people you need the most.
Asking for ideas is a bad idea. Define challenges more clearly. If you ask better questions, you will get better answers.
The performance paradox. When organizations hyper focus on their goals, they are less likely to achieve those goals.
Expertise is the enemy of innovation. The more you know about a particular topic, the more difficult it is for you to think about it in a different way.
Basically, this book should be your new innovation bible. Read more about the book and buy it here.
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