Publishing the Happy Manifesto has led to a lot of organisations contacting Happy. Some call us in to help them improve their workplace and we love doing this. But there is an even bigger thrill when I get a letter from somebody we’ve not been involved with, who has taken the Manifesto and put the ideas into practice. So I’m … more
Henry’s Blog
Happy Manifesto Conference, April 2013
Around 80 people, from a range of organisations came together at Google’s Victoria HQ on 24th April 2013 to share ideas and learn how to create happy workplaces. For videos check out Annotag and the Happy Manifesto site. Henry Stewart, author of Happy Manifesto Henry opened the conference by asking people how their organisation would be different if the … more
Revealed: The Most Important Management Behaviour
At our happy workplace conference last week we got to experience a Google manager induction, from Emma Rapaport. She explained that some years ago Google had discovered, from its exit interviews, that some people left the company at least partly because of their manager. Their response was to work out what made a great manager, in what became known as … more
Let Your People Choose Their Manager – Because it Works
Of all the proposals in the Happy Manifesto, there is one that tends to get the strongest reaction. Most people agree that its a great idea and then explain why they couldn’t possibly do it in their organisation. Indeed some have advised me to leave it out, as it might scare people off from the easier steps to creating a … more
Do You Make it Easy for Your Customers to Give Compliments?
Sitting in the reception of Central & Cecil Housing Association, one of our clients, I flicked through the information leaflets. Alongside the pamphlet on how to make a complaint was a more unusual one – a Compliments Guide. Yes, Central & Cecil had taken the trouble to create a guide to how let their people know when they’d done well. … more
Happy: One of the World’s Most Democratic Workplaces
Happy is today named as one of the most democratic workplaces in the world, in a unique list of companies seeking to run organisations with more freedom and empowerment of their people. Here is the piece I have written for Huffington Post on the subject: The 51 “Most Democratic Workplaces” in the world were announced today in the 2013 Worldblu … more
Classroom Training: Still the Best for Knowledge Transfer and Skills Development
At Happy we have been developing e-learning for over 12 years. More recently we have got excited about Live Online Learning, where you learn from your desk but with a real live trainer in a virtual classroom. But some of the most effective learning we deliver still takes place in the classroom. So I was interested to see the results … more
George, I Don’t Believe You
George Osborne was today reported as stating that government procurement from SMEs (small or medium sized enterprises) will rise five-fold. It is a great aspiration. It would result in big cost savings and better service if government was prepared to look beyond the likes of G4S, Capita and Serco. But the chances of this government actually delivering on this promise? Absolute … more
Celebrate International Day of Happiness: 20th March
Today, Wednesday 20th March, is the first UN International Day of Happiness. Take the pledge to bring more happiness to others at the World Happiness Day web-site, add your Happy Heroes and see what events you can attend on the day. Yesterday Richard Layard, the inspirational author of the book Happiness, launched the Happy Heroes. A dozen people were given Heroes of Happiness … more
Infographic: Happy Employees are More Productive
My first Infographic, produced using www.piktochart.com. Easy peasy. Click on the image to see it at its best. We will be creating a course in how to create infographics. Email happy@happy.co.uk to find out more.
