Alex Kjerulf – Why happy workplaces should be the norm

Host: Okay, I'm going to get straight on then and let you know that this first session will be going through till about 11 o'clock this morning. You have two wonderful speakers, the second of which will be Alex. who is an international happiness expert. I will be getting our first speaker to introduce him a little bit further.

But first of all, a massive round of applause for Henry, who has inspired us all to be here and who we are very excited to hear from.

Henry: Thank you. I am very excited to be here. A little touch, one thing that's different at this conference

You know how you always go to conferences and everybody fills up from the back and avoids the front? The thing that's different about the mood here is it's filled up from the front. And I think that's significant, actually. It's going to be, we're going to have lots of interaction today, lots of ideas.

So, let's start you off with a game, yeah? A game of opposites. It's based around the manifesto. So, I need, you're going to go to one side of the room or the other. According to, which one is true of you, yeah? Okay, I'm going to put some slides up. Stand up, stand up, yes. The first simple one, do you prefer beaches or mountains?

Mountains over that side, beaches over that side.

Okay. How about McDonald or Lady Gaga.

You have to, you have to make a decision on it. Okay, now getting on to the subject. My organization has layers of approval or pre approval. I. e. you can be pre approved without having to get approved later. Pre approval is where you're approved in advance. And it's not approved once you come up with it. So they approve the idea before you come up with it.

Okay. Oh, interesting split. People have complete freedom, freedom within guidelines, who are told what to do. There's a middle one here. That's very positive. So we've got the anarchists over there. Okay, good. Salaries are transparent in your organisation, yes or no? That would be, I guess you tell other people.

Okay, that's, that's one of those that people, lots of people tell me can't be done. So that's, that's great to see. My organization recruits for attitude or for skills and qualifications.

I'll let you stand in a minute. Okay. My work Oh, sorry. We celebrate mistakes or avoid mistakes. Oh, you're making me feel so happy. My work's a positive impact on the world. Yes, definitely, or maybe.

Okay, I have the work life balance I want. Okay, let's move. Okay, at my organisation, people can choose their managers. Here's a real test. How many could say yes to that one? Oh, yes, that is the tough one, isn't it? Okay. I think we need to do some work. Each day I get to do what I'm best at.

Each day, you get to do your best at. as you'll know from the book, worldwide, the figure's 20 percent for this, that get to do each day what they're best at.

Okay, that's pretty good. And finally, a happy workplace, a key priority, or just a nice to have.

Excellent.

Okay. I think you are on the right conference then. That's grand. Okay. Take a seat.

Okay, I hope you recognize where those ones came from. Those were the, the ten principles. Yeah? So it's interesting to see which ones people which ones people found easier and which ones were tougher. How many would like to be able to choose their managers? Hands up. Okay. Right. Let's get, what I want to do in this session is just set the scene for the day.

So we'll have a bit more interaction, we'll do a bit of other things. I'm going to put up another slide which we had a bit of a debate about yesterday because some people say it reminds them of a tampon ad. But but I'll put it up anyway. The principle though is How many would agree with the principle that people work best when they feel good about themselves?

Okay. Put your hands up again if, oh no, well next question obviously is, what then should be the main point of management in an organization?

Audience: Making people feel good.

Henry: Making people feel good. So hands up if in your organization the main focus of management is to make people feel good about themselves.

Okay. That's, that's probably about 20%. It's the most hands I've ever had up where I've asked that question. Some, and people at most come and say, well it's nice, it's nice to have but is it essential? Now I was sitting I was speaking recently and I had next to me the chair of an 80, 000 person company.

And he put his hand up to that. And he guesses which company it was. That wasn't actually Google, they're 38, 000. And I haven't sat next to the chair, which I would love to. Anyone else, it's a UK company? Bang On, John Lewis, the head of John, the chair of John Lewis, said yes, that is built into our constitution, that is how we work.

And he gave the example that at a recent board meeting, they spent 20 minutes discussing the numbers, and four hours discussing people and culture. And that's how organisations could be. They could be that focused on people culture, because at John Lewis, does that work? If you, we're, we're there, we do customer service training at Happy, and we often ask what are your, what are the best companies for customer service?

I don't think I've ever had a session of that where people haven't mentioned John Lewis. It always comes up. So, next interaction, which is a very simple question. How would your organization be different? If the focus of management was making people feel good. Now this is not a debate on it, though you're probably all on the same side anyway on this one.

It's a hypothetical. Think about, talk to two or three people together, how would your organization be different if that was the focus of management. And if you're an individual, think about some of the companies you work with. If you're a consultant, think about the companies you work with, how they would be different.

Okay, three or four minutes on that one.

Okay, everyone.

Okay, any immediate responses? What would it be like? Any thoughts? Shoutouts? Words? Less risk averse? Just better? Better, better retention? I thought you said attention. Better retention? Anyone else? Louis Suarez would eat before he played a game.

More productive? Yeah. Any others?

Audience Member 1: More ownership.

Henry: More ownership? So would it be a better place to work in?

Entire Audience: Yes.

Henry: Would it be more effective?

Entire Audience: Yes.

Henry: Would it be more productive?

Entire Audience: Yes.

Henry: Absolutely. And that, of course, is what today is about. It's about creating happy workplaces, which we all want to work in, but all the evidence is that happy workplaces are more productive.

And I'm very excited to be at Google today, and I'm very thankful to Google for being incredibly generous in providing this space. But also they are a living demonstration of if you create happy workplaces, you can create some really innovative organizations that are hugely successful. And do you know that, yes, let me give you a piece of research to back that up, which is in the, which is in the handout.

How many of you are aware of Edmunds Research at Wharton Business School? Anybody aware of that? Nigel, because he teaches at Wharton Business School. Okay. What Alex Edmonds did was he thought, well, okay, these best workplace lists have been going for 25 years now. So we could look back and see how successful these companies have been.

So he took the U. S. fortune best workplace list, and he looked at what would happen if you invested in every company in that list each year. Each year you'd change the portfolio. So that's over 25 years you've invested After they've been on the list, not before, but after they've been on the list, they could have made that investment.

And he guesses what happened. You made a lot more profit, absolutely. What he, his conclusion was, you ended up with a four factor alpha of 3. 5%. Now, does anybody know what that means? No, I had to look that one up too. What it actually means is you end up with 3. 5 percent a year more than a comparison stock market investment.

Yeah. Now that's a lot in investment terms. That would mean if you invested in the stock market and ended up at the end of the period with 100, 000 in your pension fund say, if you'd have invested in the best workplaces, you'd have ended up with 237, 000. That's the difference creating happy workplaces makes.

In pure financial terms. I don't think we've got any financial directors here, but that is, you know, a clear argument for anyone that wants to base it on the numbers. Not only does it create a happier place, not only does it create somewhere more innovative, but it creates a more profitable and commercially successful organization.

So, what today is about is starting that movement to create happy workplaces. That's what I'm hoping to do here today. And it's interesting, somebody said to me I was chatting to a colleague, Ella Heeks, who's in the book, and said that our aim at Happy Now is to change the way people work in the UK . and beyond We've got people here from Belgium and Denmark and Turkey.

That have come in for this, so we hope to have a wider impact. And she said to me, oh, so you want to create a really big organization. And I thought about that and said, that's not what I said. You know, I said, I want to change the way people work. And I don't care whether that means Happy is a huge organization or Happy is a niche organization.

The idea is to create a movement based on open source ideas. So, to put the ideas out there, to share them, and if people want to come, if you want to come to Happy and buy our services to help you and make you happy, we'll be delighted. But also if you want to go out there and create a Happy Workplace on your own, there's some, I know Simon here, who simply read the book and put it all into place, didn't you?

Simon replies from the Audience: Fine too.

Henry: Yeah. And, so, that's fine too. So, who's up for creating a Happy, a movement for Happy Workplaces, hands up. Excellent. So that's going to be the close of the day today. Which, what we can do, what we want from it, what we can contribute to it. But just today, so many people have come and said, can we be part of it?

Can we volunteer something for it? Can, can, can we help with it? So, just before we close then before I hand over to Alex, is there a couple of minutes with your colleague, what do you need to make this a truly inspiring day for you? So a couple of minutes, what would, no, what would make this a truly inspiring day for you?

And how can you go about making sure that happens? A couple of minutes with your, with your neighbor.

Okay, I'll leave you to keep that, to think about those. A couple of organizational things. First of all, how many people are tweeters in the room? Any tweeters? Excellent. The tweet, the hashtag today is happy work. And we'll put that up occasionally. To show what's coming up. It's in the book. Google has pretty good Wi Fi, you'll find, and there's no login on Google Guest, so you just choose Google Guest.

You've all got your bags, you may wonder why you've all got a copy of Happy Manifesto, given I think, how many people have already read it? Yes, this is to give to a friend. Okay. Good, good, good. And so that's it. I'm going to leave it mainly to our, to our other speakers but be aware there are some great people here, meet as many as you can, make as many contacts as you can, and let's really kickstart things to create happy workplaces out there.

So, I will move straight on to introducing Alex who did tell me I had to pronounce his surname, it's Kjeruif .

Alex: Ha ha ha, no. Not even close.

Henry: Not even close, okay. This is Alex, anyway. He's he's got the great title of Chief Happiness Officer which I think I might borrow that actually, I think that'd be good.

He's From Denmark, which is the happiest country in the world, isn't it, according to all surveys? And he goes around the world talking about happiness. He's issued three great books, and I love his vision statement, which I'm going to borrow it for as well, if that's okay. Which is, of a world where happiness at work is the rule and not the exception.

Wouldn't that be fabulous? Okay, so I'm going to hand straight over to Alex. You haven't got slides, so we don't need to bring anything up. So, a big, warmer welcome for Alex, please.

Alex: Morning. It's fantastic to be here. How many of you remember the Drew Carey show? Not a lot of people. I used to like that show. And in one of my favorite episodes, there's a character called Kate, and she goes, "I hate my job." And Drew Carey looks at her, and he goes, "Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so?"

"There's a support group for that. It's called Everyone. They meet at the bar." And that has been the attitude to work for a long, long time. Of course you hate your job. That's perfectly normal. I talked to a guy in the U. S. who said, Well, of course I hate my job. That's why I get paid. And I think we need to change that attitude.

I think we need to change work from something you do because you have to and make it something you do because you want to. And that's what I want to talk about today. Have you ever thought about this question? What do you spend your time on over an entire lifetime? From you're born, until you die.

From cradle to grave. 73 years on average for men, 76 years for ladies. And it turns out, they've studied this, it turns out that over an entire lifetime, the number one thing you spend time on is sleep, and number two is work. Does anybody know what number three is? TV , exactly. Isn't that scary? I was giving a speech at a Danish bank last week, and I asked them, Does anybody know what number three is?

And I hear a guy who says, Sex!

Okay, awesome! I did catch him after the presentation, asked for some Tips. So, you will be spending more of your waking hours on the job than on anything else. And this is, this is, you know, this statistic is . Yes. Yes. In fact, sex is very far down. Sex is like number 37 on the list. You'll be spending more of your waking hours at work than on anything else.

And, and this statistic includes, you know, infants and pensioners and everybody. If you look at just people with full-time jobs, we spend more time at work than we do on our friends, our families, and our hobbies put together. Those three things combined. And when you spend that much time on anything, it should be something you enjoy, something that gives you energy, something that makes you happy, something you can look forward to.

Maybe not every single morning, but most mornings. So you can actually wake up on a Monday morning and go, Yes, it's Monday, I'm going to work, it's gonna be awesome. The question is, how do you do that? How do you create a really happy work life for yourself? And how do we create really happy workplaces together?

And that's what I've been working on for the last 10 years. I used to be in computer science, left the IT industry 10 years ago. And, actually I founded my current company almost exactly 10 years ago. We had our first paying customer on May 1st, 2003. And since then we've written three books about happiness at work.

We've been to almost 40 countries to speak. In fact, Nick and I just spoke in Sofia, Bulgaria this weekend together at an event there. And we work with, with clients all over the world to create happiness work. So that's, that's what I want to give you today is just a brief overview. What makes us happy at work and what can we do?

I want to get really, really practical and give you some tools that you can use starting tomorrow in your own workplace. Does that sound like a plan?  Awesome. So what makes us happy at work? And I think this is where a lot of companies get it exactly wrong. Because they say, yes, we need more happiness and motivation and engagement.

We better look at bonuses. We better look at perks, right? Fresh fruit in the office. Everybody knows that makes people really happy, right? We better look at you know, titles. Titles, good titles. You know, if you want to make that person happy, make him a senior consultant instead of a junior consultant.

And it turns out those things don't work. And we know that from any number of studies that a raise, in fact a raise will make you a little happier for about two weeks. Then it's no longer a raise, now it's just your salary. Okay? So if we look at what actually makes people happy at work, we go to the research and try to sort of look at the, you know, the overarching things that make us happy at work.

I think it comes down to two things. And those are results and relationships. Results and relationships. Those are the things that make us feel good at work. If you have that, you're happy. If your workplace gives you that, it's a great workplace. So let's look at those. First of all, results. And results is when you do a really good job.

Okay, I am good at my job. I know my stuff. I can do this really well. And that feeling of pride that you get from a job well done, that feels amazing. Makes us feel really good at work, makes us very, very happy. And one, it's one thing to be good at your job, but what really makes us happy is when we can see that we make a difference for someone else.

We talk about meaningful results. I can help my clients. I can see that I'm helping people who really need my services. I was talking to seriously, a young sewage worker in Denmark. Okay, works in the sewers with his team. He'd been doing it for about four months. And he loved his job! He was really, really happy doing it.

Because he knew that his, what he did was really important for all of us. Can we agree on this? If the sewers don't work, we're all in deep shit, and I mean that literally. And also so that made him really proud and really happy. Even though I guess you could call it a shit job. So, being good at what you do and knowing that I make a meaningful difference, I help other people who need it, makes us really happy at work.

So as a workplace, we need to give people the tools, the knowledge, the resources, and the time they need to do a really good job, so they can be proud of that. And we need to give them the training they need to get better. Constantly. Here's the problem. A lot of people do a good job. But nobody ever tells them.

They never hear a positive word. And I think that sucks. So, why don't we try to change that. Please stand up.

We're going to do a little exercise in praise and recognition. And of course there are many, many ways you can praise people who do a good job. You can just tell them, you can write them an email, you can praise people in meetings. But there's one way to praise people that I really like. And it's when you go up to someone and you put up your hand, and you give them a high five.

Yes! And that was, not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet. And I'll tell you right away, a good high five should sting a little, okay? So why don't we try that? Give three people around you a high five. Go! Okay. Awesome! Now, that's when somebody does a good job. If somebody does a great job, you can take it one step further.

Audience Member 2: Big Tens

Alex: Sorry?

Audience Member 2: Big tens.

Alex: No, I'm thinking of something else. What you can do is you give them a high five like before, then you stick up your thumbs and you go, You rock! Do that to three new people! High five! You rock!

Audience together: You rock! You rock! You rock! You rock! You rock! You rock! You rock! You rock! You rock!

Alex: Yes. Awesome, Excellent, thank you, please have a seat.

Now, let me say right away that if you're, if you're thinking, you know what, that high five's just too much. I perfectly understand, okay? And you don't have to do it that way. The important thing is that we do praise people who do a good job. In fact, we did a survey in Denmark two years ago to uncover what made people unhappy at work in Danish workplaces.

And the second largest thing that made people unhappy at work in Denmark was lack of praise and recognition. And people said things like, you know what, I think, I honestly believe I do a really good job, but nobody ever says anything. However, if I make just one mistake. Yeah. So, praise and recognition is a great way to show people that they make a difference, that they get results.

Makes us really happy. And it's something we can all do every single day. Just say one thing, praise must be genuine, must be real. You can't praise people just to praise them. You have to actually mean it. Yeah. So one thing that makes us happy at work is results. When you do a good job, and you can see that you can help someone else who needs your services.

The other thing, relationships, is equally important. And relationships is when you like the people you work with, okay? We don't all have to be best friends in the workplace, that's impossible. You get to choose your friends, you don't get to choose your co workers. But a nice mood in the office, mutual respect when you can actually talk together, you can laugh together, you can relax together, that is a sign of great relationships in the workplace.

A good relationship, and I think there are four types of relationships you have at work. There's your immediate co workers, there's your immediate manager, there are your customers, clients whoever you work for. And finally, you also do have a relationship to the company, to the organization in some way.

Maybe that's a relationship to the CEO, the top manager, maybe that's a relationship to the company as a whole. And each of those relationships should be positive. The young sewage worker, the guy I talked to, he said they had great relationships in his team. Whenever they go into the sewers, they're there for each other, they help each other.

They really feel like they're a group. He also told me when a young and new sewage worker, when he's, you know, when he's sort of initiated into the group, it's the first time he's been dipped by accident. When you fall into, yeah, we're talking head under. Yes, I know. And now you're one of us. Yeah. So good relationships in the workplace are vitally important.

This feeling that I belong, this feeling that they like me, they want me here is vital for our workplace happiness. Yes. So how do you create that? There are many ways you can do it. A very simple thing is breaks. Coffee breaks, lunch breaks. Take a break with your co workers where you don't talk about work.

Where you talk about your private lives. So what are you doing this weekend? How was your vacation? How are the kids? Uh, whatever. And the thing is that breaks are currently threatened in most workplaces. A lot of people skip the coffee break. They don't think they have time. They, you know, eat lunch alone at their desk while they're working.

I think that's a mistake. Both because we need breaks in order to perform throughout the day, but also because we need those breaks to reconnect with our coworkers and create those great relationships. There is one other way to create great relationships. So why don't we try that? Please stand up. And this is about something very, very simple.

It's about saying good morning when you come to work in the morning. And a lot of people don't. A lot of people just come in, sit down, start working, and think that's a shame. So we're going to, I know that sounds silly, but we're going to practice how to say good morning. And there are many ways you can say good morning.

Let's say you came in early, and you're already at your desk. You're at your computer, you're working on something really important, you're completely focused. Another coworker comes in, walks by behind you and says, Good morning. And without looking up, you just go, meh. So let's try that. Without looking at anyone, say, meh.

Yeah, that's not real good. That was a level one good morning. Let's go to level two. On level two, you actually do say good morning, but you don't look at anyone. Say good morning without looking at anyone.

Audience: Morning.

Alex: Still not real happy, so let's go to level three. On level three, you must look at the person you say good morning to.

And it's not enough to look, you must, you must briefly make eye contact. Before you say good morning, you don't have to do this, okay? So, make eye contact and say good morning to three other people. Go! Yes, much better. Now we're talking. You can also go to level four. And on level four, it's not enough to say good morning, you have to add something extra.

You can say, good morning, it's nice to see you. Good morning, how are you this morning? Great shirt, Henry, I like it. Whatever you can come up with, okay? Just add something more than good morning. If you know the person's name, it's a good thing to add. So, on level four, make eye contact and add something extra and say good morning to three new people.

Go!

Yes.

Fantastic. Excellent.

Very good. And, finally, finally, on level five, the level five good morning, the group talk. No, I'm kidding. But, on level five, you must talk. Touch the person you say good morning to. I'm thinking like, I'm thinking something workplace appropriate, okay? I'm thinking like a, a handshake, maybe a clap on the shoulder.

You can hug, but only if you want to, okay? So on level five, make eye contact, add something extra. Touch the other person and say good morning to three new people. Go!

Yes, excellent, thank you, please have a seat.

Yeah.

You guys did that very well. So please give your neighbors a high five. You rock!

Yes. And, And please, Please do not underestimate the power of a good morning. it creates great relationships in the workplace in the morning, those last throughout the day. And there was a fascinating study of American call center workers that showed that the way you start your workday has a huge effect on the rest of the day. And it turned out that if you get a good start to your workday, you typically have a good day.

And problems that occur during the day look smaller and more manageable. If you have a bad start to your workday, the first thing that happens is negative. You typically have a bad day, and small problems look like major disasters. So it's actually, it's a very simple thing you can do to actually create a happier workplace.

And when the boss does this, it actually has a huge effect. If the boss just walks by everybody, straight into his own office, sits down, starts working, that has the complete opposite effect. Saying good morning is a great way to create relationships in the workplace. And those are the two things that make us happy, results in relationships.

It's a major, the two major sources of positive emotions in the workplace. When you do great work, together with great people. If you come home from a day with results in relationships, you feel awesome. You've had a great day at work and you come home with more energy for playing with your kids, for being with your spouse, for seeing your friends, for exercise, for your hobbies, and for the rest of your life.

Those are the good days. And then there are the other days. The days with no results and no relationships. You know, we got nothing done today. In fact, I think we're further behind today than we were yesterday. And also, everybody was in a real crappy mood. Everybody was, you know, biting each other's head off.

It was a really bad mood in the office today and that's when you come home and you have no energy and you're really tired and you don't really want to go back the next day. So that's what we need to focus on in the workplace. Results and relationships. Those are the things that make us happy.

It's not perks, it's not bonuses, it's not promotions. It's not fresh fruit and coffee and all of that. Those things are nice but if you're not careful, they can actually become a distraction because you focus on that instead of on the things that really matter. And I think that the reason why companies do focus on those things is because it's easy.

It's not cheap, but it's easy. I mean, the only thing you need to do to open a, to have a gym in your office is open the checkbook and, you know, pay for it. But if you want to create great results and great relationships, you actually need to know your people. You need to connect, you need to understand them, you need to get them on a deep and fundamental level.

That's not as expensive, but it takes a lot more of managers as human beings because they need to connect to their people. Results and relationships, that's where we need to focus. And, if you're looking at how to create a happy workplace. There are sort of two areas, two dimensions you can work in.

There's the near and the far. The near and the far. The near is my department, my team, my group, my manager, my co workers, my tasks, my jobs. That's the near. Then there's the far. That's the whole organization, right? That's the strategy, that's the budget, that's the five year plan, that's the vision, values, and all of that sort of set by top brass.

And I would say that both have an effect, and both need to be aligned with results and relationships. I will also say this, that if you look at the FAR, you look at the big things, the strategy, the vision, the values, all of that. It's actually really hard to make people happy at work from a FAR, from that level.

And I think what you mainly need to focus on, on that level, is to stop making people unhappy. And that's sort of the question that very few workplaces ask. You know, they all come to us and ask, what can we do to make people happy at work? And a really important question to ask is, what can we stop doing that is pissing our people off every single day?

Stuff like promoting the wrong managers, like hiring the wrong people, like constantly being too ambitious with plans and projects so people are always feeling like, like they're behind. Stuff like you know, internal communications that don't tell people what they need to know. A lot of that stuff, from afar, is stuff you can stop doing because it's making people miserable.

And then there's the near stuff. And that's where you can, I think, I think, where you can make really fast changes. Where you can really create some happiness tomorrow. And I want to give you just three tools, three things that work really well in the immediate vicinity, in the near dimension. Something you could do tomorrow.

How about a random act of workplace kindness? Random acts of workplace kindness. This is where you do something nice for someone else at work. Something they did not expect. And it can be something really small and seemingly trivial. Like if you're going to get yourself a cup of coffee, grab a cup of coffee for someone else who didn't ask for one.

Here, I got you a cup of coffee too. You don't have to add, it looks like you need it. You can leave candy on someone's desk, you can write a nice note for someone. Really, really small things can actually make a huge difference. This can be something that makes people's day, it can make their week. The reason this works so well is that it's surprising.

There was a neurological study where they put people in an fMRI scanner, brain scanner, where you can actually see activity in the brain. You can see activity in the pleasure center of the brain, you can see how happy people are right now. And then they did things to people. They had things like giving them electric shocks, or, you know, giving them little rewards.

Must be awesome to be a researcher and one of the things they found was that if you get a reward, something nice happens that you expect, there's a little bit of activity in your pleasure center, the reward center of the brain. But, if something nice happens to you that you do not expect, you are about three times as happy.

So, those random little things can actually make a major, major difference. This is something you could do tomorrow for someone at work. Try it and see what happens. When the boss does this, it has a major effect. We work with the biggest bank in Denmark. And the president of one of the divisions of this bank decided to do it.

So the next Monday, he was in the reception area as people came in to work. And he greeted every single employee with a level 5 good morning. And a little bag with a breakfast bun and butter and juice and a cup of coffee that they could take out to their desk. And that was complete, they had never done anything like that ever.

Okay, it was completely out of the blue. And they told me people were happy for a week after. So it's a very, very simple thing to do. Random acts of workplace kindness actually work really well. Another thing you can do that works really well is just before you go home from work. You can make a list of three good things that have happened at work today.

And this is straight out of the positive psychology research and it can be big things or small things, just three things you like that day. And the research, they tested this, and it turns out that if you do this for two weeks, you are measurably happier for three months after. Because it trains your brain to also focus on the positive.

This is something you can do alone. You know, just open an Excel spreadsheet just before you go home and type in three things that made you happy. Or, even better, you can do it with a co worker. So what were your three things for the day? Here are mine. And that works really well. And the final tool I want to give you is about celebrating success in the workplace.

This is something we do, we just don't do enough. We need to do this way more. So let's try that. Please stand up.

For this little exercise you're going to need a partner. So please find a partner, not the person standing next to you. Not the person standing next to you. And once you have a partner, sit down together.

Sit down together with your partner. Have a seat together.

You may stand, or you may sit. Yes! Very good! Here's the exercise, very simple. I want you to think about something that you have done really well at work recently. Something you've done that you are proud of. Doesn't have to be something huge, but just something you thought, you know what, I did a really good job on this project, or I did a really good job for this client, or whatever.

Just something you did really well at work, recently. And in a moment you will tell your partner about this, you have about 30 seconds, and then we'll switch. Okay? So think about something you've done at work, Really well recently and the person with the biggest shoes on goes first 30 seconds go

Excellent and again high five you rock

Very good now, thank you. So how can you do this? How can you do this in the workplace? Well, one of our really good clients is LEGO . A Danish company, headquarters in Billund in Denmark. And they have an ambition. They want to be one of the world's three happiest workplaces by 2015. And we've helped them a little with that project.

Excellent workplace already and one of the things we've taught them is to start meetings by doing exactly what we just did here. So let's say you have a department meeting, staff meeting, and you have a whole agenda, you know, item one, item two, item three. What they've done is they've added an item zero on the agenda, which is celebrating success.

Okay? So they will do exactly what we just did here. People will partner up. You tell your partner about something really cool you've done. You hear what they've done. Maybe two or three people tell the whole group, so everybody hears it, if they've done something really cool. Then the meeting starts.

And this is a great way to make people happy. It's a great way to create both results and relationships and it highlights progress. It shows that we do a really good job we're getting somewhere. And by the way, it's also a really good investment time wise. Because there was a fascinating study out of France that showed that if a meeting starts with something positive the rest of the meeting will be more positive and you will get more done in the meeting.

If the first thing that happens in a meeting is negative -- Why are we behind on this project? -- The rest of the meeting will be more negative and you will get less done in the meeting. So this is actually a very, very simple way to create happiness at work and to celebrate the success you have in your team.

Because way too often when we have meetings we only talk about the things that are going wrong. The goals we have not reached. That sucks, honestly. We gotta change that and we gotta celebrate success. I also love from the manifesto about celebrating failure. And I think that is a wonderful point, too. How many of you have tried Ben Jerry's ice cream?

Oh, all of you. Awesome. Great ice cream, right? They Have about 50 different flavors. Now, once in a while, Ben Jerry's will release a new kind of ice cream. And they will, you know, they've worked on it for years. They think it's fantastic. They're so excited. They release it to the market and nobody buys it.

Okay, so what they have in their headquarters in Vermont, in the U. S., They have a flavor graveyard. And there's a tombstone for each and every ice cream that they've launched that nobody wanted to buy. My favorite is the pear ice cream, which lasted from 1997 to 1997. Nobody wanted the stupid pear ice cream, okay? And instead of saying, oh my god, how embarrassing, let's never talk about that again, they say, yes, we made a mistake. And let's celebrate that. And that's where they bury their mistakes and celebrate them and remember them so they can learn from them. So this is my sort of my challenge to you is say, sure.

We want to create a happy workplace. We know that happy workplaces are more productive, more profitable and all of that. How do we do it? We need to focus on the right things and it's not salaries, promotions, perks, bonuses, and all of that. It's results and relationships. Give people everything they need.

To do an awesome job together with awesome people. I hope you've liked my little speech here. I hope you've gotten some ideas for something you can do tomorrow and that's the one thing I want to leave you with is this question. What is one thing I could do at work tomorrow to create results and or relationships?

Thank you very much.

Host: Okay. So Alex talked a lot there about what we might need to do to kind of make us feel good. And he mentioned nice things that we're not expecting. So we hopefully have for you now a nice thing that you're not expecting. So I'd like to welcome Simon and Sandra up here, please.

Simon: Right, this is, this is I'm going to need a bit of a leap of faith from you.

Because I know you can do this next bit, because I've actually heard most of you already. I've heard a little bit of laughter going on in the room . So what we're going to do now is we're going to do something called Laughter Yoga. Hands up if you've heard of Laughter Yoga before. Brilliant, so quite a few people have done it.

So you're going to be able to support and help me with this. A couple of people maybe haven't heard of it and what we're going to do is we're just going to laugh for no reason but not without purpose because there's a reason behind what we're doing. This is going to help you choose the mood that you want to be in when you want to start your day.

Alex was talking about how do we choose to start our day, what can we do? We can do it by laughter. So what I'd like you to do is just look around you and just let out a laugh.

Audience Laughing

Make eye contact with the people around you. Okay everyone, if you stand up now. And again, just a little extension from the meeting up and the greeting up that Alex talked about as well. What I'd like you to do is try and make eye contact with as many different people, but I want you to wave at them and laugh.

Instead of saying good morning I want you to wave and laugh. Let out a hearty laugh.

Audience Laughing

Now, if everyone just follows me on this next bit, I want you to clap. In rhythm, I want you to go Ho, Ho, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ho, Ho, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ho, Ho.

Stretch up, breathing in, and just forward a little bit, breathing out. And then breathe in, stretch up again. And then we want to relax our arms down, let out a little laugh.

Brilliant. I just want you to do something else now, just to get this laughter sort of going again. This involves a lot of childlike playfulness. It's about getting rid of our adult sort of cognitive functioning a little bit. I've got, you've all got with you, just on your chairs, you've been sat on them, a little laughter key.

So I want you to pick it up and just hold it up. And I want you to pop your laughter key in your belly button and give it give your belly button a little turn and it's like a car engine! Ha, hahahahahahahaha! So, turn your key, and get that little laugh, get that laughter engine going Hahahahaha!

Ho, ho, ha, ha, ha. Ho, ho, ha, ha, ha. Ho, ho, ha, ha, ha. And breathe in, stretch up.

And breathe in, stretching up again. And let out a little laugh. You are training your body and your mind to actually feel happier and to feel better as well as a whole host of other things. I'm going to do one more exercise with you before we move on. We are doing a workshop at lunchtime where we're going to do a full kind of laughter workout.

But again, just in front of you, you'll notice that there's two beakers there. So if you could just pick up the two beakers that are there. And what we're gonna mix is, and because it's still morning this might be, if we were doing this later on it would be a laughter cocktail. But let's just make some laughter juice now.

In one hand you've got some very concentrated laughter juice. In the other hand you've just got some water. We need to mix them. So what we're going to do is we're going to pour one into the other and we're going to go, Woooah. So nice and loud, are you ready? Woooah. And then, Woooah. Give it a shake.

Woooah. Drink it, it makes us laugh. Hahahaha Let's read another one ooh

ooh Give it a shake Ooh

Breathe in. And then forward.

And breathe in again. And relax. Super. One more thing before I finish. Hold your finger up like that. And I want you to repeat what I say. I. Am. Amazing. You Are Amazing. We Are Amazing! Thank you very much, hope to see some of you at the workshop.