happy Blogs

Donna Hall: Are you Really Listening? How to Better Hear People and Increase Happiness.

When Donna Hall was the Chief Executive of Wigan Council it was facing the third worst austerity cuts in the country and yet, despite this, they won Council of the Year. The reason for this success was undoubtedly the Wigan Deal that Donna and her team created to transform the way the council worked and listened. At the 2022 Happy Workplaces Conference Donna told us about how the Wigan Deal took shape, the skills they learned in the process and how the deal not only changed Wigan but also influenced other councils to change their ways.

Pim de Morree: Want Happy, Inspired and Motivated Teams? Here's Everything you Need.

Pim de Morree is the Co-founder of Corporate Rebels. In 2016 Pim had grown weary of the corporate world and so quit his job and, alongside his friend Joost Minaar, founded Corporate Rebels in an effort to fight against the trudge and despair of outdated workplaces. Corporate Rebels started as a blog documenting Pim and Joost visiting radical workplaces and showing the world of business another way. Over time it has grown into much more than a blog, it’s a movement, a quest to make work fun. In this video, from the 2022 Happy Workplaces Conference, Pim spoke to us about the work done by Corporate Rebels and told us the vital ingredients needed for happy, inspired and motivated teams.

Helen Sanderson: How do we Want to Show up Together? Confirmation Practices for Happier Teams.

Helen Sanderson was inspired by Dutch home-care organisation Buurtzorg to set up Wellbeing Teams in 2016. Helen’s aim was to radically change the way health and social care was delivered and she succeeded as Wellbeing Teams was awarded ‘Outstanding’ on its first CQC inspection. When Helen worked as an Occupational Therapist in the NHS she had regular supervision meetings but she realised that these meetings were about compliance and not about reflection and responsibility. Helen wanted to do things differently with her teams and discovered Confirmation Practices were the way to do this. In this video from the 2022 Happy Workforces Conference Helen explains Confirmation Practices and how the process helps at Wellbeing Teams.

Happy's Culture Recognised With Leadership Excellence Award

Happy is delighted to announce that they have won the Leadership Excellence Award for Organisations in the 2024 Leadership Awards. The Leadership Awards are hosted by The Institute of Leadership, and this year's awards ceremony took place on Friday 15th November at the Hilton London Bankside. Maureen Egbe and Sheena Morris accepted the award on Happy's behalf. The Awards highlighted 85 outstanding individuals and organisations across their 10 different awards categories.

Kate Grimes – Autonomy and Patient Care in the NHS

Kate Grimes has risen from hospital porter to CEO of Kingston NHS. In this thoughtful presentation at the 2014 Happy Workplaces Conference, Kate explains how Kingston created its values-driven culture, promotes autonomy coupled with coaching and accreditation, and poses the question “If we know this stuff works so well, why doesn’t the NHS do more of it?”

Alex Kjerulf – Why happy workplaces should be the norm

Alex is the founder of Woohooinc. and one of the world’s leading experts on happiness at work. He is the author of 3 books including the international bestseller Happy Hour is 9 to 5 – How to Love Your Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work.

Clive Hutchinson – Using your employees strengths to determine their role

Clive Hutchinson is the CEO of Cougar Automation, and he spoke to us during the Creating Happy Workplaces Conference about his focus on sustainable, profitable growth through customer service.

Dom Monkhouse has built two £30 million businesses on the basis of unique cultures and creating great places to work in.

Julian Birkinshaw – The Surprising Lead Indicator of Employee Engagement

This is a great presentation from Julian Birkinshaw (London Business School, Thinkers 50 UK Top Three) speaking at Happy Workplaces 2014, covering everything from habit formation, through road traffic planning, all the way to the surprising lead indicator of employee engagement. A LOT of delegates said they would revamp their upward appraisal process after listening to Julian’s presentation.

Henry Stewart – people work best when they feel good about themselves

Henry Stewart on why people work best when they feel good about themselves