Here you can find all of Happy’s blog posts, covering our Excel hints and tips, ideas for creating happy workplaces, and ways to be more productive at work — and more.
Having no meetings and not checking email before 11am is the Monk Mode Morning concept that Bruce Daisley set out in his book The Joy of Work. Since my holiday I have adopted it and spend the first 2.5 hours of each morning getting stuff done. I can manage 5 Pomodoros (25 minute focused sessions) in that time. How would your day be if you could get your most important tasks done before 11?
Andrew Barnes is one of the leading promoters of the four-day week across the world. As CEO of Perpetual Guardian in New Zealand, he implemented this approach back in 2018. Andrew will be speaking at the 2022 Happy Workplaces Conference on 12th May.
What makes the difference between somebody who is simply a contributor and somebody who makes a real difference? That is the question that Liz Wiseman addresses in her new book, Impact Players. Liz was a standout speaker at our 2020 conference, and is back again for our 2022 Happy Workplaces Conference on 12th May.
I am often asked whether you can build happy trust-based workplaces within a larger more hierarchical organisation. So I was very interested to hear about the eSteering team at Danfoss, a 120 person unit within a 40,000 strong company. Vivek Menon, a Senior Director at the Danish company Danfoss, explained at the Teal Around the World Conference how they created a culture of trust and freedom. Vivek will be speaking at the 2022 Happy Workplaces Conference.
Donna Hall, the ex-Chief Executive of Wigan Council, will be speaking at the Happy Workplaces Conference on 12th May. Hers is an inspirational story. According to the Financial Times, Wigan Council faced the third worst austerity cuts in the country as the Coalition government slashed local government spending. Yet, over Donna’s time in charge, they managed to improve resident satisfaction by 59% and saw healthy life expectancy rise by 7 years in the most deprived wards.
Five years ago staff at Teach For All came together and proposed dismantling the senior team, changing the role of managers and exploring new ways of working. "The senior team was abolished on the spot!" explains Marwa Farouq, Global Head of Operations. Marwa will be speaking at the Happy Workplace conference on May 12th about Teach for All's journey towards self-management. It is a remarkable story with a lot to learn from.
Here are some ideas for creating a great culture from Sarah Pugh, now Chief Executive of Whizz Kidz, about her time as CEO at Heart of Kent Hospice.
Helen Sanderson originally set up Wellbeing Teams in 2016 with the aim of radically changing the way health and social care is delivered. Inspired by the Dutch care company Buurtzorg, Wellbeing Teams are small, neighbourhood self-managed care teams. They have coaches, but no managers. Find out how Helen created Wellbeing Teams as a self-managing organisation that is focused on letting team members be human with each other in Henry's blog.
Tom Peters is the ultimate management guru. Thinkers50, the list of the top 50 management thinkers, has rated him in the top 10 in multiple years and awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award, one of only six people to achieve the honour, in 2017. "Charismatic, passionate, and insightful, Tom virtually invented the modern thought leadership industry," explained Thinkers50 co-founder Des Dearlove. "He co-authored In Search of Excellence, which helped create the business book industry." Find out more about Tom Peters in this blog by Henry Stewart.
Nand Kishore Chaudhary (known as NKC) has been called 'the Gandhi of the rug industry.' Jaipur Rugs, which he founded, has 700 employees and works with 40,000 artisans from among the poorest of the poor. He set it up in 1978 with just 2 looms and 9 artisans. The weavers come from the Untouchable class. "All my family tried to stop me," explained NKC. "But I can’t see the difference, how these people are untouchable."