What does a happy company feel like?

What High performing companies should be striving to create: A Great Place for Great People to do Great Work. – Marilyn Carlson, former CEO of the Carlson Companies

Happiness is not a new phenomenon in the workplace, as even Aristotle wrote ‘Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work’. We have all been in that workplace, that project team, that environment where for maybe just a fraction of time, you could do whatever you were doing at that time, forever, and getting paid for it, was simply a bonus. It felt good to be, as our musical colleagues like so often to say ‘in the groove’. So, how would it be to take that great sense of contentment, a feeling of light movement, great creativity, and simple pure joy in just ‘doing’ from the bass guitar player, or the drummer, or the keyboardist, and putting the groove into your workplace. Why wouldn’t every CEO want that in their workplace, from their workforce, to deliver Aristotle’s perfection in their work?

But still, as I travel the globe, I continue to see so many companies and workplaces that fail to achieve happiness in their world. If you consider for a moment the workplace as a house. The workers who live inside have a view of the house, and how they interact with it in the course of their work day. If they are renters, they can ignore the gardens, refuse to fix the flyscreens, or repair a broken window. In short, it is not of their concern to manage, the house is a place to come to, do the minimum, and leave. However, if they own the house, they have a sense of pride, they tend the garden, they look to repair the window, and the house stays in good repair. They love living in this house, they tell their friends how good it is, and they look to improve the property. Many CEO’s lament to me, how do I move my employees from being renters to owners in this workplace? The answer is, of course, corporate happiness. If a CEO can achieve a happy workplace, she will have a great workplace, with a satisfied, engaged workforce all striving to achieve more for the company. Her workforce has moved from being a renter to an owner.

I spend time working with companies who know the power of corporate happiness, and make it their number one priority in building a great culture. But what does it actually mean for business? And how can you take the leap of faith and build a happy company?

Let’s start by saying that creating a happy company is a choice - the rewards however are universal. More productivity, higher engagement, less sickness, less turnover and increased innovation, increased service, more wellbeing and yep happier people. Corporate Happiness, as every CEO knows intuitively, is a corporate multiplier to their bottom line.

Happiness is not something that just happens, it takes commitment and involvement of everyone. Even personally, we all know how fickle happiness can be. We’ve all seen that small child clearly happy and engaged with the ice-cream cone in her hand, only to see and hear the tears as the ice-cream falls to the ground. Happiness is a thin strand, easily broken. So to gain happiness in the workplace, and more importantly, to keep the workforce happy, takes effort and focus. The good news is, however, it’s one of the most contagious and snowballing efforts your business can embark upon.

Let me share a story with you. I recently had a meeting with a regional CEO (let’s call him Ahmed) who was concerned that he was losing market share, losing talent and struggling with internal team conflicts and major project over-runs. It was clear he had a workforce of renters. He asked me very directly – “so how can you help us Karen”. I had one word for him – happiness. Ahmed laughed. I mean really laughed. So much so, that I spent a couple of minutes just sipping my coffee while he got it out of his system.

When the laughter had subsided, we got down to the how and why the best strategy for his company was to get happy, really happy. To get him interested and to help him understand what a happy company looks and feels like, and to show how powerful a workforce of owners can be for their company. I asked him to consider that his nearest competitor had embraced happiness a year ago, and that I would like to take him on a virtual tour of their office, so that he could see happiness in action. He agreed to humor me but became more interested when I kicked-off our tour with a quote from Simon Sinek ‘When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute’. “Yes” Ahmed nodded “I want my people to stop fighting, and start contributing”, and so the tour began.

First thing we notice is that their people enter the office smiling – the people we stop in the corridors tell us they get out of bed with a sense of purpose not dread. They have been so successful at creating meaning for employees. They have articulated the big WHY in the most powerful way that it seems to permeates to every single person in the company. Everyone knows why they contribute, how it makes a difference and feel really good about it. They believe in the company, they believe in the management, their teams and themselves. Intuitively, they know that what they do, fits the why they do it, so they have meaning in their worklife.                                                                                                                             The Happiness Factor: They created MEANING

Very early on in their happiness journey the first step was to actually ask the most important people, their employees - what makes them happy - so that’s what they did – they asked everyone and I mean everyone what they actually wanted and needed. They cultivated a culture where employees felt safe and willing to contribute, speak out and collectively make it a happy company.      

The Happiness Factor: They ensured EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT 

We also got a real sense that people are treated like adults not kids. People really trust each other and people were working together to do their best and work collectively for those big goals that fuel that why. John Goodnight, CEO SAS puts this with elegant simplicity when he said ‘Treat Employees like they make a difference and they will’. Thanks John, say no more!                                              

Their people have lots of freedom and I mean lots! They acknowledge and embrace what science shows us, that people need freedom to be really happy. That’s visible in the way they manage work, structure projects, make decisions and shape teams. They have the freedom to hold meetings on the grass outside rather than the boardroom, freedom to follow their passions as long as the results are achieved. Some of their team don’t even have to go to the office – and guess what, they can also work from home once a week and they still seem to deliver more than ever. But, Ahmed wasn’t so sure “how can I manage them if I can’t see them”. We’ve all seen, and nodded assent at that Dilbert cartoon, and yet we’ve all been there. "It’s okay, Ahmed, they’ll work harder, do more, and your returns will be better. You can still manage them Ahmed, it’s just done differently these days".                                                                                           

 The Happiness Factor: They gave people TRUST & FREEDOM

Their people are responsible, for some this is counterintuitive, but it’s a human truth. Freedom works there, because people are responsible – responsible for the work they do and the results they deliver. The normal command and control that Ahmed was expecting isn’t required there, because everyone is driven by purpose, fueled by passion and backed up with a value-add results and rewards based culture. They also have high levels of autonomy. They acknowledge that once you have been hired for your talents and expertise you can use your knowledge and the skills freely and they thrive, they are allowed to work and be free. No Dilberts allowed in this building!                                                                

The Happiness Factor: They gave people RESPONSIBILITY & AUTONOMY

Their people are more connected, with each other, with their management, and most importantly, with themselves. The leadership understand that after food and shelter (paying people well for what they do), human connections are one of the primary sources of human happiness – so they have created an environment where people can connect on a really personal level. They allow people to bring ‘all of themselves’ into the office and create an environment which allows human connections to happen outside of the normal functional structures. People are inspired to be happy and give them a sense of belonging and connectivity. The employees are active team players, they work with their colleagues on really cool creative stuff and celebrate results together. Innovation seems in abundance through those connections too. We’ve all worked at some time with that one inspirational boss, the one who says the one thing, at the right time, that puts a fire of positive energy in our belly. The one person who has said to you not ‘why’ but ‘why not’. How happy were you when that moment of connectedness from your boss touched you to do more?                                                                            

The Happiness Factor: They made people feel CONNECTED 

Information is a funny thing in the corporate world. For some, those that hold the information, refuse to share it, for fear of losing a position of power. However, this virtual company is completely transparent. Management work hard to deliver the complete message. It may not be pretty, but it’s the truth. Your workforce are adults, they can handle the truth. Once information is open and transparent for all to view, solutions can come from the strangest places. Some of the best ideas come from those work at the coal face all day, using the tools they have, and listening to the customer directly. Give them the whole picture, trust them to speak, and watch the solutions arrive. Their people seem to get access to more information. Transparency is a key driver in this happy company. The office politics it seems are a thing of the past and information over there is shared freely in a way that respects the intelligence of the team. 

The Happiness Factor: They valued TRANSPARENCY 

Their people seem to be always learning new things and gaining experience in new areas The company culture is aimed at stimulating growth and supporting team members to develop themselves on both a professional as a personal level. This means that there is always room to explore talents, learn new skills or have new experiences and people love that. So, if a worker wants to volunteer for two months in a African village, why not let them? If that same person was to represent their country at the Olympic games, you’d let them, as surely it’s good business for your company. Think of the organisational skills, the logistics, the learning of going without, of putting into perspective of what really matters to people if you sent that person to Africa, and what they can bring back to their work team. So, what the heck, send them.                                                                   

The Happiness Factor: They created opportunities for PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL GROWTH

There is no clock in clock out culture or a fear of don’t leave before the boss mentality over there either. The management style is all about ‘have we delivered the results, and results only’. It’s not about time or presence in the office and people being seen behind their laptop. In the end, it is the result that counts and guess what they are achieving a whole lot more as a result.              

The Happiness Factor: They were totally RESULTS DRIVEN 

They recognise that if they are really all about managing on results and outputs their old annual performance reviews simply didn’t have the impact – so they scrapped it last year. They acknowledged that people have different needs and their millennials for instance wanted feedback today, instant feedback and wanted to know what’s working and what’s not and how to make adjustments right now – so they have set up those systems to do just that. In reality, that’s what people have always wanted anyway, it’s just these newest members of the workforce are brave enough to ask for it. They also give people the freedom to develop themselves to deliver better results.                                                             

The Happiness Factor: They totally changed PERFORMANCE SYSTEMS

They have some really cool ways to give employees better work-life balance too. From having a no weekend email rule, to family and work-life balance goal setting as part of the team goal setting, everyone maps and finds the right balance for them. They encourage people to look after their wellbeing and none of it is compulsory or PR driven - its real - and you can see and feel it in the air. 

The Happiness Factor:  They ensured WORK-LIFE BALANCE & WELLBEING

Leadership is not always based on seniority or hierarchy on projects, rather it’s based on added value, skills and expertise needed for the project. This means that quite often leaderships flows freely through the organisation and can change frequently during the course of a project. It can be hard at first to cede the leadership role, particularly if you’re used to a more traditional work leadership role, it is confronting to let a younger person take the lead. But, let us not forget Einstein was 28 when he wrote the theory of relativity. Sometimes, a project needs that bright young mind that has not learnt the fear of failure to tackle the hard tasks head on. Projects are in the main completed on-time and within budget.                                                                                                                  

The Happiness Factor: They encouraged FLUID LEADERSHIP

So as our virtual tour drew to a close - I asked the Ahmed our CEO “If I came to your company for the day would I experience this?” He shook his head. I went on “Now imagine if you got there and that happiness fueled more productivity, more creativity, innovation, improved project management and delivered better customer service and made your people happy? Your revenues are up and your human costs are down, the EBITDA has been multiplied - would you want that for your company?” He paused, smiled and said “okay Karen when do we start”.

Happiness starts from a desire at the top to create a great company for great people to do great work (thanks again Marilyn Calrson). Understanding what makes your people happy and what they need to thrive and be happy needs insights too. Thankfully we've teamed up with WeThrive to give you new insights to help you to create happier teams and deliver more results.

If you want to learn more about how to start building a happier company, and installing the new corporate multiplier in your workplace, then take a look at our WeThrive platform and talk to us about setting up a free pilot for one of your teams. https://www.thestoreygroup.com/wethrive drop me a line, at [email protected]