HappyHQ is 3??

Hello friends,

Welcome to the 13th edition of The Culture Edit.

A special edition as we celebrate our third birthday this week. ??????

To celebrate this milestone, we invited one of our biggest cheerleaders, Sarah Khalfaoui to sit down and have a chat to reflect on our proudest accomplishments, the defining moment that led to HappyHQ, and advice for founders and culture leads aspiring to build people-first company cultures.

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Okay, Janine Jacobs and Louisa Mordaunt , let's do this...?

Q: Louisa, HappyHQ is three! How does it feel to see the company grow and evolve over these years?

Celebrating our third birthday at HappyHQ feels amazing. We've grown, evolved, and learned lots of lessons along the way. As we celebrate, I feel grateful for the clients, family members, and friends who have supported us during these first years, and I feel excited about the future of helping more companies and people find happiness at work.

Q: Janine, you recently said the most challenging part of your job is explaining what you do and doing it justice, so how do you describe it?

Ha! It depends on who’s asking, but usually, I explain that HappyHQ collaborates with companies to help them build people-first cultures built on solid culture foundations. We believe that a thriving business is not solely based on offering exceptional products or services, but also about creating an environment where employees feel valued, motivated, and able to perform at their best. We work with businesses of all shapes and sizes, and our services include workshops, culture audits and mapping, and people and culture consultancy.

Q: Louisa, what was the defining moment you both realised the need to create HappyHQ?

About 8 eight years into running I Love My Job Ltd | B Corp? (a recruitment company), I noticed a growing trend among candidates who were registering with us because they were dissatisfied with their current company's 'culture.'

On the flip side, I was working closely with many Founder/Leaders who genuinely cared about their employees but were largely unaware of the true state of their culture. They were often oblivious to the reasons why people were leaving, feeling disengaged, or lacking motivation when it could have been a simple fix.

It was during this period that the initial idea for HappyHQ began to take shape. Janine and I started to envision a company that helps companies build cultures that not only retain their people but also empowered them to thrive and contribute fully.

Q: What about you Janine, what sparked HappyHQ for you?

I'd had over a decade of experience working in agencies across the UK, Asia, and Australia, I was exposed to diverse cultures, teams, industries, and brands and like many of my peers, I’d experienced both positive and negative aspects of company culture.

During my time as a Director and part of the leadership team at a brilliant strategic communications agency in Singapore, I also studied positive psychology in the evenings. I got to understand the science behind human flourishing and its application in the workplace. I started to question why I hadn't come across many of these principles before, especially in an industry with an emphasis on teamwork, collaboration, and results.

I became fascinated with understanding what makes people happy and the benefits it can bring to the way we work. Louisa and I got talking and quickly discovered a shared passion. From that moment, we were both so giddy about what we could create and the impact it could make. That giddiness is still there because it's mission-bound.

Q: Louisa, what’s been your proudest accomplishment today for HappyHQ?

This is a hard one as there’s so much to say! I guess in general, it’s the organic growth we have achieved and the trust our clients have placed in us. We've grown through word-of-mouth, which for me speaks volumes about the impact we're making. Seeing the positive change in the companies we work with is what truly makes it all worthwhile. It's incredibly fulfilling to witness happier, more engaged teams and know we've played a part in their success.

Q: Janine, when considering your co-founder relationship with Louisa, what are you most proud of?

I’d say I’m mostly proud of our ability to laugh together, and our approach to handling situations when things don't go as planned, which we refer to as "failing happily". For example, when we tried to record an episode of our podcast, Culture Shock, one evening. Our intention was to discuss the significance of laughter in the workplace together, but we ended up laughing so much ourselves that we couldn't continue. It all started with a fact about tickling animals, and it set us off.

While some may view this as unprofessional, I value times like that and what it reveals about our personalities. Having fun is a really important part of our own culture, and it's something we always bring to every workshop too.

Q: Louisa, how do you ensure HappyHQ stays true to its core values while evolving and growing?

Ensuring that HappyHQ remains anchored in its core values while evolving and expanding is a top priority (of course). Our values guide our daily actions and decisions and are embedded in the way we act and behave. For example, to live by our value ‘trusted to achieve’ we both had to identify our strengths, define our roles as co-founders, and then be strict with our goal setting and weekly updates so we know what both of us are taking on and when it needs to get completed. Also, backing this up with software like Notion (we love Notion) means we can easily set, track, and communicate the work we are doing on projects to stay aligned.

We also have a quarterly reflection lunch where we look back at what we have achieved, and how we can improve and give each other feedback, which reflects all of our values including being ‘Radically Open-Minded’.

Q: Janine/Louisa what’s the best piece of advice you have for founders/companies who aspire to have a people-first culture?

Louisa:

The best piece of advice I can offer to founders and companies aspiring to create a people-first culture is ‘don’t be afraid of feedback, welcome it’. Remember that all company cultures are a continuous work in progress.

To truly prioritise your people, it's essential to understand their needs and aspirations. Create a safe space, listen to your team, engage in open dialogue, and be receptive to their input and ideas. They’re the people living your culture, so they know best.

It's also finding that delicate balance between meeting company goals and ensuring that your team feels valued, heard, and supported. With a culture of open communication, continuous improvement, and genuine care for your employees, you'll be well on your way to creating a people-first workplace that can thrive.

Janine:

Actions speak louder than words: It's not enough to simply declare your values - they must be reinforced through consistent action. So take a moment to reflect on your company's values. Are they clear, compelling, and authentic? Do they resonate with your team? Are they embedded in your daily operations? If not, it's time to re-evaluate.

Q: Louisa, when reflecting on your journey with HappyHQ so far, is there anything you would have done differently?

We were just discussing this recently and decided we should have reconsidered the amount of time we spent in the early days trying to persuade leaders to adopt people-first cultures. Looking back, we now realise there are two types of leaders: those who are progressive, profit-driven, and genuinely care about their people and those who do not.

The leaders who care about their people also inherently understand the value of people-first cultures or are willing to learn. These are the clients who we’ll continue to partner with, the ones who embrace HappyHQ. Redirecting our focus to collaborate more closely with these types of leaders from the very beginning could have allowed us to make a more immediate impact. But, eventually, we reached that point.

Q: Janine, what positive changes have you noticed in the world of work that you hope will continue?

For many forward-thinking companies, the hiring process has undergone a significant transformation, especially when I think back to my first job interviews! It's no longer just about determining if an applicant is a good "fit" for the company. Now, there's a focus on assessing candidates for their ability to contribute to the company's culture.

At the same time, candidates are also evaluating if the company's values align with their own. My hope is companies take more responsibility in openly communicating their core values (and, of course, demonstrating how they put them into action), and being more transparent about their culture to both current and future employees.

Q: Finally, Janine, what do you plan to do more of? And can you give us a hint about any exciting plans or projects for 2024?

We’ve loved collaborating with people and brands who support our vision, so in 2024 expect to see more of that, more events, more jargon-free practical resources, and more boldness (not just the branding).?

Here's to many more years of putting people first ??

Thank you for being here.

#HappyHQ #PeopleFirst #CompanyCulture #TheCultureEdit