My Happy Comrades

I have had the pleasure recently of meeting with some fellow students of happiness and reading some works of the Masters.  There is so much content out there I wanted to create a synopsis of the pieces that really resonated with me.

Firstly I was given a copy of the Happiness Manifesto by Henry Stewart.  Henry runs an IT Training Company called Happy and has built his organisation on some really empowering principles that bring out the best in his people.

One of the key principles that runs through his 10 point Manifesto is Trust.  Pre-approving decisions to empower your teams; being open and transparent especially in the tough times; celebrating failure to create a no-blame culture. All ways to build trust across the organisation.

The second group of principles focus on recruitment and role alignment.  “Recruit for attitude, train for skill” is one of my favourites.  Often the most technically skilled people are the most reluctant to be flexible.  Many of the highest performing individuals I have come across were operating outside of the role they were initially brought in to do.  Their attitude was their potential and with the right support they were excelling for the organisations they passionately believed in. 

Aligned to this point is an awareness of the Strengths within your team.  There are a handful of Strengths Frameworks from Gallup (https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com) to Alex Linley (http://www.thestrengthsfoundation.org/the-strengths-companion-l-is-for-alex-linley). The idea behind their use is that rather than creating Job Descriptions and then putting people into roles which often include tasks they are not suited to and don’t enjoy, why not hire good people and then let them craft the role to suit their strengths.  Ultimately this is more enjoyable for the individual who can work in a sense of flow more often, and rewarding for the organisation which has team of highly productive individuals.  

Having so enjoyed and been inspired by the Happiness Manifesto, in mid-June I attended a conference that Happy were running on Happy Workplaces.  There were some fantastic speakers from the public and private sectors and some great discussions among attendees during the breaks, all keen to drive up happiness at their work places as a way to improve performance, productivity and frankly the enjoyment of the 9-5.

Some takeaways for me from the event were:

• Articulate “The Deal” – what are the commitments and expectations between the company – employees – customers.  Create mutually beneficial agreements that everyone signs up to and understands the consequences of missing the mark.

• List of “F” words – what are the words or phrases that mis-convey who we are and what we stand for.

• “There is no spoon” (although the Matrix reference was lost on me) for me this was a camel/water analogy.  Having worked for two organisations that could be accused of over-sharing and offering too many opportunities to “get involved”, I know all too well that if people still complain they don’t know what’s happening or feel detached from the organisation, there may be nothing more you can do – we will not spoon feed you.  If you want it, come and get it! Get Stuck In.

• Performance Review people on what they have delivered and how they have delivered it (back to the attitude point).  You could deliver the most fantastic piece of work but if you have upset half the team while doing it you won’t get a top performance rating.

• No Triangulation – if people moan to you about someone else’s performance, give them 72 hours to have the tough conversation or you will.

• “If you got rid of the rules, no-one would turn up naked”

• As a leader “be interested not interesting”

I must give credit to Shannon Banks (Director at Be Leadership); Dominic Monkhouse (Growth Advisor); Simon Fowler (Partnership Registrar at John Lewis); and Helena Moore (Bomford Housing) for these gems of wisdom.  They resonated with me and a number will be put in place at ANDigital over the coming months.