The Happiness at Work conference went beyond feel-good talk

Šrakyi, whom you may know from our podcast (The Internet of Things and, surprisingly, Happiness at Work), helped organize the Happiness at Work conference and invited me and Filemon. Filemon gave a lightning talk at the pace of a Gatling gun, then pitched his own app for analyzing real relationships inside companies. I was left to jot down notes and impressions. It might sound like a feel-good topic and a trip to meet people with their heads in the clouds. It turned out to be the opposite. Happiness at work is simpler and more tangible than we think. I hope Šrakyi won’t mind my skipping a full report. I’d at least like to share what stood out to me and thank him here.

Keynote

• Alexander Kjerulf
• Book — Happy Hour is 9 to 5: How to Love your Job, Love your Life, and Kick Butt at Work
• Happiness at work is not job satisfaction. It’s not what we think, but how we feel. It’s about emotions
• Create an environment where people experience many more positive emotions
• It usually takes three positive emotions to balance out one negative emotion
• Anyone can be happy at work
• Example of the older woman who cleaned the airport restrooms, and Southwest Airlines
• Why happiness at work matters
• It has a big, even enormous, effect on people’s productivity and performance
• We often talk about problems at work and almost never about what made us happier there

What makes us feel good about our work

• I’m needed
• I can accomplish something
• I do meaningful things
• I do something useful that will help someone

Give people feedback

• Praise people. You could start each meeting with what went well, for example
• Men often feel that saying nothing is a form of praise. Unfortunately, other people don’t always see it that way.
• Tip — Start the morning by greeting your colleagues warmly

Relationships at work are a major part of feeling happy

• Relationships with coworkers
• We need to feel that we’re part of a group and that we belong somewhere
• The relationship with the boss matters most
• They appreciate my work
• They know who I am
• They know what I can do
• They support me

Money isn’t the main motivator. It only goes so far

• It can cause bad feeling
• We’re wired to expect fair treatment. When we feel we aren’t getting it, we often feel wronged
• A higher salary won’t make you happy
• A happier workplace makes more money
• Tips
• You need leaders
• Fire bad managers. See The No Asshole Rule
• Hire happy people
• Give the work meaning and purpose
• Celebrate wins, even the small ones

Etnetera

• Everything starts and ends with trust
• Restrictions aren’t needed. They usually hold back 97 percent of people when they were intended for 3 percent who may already have left
• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes
• We went all in when we restructured the company. People believed we meant it
• We parted ways with those who didn’t like it
• You need people willing to try
• Incidentally, we had them on podcast 111
• We use rules of thumb and common sense in place of processes. That keeps the number of processes to a minimum
• What didn’t work
• A flat structure, with difficult coordination and meetings of 20 people
• Putting salespeople on teams
• Taking away people’s meal vouchers
• The goal was independent teams and a great culture