Creating More Inclusive Workplaces: Men & Women Working Together
Dr. Jill Armstrong and Jason Ghaboos are working together to create a more gender inclusive workplace. The simplest step is getting men and women to work together more often. The bigger picture is their Collaborating With Men project – a name Jill has reservations about – that aims to tackle everyday sexism in the workplace, partly by showing everyone their contribution is valued.
Speaking at the 2018 Happy Workplaces Conference, Jill and Jason, from the Murray Edwards College at Cambridge, explore some of our deep seated assumptions about men and women and how we apply those filters to our workplaces.
Employee Engagement: Transforming Culture
Nita Clarke is director of the Involvement and Participation Association (IPA), Britain’s leading organisation delivering workplace support for good employment and industrial relations.
David MacLeod is co-chair of the Employee Engagement Task Force launched by the Prime Minister in 2011. He is a visiting Professor of the Cass Business School, a Fellow of the Ashridge Business School, the Institute of Marketing and of the RSA.
Speaking at the 2017 Happy Workplaces conference, Nita and David look at the increasing external pressures bearing down on organisations and the increasing demands employees have of their workplaces.
Watch Nita and David’s full talk below.
How People and Purpose are Your Route to Profit
Nikki Gatenby is the owner and managing director of Propellernet, which was named one of the top 10 Best Places to Work in the UK for six years running. Digital marketing has always been their focus, but over the last decade they’ve gone from an unremarkable and locally-based company to a super-engaged, global player.
Speaking at the 2018 Happy Workplaces Conference, Nikki explains how the decision to start putting people before profit has not only brought about greater workplace happiness, but also boosted profits.
Becoming a Leader Who Multiplies the Abilities of Your People
Have you ever worked for someone whose leadership made you feel smarter and more capable? Happy’s Cathy Busani understands the advantages of leaders who’re able multiply the abilities of their people.
Speaking at the 2018 Happy Workplaces conference, Cathy draws from Liz Wiseman’s book, Multipliers: How the Best leaders Make Everyone Smarter, to illustrate how to become a multiplier of others. Watch the complete talk below.
Best Practices From One of the Happiest Countries in the World
Try locating the word ‘workhappiness’ in the English dictionary. You won’t find it. In Danish, however, there is a word for this condition – arbejdsglaede. Woohoo inc claim to be the happiness-at-work experts. Arlette Bentzen is the Danish company’s Chief Happiness Officer, meaning there’s no one better positioned to give tips on attaining arbejdsglaede.
Watch Arlette’s full presentation at the 2018 Happy Workplaces Conference, in which she offers three work-happiness tips derived from some of Denmark’s most progressive workplaces.
Let’s Get Real On Empowering Our People
Over the last couple of years, Happy has undergone a transformation. Why? Because as chief happiness officer Henry Stewart revealed at the beginning of his talk at the 2019 Happy Workplaces Conference, Happy was losing a lot of money.
Assessing the financial downturn, Henry and his leadership team realised they’d lost sight of some core principles. So instead of cutting things and getting more hierarchical, the turnaround was made possible by revisiting their core principles and acting in accordance.
One thing that Henry decided to do is make no decisions. Find out why in this video.
10 Great Examples From Some of the Most Democratic Workplaces on the Planet
Since a young age, WorldBlu CEO Traci Fenton has believed we’re all meant to live our fullest potential. At university Traci came to the conclusion that democracy, in its truest manifestation, is a system of organisation that can release people’s fullest potential. WorldBlu was subsequently created and over the last two decades Traci’s worked with clients in 80 countries, teaching them freedom at work.
WorldBlu’s freedom at work model directly opposes fear-based work cultures. There are three crucial components to the freedom-centred approach. The first is a freedom-centred mindset. The second is freedom-centred leadership—leaders with a fear-based mindset create command and control management structures. To build freedom-centred cultures, Traci says top leadership must have high self-worth. “Self-worth is being secure with who you are,” she says.
The final component is organisational design, which was the focus of Traci’s talk at the 2019 Happy Workplaces conference. Watch the complete talk in the video below.
Creating Great Customer Experience Through Happy Workplaces
Sarah Metcalfe is Head of Customer Service at Sure Petcare and she knows that a happy workplace is essential for enhancing the customer experience. Sarah points to research indicating that by 2020, 90% of customers will be choosing where they do business based on the customer experience. To achieve a net promoter score of around 9 or 10, it takes a human going to great lengths.
“That’s where you have the difference between an OK experience and an amazing one,” says Sarah. It all starts with the people who’re providing the service.
In this full length video from the 2019 Happy Workplaces Conference, Sarah explains how Sure Petcare have created an environment that allows people to bring their whole selves to work.
At Sure Petcare, a Happy Workplace is More About What Leadership Doesn’t Do
Sarah Metcalfe is Head of Customer Service at Sure Petcare and she knows that a happy workplace is essential for enhancing the customer experience. When she asked her team, “what makes you happy at work?” what stood out was that it’s really more about what leadership doesn’t do.
For example, they don’t impose SLAs or metrics. They don’t get mad if staff are late because they’re stuck in traffic. They don’t measure people and don’t ask them how long they’re going to be on the phone for.
In this short video from the 2019 Happy Workplaces Conference, Sarah explains what gives her team the ability to do whatever it takes to make the customer happy.
The Journey to Create a Happy Workplace in Manufacturing
Derek Hill, managing director of Advanced Technology Solutions, came to the 2019 Happy Workplaces conference to talk about his organisation’s journey to create a happy workplace in manufacturing. Derek equates the company’s pithy mantra – “we make factories run better” – to the central philosophy of the book Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? The intention to make factories run better has been at the nucleus of ATS since its inception in 1985.
In this full length video for the 2019 Happy Workplaces conference, Derek explains how ATS employees have their purpose renewed by honouring the mantra to this day.
