Change Insights

In today’s world we all want more out of life – more time to get the job done, more time off, more time with the family, more time to work on our side projects and pet passions. And if you’re anything like me, more sleep!

And whilst this ‘wanting more’ is fuelling fantastic shifts in behaviours as we strive to be more efficient, it is also inevitably creating ‘less’ (or the perception of less at least) at the same time.

Less time to do the job well, less feeling of a job well done, less good quality conversations with each other, less time to step back, recharge, and think creatively. And yes, even less sleep!

So how do you get more, without eroding something else? 

We really like the expression “Happy chickens lay more eggs”. Intuitively, this idea makes sense. If a chicken is feeling safe, content and comfortable, it can focus on the really important business of laying eggs. If it is cold, lacking in food, or hassled by a barking dog, how can it concentrate? If you want to keep chickens, and you want those chickens to yield as many eggs as possible, it makes sense to focus your energy on making them happy.

We think we need to apply the same logic to business today.

So the million dollar question is… what do you have to do, to make your employees happy?

The simple answer is… whatever it takes.

It will be different per company, per department and even per individual. It may be the Virgin way, by cancelling leave allowances, empowering and trusting people to decide on their own holidays.  Or it could be the Google way, with pool tables, slides between floors and table-tennis in the office. What about bring-you-pets-to-work day? Free doughnuts on Fridays?

Or is it something deeper?

So what we know is that there is not one size fits all.  It depends on your workplace, your people and it can change over time.  What is important is that it is considered – as you would plan for how to improve the quality and efficiency of your services or products.

Here are some of the techniques we would recommend to creating happier employees, and ‘lay more eggs’:

*Provide your team with the Clarity of knowing where you are going, where you are and the important role they each play in getting you there – and do it regularly!

*Create a ‘happy-chicken’ infectious Connection through communicating with enthusiasm, positivity & energy! Think about ‘how’ you talk not just ‘what’ you talk about.

*Instill Confidence through recognition – a simple ‘high five’ goes a long way, saying thank you, make it personal…it is not always about money although it is always about an ‘investment’ of you in your team!

*Focus on the successes of the team, learn from failures, invest and develop where there are gaps in Capability and see this investment as an addition to what they can achieve (as opposed to a shortfall in)!

*Create the Capacity and protect team-time to think, create & solve problems together – foster a continuous improvement mind-set and doing it together, with open and curious minds means that you are building relationships as you go!

And if you want to bring in free doughnuts on Fridays as well, we are sure it wouldn’t hurt…