The Happy Manifesto

Creating a happy and productive workplace starts with a focus on culture. A coaching culture can help build trust and encourage open communication. Sarah Pugh is the CEO of Whizz-Kidz, the UK's leading charity for young wheelchair users. She shares her insights on leading a hospice to an Outstanding rating in just one year. She did this by making culture a fundamental part of the change process. S...

Implementing a self-managing organisation requires a shift in mindset and a commitment to creating a positive work environment. This involves giving employees trust, freedom and responsibility, as well as promoting health and wellbeing. In this episode, Henry and Maureen speak to Luke Kyte, a senior leader whose company made this transition. Reddico is a self-managing SEO agency that implemented u...

When Jason Mitchell escaped the office to reconnect with his tasks, he noticed something: he was losing sight of the relationships behind the tasks. “Action has meaning only in relationship; without understanding relationship, action on any level will only breed conflict. The understanding of relationship is infinitely more important than the search for any plan of action.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti Th...

The guiding principle at UK software firm Mayden is to manage the work, not the people. The company has put in place a clear decision-making process and a scaffolding structure that replaces most line management positions. Everyone within Mayden has access to an individual coach who is trained and experienced in coaching, and the company has retained a tier of directors who deal with residual line...

A Multiplier is a leader who amplifies the intelligence and capability of their team, making work feel challenging yet exhilarating. Diminishers, on the other hand, unintentionally hold people back and create an environment where people defer to them. Both types of leaders have vastly different impacts on their teams. Liz Wiseman, the author of  Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone...

Wholeness, self-management and evolutionary purpose are three core principles that changed Helen Sanderson’s view on teams. Helen Sanderson’s MBE is the founder of Wellbeing Teams, an organisation providing care and support at home. As a self-governing team, they are able to create greater trust and autonomy for employees. But this wasn’t a framework that can just be dropped in: I thought it was l...

Henry and Maureen are in conversation with Chris McQueen from the Stroke Association. With Happy’s help, Chris and his team developed a set of five principles that drive the decisions the organisation makes, and how they want to work. The Association is a traditionally hierarchical organisation, but through Happy’s Level 7 Senior Leadership Programme, an MBA-level qualification, they’ve created mo...

What if people could spend 80% of their time at work doing things that gave them joy? That was the question Happy’s Managing Director Cathy Busani asked herself that still informs her work, now 27 years later. What Cathy found is that when people spend time doing the things they’re good at, their work feels more effortless, and thus more joyful. In this chat with Henry, Cathy lays out her strength...

A leader needs to be prepared to be available. That means not overbooking themselves with meetings, burning out, and being unable to think creatively. To author and columnist Tom Peters, empathy is the most important skill a leader can have. In May 1986, Tom wrote about having only five levels of management, even in big multinationals. In ‘88, he wrote  Stuff the Bureaucrats, Embrace the Cust...

Let's stop thinking about how to create joy at work, and start doing it. Join Henry Stewart and Maureen Egbe as they explore creating happy workplaces. Each episode features actionable examples from management experts and Happy clients, which you can put into practice in your own workplace. The show launches on January 11th, with new episodes arriving every two weeks.