Category: Workplace happiness

  • The gift of listening

    Have you ever left a social gathering feeling drained? Chances are you didn’t get to express yourself authentically. Perhaps you felt you had to make small talk or pretend to be interested in topics that didn’t excite you. Have you ever come away from a meeting feeling frustrated and demoralised? I’ll bet you weren’t given […]

  • Purpose and Work

    Marci Shimoff tells a story about three men on a building site. When asked what they’re doing, the first replies that he is laying bricks. The second replies that he is proud to be practising his trade as a bricklayer. The third replies that he is building a beautiful cathedral. This story demonstrates the different […]

  • The Song of Significance

    The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams  by Seth Godin “Management is the practice of using power and authority to get what we want. …Leadership is the art of creating something significant.”  This is one of the many pithy quotes from Seth Godin’s book, all about how the workplace should be a place […]

  • Logical arguments

    Logic is great for puzzles and games, which take place in a finite imaginary world with known facts and rules (and usually only one right answer). But logic has its limitations; it cannot lead to conclusions outside of that world. Regular equations can’t explain quantum phenomena, just as a game of Cluedo cannot conclude with: […]

  • Reputation

    Here’s a challenging question: Would you rather be a good person with a bad reputation, or a bad person with a good reputation? In recent years, many highly regarded public figures have turned out to have very dark pasts. Decades of high standing are suddenly destroyed when the truth comes out. The higher the person’s […]

  • Pink Shirt Attitude in Action

    In 2007, two Canadian high school students noticed a new boy getting bullied for wearing a pink shirt. They dealt with the situation in a most creative way, buying up a load of cheap pink shirts and messaging all their friends, so that the next day the school was a sea of pink. Pink Shirt […]

  • Happiness at (insert name of…) Your Workplace

    This half-day workshop gives an overview of happiness research and why happiness is important at work. Practical exercises are used to infuse participants’ own work with meaning and fulfilment, and to generate ideas to lift workplace cheerfulness. Content can be tailored to your unique work situation. Contact us to find out more, or to order […]

  • Humour at Work

    Isn’t it uplifting when you work alongside someone with a sense of humour! Some people have a natural gift for making you laugh at just the right moment; others are great at appreciating humour, sharing cartoons and lightening the mood with their laughter. (Of course, I’m talking here about upbeat or silly humour, not the […]

  • Staying upbeat despite the moaners

    Two long term studies of couples showed that partners’ happiness scores tend to become more similar over time.  That’s not surprising, but what’s alarming is that it’s the happier one whose mood declines to match their partner’s, while the more miserable person remains relatively stable. Many of us have probably experienced this at work too, […]

  • Nature, nurture or circumstance?

    At New Year we often think about changes we’d like to make in our lives. To do so, we need to believe that we are not destined to stay the same forever. In other words, we need to have a ‘growth mindset.’ If you believe that people are born either good or bad at something […]