PurpleLine Consulting

I love this article by Gill Corkindale from the Harvard Business Publishing site, which sets out the guiding principles that Happy a small IT company in the UK uses with its employees and customers.

This company clearly realises the importance (and huge value) of people being happy in their jobs.  Perhaps the most important reason this works is that it shows and for Happy, whose business is centred around learning, this is a very important ingredient for successful learning.

Looking at the Happy website, it’s great to see that Henry Stewart and Cathy Busani, Happy’s founders, do speaking engagements to share their wisdom with others.

• I think the list is a really good one and 3 in particular stand out for me:
• The importance of attitude – the key differentiating factor for me in recruitment
• How critical it is to recruit/promote people to management positions based on their people skills

Catch people doing things right.  I speak from experience here and this is something I know I have got wrong in the past – to my cost.

The last one on the list – celebrate mistakes – is an interesting one and one that few organisations get right in my experience.  I am currently coaching a manager – highly valued by his organisation – who is perceived to have made a mistake.  I am impressed that, instead of punishing him, they are investing in his development.  He is so committed to his organisation and is making enormous progress.  It is a real pleasure to work with such an organisation.