Happiness in hard times

1. Happiness in hard times William McKee WmSMcKee@aol.com

2. Happiness in hard times • How hard • Happiness and why • You as a leader • You as a person

3. A perfect public sector storm • 21 century exponential change • Financial meltdown • Demographic and innovation pressures • Public confidence and expectation

4. Mervyn King “ never… has so much been owed by so few to so many….”

5. $9 trillion to bail out banks $1500 dollars from every women child and man on the planet 1/90th would bring every slum dwelling up to a minimum standard

6. A perfect public sector storm • 21 century exponential change • Financial meltdown • Demographic and innovation pressures • Public confidence and expectation

7. Never waste a good crisis • In times of crisis, assumptions are challenged, the tyranny of habit is questioned and energy is liberated which if it can be harnessed constructively can be used to address chronic and deep seated problems

8. Happiness • Jeremy Bentham 1748-1832 Utilitarianism- the right action is that which leads to the greatest happiness. “Common good” • Richard Layard “ Happiness – lessons from a new science”

9. What makes people happy • Being social animals • Trust • Status quo and status • More income less happiness BUT • We are adaptable • And inner life counts as much

10. Two Worlds. Which would you choose? Leave You have 2 weeks A/L and others have 1 week Or You have 4 weeks and others have 8 weeks A/L Salary You get £50k pa Others get £25k pa on average Or You get £100k pa Others get £250k

11. What makes people happy • Being social animals • Trust • Status quo and status • More income less happiness BUT • We are adaptable • And inner life counts as much

13. Old Chinese proverb • If you want to be happy for an hour get drunk… for three days get married…for eight days kill your pig and eat it • But if you want to be happy for ever be a gardener

14. Barbara Tuchman’s“The March of Folly” • Oblivious to the growing disaffection of constituents • Primacy of self-aggrandisement • Illusion of invulnerable status

15. Jeff Pfeffer’s seven practices of successful organisations • Employment security • Selective hiring of new personnel • Self managed teams and decentralisation of decision making as the basic principles of organisational design • Comparatively high pay contingent on organisational performance

16. Jeff Pfeffer’s seven practices of successful organisations 5.Extensive training 6.Reduced status distinctions 7.Extensive sharing of financial and performance information throughout the organisation

17. Organisations and quality • Systems processes protocols information • Organisational culture openness, thoughtful inquiry and creative action not judgment or contingency. User focus, constancy and change, recruitment, leadership, measurement for improvement not measurement for judgment

18. Success and the leader; evidence from the Evergreen Project What really works 4+2 • Strategy • Execution • Culture • Structure And any 2 of 4; talent, innovation, leadership, mergers and partnerships

19. Happiness and the HR professional • Mental health and the workforce. • Family friendly policies • Reduce uncertainty. Share all information • Reduce status differences • Rethink PRP • Rebalance the ratio of permanent and temporary staff • Exacting contracts, terms and conditions. Tough but fair

20. Happiness and the leader • Build trust. Trust-risk-progress • Staff development and performance review • Training and development has added purpose • A wider social responsibility role • Doing many projects to a “satisficing” standard is better than fewer projects at an “optimising” standard

21. Happiness and you • A personal future biography • Tips for managing time and balance worry about doing the right thing not about being successful

22. Surviving regime change • Keep the initiative • Whenever go with the grain • Keep in with the outs • Don’t get between a dog and its lamppost