Leadership Lessons From The Happiest Place In The World – Forbes
When companies gain the reputation of publicly recognizing and rewarding employees, it propels the … [+]
There is a word that exists only in the Scandinavian languages: Arbejdsglæde. This means “happiness at work.” Denmark is known as one of the happiest countries in the world.
It’s a relatively small, tight-knit country. The people are proud, but humble. They are open to diversity in actions and thought, and treat each other with equality. The country offers free college and hospital visits with little corruption. The citizens of Denmark tend to possess an open-minded, rugged and mountaineering mindset.
To find out what Denmark does differently, I spoke with LogPoint CEO Jesper Zerlang. Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with offices across Europe, the United States and Asia, LogPoint is a multinational, multicultural and inclusive cybersecurity company.
Zerlang shared his experiences with the once-in-a-century, transformational, pandemic-induced segue into a remote and hybrid work style. He recognizes that work-life balance is no longer just a perk for employees; it’s a priority. To ensure the mental health and well-being of the employees, Zerlang made sure that, in addition to helpful benefits packages, there is a need to focus on the people and culture.
The cybersecurity company places a premium on cultivating a positive and supportive work culture. LogPoint re-organized and re-prioritized work-life balance. The organization is carrying Denmark’s “happiest country” mindset in its ethos, as LogPoint continues its expansion into the U.S.
Values must be treated as meaningful rather than just nice corporate buzzwords. It’s important that both prospective candidates and current employees share the company values of a positive, collaborative work culture. Having passionate employees with team spirit, the company becomes better, stronger and leads to customer satisfaction and leadership within its space.
Empathetic leaders, such as Zerlang, intuitively get that in today’s new era, you can’t expect people to be chained to their desks all day, every day. The 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. model is hopelessly outdated and doesn’t work for all employees, customers or the bottom line.
The Modern, Hybrid Workplace, which the company espouses, necessitates clear principles of leadership, accountability and environment and requires a profound commitment to these principles, including employees, managers and executives.
LogPoint seeks to employ talented, passionate and ambitious people who are competent in solving the tasks for which they have been hired and those who take pride in delivering their best. Once hired, leadership trusts them to execute their work in whatever way is most efficient, along with a sense of responsibility and accountability to their colleagues and other stakeholders.
LogPoint trusts that employees will do their work in the best possible way and, therefore, wants to provide them with the flexibility to do so. This focus on tasks rather than hours means that any employee at LogPoint can—in agreement with their manager—organize their work hours and workplace in the way that supports them in delivering their best work, if it is sensible in terms of collaboration, teamwork and deadlines.
The commitment to a flexible work environment that supports individual and team performance and well-being demands clear communication between colleagues and consistent leadership from managers.
Progressive management understands that people are all different. LogPoint celebrates diversity and supports a flexible work environment where diversity can flourish. Skilled people know how they perform best. Not everyone is the same and the company does not believe in a “one size fits all.”
LogPoint believes that every person is created equal and rejects rigid hierarchies. Leadership encourages creativity and innovation in problem-solving and supports an open, respectful dialogue where every employee’s input is valued.
Managers stay close and collaborate with their employees and agree on flexible ways of working directly with them. Supervisors are taught to catch on to any signs of over-work. Employees are not expected to be permanently “online,” but work in a way that reflects their aspirations and tasks.
The flexibility requires that employees can self-govern. LogPointers are responsible, along with their managers, for planning deliverables and communicating deadlines clearly to stakeholders and to do their very best to complete their tasks on time and in the desired quality.
To foster this ongoing dialogue around work tasks, workload and well-being, managers ensure frequent one-on-one interactions with all of their direct reports. Team managers host frequent team meetings to ensure that objectives are aligned and that there is a team spirit and sense of belonging. Social team activities are planned at regular intervals.
Managers are quick and consistent in stopping any behavior that is not in keeping with LogPoint’s values and general good conduct toward colleagues. Many people might avoid coming to work if there are unresolved issues in working with a colleague or within a team. Managers must ensure a trusting, confidential space where such issues can be brought up and show employees that such matters will be dealt with immediately and appropriately.
To ensure continuous, anonymous 360-degrees feedback and subsequent actions plans, LogPoint is implementing the necessary means to obtain constant feedback loops and engage employees continuously.
The company invests in creating a physical and psychological office environment, where people feel safe to spend their time—not because they must, but because they enjoy it. To this end, LogPoint has promoted a “people experience specialist,” whose role is to improve the physical and psychological well-being of employees. The people experience specialist is responsible for creating social activities, events and other employee guidelines for Life at LogPoint.
LogPoint works continuously to create an office space where people want to be. This includes good office and IT solutions, bright surroundings with a sensible workflow and options for different types of work styles.
Everyone is responsible for ensuring efficient, productive meetings with a respectful code of conduct, so people don’t feel their time is wasted, but interaction with their peers is fruitful and valuable. This also means respecting the bookings of meeting rooms, starting and stopping on time, having a clear agenda, coming prepared and contributing and leaving meeting rooms clean and fresh.
They pay attention to the small details that can get overlooked. Some elements of the everyday working environment may be regarded as trivial, as they have been part of our working life for years, but they are extremely important. The organization provides healthy lunch and snack options, including beverages, to all employees. There’s efficient and secure IT solutions for home work to all employees, and LogPoint offers best-in-class health and dental insurance for everyone.
It’s important to celebrate accomplishments and victories—no matter how small. It’s not just commercial success, but also to show appreciation and highlight the achievements of colleagues.
When companies gain the reputation of publicly recognizing and rewarding employees, it propels the organization to the next level. The current employees feel proud, engaged and appreciated. In a Great Resignation and war-for-talent job market, people will be more apt to stick around. Management will not have to worry about unrelenting attrition. It’s also a great recruiting tool, as people will hear of the good things going on in a company that’s empathetic and employee-empowering and be excited to join them.
