Joy and HR - Lessons for Creating an Intentionally Joyful Culture

Any organization that is on a culture transformation journey (and who isn’t these days?) and is not looking at its people processes will fail. Slowly and painfully, fail.

Culture is a big topic, and it seems every organization wants one. The truth is EVERY organization, young or old, big or small, has a culture. Many want to change the one they have to something better, more compelling, and more energizing.

In this talk, Rich will explore how to create and foster an intentionally joyful culture.

Most organizations are not intentional about their cultures and thus, those cultures are defined by personalities, often heroes, rather than by leadership intention. Hero-based cultures are often defined by questions like Who did we hire? What attitudes walked in the door this morning? What behaviors do we tolerate?

If a cultural intention is chosen, it must show up in every element of traditional HR: Recruiting, interviewing, selection, onboarding, pay, feedback, promotion, and firing.

Rich will share experiences from his history as an executive at a tired public company, which transformed dramatically under Rich’s leadership. Rich will also share the story of Menlo Innovations, a company he co-founded in 2001 with the specific intention of a culture focused on The Business Value of Joy®.

He will explore different ways to recruit, the importance of storytelling, interview processes without questions, transparency in compensation systems run by the team itself, feedback systems designed by the team for the team, and the importance of being able to draw a short, straight line from all of the people processes back to joy!

Audience members will learn:

• How to define an intentional culture versus a default culture.
• Why this is such an important topic.
• Strategies for large organizations.
• Specific, actionable ideas to get started.

About Rich Sheridan:
Rich Sheridan, CEO and Chief Storyteller at Menlo Innovations, is a successful entrepreneur and author of two best-selling books — Joy Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love and Chief Joy Officer: How Great Leaders Elevate Human Energy and Eliminate Fear. Rich’s passion for inspiring organizations to create their own joy-filled cultures has led him to address audiences across the world—through four continents and 18 countries (and counting) as well as throughout the United States.

What motivates Rich to meet with audiences around the world, speaking to tens of thousands of people in every setting imaginable, virtually or in-person? What does he share with his audiences that makes them jump to their feet with enthusiasm and return to their organizations on fire with inspiration? Simply this: joy. More specifically, that joy in your organization is not just possible but essential—essential to profitability, to productivity, to every measure of success.

Rich and his message of joyful leadership have been featured in press outlets ranging from Inc., Forbes, and New York magazines to Bloomberg, U.S. News & World Report, NPR’s On Point podcast, NPR’s All Things Considered, and the Harvard Business Review. His videos for organizations such as Gemba Academy, VitalSmarts, and the Arbinger Institute continue to inspire audiences around the world. Rich was also inducted into the Shingo Academy in 2022 for his work supporting the principles of organizational excellence.

Rich doesn’t just talk about joy in the workplace. He lives it every day at Menlo, the custom software and consulting company he co-founded in 2001 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Since then, Menlo has received worldwide notice for its unique culture, including recognition by Denmark’s Chief Happiness Officer as one of the ten happiest places to work on the planet. Menlo has also been recognized by the Alfred P. Sloan award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility for 11 straight years and has received a lifetime achievement award for Freedom at Work from WorldBlu, as well as five revenue awards from Inc. magazine. Today people come to Menlo from all over the world, over 20,000 in the last decade (and thousands visiting virtually since the pandemic began) — to learn about Menlo and how they can create a culture of joy in their own organizations.