Happy in Denmark - How Come?
17,701 viewsJun 28, 2011, 10:16am
Happy in Denmark - How Come?
I've just come back from a wonderful, relaxing two-week vacation in Denmark. So I know why I was happy there: spending lots of time with my husband; catching up on my sleep; exploring beautiful old buildings; walking on the beach; eating great seafood.
But why was everybody else so happy?
It turns out that the Danes are the self-reported happiest people in the world. A group called The World Values Survey Association asked people in over 50 countries around the world to rate their personal happiness and their overall contentment with life on a scale of 1-10, and the folks in Denmark scored themselves higher, on average, than people in any other country.
Having just been there, I'm less surprised than I would have otherwise been: it seemed extraordinarily calm, clean and prosperous. Nearly everyone we met was relaxed, curious, helpful, and friendly. It's not perfect - I know, for instance, that the Danes pay a huge amount in income taxes. But it looks like they get a lot for it; medical care and education are covered, childcare and parental leave policies are generous, public transport is good, the streets are safe.
However, I noticed one difference between Denmark and many other countries with a high level of socialized services: it seemed remarkably un-bureaucratic. Things were organized without being regimented or restrictive. As I've been reading more about Denmark since returning, I've stumbled upon an element that I think may be key to understanding the Danish happiness phenomenon - and one that also explains this unusual combination of simplicity and structure.
It turns out the Danes also have high levels of trust. They trust each other, the government, and they even trust 'outsiders' - visitors and foreign nationals who come to Denmark to live and work.
I've seen over and over that trust alone can bring ease and simplicity. There's a great book that I've talked about before called The Speed of Trust. In it, Stephen M.R. Covey, the author (and son of Stephen R Covey of "7 Habits" fame) proposes that trust is a key business driver: that when trust between colleagues, and between a company and its customers, is high, business works faster and more cost-effectively: speed goes up, cost goes down.
Even more interesting, I discovered that the Speed of Trust website cites a study that shows Denmark tied for first place (with New Zealand and Singapore) as "the world's most trusted countries."
Putting this all together, I speculate that high trust = more ease, simplicity and productivity = happier citizens. Here's a personal example. On the last day of our vacation we went to a small stable to go horseback riding. They didn't take credit cards, and we didn't have enough kroner on hand to cover the cost. We were about to get in the car and go to the nearest ATM, which the stable owner had told us was about a mile away. Then he said, "Look, it's almost 3 and the ride's about to start. Why don't you just go riding, and then you can get the money and pay me after you get back."
Remarkably high level of trust! And we were certainly happy with the interaction - and it seemed as though our stable owner was, as well.
So, if my speculations (and the research) are correct, and high trust is not only a business driver but also increases happiness, the question is: how can we increase trust at work, both within our organizations and between organizations and their stakeholders?
I'd love to hear your ideas about this...and I'll be sharing both the ideas I hear from you and some ideas of my own in my next post.
Erika Andersen
I'm the founding partner of Proteus, keynote speaker, business thinker and author of Growing Great Employees, Being Strategic, Leading So People Will Follow and Be Bad F...
17,701 viewsJun 28, 2011, 10:16am
Happy in Denmark - How Come?
I've just come back from a wonderful, relaxing two-week vacation in Denmark. So I know why I was happy there: spending lots of time with my husband; catching up on my sleep; exploring beautiful old buildings; walking on the beach; eating great seafood.
But why was everybody else so happy?
It turns out that the Danes are the self-reported happiest people in the world. A group called The World Values Survey Association asked people in over 50 countries around the world to rate their personal happiness and their overall contentment with life on a scale of 1-10, and the folks in Denmark scored themselves higher, on average, than people in any other country.
Having just been there, I'm less surprised than I would have otherwise been: it seemed extraordinarily calm, clean and prosperous. Nearly everyone we met was relaxed, curious, helpful, and friendly. It's not perfect - I know, for instance, that the Danes pay a huge amount in income taxes. But it looks like they get a lot for it; medical care and education are covered, childcare and parental leave policies are generous, public transport is good, the streets are safe.
However, I noticed one difference between Denmark and many other countries with a high level of socialized services: it seemed remarkably un-bureaucratic. Things were organized without being regimented or restrictive. As I've been reading more about Denmark since returning, I've stumbled upon an element that I think may be key to understanding the Danish happiness phenomenon - and one that also explains this unusual combination of simplicity and structure.
It turns out the Danes also have high levels of trust. They trust each other, the government, and they even trust 'outsiders' - visitors and foreign nationals who come to Denmark to live and work.
I've seen over and over that trust alone can bring ease and simplicity. There's a great book that I've talked about before called The Speed of Trust. In it, Stephen M.R. Covey, the author (and son of Stephen R Covey of "7 Habits" fame) proposes that trust is a key business driver: that when trust between colleagues, and between a company and its customers, is high, business works faster and more cost-effectively: speed goes up, cost goes down.
Even more interesting, I discovered that the Speed of Trust website cites a study that shows Denmark tied for first place (with New Zealand and Singapore) as "the world's most trusted countries."
Putting this all together, I speculate that high trust = more ease, simplicity and productivity = happier citizens. Here's a personal example. On the last day of our vacation we went to a small stable to go horseback riding. They didn't take credit cards, and we didn't have enough kroner on hand to cover the cost. We were about to get in the car and go to the nearest ATM, which the stable owner had told us was about a mile away. Then he said, "Look, it's almost 3 and the ride's about to start. Why don't you just go riding, and then you can get the money and pay me after you get back."
Remarkably high level of trust! And we were certainly happy with the interaction - and it seemed as though our stable owner was, as well.
So, if my speculations (and the research) are correct, and high trust is not only a business driver but also increases happiness, the question is: how can we increase trust at work, both within our organizations and between organizations and their stakeholders?
I'd love to hear your ideas about this...and I'll be sharing both the ideas I hear from you and some ideas of my own in my next post.
Erika Andersen
I'm the founding partner of Proteus, keynote speaker, business thinker and author of Growing Great Employees, Being Strategic, Leading So People Will Follow and Be Bad F...
