Matt Phelan sits down to discuss with Jo Dodds her career and work with Engage for Success. Jo defines the 4 enablers of Employee Engagement and how you can use them to drive employee engagement. The Four Enablers of Engagement are 1) Strategic Narrative · 2) Organisational Integrity · 3) Engaging Managers · 4) Employee Voice. Matt asks Jo the following questions What makes you happy?Tell us about your career?How do you find a career with purpose ?How did you get involved in engage for success?C...
Feb 28, 2025•43 min
About this episode Matt Phelan and Dr Carrie Goucher discuss the fascinating world of meeting culture, how it evolved, why it is a problem and how we can fix it. About Dr Carrie Goucher Dr Carrie Goucher is a leading expert on fixing broken collaboration and helping organisations move faster by rethinking how they meet, decide and execute. With a PhD in Meeting Culture from Cambridge, she coined the term “Collabureaucracy" to describe the invisible friction slowing companies down. As the cr...
Feb 21, 2025•45 min
Matt Phelan co-founder of The Happiness Index sits down with Richard Reid a Behavioural Psychologist and Psychotherapist to discuss the importance of Psychological Safety in modern leadership. Richard in his own words As a seasoned executive coach, psychologist, and consultant with decades of experience, I am committed to working with senior leaders, entrepreneurs, and public figures in addressing complex problems and taking advantage of strategic opportunities. As an in-demand media spokesperso...
Feb 17, 2025•47 min
Chief People Office Kevin Green discusses how listening and acting on feedback improved Employee Engagement and saved First Bus £10,000,000 per year. Kevin answers the following questions; Tell us about your career in HR? Why do you think HR gets over complicated? What do you mean by measuring HR? Do you have any good stats from First Bus you can share on the impact of your work? How can HR get investment and get their ideas on the agenda? What is the future of HR Kevin? Kevin in his own words I...
Dec 08, 2024•48 min
Chief People Officer Chloe Cameron and Matt Phelan discuss the workforce and workplace of the future. Matt asks Chloe the following questions What do you mean by workforce and workplace? What is our relationship with work? 4 generations in the workplace, how will that work? Discuss technology in the workplace and how it will impact work in the future? Is belonging going to be important in the future? How can we use AI to reflect the future society we want and who controls it? Is brilliant cultur...
Dec 05, 2024•43 min
Susan Ní Chríodáin the author of Leading Beyond the Numbers joins us to discuss her book and work focused on Integrating Business with Emotions. Susan answers the following questions; What makes you happy? Why did you write Leading Beyond the Numbers? What are the key lessons you want a reader to take away? How can someone listening, go back to their organisation and start to help people see beyond the numbers? In a time where many companies are struggling financially can this book help? Have th...
Nov 22, 2024•42 min
HR expert Mirela Oana joins the podcast to discuss the impact of AI on the future of work. Mirela answers these questions What makes you happy? Definition of what we mean by AI? Which of the drivers of happiness and engagement will AI be able to help most on, which ones the least Any practical examples of how businesses can help people feel more safe with the topic of AI e.g. is there concern about AI replacing jobs? What training and enablement do people need? Can AI help me be happier? Is happ...
Nov 22, 2024•31 min
Patrick Phelan interviews Matthew Phelan on what The Happiness Index has planned for their 2nd Employee Happiness Conference in London, UK. Podcast discount If you use the code MattP when signing up for this event it will give you a 30% discount You can sign up here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/employee-happiness-annual-conference-tickets-888246929477...
Oct 30, 2024•20 min
Matt P, Matt S and Sharon discuss the previous episode (please scroll back) that was 100% AI generated. Matt shared his observations that: - The AI consumed over 100 research studies but didn’t reference them all. - This tech could be a really useful learning aid if audio is your preference. For example you could take any document, upload it and listen to it back as a podcast - Apparently one of the most listened to podcasts in retail is now built and read by AI. It’s called something like Retai...
Oct 10, 2024•24 min
As an experiment I just fed all the publicly available Employee Happiness research papers focused on Performance from the last 10 years into Google AI. I then used that AI to turn the findings into a podcast. The entire process took 2 mins max. Have a listen and let me know what you think... Scary? Useful? Am I out of a job? Better than my normal episodes?
Sep 24, 2024•7 min
In this episode we explore Aoife’s career around the world and her path to working to create happier workplaces. Aoife has worked on organisations such as Unilever, Mars, Coca-Cola and Kraft-Heinz. We discuss imposter syndrome, how to create happier work places and why this is important for leading a successful business.
Jul 25, 2024•38 min
Matt sits down to chat about all things self-esteem and employee engagement with Senior Culture Leader, Business Consultant and Entrepreneur, Anais Nebel!
Jul 02, 2024•27 min
Matt sits down with Emma Woods, UK Group Head of HR at Rotala Group Limited to discuss: What makes you happy? How did you get into HR? Any advice for anyone wanting to move sectors? Can you go from being a bus driver to MD? What are your tips for developing managers? Can you be a nice HR person? What is HR excellence? How can HR and recruitment work better together? How do you make a difference in HR? What advice would you give to your younger self?...
May 07, 2024•33 min
Matt is joined by Paul Spiers, Founder and Host of The New P&L, as they unpack why next gen leaders are looking for a new P&L and whether happiness belongs in P&L.
Apr 08, 2024•35 min
Matt sits down to chat to Jules Eustance, Founder of The Corporate Success Co. to discuss career development and leadership develop for retail and e-commerce. Delving into how to create illusive measurement andaccountability, this is not one to miss!
Mar 26, 2024•42 min
In this episode we see Kashi takeover once again, hosting a Q&A session on the release of 'The Happiness Index - Why Todays Emotions Equal Tomorrows Business Success'. A live Q&A with audience participation, you'll find out how this book came to be and why it's such a useful tool.
Dec 06, 2023•29 min
Matt is joined by Founder of The World Happiness Summit, Karen Guggenheim to delve into the story behind the 3-day event that sees the world’s leading experts in the science of happiness and wellbeing gather to share practice and tools!
Nov 12, 2023•26 min
Minter Dial, Keynote Speaker, NED/Advisor, Award-winning Author, Expert @APM, Podcaster: Minter Dialogue & Joy of Padel sits down to discuss 'Values' in this final instalment of our Neuroscience series. We develop our personal values through life, and especially in our younger years. They are our emotional guide that help us know what we want to experience in terms of human connection and concepts such as fairness. Sharing our sense of values is critical to sustaining team journeys w...
Oct 23, 2023•36 min
Rob Turner, Culture & Engagement Manager at BT talks all things Inspiration with Matt! Inspiration is the inner sensation which motivates us to do something important, a state where we are prepared to engage with a significant challenge regardless of the difficulties it may present. When we are inspired, we have the potential to be our best and to summon all of our personal talent. Inspiration can be triggered by our external experience or by our own internal thoughts.
Oct 16, 2023•33 min
Matt sits down with John Fitzgerald, the Founder of Harmonics, Executive Coach to CEO's. Described by Clients as Passionate, authentic, highly impactful, insightful and innovative. They tackle the topic of Commitment! Commitment is a state of emotional attachment to a cause. It is something we feel as a sense of belonging and purpose which is personally meaningful to our own life journey. It is a state of emotional engagement where we identify with a wider human group or purpose. At its high...
Oct 09, 2023•51 min
Steve Bianchi Chief People Officer at ECARX, sits down to tackle the tough subject of Information Flow, in this final part to the Clarity theme trilogy. People need to have access to the right information to enable them to do their jobs effectively. This needs to include primary information for task execution and supporting information to provide context. The contextual information offers room for more creative ideas as to how task responsibilities can evolve...
Sep 18, 2023•38 min
Gemma Shambler Head Of People at The Happiness Index sits down with Matt Phelan to discuss the topic of Requirements/Resources within the theme of Clarity. Each person needs to understand exactly what is expected of them in their role, an area classically explained in the job description and including key tasks and responsibilities. Importantly, such documents should be dynamic and evolve over time, keeping pace with the person’s learning and ability to contribute.
Sep 11, 2023•33 min
Fiona McDonnell International GM/ Board Advisor / Author /Speaker /VP Booking.com sits down with Matt Phelan to chat all things Clarity, specifically 'Organisational Impact' People have the opportunity to contribute more widely when they can see the bigger organisational picture. Understanding how their own role fits into the wider process flow of the end-to-end business encourages cross-functional consideration and ideas, avoiding the missed opportunities of siloed thinking.
Sep 04, 2023•34 min
Dan Sodergren, Founder at AI Marketing Course, joins Matt today to delve into the world of 'Enablement', more specifically the topic of 'Collaboration' Collaboration with other teams outside of the immediate job role context can open up opportunities for wider creative contribution and more effective teamwork across the organisation.
Aug 21, 2023•42 min
Sope Agbelusi joins us today! The Executive Coach & Founder of Mindsetshift chats to Matt about how to give your people the resources they need to thrive. People need the right resources to be available to fulfil their responsibilities. This includes having access to the appropriate tools, systems and support services, as well as enablement through education and training.
Aug 14, 2023•44 min
Today's special guest is Azzy Aslam, Performance Habits Coach at Comentra! Here to chat to Matt about the Neuroscience theme of 'Enablement', specifically 'Workload'. The level of workload and the degree of challenge within it needs to be sufficient to keep the person engaged but not overwhelmed. Listen on to find out more!
Aug 07, 2023•32 min
This episode, we switch things up and Matt is being interviewed by THI Community and Events Exec, Kashi Chellen Listen on for all the things you need to know about upcoming release of Matt's book 'The Happiness Index' and the book launch!
Aug 01, 2023•13 min
On this episode of Happiness&Humans we have the incredible Arlette Bentzen, Chief Happiness Officer at Arbejdsglæde nu, talking about 'Team Dynamics'! The term line manager might sound like an outdated term these days but no matter how flat your internal org chart is, there will be some kind of power dynamic in play and these relationships will impact the happiness of your employees.
Jul 20, 2023•43 min
Matt sits down with Cathy Courtenay Certified RLT Coach at Conscious Relating Coaching, to discuss all things 'Personal Relationships' There is a particular dynamic around teamwork that can give us a sense of community and collective bonding. Being able to connect with a team provides a vital social ingredient to our emotional needs and gives us the opportunity to feel that we belong.
Jul 20, 2023•49 min
Feeling energetically connected to our colleagues is that sense of just understanding each other. We are on the same wavelength and naturally click. People and Happiness Assistant at The Happiness Index, Tony Latter, Co-founder & Chief Platform Officer at The Happiness Index & Clive Hyland, Head of Neuroscience at The Happiness Index & Founding Partner at Make Sense, sit down to chat about why energetic connections are so important in relationship building....
Jul 20, 2023•28 min
