Q: What is a good way to provide employees, as well as the CEO, with feedback that will advance progress and growth throughout the company?

A: Happy, a London-based WorldBlu List awardee company, offers a range of services including in-person and online training programs to assist organizations in creating effective workplaces. Within Happy, continuous feedback lies at the heart of everything they do.

For example, the staff receives feedback on every course they teach, and everyone has a standard appraisal, peer appraisal and upward appraisal as well as other evaluations, including the CEO. In fact, in response to a set of evaluations that the CEO received a few years ago, he put himself on monthly upward appraisals and focused on improving his weak areas. Within a few months, he scored much higherand grew significantly as a leader as a result.

Happy CEO Henry Stewart explains, “Why does Happy choose to practice democracy? The answer is simple: A more democratic organization is a more effective organization. We want a motivated and creative workforce eager to serve the needs of our customers. You don’t get that by keeping them in the dark and telling them what to do. If people are actively involved in the decisions that affect them, you will generally get better decisions. And, even more importantly, people will be more committed to making those decisions work.”

Watch Happy’s CEO, Henry Stewart here and learn more about Happy and their democratic practices, here.