Upward Brand Interactions: The Happy Project

In honor of the popularity of Pharrell's "Happy", I'd like to have you all sit back and visualize this…

A moment at your office that inspires you to crank up your Spotify tunes for all to hear, a moment so great that you spin in your desk chair like a 10-year-old girl, a moment so awesome that you and your co-workers get up and dance.

So what makes us happy as employees in an agency environment? There are lots of recent studies on happiness in the workplaces, but we at Upward Brand Interactions did our very own internal primary research on what makes us truly happy at our workplace. It boils down to these top 5:

Wow-ing Clients

Our very top priority is to “wow” our clients. Not to simply meet their expectations, but to exceed their expectations in a way that makes them want to get up and dance. Sound cliché? Not here. Truly impacting businesses is what our business is all about. Whether it’s taking a client’s breath away with design work, generating leads that allow them to hire more employees, teaching them something new and valuable to apply to their businesses or just making their job easier, this is what makes us feel satisfied.

Getting Wowed By Co-Workers

It’s rare in the workplace to look at those around you and think you’re sitting next to the smartest and most creative people you know, people that inspire you to do better work and to challenge yourself. Time and time again, I’m wowed by my co-worker’s work across various areas of discipline. I have discovered through our internal research that my fellow Upward employees feel the same. Here is a short list of examples of how we’ve been wowed by our co-workers:

• Watching the design team turn wireframes into the most beautiful web design.
• Turning sketches and a mission into a brand that takes a client’s business to the next level.
• A developer nailing a critical piece of functionality that works magic.
• Witnessing a vision and message come to life through video.

Finding Innovative Solutions

Having the professional freedom and support to take risks and think outside the box is key to creating innovative solutions for our clients. We have the luxury of great leadership that allows us the autonomy that leads to professional growth and happiness. It allows our team to have necessary open dialog in cross-functional brainstorming sessions to discover innovative solutions with real business applications for our clients. It helps us to find new, better and more effective ways of accomplishing goals. This gets us excited.

Feeling Proud & Appreciated

At the end of a hard week, being thanked for our contributions makes everything worth the effort. As contradictory as this sounds, what makes me happy is feeling sad that a project is over because of a connection with a client who truly values our efforts and acknowledges its impact on their business. A simple thank you note from a client, a boss or a co-worker makes us smile & feel proud of what we do. It, too, gives us motivation to continuously produce great work and try even harder the next time around.

Food & Fun

You know what else makes us happy? Chocolate & practical jokes!  At times, the pressure of deadlines and challenging clients can be relieved by a spontaneous Nerf gun attack or a good hardy laugh with our co-workers. Coming to work everyday to sit among people who we enjoy spending our time with makes us happy.

Want to see our team crank up our tunes, spin in our desk chairs and dance? Check out this video!

So what makes you happy?