{"id":8169,"date":"2013-04-15T16:47:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T16:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arliemediadesign.com\/?p=8169"},"modified":"2025-03-15T16:51:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T16:51:20","slug":"let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Your People Choose Their Manager \u2013 Because it Works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I\u2019ve written about it before. It is the simple suggestion that you should let people choose their managers. And the great thing is that when people do have the courage to try it, I almost always get positive feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is the feedback from Stuart Jones, of Modern Housing Solutions (a division of one of the UK\u2019s biggest companies):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSelecting your manager\u2019 is working out really well. We opened the option to all of our Helpdesk staff (circa 45 people) and everyone provided feedback. Only 4 people actually took up the option, and all for positive reasons relating to their own development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe most positive thing about the process was all of the positive comments we received from staff saying why they didn\u2019t want to change managers, because of the relationship they had, the support they receive, the team spirit, etc. It was a really affirming experience for all of our Team Managers!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Consider trying it in your organisation. I\u2019d love to hear from you with any questions or any worries about what could get in the way.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>henry@happy.co.uk<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Of all the proposals in the Happy Manifesto, there is one that tends to get the strongest reaction. Most people agree that its a great idea and then explain why they couldn\u2019t possibly do it in their organisation. Indeed some have advised me to leave it out, as it might scare people off from the easier steps to creating a happy workplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,26,25],"tags":[],"blog-post-type":[35],"class_list":["post-8169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-henrys-blog","category-leadership","category-the-happy-manifesto","blog-post-type-blog-with-image"],"acf":{"read_or_watch_time":"Read length: 5 min read"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.2 (Yoast SEO v26.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Let Your People Choose Their Manager \u2013 Because it Works - Happy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let Your People Choose Their Manager \u2013 Because it Works\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Of all the proposals in the Happy Manifesto, there is one that tends to get the strongest reaction. Most people agree that its a great idea and then explain why they couldn\u2019t possibly do it in their organisation. Indeed some have advised me to leave it out, as it might scare people off from the easier steps to creating a happy workplace.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Happy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HappyLtd\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-15T16:47:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-15T16:51:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Henry Stewart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@happyltd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@happyltd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Henry Stewart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Henry Stewart\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d908b838c968ee1e7ac9fef10a219ddc\"},\"headline\":\"Let Your People Choose Their Manager \u2013 Because it Works\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-15T16:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-15T16:51:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/\"},\"wordCount\":193,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Henry's blog\",\"Leadership\",\"The Happy Manifesto\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/\",\"name\":\"Let Your People Choose Their Manager \u2013 Because it Works - Happy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-15T16:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-15T16:51:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Let Your People Choose Their Manager \u2013 Because it Works\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Create Happy, Empowered Workplaces with Happy Ltd\",\"description\":\"Create Happy, Empowered Workplaces with Happy Ltd\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Create Happy, Empowered Workplaces with Happy Ltd\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/happy-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/happy-logo.svg\",\"width\":210,\"height\":72,\"caption\":\"Create Happy, Empowered Workplaces with Happy Ltd\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HappyLtd\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/happyltd\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/happyltd\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/happy-ltd-\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d908b838c968ee1e7ac9fef10a219ddc\",\"name\":\"Henry Stewart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/henry-stewart-250px-150x150.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/henry-stewart-250px-150x150.png\",\"caption\":\"Henry Stewart\"},\"description\":\"Henry is founder and Chief Happiness Officer of Happy Ltd, originally set up as Happy Computers in 1987. Inspired by Ricardo Semler\u2019s book Maverick, he has built a company which has won multiple awards for some of the best customer service in the country and being one of the UK\u2019s best places to work. Henry was listed in the Guru Radar of the Thinkers 50 list of the most influential management thinkers in the world. \\\"He is one of the thinkers who we believe will shape the future of business,\\\" explained list compiler Stuart Crainer. \u00a0 His first book, Relax, was published in 2009. His second book, The Happy Manifesto, was published in 2013 and was short-listed for Business Book of the Year. His latest book, Creating Joy at Work: 501+ ideas for a happy workplace was released in 2025 and is filled with ways that people around the world have implemented workplaces based on empowerment and working to strengths.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/henrystewart\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/about-us\/authors\/henry-stewart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Let Your People Choose Their Manager \u2013 Because it Works - Happy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Let Your People Choose Their Manager \u2013 Because it Works","og_description":"Of all the proposals in the Happy Manifesto, there is one that tends to get the strongest reaction. Most people agree that its a great idea and then explain why they couldn\u2019t possibly do it in their organisation. Indeed some have advised me to leave it out, as it might scare people off from the easier steps to creating a happy workplace.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/","og_site_name":"Happy","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HappyLtd","article_published_time":"2013-04-15T16:47:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-15T16:51:20+00:00","author":"Henry Stewart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@happyltd","twitter_site":"@happyltd","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Henry Stewart","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/"},"author":{"name":"Henry Stewart","@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d908b838c968ee1e7ac9fef10a219ddc"},"headline":"Let Your People Choose Their Manager \u2013 Because it Works","datePublished":"2013-04-15T16:47:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-15T16:51:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/"},"wordCount":193,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Henry's blog","Leadership","The Happy Manifesto"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/","url":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/","name":"Let Your People Choose Their Manager \u2013 Because it Works - Happy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-04-15T16:47:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-15T16:51:20+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/let-your-people-choose-their-manager-because-it-works\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Let Your People Choose Their Manager \u2013 Because it Works"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/","name":"Create Happy, Empowered Workplaces with Happy Ltd","description":"Create Happy, Empowered Workplaces with Happy Ltd","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#organization","name":"Create Happy, Empowered Workplaces with Happy Ltd","url":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/happy-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/happy-logo.svg","width":210,"height":72,"caption":"Create Happy, Empowered Workplaces with Happy Ltd"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HappyLtd","https:\/\/x.com\/happyltd","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/happyltd","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/happy-ltd-\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d908b838c968ee1e7ac9fef10a219ddc","name":"Henry Stewart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/henry-stewart-250px-150x150.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/henry-stewart-250px-150x150.png","caption":"Henry Stewart"},"description":"Henry is founder and Chief Happiness Officer of Happy Ltd, originally set up as Happy Computers in 1987. Inspired by Ricardo Semler\u2019s book Maverick, he has built a company which has won multiple awards for some of the best customer service in the country and being one of the UK\u2019s best places to work. Henry was listed in the Guru Radar of the Thinkers 50 list of the most influential management thinkers in the world. \"He is one of the thinkers who we believe will shape the future of business,\" explained list compiler Stuart Crainer. \u00a0 His first book, Relax, was published in 2009. His second book, The Happy Manifesto, was published in 2013 and was short-listed for Business Book of the Year. His latest book, Creating Joy at Work: 501+ ideas for a happy workplace was released in 2025 and is filled with ways that people around the world have implemented workplaces based on empowerment and working to strengths.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/henrystewart\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/about-us\/authors\/henry-stewart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8169"},{"taxonomy":"blog-post-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-post-type?post=8169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}