If there is a phrase that is just down right awful it is, "if it was fun they wouldn't call it work."  How ridiculous is that!

I recently went with my three year old daughter to a local library's story hour.  After the story hour I asked her, "what did you learn today?"  She responded with, "we didn't really learn anything, we just has fun."  It was such a reminder to me that things we often perceive as not having a place for fun are tremendously more effective when fun is added and emphasized.  If I had told my daughter we were going to learn something, she may have been less interested.  However, since there is emphasis on having fun, the learning component of the story hour simply blends into the overall structure.

How does this relate to the work place?  Companies put work first and incorporate fun 'when it makes sense.'  Why do we seem to toss all of the valuable lessons we were taught as children.  It is time for companies to been work WITH fun, not simply schedule or 'force' fun.

Yes, there are occupations that lend themselves to more fun situations than others and there are times when fun would not be appropriate...or would it?  If you are going to spend 50 hours a week doing something, shouldn't it be fun?

Here's what you can do:
1. Ask your team and/or your employees "on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how much fun do you have at work?"
2. If the average from your survey is below 7.5, ask your team/employees, "Why do you think we do not have much fun at work?"
3. Ask your employees, "What can we do to add more fun to the workplace?"

Fun equals happy equals more productive equals more profits equals better performance equals more ideas equals innovation, etc. etc. etc....you get the point.

So get going and take on this initiative...and have some fun with it!

rich trombetta
President
The Innovation Company
www.innovationisEASY.com

 

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