His joy was absolutely infectious.
It touched me, and I was standing some 20 feet away awaiting the final frothing of a vanilla latte.
He was back in the kitchen, laughing and teasing what I presume to be a co-worker. She was smiling, and her eyes twinkling.
I could hear an unseen co-worker laughing, too.
Everyone’s good spirits back there made me smile and chuckle.
“He forgot to take his meds today,” said the woman making my coffee. Her tone was disapproving. “I’m sorry you have to hear that.”
“No sorries necessary! He seems like a fun fellow to have around.”
“Really? You think all that ruckus is fun? You should work here.”
It’s kinda all about where you sit
Fascinating.
Contrast that with a text message a consulting colleague sent me: On concall with client company. Amazed by backstabbing going on. Everyone trying to gain brownie points with boss. Lots of people getting tossed under the bus.
While I’m not a proponent of forced fun at work (the trend does have a name—fungineering—and some quirky job titles like chief fun officer), the best workplaces manage to offer up a good mix of laughter and solid deliverables.
Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher, authors of The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up, note that “on Fortune’s ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ list, produced by the Great Place to Work Institute, employees in companies that are denoted as ‘great’ responded overwhelmingly — an average of 81 percent — that they are working in a ‘fun’ environment.”
“Fun” at those companies doesn’t mean a never-ending parade of games, jokes, beer kegs, flip-flop wearing or silliness. Leaders make working at those organizations fun in the sense of enjoyable and interesting. Research shows that workplace enjoyment is “positively related to career satisfaction and performance.”
13 ways to bring enjoyment to work
- Coach and give feedback
- Encourage creativity
- Keep things in perspective
- Move past mindless stereotypes, be open-minded and flexible
- Talk occasionally about something other than work
- Share information
- Focus on getting the job done and on building relationships
- Say thank you, let people know you care
- Celebrate success
- Use tough empathy
- Provide work that’s collaborative and purposeful
- Challenge employees to grow their skills and provide resources for doing so
- Set and communicate clear goals and expectations of performance
Without enjoyment life can be endured, and it can even be pleasant. But it can be so only precariously, depending on luck and the cooperation of the external environment. To gain personal control over the quality of experience, however, one needs to learn how to build enjoyment into what happens day in, day out. ~Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi
What else would you add to the list?
Ah yes, what a difference a little fun makes at work. I worked for five years in one lab that was usually fun and was enormously productive. During part of that time, though, we had a co-worker who tried to control everyone, and it soured things quite a bit. Fortunately he left after a year and a half, to everyone’s relief.
Isn’t it amazing the power (good or bad) that just one person can have on a group? Research shows that happy employees are productive ones, so your experience bore that out.
Hi Jane,
Great post. Meshes well with my belief system and style.
I would add laughter to the list. If teams are in a room collaborating together and occasionally I hear laughter, I know things are going well no matter what the challenge. You need many of your points so that people feel that they can have a laugh. I have found that laughing at my own gaffs helps people see that there is another side to everything.
Cheers,
David
Hi, David!
Laughter is a great addition to the list…shows we’re human and approachable! Love it that you role model the leadership strength of being able to laugh at yourself…more people in key positions need to follow your lead.
Thanks for sharing!
Jane