How to put some fun into your role as a manager
1. Here's an idea
Fun is a simple phenomenon - anyone can participate. It doesn’t require special training, it won’t necessarily cost money, and the benefits are infinite. Plus - it can have a positive impact on the lives of the people you work with every day.
Which is why Dave Hemsath and Leslie Yerkes in '301 Ways to Have Fun at Work' propose the following 12-step program for workplace fun. They suggest you 'read it daily, poke fun at yourself frequently, and perhaps commit to implementing one step a month for an entire year'…
- Start with yourself.
- Inspire fun in others.
- Create an environment that encourages fun.
- Celebrate the benefits of fun.
- Eliminate boundaries and obstacles that inhibit fun.
- Look for the humour in your situation.
- Follow your intuition - be spontaneous.
- Don’t postpone your fun.
- Make fun inclusive.
- Smile and laugh a lot.
- Become known as ‘fun loving’.
- Put fun into action.
And their book lists a wide-ranging collection of fun activities in such areas as the work environment, training, communication, meetings, recognition, and team building - in fact, 301 of them.
2. Smile & ponder
A pilot on one of the major airlines would wait until the going got bumpy, then stroll through the cabin with a book under his arm. The title, which he kept prominently displayed, was 'How to Fly in 20 Easy Lessons'.
- A little humour can often relieve stress and defuse a tricky situation, whatever the workplace.
3. Research says
In a survey of 329 company executives, 97% agreed that humour is valuable in business, and 60% felt that a sense of humour can be a deciding factor in deter-mining how successful a person can be in the business world. Over 84% of personnel directors said that staff with a sense of humour do better work. …
