Create a Winning Work Culture
If you are to make your staff think better of themselves, the work environment must be friendly instead of hostile, open instead of closed, supportive instead of discouraging, relaxing instead of rigid, inclusing instead of divisive – all the best thinking that books on leadership and empowerment expose.
But it must be more than that.
If you want ideas to flourish, the work environment must be fun.
"Make it fun to work at your organization," wrote advertising mogul David Ogilvy. "When people aren't having any fun, they seldom produce goodwill. Kill grimness with laughter. Encourage exuberance."
Mr. Ogilvy did not have to limit his remarks to advertising agencies and advertising. The same could be said about any kind of organization producing any kind of product or service. For you it's true:
People who have fun doing what they're doing, do it better.
"The number one premise in business is that it need not be boring or dull," said management expert Thomas J. Peters. "It ought to be fun, if it's not fun, you're wasting your life."
Note that neither Ogilvy nor Peters have any comments about which is more important – good work or fun. The fun comes first.
"If you ask me what's our primary purpose," said Ogilvy is "I would say that it is not to make the maximum profit, but to run our organizaton in such a way that our employees are happy. Everything follows from that – good work, and good service to your customers.
Fun, like enthusiasm, is contagious and has a snowball effect that helps generate good work over and over again throughout the organization.
Ogilvy states that "this was proven to me early in my career."
"When I started in advertising, the writer and art directors dressed the way everybody in business dressed – the men wore suits and ties; the women, dresses or suits."
In the late '60's all that changed. People started dressing in sweaters and blue jeans, T-shirts, and tennis shoes. Ogilvy was running a creative department then, and the Los Angeles Times asked him what he thought about people coming to work dressed so casually.
"I don't care if they come to work in their pajamas," I said, "as long as they get the work out."
"Sure enough, the day after the article (with my quote) appeared, my entire department showed up in pajamas. It was great fun. The office rocked with laughter and job."
More important, the days and weeks that followed were some of the most productive times his department ever had. People were having fun, and the work got better.
Note again the cause and effect relationship: the fun came first; the better work, second. Having fun unleashes creativity. It is one of the seeds you plant to get ideas.
Indeed, nothing is more important for a leader to do than to create this kind of an environment, an environment where people enjoy coming to work every day, where there's a feeling of camaraderie and good fellowship, where people attack their work with alacrity and confidence, where they like the people they work with, where they think of themselves as partners instead of employees, where – in short – it's fun to work.
When this happens, the work ceases to be a drag and takes on an effortless, easy-flowing, natural Zen-like quality that results in more solutions, fresher solutions, and better solutions.
The authors of "301 Ways to Have Fun at Work" agree. David Hemsath and Leslie Yeres wrote, "We believe that fun at work may be the single most important trait of a highly effective and successful organization; we see a direct link between fun at work and employee creativity, productivity, morale, satisfaction, and retention, as well as customer service and many other factors that determine organization success."
So too does the philosopher Alan Watts: "Don't make a distinction between work and play," he wrote, "and don't imagine for one minute that you've got to be serious about it."
But why should you care?
The number one reason that people mention for quitting their job is dissatisfaction with their boss. Indeed, interviews with 2 million employees at 700 American companies found that what determines how long employees stay -- and how productive they are -- is the quality of their relationship with their immediate boss. "People join companies and leave managers," observes Marcus Buckingham of the Gallup Organization, who analyzed the data.
But what can you do as a manager to help the people you work with believe in themselves, and to create the kind of environment that encourages that kind of belief? Find out in our next issue.
This article is a summary of ideas developed in Ideaship: How to Get Ideas Flowing in Your Workplace, by Jack Foster. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. 2001
So go ahed and list your organizations CORE VALUES - align the work ethics to these values and add element of fun and openness.. to make a winning work place..
BOL in your endeavors
Cheers
PM
From India, Bangalore
If you are to make your staff think better of themselves, the work environment must be friendly instead of hostile, open instead of closed, supportive instead of discouraging, relaxing instead of rigid, inclusing instead of divisive – all the best thinking that books on leadership and empowerment expose.
But it must be more than that.
If you want ideas to flourish, the work environment must be fun.
"Make it fun to work at your organization," wrote advertising mogul David Ogilvy. "When people aren't having any fun, they seldom produce goodwill. Kill grimness with laughter. Encourage exuberance."
Mr. Ogilvy did not have to limit his remarks to advertising agencies and advertising. The same could be said about any kind of organization producing any kind of product or service. For you it's true:
People who have fun doing what they're doing, do it better.
"The number one premise in business is that it need not be boring or dull," said management expert Thomas J. Peters. "It ought to be fun, if it's not fun, you're wasting your life."
Note that neither Ogilvy nor Peters have any comments about which is more important – good work or fun. The fun comes first.
"If you ask me what's our primary purpose," said Ogilvy is "I would say that it is not to make the maximum profit, but to run our organizaton in such a way that our employees are happy. Everything follows from that – good work, and good service to your customers.
Fun, like enthusiasm, is contagious and has a snowball effect that helps generate good work over and over again throughout the organization.
Ogilvy states that "this was proven to me early in my career."
"When I started in advertising, the writer and art directors dressed the way everybody in business dressed – the men wore suits and ties; the women, dresses or suits."
In the late '60's all that changed. People started dressing in sweaters and blue jeans, T-shirts, and tennis shoes. Ogilvy was running a creative department then, and the Los Angeles Times asked him what he thought about people coming to work dressed so casually.
"I don't care if they come to work in their pajamas," I said, "as long as they get the work out."
"Sure enough, the day after the article (with my quote) appeared, my entire department showed up in pajamas. It was great fun. The office rocked with laughter and job."
More important, the days and weeks that followed were some of the most productive times his department ever had. People were having fun, and the work got better.
Note again the cause and effect relationship: the fun came first; the better work, second. Having fun unleashes creativity. It is one of the seeds you plant to get ideas.
Indeed, nothing is more important for a leader to do than to create this kind of an environment, an environment where people enjoy coming to work every day, where there's a feeling of camaraderie and good fellowship, where people attack their work with alacrity and confidence, where they like the people they work with, where they think of themselves as partners instead of employees, where – in short – it's fun to work.
When this happens, the work ceases to be a drag and takes on an effortless, easy-flowing, natural Zen-like quality that results in more solutions, fresher solutions, and better solutions.
The authors of "301 Ways to Have Fun at Work" agree. David Hemsath and Leslie Yeres wrote, "We believe that fun at work may be the single most important trait of a highly effective and successful organization; we see a direct link between fun at work and employee creativity, productivity, morale, satisfaction, and retention, as well as customer service and many other factors that determine organization success."
So too does the philosopher Alan Watts: "Don't make a distinction between work and play," he wrote, "and don't imagine for one minute that you've got to be serious about it."
But why should you care?
The number one reason that people mention for quitting their job is dissatisfaction with their boss. Indeed, interviews with 2 million employees at 700 American companies found that what determines how long employees stay -- and how productive they are -- is the quality of their relationship with their immediate boss. "People join companies and leave managers," observes Marcus Buckingham of the Gallup Organization, who analyzed the data.
But what can you do as a manager to help the people you work with believe in themselves, and to create the kind of environment that encourages that kind of belief? Find out in our next issue.
This article is a summary of ideas developed in Ideaship: How to Get Ideas Flowing in Your Workplace, by Jack Foster. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. 2001
So go ahed and list your organizations CORE VALUES - align the work ethics to these values and add element of fun and openness.. to make a winning work place..
BOL in your endeavors
Cheers
PM
From India, Bangalore
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