Small Business Tips: Fostering a Fun Workplace, Part 2

So are you ready to unleash your inner child in your office and have a little fun? This time of year is especially a good time to consider livening up the office, as the “winter blues” can really drag your staff down. It's the season for cold, or freezing, temperatures, depending on where you live. It can be cloudy for days on end, and there are no holiday or office parties to look forward to. Maybe this is the perfect time of year to increase the fun factor in your work environment.

In the first part of this series, I shared with you some ideas written by Jody Urquhart, which identifies ways you can help your company lighten up. Here are some additional ideas offered by Urquhart that might help you and your employees be more productive and love reporting for work:

• Let customers know you are a fun company. Do something just for fun (organize fun customer events, dress for fun, share funny things with customers) and give employees tools to create a fun relationship with customers (stickers, candy for children, dog biscuits for dogs, humorous buttons with the company logo). This makes work more fun for employees and it strengthens the relationship with customers.
• Have a fun recognition program. Fun is not a reward for performance, but can be a way to encourage employees to perform. For example, you could create “games” out of productive activity…who can motivate the most patients in a hospital to smile and say something funny to the head nurse. Playful and goal-oriented fun is best.
• Respond to fun when it happens. Funny things occur all the time, but if you're obsessed with left-brain analytical thought, you might find it hard to stop and respond. Natural spontaneous humor is a blessing. Stop and take a moment to give employees and customers an opportunity to take time to see the fun in the event.
• Commit to being fun and it will change your approach to work. Start slowly with a few activities and communicate your desire to create a more relaxed workplace. Don’t expect things to turn around over night.
• Put fun things and activities in the staff room. This allows people to take their mind off of the seriousness of work for a short period, so they come back to work with a more positive and balanced perspective.
• Encourage staff to leave work at work at the end of the day. Employees shouldn’t be so consumed with work that it affects their family life and leisure activities. Find fun ways for employees to “unload” at the end of the day or week. Create a ritual like writing a “to do” list and posting it on the board. By doing this, you commit to not thinking about the things on the list until the next day.

There are additional ideas about having fun in the workplace at www.leadingtoday.org. Who knows? Maybe this is the year for your company to turn over a new leaf and make your work environment a blast to be in, just for the fun of it.