Let's have fun at work!!!

In this series of posts, Arnaud looks back to his active working life of the past 35 years and shares his perspectives on corporate life. All are based on real-life experiences although any resemblance with existing people is purely coincidental.

Ask 10 of your colleagues if they would fancy having fun at the workplace, I am sure you will get 10 answer Yes-answers. Who does not like fun and why should work not be fun? Most of us spend more time at work than with our family, so we better make the most of it.?

It is no secret that teams that have more fun, are more productive, show a higher employee engagement, have lower absenteeism, and attract individuals that generate even more fun.

Having fun should not be confused by taking work not seriously and/or being not productive. These things can go very well together.

What it takes to create a fun workplace.

Understanding this, how come we do not make it more of a priority to have fun at work? Fun does not happen by itself. The following four essential elements are key to the secret to creating fun at the workplace.

1. A tolerant corporate work environment that allows teams to have fun
2. A corporate culture allowing employees to be themselves
3. A management team that obviously is having fun
4. A team manager with a group of engaged individuals in the team to create a constant fun buzz.

These 4 enablers will cause that teams feel empowered to relax, be themselves and put energy into creating joy and cheerful moments together.

Fun enabler 1: A Corporate Fun Culture

While it is desirable that the enterprise aspires to fun, this in itself should not be a blocker for teams to create fun, especially in larger organisations. That said, it does help. I never worked for Virgin but it feels like Richard Brandson is ingesting the fun element right from the top, and this seems to trickle down into the rest of the organisation. It clearly is one of the values they are aiming for. For this to happen a fun CEO is an essential enabler.

Michael O'Leary - CEO Ryanair - protesting against Brexit

Unfortunately, these are still rare breeds and 'Fun' unfortunately is not yet educated on Harvard or is part of MBA programs.

Fun enabler 2: Permission to be yourself

The book Reinventing Organisations by Frederic Laloux, is a must-read for anyone that is determined to change the workplace. In this book Laloux explains - among other things - the importance of 'Wholeness' for everyone in the organisation.

Workplaces have traditionally encouraged people to adopt a “professional” self and leave all other elements of themselves at the entrance. There is an expectation we show a firm face, display determination, and strength, and hide doubts and vulnerabilities. Rationality rules: the emotional, intuitive, and spiritual selves are typically unwelcome, or out of place.

On top of that Employees fear that if they were to show up how they really are, they might be exposed to criticism and ridicule and come across as odd and out of place. It is deemed much better to play it safe and to hide the selfhood behind a professional mask.

In the book, Laloux explains that extraordinary things begin to happen when we dare to bring all of who we are to work. Every time we leave a part of us behind, we cut ourselves off from part of our potential, of our creativity and energy. No wonder many workplaces feel somehow lifeless.

Fun enabler 3: A fun Management team

Do not despair, even with a stiff CEO at the top, individual teams can make it happen if there is permission to be yourself at work. That said this is all depending on the size of the organisation and the company context.

If the Team is part of a wider structure where their Management Team clearly aspires joy and seems to get along well, it will be seen as permission for the Teams in that department to free up and relax when required.

The Hiring and Promotion in an organisation can be compared with a dog breeding program. If you wish to have big tall dogs you better start a program where teckels mate danish dogs. Over time you will see things change. The same applies in an organisation. Only by consciously focusing on individuals that can bring enlightenment into an organisation things gradually will change.?

For fun to blossom in a management team, a few golden rules need to be obeyed:

• No Corporate Politics!
• No Gossip!
• Full confidentiality on topics that demand this

Ignoring these rules will over time impact Team culture, and spread within the orgsanisation like wildfire. Needless to say, is that the Team manager plays a key role!

Fun enabler 4: Fun enablers in the team!

Finally, even with all of the other 3 elements in place, nothing will happen if the Team does not have a small set of fun catalysts/members that keep the fun going. It cannot be left to the Team leader. The Teamlead can only give the team the space and permission to relax, but the real fun should come from within the team!

Example 1: My Magic

I do magic. I do magic because it is my passion. It is in my life since I was a 10-year-old little Arnaud and was organising magic shows in our garage with my sister was selling lemonade for 10 cents. The aim of Magic is to entertain and astonish. To uniqueness of magic is that it is borderless and appeals to all ages. As explained above, Fearless & Fun organisation should encourage staff to be themselves at work and do not hide their private passions from their professional lives. In our regular monthly meetings, I encouraged my team to share their passions. Show whatever your passion is, playing the guitar, sing, meditate or whatever. This unites the team, adds a fun element, and creates bonding.

Knowing this, it is regrettable that I have been working for organisations where I received feedback that magic was something that should not have a place in the workplace. Clearly not an organisation that understands what it requires to make work an enJOYable environment. They clearly did not get it!

Example 2: Hire for Fun

I was recently reminded about a fun element I (deliberately) added into the hiring process for one of my direct reports. The (formal) process required candidates to present a short case study that was part of the shortlisting process. The case study I made read something like this:

6 months ago your hiring manager fell from a camel during a desert tour. While he was recovering you were in charge of the team. You have a meeting with your manager and give him an update on what happened over the past period covering all operational KPIs as well as ongoing projects.

OK, not a hilarious story but the camel element for sure brought in a light element to the case study. It was done deliberately and it served 2 purposes. Candidates with a sense of humor that read the case must have told their friends about it and this in itself reflects positively on the organisation that is hiring. Secondly, I was keen to see which candidates during the presentation actually referred back to the camel incident. The ability to add a light element like this - how small it is - during a formal engagement like a job hiring interview displays humility and a sense of humor.?

The person that at the end got the job, turned out to be one of the most human people managers in the organisation, turning around the troublesome team into one of the most fun places to work in.

Example 3: Create moments of fun

At Emirates we started to organise monthly sessions with my full team where we mixed formal updates with non-work related sessions. We had colleagues singing, telling about their hobbies, did yoga etc. The bonding effect of such sessions should not be underestimated.

The events were driven by a few fun individuals that acted as Catalysts, one of them being Sana - hire her - she is looking for a job!

In summary

Think about what you are actually doing to make your team a funnier workplace. So many teams thrive on conflict and politics what achieves actually the contrary on what organisations should aim for. Start with a smile, whistle when you get to work, and realize that unless YOU do not have fun, then your colleagues won't either! The fun starts with YOU!