THIRTEEN STEPS TO CREATING A FUN WORKPLACE!

Having a sense of humor helps create fun in your place of work – here are a few tips to get in touch with your humor and enjoy each day!

1. Give up the notion that professionalism means being serious all the time.
It’s possible to take yourself lightly and still be competent and productive. Start to promote the benefits of humor at work.

2. Define what fun is in your workplace and what it is not.
(e.g. harmful humor, off-color jokes, sexual humor, humor tarnishing the organization)

3. Organize a “Fun Committee” for dreaming up fun “stuff” to do during and after work.

4. Add fun to meetings. Bring in fun things such as Nerf balls, a basketball and hoop, or party blowers. Start a meeting with a humorous story or joke.

5. Collect and share your favorite cartoons and jokes.
Create a Joke Board or a Humor Newsletter. Look for tools to disseminate fun and funny things daily.

6. 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. Dick Snow of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream says, “We believe that we’re in the entertainment business and selling ice cream is just a part of what we do. In our stores the counter is our stage and the customers are our audience.” Disneyland has the same kind of approach. Employees are part of an entertainment experience, and they aren’t just doing a job.

7. Gather your co-workers for the “Joy of Work” hour.
Everyone must talk about something good at work. Take turns telling stories about the things that make work a joy. Each person should contribute ideas on how to make work more fun.

8. 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.

9. Respond to fun when it happens.
Funny things occur all the time, but if you are 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 see the fun in the event.

10. 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 overnight.

11. 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.

12. Encourage staff to leave work behind 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.

13. Encourage employees to develop their own style of having fun.
A nurse anesthetist at a hospital in Michigan often sings to his patients to help them relax prior to surgery. Patients have appreciated this so much that they have told family and friends about the experience. It is not uncommon now for the hospital staff to get requests for “The Singing Anesthesiologist” when they are scheduling their surgery.
Remember that employees create fun in the workplace, not managers. It’s a manager’s job to orchestrate fun activities (and not get in the way of them).