Having Fun and Showing It
Part Five of “The Intangibles: They Make You or They Break You”
By David Drury
When you look at a résumé you can get a sense of what
someone has done in the past and you can be reasonably sure that they can do it
again. When you interview someone you’ll
find out about certain situations that show their resourcefulness and their
ability to think on their feet. Early on
when hiring a new person to your staff you get a sense of what they can and can’t
do. You often can’t tell whether a
leader has this trait until they are already hired. Those having fun while working start to group
together. Those that don’t become
isolated and just slug away to work each morning to “make the doughnuts” like
the Dunkin’ Donut baker in the old commercials.
When you don’t have fun and show it:
Some people are pretty good at doing their jobs—but they
just don’t have any fun doing it. They
get the job done without cracking a smile.
They are all job
and no joy. This is certainly no reason to fire them. No one gets a pink slip that says: “Sorry, we
have to let you go. You just don’t laugh
enough.” However, if the person is a
leader then their inability to just have
fun (or even an inability to show that they are) begins to block their connections
with others on staff. People want to do
more than just work with you—they want to enjoy doing it. Bill Hybels for
years has told audiences at the Leadership Summit that when he’s hiring someone
he always looks at competence, character and chemistry. And when it comes to chemistry, he says, it’s
often about asking yourself this question: “If this person sticks their head in
the door, will want them to come all the way in and chat a while or will I hope
they go away.” This gut-check on
chemistry is all about the people that are fun to have around. You might as well have fun on your job and
show it. As Lila Green has said, “Time
flies whether you’re having fun or not.”
When you do have fun and show it:
Some people have a blast while doing their job,
however. They buckle down for a days
work and get energized by it. When they
go out to get coffee—they talk to 4 people on the way and make their day better
along the way. When others in the office
want to go out for an impromptu lunch—these are the first people that get asked
to go. When others want to “run
something by someone” this is the employee that gets asked. Being someone who has fun doing their job
doesn’t often get you a big paycheck or the corner office at first, but you do
become a go-to person in the office culture.
Sure, there are goof offs that only know how to have fun and aren’t good
at their jobs. That’s not what this intangible
is about. If you’re good at your job and
good at showing your fun side you’ll be the kind of person your boss wishes she
could clone!
How to begin having
fun and how to show it:
Thomas Edison said, “I never did a day of work in my
life. It was all fun.” This comes from a man who was known to rarely
sleep more than a few hours each night and would work tirelessly to solve
problems and invent new solutions. How
did he do it? What’s the secret to
having fun on the job? Here are some
places to start:
- Get
a job you really want. Don’t just
take a job—go get the one that matches your specific make-up. You’ll have more fun if you’re doing
what you should be doing.
- Go
out to lunch. Don’t just let others
go grab Subway or fast food and say you’ve got to work through lunch while
eating micro-waved soup. Take a
break and have some fun with the office crew.
- Tell
others about how fun it was to complete a certain task or project. When part of your job
is fun for you—tell others about it. This raises the fun factor for the whole
team.
- Keep
the big picture in mind. When
things aren’t going well in your organization, see the big picture and
still have fun turning the ship around.
Don’t get depressed about how this quarter is going.
- Fully
engage in the fun stuff. Work at
getting a funny gift for the Christmas party exchange and don’t stay in
your office when they’re gathering in the lobby for someone’s birthday
cake.
- Laugh
at other people’s jokes.
Seriously. Sometimes you
just need to loosen up and laugh a bit—even if you’re not the one telling
the jokes.
How to spot &
reward someone who has fun and shows it:
This may be the hardest intangible for a manager to reward,
because in the end a team member that is having fun doesn’t seem to be actually
contributing to the production of the organization. In fact, most bosses don’t want their staff
to be having too much fun—it might be a signal that everyone is goofing off and
not getting the job done. So there are
some boundaries to rewarding those helping your culture to be more engaging by
showing their fun side to the team. Two
of the most important rewards are including the fun people on decisions and
using them to represent your organization.
By including them in the key meetings, it helps the whole team make
decisions with a lighter heart but with a commitment to the culture you’re
building. By using these people to
represent you others will enjoy your organization more because they enjoy your
representative more. Joy is contagious. And if you’re business is
about gaining clients—then these people will be the best at getting them
and keeping them happy, of course.
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Or email David@DruryWriting.com
_________
This is part four of The Essential Intangibles. Come back for more on each intangible. Click here
for the introduction to this series.
© 2006 by David Drury
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