One + May 2011 - (Page G30)

Now the fun of work is in the name of doing better business, connecting with customers and, perhaps most importantly, amping up staff loyalty while helping attract top-tier talent. “You get teams of people and have them strategize their day and strategize against other teams,” Miller said. In the end, the event would be fun and encourage teamwork. Welcome to the modern age of fun at work. Gone is the Internet bubble’s push to inject work with raucous good times and video game rooms. Now the fun of work is, for the most part, in the name of doing better business, connecting with customers and most importantly, amping up staff loyalty while also attracting top-tier talent. Douglas LaBier, Ph.D., founder and director of the Center for Progressive Development, says Sept. 11, 2001, and, more recently, the recession, have brought about a signifi cant shift in what supports a positive, productive, successful work culture. The shift is also coming from a change in what younger generations want to get out of work—LaBier says they want to have an enjoyable impact. “With fun, when you use that word fun, the younger generation especially is looking for and anticipating that the place that they will commit to and stay with has to be a fun environment,” he said. But the brand of fun LaBier is talking about can’t be forced—and an event like the Search Mojo scavenger hunt can’t be foisted on a staid company culture. But there are many elements that lead to fun. It comes from promoting transparency, 30 one+ 05.11 SUPPLEMENT openness and collaboration; rewarding creative, innovative thinking and contributions; and promoting diversity. “If you have a culture defi ned by those criteria where there is a minimum of politicking and manipulation and subterfuge— all that kind of stuff associated with more traditional companies—I think if you have those more positive elements in place, people who work there will fi nd that experience fun and playful and enjoyable,” LaBier said. That plays out at Econsultancy, which provides digital marketing and e-commerce professionals with community, reports, training and events—the fun of work is in the work itself. “We believe it is fun to do great work, be passionate about our work, do innovative work [and] break the mold,” CEO Ashley Friedlein said. “We don’t see fun as being a lightweight notion of having a laugh but about enjoying our work.” Fun is also at the core of company culture of FatWallet. Literally. Three years ago, the online bargain shopping company went through a process of identifying its core values. “We came up with things like commitment, passion, integrity, respect,” founder and CEO Tim Storm said. “Ultimately, the seventh value we added was fun. It’s just something that we overlooked because it was so ingrained. It was kind of assumed that, yeah, that’s part of who we are, but we hadn’t really articulated it.” Allowing for a more playful atmosphere at work has helped bring out the hidden talents of some employees. Storm recently brought in the leader of a comedy troupe to guide a how-to session on improv comedy. The idea wasn’t to teach employees how to be funnier but, instead, to learn to release “the constraints that your left brain, your logical brain, puts on your creativity and fi nd ways around that,” he said. The exercise also helped employees learn more about each other and connect in new ways. Another company that prides itself on its serious but fun work environment is Goldstar, which sells discount event and entertainment tickets. “We’re very serious about all the work we do but at the same time the feeling between people is extremely friendly and collegial and lighthearted,” CEO Jim McCarthy said. “That’s one of the things I think is key to a fun work environment that’s not phony.” But how does today’s brand of fun help companies do better business? “Engagement is a concept that more smart companies are embracing, because they understand that the way their employees or partners or customers, the way they think and feel about their product or their service or company, has a profound impact on their performance in the workplace,” said Todd Hanson, president and founder of the ROI of Engagement initiative at the ROI Resource Center. He identifi es two areas where engagement can get a boost from fun: relationships and experiences. “The relationship part of it is pretty straightforward. When you have fun, you’re having fun with other people— it’s tough to have fun in a workplace just by yourself. And you’re building relationships in a positive environment. As those relationships build, trust then builds. That has a positive impact not only on the culture but also on performance in the workplace.” There are many elements that lead to fun. It comes from promoting transparency, openness and collaboration; rewarding creative, innovative thinking and contributions; and promoting diversity.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of One + May 2011

One + May 2011
Contents
Energy of Many
Impressions
Meeting Design Goes Mobile
Picking Brains
Agenda
Ask the Experts
Thoughts+Leaders
Overheard
Art of Travel
Web Watch
Radical Co-creation
Engagement + Innovation = Wunderbar
Top Spots
Connections
Irrelevant
The Business of Being Social
Safety in Numbers
Ads, Sponsors and Patrons
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
It’s Getting Better All the Time
Blame It on Rio
Ride Free
Learning How the Brain Learns
Just Face It
Becoming Mindful with Your Meetings
Group Think
The Mesh Meeting
Your Community
Making a Difference
Until We Meet Again

One + May 2011