How a Little FUN Pays Big Dividends
By: Carmen Gigar
Date: 20 / 10 / 2022
Date: 20 / 10 / 2022
How a Little FUN Pays Big Dividends
GUEST BLOGGER: Karen Callahan, Program Coordinator, ActionCOACH Foundation
Have you ever noticed how you always look forward to being with certain people? It’s usually because you feel comfortable with them, and they are just fun to be around. In life, that translates into more friends and better relationships. In business, it means more clients and greater access to key figures.
A good sense of humor and the ability to have fun may be an intangible, but it’s an extremely valuable one. In fact, every time women are polled on what they want most in a man, the #1 answer is a good sense of humor. And it doesn’t stop there.
In this blogpost in Forbes, play was shown to improve workforce productivity by 20%. According to the article, play helps foster creativity and innovation. Humor typically lends an element of surprise, getting us to think out of the box, “combining ideas in new ways and embracing the unexpected to build something that hasn’t been done before.” Game playing can help unite teams toward a common goal with established rules and boundaries in an environment where everyone is equal.
The element of fun in the workplace helps break down the walls between people so they feel more comfortable expressing themselves honestly; this can often be the difference between solving a problem and never hearing that one exists. It also allows employees to bring their full selves to the office. As Forbes concludes, “Through play, we have a new lens on those around us—what entertains them, what motivates them and what we have in common with them.”
Fun helps us blow off steam in more acceptable ways. Research demonstrates that “spending time in non-work pursuits and letting the mind wander are both useful for our overall well-being and effectiveness.” Recent studies reported in an OnRec post demonstrated that fun at work helps reduce overall sick days, “with 62 percent of employees who had had no sick days in the last three months having had fun at work.” The importance of fun in the workplace also varies by country. British workers include lottery syndicates, charity fundraising, karaoke, yoga, fancy dress days, board games and knitting clubs in the mix.
In general, fun creates its own positive energy, and just makes everyone feel good…as long as they are included in the fun.
So how do you incorporate fun into your life and into the workplace. While the options are endless, here’s a few ideas to help get you started.
How to Have Fun in Life:
WikiHow suggests 14 ways to add a little fun into our lives…
Add a Little Fun at Work:
ActionCOACH lives by 14 Points of Culture which serve as pillars of the way the business operates and its members behave. FUN is Culture Point #10.
Culture Point 10.
“I view my life as a journey to be enjoyed and appreciated and I create an atmosphere of fun and happiness so all around me enjoy it as well.”
Click here for all 14 points of culture.