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| Humor at Work |
ISSUE 458 - Oct 10, 2012 |
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Greater Workplace Happiness is a Great Idea! |
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There's a growing body of research that suggests the happier people are, the more creative they tend to be. One study, reported in the book The Progress Principle by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, found that there was a 50% increase in the odds of having a creative idea on days when people were in positive moods. Perhaps even more surprising, the creative boost lasted at least a day or two! So if you have a rockin' great Wednesday you can expect a creative boost for the rest of the week.
Studies have also found that creativity is higher when people have a more positive perception of their overall work environment. When leaders are seen as being collaborative and more open to new ideas, creativity goes up. And when people see new ideas treated as a valued commodity in the workplace, even if the suggestion eventually gets rejected, they are far more likely to contribute new ideas. Conversely, and not unexpectedly, people are less creative when they view their organization as being risk-adverse, driven by infighting and overly critical of new ideas.
A happier state of mind also helps people broaden their thinking and consider multiple actions they might take when faced with an obstacle or challenge at work.
So if ideas are the currency of success, how much more successful would your organization be if it placed a higher value on genuine, sustained happiness in your workplace?
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Mike's Fun at Work Tip |
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This week's tip isn't a specific idea, but rather a general thought about making your workplace more fun, and it's this: Everyone in your workplace has a different idea as to what fun means, and what it means to make work more fun. For some, making work more fun may mean getting rid of onerous bureaucratic procedures and paperwork, whereas others might view it as an opportunity to celebrate a theme day called "Dress Your Boss Day" (okay, so there's a specific idea). Some people might think it's fun to work on a challenging special assignment that stretches their skills, while others want to hold a kazoo parade. Some employees' idea of fun is holding a barbecue, while others want to create a social event celebrating "Stupid Human Tricks."
As you pursue the goal of making your workplace a more fun, creative, humane place to be, keep in mind there truly are different strokes for different folks. So ask everyone on your team what it means to make the workplace more fun and their specific job more fun. It's a question that should become part of every job interview, performance review and mentoring or coaching conversation.
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Quote of the Week
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"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more
complex...it takes a touch of genius and a
lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." Albert Einstein |
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It's a Wacky World |
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The Annals of Improbable Research, which collects and occasionally conducts research that makes people laugh, then think (a devilishly fabulous combo in my opinion), recently handed out their 2012 winners of the Ig Nobel Prizes at Harvard University. This year's winners include:
- a psychological study called "Leaning to the Left Makes the Eiffel Tower Seem Smaller"
- a fluid dynamics research award to "Walking With Coffee: Why Does it Spill?"
- a physics award to a study looking at the "Shape of a Ponytail and the Statistical Physics of Hair Fiber Bundles"
- a chemistry research project that looked into why people's hair turned green in certain houses in the town of Anderslöv, Sweden
But as a recovering government manager, I must admit my favorite of the 10 prizes was awarded in the category of literature to the US Government General Accountability Office, for issuing a "report about
reports about reports that recommends the preparation of a report about
the report about reports about reports." | |
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Inspiring Savings
Cost-savings to bring Mike in to speak:
December 5-7 in Winnipeg;
December 10-15
in North Carolina;
March 29 to April 10, 2013 in South Africa.
Inspiring Reading
Some great suggestions in this article in Time magazine: 10 Ways to Motivate Anyone
Inspiring Watching
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Copyright © 2012 Humor at Work. All Rights Reserved.
mike@mikekerr.com
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