| Humor at Work |
ISSUE 604 - Oct. 21, 2015 |
 |
| |
|
| |
|
|
Staying Optimistic, Productive & Focused |
| |
|
| |
Another round of random thoughts, ideas and musings...
- Research by Six Seconds found that optimists scored 18% higher on employee evaluations - yet one more reason to train your brain to be more optimistic.
- The on-line shoe business Zappos purposely closed down one entrance to their headquarters to force everyone to funnel through the same entrance as a way to increase employee interaction. Steve Jobs redesigned Pixar Studios to purposefully increase the level of employee interaction, believing spontaneous and random interactions fuels creativity. How is the design of your office space helping or hindering creativity and interaction?
- Social psychologists believe there's a 40-60% loss of meaning in the transmission of messages, which brings to mind the fabulous quote by George Bernard Shaw, "The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place." What are you doing to follow-up, reinforce, and clarify messages and encourage real dialogue at work?
- Fast Company recently featured a survey asking people how they stayed productive during the work day: 22% said drinking water and staying hydrated was important; 37% stressed the need to get away from their desk at lunch; 11% stressed the importance of watching something funny as a much needed energy booster. What do you do to stay energized?
- Greg Wilson, from Gresham College in London, found that when people multitask their IQ drops an average of 10 IQ points! What do you do to stay laser focused at work?
- Today, October 21st, 2015 at 7:28 pm is the exact time Marty McFly traveled to from 1985 in Back to the Future 2. (Just in case you wanted to celebrate with your hover skateboard.)
|
| |
|
| |
|
Mike's Fun at Work Tip |
| |
|
Five ways to add a bit of fun to your e-mails:
1. Encourage people to read them by using creative subject lines that mimic song titles, newspaper headlines, or breaking news reports.
2. Add a humorous quote to your signature file, such as,"How can you make coffee until you've had coffee?" Molly Cox
3. Add an alternative job title below your official title (such as these real life examples: "The Director of First Impressions," "The Queen of Fun and Laughter" or "The Manager of Vibe")
4. Open with a humorous or offbeat salutation: "Dear fellow homo sapiens," "To my beautiful, dedicated, and nice-smelling colleagues" or "To my all time favorite customer...".
5. Write like you're an actual breathing human being. This doesn't mean you should be sloppy with your writing (you don't want the grammar police busting your chops) but given that research shows that 50% of all e-mails have a "tone issue" wherein the person on the receiving end isn't quite sure what to make of your tone, take the time to think about the tone you are conveying. Be conversational. Write the kind of e-mail you'd like to
receive!
 |
| |
|
Quote of the Week |
| |
"Recognition is so easy to do and so inexpensive to distribute that there is simply no excuse for not doing it!" Rosabeth Moss Katner, Harvard Business School professor
|
| |
|
It's a Wacky World |
| |
Some accidentally funny ad copy:
- We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand.
- A superb and inexpensive restaurant. Fine food expertly served by waitresses in appetizing forms.
- Tired of cleaning yourself? Let me do it.
- Stock up and save. Limit:One.
- Mixing bowl set designed to please a cook with round bottom for efficient beating.
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
Follow Humor at Work |
|
|
| |
Copyright © 2015 Humor at Work. All Rights Reserved.
mike@mikekerr.com
|
|
