Inspiring Workplaces: Are You Recognizing the Team Assists at Work?

Published: Wed, 01/11/17

Humor at Work

ISSUE 661 - Jan 11, 2017


			Are You Recognizing the Team Assists at Work?

	Welcome to the first edition for 2017, featuring another 100% natural, free-range edition of random musings and ideas.... The ad agency that created those fabulously funny talking baby ads gives out a Heroic Failure Trophy to recognize people who made heroic attempts at trying something bold and innovative, even when the ideas didn't work. Charles Darwin had a "thinking path" in the countryside near his home - a place he would walk with the specific purpose of thinking about a problem. Many creative people have a designated thinking space that they use for daydreaming and creative rumination. Where is your thinking space? A study found that people are more tolerant of new ideas if they are sitting in a tidy room vs. a messy room. (Maybe this is why teenagers oppose the idea of cleaning up their rooms?) A study by Daryl Peebles from the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics found that positive humor in the workplace was strongly correlated with employees' levels of hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism and that appropriate, positive humor increased productivity in the workplace. Seth Godin recommends that you save the term "congratulations" for people who win the lottery and instead use the term "well-deserved" for people who have received a promotion or reward based on their effort. The average smartphone user looks at their phone 143 times a day - roughly every 6.7 minutes. No wonder so many workplaces are creating tech-free spaces and/or tech-free hours! When the American soccer player Brandi Chastain was a child her grandfather would give her $1 for every goal she scored, but $1.50 for every assist to encourage her to become a true team player. Is your workplace just recognizing and rewarding individual accomplishment (and perhaps inadvertently rewarding selfish behavior) or are you also recognizing contributions to team play?

		Mike's Fun at Work Tip

Here's a fabulous idea to start right now for the rest of the year: Set aside a giant jar at work and at home and as good things happen throughout the year write them down on a piece of paper and place it in the jar. Then at the end of 2017, have a party/lunch/meeting to celebrate the year that was by reviewing the notes as a reminder of all the great things that happened - many of which you might have forgotten had you not kept them stored in your success jar.
		Quote of the Week

"I’ve made a New Year’s resolution that I’d like to share with everyone. This year, I’m resolving not to procrastinate anymore – and I’m going to start sometime in early February." Unknown
		It's a Wacky World

There are still plenty of January theme days worth celebrating, including such notables as: January 11: Learn Your Name in Morse Code Day January 14: Dress Up Your Pet Day January 20: Rid the World of Fad Diets and Gimmicks Day January 22: Answer Your Cat's Question Day January 24: Belly Laugh Day/Talk Like a Grizzled Prospector Day January 27: Fun at Work Day January 30: Inane Answering Machine Message Day For the entire list, cruise on over to January theme days.

Cost-Savings to Bring Mike in to Speak
Okanagan: "I need to see Mom" special rate on-going!
Saskatoon: March 3
Florida, July 2-9

More Reading
Mike is quoted in the Business Insider article: 9 Signs You Won't Keep Your New Year's Resolutions

Attention Audio Book Lovers! The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank is now available as an audio book! Order it now right here!

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