Dynamic & Fun
Profit on your bottom lines and fun in the workplace don’t go together, right? Wrong
Fun in the Workplace
As a staff team, we’re going through the process of reviewing our values. This isn’t an exercise to tick a box or to just include people in the process. This is an exercise to understand the culture we want to design. It’s about shaping how we want to work towards our vision and the behaviours that we consistently display with our clients. Two of our values are ‘Dynamic’ and ‘Fun’. Sounds great, hey? I know it’s easy to put these on our website to make us look good, but we want more than that, so let’s dig a little deeper to see why these values are so important to us at Firstfruits.
Forbes1 published an article in 2021 highlighting the benefits of fun in the workplace. Many organisations can dismiss fun in the workplace, sighting that it’s ‘just for the millennial generation’ and after all business is about profit not fun, right? Well, in 2015 a study by the Competitive Advantage in Global Economy Department at the University of Warwick2 discovered that employees who were happier, on average showed an increase in productivity of 12%...and in some cases were up to 20% more productive.
How does this relate to your experience? Do you find when you’re enjoying yourself, you’re more productive?
Yes, profit is important, and we all want to celebrate the big wins, however, what if we focused on the smaller wins, more consistently? What about designing a culture of fun that leads to employee health, enjoyment, retention and mid to longer term client satisfaction and profit. It does take time to build a culture of fun, especially with the loss of connectivity through hybrid working. Where should we start then? At Firstfruits we believe it starts with trust.
“Focusing on the good isn’t just about overcoming our inner grump. It’s about opening our minds to the ideas & opportunities that will help us be more productive, effective & successful at work & in life.”
According to The Happiness Advantage author
Shawn Achor, an expert on happiness psychology
Put Trust First, Fun Will Follow
When we talk about designing a culture and we think deeply about the values we want our employees to live out, we should start with how the human brain is wired and think through why we act the way we do. Our brains are wired to safety first, meaning if we don’t feel safe in certain environments or around certain people, whether unconsciously or consciously, it’s going to affect our decision making and the behaviours we display. Therefore, creating a culture of fun won’t happen without helping the individuals in your team to feel safe.
To help make this practical, here are four stages for you to focus on when creating trust through psychological safety.
Help individuals feel like they belong, accept them for who they are.
Help individuals feel they are safe to learn, ask questions, fail, try new things and be creative.
Help individuals find their voice and their unique sweet spots, knowing their contribution is valid and valuable.
Help individuals feel it’s ok to bring challenge in an agreed environment.
To go further as a team, go deeper. If you genuinely are serious about having fun, start by creating safety for the individuals in your team. Help those laughs be genuine and authentic. But there’s the elephant in the room…how do we create genuine and authentic trust when we don’t see our teams as regularly as before?
“You build trust with each other each time you choose integrity over image, truth over convenience, or honor over personal gain.”
Leadership expert, John C Maxwell
Truly embrace hybrid working and being ‘dynamic’ as a team
What it means to be ‘dynamic’ as a leader, employer or team member has been challenged over the past couple of years. I mean, how do we really embrace this when it comes to hybrid working? Akin to building trust, creating teams that are agile, with drive, innovation and positive energy is a difficult challenge for a huge number of organisations… and without a solution, profits are surely set to take a dip. If we are honest many of us have had these concerns over recent times. The truth is it is possible to do both – build trust and dynamism- by being intentional, patient and committed to the process.
What I love about this quote from Henry Ford, is it aligns to shaping values so well, it’s a process. If we truly are open to being dynamic in our approach, this can help us work together for success. Yes, it will take time. Yes, hybrid working will throw up new challenges requiring some focus and innovation. Yes, we will all make wrong decisions along the way. But if we come together around the vision, if we feel safe, then surely that will keep us together through the difficult times. Then slowly but surely, our environment of fun will emerge, whatever that looks like for you and your employees, and we start to create those success stories. Small win after small win.
Forbes3 sighted these three areas when managing a dynamic workforce.
Go beyond flexibility by making work truly work for everyone
Encourage empathy by considering employees individual needs
Empower employees by offering equitable career opportunities
Creating values that lead to intentional behaviours is not easy, no one ever said it was. However, for us at Firstfruits it’s about doing what is right, not easy. We will continue to refine our values. We will take on the challenge of being dynamic and fun. We will commit to the process, then let’s see…let’s see if the profit comes. Oh…and by the way we don’t just mean financial profit, we have multiple bottom lines.
“Coming together is a beginning;
keeping together is progress;
working together is success.”
Founder of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford
