Valuing Fun
Fun is serious business.
Whilst watching author Catherine Price’s Ted talk titled “Why having fun is the secret to a healthier life” it made me think about fun is also the secret to a healthier workplace culture.
In the early 00’s, when articulating the strategic success model for the Australasian division of the global mining company I was working with, we identified fun as one of our core values. This was before fun in the workplace became synonymous with fuzz ball and bean bags.
We had many a discussion with our corporate headquarters as to whether ‘fun’ was appropriate and were successful in showing them that fun is serious business.
When we talked about valuing fun, it was about a culture aiming for enjoyment and satisfaction for all of our people wherever possible. It was about focusing our people and teams on positive and meaningful work and relationships. It was about the way we did our work, the way we interacted, the way we pursued our objectives.
Valuing fun was the backbone to achieving our strategic goals and supported our vision of being the best gold company in the region, and the world.
Of course, we don’t need our workplaces to espouse the value of fun if we want to bring it to the way we work. The best thing about being a professional is that we get to choose how we show up each and every day.
In the research for her book Catherine Price discovered that “fun people” were described as:
At ease with themselves and comfortable in their own skin
Not afraid to try new things and be a beginner
Not afraid to be vulnerable
Able to make everyone feel included
Being considerate of other’s feelings
All of which are important attributes for achieving (serious) workplace culture outcomes of inclusive and engaged teams and leaders, innovation and change, and strong communication.
It seems to me that in the 20’s valuing fun in our workplaces is just as important, don’t you agree.