Peak professional experiences are often described as “constructive play.” If you’re hoping for the best from your people, promoting some fun on the job is well worthwhile. Leaders who believe work can't or shouldn't be enjoyable create an atmosphere of indifference and stress. Who wants that day in and day out? Encourage a playful spirit when possible and you unleash new energy and creativity on old problems, which is good for your bottom line too. Everyone, including you, will operate at a peak level when having a good time and being at work aren’t mutually exclusive.
A few coaching tips:
- If someone asked your people if having some fun is part of your organization’s culture, what would they be likely to say?
- In what ways do your own beliefs or assumptions stand in the way of an enjoyable atmosphere among your people, or in your organization?
- Where can you do more to promote a spirit of constructive play in your organization?
- What do the above suggest you can do differently in the weeks / months ahead?
David Peck
Executive Coach and President
Leadership Unleashed
Twitter: recoveringleadr
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Based on client experiences / lessons learned, our weekly LeaderTips have been offering self-coaching themes and topics of interest to leaders since 2004. They are often published in BusinessWeek Online, sent weekly to our clients, and hundreds of other corporate leaders worldwide. I invite you to forward them to others, who are also welcome to subscribe using the link below. Note that over 100 of these tips appear in my book, Beyond Effective: Practices in Self-aware Leadership. Click here to subscribe to LeaderTips via email.
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