What would be fun to try?
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Everyone seems to agree that we need to transform our workplaces to make them both more human-friendly and productive. But most of the time, the people who want to do things a new way got about it in the old way.
Academics have conferences where academics, "thought leaders", and leading business people come together to listen to presentations and ponder. They produce long lists labeled "Action" something-or-other, but that are really wish lists put together by people who mostly view the issue from afar.
Consultants and their firms develop cutting edge solutions. Just ask them. Mostly they claim results that they don't submit to third party verification and tell you that no one else has cracked the code.
There's got to be a better way. How about asking for ideas and seeing what comes of it?
Academics and consultants and pundits and bloggers are all welcome. So are lathe operators, customer service supervisors, writers, students, line workers, middle managers and CEOs. In short, anyone can play. This really is a situation where there's a lot of wisdom in the crowd.
Here are some suggestions to get you started.
What if no one had to come to a meeting if they didn't choose to?
What if we chose leaders from below instead of from above?
What if we gave everyone in the company time to "dabble" on a project of their own choosing?
What else? What ideas do you have? If it's something you've seen work in the real world, let us know where. The three ideas above are based on practices in place at W. L. Gore today.
Most of the good ideas are already out there someplace. And every good idea starts out in someone's head.
Now it's your turn. How can we make the workplace better?
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Categories: Great Working Environment
Tags: Great Working Environment
What if we threw away all training "scripts" and just asked everyone to "Talk to the customer like you're one of them."
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great post,
What you discuss here is what I refer to as "no see um's" that cost your business.
I discuss this in my post http://nosmokeandmirrors.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/are-no-see-ums-costing-you-revenue/
non value adding meetings are a "no see um"
Mark Allen Roberts
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This is a great post. I like the idea of choosing leaders from below instead of above. The company I am currently at, is slowing starting this process. It seems to be working. Those who felt less empowered in the workplace are now improving their overall productivity with hopes of becoming a leader themselves. It is a really fascinating topic. I look forward to reading other comments.
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Making the workplace more pleasant and fun is 95% getting the right people together with the right management and company culture. Other things can be done to perk people up.
Get rid of the cube farms. Find a way people can work in the same space productively without those cardboard walls. Make sure the place where people work looks pleasant - no "success" posters, just some nice pictures and plants, colors that are not institutional looking or mirror the company colors (let me tell you, orange gets old in a hurry).
Only have meetings that are absolutely necessary as there may be a time or two that you need a bunch face to face. There are still some work activities that are more productive when done face to face. Otherwise put all the information out on the knowledgebase/bulletin board or whatever and let people know to check it.
If people don't have to be at the office to do the work, let them telecommute most of the time (it is nice to touch base personally once in a while. I work from home and I prefer to meet in person with my boss). If they do not have to do the work according to a clock, i.e.9-5. flex the schedule. If you can't, try to get input on some more acceptable ways to work those hours or shifts.
There are going to be workplaces that cannot do these things, like hospital emergency rooms, but in that case, try to make sure the "breakroom" has facilities for taking private time away from people for a few minutes.
There are many ways to make the workplace more pleasant, and it will differ from place to place. Let your staff tell you what would make them feel better sitting at their desk day after day. Find out what kind of things people would consider fun. Don't just send everyone on a retreat.
Bottom line: find out from the people it affects the most. You won't be able to please everyone but you can try to give the majority a nice work experience.
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Awesome post. My suggestion involves activity outside the workplace that will strengthen relationships in the workplace. If I were a manager of a small company or division I would take all the employees to a Ropes Course/Leadership camp. These camps develop teamwork and problem solving skills that don't receive as much attention during a normal working day. Organizations that never provide the opportunity for employees to interact and learn from each other outside the work environment make it difficult for employees to reach their potential.
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Great ideas! What about getting rid of useless politics in the work place? What about really rewarding the people that really works and not having to wait for the procedure to take place in order to reward an employee? I understand that procedures are necessary to do some things, but a lot of times are useless and you end up loosing the really good employees, the ones that work really hard, you just loose them because they think this procedural stuff is useless and they don't feel are being appreciated by the company, so they decide to leave for something better.
There are a lot of things that can be done, the problem is getting the idea inside of the old culture, that's a hard one because a lot of the times they don't understand what these new ideas could do for the company, they get afraid, so they prefer to block them and avoid them.
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Yes, what if we did give everyone in the company time to "dabble" on a project of their own choosing? What would they choose to do? I may just ask that of my staff as we move into the new performance year. Great idea!
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People have big hearts and want to help. When we introduce ourselves to each other for the first time we often tell the other person what we know to validate our importance. Often that is quickly forgotten because everyone does the same thing. Next time tell the person something you don't know and solicit their help. This will engage them in conversation and leave a more memorable impact.
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Here are three more fun ideas to try:
1) What if you bought for your employees your competitor's product or service to use and comment on?
2) A manager and a subordinate switch places wherever possible for a day or two
3) Visit or call to check up on employees who are sick at home or in the hospital (same applies to your boss)
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First create SPONSORSHIP. Regardless the beauty and potential effectiveness of a new idea, without sponsorship from someone in the organization whose opinion counts more than other people oblivion is the destination of a mere idea. It has to be more than an idea. It needs to be a significant idea.
Create a quarterly process where anyone in the organization can solicit sponsorship from the people whose opinion counts by making a business proposal to solve a problem. Review the proposals (feedback) with the entire organization. Let a willing leader who has clout step up to shepherd the significant proposals to create the desired results. The process provides FEEDBACK to management about what other people observe and believe is important. The process also provides feedback to workgroups and individual contributors about what management considers significant problems.
If this process has SAFETY, which means someone isn't afraid to attach their name to a proposal, all the ideas you mentioned in the post, which I liked, can be proposed.
Organizations fail, in my experience, when the people whose opinion count the most don't solicit, gather, evaluate and act-on feedback from customers and the people who do the work.
The saddest element of this failure -- the feedback is free and the stakeholders enjoy participating in the process if it's safe and constructive.
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A great thing that I have seen work, is actively looking for suggestions. Recent budget cuts had my GM thinking about how to save more money without taking away anymore of our benefits or raises. We had a big town hall meeting and I heard about 15 suggestions and by the next week I saw almost all 15 suggestions in practice. It was a lot of fun to watch. It really boosted morale and made you feel important and productive. Thanks Wally.
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I once had a contest among departments and the winning group was given a sum of money - I think it was $500 - to paint and decorate the company lunch room. The whole place buzzed for a while.
In a really good year, we gave each of 5 departments $10,000 (and some guidelines) and instructed them to invest the money in a local charitable organization that would increase the value over time. They reported back periodically and morale was wonderful. We would have donated the money anyway, so why not let staff get some of the joy?
I tried a "fun committee" made up of non-management people whose charge was to create one fun event each quarter. We had over 100 employees and the budget was about $20 per employee per quarter. Not bad for some terrific team building events. This one didn't last more than a year or two because a couple of managers started questioning the group's decisions and took the excitement away.
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A thing that I would like to see more of at my place of work is more transparency between upper management and other employees. This could easily be done through having upper level meetings on an open conference line that everyone would be free to call in and listen to. I understand if the corporate officers get to make all of the final decisions, but it would be nice to know that thought process behind those decisions.
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Wally,
I think a simple answer is more employee freedom in the workplace. Employees are hired to fill a simple list of criteria and they should be allowed to do their job. I guess what I am saying is limit the amount of micro-managing from the CEOs and allow the employees to work.
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Wally, what a fun post. As a manager, I constantly struggle with the concept of how to make the workplace more fun, engaging and productive; particularly for my Gen Y staff. Working in the insurance industry is certainly not the most exciting type of job. I am mean really, who could get excited about designing the next rider or policy add on? Okay, well there are probably some underwriters out there that live for that kind of stuff. But, not me. So, here’s what I would add to your “what if” questions…
1. What if your 40 hour work week could be spread out however it made sense to you and/or would make you most productive?
2. What if you were expected to fail at least once a week?
3. What if your pay/compensation really was commensurate with your effort?
4. What if you let someone else take the kudos for a project well done for once?
5. What if your boss had to live up to the same standards that he/she sets for you?
This exercise was really fun and thought provoking. Thanks. I look forward to your next post.
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What a great list of possibilities! Thanks for sharing them. My only quibble is that I'd like to see compensation match contribution, not effort.
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