Is FUN too frivolous for business?
Unless you work at Disney or Google, most people do not associate ‘fun’ with work. And yet work consumes a significant portion of our lives, is where we make many friends, and can even define who we are. So why shouldn’t we have some fun?
Look up the definition of Fun and it will include:
- activities that are enjoyable or amusing
- playfulness
As employees, associates, or even volunteers, if we are enjoying our activities then are we not having fun? The explanation of Fun in Wikipedia suggests “it’s about the expenditure of time in a manner designed for therapeutic refreshment of one’s body or mind.” Imagine viewing work as therapeutic!
In the book Serious Play: How the world’s best companies simulate to innovate, author Michael Schrage suggests innovation isn’t a personal endeavor, rather it’s a social endeavor. He proposes that innovation is a by-product of how well – or poorly – we play with others. So for organizations to be successful in promoting innovation, they need to encourage and enable people to play with others – to have fun.
The August 2007 edition of Inc. Magazine was titled “FUN! It’s the New Core Value.” The feature article highlighted that while some might consider this value frivolous, it is how organizations can attract and keep good employees – and customers.
In one of the Inc. articles, Jonathan Bush, the founder and CEO of Athenahealth, a $76 million Massachusetts-based company that helps medical practices in their interactions with insurers, talks about Connecting Fun to Purpose:
“Fun for fun’s sake is like sugar in kids. It sends you up but you come down hard, and it doesn’t last long. It lacks substance. Your soul isn’t touched if it’s not part of something lasting. We do fun stuff. But there’s always a reason. Employees ride Razor scooters around the office, but that’s because the office is a thousand feet long. Scooters make us more productive.”
Bush also suggests fun is part of keeping employees healthy, and that is just good business.
In another Inc. article, Leave’em Laughing, Barbara Ashkin, the COO of Cxtec, a $116 million New York-based networking and voice technology company, highlights the creative use of webcams they have set up inside and outside the building so customers can watch the fun going on:
“Every morning the whole company gathers for a group cheer in our atrium. It starts with an employee yelling ‘Commitment!’ and then everyone goes ‘Hunh!’ It ends with ‘Show me the money!’ Clients watch that on the webcam too. The team cheer is led by our bandleader. Yes, we have a house rock band–a very good one called the CXTec Dinosaurs. Our musically inclined employees get to follow their passion while doing something practical. They’re great ambassadors: They play a lot of charitable and customer events. And of course we have Dino T-shirts and CDs and finger lights that we send customers.”
And then Ashkin adds a powerful statement:
“It all contributes to a distinctive culture. And a distinctive culture becomes a distinctive brand.”
When considering a distinctive culture and distinctive brand, one company that comes to mind is Zappos. As an online retailer of shoes, clothing, and a whole lot more, they are striving to be the leader in online service. The growing success of their brand suggests they are achieving their goal. And they are doing it in some pretty unique and distinctive ways.
One of their 10 clearly stated core Values is: At Zappos, We’re Always Creating Fun and A Little Weirdness! They believe it is their fun and unique culture that makes them successful, and specifically the way they promote each individual to express their personality at work. They encourage the expression of weirdness. Not only does this support innovation, it advances the formation of a unique differentiator, and helps build a powerful brand.
So for organizations like Zappos, CxTec, and Athenahealth, Fun at work is not frivolous. It’s a core Value that is creating differentiation.
Note: This post originally published for Idea Exchange.
