Humor at Work: Job Swaps and Rules Diet
Job Swap to Spark Creative Thinking
Creativity feeds off of making random associations and changing perspectives, which is one reason why the company Bonasource Inc. has each employee spend one week per quarter in a department totally unrelated to their own department. The mini sabbaticals help people stay fresh and keep motivated, and results in a big payoff in new ideas and enhanced creativity. Job swaps like this also help to break down silos, encourage a greater sense of team unity and facilitate better communication between departments. If you can’t handle once a quarter, try it on for size once every 6 months, or at least once a year. =====================================================================
Mike’s Fun at Work Tip: Go on a Rule Diet
Let’s face it, too many rules and too much bureaucracy can suck the
fun out of any workplace. (That’s why I love Google’s dress code:
“You must wear clothes.”) So go on a rule diet in your workplace.
Challenge your assumptions about the need for some of your rules.
Slay sacred cows. And make it fun by playing up the notion of a
diet, complete with a “weigh-in” before hand or before and after
posters. And don’t forget your customers. Identify unnecessary
rules that may be getting in the way of your customers fun! And
if you are unsure if you can live without a certain rule, then
try fasting for a month or two to see what the impact is.
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Quote of the Week
“I believe in laughter. I think it is food for the soul.” Tommy Lasorda ====================================================================
It’s a Wacky World
North Korea’s “It’s So Funny” is one of the longest-running TV comedy
shows in the world, despite the fact that the show has very little,
well, um, humor. Laughing at the show is, evidently, optional,
unless soldiers in the audience are ordered to laugh at the funny
parts. Reminds me of the old line, “The beatings will stop once morale
has improved!”
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