There is little initial investment, it’s cheap to use and very simple to make.
Best, especially in places like California, you can reuse the same water over and over in containers or use the cooler blocks (the ones you freeze) from a dollar store.
We all work very hard, whether earning a living, studying in school, playing sports or any of the myriad of efforts that fill our lives.
This Labor Day I thought I’d share an attitude I work to keep foremost in my mind—no matter how difficult things are.
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a handsome, well preserved body, with a neat haircut and a nice smile, but rather to skid in sideways, making as much noise as possible, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, adrenaline pumping, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming “WOO HOO what a ride!”
I hope you had/are having a great, fun, safe holiday weekend.
It’s well-proven that happy employees are more productive, but creating happy requires substance.
The components of long-term happiness are things such as challenging work, continued learning, opportunities to grow, clear communications, fair bosses, etc.
All of these require more thought, effort and skill from managers than installing a few foosball tables or gamifying the project.
A few years ago in my Labor Day post I commented that it seems New Year’s was only yesterday, but here we are and it’s already Labor Day—summer’s over, school’s starting, the leaves are turning and the year is nearly done.
Common wisdom has it that toil slows time, but the years fly by when you’re having fun.
It’s also said that if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life—having fun instead.
So the real question becomes are you having fun yet—or still toiling?
Have a wonderful holiday and stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.
But this new study, a working paper from a pair of professors at the University of Pennsylvania, suggests there’s a big difference between workplace games employees may decide to play on their own and games that are mandated by management.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone for two reasons
“Natural” doesn’t lend itself to being replicated.
What comes naturally is very different from having something contrived and synthetic shoved down your throat.
Fun doesn’t just mean acting silly or playing games.
Fun includes overcoming challenges, making a difference and all kinds of subjective intangibles.
Bosses may provide the guiding values that create the skeleton of culture, but fleshing it out requires contributions from all levels and each person—especially when it comes to fun.
Nobody knows the exact origin of April Fools Day, but the best guess puts it around 1582 when France adopted the Gregorian Calendar, which moved New Years to January first, but not all were willing to change.
Pranks, like the ones mentioned, are classic and Google does amazing ones on its homepage every year.
One legendary prank was pulled on Scott McNealy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, when his staff took apart his VW Beetle and rebuilt it inside his office.
Just think, since the 1600s the current “everybody” heard about the pranks and they didn’t have Twitter to spread the word or Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest on which to share the results.
Remember the old saying “pretty is as pretty does,” meaning the action dictates the label?
Well, “stupid is as stupid does,” which is especially accurate when applied to management.
It’s hard to know which is most offensive when it comes to management—stupidity or ego, but when they join together the result is…wow; I’m not sure what adjective to use.
You decide.
I received a call from a distraught president. He said the company had been hit with a rash of resignations from some of their best development and marketing people and he had no idea why, since productivity had been running at an all-time high. Would I do some fast debriefing in an effort to turn things around?
It only took a few calls to identify the problem—actually the persons—responsible.
It turned out that the director of engineering and her counterpart in marketing had come up with a unique motivational technique.
They identified comparable projects both inter and intra-department and allowed the teams responsible to make steak and beans dinner bets with each other.
(For those unfamiliar the losing team buys steak dinners for the winning team, while they eat beans and are subject to good natured heckling by the winners.)
The contests had boosted productivity in both departments with most projects finishing early, even under budget, and morale was at an all time high.
The problem came from the fact that the engineering vp and the marketing vp were political enemies and didn’t want their two groups on good terms. Furthermore, the engineering vp felt work was serious business and games undermined his mission.
When they found out what was going on both were furious and agreed to fire the instigators.
That didn’t go over well with the staff, which had no hesitation of protesting with their feet, hence the flurry of resignations.
I reported back to the prez and, smart guy that he is, he didn’t hesitate.
After verifying what I told him he fired the two vice presidents and promoted the two directors.
Because his solution was not only swift, but highly visible, the resignations were withdrawn, the contest reinstated and the approach encouraged across the entire company.
If you think a cat owner would be thrilled getting a call from Hollywood for their cat to appear in the “Heathcliff” movie you would be wrong, especially if that cat were Maru, whose videos have been viewed some 160 million times.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
Company culture has been jerked around ever since a few pundits decided that “fun” was the primary component to having happy employees.
A few years ago in my Labor Day post I commented that it seems New Year’s was only yesterday, but here we are and it’s already Labor Day—summer’s over, school’s starting, the leaves are turning and the year is nearly done.
It’s fairly well-established that, as Tony Hsieh keeps saying, happy employees are more productive and are less likely to leave.
Remember the old saying “pretty is as pretty does,” meaning the action dictates the label?
Today will be short, because I just burned my hand and typing isn’t fun.
