Imagine if you or I challenged ten TV producers to make hit shows in various different genres. A drama? Can do. A mystery? Got it. Action? Here comes Tom Cruise. But what about a comedy? Something hilarious, fresh, and non-vulgar. This last one would be a tremendous challenge!

Over the past few weeks, I have written about both the most unrecognized and most underutilized tools that are vital for high performing managers. While a list of helpful management tools could go on and on, these two, plus a third from today, alone greatly move the needle in a positive direction.

John Gardner states that “Boredom is the secret ailment of large-scale organizations”. Do you ever find yourself bored in the middle of a workday? Maybe it’s a slow day at the office. Perhaps you’ve been doing your job so long that you can (and sometimes do) find yourself doing it in your sleep. Do you ever look at the people who work with or for you and notice them just going through the motions? 

Ryan Holiday says that “When we aim high, pressure and stress obligingly come along for the ride”. Do you find yourself often stressed at work? Can you see the strain on the faces of others? 

In either case, this third management tool can be the remedy that’s just what the doctor ordered!

The Tool

Yesterday I was able to promote a high performing employee from her role of shift leader to Assistant Manager. The meeting consisted of popping off a confetti cannon, sharing smiles and words of congratulations, covering housekeeping items regarding new uniform and pay raise, and sharing some helpful challenges. As the meeting concluded, I issued one final reminder to this up-and-coming leader: DON’T FORGET TO HAVE FUN!

Great managers use the tool of HAVING FUN each day!

When leaders set a tone of fun with their people, it works to prevent boredom. Having fun also fights to keep stress and negativity at bay. Embracing a culture of fun does not mean compromising on quality of work or shifting focus away from the needs of customers. Instead, fun can FUEL an organization’s ability to produce at an even higher level than ever before! People do their best work when they are confident and enthusiastic.

In my younger years I often managed direct reports with intensity. While this generally produced quality results, it took a toll both on me and on those under my care. I remember one specific day about 7 years ago where I told myself, “You have got to lead with more looseness and fun. Otherwise, you’ll have to leave and find somewhere else to work”. This personal ultimatum was just what I needed to push myself away from being intense and towards leading out of loose confidence.

So, what can it actually look like to have fun in the workplace? Not surprisingly, one of the best ways to lead with fun is to be FUNNY! Author and comedian David Sedaris shares two tips on how to be funny, and I’ve added a third here as well:

1. 1. Make fun of yourself. We aren’t talking about tearing yourself as the leader down to a point where people lack confidence in following you. What Sedaris means here is finding things about yourself, or about things that you do or say, that can be made light of in the workplace. For example, I will sometimes walk into my Chick-fil-A drive-thru and tell the person running the drinks station that if they want to crash the entire DT just put me on drinks and I’ll crash us in under 60 seconds. Drinks is a position that I cannot effectively run during high volume times, and so I point this out and make fun of it. This doesn’t mean that I am an incompetent store manager, so making light of it is fun and funny without doing any damage to my reputation as a manager. Obviously making fun of yourself requires healthy self-esteem. If a leader is trying to boost up their own weak self-confidence each day, poking fun at themselves will be impossible.
   2. Exaggerate things. Sedaris hits the nail on the head with this one as well! Similar to the DT example mentioned above, while working in the store a manager will update me that our day’s labor productivity number is sitting at a 95. I respond to this by saying that “95 was the year that I went bald”! Born in 1989, I was 6 years old in 1995, and the exaggeration is not lost on even young employees who think of me at 35 as “old”. This kind of making fun of yourself THROUGH exaggeration is a sure-fire way to keep things fun and loose for employees throughout the workday.
   3. Say weird things. Years ago, I read this in some place or another. The concept is that whatever the weirdest things are that pop into your head, just blurt them out for everyone around to hear! This obviously doesn’t mean saying inappropriate things to coworkers. A bit of filtering and discretion is of course necessary. But assuming that we are good there, just say weird things! I’ll often think of gross restaurants in town and then say “Hey everyone, how’s about we all go to eat at ________ together after the shift today. We can carpool!” These kinds of off-the-wall weird statements catch people off guard and can really get folks laughing.

Having fun at work should never be the ultimate goal. The mission and objectives of the organization reign as supreme. But healthy fun will HELP achieve the mission. Remember that having fun at work can never devolve into hurting the feelings of others by making fun of them. It can also never turn into crude, inappropriate talk or joking in the workplace. But maintaining a culture of appropriate, healthy fun IS INTEGRAL to the success of a manager and of a team as a whole! 

Just as I did in yesterday’s promotion meeting, I’ve been working hard lately to remind those around me (and myself) to just HAVE SOME FUN! Life is too short not to. Work is too difficult not to. We spend too many hours of our lives at work not to. When I think back fondly about working with people like Brent, German, ABC, Starfish, Nolt, and many more, my mind immediately goes not just to the incredible results that we produced but to how much we enjoyed the ride as we had FUN TOGETHER!

In Closing

Are you having fun each day? Are you creating a culture of fun around you? Would others describe you as high-performing yet fun? Do you make fun of yourself and exaggerate things in order to put a smile on the face of someone you lead or work with?