Stop Mandating Fun At Work
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but having fun at work might not give your company the edge you think it might.
This article (https://lnkd.in/eED6G3sM), inspired by the show Severance, highlights the pitfalls of the work-life construct. While the article itself is a very interesting read, it inspired a deeper dive into something I touch on in my speeches: corporate mandated fun can be worse than having no fun at all.
Organizations have been playing the short game when it comes to workplace fun — prizes, rote recognition, forced team-building, etc. — vs the long game of promoting autonomy, helping employees discover meaning in their work, building genuine relationships, and weaving the fun around those things.
There’s a certain manipulation baked into these things, or as the article puts it, “light corporate bribery.”
“Do this or else…”
Or else what?
“You’re not one of us.”
😱
Humans are a social species, and any threat of being expelled from a group means fight-or-flight kicks in, and it’s hard to discover meaning in your work, do creative work, or actually bond with your coworkers when this threat looms large, not to mention the stress and burnout.
I had a woman approach me after a speech, curious about how to bring her team closer together. She had tried all the fancy bells and whistles she saw the tech companies doing — a game room, office trivia, and even renting out a racetrack so team members could speed around in performance cars — but with no discernible effect on happiness and productivity.
Why?
Mandating fun takes away people’s autonomy and makes them feel OBLIGATED to be part of it, when they may just want to go home and relax.
Those moments where camaraderie is forced on teams are keeping them mentally clocked in after work hours, even though the activities you’re doing aren’t directly related to work.
And for those who choose to go home and take a mental break, what kind of mental break do you think they’re taking while the threat of “you’re not one of us” looms large?
I talk a LOT about the importance of incorporating fun into work, so this post may feel counterintuitive on the surface, but HOW you do it is so much more important than just doing it.
So what is the solution?
✔️Know WHY you’re doing it in the first place. If it’s to get better results from your people, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. That’s why it’s so important to:
✔️LISTEN to your people. Give THEM the freedom to choose when, where, and how they have fun together (within certain guardrails, of course).
This takes the pressure off of you as a leader, and if your people pitch YOU on an idea, it gives them the feeling of ownership that builds bonds and makes work meaningful, rather getting a memo about corporate-ordered karaoke.
Want to reap the productivity and innovation benefits of authentic, collaborative fun at YOUR organization? Set up a quick, no-fee, no-frills conversation about your culture goals, what’s getting in the way, and how you can overcome them.
