Making Work Fun!
By Sue Clark – MTT
Ever get that Monday Morning feeling, or sometimes even a Sunday Evening feeling, when you realise that the weekend’s just about over and it’s almost time to go back to work?
If that feeling’s not a pleasant one, you may be working in an environment where stress is taking its toll – too much work, not enough time, a culture of blame and no real sense of job satisfaction. We are increasingly aware in the news of the pressures of modern living and the problems that work stress brings with it.
We are all seeking a better “work-life balance”, but perhaps this doesn’t just have to mean more time away from the workplace. Perhaps we could consider making our working lives more fun.
A lot of people I meet when networking say they love their jobs – they may love the actual work they do, but often the pressures of meeting deadlines, dealing with uncooperative team members or clients can make even the most fulfilling job a bit of a nightmare at times.
I’d like to suggest a few ideas that you could consider to help make your day at work more fun and less stressful - we’ve tried them all in our offices over the past few years with great results. Here are six of our favourites:
Formal
A morning meeting – just 10 minutes every morning to make sure everyone knows what everyone else is planning to do. Great for helping spread the workload and letting everyone know what’s going on. So, when a customer calls, everyone is up to speed and you don’t have to pass the customer from pillar to post.
Regular reviews - every 6 months a formal 360° review with a chance to ask for additional training, set new goals and review your boss. Keeps everyone focussed and continuously moving forward. Especially good for getting a boss to be more aware of how their management style affects the team. We have a “no holds barred” approach –give constructive criticism and we’ll take it seriously.
We’ll also do coffee shop reviews - a very informal chat over a coffee once in a while to sort any issues out before they get out of hand or forgotten.
MBTI personality analysis – a scientific study of the personality of every team member, especially the boss. Lets everyone understand the way people in the team think and what makes them “tick”. This made us work more cohesively as a team and have a far more sympathetic understanding of how to get the best from each other without raising the stress levels.
We now know the best way to ask for help from a colleague, how to tell if they are under stress or what kind of way they prefer their information presented. We also understand why they behave in certain ways and why that’s sometimes really not an annoyance, but beneficial!
Informal
Go out together – it may seem like the last thing you may want to do with some people, but taking them out of the workplace sometimes shows you there’s a person you can get on with underneath! It doesn’t have to cost a lot - we love going to the cinema (last week we took our mums to see Mama Mia), going to a panto at Christmas, having a birthday meal out or just going bowling. Corporate teambuilding days can also be fun but choose events carefully so they suit everyone’s abilities.
Get a massage therapist – if you’re lucky enough to have a spare room or separate area, ask a therapist to come in maybe once a month and treat everyone in their lunch break. Just 20 minutes of relaxation makes a world of difference. People can pay themselves and you’ll often get a cheaper rate as it’s a block booking for the therapist. We particularly enjoy reflexology and Indian head massage.
Voluntary or community work – great for building team spirit, challenging and developing staff and making people think in a different way. For example, we place members of our team into local schools to do mock interviews, business insight days and careers evenings. Giving them time off work for these events gives us back a team member with a better insight into their own strengths, better presentation skills and improved confidence. Also fulfils your CSR responsibilities.
There are a great many other things we have tried and tested and we are always open to new ideas. Working together to create a positive attitude in the workplace certainly makes coming to work a pleasure, not a burden.
The results we have seen have justified this little bit of extra effort. Not only is absenteeism well down, but customers love the warm welcome they get when they call our friendly team.
Finally, just for the sceptics, we have seen the following results over the last few years:
- Top 25 companies to work for award
- 4 years in a row winners of the “BGR Business Getting Results Club” trophy for
best business
- Chamber award winners
- Mustard award winners
- Investors in People assessment - highly commended – absolutely nothing to change.
If you would like to know more about how you can make a difference and have fun, contact Sue Clark, MD at MTT (UK) Ltd on 01562 748778.