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Benefit
#8
Many companies
report dramatic increases in productivity and creativity when their
employees stopped taking themselves so seriously at work. Monsanto
managers and top research scientists increased creativity by 50
percent after a humor session with Joel Goodman, director of The
HUMOR Project.20
The founders
of the Internet directory Yahoo! were graduate students just fooling
around when they stumbled on the concept of what would later become
Yahoo. "We began to index all of the information on the Web,
just for fun," says co-founder Jerry Yang. Unintentionally,
they had created a vast market through their play.
Employees gain
confidence through fun interactions. It puts everyone on a level
playing field. This is the time when supervisors and CEO's aren't
necessarily more knowledgeable than other employees. The entire
group gets involved in generating useful ideas. The stakes are not
as high as when producing solutions to business problems and the
CEO has the final word. Fun activities help employees shed their
worries in expressing ideas — ones that they might otherwise
fear would be perceived as silly or stupid by others. CEOs and managers
can let employees create solutions in a no risk environment. As
both teams observe the synergy that occurs from generating ideas
together, creativity in business situations will soar.
In Silicon Valley
54 percent of employers found department morale to be high compared
with 44 percent nationwide, according to an extensive research study
of 17,500 employees who report working long hours. John Stanek,
survey chief, says, "I think employees would rather work to
death than be bored. Employees are excited by what they are doing.
They should be wearing out. But they are not. The reason is the
creative and intellectually attractive environment."21
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