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Guest post by: Robert Whipple Become an Author

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A hallmark of an empowered state is that people have more fun at work. In the conventional environment, there is little of this. Helping people relax and enjoy the new environment is a part of the deal. There are lots of team celebrations, both inside and outside work. Jack Stack, in "the Great Game of Business" put it this way:

"You don't need a balance sheet to tell the difference between a healthy company and a sick one. In many cases, it's the difference between going to a ballpark and a funeral home. In a healthy company, you can see and feel the enthusiasm. People nod and smile and look you in the eye. There are often banners around or balloons. Something is always being celebrated - a birthday, an anniversary, a new record, whatever. The bulletin boards are fresh with the latest news. In a sick company, on the other hand, the bulletin boards are filled with announcements required by law - OSHA directives, anti-discrimination regulations, and so on. People don't look at you. They aren't happy to see you. The premises are run down. The stock is disorganized. No one is having fun. Everyone seems depressed. It's as if people are going to a funeral every day, and it may be their company's."

Your organization can develop the ability to have fun while simultaneously improving productivity. Get people involved and let their creative juices take over. For some leaders, this is scary. It seems logical that if people keep their noses to the grindstone most of the time, more output will result. Instead, people get ground down to a bloody pulp and become exhausted and irritable. If there are moments of joy and celebration, people are far more productive over the long haul. The leader needs the wisdom to take a chance and let things happen.

Once a group of employees asked for some money to convert an old storage room into a "multi-cultural center," where people could go to meet or take a break. Conventional wisdom might have said, "Great, all we need is another break room." Instead, I encouraged them and gave them some money (about 60% of what they requested.)

A couple months later, they had a gala opening of the Multi-Cultural Center and it was awesome. The room was tastefully decorated. There were comfortable chairs and a big conference table. No money was spent on the furniture. The employees found it in a surplus area and got permission to use it, along with free trucking for delivery. There was a state-of-the-art sound system with soft ethnic music playing and a video of cultural topics. Around the outside walls were shelves with several hundred precious artifacts the shop floor people had donated from personal collections from their homelands. There were pieces from all over the world, and each one was labeled like in a museum, along with some information on the donor's family background. The lighting was like an art gallery, so the artifacts really jumped out.

This room became a place for celebrations, and the people had proud ownership of it. They, not the janitors, kept it spotless. Once a month, they would have a cultural lunch with a specific country as a theme. People would bring in dishes from that country to share. They rotated exhibits to allow more people to display.

I was proud of them and the room. It became a regular tour stop when top management was in town. They were amazed to see a room organized and managed by production workers, right next door to the packaging lines. When management talked to the workers, it was obvious they were proud of their room and the celebrations it represented.

Productivity also rose during this time. Even with the distraction of planning, constructing, maintaining, and celebrating the room, people felt more connected to the workplace, more engaged in the business, and more productive.

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