Rising productivity and fun people at work

If you’re thinking this line of thought is not relevant in today’s tough times, well… restart, robot. Rising productivity and fun people at work have much more brewing than you think and dismiss quickly.

These are tough times, of extracting more from work hours of fewer people to manage. But we go wrong somewhere- not in what we do, but more in what we don’t. We recruit the best people, spend a considerable wad on infrastructure and training, yet the team glue is not strong enough. High attrition ails the best and biggest of corporations. Why?

Increasing dehumanization of our society, a self-centered approach at the workplace, constantly being hypnotized by screens and devices, higher expectations from superiors and other reasons for stress create negativity at work. We like to think of ourselves as a team of high performers who working seriously to achieve our targets. Alas we stay with ourselves, work in silos, put up a façade and at least pretend to respect each other and the hierarchy. In time we have (d)evolved into ambitious, articulate and ruthless people who measure performance according to scales which have been passed down from bigger desks. In time, everyone agrees to these methods because it demands the least bit of people-engagement or interaction. Emails, SMS and plasma videos are supposed to aid communication within people, not replace it. Sadly, we have become the robots we feared in sci-fi stories!
Dost, your IQ will get you a job. Your Emotional Quotient sustains it. Shooting off excessive emails, avoiding small chats with colleagues, meeting people only for work issues, constantly chasing targets only reduces EQ drastically. Its seems ok when we do it, but are sickened when others do the same thing.

This is where fun people come in. They see more than the machines, understand people for who they are, and ensuing behavior increases productivity- the Holy Grail. But fun people are misjudged a lot. They may not have the tact which more diplomatic people possess. It’s not always that fun people can hold back a natural flow of thought, words and actions. But that’s the charm of fun people. They are not bounded by codes of conduct so much. Lovers of life can be tamed by PowerPoint as much as a free bird can be lured in by screensavers. When they see a workplace lose its people touch, they quit; because for them, there’s more to life than just earning a salary. Enslaved is the man who sees no more beyond FYA messages.

So how do you become a fun person without pretending to be one? Here goes. Smile at least once when people walk upto you. If you’re averse to smiling, even a gesture that opens up conversation will do- like an extended hand. Turn and face people who talk to you. Reduce emailing. Call people back after get-togethers, meet remote teams. Chat up on stuff other than work, take people out for lunch (and don’t discuss work there). Write a note people want to hang onto, highlight good things people do. Reprimand in private, stop worrying about your own image too much. Let others hog the limelight. In fact, turn the limelight on others. There, 10 things that can help make a place more fun, and without losing your dignity. After spending decades of our lives working, we will not recall what we did so much as the people we worked with.

(10 tips are collected from observing very inspiring current as well as ex-colleagues)