Chapter One
Levity Is a Funny Thing If They''re Busting a Gut, They''ll Bust Their Butts
Two guys walk into a bar ...
Whoa, whoa, whoa. You can''t start a serious business management book with a line like that. That flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Harrumph, grumble, grumble.
Well, you can relax. This is no joke.
Two guys walk into a bar. They''re both leaders at the same company. One has a big, infectious smile and is laughing as he opens the door. The guy at his side hasn''t actually cracked a smile since Laugh-In. Quick test of your judgment skills: Which one''s better at his job?
You''re going to need a little more info, right? Nope. It''s a simple call, and current research backs it up: The guy who''s laughing and enjoying himself is better. He''s considerably more likely to be more productive, inspiring, engaging, committed, efficient, secure, and trusted-overall a better leader.
Likeable sure, but why is he better?
For one thing, look at it from the point of view of the people who work with him or for him. How would you rather spend your days? Working with a buttoned-down stiff whose idea of fun at work is rolling up his sleeves or for someone who allows you to let loose every now and then-like the employees at Lego America who zip around campus on scooters, or at Principal Financial Group where employees have set up mini golf courses in their offices, or at Google with its annual employee ski trip, or at Ben & Jerry''s where factory workers take home a couple of pints of ice cream a week, or at Sports Illustrated where employees creating the "Swimsuit Edition" ... well, we don''t know exactly what they do for fun, but we''re pretty sure it''s not buttoned-down.
If people are having fun, they''re going to work harder, stay longer, maintain their composure in a crisis, and take better care of the organization.
Here''s one example.
An excited Kirt Womack of the Thiokol factory in Utah sprinted into his manager''s office on the first day of spring and asked if the folks on the factory floor could do something fun-say, head outside and fly paper airplanes-if they met their quota two hours early. The manager wrinkled his brow and vetoed the idea. Kirt persisted, "Well, then, what if we exceed our quota by 50 percent?" Figuring he had nothing to lose, the manager finally gave in.
Later that day, at 1:30, the manager checked on things and found that his employees had reached 110 percent of their quota. By 3 PM, they''d surpassed 150 percent. The airplanes were launched, laughter rang out, and people frolicked (funny word, frolicked).
This tale is no big deal, right? Sure, except for the fact that a 50 percent increase isn''t exactly insignificant. While this tale illustrates the benefits of levity at work, it also underscores the dire need to enlighten management. You should know what the supervisor''s initial reaction was to his workers'' hitting the 150 percent production goal by 3 PM. Rather than connecting the dots and seeing the link between the promise of fun and working harder, he instead commented, "Imagine what you guys could have accomplished if you hadn''t taken two hours off to screw around!"
The manager''s initial ignorance did little to dissuade the workers. The kind of joyous, playful, break-the-tension fun they engaged in is taking place all around the world in organizations that care about performance, retention, and profitability. Motivated purely by the opportunity to have a little fun at work, the aviation workers increased their performance dramatically. The next week they negotiated for a volleyball game on the factory floor as a reward and again hit record production levels. Each week, they continued to request fun rewards and turned in astounding production numbers. By the third week, when they had earned a trip offsite for ice cream cones, the manager finally got it.
That, in a waffle cone, is the power of the Levity Effect at work.
An increasing body of research demonstrates that when leaders lighten up and create a fun workplace, there is a significant increase in the level of employee trust, creativity, and communication-leading to lower turnover, higher morale, and a stronger bottom line.
The research also shows that managers who have taught themselves to be funnier are more effective communicators and better salespeople, have more engaged employees, earn a lot more than their peers, and are much thinner. Okay, maybe not the last one.
The following pages include experiences of real businesspeople we''ve studied across a spectrum of real industries-high tech, manufacturing, services, retail, financial services, health care, and so on. Some of these leaders didn''t start out as fun-loving souls; in fact, many spent years in gray suits, brow knitting in conference rooms with their colleagues. But they all learned to shed some of their seriousness, break away from the pack of the mirthless, and carve successful, enjoyable, rewarding career paths. And a lot of their secrets to success aren''t listed in the company handbook. They are the product of innovation and creativity. Few corporate manuals exist, if any, that recommend paper airplane flying in aeronautical factories or require incorporating a rap song into a memo on new commission plans. Wise leaders learn to discover for themselves the tricks of the levity trade. But, you might not believe us if we simply gave you a few examples and said, "Go. Have some fun." Instead, we''ll prove to you the connection between the punch line and the bottom line through a variety of interviews with CEOs, business leaders, salespeople, ad executives, business owners, and individuals from many other walks of life. All share some similar traits, which we will explore here, and all have learned to lighten up for real, tangible results.
How they did it is what this book is all about. You''ll discover how to master the Levity Effect to impact your career and your life.
THE PATH TO ''GREAT''NESS
First, the proof. Grab your spoon; here comes the pudding.
It''s hard to believe that a warm and fuzzy subject such as fun could impact an organization''s success. But the remarkable case for levity at work is growing, with the most convincing numbers culled from more than a decade of research by the Great Place to Work(r) Institute. Data from the organization''s one-million-person research database reveals that "Great" companies consistently earn significantly higher marks for "fun."
Each year, the Great Place to Work(r) Institute asks tens of thousands of employees to rate their experience of workplace factors including, "This is a fun place to work." On Fortune''s "100 Best Companies to Work For" list, produced by the Great Place to Work(r) Institute, employees in companies that are denoted as "great" responded overwhelmingly-an average of 81 percent-that they are working in a "fun" environment. That''s a compelling statistic: Employees at the best companies are also having the best time. At the "good" companies-those that apply for inclusion but do not make the top 100-only 62 employees out of 100 say they are having fun. That gap in experience is, surprisingly, one of the largest in the survey.
Now, a skeptic will ask, "Are successful companies just more fun to be in, since they are winning and profitable, or does fun create success?" It''s the old, "which came first, the chicken or the egg" question. As we met with Amy Lyman, chair of the board and cofounder of the Institute, she explained that fun and success go hand in hand. And, all companies should be wondering how to have more fun.
"It''s absolutely a question companies should be asking themselves because it is something that happens in great workplaces," she said. "In fact, it would be very unusual for a company to be among the ''100 Best'' and not score well on the fun question."
Wow. In case you didn''t catch that, let us repeat it. It would be rare to be one of Fortune''s "100 Best Companies to Work For" and not score well on the fun question.
Correlations to fun on the 57-question survey are all "very high, very positive," Lyman added. In fact, employees who strongly agree with that statement are extremely likely-a rock solid 0.61 correlation-to also reply positively to the statement, "Taking everything into account, I would say this is a great place to work."
Lyman explained to us that as a company moves on its journey from being lousy to good to great, they must first address basic issues such as physical safety and even friendliness. But to compare, the percentage increase from the good companies up to the best on the friendliness question is just 11 1/4 percent. On the fun question, the gap is 29 percent.
"In other words, when companies make the leap from good to great, they must start addressing sophisticated trust issues. One corollary to developing strong bonds of trust is that people are able to also have a great deal of fun at work," Lyman says.
"If you are interested in increasing the opportunities for fun across an organization, and people genuinely engage and have fun, then that is an indication to me of a strong workplace culture that people will want to commit to. You would see a correlation between fun and reduced turnover, better recruiting, greater camaraderie ... all those positive things you see happen in great workplaces. You can also see the exact same thing happen within a work group.
"Many people are taught that business is sterile and numbers oriented, with the human element secondary to all else," she explained. "This hard-nosed mentality goes back to a time when people were thought of as cogs in the machinery, as opposed to now, where people are seen as contributors and producers of work. Fun is part of life. When leaders see people as human beings who are more productive when they are having fun, it makes all the difference."
In fact, fun was one factor that was considered when the Great Place to Work(r) survey was developed. The survey statements were compiled by listening to employees'' opinions on what makes an engaging workplace. As employees told their stories it was clear that the "100 Best" companies enjoyed a high level of trust. Another point that came through very clearly in employees'' stories was that in the great workplaces employees were allowed to have fun on the job.
Now, organizations create fun in a hundred different ways. Intuit has a fun committee that rotates personnel every quarter and creates low-budget activities for all to participate in-everything from potluck breakfasts to Jeopardy games. AstraZeneca has a fun department that brings funsters to the company, singing, distributing toys, telling jokes, and doing dances to set the mood as part of their health and wellness series. Valero has volunteer bands that play at community and employee events. The list goes on and on and is detailed in later chapters.
The only rule Lyman points out is that the fun in great companies is natural, organic.
She explains, "A few years ago, one of our clients was experiencing low levels of camaraderie among employees. They decided to have an ice cream social at the end of the month with the idea that this would help with their camaraderie opportunity. As the leaders were explaining it, we realized their goal was to appease the critics. The organizers said, ''Employees complain we don''t have enough fun, so we''ll show them. We''ll give them ice cream.''"
Through a discussion with the leaders about their intentions and the potential consequences-that employees would probably be able to see the real reason for the ice cream social-Lyman suggested that it might be more meaningful if the ice cream celebration was linked to a work achievement. The company had received a recent grant, and the employees had all contributed to this accomplishment. The lights went on for the leaders-seeing the link between fun and the celebration of an accomplishment-and the event was a lot more successful. This was a small start for this company, yet it had a big impact.
One of Lyman''s favorite examples of real fun happens daily in one of the product design work groups at software giant Microsoft. As reported in their "Culture Audit" submission to the Institute, "Each day, one person signs up to blast a song across the room at three o''clock. Everyone is dragging by that point and needs a break. Some people get up and dance. Everyone claps when the song is done."
How do you create that kind of real fun? It works because there is a sense that people are all working together toward a common goal. People enjoy each other''s spirit. The relationship comes before the fun, which makes the fun real and acceptable. Another company could try this, and people might get ticked off.
Lyman is quick to point out that at great companies, fun goes hand in hand with trust. "Fun benefits from high trust and vice versa," she says. "Since people are trusting, they aren''t afraid to make fools of themselves and take more risks. And in turn, trust is reinforced and benefits from the fun experiences people have."
This scenario was played out at a university we studied that wanted to lighten up the dour environment. When the president asked maintenance to do something about an ugly new satellite dish on the top of a building, the crew manager gave employees the assignment and asked them to be creative in their approach. They took his request literally. Since it was fall, they painted a giant jack-o-lantern on the dish. The president and student body loved it. Now the dish is painted seasonally, and employees in the typically low-profile maintenance group can''t wait for their turn to express themselves in a high-profile, fun way. That never would have happened if the employees hadn''t felt enough trust in their manager to take a risk.
As will be evident in the following pages, trust gradually develops as managers show their employees that they can laugh at themselves and can use levity to diffuse tense situations. These managers come across as more approachable, which also fosters rapport and eases stressful times. They understand that levity at work doesn''t just mean fun and games; sometimes it''s as simple as unfurrowing a brow or relaxing clenched jaws.
No one knows this better than Jim Olson and Vern Wardle. They''ve worked together for decades at Harman Management Corporation, the world''s first and one of the largest and most profitable Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises. Jim is the president, Vern the COO of this chain of 350 restaurants.
As background and a personal insight, Vern and his wife have long shared a secret signal: Three of anything means "I love you." It could be three honks of a horn as his wife returns home or a kitchen light flashing on and off three times before Vern leaves for an early morning flight.
One day at the office, after a heated disagreement, Vern and Jim each stormed to their adjoining offices. After a few minutes Vern was sitting at his desk, still fuming over Jim''s pig-headedness, when he heard three slow, distinct knocks on the wall. He shook his head a little and grinned. Jim had used Vern''s own secret message to apologize. Laughing a little to himself, Vern rapped the code back: One, two, three. "I love you, too, buddy."
Is there just a trace of a smile on your face? There were certainly grins on Jim''s and Vern''s faces that day. In fact, for a long time, they''ve been laughing all the way to the bank. That''s because from a corporate perspective, managing with levity affects the bottom line. It certainly has for Harman Management and many others you''ll read about.
Lyman cited a number of research studies that have linked the strong positive cultures of the "100 Best" companies with strong financial performance. If you had invested your beloved dough in the "100 Best" companies to work for over the past decade, you would have earned almost two times the return to the S&P 500 (Figure 1.1)-indicating that great workplaces produce outstanding returns for their shareholders.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Levity Effectby Adrian Gostick Scott Christopher Copyright © 2008 by Adrian Gostick. Excerpted by permission.
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