“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing” Dale Carnegie
There is a common perception that work and fun happen independently, the concepts are mutually exclusive. It is also known that when employees enjoy their work, and have an element of fun, it does wonders for engagement, commitment, wellbeing and productivity.
A music conductor brings joy to the audience by obtaining the best from the orchestra collectively and individually. It is not about the conductor’s story, but the collective and individual contributions that bring beauty to its audience.
Itam Talgay describes how the great maestro Leonard Bernstein often just held a wide smile and used his happy eyes to show genuine joy in the orchestra’s interpretation. This was his way of offering praise for their great work with barely any instruction. He believed that if you truly love something, “you should give it away” and he reflected this sentiment in his conducting. The story contrasts this style to others who were micromanaging the joy out of music to the point that one orchestra stood up and demanded that the conductor resigns – his technical knowledge was astounding, but he squeezed every ounce of joy out of playing music.
Bringing joy, fun and general enjoyment to the workplace requires a similar approach. Here are a few tactics that will help:
- Reduce the unnecessary un-fun things that impact productivity, waste time, or drain your people’s motivation.
- Giving each person the mental space to make work their own, to grow, to be successful and bring their own stories into their work. All people have a fundamental need to be successful – whatever that may look like.
- Facilitate an atmosphere of fun activities, encourage a sense of humour, and bring laughter into work often. It has been found that it is more enjoyable to collaborate with people you are friendly with, compared to working with people you regard as simply colleagues or worse, enemies.
And always remember, from an employee’s point of view – “If work isn’t fun you’re playing on the wrong team” – Frank Sonnenberg
