power of a playful spirit at work, The

Journal for Quality and Participation, The, Jul/Aug 1995 by Berg, Deanna H

Tranzact Systems has pizza party celebrations on a regular basis and live by Mike's Big Banana Theory: "Don't get hung up on little bananas; it will destroy your ability to deal with the big bananas."

Ploy and customer service...Jim Wisner, President of Financial Service Corporation in Atlanta reports that one of their seven corporate operating principles is "Have fun". Jim says, "I really believe that having fun enhances customer service tremendously. Everyone has something in their jobs that they dislike. Having fun makes these things easier to handle and increases everyone's energy and willingness to provide exceptional service to customers."

Creativity and innovation, or put the child inside of you to work--It seems to me that all of the qualities that we most need to thrive in these turbulent times are those that we already had when we were children. (4)

Which of the following qualities did you exhibit as a child that could help you in these uncertain times?

* Active imagination and ability to fantasize...

* Boundlessness rather than perceived limits...

* Lack of fear; focused on outcomes rather than possible failure...

* Persistence; if we had to learn to walk as adults, we probably would have given up at the first fall...

* Curiosity and fascination rather than attempting to control and frustration...

* Spontaneity and openness to changing experiences...

* Ability to make anything fun...

* Joyful exploration of everything new...

* Self-acceptance and self-appreciation, even when not having all the answers; no need to be perfect...

* Willingness to ask questions, volunteer, be confused, without fear of personal embarrassment or being considered foolish or silly...

* Love of learning, have teachable spirits, rather than worrying if something is right or wrong...

* Trusting of self...

* Flexibility...

* Ability to reframe negatives into positives--"that would have been a great block tower, but now that its on the floor, it makes a nice snake"...

* Napping. Some companies are now making it possible for people do this with a musical nest for people to relax in; Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream in Waterbury, Vermont, installed a futon room for quick naps...

* Expecting more and asking directly for what we want; as adults we expect people to read our minds and then become upset when we don't get what we want...

* Having ambitious dreams and goals, with no doubts as to their ability to achieve them; many adults have learned to be realistic, giving up their dreams to settle for pervasive mediocrity.

There is abundant evidence that in addition to continuously improving their products, services and people, companies will need continuous innovation and even transformation to succeed in the future.

We can't improve our organizations by trying to do the same things that didn't work in the past. And we will need to be continually finding new ways to create customer loyalty.

A playful attitude can be a great help in finding different ways to delight customers, but many of us have learned to "be serious, stop fooling around, get down to business" in meetings. This focus on results can stifle innovative and potentially valuable ideas. How often have you had your best ideas by sitting down and thinking, "now I'm going to have a good idea?" Think what might happen if we unleashed some of our positive childlike qualities in these meetings.