You are responsible for your employee’s productivity. But if you are always on their backs, they will despise you. Your following quarterly report may only be particularly impressive if you do something.
If you want your employees to perform well, you must motivate them.
Imagine how much this will simplify your managerial duties. In addition to meeting their quotas, employees will exceed them. They will:
- Arrive at work earlier;
- Work harder;
- Take fewer sick days; and
- Contribute more ideas without your intervention.
How do you do it?
It would help if you allowed them to play (Yes, you read it correctly!)
How Does Recreation Enhance Productivity?
Remember as a child when you used to climb the fence? Or engaging in catch with your friends? Or seeing a gleaming guitar lying on the ground and compulsion to pick it up and pluck the strings?
No one compelled you to perform these actions, correct? You did things because they were entertaining and there were no repercussions.
We are comparable to adults. We enjoy having fun and dislike being bored. Boring is completing chores that someone else directs you to perform.
As a college student studying drama, I was not required to take improv lessons. When the instructor announced the next exercise, I would be the first to begin. Then, when the time came for reflection and discussion, I would join with the same vigor.
Compare this to my theatre history class, where the instructor lectured for two hours and demanded that we raise our hands. I’m sure you already know why.
Improvisation suited my inherent understanding of performing as a human being. It was entertaining to make up stories, act, and follow your whims. When my instructor moved on to a more challenging project, my mind was immediately prepared to follow suit.
As adults, we must still enjoy ourselves. Therefore, the solution is straightforward: incorporate play into work and maintain employee motivation.
Social experiments have demonstrated this.
A study from the University of Warwick discovered that cheerful people are more productive.
The experimental group received a snack or watched a funny video for 10 minutes. The participants were then instructed to do work-related tasks for 10 minutes.
The experiment demonstrated that individuals enjoying themselves were more driven to complete tedious tasks. Their performance was between 12 and 20% better than the control groups.
The experimental group not only completed more tasks, but they also completed them with greater accuracy. And it was all because of light refreshments and laughing!
Why Entertainment Is Effective (And When It Is Not)
When you think about it, work and entertainment have always coexisted. During the era of farming, work songs served as a form of amusement that made repetitive activities more tolerable and shortened work hours.
Positive emotions excite and inspire individuals, which not only helps the well-being of employees but also increases the company’s bottom line.
Also, laughter is especially beneficial when accompanied by enjoyment: Laughter releases endorphins and promotes relaxation, increasing creativity and vigor when people return to work. It also explains why employees who work in a calm atmosphere are less likely to complain of boredom, worry, and tension.
All firms with rapid expansion acknowledge the benefits of having fun at work. According to a 2014 Institute for Workplace Economics study, organizations that engaged in employee well-being and were listed among the best employers on Glassdoor had a 144% better return on investment six years later than those that did not.
However, it is essential to note that not all enjoyable activities are productive. There are instances in which a dysfunctional meeting hinders genuine work. Occasionally, employees are so intent on having fun at work that their task becomes monotonous. Thus, enjoyment becomes a waste of time.
How Do You Engage Employees in Their Work?
Companies that employ play at work effectively do better. Moreover, they dominate.
Consider Amazon: Inc. magazine stated that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos prohibited PowerPoint presentations at corporate meetings and substituted them with humorous tales.
Instead of reading bullet points, everyone sits silently for thirty minutes and reads the memo, which has “a narrative framework with real sentences, topic phrases, verbs, and nouns.” After the allotted time, they discuss the topic.
By introducing storytelling and other enjoyable activities into the workday, you can enhance your employees’ productivity and help them better comprehend tasks, recall details, and be more productive.
How, then, do you include play into your regular work schedule? There are many ways to accomplish this:
Play Enjoyable Office Games.
Every day in my improv courses began with team-building exercises. These activities foster confidence among participants, enhance team communication, and inspire people to take greater creative chances without fear of failure.
In light of this, I would like to recommend two of my favorite 5-minute exercises:
A Human Knot.
Ways to play
Request that your staff forms a circle. Instruct each participant to hold the person’s right hand in front of them and the left hand of the person opposite them in the circle. Then, request that the team untie them. Participants may speak, plan, and strategize but cannot release their grip on their hands.
Although this task may initially appear hard, it is highly feasible. When your team achieves success, you will hear their cheers. In addition, they will bring a positive attitude and team spirit back to the office. Perform this for one week, and you will see an improvement in staff performance.
Solo Wolf
Ways to Play
Form your staff into a small circle and have them count to twenty. It may appear straightforward, but there is a catch: only one person can speak. If two individuals echo, the group must begin over. And cheating is prohibited! In other words, you cannot ask someone to count to 20 or have two individuals exchange numbers.
Listen for the applause as the group reaches 20! It may take a few attempts, but the group will eventually learn to be patient, listen, and take their time.
Laugh Heartily.
Google has, among other things, an internal meme generator for all of its employees inside jokes.
Remember what I mentioned earlier: laughter makes individuals more inventive and energized, hence more productive at work.
Learn from the best: there is nothing wrong with employees watching funny YouTube videos or having fun with their coworkers since it will make them more focused and productive in the future.
Provide Your Staff with A Space to Unwind and Get into Mischief
Google, Facebook, and Yahoo all have relaxation facilities equipped with slides, pool tables, and video games. Pearl Fisher Brainstorms, a British business, designed a lounge with 81,000 plastic balls. Because such an environment allows workers to relax and clear their minds, it boosts office productivity.
Enjoy The Tranquility of Office Gaming
Conventional wisdom suggests that only money and obligations motivate us. They claim that bonuses are the best reward for hard work. Or, “Give them quotas with consequences for those who do not meet them!”
But none of this boosts intrinsic motivation, the only incentive that matters in the long run. To motivate employees, the office must feel like a second home, where you can be serious when necessary and have fun when you want to.
