Google or Giggle?
July 11, 2011 at 11:41 AM
Recently I went to see a prospective client in a large multi-national company. As the PA led me to the meeting room I had to pass through an enormous room with about 30 people sitting at work stations – all in complete silence.
It reminded me of the time I was appointed as CEO of a company staffed with young and dynamic people, sitting at work stations – all in complete silence. The only form of communication was via email or instant messaging.
Open plan offices were created in an attempt to create greater communication between people, but I think that they have had the opposite effect. Is anybody going to discuss new thoughts or ideas while they can be overheard by other people? Are people going to pick up the phone to talk to clients or suppliers when all their colleagues can tune in? Is anybody going to break the silence?
Before open plan offices, and certainly at the start of my career, people worked in small groups and certain offices were the ones that people popped into to discuss ideas and, yes, to gossip and, showing my age, to have a smoke and a cup of coffee. It was these ad hoc meetings that turned up any number of new ideas and creative thoughts and helped to forge strong and long-lasting personal relationships too.
However, the main thing that seems to be lacking in these open plan spaces is laughter; they seem such soulless places to work and the absence of laughter was the thing that struck me most when I joined the company. My solution was to put the ‘noisier’ people (actually the sales team) in the middle of the room, knowing that they had to speak to people on the phone and the Sales Director, a larger-than-life American, was briefed to be loud, tell jokes and just chat to people. A role he filled admirably! It changed the whole atmosphere of the office and, surprise, surprise, our business actually improved.
Of course there is a view that with all the financial pressures on companies these days laughter is a distraction from the ‘real job’. However, a recent study conducted at Canadian financial institutions found that managers who facilitated the highest level of employee performance used humour the most often.
The scientific data is also proving that laughter is an integral part of physical wellness. Dr. William Fry of Stanford University found that laughing 200 times burns off the same amount of calories as 10 minutes on a rowing machine. Another study found that after a bout of laughter, blood pressure drops to a lower, healthier level than before the laughter began. Laughter also oxygenates your blood, thereby increasing energy level, relaxes your muscles and works out all your major internal systems like the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
Should managers focus more on making work fun? In a recent survey by Industrial Work and Training group, conducted with managers from a variety of organisations the respondents reported that when there is fun in the workplace:
people enjoy coming to work
they are more motivated
they enjoy better relationships with one another
there is better communication
there is more cohesiveness and team spirit
morale is higher
and the workplace atmosphere is conducive for creative problem-solving
Perhaps it’s time to get away from the computer screen and focus more on laughter!