by Joyce Weiss
© Copyright 2003 by Joyce Weiss. All rights
reserved.
Speaker Joyce Weiss challenged
the Region 3 audience to "Take The Ride of Your
Life" by adding humor and joy to our day to day
activities.
She noted that "humor is fluid like water, humor
is a set of survival skills that relieve
tension, keeping us flexible and fluid versus
being rigid and breakable during challenging
times." She suggested that we follow the lead of
successful companies such as 3M, Ben & Jerry's
and Southwest Airlines to have fun and reward
that activity on the job.
Joyce suggested many ideas which we could add to
our inventory in having fun such as:
-
Theme Days (Elvis, clashing
outfits)
-
Slogan Contests
-
Employee Baby Picture Bulletin
Boards
-
Throw a quarter into a "negative
pot" and the money buys food for the staff.
For me, Ms. Weiss' best "take
away" was her challenge to us to identify our
top 10 core values from the following list:
-
Financial security
-
Respect from others (those whom
you know)
-
Recognition - to be well-known to
other people
-
Personal freedom and independence
-
Family structure and cohesiveness
-
Spirituality and faith
-
Punctuality for self
-
Efficient use of time
-
The want of personal solitude
-
Power over others
-
Personal Creativity
-
To be appreciated
-
To enjoy good health
-
To take on challenges
-
To experience excitement and
adventure
-
To compete
-
To be productive
-
To feel inner peace
-
To experience love and affection
-
To be of service to others
-
To interact with others
-
To gain wisdom and insight
-
To enjoy cultural activities
-
To have intimate (truly honest
and close) relationships with others
Once we identify the top 10 core
value that we value, we should then prioritize
them. Next, we should list the top 5 core values
which are our ultimate internal motivators. With
this listing we can evaluate how congruent our
personal and professional lives line up with our
core values. We can evaluate matches and
deficits. Finally, she challenged us to identify
at least one action plan to help us achieve a
fulfilling life.
This was a powerful exercise for me. And left
unsaid, but obvious, is that the more congruent
we are with our internal motivators, the more
comfortable we are with humor in the workplace.
Please contact me if you have any
questions regarding this presentation or email
Joyce Weiss at
joyce@joyceweiss.com Her website is
www.joyceweiss.com. Joyce is available
for Chapter or Firm presentations.
Also note that information
contained in this article is copyrighted and
used by permission from Joyce Weiss. ©Joyce
Weiss. Bold Solutions to Boost the Bottom Line™
P.O. Box 250163, West Bloomfield, MI 48325-0163,
Phone: (248) 681-5831, Fax: (248) 682-0358.
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