I have been feeling rather low this week.
I wish I could point to a single event or thing - but I cannot. There are some contributing factors of course: a rather pronounced lack of restful sleep, an unexpected reorg that work that impacted me not at all (but one of my good coworker friends), a series of unexpected postal issues (note: Send nothing you need to get there in a specific period of time through the U.S. Postal service).
One item that may be impacting me more than I anticipate is the fact that my work site is effectively rolling into the next phase of operations, away from the sort of start-up feel to one of regular operations and "organizational efficiency and excellence". It happens everywhere that companies and sites are successful of course; what it has generally come to mean is a loss of the close sense of connectedness the site has and some level of fun and much more of a rather un-fun, unengaging work environment.
I value my senses of connectedness and fun highly, so this is not a welcome development.
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For better or worse, I like a sense of "fun" at my work.
Work is, almost by its very nature, often not fun at all but rather a series of tasks to be completed. And often the work and the tasks are serious - to be fair, the industry I work in (biopharmaceutical-medical devices) can literally be a life and death series of actions. And there is a very distinctive time and point for seriousness.
That said, serious all the time can turn people into unhappy employees.
If I have a calling at my job - besides doing my job, of course - it is to make things as fun as I can. That means lightening the mood wherever I can. That means calling a joke on myself or playing the fool on myself (consciously) as I can. It means breaking out into song at random times (yes, I have done it).
About anything to bring a smile to someone's face, especially someone who needs it.
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Will my equilibrium be restored? Probably. Yesterday was a better day than most of the week, and even though things will be different, there is still fun to be had. It may require a little more creativity on my part (or a little more subtleness), but it will still be there. After all, people may not remember what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
So give them something to laugh at.
🙂
ReplyDeleteThanks Anon! I will just keep on trying to fight the good fight.
DeleteThis post struck me harder than most. At my last job, though the company had been around for many years, it was still small and owned by just a core group of around 50 employees. It was fun and everyone knew your name, family and even some of the things you don't normally share. But then the leaders realized that by purchasing other undervalued companies, they could increase our stock prices dramatically and so within a handful of years, we went from small to very large. I quickly became a number, one of many and like you said, the fun left town. I made the decision to just leave, cash out my stocks and call it a day. Nearly all of my co-workers did the same in the four or five years following my departure as well for the same reasons. Life just seemed to short to go to work and feel like a robot cranking out product.
ReplyDeleteEd, almost every company I have worked for has been small or a small part of a larger unit (and thus felt small). I have been at companies with as few as 20 employees to start with. And it does make for a great environment: as you point out, you know everyone's name, you know their families and interests, and sometimes you do know "more". Coworkers really can become friends.
DeleteAnd then, you reach a threshold. It has varied for me between 100 and 200 (about the size of my grammar school growing up) and depends on the management style, but ultimately ends the same.
You see people less. You have less time to talk. Things that before were worked out in conversation now require meetings and three levels of approval.
Companies may try to compensate for this: All-hands, newsletters proclaiming how we are all "in this together", etc. But too often, at least for me, they ring hollow, mere constructs of what people think they should do rather than what they should do.
Company culture is a fragile thing: once it is gone, it is hard to recover.
Who knew why work was called work? "Such effort or activity by which one makes a living"....hmmm, change in operation can lead to a more "formal" workplace where serious is the mantra TB. Now as to singing...ahem....well now, that would have resulted in my co-workers checking the waste baskets for cans/bottles of joy juice. Being able to laugh at yourself is a good thing (yay Martha!).....:)
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - Likely my rather...."unusual outlook" has led to me being looked over for certain opportunities. Which is fine; life is a lot more than work.
DeleteThere are times to be serious of course; they are a lot less than some people think.
I hear ya....My mission church is now firmly entrenched in the staid philosophy of the mother organization that spawned this "missional" church. New folks arriving with all of the old baggage/operational zeal of the mother organization. Lots of "law"; very little "grace".
ReplyDeleteAlso, work is a grind; because of the managers lack of connectivity. His philosophy is "heil company"!
Steve - I have to be careful myself in the aspect of "staid" as well; I am sometimes off-put by some "newer" things at our current church which although completely Scriptural are not what I am used to. That said, folks older than myself are completely invested, so I should be willing to flex as well!
DeleteManagers make such a difference in our work experience. I have been fortunate enough to have great ones for the most part that were very connected with the groups I was in.
TB, I don't minimize how a change like this transforms the work environment, but I was relieved, as I read, that this isn't something worse (though, in this situation only you dan define "worse"). It's been a lot of years since I've had a manager, or worked for a company or organization, but even I understand how a change in the ability to grow some community in the work environment would feel heavy. Sorry you're seeing this in the next phase. Introvert that I am, I can totally appreciate the value that having some fun at work is. It seems to me that "fun" is where the whole person gets to be seen and known better.
ReplyDeleteBecki - "A change in the ability to grow some community in the work environment ". That is it precisely. It is a change in the environment for sure, but really it is impacting our ability to grow community. We will become even more separate than together, even as we somehow become "more efficient".
DeleteWhen people are having fun, they are more likely to show you who they really are. And that is so incredibly beautiful and valuable.
I so agree that too much seriousness can drag down peoples' moods and productivity (this from a person who has often been accused of being too serious about everything, ha.) It's part of our humanity and the connection between emotions and mental well-being. I find when I'm dragged down for too long, I stop caring and become less productive. A little fun can be a great pick-me-up.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, I also wonder if by always being serious, we deny people the ability to bring their "authentic" selves to work (which is the current HR speak for "whole" self). A strait-jacketed environment creates people that, over time, do seem to stop caring and overall become less productive. The "less productive" strikes me as an output of not being more engaged, which tends to drain people's creativity. I suspect, if there were a study to be done, there would be a correlation between more "fun" workplaces and the creativity coming from them.
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