As I stated in my last post (click here), I am changing my brand a bit. I still want to help you to reach higher levels of success, though the ultimate goal of success is to enjoy yourself more.
My day job is in a corporate setting and am considered a professional (every once in a while). I am a hard worker, and so are the people around me. The difference is, I do not concern myself with keeping a front of being “professional”.
An example: at my day job, we have task tracking boards which include our pictures to hold us accountable to our duties. Everybody was trying to take their best picture, but I decided to take a silly picture (the one included in the post). Some people were afraid I would get in trouble (don’t be scared in the corporate environment). Guess what, nothing happened except comments on how silly it was. I did not get in trouble. Even some higher-ups in the corporation saw it. This helped people to get to know me and be more comfortable around me. Now everyone is looking for the next silly thing for me to do.
The benefits are: everyone wants to work with me because they know I will get the job done and I will be fun.
The moral of the story is don’t follow rules, which are not really rules, so you can be professional. By being you and having more fun you will get more done (because others are more comfortable working with you) and you will have more people want to be your friends. Don’t be lame!
Funny stuff :o) I’ve seen some of these before, but some are new. Fun reminder to not take work too seriously….
So many people think they will get in trouble if they are not serious.
I agree 100%!! Since I come from a background in HR, I was aware that employees considered us HR folks stuffy, formal and…well, boring! I am anything but stuffy and formal and did not want the HR department to be viewed that way. Here are a couple of the crazy things I did. I was responsible for holding 401k presentations for the employees (yawn…). So, I brought in a puppet and called him 401k Freddy and gave my presentations as puppet shows. Hey, it kept their attention!! Also, we decided we needed a fresh fun face in HR so I brought in a scarecrow and we propped him up in our HR reception area. We named him Buddy and put him in different attire for each season. Employees came to HR just to see what Buddy was wearing..ha ha ha…oh there are more things such as the Crabby Abby doll that was circulated among the HR staff .. if you were being grumpy you had to sit the doll on your desk for the day. That doll was so odd looking you couldn’t help but smile… I had so much fun!
Jennifer, that is funny. I may have to steal some of those ideas.
Wow…you aren’t the typical HR person Jennifer…sounds like you livened things up there 🙂
I sure tried Brent! I never got in any trouble and I found it helped morale 🙂 I still have former coworkers teasing me about 401k Freddy even now, 13 years later.
I wonder why people think they will get in trouble so easily. I was just told I need to start wearing slacks to the office if I spend less than 50% of my time on the production floor. I am not sure what to think of that.
Great post Josh. While I completely agree with taking the risk and being silly, I would add that there are probably stuffy old corporations where this wouldn’t fly. And if that’s the case, it’s probably not a place worth working.
Thanks, I work in one and it will fly if you allow it and let others know it is okay.