THE PROBLEM WITH SMILEY FACES

Fun.  Creativity.  Laughter.  Engagement.

Bah, humbug.  We’re tired of the happiness@work drumbeat.

And we ignore the overwhelming amount of articles and treatises and tomes that explain, in five, eight, ten or 12 steps, how to encourage those smiley faces in the office.

Why? 

Is it, as author William Davies insists, because corporate and government interests fix on the happiness quotient, without drilling into the context that started the not-so-content quotient?

Could our sadnesses be attributed to bosses who are negative or simply not great people managers?

Perhaps it’s due to the belief that happiness is 1) up to the individual and 2) somewhat fleeting in its appearances?

We vote for the last.  [Even though umpteen studies say that happiness is the ultimate productivity booster.]

Instead, from our forays into Fortune 500s and private firms alike, we find that the real test of engagement at work is the person who’s found a calling, who’s content in what s/he does, and who feels that s/he makes a contribution to the company.  Not happiness.  It’s all about the nature of the work (thank you, Dan Pink) and the deep-down belief that we make things happen – and that things don’t happen to us. 

Others might call it open awareness, the ability to see the big picture and not be held back by self-imposed limits.  Or simply another way of defining the ultimate selfie.

NO MASKS ON HALLOWEEN?

We go nuts for surveys.

Especially the online kind, where anonymity rules [unless to win that one outta million prize by submitting your email].

We insert comments [never rude, of course].  Ask lots of questions in the “your opinions, please” box.  Give feedback on the type of conclusions we think the surveyer wants.  Ad infinitum.

That obsession (okay, we’re honest) led us to a recent conversation with a client who loves Halloween.  She noted her kids were probably too old to dress up … and “besides, they can’t wear masks.”

Really?

The community, or so goes the explanation, banned full-face coverage (à la Darth Vader) a while back, fearing that when people can’t tell who you are, unruly and uncivil behavior just might follow. 

Which, in our mind, might have been one of the prompts for the current popularity of apps like Secret and Whisper, sites such as Reddit.  All frame e-anonymity as a good thing, with only the reminder to “say something kind.” 

So our curious selves searched psych lit to discover what research could tell us.  Answers surprised us.  According to the professionals, identity masking can encourage participation, boost a certain type of creative thinking, and improve problem solving.  Yeah, and, of course, some risk taking.  Plus psychologists Marco Yzu and Brian Southwell argue that, no matter what the media of anonymity, most of us are still governed by good and basic human principles.

So the next time you craft a “no names revealed” survey  …

A NEW KIND OF FUNDRAISING

Face it:  Everyone’s got budget issues.

From Chicago schools to U.S. public servant pensions, from corporations measuring productivity upticks to non-profits seeking more dollars, there’s never enough to go around.

Especially for those of us in staff departments with less-than-robust bottom line ties, such as legal, IT, and, yes, marketing and corporate communications.

We do believe the “never enough” money problems can be solved (in addition to delivering great results that contribute to the company’s margins).  And that’s thanks to our fund-raising gurus.  Here are some of their masterful tactics – tongue in cheek and otherwise – that might be adopted to our needs:

• Create and sell a product.  The Girl Scouts do it très successfully.
• Develop and run a campaign for funding – perhaps in tandem with colleagues.  Perhaps not.  [Though that calls for some pretty strong internal competition … ]
• Hold a special event:  a formal dinner, a benefit concert, a walk/runathon. 
• Conduct a crowd-funding opportunity – inside. 

And best yet:  Just ask, with a strong business case, naturally.  The face-to-face, personal request for monies is a hard one to turn down, note the professionals.  Do lose the hard-driving sales-personship.  Remember to continue cultivating your income sources.  And be prepared to regularly inform donors how their support was used – and the direct impact you achieved.

Exactly the type of things we do every day.

THE VALUE OF "ISH"

To us, vacations* are times to experience the new and novel.  To explore unfamiliar territories.  And to kick back and relax (a hard thing for us to do).

Africa was our destination.  A trip we’d been salivating over. 

We witnessed fighting-to-the-death hippos (over a girl, no less). 

Saw painted wolves, fur dripping with blood after a kill, and no cares in the world, except for their pups. 

And watched baboons monkey around with all things human.

That same trip connected us with villagers and townies in the big and little places in South Africa, in Botswana, and in Zimbabwe.  Out our train windows we negotiated with Africans selling hand-crafted items.  After Victoria Falls they descended en masse.  And in a little Zimbabwe community, all 20 citizens greeted our bus – and proudly showed us their cell phone, their homes … and their beer-making hut.

At every stop, at every pause, we heard the word “ish.”  To them, it meant sort of, or around the time.  There could be delays – unavoidable due to nature.  There might be some variance in getting together, depending on other people.  The “ish,” to them, was truth.  They would absolutely stick to the agreement, to the meeting.  But “ish” might intervene to make them miss the exact time.

That’s alien to our work worlds.  At many companies, “ish” might be anathema … even a few minutes off might spell an issue, even some sort of warning.  On the dot, after all, means punctuality.

Yet:  Is it time to re-think our clocks, and savor the minutes we spend waiting – and, perhaps, dreaming? 

*That’s the reason for our month-long blogging silence.  We’re back!