Provision #705: Wit Matters
by Bob Tschannen-Moran
Laser Provision
Wit: "the keen perception and cleverly apt expression of those connections
between ideas that awaken amusement and pleasure." Does that sound like you? Can
you make people laugh? Do you? If so, then your leadership position and
effectiveness may be higher than most. That's because great leaders have a great
sense of humor. Wit matters. We take the work seriously but we don't take
ourselves seriously. We create a climate where people are not afraid to make
mistakes, where they enjoy each other's company, and where they have fun
together. Two organizations that embody these principles are the Pike Place Fish
Market in Seattle, Washington and the St. Paul Saints in Minnesota. Read on to
learn how they do it.
LifeTrek Provision
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our reflections on what makes life worth living.
There's no doubt that happiness rises to the top of most people's lists. It's
been that way since time immemorial. Ancient texts in history, literature, and
philosophy address the question of how to be happy. Thomas Jefferson enshrined
"the pursuit of happiness" as a self-evident, unalienable right in the US
Declaration of Independence. More recently, psychologists have started to
research the science of happiness.
The science of happiness has become a big business, with titles such as "The
How of Happiness," "The
Happiness Hypothesis," "The
Happiness Advantage," "The
Art of Happiness," "Delivering
Happiness," and "Stumbling
on Happiness" leading the list.
The message of all this research and writing is clear: happiness works. The more
people feel good the more they do good. Happiness is not just a nice to have,
it's a have to have. Cracking the whip to keep miserable people working not only makes
them more miserable, it also makes them less productive. In every area of human
endeavor,
happiness matters.
I made that point several months ago after attending the Harvard Coaching
Conference. Now I want to focus on the role of leaders in creating happiness at
work. Although it's certainly true that everyone has some degree of
responsibility for organizational culture and climate, it's also true that
leaders have special responsibility. Our words and actions are often the
critical ingredient in whether or not people are happy.
Happiness has less to do with outcomes and challenges and more to do with
processes and conversations. Even when people are tackling really big problems,
we can still have fun. It's up to leaders to make sure that happens. In a recent
Dilbert cartoon, the pointy-haired boss didn't quite strike the right balance:
Sound familiar? If so, then you are probably not happy at work. When leaders put
people in a double bind, when we see ourselves as controlling behavior through
rewards and punishments, then people will come to think of us more as
adversaries than advocates.
Until and unless leaders find ways to use humor and play in what we say and do
at work, laughing at and
leveraging the inevitable mistakes, people will not take risks, teams will not
be creative, and goals will not gain traction. Humor and play are staples of
innovative and productive organizational cultures.
Two organizations that understand this fully are the Pike Place Fish Market in
Seattle, Washington and the St. Paul Saints, a minor-league baseball team in St.
Paul, Minnesota. The leaders, employees, and customers of both organizations
have been featured worldwide in the media and in training videos for their
unique, putting-happiness-to-work philosophies and practices. All organizations,
from large corporations to local schools to little league teams, have a lot to
learn from their wisdom.
The Pike Place Fish Market, founded in 1930, was near bankruptcy in 1986 when
the owner and his staff started to work with business coach Jim Bergquist. The
decision to become "world famous" for throwing fish and playing games with
customers was the result. It worked. Deciding to have fun at work proved to be
not only good for business, it also proved to be contagious. The 1998
documentary featuring their "FISH!
Philosophy" has been used by firms around the world.
You can
watch the trailer on their website, but the FISH! Philosophy boils down to
four simple points:
- Play (Fun, silly energy attracts customers.)
- Make Their Day (Treat everyone special.)
- Be There (Look directly at people and smile.)
- Choose Your Attitude (Be positive. Don't bring a downer attitude to work.)
The St. Paul Saints has been the name of a professional baseball team in Saint Paul,
Minnesota since at least 1884. The team has gone out of business many times, only
to rise again with new leadership and backing from the community. The current
team, dating back to 1993, may well be the most successful of them all. Why?
Because of their marketing philosophy: "Fun
Is Good."
Since adopting that mantra, the St. Paul Saints have also been featured
routinely in the media and in training videos. With unique and zany promotions
before, during, and after games, the Saints have sold out just about every game
for the past 18 years. They have become so popular and such a driving force in
St. Paul that they are now working with the state and the city to build a new,
$35 million stadium.
They, too, have discovered how happiness works. It's not just that they are in
the entertainment industry. It's how they treat each other and their customers.
You can
watch the full video online, but the Fun Is Good philosophy also boils down
to four simple points:
- Discover Your Passion (Work for a reason beyond money.)
- Bring a Positive Attitude (Choose to show up in a good mood.)
- Find Laughter (Lighten up. Don't take ourselves too seriously.)
- Show People You Care (Be nice. Take a personal interest in people and treat
them right.)
There are obviously a lot of similarities between the two philosophies. They
boil down to making work fun, and that often starts with the wit and wisdom of
leaders. The words we choose to live by are the words that set the pace for our
leadership and organizations. Do any of the following sound familiar?
- No pain, no gain.
- Tough love.
- We're not running a charity, we're running a business.
- Failure is not an option.
Sayings like those can get leaders in trouble. They are certainly a far cry from
"FISH!" or "Fun Is Good" philosophies. If we find ourselves leading people with
a chip on our shoulders, if our wit and wisdom make life harder rather than
easier, if we joke around at people's expense – tearing them down rather than
building them up – then perhaps it's time to look again at our leadership.
Wit matters. What we say matters. The more we can lighten the mood and make work
fun, the more we can fuel happiness and engagement among our people, the more
success we will experience as leaders and the more progress we will make toward
our goals. The tougher the challenge the more important it is to not take
ourselves too seriously. Mistakes will be made but that doesn't mean we have to
become unbearable until they get corrected.
On the contrary, we can be the ones to laugh and learn from what mistakes have
to teach us. Every strategy starts out as an experiment. No one knows for sure
what will and will not work; and just because something works today doesn't mean
it will work forever. That's how great leaders turn tough times into fun times.
We joke about mistakes and lessons learned without any sense of shame or blame.
We treat problems as puzzles so people will enjoy playing with them until we
find the pieces that work.
Great leaders don't turn puzzles into battles. Even when it takes a really long time to
arrange all the pieces, and even when it appears hopeless, we can always laugh, take breaks, and
return to the drawing board until we get it done. That's the tone
consistently set by great leaders. We say things and make
connections that awaken amusement and pleasure on the road to success.
Coaching Inquiries: What kind of leader are you? What is the wit and wisdom that
comes out of your mouth? What are some of your favorite sayings? What do those
sayings reveal about your approach to life? How could you become a more fun
person to work with? What would lighten the mood? How could you act on that
impulse, right now?
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talk with us about coaching or consulting services for yourself or your organization,
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LifeTrek Readers' Forum (selected feedback
from the past week)
Editor's Note: The LifeTrek Readers' Forum contains selections from the comments
and materials sent in each week by the readers of LifeTrek Provisions. They do
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submit your comment, use our Feedback Form or
Email Bob.
This week’s Provision,
Words Matter,
was excellent. I especially liked the quote from Madame Bovary. Words do indeed
matter and we see examples of what too little attention to what we say does to
cause controversy where none really need exist. Well done!
I read your words this morning and had quite a number of thoughts about what you
said and about what Marshall says about the tragic expression of unmet needs and
about my own principals and values which I hold dear and precious and that
reshape me everyday, guided by the aliveness. Duality is what my mind came to
rest in and the notion and embodiment of what Buddhists refer to as the "hungry
ghost." This is relatively new ideology to me but it seems relevant to what
happened in Tucson. Thanks for setting my thinking in motion. Top
May you be filled with goodness, peace, and joy.
Bob Tschannen-Moran
President, LifeTrek Coaching International,
www.LifeTrekCoaching.com
CEO & Co-Founder, Center for School Transformation,
www.SchoolTransformation.com
Immediate Past President, International Association of Coaching,
www.CertifiedCoach.org
Author, Evocative Coaching: Transforming Schools One Conversation at a Time,
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