What is it about?
Fundamentally this book is about bringing yourself to work. It presents the core belief that the only thing you can control is your attitude, and with positive attitude comes better engagement, better morale and better results.
It’s presented as a simple fable – based on the experiences of the authors with the Seattle based “Pike Place Fish Co.” a bunch of folks who seriously know how to have fun at work. See them at work in the YouTube below.
Summary
Be There: When people need you, they need all of you. Setting aside distractions and judgments to be mentally and emotionally present is a sign of respect. It improves communication and strengthens relationships.
Play: You can be serious about your work without taking yourself so seriously. Play is a mindset more than a specific activity. It allows you to throw yourself with enthusiasm and creativity into whatever you are doing, in a way that is natural, not forced. “Playing” with ideas helps you find solutions to everyday challenges.
Make Their Day: Simple gestures of thoughtfulness, thanks and recognition make people feel appreciated and valued. When you make someone else feel good, you feel good too.
Choose Your Attitude: To actually choose how you respond to life, not just react, you must be intentional. When you get up, decide who you want to “be” today. Moment-to-moment awareness is key. Ask yourself throughout the day, “What is my attitude right now? Is it helping the people who depend on me? Is it helping me to be most effective?”
Who is it for?
Companies and teams who want to change the attitudes of employees to promote enthusiasm and engagement in workplace. Groups where the ‘fun’ is no longer present, regardless of the reasons. Leaders who want to associate softer ‘engagement’ related benefits with business benefits.
Mark Ellis, of CultureTransform is passionate about helping organisations improve their results through cultural change, employee engagement and leadership and has worked with many global companies to implement and measure their culture transformation programmes.
True worth reading