What if employees were better empowered to create their own workspaces?
We spend approximately 13 years of our lives at work. That's a third of our precious time on earth. Yet, we all know that person who hates their job. Even you could be that person.
It is estimated that companies in the United States invest about $720 million a year in employee engagement improvements. The positive effect this has on productivity rates is obvious, but what about the human impact - what happens when work becomes fun and personal?
(We write fun in all caps because it's also the Fuckup Nights acronym 🙂 )
Does having fun and building personal connections in the work space affect the bottom line? At Fuckup Inc we believe in casual spaces as opportunities to change those outdated paradigms about work and personal life.
What if companies saved that $720 million and instead trusted and allowed their own staff to build those safe, authentic and vulnerable spaces?
Fact: 30% of new employees resign in the first 3 months because they fail to fit into the organizational culture.
Organizational cultures must constantly evolve and be employee-led rather than a monolithic system of beliefs determined by executives. Contributing to a culture (rather than belonging to one) motivates employees to take an active advocacy role where people provide constructive criticism and, therefore, helps generate resilience and innovation.
Co-creating a culture side by side generates ownership. Team members (including new talent) have a sense of belonging and take advantage of opportunities to make contributions and awaken hidden talents.
What started as a small team of 6 people at Fuckup Inc, soon grew rapidly and with that, its diversity.
For example, during our casual meetings FUN Fridays, a team member organized a fun Gay lingo (LGBTQ+ slang) session. This sparked interest in attending the Pride march together in the City of México. In the following months, we had many conversations about diversity, as well as local jokes using expressions from the City's gay community. Spaces became actions, actions became behaviors, and behaviors became a new set of beliefs.
This year we organized our special LGBTQ+ editions. In our first edition, we had a lineup of trans speakers, and we collaborated with the Gay Choir of México, transforming the event into a talent platform.
All these initiatives originated thanks to a team member who decided to share part of his personal life with the team.
An overwhelming 96% of people want more flexibility at work. Why not give ourselves the opportunity to try new things?
Talent + effort = skills. Skills + effort = achievement.
However, it is more complicated to strive if there is no fun. Opening spaces to try new things and find hidden talents helps people find their true passions while being tenacious.
Working on something aligned to our unique talents satisfies our need for self-actualization and can boost our potential. The easiest way to do this is to listen to ourselves and create adequate safe spaces to express ourselves. What things do we have to say about ourselves? What are our dreams, needs and personal projects?
If given the opportunity (at any age), would you prefer to work in a friendly, approachable atmosphere at work or in a place where you have to pretend to be someone you are not?
Some clients ask us how to make their companies more attractive to young talent. We believe that work should be fun and personal. We talk about our personal lives, fears, dreams, social roles, crazy ideas and beliefs. It's about opening up and building trust between people at work.
Getting to know people on a more personal level through vulnerability can give us insight into our teammates, their moods, likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. This allows us to build habits and unwritten rules for mutual understanding and better communication.
"We know that the social relationships that people form are an important indication of how well a team goal will be achieved."
- Leslie DeChurch, Ph.D in the Human Research Program at NASA.
This human behavior is something that even NASA scientists are interested in investigating. While conducting research for future isolator missions in remote locations, they found that close-knit, experienced teams with high stress levels make fewer mistakes than fresh teams that do not know each other. They recognize the importance of social interactions and even a "jester" role within the team.
We are not scientists launching rockets into space (yet), but we understand the importance of friendly relationships at work.
A Slack channel for sharing memes and personal stuff, a spooky office mascot, a Drag Queens themed party (idea still in development) are all crazy and effective ways to make work and life more enjoyable, relatable and authentic.
According to psychotherapist Failure Institute, resilient teams have strong connections with each other and often coexist with their colleagues beyond the work space and work hours. They also have an element of "play" within the workspace, which promotes creativity and positive emotions among employees.
When this type of approach exists within a team, they are more likely to make themselves heard, ask tough questions, share bad news and report early warnings. Essential practices to address and prevent difficult times.
The paradigm that limits the potential behind fun and personal work still exists, reducing the impact and diverting our efforts to create genuinely safe and humane spaces. If you believe there is an opportunity to raise your voice and improve your workspace, do it. These opportunities can help us find hidden talents and passions, enhance our personal growth, improve our environment and help others make work a truly meaningful experience for ourselves and others.
Do you want your team to feel intrinsically motivated and improve productivity? As part of The Failure Program, we have a variety of online courses, workshops and private events, plus a survey that will diagnose how you are managing failure in your company. Leave us your details and let's start collaborating to make failure work for you.
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Let's transform our perception of failure and use it as a catalyst for growth.
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