Success impulse: fun as a performance booster
How can top leaders bring joy to the team? Many people associate leadership with discipline, strategy and hard work. But what about joy, humor and lightness? For some, this sounds like a contradiction in terms - but this is precisely the wrong way to think.
For the best teams and most effective leaders, joy and fun are not a "nice-to-have", but a real productivity factor. They don't work successfully despite ease, but because of it.
Why so serious?
In many companies, the underlying tone is one of tension and seriousness. Meetings are strict, mistakes are dissected, problems are dealt with with a furrowed brow. The result? Pressure. Exhaustion. And even "work to rule".
Winning teams tick differently: they see challenges as a game, not a threat. They don't think: "How are we going to manage this?", but rather: "How can we solve this creatively?" This attitude creates a motivating environment - the basis for top performance.
Joy is contagious. Those who lead with energy and a smile automatically influence the mood of the entire team. This not only increases productivity, but also creativity and resilience.
Three concrete ways to bring more joy into everyday management life
- Laugh at yourself: Many people have forgotten how to smile about their own mistakes. Yet this is a sign of emotional maturity. If you don't take yourself too seriously, you reduce pressure - for yourself and others. Here's a trick: Imagine your mishap happens to a good friend. Would you criticize him harshly or simply say: "No big deal!"? You can do exactly the same with yourself. Managers who act in this way promote a culture in which mistakes are allowed - and learning is encouraged.
- Incorporate playful elements: Why is work often so serious when it could be so much more fun? Small competitions, challenges or an internal points system create dynamism and motivation.
Examples:
- Who can come up with the most creative solution to the current problem?
- Who writes the shortest, most effective e-mail?
- Who will surprise you with the best "fun fact" in the meeting?
It's not about competition, but about energy and fun in everyday life.
- Fun do not separate - but integrate them: Too many companies separate work from fun. But real joy is not created by events, but in everyday life - through spontaneous rituals, humor in meetings, celebrating small successes together. Joy should not be an "extra", but an integral part of daily collaboration. Because the best teams combine discipline and lightness.
Conclusion: Fun as a conscious management strategy
Success requires focus, structure and clarity - but all of this works better with fun. Therefore: make fun a conscious management strategy. Laugh at yourself. Encourage playful elements. Integrate lightness into your everyday life. Because cultivating joy not only improves performance - it also turns a good team into a winning team.
To the author:
Volkmar Völzke is a success maximizer. Book author. Consultant. Coach. Speaker. www.volkmarvoelzke.ch
