Fun in Shared Services – It's Not Just for the Holidays...

Holiday Fun – How do we keep it going in the New Year? I truly enjoy this time of year in Shared Services. It is a time when folks are a bit more relaxed. They smile more and they actually seem happier. Groups get together to have holiday meals where they reflect on the "challenges" of the year. They laugh about some of the insane questions they got from their customers and share how they truly wanted to respond to the request – but didn’t! It’s a time of a bit more FUN in shared services. I am a big believer in the fact that shared services should not just be fun during the holidays – It should be fun every day of the year. In this column, I’m going to share some ideas on how to bring more of this into the operations – from the simple transactional activities to the difficult projects that consume our days with meeting after meeting. Reflecting on my past year, I remember the fun times we had, but also the fun times we missed together as a team. Why? – probably too many answers to list. But as I think about it, the main reasons we missed the fun was by choice. We have many choices to make on a day-to-day basis. What type of food will we eat today? What will we wear to work? How will we handle the difficult meeting? These are basic choices we make every day. Why can’t fun be one of those "basic" choices to include? Think about it: it’s not difficult to do. Fun is a choice we should include every day! The other day, our Human Resources team was going through a tough period – it’s the time of year where we allow employees to sign up for their annual benefits (we call it Open Enrollment), which consumes the day with call after call from employees. So, I had a thought…How could I make it fun for them? I came up with…skipping (bear with me for a moment). Skipping is defined as "move along lightly, stepping from one foot to the other with a hop or bounce". Simple. Just skipping. I walked into our HR area and began to skip. People looked at me like I was CRAZY! One person stopped to ask what I was doing. I told them…skipping. They then asked (of course), "Why are you skipping?" I said, "For fun!" [inlinead] Amazing, what happened next. One person got up, after they got off the phone with their customer, and began to skip with me. Then another. Then another. Pretty soon, we had six people just skipping. Not hurting anyone – just having a bit of fun. They were smiling. They were happier. They had more energy and were more productive. This week one of the HR team members thanked me for skipping. They said it made a huge difference for them on that day – just reminding them to take time to enjoy a bit of fun. As we rush through this time of year, all pushing to get the last invoice out the door, to get that final payment in, to get one more contract signed, and to get one more customer call completed … remember to carry the fun of the holidays into 2014 all year round. It will inspire your team and make a positive difference in their lives. Have a wonderful holiday season... And remember: Just do fun! Editor's note: if you're a bit rusty at skipping (it may have been a while) here's a brief tutorial: And if you want to take it up a notch, please yourselves: PS: if you have some team skipping videos to share as a result of this post, email them to the editor and I'll add them here.

Fun in Shared Services – It's Not Just for the Holidays...

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