Fun at Work is Serious Business

I take fun very seriously. If you rolled your eyes, that’s ok - I probably would have earlier in my career. But I’ve grown to believe in fun as an essential element for fostering a healthy work environment. 

In order to write about fun at work, I took some time to reflect on my professional history. It was honestly so easy and, yes, fun to recall specific experiences and traditions with colleagues from each team and organization I’ve been a part of. (Have I already said “fun” too many times?)

My Journey from Skeptic to Believer

I have to admit, when I was younger, I was obnoxiously serious. I liked having fun, but really saw it as secondary to the task at hand, whatever that task may be. As I’ve grown as a leader, I've come to see its immense value. My perspective shifted significantly when I was first exposed to Bolman and Deal’s Four Frames of Leadership. When I first became acquainted with the Four Frames, the Symbolic Frame - which focuses on culture, rituals, and the "heart" of an organization - was solidly 4th on my list. But it is now the one I believe to be the most important.

Bolman and Deal point out that it can be hard to quantify the value of a healthy work environment, making “fun and games” an easy target for budget cuts in tough times. This observation has stayed with me. As a leader, I've seen firsthand how beneficial it is to cultivate the "heart" of an organization. Being intentional about fun isn't just about morale - it's about building a strong, resilient culture that can withstand tough times. And when tough times come, turning to fun is far more prudent than eliminating it. 

Fun Categories

Fun is not frivolous - it’s an essential, intentional practice that fosters a healthy, resilient, and connected workplace. And I think it’s important for individuals and leaders alike to experience personally and encourage organizationally. To understand how to best cultivate it, I find thinking about fun in three categories really helpful for considering different types of fun that exist in an organization, who is at the center of coordinating each type, and the likely impact on individuals, groups, and organizations. The fun categories are: organic, organized, and managed (Georganta & Montgomery, 2018).

Organic Fun

Organic fun emerges naturally and spontaneously from interactions among employees. It’s intrinsically motivated and often includes humor and rituals - think inside jokes, nicknames, small-group traditions.

This idea of organic fun takes me all the way back to my very first professional team and our honorary mascot, Hubert the Hiding Gnome. Hubert (aka Hubie) was a small garden gnome a colleague found at the Target Dollar Spot. Hubie was covering his eyes like a little kid trying to hide. So we decided to hide him. We took turns secretly hiding him in each other’s offices to see how long it would take for him to be discovered. I’m sad to report, someone eventually hid him too well. We never found him again. I guess you could say he’s still hiding… somewhere. This totally silly game was a little weird, but very fun. It was completely employee-driven and built a shared story we still laugh about many years later.

I also happen to have a fondness for pranks and prank wars. But, once again, I take them seriously… and I have rules. (Remember, obnoxiously serious.)

Good pranks don’t harm anyone’s body, property, or dignity. The best pranks avoid harm and manage to be funny. Any junior high bully can laugh at the expense of others or set someone up for embarrassment. It takes way more creativity to come up with shared experiences that are harmless and fun for everyone. 

Our game of hiding Hubie fit into my "rules of engagement" for fun and pranks - no one got hurt and we all had fun!

Organized Fun

Organized fun is initiated and coordinated by employees themselves, often with management’s support. It’s not necessarily spontaneous, but it is driven by a bottom-up energy.

A favorite memory of organized fun happened at a previous workplace when a group of colleagues decided to coordinate a summer step challenge. They went all out, forming teams and using rather complex tracking methods to make it a friendly but fierce competition. Teams formed at every level of the organization - some officemates formed teams, while some teams were made up of a collection of free agents who didn’t really know each other but just wanted to participate. What was amazing was how much fun it created for the whole organization, even those who weren’t participating. I was in that camp - I was the MOST pregnant that summer, and getting from the parking garage to my office accounted for all the steps I could manage, but it was delightful to watch how invested everyone became. Teams made up catchy names and even filmed music videos. I can’t even remember how the music videos fit into the competition, but I remember they were extremely entertaining. The enthusiasm was contagious, and the fun impacted everyone, even those who weren't directly involved. Organized fun at its finest.

Managed Fun

Managed fun refers to fun that is consciously and strategically organized by managers to meet organizational goals, such as structured celebrations, social opportunities, or games. This type of fun can be tricky. We’ve all participated in that “fun” team-building experience that only the manager wanted to do. Or that Corporate Cup that made you feel like you were living out an episode of The Office. Managed fun often risks backfiring if it feels forced, is overly structured, or is just lame. But that doesn't mean managed fun is without value.

At one point in my career, I worked on a college campus where the institution regularly offered lectures, panel discussions, and social events. These were classic examples of "managed fun" - they were planned for us, not by us. Instead of ignoring them or assuming we were too cool to participate, our team made a conscious decision to reframe our mindset and be what we called “goers.” We intentionally sought out and attended as many experiences as we could, seeing them as opportunities to have fun, learn, be inspired, and connect as a team. We truly had the best time. Of course there were experiences we couldn’t participate in when they interfered with our responsibilities, but we committed to participating in what we could, even after hours, with positivity and curiosity. That season of being “goers” was surprisingly fun, even though we were often engaging in managed fun.

For leaders, the key to managed fun is intentionality and inclusivity. As an extrovert, I love a good icebreaker, but I know and love so many people who would rather eat glue than participate in an icebreaker. During a time of my career where I was training facilitators who often led icebreakers, we decided to rename those types of activities “energizers” and focus on their real purpose: lifting the energy in the room and helping people connect. I challenged the (mostly extroverted) facilitators to minimize unnecessary goofiness (that many would see as their ticket to embarrassment) and instead create opportunities for people to share about themselves in ways that sparked genuine connections. That kind of intentionality is crucial for managed fun to succeed.

Ritual vs. Routine

It’s easy for work to fall into a comfortable, but uninspiring, routine. But, as the often repeated sentiment (that I have scribbled on a sticky note on my fridge) goes:

A ritual is a routine infused with intentionality and creativity.

A simple routine is something we do regularly without much thought. For a former colleague and me, a daily routine was walking down to the shared kitchen to get our morning coffee together. But on Monday mornings, we intentionally used that time to turn our routine into a ritual. We’d do the “Weekend Update” talking through the highlights of our weekends. This intentionality allowed us to learn more about each other's personal lives and was a fun way to kick off the week.

Taking time to examine routines and consider how to make them special or more fun is a powerful practice that can be applied to any team!

The Deeper Value of Fun

Authentic fun is not a distraction - it is an intentional, strategic asset. By embracing and encouraging managed, organized, and organic fun leaders can foster a culture that is more resilient and engaged and build workplaces employees enjoy!

My final reminder is inspired from a workplace where I didn’t expect to grow so much in my appreciation for the value of fun at work: a nonprofit dedicated to supporting families navigating severe and life-threatening medical diagnoses. In an environment focused on such heavy subject matter, embracing light-heartedness was a core value our staff operated under. We were actively encouraged to find ways to enjoy work, to laugh, and to play, both as staff and with the families we were serving.

I experienced and saw profound wisdom in that approach. Even in the toughest circumstances, there is an appropriate time and place to embrace joy and have fun. The reality is many workplaces are centered around tough, demanding work. Even if an organization is not addressing life and death, work is often serious.

For anyone who has a job that feels heavy - everyday, or even just today - this is a reminder that fun isn't frivolous. Fun is a vital component of a healthy organizational culture, fostering resilience, creativity, and deeper connection. Teams that are intentionally having fun together enjoy their work more, feel more connected to their organizations, and are ultimately more productive. Having fun at work is seriously worth it - to individuals and organizations alike.

References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2013). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. Jossey-Bass.

Georganta, K., & Montgomery, A. J. (2018). Workplace fun: a matter of context and not content. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 14(5), 468-485.https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-06-2017-1541