Business Innovation: Make Room for Play

Chris Brogan’s article talked about how to Grow Bigger Ears in 10 Minutes.  No, it’s not one of those articles that teach you how to grow bigger body parts!  (How many of us have gotten those in our spam box).   It’s an article that talks about the importance of listening to the chatter about you, and your brand.  In this article Chris teaches you one way you can use the power of Google Reader to capture that chatter about you or your company – though now you’ll have to use other apps to track data because Google Reader closed.

I couldn’t help thinking as I was reading the article that companies, for the most part, could also do a much better job of listening to their employees.  I’ve seen companies close their ears to suggestions that could save hundreds of thousands of dollars because “this is the way we do it here.”  And companies that treat their employees much like a robot, or a number, leaving their employees to think that their opinion doesn’t really matter.

• What if companies listened to the chatter of their employees?

• What if they tried to really listen to the opinions and experiences of their employees?

• What if they set out to see how they could help their employees enjoy their work experience even more?

That last question caused me to reflect about Kevin Carroll and about his experience at Nike.  I heard him years ago at a Mastery Retreat where he talked about the importance of play. I tell you I gained some new respect for Nike that day as Kevin relayed his experiences with the company.  He basically wrote his own job description, where he was a catalyst for change.   While at Nike Kevin came up with the concept for their play commercials.

Have you seen them?  I think they’re great.

Here’s one that he showed us at the convention:

I’d love your feedback…

• What if there was a play revolution among companies?
• What can you do right now to add more play and excitement personally into your life?
• What can you do to play and more play into your life at home or at work?
• How does your workplace incorporate play into their employee’s lives?

What do you do to play?  As a solo-preneur it’s up to you to build sometime in for play.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/09/13/work-hard-play-harder-fun-at-work-boosts-creativity-productivity/

Take time to play.

~ Leisa

P.S. – Oh, Tag.  You’re It