Comments

My wife and I run a half day healthcare training workshop called ‘Trust Me I’m a Patient’ where we use drama and role play scenarios to help healthcare front line staff and managers ‘walk a mile in the shoes of other people’ such as patients and the public to try and understand how it feels (for customers) when change is planned for local healthcare services. It is a very interactive workshop and we have seen 1250 people through 28 workshops so far. Overwhelmingly we find people just love having fun in this workshop and hundreds of comments in our evaluations tell us how great it is to have fun and learn at the same time. I believe having fun does not undermine professionalism – in fact I would argue having fun has the opposite effect. This ‘fun’ aspect in training scenarios is one way we can capture this infectious enthusiasm as Tom puts it 'To cause our colleagues to be excited.'

I vote for more ‘fun’ in training and indeed in the real work scenario. Productivity will go up, employee satisfaction will go up and outcomes will be better. Ask me to give you an argued academic evidence base for that and I can’t prove it … but my heart knows it and many delegates from our ‘Trust Me I’m a Patient’ workshops will confirm it.

Recently we introduced as part of the workshop two awards for the ‘best actor’ and the ‘most creative idea’ in the role play … we call them ‘The DAFTA Awards.’ They have enhanced the ‘fun’ aspect.

Have fun this weekend

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 9, 2008 5:25 PM

If I have done Job One the profitability of the Ever and Ever Amen (I hear Handel's "And He shall reign for ever and ever...forever and ever...where's the hallelujah? Is there an amen?) becomes inevitable. This I'm counting on! Thanks, TP!

Posted by Judith Ellis at May 9, 2008 8:08 PM

Trevor - Great example. The hallmark of a great teacher (of any stripe) is enthusiasm and energy. That the trainees "got" it and felt it makes it work.

See John Dewey's book "Interest and Effort in Education" - same stuff, just from about 100 years ago when engaging the interests of students was looked down upon. His point, and I am presuming yours, is that people react well when engaged in activities they already value - you have fun, it does not seem like "work" (the bad kind), and the outcome is that people do better (learn better/work better) because of it.

Further, enthusiasm and real investment is infectious - your love for what you do raises the value of the activity/product in those that feel that energy - and then they can participate in kind.

Posted by Martin Koning-Bastiaan at May 12, 2008 4:12 PM

Thanks Martin – greetings from England.

I must get that book – 100 years ago aye? – I’ve always been a bit behind the time :-)

You are spot on and I value your positive feedback. I love my work – I am very enthusiastic and I particularly love the interaction with my customer - the folks on our workshops. It is inspiring and it feels productive – it feels we are making a difference.

I take the same view as one of my heroes Richard Branson that it’s really not compulsory to be miserable at work.

We need to ‘lighten up’ a bit and enjoy ourselves. That does not mean any less professionalism.

The CEO’s of 2 of the healthcare organisations that we did our workshop for a couple of weeks ago have fed back that they both loved the workshop style. It is this sort of enthusiastic feedback that motivates me to carry on.

I just know in my heart that people want to be happy in their work (and their training) and the absolute last thing they want is to get bogged down in silly, meaningless processes that add no value whatsoever to the customer experience.

Thanks again Martin – stay well.

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 12, 2008 6:07 PM

Thanks Trevor - your comments resonate well over the pond here too.

People spend 2/3 of their conscious time at work during the week. What kind of life do you (or your employees) have if you hate it? I see it as part of my obligation as a manager to ensure that I foster a creative, open environment where my passion for my work can be motivating to my employees who love their work too.

Now sure the economics of it all are going to be the bottom line for any public company, but Tom's point (and it looks like many of us agree) is that the economic bottom line is better for it too.

Nice when everyone, even the bean counters, can be happy. :-)

Posted by Martin Koning-Bastiaan at May 12, 2008 6:28 PM

Cheers Martin - some of my best friends are bean counters believe it or not. Our rows are legendary but the important thing is we always remain good friends. I am very much a 'hearts and minds' man rather than a numbers man :-)

Last week at one of our workshops we had this comment on our evaluation sheet in answer to the question – 'What one thing will you take away from this workshop?'

‘It is possible to have fun and learn at the same time’

Isn't than both fabulous and tragic at the same time Martin?

If I don’t work for the next 20 years that one comment is enough to know we made a difference to one person!

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 12, 2008 6:58 PM

Cherish + Excite + Trevor’s + Coaching into a menu of ORIENTATION OPTIONS + etc.

Posted by Andres Agostini (Andy) at May 14, 2008 7:39 PM