You may have noticed that I've been gone for a while. It seems I should try to explain. As we entered the first quarter of this year, everything got really busy, all in a really good way. I started a new job with Diamond Oil, which is fantastic, and took on the largest woodworking project that I've ever done. I worked with Youth and Emergency Shelter Services to help them outfit a library. I cut, assembled, finished and installed 34 sections of shelving, twenty-nine two-foot sections in the library itself and others for into individual offices. The last of the finish went on today. There are still seven units to deliver, but for the most part it's done. Now I can get back to other things, like the Adirondack chairs that I owe to a friend. Then I need to figure out what's next out of the shop. Obviously my roll-top desk is taking a back seat to everything else. It is nice to have the shop really rocking, though.The other thing I've been doing is to some interviewing for a company. It has been a great deal of fun to talk to first-round candidates from all over the world and is part of what made me think about this blog tonight. One of the questions I've been asking is, "Tell me about a time that you had fun at work?" Really a pretty simple question, but it's made me think. I have to tell you, I've been really fortunate to have had several groups I worked with that I had fun with. This really goes all the way back to the early pool crews that I worked with.
In the mid 1970s and the early 1980s, I was the manager for a municipal swimming pool in my home town. The summers there were always a ton of fun. We all worked hard, and strived to make the customer experience safe, and fun, but behind the scenes, we had a ball. I can't even tell you all of the pranks we pulled on each other: hiding personal items, or even freezing them into a block of ice in the freezer, or soaking a member of the team with water when they were asleep on the nice warm concrete. With all of that though, we all agonized at the end of summer over not seeing each other every day, and could hardly wait until the following summer when we could do it all over again.Fast forward to the Payless days. We all enjoyed the teams we worked with so much that it was not unexpected for each of us to receive calls from home asking when we were going to finally show up. Sometimes we were in the office discussing ways to be more profitable, or we had taken the gathering off-campus - post-work hours. It seemed that every Payless Cashways had an adoptive bar we all called home. In West Des Moines it was a place called Lori's and they actually developed a punch card system for us. Buy 10 pitchers of beer and the next one was free (not free but included-see my blog on this). It's really amazing how many great ideas were developed on the back of cocktail napkins. Honestly, at one time we re-organized the entire $1.54 billion company with a plan that started that way. The Payless experience may not have ended well, but many of the friendships and the lessons learned there are still part of the way we work today.
When I was in Kansas City, I received a call from a gentleman that I had worked for at Drake. He was the VP of Student Affairs and invited me to a Drake Alumni event. The keynote address was by the CEO of Hallmark. At one point in his speech he talked about the fact that several of his people, even some of his direct reports were in the room. He went on to say that if they were not in love with their job, were not enjoying their job, they should quit their job. I remember thinking he was a bit crazy at the time, but with more and more time, I am beginning to think he was absolutely right.
So, over the past few months, I have been asking the question about having fun at work. I have been listening to people's stories and the inflections in their voices when they tell the stories, and it continues to tell me how important it is. I have had the blessing of having a great deal of jobs that were fun, and I find myself in one again today. The folks at Diamond Oil are great and the challenges, although sometimes very large, are all things that can be handled. So, tomorrow, as a new week starts I will have a smile on my face and be ready to go.
I sincerely hope that the same is true for you. If not ... you may want to consider changing something. Have a great week.
