How to Make Work Fun with Nick Gianoulis [Podcast]

In this episode of Work That Matters by WorqIQ, Nick Gianoulis joins your hosts Shawn Murphy and Mark S. Babbitt to discover how to make work fun.

David Ogilvy was quoted saying, “When people aren’t having any fun, they seldom produce good work. Kill the grimness with laughter. Encourage exuberance. Get rid of sad dogs that spread gloom.” Ogilvy, regarded as the father of advertising, believed fun was an important ingredient to work. He even went as far as to encourage funny thinking to discover great ideas.

Yet, fun seems to be in short supply these days.

The divisive times we live in have contributed to your colleagues feeling pissed off and unhappy. Perhaps you feel similarly? But I think we mischaracterize fun at work. Stuart Brown, author, psychiatrist and play researcher, believes play (another word for fun) can be part of our daily experience. Through his research, Dr. Brown is finding that fun, or play, can help us be more successful by shaping human development and intelligence.

To provide some concrete insights and actions, we talked with Nick Gianoulis, aka The Godfather of Fun. We wanted to pick his brain so you can learn ways to create some “goodness” in your team or company. Enjoy the listen!

 

 

About This Week’s Episode

Gianoulis is the founder of the Fun Dept. He’s a former corporate manager, “grinder,” where he learned that hard work and fun are a great combination. Unfortunately, the corporate grind can eliminate play from a typical work day; many of us find it hard to make work fun. The Fun Dept. is a company that provides products and team-building services aiming to up your fun quota at work. In short: their job is to make work fun!

The Godfather of Fun shares with us how shared experiences can positively shape team morale and cohesion. He also explains how fun can be a competitive advantage. I assert the advantage comes in the form of rewarding employees through hard work and helping them forget, at least for a wee-bit of time the demands of a busy business. Stuart Brown would argue that our brains can find newer levels of focus through play. After all, your energy levels are positively influenced with a mental break.

Leaders, to improve your workplace intelligence make time for fun with your team. Gianoulis would tell you it doesn’t have to be a long investment in time. But the dividends from play are greater than the time investment.

Important Links

Be sure to check out these links mentioned in today’s podcast episode: