Customer Reviews

The Fun Minute Manager

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This 107 page book can be a real help in making your work environment a FUN place ! It's an easy read, but can do wonders in improving your workplace, and lifting everyone's spirits. It can even help make the manager's job easier. A fete in itself. It is written by those in the know, and have succeeded in making work pleasant for both staff AND managers. This book can help by reducing stress, energizing staff, cutting down on absenteeism and more. Try it. It can only help !!

Bob Pike thinks your workers should have more fun on the job. Not that they should throw a party in their cubicles every day, but just that they should enjoy the workplace enough to want to come in every day. He wants you to know why they should be having fun, and he wants you to learn how to help make it happen. And he tells you about it in a book so succinct that you could read it at your desk over lunch.

Fun, for Pike and his co-authors, consists of the little things that build community. Occasional games, humor, simple celebrations, and shared food will bring your workers together. It will also strengthen the company, he suggests, as you reduce absenteeism and turnover. And it's good for workers, since it lowers stress and its related illnesses, which also brings down your insurance premiums.

The authors present the concept of fun in the story of Bob Workman. Bob, a middle manager, realizes company morale is in the cellar and wants to breathe more life into his office. As he researches what he can do to bring spirit back to his office, he uncovers nine easy insights, several handy shortcuts, and a few lists of simple principles you can use to build high spirits in your own workplace.

But Pike is under no illusions. He knows some company cultures won't admit playful attitudes. Some kinds of jobs are unlikely to be fun per se, and some workers come from backgrounds that separate work from fun altogether. So they also give you clues and pointers to evaluate whether your workplace is suited for a fresh dose of fun.

This book is written so that its ideas apply to many different businesses. It preaches its message of fun while helping you keep an eye on the bottom line. Its principles are general enough to be adaptable, but specific enough that using them isn't a guessing game. If you hope to inject a modest dose of fun into your work, or if you're just shopping for options to build morale, this is the book you want to start.

When is the last time you really had fun a work? Do you wake up in the morning, dreading going to your job? Do you go home in the evening feeling drained and unappreciated? If you are an employer, when is the last time you put a smile on the face of your employees?

Since companies usually want the maximum energy and productivity out of their workers, truly happy work places are rare. Every moment may be spent in an atmosphere of dull monotony or fierce competition.

There is now a movement afloat to eliminate job related stress and boredom. Ways to implement this can be found in "The Fun Minute Manager."

The book is loaded with inspiration. Chapters include:

*Having fun in a serious business

*The payoff from fun at work

*Spreading the joy

*When fun is done

*Becoming a fun minute manager

The reader will also find: Assessing Your Overall Fun Work Environment; 100 Illustrations of Fun at Work Activities; Fun and Humor Websites; and much more.

This is a small book with big ideas. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in establishing a more relaxed, fun-filled atmosphere while increasing productivity. Many of the ideas can also be used in the home.

Are you a manager that would like to increase productivity and quality while lowering stress and illnesses? Do you wish to retain employees and find ease in obtaining new hires? You don't need a seminar nor do you need assertiveness training. What you need is to BECOME the Fun Minute Manager.

Bob Pike, Robert C. Ford, and John W. Newstrom use a business "fable" to illustrate the benefits of creating a fun work environment and some practical information on how to get started. In The Fun Minute Manager, we follow the journey Bob Workman, an engineering manager, as he realizes that his employees are not having fun and that his own morale is low. A chance encounter with an advocate for laughter at work leads Bob to develop, with his staff, a fun workplace for all.

In this story you will discover way to implement fun into your own workspace; improve employee relations; how to win over the grouches in your company; and learn from the experts what Reader's Digest has been telling us all along...Laughter is the best medicine.

Whether you work in HR, manage a department, or are just a dissatisfied employee, The Fun Minute Manager is a must-read. Turn your current job into the "job you want".

Are you having fun at work? Many people could probably say they like their work and get along with their coworkers. But fun? Work isn't supposed to be fun. Well, not according to Bob Pike.

Following the format of the popular One Minute Manager, Pike takes us through the thought processes of a manager who comes to believe work can be fun. In this fictional story, Bob listens to an inspirational speaker on the subject of fun in the workplace. Then he meets with several other managers who share their experiences and knowledge of how to implement fun practices.

Besides the obvious benefits of just being happier coming to work, fun, if structured properly, can also benefit the company. But as Bob found out, fun has to be handled in a way that doesn't hurt anyone and also doesn't hurt the corporate image.

Especially now, when economic times are tough, fun in the workplace can really make a big difference to employees' states of mind. If you've ever thought about bringing more laughter, joy and happiness to your office, The Fun Minute Manager will be a terrific guide. Work doesn't have to be a drudge - it can be fun, too.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

"Bob Workman", a division manager at fictional Apex Environmental Engineering Company wonders aloud why he is not having fun at work. After attending a workshop and listening to a noted "laugh therapist" at his local Rotary Club, Bob made it his mission is to figure out how to make engineering more fun. Not only did Bob have to get his team's buy in, he also needed to prove how a fun environment could contribute to productivity without increasing costs to his boss "Monika". The reader follows Bob through his journey to "Fundom" at Apex.

Pike, Ford, and Newstrom have put together a short book of powerful insights of how to implement fun in the workplace, any workplace. The nine insights are defined, explained and reinforced through Bob's journey at the engineering company. Pike, et al. challenge the reader to "check their fun pulse" as the story develops.

The book is an easy read that can be accomplished in one evening. It provides a step by step approach to having fun on the job while maintaining a professional business atmosphere. Training managers, as well as all leaders of people, would do well to read this book. It seems in times of an economic downturn, companies tend to get more serious about the bottom line and their employees tend to suffer the ill effects of stress. What is refreshing about this book is that the authors take some time to discuss how to overcome employee and executive skepticism with facts and tangible evidence rather than just providing the "rah-rah" motivation to change the work atmosphere.

The book is chock full of references for the reader. The authors include a list of assessment surveys, Fun-at-Work activities, books and websites to help the fledgling Fun Minute Manager get started. Every person in a leadership capacity should always have their finger on the "fun pulse" of their department.

I really appreciate books like this. I have been in many management rolls all my adult life and most of the people that have worked for me I am still in touch with - years later. I truly believe that books like this are spot on. I always felt that if I enjoyed my job, looked forward to going and doing the job itself, the day was so much better... the job was so much better.

The Fun minute manager does just that. It gives you real life scenarios that you can take into the work place, ANY work environment and make things fun.

The result after implementing fun into the work day?

* Higher morale

* Less stress

* less missed time and/or work related injuries

* Teamwork improvement

* Less employee turnover

You can be that company that everyone is talking about. People will be waiting in line to work for you. I know this, I have read many books on morale and employee incentives. It does work.

If you are a business owner or manager this is a book that I would consider manditory to have in your office library.