IT Staff Motivation: Don’t Let Work Steal the Fun

IT Staff Motivation: Don’t Let Work Steal the Fun

Let’s talk about staff motivation. Working in IT, and particularly in IT support, can be a challenge. After all, you only usually get to speak with your customers when they have an issue and contact the service desk, they want something new, or you’re reviewing the month’s IT performance “by exception.” Which again often has an “IT issues” element. Add to this the advancing pace of modern business life and the porting of consumer-world expectations of service, support, and customer service into the workplace (through consumerization) and work can seem like hard work.

In my experience though, one’s ability to deal with the complexities and pressures of modern IT very much depends on how you approach work. And I’ll be sharing my approach to staff motivation in an upcoming talk at this year’s Service Desk Institute (SDI) Conference, where I’ll be revealing “seven ways to succeed in a modern organization.” Although I’m sure for some this might be seen as “seven ways to survive…”

As a teaser for my staff motivation talk, this short blog is on one of my “seven ways” – having fun! Yes, an enjoyable and fun working environment not only builds harmonious, co-operative teams – it also helps spark ideas and encourages productivity.

Staff motivation: When Work Becomes a Chore, Employees Lose Interest

You’ve no doubt experienced this issue yourself. A job in a dull office, where hardly anyone converses – let alone have fun! It’s the equivalent of working in a library (and I don’t mean as a librarian). It’s okay for studying, but not the best place to put dynamic ideas into action.

Giant tech companies such as Facebook and Google understand that employees need to be inspired by their workplaces. And a key part of staff motivation is making sure their employees have fun during their time at work – after all we spend more time working than anything else, including sleeping, in any given week. These hugely successful companies go out of their way to make their offices inviting, informal, and entertaining places to work. (Can you say the same thing about your office?)

Seriousness Can Kill Your Business

Modern organizations have learned that today’s consumers want to be entertained. I’m sure you’ve seen the various comedic and musical ads for companies from traditionally staid industries such as finance and insurance. These companies have taken the dullest of topics and brought them to life through a generous sprinkling of entertainment, glamour, and fun!

Your business, and IT service management (ITSM) operations, can benefit from this trick too. Now, I’m certainly not suggesting that you dress up as a clown and start doing backflips (unless this is your “thing”!). But where appropriate, add dashes of humor and fun into your communications and interactions with others.

For instance, next time you’re stuck in the world’s dullest meeting look for an opportunity to speak to bring some much-needed humor to the event. Not only will you feel better, but I guarantee that many of the other people in the meeting will be relieved to break out of their boredom through having something to laugh at.

Staff motivation: Fun is an Essential Part of Success

Whatever your ambitions and dreams are, be sure to include “fun” in your plans. By doing this, you’ll enjoy life more, you’ll gain more friends – and you’ll help your business to attract success.

Life is too short to be spent in serious, somber, and unsociable moods. Instead, choose to inject regular doses of fun into your work. Remember this motto (which I’ve created):

“Work hard, focus intently – but have FUN at all times!”

It’s the motto I live and work by; and I’ll be encouraging others to seek out something similar at the SDI conference. What do you do for staff motivation and to make work fun?

Adam Haylock
Advisory Solutions Consultant at ServiceNow

Adam is an Advisory Solutions Consultant at ServiceNow, where he works with customers and partners evangelizing how products, culture and customer service are at the forefront of organizational transformation. A particular passion is to help Identify/collaborate on business development opportunities for market differentiated offerings based on the latest technology platforms.

 

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2 Responses

  1. Adam I fully agree. At my last assignment the team had an easy way to break the ice across teams—-Food! There was always sweets and other delicacies in a common area in the work place – not the kitchen! So people always gathered in the area to either taste the offerings or complain about gaining weight. Either way people across different teams were communicating and interacting.

  2. Hi Adam I have just started a contact at Runnymede Borough Council. I have been tasked with bringing best practice up to speed but feel very challenged due to lack of resources (staff) and Customer service tool doesn’t support ITIL best practice or reporting

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