Over a long weekend, I met up with a group of small business owners in a tropical and luxurious vacation rental for an annual VIP retreat I co-lead. The pool-side banter was predictable -- business expansion, struggles with staff,  marketing strategies -- but the business talk didn't last long.  In the warm evening air, everyone was hearing -- well, something.

Among the chorus of tropical sounds coming from the ferns and coconut trees surrounding the pool, one stood out. It was familiar, but then again, maybe not.  It was lively and loud, and it sounded like there were a lot of them.

​The conversations halted as the group's attention turned into a collective curiosity about this particular contributor to our tropical soundtrack.  The initial consensus was that it had to be a bird, and we wondered aloud what species was offering such a vigorous song, especially now that the sun was setting.

After hearing our guesses, one member of the group put an end to the mystery. “Ah, el coqui,” she said with a knowing grin. “Those aren't birds, they're tree frogs. They sing ‘co-qui, co-qui’ and are native to the island."
"In fact,” she added, "if you take them off the island they will no longer sing."

Smart phones, watches, computers, calendars and best-of lists have alerted us that yet another year has concluded and a new one has begun. Many use this a natural opportunity to pause, reassess and set the course for the coming year. But before being seduced by a freshly scrubbed, blank whiteboard that tempts you to add more to your organizational priority list, consider this experiment - take things OFF.  

Despite his death over a decade ago, Peter Drucker's influence in the world of management persists to this day. His contributions are perpetually relevant, and one aphorism comes to mind as a counterintuitive and powerful insight for this reflective time of year:

​Your time, energy and literal waking hours in a day are finite. Adding something new means shifting resources away from something else. New goals mean old ones have to go if they want any chance at survival. It's not rocket science ... it's just math.

Do yourself and your company a favor in the new year and reflect on this classic Druckerism.  By all means, debrief 2015 and begin making the necessary adjustments for 2016. Dream. Create. Put all of it on a timeline and determine the metrics. Fill up as many whiteboards as you like, just give equal consideration to what comes off of the list as to what gets added.

Questions:

• What will you stop doing in 2016?
• Where resources are being expended that - if stopped - could be redirected to achieve new goals?

On my drive to a local coffee shop yesterday morning I experienced my first laugh of the day at the hands of a surprising instigator.  The culprit was a commercial eighteen wheeler with a cluster of red beets the size of oil drums on the side and in letters almost as large as the oil drum beets delcared, “Rockin’ With the Beets.” What a lovely way to start my day.

I'm a sucker for this kind of large scale, explicit corporate playfulness.  It's always good for a laugh right before it stops me in my tracks and reminds me how important play is in organizations. Companies that don’t take themselves too seriously, who can be silly with what is plastered on their (presumably beet) delivery trucks are refreshing yet unfortunately not yet the norm.  However, a growing contingent of business professionals is working to change that.

I follow a few of these people because they unapologetically emphasize the benefits of fun in the workplace, and their approach is getting traction in some of the largest companies in the world. One of my favorites is Alexander Kjerulf.  He is the Chief Happiness Officer at Woohoo, Inc. and is the one who alerted me to the existence of a ball pit (featured above - Alexander is the one in the back with the blue ball heading straight for his forehead) at the Zappos offices in Las Vegas. When I asked him how the ball pit was used aside from general fun and frivolity, his reply was refreshingly simple - "they do have meetings in it :)". (Note the smiley face in his response.  Why not, right?)  

I've discovered other evidence of fun in the workplaces recently as I marveled at a mobile wine bottling production truck outfitted with massive speakers, a disco ball, and a staff full of gentlemen with impeccably groomed and outrageous mustaches.  

Why not spread a little fun in your office today?  If you can't go all in and convert a conference room into a ball pit, at least go for a disco ball or two.

​Questions for you:

• When is the last time you had fun at work?  
• How can you bring fun into your office today?

What’s with job titles having so much bling these days?  

​Chief Happiness Officer
Conversation Architect
Jolly Good Fellow
Chief Weirdness Officer
People & Business Outcomes Enthusiast
Futurist and Organizational Alchemist
Chief Philosopher
 
Apparently the tradition Manager, Director, Vice President, Chief XYZ and President titles don’t cut it anymore.  Why are so many job titles being accessorized with new language?
 
We expect this descriptive flare from start-ups and tech companies because they always seem to be doing their own thing anyway.  It’s happening with Millennials too, as they exercise their stereotypical entitlement and wear their non-compliance  as a badge of honor.  What if this signals a shift in people's relationship to their work?  What if beefed up business cards and creative bios are among the first places where such a phenomenon becomes observable?

These new titles convey much more than job function and location within the organizational hierarchy -- they convey values.  

My questions for you:

• What does your current title say about you?
• Consider a title change - try to include the what, how and why of your work in the new title

​We've all experienced it.  A colleague raises a finger in your direction at the end of meeting, gesturing for you to hang back as everyone else leaves the room.  You gather your things and take a seat in the chair beside him and he says, "I'd like to give you some feedback."
 
One of two reactions typically occur: glee or fear.

Lest you disregard this description as overly dramatic and sporadic, think about the literal usage of the word "feedback" in your organization.  Is this the term used when colleagues compliment each other?  Is it code that a promotion is likely on the way? Or is the term feedback more often used to begin conversations about sub-par performance?

​A lot of what masquerades as feedback in organizations today fits Cameron’s definition of useless. It's a good thing that she reminds us of a better way.

Read that last line again.
 
Useful feedback reveals resources.  It relieves dissonance.  It allows the giver and receiver to be momentary equals, standing in service to the project at hand. Useful feedback is unapologetically about the work, leaving egos to sit on the sidelines and fend for themselves. Useful feedback ultimately, well - helps.
 
My questions to you:

• Is the feedback you give useful or useless?
• When was the last time your feedback genuinely helped and produced tangible results?