Just last week, I posed a question to my executive team: “Are you having fun lately?” A few of them immediately responded yes, one hesitated and one directly said, “No!” We took the opportunity to have a group discussion about what was currently “fun” about the culture of the company and the current work load and what was getting in the way of that. We ended up speaking together for 90 minutes and it was uncovered that since we had taken on the development of an entire new division of our company at the beginning of 2008, there were some stresses related to learning how to function within this new division. Our workload had doubled in many cases and we didn’t have the support staff to take on the burden of new administrative tasks. Taking the time to flush it out allowed us to uncover some possible new ways to not only function within our company, but also new ways to educate our clients on how to get the most out of our new division. We decided to hire an assistant to take on some of the administrative work and we also decided to bring on a sales rep to begin to focus on generating revenue with our new division. We also set up a new model of communication with certain clients to ensure that our time was being maximized by efforts that would produce results. Had we not engaged in the question of fun, we would not have found the answer; everyone would have just put down their heads and tried to barrel through the work. Suddenly we were on the way to having fun again – all of us! I am a firm believer that a culture of joy drives creativity, results, and growth. Consider asking yourself and your co-workers if you’re having fun. If not, don’t just complain about it, determine the cause and find a solution!