“It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary to put all the play and learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the regrets into old age.” – Margaret Mead

My thoughts today are inspired by comments on the life of Dick Hitt (1938-2015) published by SHARE last week. (http://www.share.org/p/bl/et/blogid=2&blogaid=411) Dick passed away one month ago yesterday and, though I don’t believe I had the pleasure of meeting him, I owe him a lot. You see, Dick started a tradition at SHARE that brought me, and thousands of others, a lot of fun as we worked for that great organization over the years. Today, I will share some thoughts about the importance of finding ways to include fun times with colleagues along with the serious business of the work we do together.

We come together at work to accomplish the missions of the organizations we serve. Most of our time is spent focused on the priorities and projects we need to address and we each bring our own roles and tasks, skills and experience to this work.  While we come to our work as individuals, most of what we accomplish is done as members of teams. These teams grow stronger as we learn about each other and come to establish relationships of mutual respect and trust. Taking time to relax and have some fun together can be a great way build these relationships and really get to know our colleagues as people.

We can share little daily celebrations, like Friday morning donuts and coffee, pizza parties to celebrate the completion of a project, events to welcome new employees, and to recognize colleagues as they move on to new challenges or retire. Several of the teams I’ve worked with have been great at potlucks and really knew how to have fun with food. We’ve enjoyed informal get togethers over lunch, lunch-time card games in the staff room, and happy hours after work. These don’t have to cost a lot of money, and just a little encouragement, or flexibility, from management can go a long way to encourage this kind of camaraderie.

We can also plan bigger, more structured, events to bring people together including team retreats that include fun elements, work parties, picnics, and award events. My first mentor was especially good at this and I’ll never forget the time he had us all spend an afternoon together at the horse races held at our local county fair. This wasn’t recognition for any particular accomplishment, it was just a way for him to thank everyone for their good work and give us a chance to relax together. Everyone had a great time and there was lots of laughter, some friendly competition as we tried to pick the winners, and the kind of casual visiting that helped us learn more about each other.

He also held several parties at his home and encouraged us to plan a weekend barbecue at one of our local lakes where we could bring our families and enjoy the food, games, fishing, and water skiing. This group enjoyed playing softball together and weekly happy hours where those of us who wanted to could gather to relax after work. This team worked in IT in the financial industry. The work could get pretty intense and include long hours and weekend work. We were fortunate that the corporation provided flexibility to managers, and some financial support, to  encourage opportunities for the team to relax and have some fun. They also held very well-planned annual award events.

At the university, I’ve been fortunate to work with another group that is great at potlucks! Our executives sponsor an annual day for staff training and recognition that includes some fun sessions, too. They sponsor annual holiday parties, and tailgates before several of our home football games. They planned and funded annual picnics for a number of years and I hope we will see that tradition revived now that we are emerging from the financial issues of these past years. The vice presidents I’ve worked for have also been good at including some fun activities in leadership retreats. I particularly remember a hilarious croquet match we had during a break from planning for the upcoming academic year. Being a state-funded organization, the university hasn’t enjoyed as much flexibility to provide support for fun activities as I found in the private sector, but they have worked to find creative ways to support these that respect the constraints we must honor.

Of all the organizations I’ve worked with, SHARE was the very best at including opportunities for fun as we completed our work together. Except for the association management staff we retain, all the SHARE workers are volunteers and I think SHARE really understands the importance of helping to engage, and reward, these folks and to create strong teams who know how to have a good time together. There is a lot of truth in the joke that SHARE folks will work for food!

The organization plans fun receptions, luncheons, and other events for volunteers at their semi-annual conferences and brings the senior leadership team together to combine work and fun at planning meetings held at some great locations like San Diego and Tampa. They also make sure to include fun activities, and some great meals, when the volunteers gather to work on conference planning in Chicago.

My years serving on the SHARE Board of Directors included some wonderful opportunities for fun. Our meetings were associated with some amazing sightseeing together in places like Santa Fe, New Mexico, Banff, Alberta and Gleneden Beach, Oregon. We had opportunities to include our families as we gathered for conferences in places like Washington, D.C. and San Jose, California. I remember great boat tours in Seattle, Washington, Victoria, British Columbia, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a scavenger hunt in Quebec City, and so many wonderful meals together filled with laughter and opportunities to learn about each other.

SHARE is also excellent at recognition celebrations and the roasts for our outgoing Presidents are among my favorite memories. My wife and I made some great friends in the process of this work including another couple who we learned we really enjoy traveling with. Even though our years actively working for SHARE are over, they have become two of our dearest friends and I’m so glad we continue our travels together. I look forward to doing more of this in retirement!

Opportunities for fun include traditions that emerge from within our teams. One of the best I had the opportunity to experience brings me back to Dick Hitt. At the SHARE meeting in Atlantic City in 1968, he sat down at a piano in the hotel and began to play. Soon, he was taking requests from others at the meeting. Before long, a sing-along was in progress and some clever folks wrote topical lyrics dealing with the HASP (Houston Automatic Spooling Program) system they’d been working on and paired these with the tunes from old standards. This combination of work and play was such fun that the sing-along soon became a regular feature of SHARE meetings. As the week of working and learning together came to a close, the SHARE folks would gather at the evening reception and raise their voices together in song.

From the first time I attended SHARE, in the mid-80s, I enjoyed joining in at the sing-along and I’m happy to say I went on to write, or co-write, a number of songs for the event. I also had the opportunity to play guitar for several sing-alongs over the years. I have many happy sing-along memories with master of ceremonies Robert Rannie, Model 88 operator (pianist) Anne Caluori, and singers including Charlie Lyman, Steve Ryder, Janet Sun, Brian Peterson, Lynette Pope, Bill Horton, Karla Houser, and all our SHARE friends.

HASP became JES2 and the event became known as the JES2 Sing-Along. SHARE volunteers added many traditional elements to the event over the years including the singing of “Side By Side” by each new Board of Directors, the SmithBucklin staff singing “Climb Every Mountain”, and a chorus line dancing to “Yellow Submarine”, with customized lyrics for all of these popular songs. The picture at the top of today’s essay is of that chorus-line silliness.

I don’t often use the metaphor of family to describe the relationship of work colleagues. I’m not convinced you can make this happen in the workplace, but I do think that sort of closeness is possible between work colleagues when it emerges from genuine friendships, trust, and love for each other. SHARE is the closest thing to family I’ve experienced in the workplace and that is very special. I’m certain that our ability to work and play together was central to what we were able to create together. I think we do well when we look for opportunities to add fun to our work.