I saw a video where Tom Hanks shared something he learned in life. Something he wished he’d known when he was younger.

The words "fun" and "productivity" rarely occur in the same sentence. But what if we discovered that having more fun actually increases our productivity?

Work can be fun when:

• People feel included

• People are allowed to use their gifts for the good of the team

• People are allowed to express their thoughts and opinions

• It's ok to laugh, especially at yourself

• You take off the pressure of being incredibly academic and focus on the product being really great

What made a safe environment possible was to talk about where it had not been safe, at all, up to that point.  It takes courage, conviction, and true commitment from leadership.  And it is very possible, and not all that complicated, once you choose to no longer tolerate a toxic environment.

Doing our best doesn’t mean being perfect. It means doing our best in the current situation at the current time in the current mind-frame with our current knowledge. By believing that everyone is doing their best, I can release myself from the situation and give every person the benefit of the doubt.

THERE ARE BENEFITS TO BOTH PARTIES FROM LISTENING WELL:

• Higher productivity – problems solved faster with fewer duplicated efforts or heated arguments

• Increased trust – listening to individuals generates respect and trust

• Fewer mistakes – information received is more accurate

• Increased confidence – self-esteem goes up when we feel we are heard

Our calendars speak facts, and typically, our interpretation of what happened in the past year isn’t as accurate as the calendar.

So, if how we perform is driven by our behavior, and our behavior is driven by what we believe, couldn’t taking our thoughts off of “automatic pilot” have a huge impact on how effective we are? This takes a lot of sustained discipline, because it takes raising our daily awareness.