Lokmat Mumbai : Page 2 : 13 February 2011
Bringing in the element of Fun @ your Workspace!
A few employees of a company were playing a game that involved a simple balloon and a pin in another hand. The objective was to get balloons to survive in a room full of pins. The outcome and learning? People forgetting to preserve their piece in the excitement to burst balloons just like in the workplace where a lot of people think that winning at something means someone has to lose. Besides, the fact that they were all equals in the battle for survival also meant that the boss-subordinate divide no longer existed.
At the workplace, such work related issues, lack of co-operation and needless politics and grapevine are not unheard of. What is also known is that these factors create a somewhat ‘non – productive’ environment. It’s also a known fact that people stay longer in an environment where people are happy to work in, which in turn is also a more productive workspace/office. A lot of companies are now opening up to this concept of making work fun or bringing in an element of fun at the workplace.
Never Grow Up is one such innovative company having propositions in this very space i.e. a company into fun @ work. Over the past few months, corporate houses including MNCs and banks have availed their services to help make their workplaces more fun and keep their employees motivated and engaged. One corporate in particular did approach them with a specific problem where certain teams in their company could not see eye to eye due to job related insecurities. This in turn was affecting the productivity of the team. Rather than a speech or a 'talk' the team at Never Grow Up took them through a series of activities around trust and creativity to put the point across. Over time, these sessions have led to a greater teamwork. At these sessions (which range from theatre to bartending) everyone is treated equally with the hierarchy of ranks dissolved right at the start of the session while it is ensured that employees across teams mix well and are engaged in the process. This is done by working closely with the HR teams at the respective companies and extensive planning before the activity. As a result, people who had never seen eye to eye or not interacted much in the past came together to form a cohesive team.
The core team at this fun company consists of five key people i.e Shazia Upadhye (a practicing dentist) & Asif Upadhye who are the founders along with Supriya Kini (Bangalore), Sanchit Mendiratta & Aanchal Bansal as associates along with a huge line-up of talented individuals from various fields from across the country. These range from Musicians to Theatre artists, Speakers, Trainers to Bartending and Cocktail experts. In India, we see Never Grow Up to be a one -of-its-kind entrepreneurial venture.
All things said...A happy employee works longer, is less stressed and also in turn stays productive. This in turn has a positive impact on the bottom line of the company. Seems like management across companies have taken to liking this new concept 'of young at heart' which, is the rise of another service line in India
(Psst...Translated on a best effort basis. We are not professional Marathi to English translators you know)
