Business Systems and Processes^.

The Systems Thinker Blog

Lift Your Employee Performance by Adding the Fun Factor!

The combination of great people and great systems produce great companies. When you add the elements of fun and competition, when you turn your business into a game and keep score, when you show your employees how they can “win,” you will discover the grand secret to developing a truly remarkable company.

Do Your Employees Have Fun?

Volkswagen has a website, www.thefuntheory.com, dedicated to the idea that something as simple as “fun” can change people’s behavior for the better. They invited folks from around the world to submit their proposal for solving everyday problems by adding the element of fun.

The winner of the contest, Kevin Richardson, USA, asked the question, “Can we get more people to obey the speed limit by making it fun to do.” The idea was so good that Volkswagen and the Swedish National Society for Road Safety actually made this innovative idea a reality in Stockholm, Sweden.

A camera was set up on a section of road where people habitually speed. Every car going by is photographed and the speed recorded—24,857 cars in three days. Every speeding person is sent a citation and assessed a fine. The money from fines goes in a general pot. Every driver who obeys the law is also photographed and entered into a lottery with the chance of winning the big payoff. This fun reduced the average speed by 22% and largely solved the speeding problem.

Camera Speed Lottery

The “Speed Camera Lottery” and several other behavior-changing and problem-solving “systems” are shown on Volkswagen’s website. You can view these brief but thought-provoking videos at www.thefuntheory.com . For example, see how you can make it fun for people to throw trash in a bin rather than on the ground, or take the stairs instead of the escalator for better health. The fun-factor gets amazing results!

Piano stairs

(The piano keys on the stairs play notes when walked on.)

AND YOU CAN DO THE SAME THING WITH YOUR BUSINESS SYSTEMS!

One of the great challenges I have in helping people become Systems Thinkers is that they confuse systems with procedures. FUN is one of the elements you can use to turn a boring procedure into an amazingly effective and highly productive business system. I’ve seen system productivity double by adding this one element.

FUN – An Organizational Strategy?

Ann Bruce and James Pepitone write in their book, Motivating Employees, “Top organizations such as Southwest Airlines, Ben & Jerry’s, Starbucks, Disney, Nordstrom, Wal-Mart and Microsoft use fun as an organizational strategy. These leaders have realized that when employees are having fun, they just perform better.”

Team competition, bettering your personal best, financial incentives, victory celebrations, company recognition, pizza Fridays, summer picnics, and dozens of other things tied to performance can help to create a culture of fun and excellence.

Remember: People usually work harder at play than they work at work! When an organization promotes fun, employees seem to have more energy, self-esteem, enthusiasm, team spirit, and positive attitudes. This translates to higher productivity, greater creativity, and better customer service.

Now go elevate your business systems and have some fun!

*****Special Alert: My Retirement is Your Gain*****

To give back to the entrepreneurial community, I HAVE DECIDED TO GIVE AWAY MY VALUABLE SYSTEMS-BUILDING SOFTWARE, ecOURSE, AND OTHER INFORMATION ABSOLUTELY FREE. By filling out the form on this page, you will go directly to a download page. This is not hype. There is no catch. You will receive a software product and a “college equivalent” eCourse on how to develop effective business systems and processes. Customers have been paying for this software and eCourse for fourteen years (see What Cutomers Are Saying).

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You will learn the following, and much more:

How to become a Systems Thinker and raise your business I.Q. by 80 points—OVERNIGHT.
What six elements are found in every great business system.
How you can remove waste and inefficiency, and build a results-driven organization.
Why good systems and processes are the essential ingredient to start, grow, fix or franchise (replicate) your business.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I will not be trying to sell you because you are getting everything for FREE, much more than I have described here. I won’t be contacting you; however, you can contact me for help with the software or your business at any time. Please browse around my website. If you have any questions, email me, Ron Carroll, at boxtheorygold@gmail.com.

I hope you enjoy and benefit from this FREE offer. It was a labor of love for me to develop. Becoming a Systems Thinker and using the Box Theory™ methodology will be one of the best decisions you have ever made.

I’ll be cheering you on from my quiet fishing hole in the mountains of Utah.