There was a 4 inch gap between the bottom of the couch and the floor in the storage closet turned office 3 of us shared at Wunderman many years ago.

So naturally, that space became the “goal” when we played hockey with a crumpled up piece of paper and a couple of old sticks.

I don’t remember how many games I won back then but I do remember creating a ton of work I’m really proud of to this day. We all did.

Because we (and our bosses) knew that those impromptu games were part of our jobs. Play time equals “let the junk in your head jostle around for a bit so it can turn into an interesting nugget or two” time.

And we knew we wouldn’t be judged for taking that time. In today’s language, this would be called psychological safety. Back then, it was just a basic understanding of how creative brains work.

This is the kind of behavior Jaime Raul Zepeda recognizes in his role as EVP at Best Companies Group. The best places to work are the ones who provide psychological safety, where leaders are vulnerable and understand what their teams need. Because they ask.

We need work to be more like this again. We’ve turned it into a hyper-optimized s**t-show of efficiency but we don’t even know why we do half of what we do.

We need to be less busy and more thoughtful.

Maybe I should stop coaching folks and just show up at companies with a few hockey sticks and some crumpled up paper.

Hmm…

Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)

Let the desuckifying begin.

You can follow Jaime on LinkedIn. And check out his company’s site at bestcompaniesgroup.com to learn more about their best places to work programs.

If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!

Bye, everyone!

Bonus question from Jaime to our audience:When’s the last time you asked your team what it was like to work at your organization, and took some actionable steps on that data to make it better?