Here’s to Beer Friday!
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We have beer Fridays at regal. (It’s Milwaukee, after all.) If you were a fly on the wall, throughout the week you would hear one of us say, “we should celebrate on beer Friday!” or “we should talk about that on beer Friday.”
Beer Friday isn’t about blowing off steam from a stressful week. It’s about celebrating wins, big and small. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate losses.
Yep. celebrate. Not “yippee we lost!” More like “what can we learn about this situation to make us stronger, and win next time?” When you take this approach, you become more agile as a team, and as an individual within the company.
Additionally, group think is an important component to innovation. But don’t take my word for it. Get inspired by The Double Helix, by James Watson. In his memoir, he discusses how group thinking his wins and losses eventually motivated him and his partner, Francis Crick, into winning the Nobel Peace Prize for discovering the structure of DNA. It’s actually a pretty entertaining read, as it includes all the messy interpersonal stuff most companies have.
I’m not promoting a drinking free-for-all. It’s not about the alcohol, It’s the atmosphere—at once relaxed and spirited, that creates an environment that boosts moral, motivates progress and, inspires innovative solutions to your organizations’ immediate challenges.
It’s amazing what solutions and concepts fit on a cocktail napkin. When you are relaxed, it unleashes your mind to do some creative problem solving. You also have permission to laugh and joke around because you aren’t on the clock.
Conference rooms, with formal arrangements and title hierarchies, create anxiety and pressure to articulate formalized solutions to challenges. After all, no one wants to lob out an idea that ends up office fodder at the water cooler. But when people feel free to toss solutions to the group without such fears or constraints, great ideas are born. I know there are companies that have invested fortunes in rooms with video games, ping pong and pool tables, and all sorts of crazy stuff to create the same effects as beer Fridays do. Hey, feel free to invest in those if you want, but it won’t necessarily work.
It’s not the place. It’s how people feel in the place that matters.
People need to feel free, safe and valued. Not just on beer Fridays, but all the time. Celebrating wins, and working through losses in a positive ways, are an important part of that process. Celebrating wins make people feel like their work means something. Working through the losses towards a positive end teaches teams how to effectively problem solve, and makes them feel secure in their position. Both of these keep employees engaged and happily employed instead of brushing up their resume.
Stepping outside the office also provides the opportunity to get to know your workmates socially. You just might find the person that drives you crazy from 8-5, is hilarious, and shares the same hobbies as you on the weekend. Work will always be work, but it is a lot more pleasant when you enjoy it.
Please drink responsibly.
Cheers!
Image by Koriela (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons