Making Work Fun Again

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Making Work Fun Again
41st AIM-IRS Annual Business Meeting and Training
Seminar
Carolyn Chapman, Field Director Accounts
Management -- Memphis Nancy Session, Field
Director Accounts Management -- Kansas City
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• Why Do We Work?

To find meaningful work, you need to know what
work means to you 

• If we define work chiefly in terms of
  money-making, we lose the possibility of
  understanding the deeper dimensions of work, the
  meaning of work and the many ways it can nourish
  us
• Spiritually
• Psychologically
• Emotionally
• Physically,
• Economically 

The way we imagine our lives is the way we will
go on living our lives. James Hillman
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• Fun Has Different Definitions

What does fun mean to you?

• recreation or fun is the expenditure of time in a
  manner designed for therapeutic refreshment of
  ones body or mind
• activities that are enjoyable or amusing
• playfulness a disposition to find (or make)
  causes for amusement

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• Should Work Be Fun?

Having fun at work lends itself to many benefits

• Increases Productivity
• Increases Moral
• Attracts Talented Employees
• Reduces Turnover Costs
• Facilitates Communication
• Stimulates Creativity
• Relieves Stress

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• Business vs People

People are loyal to people.not companies

• We all have jobs to do but remember there is not
  Business without people.
• Businesses exists only among people and for
  people.
• Employees make the business

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• Be Present

Remember to play

• By playing we can resurrect our sense of
  creativity and remember how it feels to enjoy
  what we do
• Leisure activities have become work-like. 
• We have turned play into work, when we should be
  turning our work into play. 
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• Play enables us to rearrange our capacities and
  our very identity so that they can be used in
  unforeseen ways
• Stephen Nachmanovitch 

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• Be Vulnerable

The feeling of getting lost in an activity is
exhilarating and refreshing

• The things that cause us to lose track of time
  are those things that connect us to a sense of
  the eternal in our lives and gives us a sense of
  meaning.
• Let go of the control
• Give yourself permission to have fun
• Get lost in something
• Dont be a clock watcher 

What did you do as a child that caused you  to
forget time? There lies the myth to live by.
Joseph Campbell
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Be Authentic
Stay true to you

• When you are able to admit and give room to the
  little callings of each day, it becomes easier to
  hear and enact the larger calling of your life.
• It is essential to stay true to what you like
• Learn to say yes to what you like and no to
  what you dont like. 
• Learn to love what you love 

Just trust yourself, then you will know how to
live. Goethe
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• Be Accepting

Keep an open mind to new ideas and positive
change

• Explore subjects and activities that catch your
  attention
• Passion is born of experience, not just theory
• Volunteer 
• Take classes 
• Experiment 
• If we all did the things we are capable of
  doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
  Thomas Edison

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• Be Useful

Servant Leadership
The fundamental principle of servant leadership
is that one is a servant first and leader
second.  There are 10 characteristics closely
related to servant leadership.

• Listening
• Empathy
• Healing
• Awareness
• Persuasion

• Conceptualization
• Foresight
• Stewardship
• Commitment to Growth of People
• Building Community 

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Having Fun Working at the IRS
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More Work Fun!