Is Fun Killing Your Team's Productivity? (No, and Here's the Proof)

Is having fun at work killing your church's productivity? Short answer: no. In this episode of the Church Staff Book Club, Jonathan Malm and Jason Young walk through Chapter 10 of their book Likable Leader and take apart the idea that fun and productivity are enemies. If your church staff culture feels tense, quiet, or overly serious, it's probably not because your team lacks personality. Something is blocking the fun, and there's a good chance it's coming from leadership. People naturally have fun together. Put strangers in a park and eventually someone pulls out a frisbee. So when your church staff or volunteer team isn't enjoying the work, that's a diagnostic sign. Jonathan and Jason break down the three ways leaders unintentionally kill fun, share stories from highly productive teams that played hard, and explain why likable leaders don't manufacture fun. They make room for it. In this episode we cover: The three ways leaders kill fun: punishing frivolity, fear of looking unproductive, and fear of doing something wrong Why the "enough of that" line in the sand makes your team afraid to relax How a highly profitable company played Call of Duty every day at 4:30 Why a foosball table doesn't mean you have a fun culture (don't confuse an activity with a culture) Why church leaders should stop policing whether their staff is working hard enough The myth that work is serious and fun is an escape from work Why forced icebreakers and awkward team building backfire The Argentine asado and what it teaches about preparing vs. connecting The one question every leader should ask: what does it feel like to work with you? Why some small groups connect and others never do