Forced smiling had no effect on office morale. In fact, I think the day when we forced people to smile for eight hours, from the moment they walked through the door to when it was time to leave, might have actually had a negative effect. It certainly made the sales meeting…interesting, I shall not lie. Oh, and it was back to frown town the very next day. Even deeper within frown town, actually, since everyone was so exhausted from all the smiling.
I had to cross ‘forced laughter’ off on my notebook of ideas. It was scheduled for the very next day, but I’ve lost faith in it being a viable strategy. In fact, it might just bring down the entire establishment, so…none of that. Instead, I’ve started looking at a current trend in offices based in Melbourne: decorative window glass. Studies have shown that colourful work surroundings can improve the mood of a place instantaneously, causing an increase in productivity and worker satisfaction. All that, from something as simple as glass being coloured. I don’t really understand it myself, especially since my ideal working environment is a silent office with neutrally-coloured walls, but science does not lie. Decorative glass could be the next step in solving this sudden surge of interpersonal conflicts that are clogging the profitability of this business. I had all my faith that people being forced to smile at each other all day would really nail it, but alas. It did not.
Suppose I better have an extremely detailed session of research into installers of commercial glass tinting here in Melbourne, and…fast. Not only will it take some time to have the windows installed, but I’m going to have to field ideas for designs; that’s not my area of expertise. I don’t want to have to resort to filling our meetings with forced laughter, but it’s the only other idea I’ve got.
-Ray