There’s an old maxim that says a happy employee is a productive employee. I’ve noticed that to be true in my 20-plus years of employment. Those who love to come to work and enjoy working for their bosses tend to produce the best results.
Ray Clark, CEO of The Marketing Arm (TMA), is aware of this, too. Last week, the Dallas-based promotion firm celebrated its 20-year anniversary by treating almost 500 employees to a day of various activities in the Deep Ellum entertainment district. Want to learn to play guitar? Check. How about some improv lessons? Covered. Oh, you want to have a pub crawl, too? Sure thing.
“TMA’rs got to check out different hot spots like ‘Football & Beer’ with special guest Jimmy Sexton (called ‘a quiet giant in the NFL sports agent market’), who regaled us with sports agent tales about representing NFL coaches and players,” wrote Audra Glover, digital coordinator, on TMA’s blog. “In between each of those sessions were fantastic musical acts by Hip Hop Hooray, Ryan Edgar and Michael Castro.”
The celebration, called Sparks, concluded with a Bon Jovi concert at the American Airlines Center.
“Clark figures the festivities cost just under a half-million bucks,” Cheryl Hall reported for the Dallas Morning News. “The Marketing Arm regularly works with Bon Jovi’s concert promoters, so he was able to get 500 concert tickets that only cost about 50 grand. Clark squirreled away much of the money for Sparks in budget savings from the past year and personally underwrote the rest. He considers it an investment in innovative thinking—a must-have if the agency is to satisfy its 100-plus big-brand clients, including AT&T, Frito-Lay, and State Farm Insurance.”
One of the best things about TMA’s employee day out was the chance to learn new skills, which are beneficial to keeping the mind sharp. It’s especially helpful if you learn something mentally demanding, according to a study forthcoming in Psychological Science.
“It seems it is not enough just to get out and do something—it is important to get out and do something that is unfamiliar and mentally challenging, and that provides broad stimulation mentally and socially,” says psychological scientist and lead researcher Denise Park of the University of Texas at Dallas. “When you are inside your comfort zone you may be outside of the enhancement zone.”
Also, happiness lowers your blood pressure.
“The endogenous hormone dopamine triggers feelings of happiness,” wrote Peter Rüegg for ETH Life. “Dopamine enables us to make the ‘right’ decisions in order to experience even more moments of happiness.”
As a manager and leader, what kind of experiences are you offering your employees to help them have even more moments of happiness?
(Image via The Marketing Arm/Audra Glover)
