12/17/2007

The Value of Whimsy

In the Exchange book, Staff Challenges: Practical Ideas for Recruiting, Training, and Supervising Early Childhood Employees, Bonnie and I talk about the paradoxes of leadership. One paradox we address is, "To accomplish the most serious results, you need to believe in the value of whimsy." We observed...

"Never underestimate the value of humor. Why did laughter get the bad rap for indicating lack of seriousness, slacking off? Our staff meetings are great fun. When an outsider overhears the tone of our meetings, he or she will usually comment with something like: "There was so much laughing going on. How do you get anything done?"

"It is the laughter that binds us together, that creates an environment and a sense of teamwork that enables people to share their joys and sorrows, as well as their frustrations and needs. People, who can laugh at and with each other, trust each other.

"Consider the staff meeting when we were in our usual stories with laughter mode and Roger arrived a bit late and announced: "We have a lot of work to get done today, so we'll just chit chat for a few more minutes and then get down to it." Suddenly, no one had anything to say. We just sat around, ate our lunch, and talked through the issues of the day. Laughter was minimized, as was the amount of work accomplished.

"A playful approach to life issues, whether personal or professional, fosters creative potential, reduces stress, and just makes living a whole lot better."

Yes, that's right, once again we are discounting all the books in our online bookstore by 20% for the last two weeks of the year. Twenty-nine Exchange books, such as those listed below, are now on sale in the Exchange Bookstore.

• Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children's Environments that Work by James Greenman
• The Power of Play by David Elkind
  
• From Conflict to Peace Building: The Power of Early Childhood Initiatives
  
• On Being a Leader
  
• Staff Challenges
  
• The Complete Parenting Exchange Library

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  For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.

  
  
  

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