The new coffee shop

How many of us have their preferred coffee shop nowadays? May it be location, crowd or the special barista, that attracts you - it's your coffee shop.

Mine was and is the coffee shop down at Merewether beach surf club.

One morning a few month ago I came down for the first cap of the day just to get told the shop's lease won't be renewed and a stranger might take over the location. A shiver ran down my spine. There's no way the new crew could be as good as the current and why change anyway? It runs well, people flock here for the coffee and the view. That's a ridiculous decision.
My day was ruined.

I don't think it took more than a fortnight after the new coffee shop had opened that people came back in big numbers testing it out. Still there were established behaviours that seemed not been noticed by the new crew that people missed but the coffee was great. Another fortnight later and the shop had readjusted to what people were used and liked to and better. I still think the white umbrellas looked much better than the new blue ones but I guess I can live with that :) Congrats to the crew of the @JuicyBeansCafe on the beach, great job!

When I realised that what happened here was a typical behaviour that I always criticize in my job - people getting stuck in what they know and don't want to give new ideas a chance. We should not let the fear of loosing a good thing stop other people investigating different ways of doing it. Just by giving new ideas a chance we will get the best solution. Bad ideas will be rejected one or the other way.

The Merewether ocean bath has been said to get an overhaul of several million dollars - Here we go again, I can't see why it needs improvement, I just started enjoying it. What's wrong with it? Why change?
This might be just another case of unnecessary fear of change, just as it was with the coffee shop. Change is good and I'm sure we'll enjoy the outcome once again!

What is it you don't want to change or are afraid to loose? Have you had a negative experience where change went wrong?

How quests and fun can spur on motivation and performance

Engaged employees not only intend to stay with you, they share the passion to achieve your organisation’s objectives and are willing to give of their discretionary effort to get there. Fact and reality is that a Towers Perrin study of over 90,000 employees in 18 countries found that only 20 percent of all employees were fully engaged. Forty percent were "enrolled," meaning capable but not fully committed, and 40 percent were disenchanted and disengaged. This explains why most people I’ve talked to simply aren’t fully productive and happy in their jobs.

Taking our dog for a run and a swim to the beach is one of my favorite things but a swollen ankle was making it difficult this week. Borrowing the scooter from my son seemed to be a good idea to overcome stressing my ankle and still make it down to the beach. I flew down the hill, the dog trying to stay in front of me leading the way - because that what she does. On the beach she had trouble to keep up, the run had taken all her energy - or so I thought - and she was struggling to follow.

A mad shadow hunter that she is a passing sea-gull cast the perfect shadow right in front of her, beaming along the sand. To my amazement her energy levels weren't as empty as it seemed and she charged along the beach on the impossible mission of catching that shadow. The pleasure she got out of it made her accelerate in her quest. It is fun and play combined with an engaging quest that made her giving her best.

The development of a high performance culture is dependent on having your employees highly engaged on the things that matter. 

That might not be news to you but have you got your staff engaged to a similar degree? What's your recipe? 
Engagement through elements borrowed from games can make an significant impact in increasing motivation within organisations.

After all our whole life is based on game based learning. From our early childhood onward we play, we fail till we've perfected that skill - to be ready for the next challenge.