Hot fun in the summertime and beyond.

• Author: Cote, Mike

This month, staffers from ColoradoBiz and our sister publications at WiesnerMedia will trek to Coors Field and watch the Rockies take on the Dodgers. That the Rockies and their status as a business enterprise grace the cover of the magazine this month has nothing to do with this excursion.

This one's just for fun.

"Fun." The word has almost a negative connotation in the business world because most workers have been battered around enough over the years to lose faith that it can exist in the workplace and not be a cruel joke. Tossing around a rubber chicken can't compensate for eight to 12 hours of drudgery or an atmosphere of mistrust.

But fun never disappears completely, and these days it's being touted as the latest trend in management. "Fun! It's the New Core Value," Inc. magazine proclaims in a recent cover story. The illustration features a CEO spreading open his button-down shirt to reveal a Batman suit.

Clearly, they're talking about the campy Batman of the '60s TV series, not the ominous vigilante known as The Dark Knight. The Joker returns next year in the next installment of the revived film franchise. We're not sure we need him in the office--reminds me of a co-worker who used to throw those exploding "snaps" around months after the Fourth of July had come and gone--but a little levity can go a long way.

The Inc. story depicts a group of office workers playing volleyball, a scenario we experienced at WiesnerMedia over the summer during an informal Friday "Olympics" series. The games helped forge bonds among a bunch of people who largely didn't know each other. The older athletes among us commiserated each Monday on the stiff muscles we were still suffering from the previous Friday's activities.

Seeing your co-workers in T-shirts and shorts goofing around at a ballpark or gym is a great equalizer, and there's a certain perverse pleasure in beaning the CEO in the chest during a dodgeball game or tossing a water balloon at your counterparts in another department.

When the games ended after a month, however, we all went back into our caves. The idea for the Rockies game arose just as the summer doldrums were starting to set in. Sustaining a fun atmosphere in the workplace requires a commitment to planning regular events, be they a casual happy hour or an employee fundraiser.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

An industry has arisen that caters to promoting workplace fun...