What if the thing we've been taught to leave at the door, fun, is actually the secret to progress?

In this episode, Annyse sits down with Lisa Haney for a conversation about joy at work, the power of getting outside our four walls and the quiet daily practice that changed how Lisa leads. It's a conversation full of warmth, practical wisdom and an invitation to rewrite the script of what it means to be a professional.

About Lisa

Lisa Haney is a water industry executive and strategic utility advisor with more than 27 years of experience across drinking water, wastewater, recycled water, stormwater and groundwater management. Throughout her career, she has brought together strategic foresight, collaboration and innovation to navigate complex challenges and explore new opportunities.

Lisa loves connecting people, ideas and organisations, bringing a systems-level perspective to where water, policy, technology and leadership meet. She believes in the power of storytelling to make complex issues understandable, build shared purpose and inspire action. Her passion lies in breaking down silos, learning from different perspectives and working with others to shape a more connected, innovative and resilient future for water.

Choosing "Play"

Annyse invited Lisa to choose a card about the future she's creating. She chose Play.

Lisa uses cards every day to stay present and inspired, and this one made her think about how intentional she wants her future to be, not just for herself, but for the water industry as a whole. A flourishing workshop that she and Annyse both attended had brought it home for her: work isn't just about showing up from nine to five. It's about bringing joy into that space, first within ourselves, then modelling it so others feel free to play in their roles too.

For Lisa, that raises bigger questions. How do we make water fun for others? How do we create an experience our communities can connect with and be part of?

Is fun unprofessional?

Inspired by Betsy Miller, Lisa recently asked her team a simple question: "How do you want to have fun at work?"

It didn't go quite as she expected, and that was illuminating. Not everyone shares the same idea of fun. There are introverts and extroverts, and there are people who've been conditioned to believe work simply isn't supposed to be fun. Underneath it all sits a common belief that you won't be seen as professional if you're enjoying yourself.

Lisa wants to break that stereotype. You can have fun and be exceptional at what you do. In fact, the most inspiring people usually are both.

What surprised her most was where the team found common ground. Everyone agreed that what brought them joy was sharing ideas and building relationships: with their own team, across departments and with outside partners. The brainstorming, the companionship, getting out of their silo.

Annyse saw something important in that. If building relationships feels like fun, and fun feels unprofessional, it explains why it's so hard to convince people that connection is part of their job. Yet relationships are the key to progress and innovation and to breaking through assumptions. They are the antidote to so much of what drains our energy at work.

Belonging and co-creating on purpose

Lisa's own connections, with organizations such as the Army Corps of Engineers and CW3E, are what feed her energy every day. When we draw inspiration from people inside and outside our organizations, we expand. We become better professionals when we let that in.

Annyse links this to belonging. Connection feels joyful because it tells us we're part of a community larger than our own silo, one that can make a far bigger impact than any of us could alone. And it isn't just any community. It's a meaningful one, built on shared purpose and created together.

Lisa called it becoming a co-creator. Annyse agreed, describing co-creation as our natural state. We're always co-creating, but when we do it with intention, things start to shift.

That idea carries real power. We often wait for the conditions around us to change so we can feel joy. But if we're already co-creating the environment we're in, we can ask ourselves: am I shaping it intentionally or without noticing? As Lisa put it, are you waiting for someone else to create it? Sometimes, you have to show up.

Getting outside the four walls

Lisa's own journey started small and it took courage. Showing up differently at work can feel risky, because it isn't the professional norm.

As a planning department, her team's job was to think about the future. But if they only talked to each other, they weren't co-creating beyond their own bubble.  Lisa started a knowledge-sharing programme, inviting other agencies, departments and consulting partners in to share what they were seeing, what was inspiring them and what the team might not be thinking about. The exchange brightened everyone up, sparked fresh thinking and gave people permission to bring more of themselves to their work.

Then she went further. She suggested her executive team visit another agency in a different state, and they did, flying to Arizona to spend two days with the Salt River Project. They learned about each other as a team while connecting with and learning from another organization. Lisa calls it the most fun she has ever had at work.

Annyse picked up on the word outside. Getting outside our four walls matters, but in the water sector especially, literally getting outdoors together is one of the quickest ways to cultivate joy. In nature, people soften and relax. Inside the office, we often play the role of the composed professional, mirroring each other's cues about how to behave so we feel safe and belong. Step outside and a different experience becomes possible almost straight away. That's a shift in culture.

Seeing the watershed from above

Lisa took the idea a step further with the agencies her organization serves. As a regional water wholesaler, Orange County Water District provides water to cities and local water retailers, which it calls its producers. They knew their water came from the groundwater basin, but where does that water come from?

Working with the non-profit EcoFlight, Lisa invited producers, other agencies and policymakers to fly in a small Cessna plane, from the mountains to the ocean. As they flew, she narrated the journey: where the water comes from, what the watershed looks like from top to bottom and the part each organisation plays.

For many, it was life changing. On the ground, agencies feel far apart, separated by roads and traffic. From the air, it becomes clear how close and connected everyone really is. "You know it, but until you see it, you don't feel it."

Annyse likened it to the perspective astronauts describe when they see Earth from space. Seeing something with our own eyes reaches a different part of us and it can change how we think and feel. Lisa describes it as moving from theory to lived experience. When water becomes an experience, the way we co-create around it shifts too.

Lisa gives real credit to her General Manager, John Kennedy, for backing the idea and running with it. Trying something new takes a leap of faith and that kind of support is excellent leadership.

One intention a day

Annyse noticed that Lisa is rewriting the script of what it means to be a professional. Lisa joked that it is a daily conversation with herself and sometimes a lonely road. That's exactly why sharing these stories matters: it shows others they're part of a wider community making the same choices.

Lisa's journey became more intentional five years ago, when she worked with a leadership coach. Together, they began with her personal values. Leadership, she learned, has to come from your inner sense of self: who you want to be, how you want to feel and how you want to show up.

One lesson stood out. The energy you bring affects the energy around you. When you realise you have control over that, and that you're not simply at the mercy of the energy in the room, you can shift it for yourself and your team.

Lisa began a morning practice: 30 minutes of journalling, guided by one question. "How do I want to show up today?" She'd reflect on where she was trying to grow. For a while, her focus was listening more. By her own admission, she can be a bit of a talker, so she set the intention to listen in meetings and give her team more space to speak.

She tracked how she was doing each day, much as she had practised skills over decades in Toastmasters. It was nothing like a performance review. It was driven from within.

Annyse noticed the kindness running through Lisa's story. She didn't aim for perfection. When she caught herself talking over someone or taking up the airtime in a meeting, she simply noticed it, with curiosity rather than criticism. And as Lisa became kinder to herself, she found she became kinder to others too.

The effect spread. Everything softened, which led to more productivity, more honesty and conversations about what really matters. Her team had more fun at work.

Annyse believes this is the part we rarely name. People hear that "the energy you bring affects the room" and wonder what it means. For her, our energy lies in our intentions, conscious or not. Deciding to do just one thing differently, like listening more, can lead to many other shifts. You don't need a long list. One intention, held for a day or even for months, starts to reshape the habits and beliefs that run on autopilot, until your default is aligned with who you want to be.

Curiosity, not reaction

Lisa has started teaching her team the same practice. When someone gets upset, rather than reacting, she gets curious: "Why do you feel that way? Why do you think that?" Often, people haven't noticed the reaction themselves. It's simply their default.

Not reacting to a reaction takes work and a calm nervous system. But when you can witness someone's response with curiosity, you start to connect with them as a person, understand who they'd like to be and want to help each other grow.

At first, her team wondered what was going on, as it's so different from traditional management. Over time, they've leaned into it and it has built real safety and trust. Lisa is the first to say she's not perfect. She'll make mistakes, give people grace and hope they give her grace in return. That keeps the co-creation going, builds a sense of community and has helped her team grow in how they show up at work.

You don't need a title to lead

For Annyse, this is what leadership really calls for. Lisa has elevated her team's leadership, whether or not they manage anyone, because leadership exists in every one of us. How am I leading my life? How am I leading my work? Each of us is responsible for that.

Lisa agrees. Leading yourself is the first stage of leadership and it's something you can nurture every day, wherever you are in life. You don't always control your job title, but you always have control over your leadership. Knowing that gives people their power back.

And if we leave leadership only to people with titles, there simply aren't enough of them to make the difference we need. It has to live in every person, at every level.

More of who we're meant to be

To close, Annyse asked Lisa what her past self from five years ago would be amazed to see today.

Lisa said she is more fully who she is and who she's meant to be. The sooner we start on that journey, the sooner we get to realise our potential. We stop hiding our talents, our energy and who we are, and we start sharing our gifts, our wisdom and our uniqueness. Because the world needs what each of us brings.

How do you want to show up today?