CELEBRATE with Play
Don’t forget to play on New Year’s Day!
P..ause, to reflect on what you value most.
L -augh, at how seriously you have taken things that didn’t warrant it
A-ppreciate, what you have
Y-earn, to learn more every day this year that will fill your heart with joy
One of the most important things a manager can do for his or her employees to help them understand the concept of “plussing.” The first time I think this was ever used is back in the 1940″s by Walt Disney. He asked his employees to find to give their customers, “more than they paid for, more than they expected and more than they could give.”
The idea was to take your work and find five minutes every day to go above and beyond. To really add something beyond what you are about to say or do that will enhance the project or interaction. What can you do today to “plus” a situation?
While we all know that productivity and efficiency make money for an organization, I wonder if you have ever calculated how much money in your company comes from joy?
So now the latest survey from Regus, a workplace supplier, and conducted by Marketing UK, has indicated that 40% of professional employees want to quit their jobs. The Department of Labor says productivity is dropping. With unemployment at 9%, you have to ask the question, why?
The answer is simple. Silence. That is what employees are feeling and it is all about what they are not hearing. Once again the issue of good communication has come to the fore and once again managers and leaders are failing in involving employees and simply talking to them about what is going on.
Ambiguity and lack of congruence, what is said and what is happening, is the number one killer of motivation, loyalty and inspiration to do more and better. Employees need the people they work for to be:
* Clear
* Nonambiguous
* Constant
* Honest and
* Forthright
Pulling your managers into a room for a half day or full day to really drill down on this skill and how to hit all five of the points listed could be the best productivity activity you have done in a long time.
Find a way to increase communication by:
* putting out the values and vision of where we are going,
* what it will take to get there
* how to communicate that all the time
See some ideas on how you might do this at or call in a Situational Specialist to design a special program for your group. Find out more about a Situational Specialist click here.
Well, the challenge is on. How can we put more fun and subsequently more energy into our work in 2010?
People are tired. Tired of pretending all is well when it might not be, tired of bad news, tired of things not going exactly as planned.
The antidote to tired is right at your finger tips. Try these things today and see if you don’t see a difference. Share them with your family, friends and staff.
1. Look in the mirror and smile. Not a regular smile, but a big goofy smile. Put the light back on in your head and your body with your smile. Smile at other people in the office, in the store and on the street. Absorb the return smiles.
2. Wear new underwear. Go out and buy a different color, a different style or something you haven’t tried before. Let what is “underneath” give you a smile and new perspective.
3. Plug in your ipod, log on to iTunes, tune in a radio station or pop in a CD of really upbeat music to accompany your email work today. Let the music guide your responses and how you feel about this task. Come up with a good number of different songs that you can have going when you are doing email. Look forward to email because you know you will get to listen to something you love and that gets you going. (Headphones please if you share an office!)
4. Stand up. Get up from your desk and use a Blue-tooth or headset and walk around today. While you are standing, try to do so on one foot. Balance is a key indicator of good physical health. Work on yours.
5. Put your to do list on something more fun. If it is on your blackberry/i Phone move it to colored paper in the morning and put it up on a wall or tape it to the top of a notebook. Draw a quick picture to go with each item. (Smiley face, stick figures, skull and crossbones, whatever will give you a lift when you get to the task.)
In other words Play More!
With the clocks about to “fall back” employees often get a good case of the doldrums this time of year. The holidays aren’t quite here yet and going home in the dark is just depressing! Budgets are due, year end closings are happening, shopping for those impending holidays, money woes, and more all pile on this time of year.
Do these simple things to give everyone in your workplace a boost;
1. Ask people for a few good simple and inexpensive ideas that will make the workplace better in the coming winter months.
2. Give a few more minutes each week to each person in your office and find out what is going on in their life. This time of year may present some special challenges and you may have some ideas to help.
3. Bring in a funny movie. Remember school when instead of class we had a movie? Take a laughter break.
4. Start some new health challenge. Lead a walk at lunch, stock veggies in the kitchen for snacking, sign up a group to hike or bike over the weekend.
5. Add some music or the sound of a waterfall near the front door in the morning. We all need a pick me up in the morning and coffee isn’t always the answer.
6. Get excited about something you can do together. With the holidays coming possibly a charity event.
7. Smile, smile and then smile some more until it catches on.
Quite often we find a team inside an organization with a certain amount of dysfunction. People are quick to pick apart the reasons, “It’s because he does this, or she didn’t do that or……” The blame game is very popular. Most of the time teams are dysfunctional for a much simpler reason.
In reality most teams have a little dysfunctionality in them when they first form because people have yet to know and understand the work habits and basic behaviors of their teammates.
There is a quick and easy solution to this problem.
First, get some basic information about each of the players. I like to use an assessment for this that is validated not to tell us who does what better, but rather just who we are. The assessment I use allows people to see how they behave normally, under stress and most importantly, what they need on a day to day basis.
Second, with the group gathered I then facilitate an understanding of where we are all coming from and why people are different yet okay in what they are doing. My groups have a lot of fun as I demonstrate our actions as just normal, yet different from one another. We use some props and games to get ourselves to become relaxed with who we are, be open to how others are different and look at what we might need to do to be on a team together. We don’t memorize letters or try to remember how we are supposed to treat each person, rather we learn to appreciate who each person is and respond to them as they are.
The best part of all this work is that it does work. An assignment I did with a 7 member team in April of 2009 has netted cohesiveness, respect, calm, productivity and more fun in their work.
Check out your teams today and call me if you think a tune-up on working together might be in order.
Find me, Barbara, at 303-984-9271.
Recently my hometown, Owego, New York won the title of “Coolest Small Town in America.” Today there are many tags to companies, “Best Places to Work,” “Employer of Choice,” “Funnest,” and more. As I viewed the video of the place I grew up in and love, (see it at Owego), I realized something very important.
What makes Owego so cool is the simple beauty of its homes, activities and parks added to beautiful people. To this day I am a regular supporter of the Tioga Rural Ministry. An organization in Owego the serves the needy. Every time someone has a wedding anniversary, big birthday, or there is a holiday, donations flow in in people’s names to this organization. That basically characterizes the essence of this town. They care about each other.
Are they perfect? Not by a long shot. Every group, organization, community or company has its warts.
What is unique and wonderful is that the people care. The two Mom and Pop grocery stores that peacefully co-exist with the two chain stores in town provide a place you can go to and the people know your name. That means a lot to people.
Think about what would make your company the “coolest” place to work?
Is it about “stuff” or is it how it feels?
Do you have simple beauty in the environs of your company?
How do people care for one another?
When the going gets tough, how do people pitch in to help?
Ask your people, “What really makes a company “The Coolest?”
Create a “Mastermind” group to make your company “The Coolest.”
Did You Accidentally Lay Off More People Than You Planned?
It is important to check your payroll to see if you might possibly have lain off more people than you planned. How could that be?
If the layoff you did was accomplished with honoring those who had to leave, giving them the company’s full support with recommendations, strong job search assistance through outplacement experts and more, you do not have this problem.
If not, look to see how many of your people may have “checked out” even though they are still working and on your payroll. Employees who remain make judgments about the company and their position in the company based on how departing employees are treated.
So how do you know how well you did? You will be able to tell very quickly by the amount of energy and enthusiasm your people have for what comes next. If they are just working hard, heads down and delivering, but not moving toward new ideas, creative ways of doing things, offering suggestions and more than they are indeed “checked out.”
How does this happen? The answer is simple. Look at how you have handled the current economic crisis within your organization through this check list and answer yes or no to these questions.
#1 – Are you involving every employee in helping to decide how to manage this? Are you using mass collaboration through blogging and the web to stimulate thoughts on successful strategies?
#2 – Is this being done with everyone on some type of team that is charged with coming up with ideas to increase revenue or reduce expense?
#3- Have all employees been given the opportunity to report out on these ideas and get feedback if they are on the right track or need to go in another direction?
#4 – If you had any layoffs, were they done with honor, exiting people in a short amount of time but not pushed out the door, giving them a chance to get support from their colleagues, good outplacement services meetings, even held on site, and more? (See Layoffs with Heart)
#5 – Have you been communicating your numbers and challenges much more frequently, becoming more and more transparent to your team so people can work with the reality of your situation?
#6 – How many new revenue ideas have been tried since January 1st? Is it at least 3 or 4?
#7 – Did all your executives personally thank each departing employee, honoring them with your presence and your support in their next endeavor?
#8 – Is your organization planning to ride out this economic downturn only with “lean and mean” strategies?
#9 – How many Mastermind groups are currently working on your future plans? Are they in different areas of your company for diversity of thought?
#10-Do you rest easily knowing you are trying 101 different ways to reduce expense, including salary reductions and shortened work weeks?
Could a Situational Specialist help you with this?
“If you are a servant of time, rather than letting time serve you, you are a prisoner of time.” Alan Cohen
My friend, Alan, has hit the nail on the head with this statement. In today’s world of email, voice mail, snail mail, texting, imaging, PDA’s, Twitter and more you have to wonder, “Do I have anything to do with how I spend my time?”
The answer is a resounding YES!
Do this simple thing, write down the three things you must have as priorities for today. KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Make these things that will:
The rest can wait.
Now make two or three priorities for yourself. (Eat better, spend time with the kids, take a walk, get the tires rotated, take a nap.) These don’t have to be big, they just have to be important to your life.
Set yourself free with a few simple priorities.