Q. How can you keep employees excited about serving customers and each other, committed to a vision larger than themselves and fulfilled enough to stay with the company?
A. Steve Lundin, a film-maker and author who helped create the award-winning film, FISH! and wrote the best-selling book, FISH! A Remarkable Way
to Boost Morale and Improve Results, replies:
I used to ask myself the same question.
Then, one cold January day, John Christensen, my colleague and fellow film-maker, had a day in Seattle sightseeing. There he heard a delighted crowd laughing and applauding. As John approached, the crowd parted and he came face to face with the source of all the commotion.
It was a fish market, Seattle's World Famous Pike Place Fish, to be exact.
John watched in amazement as one of the fishmongers fired a large, slippery salmon over the counter to a co-worker, who made a spectacular one-handed catch as the crowd cheered. He quickly invited an excited customer to try her luck.
The market was crowded and noisy but, when a fishmonger focused on a customer it was like they were the only two people in the place. Everywhere people were smiling and cash registers were ringing.
Several people stood nearby, eating cups of yoghurt and watching, wide-eyed. The yoghurt dudes (as the fishmongers called them) came over each day from a nearby office for lunch just to soak up the fish market's incredible energy so they could take it back to their own jobs.
Why couldn't every workplace pulse with this kind of energy, passion and wholeheartedness? John asked himself. We looked closely at the market and traced its special energy to a few simple choices that guide the fishmongers' daily attitudes.
Two best-selling films and one best-selling book later, we've come to realise how deeply employees long for a workplace where fun, energy and productivity drive out stress, boredom and burnout.
The following are a few guiding principles of the FISH! Philosophy. A prescription for a work life that balances joy, productivity and passion, it is based on the fishmongers' commitment to selling fish and making a difference in people's lives.
Play: The fishmongers of Pike Place Fish are renowned for throwing and catching fish, a spectacle that delights their camera-carrying customers. It is one of the many ways they play.
As motivational guru Ken Blanchard frequently says, there are just too many people at work with tight underwear. In the liveable workplace you find people doing serious work in a lighthearted way. It makes all the difference in the world.
Make their day: The fishmongers are dedicated to making a visit to their market memorable, and they do that by finding ways to make the customer's day. You may find yourself involved in a harmless practical joke but, given enough time, they will find a way to lighten your heart.
Our workdays are full of opportunities to make the day of our customers and of each other. It might simply be a small kindness or remembering a name. When you make someone's day, or even her or his "moment", you are focused on serving others and the act of serving others quickly returns a feeling of satisfaction.
Be there: The fishmongers have discovered the power of focusing on one person at a time. They might multi-task when work needs to be done, but they are not distracted when they engage customers.
Choose your attitude: At the market there is a great deal of discussion about choice. It serves as a reminder of what the fishmongers have discovered: You can choose your attitude and, if you find yourself with an attitude you don't want, you can choose another.
Commit: To what are you committed? The men and women of Pike Place Fish express their commitment to each other and to the vision of the organisation with great regularity. And in that dialogue, commitment gains strength and clarity.
* Dr Stephen Lundin will hold FISH! Camps (a day seminar), put on by Executive Knowledge, on April 1, in Wellington, and April 2, in Auckland.
Executive Knowledge
* Send your Mentor questions to: ellen_read@nzherald.co.nz.
<i>Business mentor:</i> A little fun goes a long way in the workplace
Q. How can you keep employees excited about serving customers and each other, committed to a vision larger than themselves and fulfilled enough to stay with the company?
A. Steve Lundin, a film-maker and author who helped create the award-winning film, FISH! and wrote the best-selling book, FISH! A Remarkable Way
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