Happiness at work seems to be one of those Mythical things:
👌 That everyone talks about.
👌 Everyone thinks about.
👌 Everyone plans it out in endless High Five Soul Sucking round table meetings.
But no one really does anything about it
…….let me retract that statement.
We do tend to do something but:
👉 We over complicate it. “We need a Contest,We need a Contest…woof woof”.
👉 We don’t know what motivates our teams therefore the “Hey i’m an AMAZING Leader…look at me I bought Doughnuts” efforts fall flat and for some unknown reason the majority of the Doughnuts were eaten by yourself.
👉 We celebrate mediocrity. – “Amazing work Team…we hit 85% of our sales target for the month” and not actual Achievements that go beyond ones Job Description.
At this point listen to the Silence…you will ACTUALLY hear what confusion sounds like.
👉 Happiness for your Team Members is not about:
Bouncing around the Store, talking to every Team Member but not paying attention due to your addiction of stroking your Smartphone to read about what your 3rd Cousin did when he ordered a quadruple Big Mac without a bun.
👉 How much you pay your Team Members.
👉 How much you High Five your Team Members.
👉 How you join your Team Members during their coffee breaks and Talk about Mama June’s sexual exploits.
👉 How you “Allow” your Team Members to circumvent Company policies by pretending to take their sides and trash talk the Office (no, not Michael Scott).
👉 How you give them an Amazing evaluation; even though they have never achieved or completed the actions in their Job Description.
👉 How many times a month you have an all Dressed Pizza Party, even though the majority of your Employees are vegetarians and lactose intolerant.
👉 How many times you hold a Team Member meeting to Solicit their ideas “Since they are the Heartbeat of the Store” Pulease lay off this Bullshit and common practice. 99% of the brainstorming ends up being High Fived and within 2 minutes of ending the Meeting the idea is dumped into the Trash.
Why?
No one took Notes, these ideas were not your own and who has the Time? (ps: your TeamMembers do.)
Happiness for your Team Members is about:
👉 Saying Hello and or Good Morning when you pass a Team Member.
👉 Saying Good Night to a Team Member when you are passing them on your way home.
This rarely happens though since many of tend to think we need to be in the Store from OPEN – CLOSE, otherwise a hugh sinkhole will form and vortex your Store into Neverland. Hi Peter Pan.
👉 Being fair and recognized for their work. Simple, this is called an Annual Feedback that is on time, well written and not copied and pasted. (been there, done that, been caught :))
Simple, this is called an Annual Feedback that is on time, well written and not copied and pasted. (been there, done that, been caught :))
👉 Not calling them every hour on your day off or Vacation. Trust them, show you have trust in them and let them fall. Falling down for a Team Member is ONE of the best Training methods there is. Believe me without my many, many, many, many, many failures, I would not be where I am today.
Trust them, show you have trust in them and let them fall. Falling down for a Team Member is ONE of the best Training methods there is. Believe me without my many, many, many, many, many failures, I would not be where I am today.
👉 Involving them in decisions. It is really as simple as asking them questions as to what do they think, what would they do. Yes, some of the responses you will get will be emotionally based, but there is always some truth and reality hidden in what is being said. It is your duty to extract it by playing the “Why” game.
It is really as simple as asking them questions as to what do they think, what would they do. Yes, some of the responses you will get will be emotionally based, but there is always some truth and reality hidden in what is being said. It is your duty to extract it by playing the “Why” game.
👉 Sharing Financial Results, Good and Bad. Its your Team Members who are responsible for these Numbers. Your are only Steering and Coaching them to achieve them. They are the ones putting in the efforts.
Its your Team Members who are responsible for these Numbers. Your are only Steering and Coaching them to achieve them. They are the ones putting in the efforts.
👉 Share the Wealth in good Times.Take care of their Mental Health in Bad Times.
👉 Find out how your Team Members like to be recognized. Many do not like the public recognition and outright hate it. This can quickly turn into a negative situation if you don’t know the Likes of your Audience.
👉 Random acts of thanking them or acknowledging their Positive behaviors you heard about from their Peers.
👉 Ideas, Ideas, Ideas. They are always being thrown at us from our team Members. Some of them are “cough,cough” interesting, some make you question your Team Members sanity but others may be implementable.
They are always being thrown at us from our team Members. Some of them are “cough,cough” interesting, some make you question your Team Members sanity but others may be implementable.
👉 Give your Team Members a chance once in a while to implement an idea.
👉 Spend sometime mentoring them on how to achieve their idea.
Track the results.
Celebrate the Wins and YES the Losses.
Your Team Members put in the effort and even if it didn’t work out it lit a flame under your other Team Members to think.
Let your Manager (District, Regional, Human Resources Manager know about these efforts) so they can thank the Team Member during their next visit, by email or a phone call.
Repeat:
Let your Manager (District, Regional, Human Resources Manager know about these efforts) so they can thank the Team Member during their next visit, by email or a phone call.
This topic can go on and on and on and on and on……just remember to know your Audience | Team Members.
Not everyones HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY moment is the same.
So here we are at the end, to sum this article up I leave you with a little ditty.
Enjoy.
Hello, boys and girls
This is your old pal, Stinky Wizzleteats
This is a song about a whale
No, this is a song about being happy
That’s right, it’s the happy happy, joy joy song
Happy, happy, joy, joy
Happy, happy, joy, joy
Happy, happy, joy, joy
Happy, happy, joy, joy
Happy, happy, joy, joy
Happy, happy, joy, joy
Happy, happy, joy, joy, joy
I don’t think you’re happy enough
That’s right, I’ll teach you to be happy
I’ll teach your grandmother to suck eggs
Now, boys and girls, let’s try it again.
-Ren & Stumpy
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Have a PHENOMENAL day.
#thatisall by