This is such a fun way to get to know more about the people you work with.
Designate one hour (or maybe one hour and a half) of one day as Bring Your Talent to Work Time. Invite anyone who wants to participate to sign up so you have a count of how many participants there will be and what their gigs will be so that an information sheet and schedule of activities can be available the day of the event.
Either provide food or encourage people to brown bag it on the day of the event.
And then sit back and have a blast. You'll find knitters and weavers; painters, sculptors and drawers; dancers of every shape and kind; clowns and jugglers; mimes; writers of poetry, fiction, etc; musicians (depending on whether there are noise constraints); and so forth and so on.
I have attended one such Bring Your Talent to Work Day thanks to friends at Innovative Interfaces, Inc., and even participated in it, and a really good time was had by everyone. I think this would be true in your organization, too.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Lagniappe
I checked Merriam-Webster online and found this definition of lagniappe: "a small gift given a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase; broadly : something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure." In other words, it is little something extra or unexpected.
When was the last time your organization provided some lagniappe to your external or internal community? It doesn't have to be a big thing - for your external community/users, perhaps it is just a piece of candy at an unexpected moment. One library I know at the end of the academic year gave everyone who left the library a flower!
For the internal community/co-workers/colleagues, the surprise of donuts or bagels is always appreciated. (I am still in the oral stage and stuck on food!)
The idea is the important thing. We all appreciate the something extra and unexpected when we receive it; why shouldn't we enjoy it just as much when we provide it.
Lagniappe - it's a Good Thing.
4/4/11: Today I had lunch with my dad and a friend of his. At the end of the meal - a tasty Chicago hot dog - a gentleman approached our table, looked at my dad and said, paraphrasing that when his Uncle Manny used to take him to Santa Cruz, Uncle Manny always got a chocolate dipped ice cream cone and you sir remind me of my Uncle Manny, so here you go, and handed my dad a chocolate dipped ice cream cone! Well, we were thrilled, and to make the moment better, the gentleman, who it tuned out is part owner of the establishment, offered my dad's friend and me our own ice cream. We declined - a little hot dog goes a long way - but the gesture and the thought were so uplifting that my dad and I talked about it all the way home.
Again I say, Lagniappe is a Good Thing!
When was the last time your organization provided some lagniappe to your external or internal community? It doesn't have to be a big thing - for your external community/users, perhaps it is just a piece of candy at an unexpected moment. One library I know at the end of the academic year gave everyone who left the library a flower!
For the internal community/co-workers/colleagues, the surprise of donuts or bagels is always appreciated. (I am still in the oral stage and stuck on food!)
The idea is the important thing. We all appreciate the something extra and unexpected when we receive it; why shouldn't we enjoy it just as much when we provide it.
Lagniappe - it's a Good Thing.
4/4/11: Today I had lunch with my dad and a friend of his. At the end of the meal - a tasty Chicago hot dog - a gentleman approached our table, looked at my dad and said, paraphrasing that when his Uncle Manny used to take him to Santa Cruz, Uncle Manny always got a chocolate dipped ice cream cone and you sir remind me of my Uncle Manny, so here you go, and handed my dad a chocolate dipped ice cream cone! Well, we were thrilled, and to make the moment better, the gentleman, who it tuned out is part owner of the establishment, offered my dad's friend and me our own ice cream. We declined - a little hot dog goes a long way - but the gesture and the thought were so uplifting that my dad and I talked about it all the way home.
Again I say, Lagniappe is a Good Thing!
Monday, March 14, 2011
How Groucho Helped Make Us a Team
Some years ago I was asked to lead a new organizational entity in our Library called Customer Services. It was a combination of technology training, systems, the periodicals room help desk and the staff from access services (circulation, course reserve, ILL, stack management).
We spent a lot of time getting acquainted, learning where there were already commonalities in our service approach and philosophy, developing our own Mission and Vision statements and Values, etc. But as much as this helped, we still felt that we needed a signature event, program, project of some kind that would firmly unite us as a Team.
Enter Groucho Marx and his old TV show, You Bet Your Life. (See Wikipedia for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Bet_Your_Life)
With the approval of the University Librarian, we decided to have a week devoted to a part of his show in which if a contestant said the "secret word" a duck would descend with a prize. On the show, it was cash; in our game it would be a chocolate cigar.
Everyone pitched in. The arts and crafts folks in the group created the duck and the means for raising and lowering it; the web master gave prominent attention to promoting "Say the Secret Word" week on the website; the technology training team and members of the circ staff worked to create flyers that could be distributed hither and thither, and everyone on the team agreed to a) Wear Groucho glasses for the week that the game was in progress and b) Spend some time at the Circ Desk where the game took place to engage the faculty, students, staff, co-workers and others. To complete the effect, we arranged to have a couple of TV sets near the Circ Desk where we showed episodes from You Bet Your Life.
Sounds great, right?
But there were problems in involving our patrons, specifically, very few of the people who came into the library and to the circ desk had any idea of the TV show (although many/most knew who Groucho was). So, when we tried to get them to say the Secret Word they were flummoxed as to what we were doing. As a result, we basically fed them clues so that they would get the word and we could offload all the chocolate cigars we had.
On the other, this really did turn out to be Customer Services' signature moment. It became an experience that everyone on the team participated in and had a good time with from start to finish. Moreover, our sense of fun was contagious, and as the week progressed colleagues from other parts of the organization joined us at the Circ Desk to participate; some of them even went so far as to don Groucho Glasses and try to help patrons guess whatever the Secret Word happened to be at that moment.
Is it important to have a signature event? For us, the answer was Yes; our not-so-Secret Word became Fun and we made sure it stayed front and center as an essential part of our service philosophy and values.
We spent a lot of time getting acquainted, learning where there were already commonalities in our service approach and philosophy, developing our own Mission and Vision statements and Values, etc. But as much as this helped, we still felt that we needed a signature event, program, project of some kind that would firmly unite us as a Team.
Enter Groucho Marx and his old TV show, You Bet Your Life. (See Wikipedia for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Bet_Your_Life)
With the approval of the University Librarian, we decided to have a week devoted to a part of his show in which if a contestant said the "secret word" a duck would descend with a prize. On the show, it was cash; in our game it would be a chocolate cigar.
Everyone pitched in. The arts and crafts folks in the group created the duck and the means for raising and lowering it; the web master gave prominent attention to promoting "Say the Secret Word" week on the website; the technology training team and members of the circ staff worked to create flyers that could be distributed hither and thither, and everyone on the team agreed to a) Wear Groucho glasses for the week that the game was in progress and b) Spend some time at the Circ Desk where the game took place to engage the faculty, students, staff, co-workers and others. To complete the effect, we arranged to have a couple of TV sets near the Circ Desk where we showed episodes from You Bet Your Life.
Sounds great, right?
But there were problems in involving our patrons, specifically, very few of the people who came into the library and to the circ desk had any idea of the TV show (although many/most knew who Groucho was). So, when we tried to get them to say the Secret Word they were flummoxed as to what we were doing. As a result, we basically fed them clues so that they would get the word and we could offload all the chocolate cigars we had.
On the other, this really did turn out to be Customer Services' signature moment. It became an experience that everyone on the team participated in and had a good time with from start to finish. Moreover, our sense of fun was contagious, and as the week progressed colleagues from other parts of the organization joined us at the Circ Desk to participate; some of them even went so far as to don Groucho Glasses and try to help patrons guess whatever the Secret Word happened to be at that moment.
Is it important to have a signature event? For us, the answer was Yes; our not-so-Secret Word became Fun and we made sure it stayed front and center as an essential part of our service philosophy and values.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Celebrations - Organizational
Do you celebrate your organization's accomplishments? Here are some easy and fairly obvious events that take place during the year that are worthy of applause and cheer.
1) Numbers: Have you reached an important numeric milestone, i.e., number of checkouts, number of people who have come into the building (gate count); instruction sessions taught; reference/research questions answered; etc.? Have a celebration of some sort and be sure to include the members of larger community. Honor the person who was the <n> to enter the building or who had the <x> checkout or who asked the <y> reference/research question.
2) Projects: These happen all the time, right? Fiscal close? Organizational self-study/program review efforts? Web page redesign? A major (or minor) shift of the collection? Celebrate the successful completion of the project in some manner, honor the people who participated and savor a job well done. (If the project is a long one, don't wait until the conclusion to acknowledge the effort - offer support, good cheer and encouragement along the way - think of these as oasis stops on a trip across the desert!)
3) No reason at All: Sometimes there doesn't have to be an explicit reason to celebrate one another. As my dad reminds me, it is not the flowers he brings to my mom on the days she expects them that especially wow her as much as the unexpected flowers he brings just to say "I love you." There is no reason not to do this at work and surprise and honor your colleagues and co-workers.
As with fun in the workplace, it is less important to celebrate one another every day as it is to make celebration of accomplishments - personal and organizational - a part of the organizational culture.
It is like my mom's chicken soup - it couldn't hurt!
1) Numbers: Have you reached an important numeric milestone, i.e., number of checkouts, number of people who have come into the building (gate count); instruction sessions taught; reference/research questions answered; etc.? Have a celebration of some sort and be sure to include the members of larger community. Honor the person who was the <n> to enter the building or who had the <x> checkout or who asked the <y> reference/research question.
2) Projects: These happen all the time, right? Fiscal close? Organizational self-study/program review efforts? Web page redesign? A major (or minor) shift of the collection? Celebrate the successful completion of the project in some manner, honor the people who participated and savor a job well done. (If the project is a long one, don't wait until the conclusion to acknowledge the effort - offer support, good cheer and encouragement along the way - think of these as oasis stops on a trip across the desert!)
3) No reason at All: Sometimes there doesn't have to be an explicit reason to celebrate one another. As my dad reminds me, it is not the flowers he brings to my mom on the days she expects them that especially wow her as much as the unexpected flowers he brings just to say "I love you." There is no reason not to do this at work and surprise and honor your colleagues and co-workers.
As with fun in the workplace, it is less important to celebrate one another every day as it is to make celebration of accomplishments - personal and organizational - a part of the organizational culture.
It is like my mom's chicken soup - it couldn't hurt!
Leadership is Essential
It sounds like it would be an easy thing to develop a culture of fun, play and humor in the workplace; and in some ways it is. But there are some critical issues that have to be considered along the way.
The most essential is to have the support of the leader(s) of your organization. The leader has to, at least, give his/her okay that fun is an acceptable part of the culture; that s/he will endorse fun by allocating time for those who are the "court jesters" to plan and implement activities; provide financial support; and attend and participate in the events (and encourage others too as well).
In some instances the leader may take a much more active role in the planning process and may even create an infrastructure to advance fun in the workplace.
In return, the leader must be kept in the loop about fun programs that are afoot; has his/her calendar checked before the event is scheduled to be sure that the event is scheduled for a time when s/he is available to attend; is thanked publicly for his/her support, etc.
Remember, fun is not an end to itself. It is a means to such notable outcomes as breaking down organizational and personal barriers; team-building; reducing stress; increasing productivity; etc. Consequently, there is a strategic component to fun in the workplace that cannot be lost sight of.
Here is something Dr. Ilene Rockman wrote about the importance of leadership in promoting fun in the workplace [Reference Services Review, Volume 31, No. 2, 2003, 109-110]:
"When we recognize the importance of humor, fun, teamwork and camaraderie, we send a powerful message to our employees and patrons. We show that we value people as well as their work, and are willing to take the time to boost morale, esprit de corps, and communication...When administrators show their respect for fun activities, they also show their flexibility, appreciation and respect for their employees. They receive, in return, loyalty, productivity, and more than they ever imagined."
Amen!
The most essential is to have the support of the leader(s) of your organization. The leader has to, at least, give his/her okay that fun is an acceptable part of the culture; that s/he will endorse fun by allocating time for those who are the "court jesters" to plan and implement activities; provide financial support; and attend and participate in the events (and encourage others too as well).
In some instances the leader may take a much more active role in the planning process and may even create an infrastructure to advance fun in the workplace.
In return, the leader must be kept in the loop about fun programs that are afoot; has his/her calendar checked before the event is scheduled to be sure that the event is scheduled for a time when s/he is available to attend; is thanked publicly for his/her support, etc.
Remember, fun is not an end to itself. It is a means to such notable outcomes as breaking down organizational and personal barriers; team-building; reducing stress; increasing productivity; etc. Consequently, there is a strategic component to fun in the workplace that cannot be lost sight of.
Here is something Dr. Ilene Rockman wrote about the importance of leadership in promoting fun in the workplace [Reference Services Review, Volume 31, No. 2, 2003, 109-110]:
"When we recognize the importance of humor, fun, teamwork and camaraderie, we send a powerful message to our employees and patrons. We show that we value people as well as their work, and are willing to take the time to boost morale, esprit de corps, and communication...When administrators show their respect for fun activities, they also show their flexibility, appreciation and respect for their employees. They receive, in return, loyalty, productivity, and more than they ever imagined."
Amen!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
But could Alexander Graham Bell text?
Today is the anniversary of Alexander Graham Bell's famous "Mr. Watson, come here; I need you." And telephony was born.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/speech-transmitted-by-telephone
Nowadays, Bell would simply text Watson because that's how the technology has evolved.
And that raises a potentially fun opportunity: Identify the best texter in your organization, i.e., fastest and most accurate. Try a two-tiered approach. First ask people to text Bell's famous phrase - the game might as well have an historical perspective. Then have them text a really long word, such as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Cheers, applause, huzzahs for all participants with extra brouhaha for the winner(s).
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/speech-transmitted-by-telephone
Nowadays, Bell would simply text Watson because that's how the technology has evolved.
And that raises a potentially fun opportunity: Identify the best texter in your organization, i.e., fastest and most accurate. Try a two-tiered approach. First ask people to text Bell's famous phrase - the game might as well have an historical perspective. Then have them text a really long word, such as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Cheers, applause, huzzahs for all participants with extra brouhaha for the winner(s).
Friends, Romans, Countrymen
Today is March 10; in a hop, skip and jump, it will be March 15, and you know what that is, right? right?
Do people in your organization and community remember the literary/historical import of March 15? Ask folks at random. Reward correct answers with a piece of chocolate and an invitation to participate in a group declamation of Antony's famous funeral oration.
Arrange a time when a crowd (more than 1 person) can gather to declaim Antony's famous speech and then hold forth. Invite people to wear appropriate costume.
Use this as an opportunity to learn more about the Antony, Cleopatra, Augustus, Brutus, etc., the evolution of the Roman Empire, the ascendancy of the Caesars (but not necessarily Caesar salad!), etc.
Do people in your organization and community remember the literary/historical import of March 15? Ask folks at random. Reward correct answers with a piece of chocolate and an invitation to participate in a group declamation of Antony's famous funeral oration.
Arrange a time when a crowd (more than 1 person) can gather to declaim Antony's famous speech and then hold forth. Invite people to wear appropriate costume.
Use this as an opportunity to learn more about the Antony, Cleopatra, Augustus, Brutus, etc., the evolution of the Roman Empire, the ascendancy of the Caesars (but not necessarily Caesar salad!), etc.
Happy birthday, Tennessee Williams
We will soon be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of th great playwright Tennessee Williams. Wtat comes to mind when you hear his name? I'd be surprised if it weren't either "Stella!" or "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers".
So, in your organization does the best Stella? the most evocative Kindness? Invite colleagues and coworkers and whomever else you think might be interested and have them channel their inner Stanley and/or Blanche. Have people participate individually or as a group and wth as much dramatic flair as they can muster - Streetcar has been a play, a movie and recently an opera - it lends itself to dramatic flair!
Enjoy!
So, in your organization does the best Stella? the most evocative Kindness? Invite colleagues and coworkers and whomever else you think might be interested and have them channel their inner Stanley and/or Blanche. Have people participate individually or as a group and wth as much dramatic flair as they can muster - Streetcar has been a play, a movie and recently an opera - it lends itself to dramatic flair!
Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)