December 22nd: Gonna Find Out Who's Naughty and Nice ??
Santa Claus was busy. Many things were happening at the same time and still not all of his staff was happy about the change. Mrs. Claus’s pixie girls in the customer service department were thrilled because they were having a lot of exciting communication with children and parents on Facebook. This was so much more exciting than answering letters because of the possibility for true dialogue and instant feedback.
On the other hand, the reindeer didn’t much like the change. It was not so much that they didn’t see the need for it; it was more that they were being sent in all directions to pick up presents that couldn’t be produced at the North Pole. At first it was fun seeing these places, especially in daylight, but it quickly became hard work and they feared they would be too tired to deliver presents on Christmas Eve. Some of them even talked about refusing to work (though they didn’t much like the word strike), but Rudolph persuaded them to keep going for the sake of Christmas spirit.
The main problem was the freelance Santas. The number of complaints hadn’t decreased. On the contrary, when the Facebook profile opened, many parents found an easy way to complain about their – or rather their children’s – encounters with the Santas. Apparently the problems were even worse than Santa had thought. He sincerely tried to understand why some of his freelance Santas didn’t know how to behave. He reached the conclusion that because of the increasing demand for Santas at malls and department stores, he had more or less hired anyone who applied for the job. That was, he could see now, a major mistake. In fact, Santa used to be so certain that anyone would not only be thrilled by, but also good at, talking to children, that he had set very few rules for them and never provided any training. He hadn’t felt it necessary, because who doesn’t love Christmas? And if you love Christmas, obviously you’ll be good at dealing with the children. Wrong!
He had realized this way too late, and his solution, as good as it was, was also way too late. The day before, he had decided to once more take advantage of technology to reach out to his employees. He had called an online meeting and talked to the freelance Santas about the values that he felt were important in their job. Subsequently he asked them all to fill out an online questionnaire that would reveal how they felt about these values. He was very clear in his communication: Anyone who didn’t have the right values would get paid for as long as their contract lasted, but they would be asked to stay away from their workplace. It wasn’t a perfect solution, because it was possible that many children would be disappointed. But Santa decided it was better to have no Santa in a mall than a bad Santa.
John Smith was still not entirely happy about the situation. Sometimes he even spoke against the new ways, and at other times his employees could simply sense his resistance. Santa decided to have another chat with him and this time he brought Mrs. Claus and Dr. Abacus McKinley. It was a very polite chat in which Mrs. Claus tried to make John feel the need for change, and Dr. McKinley tried to convince him of the benefits of change.
“John, you and I, we speak the same language,” Dr. McKinley said. “The language of rationality. And it stands to reason that if we want to improve Christmas spirit, and we do, the changes in your workshop are necessary. And you need to lead these changes.”
“You keep talking about improving Christmas spirit,” John said. “And that Christmas is not about what’s under the tree, but who’s around the tree, but have you ever thought about why I work here, far away from my family?”
Santa and Mrs. Claus exchanged a guilty look. They’d never given any thought to John Smith’s personal life.
“That’s because before coming here,” he went on, “I always looked forward to Christmas so I could spend the holidays with my loved ones, but after the third day, they were not loved ones anymore!”
“Oh John, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Mrs. Claus said. “I really am, but don’t you feel deep in your heart that part of the reason for your family’s trouble was the focus on giving and receiving presents, instead of spending time together?”
“Yes, and that’s exactly why I feel it’s so bad that we don’t put our feet down and let the children know that they can have the gifts that we produce and nothing else. I mean, just because every child doesn’t get his wish, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a Santa Claus, does it?”
“Of course not, John,” answered Mrs. Claus. “You are absolutely right, the best gifts are not in boxes and wrapped in colorful paper. The best gifts are the happy smiles of children and the joyful look in their eyes. That’s what we want to achieve, with or without your help. And I really can’t understand why you are so frightened of these new ideas. I’m much more frightened of old ones.”
Main take-aways:
?? Support from middle management is very important during the change process
?? Be very selective when hiring new employees; especially evaluate their personalities
?? Get rid of all employees who do not adhere completely to the company’s values
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