Fishy Tales

Here is a blog post I wrote exactly 10 years ago!!! And so relevant even to this date, so reposting....?

Amongst the zillion books that must be available today on employee morale and motivation, there is one that always remains at the top of my mind and has significantly influenced my work life over the years.?

FISH! is a story about how happy the employees at the Pike place fish market in Seattle were (as the author saw it) and how they went about their business. FISH! talks about the four mantras that one can adopt to ensure a super-charged team – a team that enjoys while it delivers.?

A few thoughts on my Fishy journey through the years.

Choose your attitude?– Are you waking up each morning and moseying into work, only to have multiple coffees and to crib about how much more someone else can do for you? If so, its time you put things in perspective. I used play a simple game with my kids when they were young - Whenever they threw a tantrum or were adamant about something – I would ask them to “change their switch” (I actually flicked their imaginary switch too near the ear)”?And it seemed to work! (except a few instances when I was not lucky). The point is - Attitudes can indeed be chosen. Pick a positive one on your way to work (and keep it on as long as you can!). My teams and I over the years practiced what we called the “cynicism” check. When some of our conversations began to deteriorate, someone was quick to sound the “C” alarm and we got back on track. All through these years, I’ve had some fantastic bosses who were charged up like there was no tomorrow – “Hey lets write a book on this great project we did” to “This is a great idea, why don’t we incubate it within our team”…to “We know this is one mess of a project – but we’ve seen worse and will get there!”. Such incidents always rubbed off on me. Attitudes are infectious either way, but YOU decide whether it is positive or negative. Your actions emanate from the attitude you wear at that point in time – so very hackneyed but true.

Be there?– Do you roll up your sleeves often or are you an armchair general? Simple things matter – were you there when your team worked through a tough project or did you only distribute the “Close by EOD list”? I remember, during my early professional days – while we worked through endless days of proposals and contracts trying to break into deals, my boss at the time stayed up most nights with us (even though he didn’t have to) and brought in coffees and goodies from home almost each day while also sitting there with us yawning through the night. Direct contribution to the proposal – debatable, but a 24/7 super enthusiastic team – Oh yes!?

Make their day?– This one gives me a lot of satisfaction personally. When was the last time you remembered your customer’s special occasion? When did you remember an employee aspiration or grievance and talk to him/her about it without being reminded about it? When did you genuinely try to help an employee with your experience where there was no personal stake involved? When did you spare 10 minutes of a meeting to check on a team members’ or their parents’ wellness? Is it your team trying to run behind you for your “valuable” time or the other way around? Quite the latter in my opinion - Do it and you’ll be as surprised as I am at the “spring in the step” of your people.?

Play?– How often do you have fun with your teams? I’m yet to see any team that didn’t have fun - but still delivered – just not possible in my opinion. Best ways to bond with your teams? Go play a game of cricket, catch a movie or a drink together, pull each others’ leg or shake a leg, travel out on the weekend with families, or whatever works for your team!– In fact, this applies to customers too. Some of my best client relationships have involved informal settings - either at the beach, on the dance floor, karaoke, at a barbecue or on the road over some casual banter and loads of laughter.?

Come to think of it - Your team is really your extended family. And when you think of it that way with a sense of ownership, everything falls into place. Putting some of this into practice has helped me over the years (and I am still learning), how about you? I look forward to hearing YOUR fishy story!

And if you haven’t read FISH – do grab a copy for your weekend reading (or download on Audible) today!