Tagged : loyalty

in Culture, Customer Service, Development, Management, Reviews

Making Work Great Doesn’t Cost a Lot

Making Work Great Doesn’t Cost a Lot. And it’s completely worth it.

My number 1 rule for work is MAKE WORK AWESOME. Making work great doesn’t have to cost a lot. If you’re ever by our offices, stop on by. You’ll find many of these things there. I love it, and the team LOVES it. It makes our workplace great, creates a relaxed atmosphere where we can break away from the stressful daily work, and doesn’t cost us a lot of money.

(Photos by Brandon Flint - http://www.brandonflint.com/

Before getting to how to make work great without spending a lot of money. Some ground rules to facilitate getting these activities going.

  • Not everyone needs to participate, but have enough of activities that everyone participates in at least a few things throughout the year.
  • Management does NOT have to plan everything. Ask for volunteers to head up activities. Start an activities committee.
  • Encourage people to bring things in. The company doesn’t need to provide EVERYTHING. Team members also feel a vested interest in the activity.

That’s it. Those are the ground rules to keep managers from becoming overwhelmed and frustrated with implementing these awesome ideas to make work great without spending a lot of money.

Cool things that make work great that don’t cost a lot of money:

Host a video game night (provide space for people to bring XBoxes and projectors to play games all night)

Host a book club meeting (bring in pizza and drinks, and suggest a book that may help employees be more engaged at work)

Taco Grab-Bag / Bag-O-Burgers (buy a bag of tacos, or $1 hamburgers for your staff [but be sure to buy more than one per person])

Mini basketball hoop (shoot hoops, play a game of “HORSE”, hold a tournament for most consecutive shots made)

Nerf guns (for epic battles between members and raids on the sales guys)

Nerf footballs (play catch, have long-distance toss into garbage can competition)

Ping Pong Table (I was school champion in the 5th grade so I’m biased)

Sponsor a city softball or basketball team for your company (it’s not that expensive)

Create a FANTASY FOOTBALL/FANTASY BASKETBALL league for your company staff

These are just some thoughts on cool stuff that you can do to develop your team, get people working with each other on a personal level and help them feel more at ease at work, and make work great. This stuff works. People relax, they get to know each other and they work better. It doesn’t cost your company a bunch. It’s easy, cheap, and the return is so much more than just giving out raises and bonuses. Don’t get me wrong, you need to compensate your people. But even with good compensation, if your workplace is laking the items and activities that makes people LIKE coming to work, and make work great, you’ll quickly begin to see less engaged employees.

Start making work great today. Stop by at the store and pick up that basketball hoop, or a nerf football tomorrow and get started. Each little thing makes a difference to your team and helps to get people engaged and happy at work.

in Coaching, Culture, Excellence, Management

Wander Around, Have Fun = Awesome Customer Service Teams

I sometimes take time out randomly to have nerf gun fights with my team members. Ok, maybe it’s not just sometimes, it’s frequently. But there’s a reason why I chat about sports, I shoot the breeze, go out to lunch with different team members, and shoot nerf guns with my customer service team. It makes us a more awesome customer service team and improves the ability of my team to provide an amazing customer experience.

To provide an amazing customer experience you must create awesome performing, engaged, customer-focused team.

Developing awesome teams requires a level of interaction between team members and managers that is impossible to get except through one-on-one discussion and personal involvement in the service process.

There is no agenda. It’s not about getting status updates from the team on various work assignments. It’s not about solving problems. It’s about interacting with people and informally talking to them to strengthen personal connections within the team.

When is this type of contact more effective? When it is: FREQUENT, FRIENDLY, UNFOCUSED, and UNSCHEDULED. Otherwise it’s fake, people see thought it, and it’s ineffective.

Customer Service Management by Wandering Around is about face time with team members, uniting them as a team and rallying them around the customer-focus mission of the team. During this wandering time, take time out to listen to people, get their thoughts and overall feelings on how their work is going, how their life is going, how the team is doing. What their challenges are. What can be done to make the overall experience at work better. What can be done to make the overall customer experience better.

  • Be unpredictable with your contacts (it can’t be a daily 10 AM walk-around).
  • Ask questions and LISTEN to what people have to day. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
  • Make personal connections with team members. Talk about NON-WORK items.
  • Seek out ALL TEAM MEMBERS. Don’t just gravitate to the most social, or the ones you get along with best.
  • Do it OFTEN.