Every culture tells stories as a means of preserving its way of life. In South Louisiana, the raconteurs or storytellers pass along our history, culture, and perspective to the next generations. Cajuns love to gather around campfires or sit on the porch swing and hear stories of Cajun lore passed down through multiple generations.

Storytelling — probably the oldest form of communication — can become one of the best tools you could ever apply to your leadership goals. Yep, that’s right. Storytelling can be a powerful leadership tool.

But, you might argue, business communication must be logical, linear, and objective, right? Not so. If you want to inspire, engage, and influence others (and what leader doesn’t?), aim to stir their emotions and spark a desire to take action.

Why Tell Stories in Business?
Good storytelling can make your message relevant, visual, memorable, interesting, and compelling. Let me explain how.

Relevant. Facts, figures, and statistics have no intrinsic meaning unless they’re tied to a story that gives them relevance. I’ve always been fascinated by the late Steve Jobs. He had the ability to brilliantly put technical information into terms and pictures everyone could relate to. When introducing new products, Jobs never spouted facts about features of Apple’s latest creation; he gave it context and relevance.

For instance, when introducing the iPod, instead of saying it had 30 GB of storage, he said it had enough memory for 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures, or up to 75 hours of video. Now that “story” gave his message relevance to every potential Apple customer!

For your message to pack a powerful punch, don’t only give facts and data; provide information within a framework of context and perspective. That’s what gives it meaning and relevance for your team members.

Visual. From the time my children were young, I read aloud to them every night. Naturally, they could listen better than they could read, so we quickly advanced from picture books to what we called “chapter” books when they were still pre-school-age.

With no pictures to follow, I encouraged them to “paint a picture in their minds” of the story as I read it. You can do the same thing with your team members. Your message will be more engaging if you evoke images and pictures in the minds of your listeners.

For instance, if I were to say that Louisiana loses 25 square miles of precious wetlands every year, it’s not as visual as if I told you we’re losing our coastal wetlands at a rate of one football-field-sized area every 30 minutes. When people can visualize what you’re talking about, they can process the information more easily. Storytelling paints a verbal picture for your listeners.

Memorable. Policies and procedures may be necessary for you to have on paper, but if you want people to actually follow a certain protocol, tell them a story. If you want people to follow safety procedures, don’t put out a written policy stating they have to wear a hardhat or seat belt. Instead, at your safety meeting, show photos of your children and the families of other team members. Stress that getting home to family is the reason for working safely. Touch their emotions. Tap into their internal motivations. Tell stories that make your message memorable and they won’t forget to buckle up.

Interesting. People love listening to a good story. They enjoy hearing the “before” part of the story, the struggle, and then the “after” or resolution of the struggle. And I’m not just talking about fiction stories, either.

One of the best storytellers ever is filmmaker Ken Burns, the director and producer of many award-winning documentaries on Public Broadcasting System (PBS). Burns has a remarkable way of taking historical events and weaving together a story in such an interesting way that a boring subject becomes absolutely riveting.

Another storytelling great was legendary radio commentator Paul Harvey. Nobody could turn to another station until they heard Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story.” I had a History professor in college who was a brilliant storyteller and he had us sitting on the edge of our seats at every class.

How can you impart important information to get your point across in a more interesting way? Turn it into stories.

What About Being Objective and Factual?
I know this concept of telling stories at work seems counterintuitive, especially if you’ve always believed business communications must be objective, factual, and well, dry.

Yet as a leader, if you want to influence others, you’re miles ahead if you adapt your approach to the situation and people involved. Telling a story gives you a powerful medium for conveying your message-and can inspire more action than plain facts, data, or statistics ever could.

No, you don’t need a porch swing to become the raconteur of your organization. Simply determine how to weave your message into a story that will move your team members.

Remember, telling heartfelt stories gives your message relevance and perspective. Become a great storyteller and you’ll greatly enhance your leadership.

Action Time! What will you:

• start doing,
• stop doing, or
• continue doing or do differently

to improve your communitcation and story telling with your team members? Use the comment box below to share your action plan with us!

If you’ve ever spent time in Bayou Country, you know that Cajuns love to talk. And depending on their passion for their subject, they can gesture wildly as they speak. It doesn’t matter where they are — a family gathering, a church function, a PTA event, a business meeting, or even a wake or a funeral — Cajuns get animated when they talk and don’t care who else is talking at the same time.

In South Louisiana, the expression “gumbo ya ya” actually has nothing to do with gumbo or any kind of food. Rather, it describes a scene in which everyone chatters at once. This occurs frequently in Cajun culture; does it happen in your organization, too?

Do you participate in any of the “gumbo ya ya” that goes on among your team members?

Do You Listen?

As a leader, you might be so busy barking out directions, delegating, and giving instructions, you don’t think about taking time to listen to what others are telling you.

But by becoming a better listener, you’ll increase your own productivity as well as that of your team. You’ll improve your ability to influence, persuade, and negotiate. What’s more, you’ll avoid conflict and misunderstandings on the road to resolving problems with customers, co-workers, and bosses — all necessary activities for workplace success.

Clearly, success stems from listening well, a skill you likely use more than any other kind. To consciously practice your listening skills, follow these do’s and don’ts-guidelines you’ll find handy in all locales and relationships:

• Do ask for and really listen to what others say. You may be surprised at the insight they offer.
• Don’t interrupt, draw conclusions, or judge the speaker.
• Do open your ears, mind, and heart to the suggestions of others, to new ideas, and to creative solutions.
• Don’t assume you already know what others are about to say, or worse, finish their sentences for them.
• Do listen to what’s being said as well as what’s not being said. Often team members have insight into a problem but need to feel safe from judgment or condemnation before opening up. As a leader, remember what you don’t know can hurt you!
• Don’t focus on your next statement while the other person speaks. Waiting for your turn to say something is not listening!
• Do maintain eye contact with those who are speaking, giving them your full attention. Have you ever tried to talk about something important to someone who was multitasking? It’s frustrating! So when someone is trying to talk to you, give them the respect of being fully present and attentive.

Continually work on achieving and modeling good listening skills for yourself and your team members. Don’t let “gumbo ya ya” become part of your organization’s culture!

Action Time! What will you:

• start doing,
• stop doing, or
• continue doing or do differently

to improve your communitcation with your team members? Use the comment box below to share your action plan with us!

Where I come from, sugarcane is King! Sugarcane arrived in Louisiana with the Jesuit priests in 1751, who planted it near their church in what is now downtown New Orleans. The sugarcane industry has continued to grow and flourish (pun intended) lo these many years.

We recently spent the weekend with some friends at an historic plantation home in St. Martinville, Louisiana. It is a working plantation with the sugar mill located right next to the home. We visited in October, which is right in the thick of grinding season – or the harvest time when the sugarcane is brought to the mill for processing. I love watching the cane trucks and wagons deliver the harvest to the mill.

I’d like you to imagine for a moment that you are a sugarcane farmer. You have the opportunity to farm acres and acres of land. Your equipment is capable of harvesting all of your acreage and you have the potential to make a huge profit.

Would you farm and harvest only two of your fields and leave the other two fields to go to waste? Hardly! You would farm, harvest, and fully process all four fields, getting the maximum possible benefit/profit from these natural resources.

In business, why would you deal with people any differently? Often leaders fail to realize or draw out the maximum possible benefit from their greatest natural resources – their people. But to reap your best possible harvest, just like with sugarcane farming, you must maximize your resources.

I’m not a farmer, (although I used to own some overalls at one time), but I’ve put together a few tips for cultivating and harvesting a banner crop:

Soil – As any good farmer knows, you’ve got to start off with good, nutrient-rich soil to grow anything successfully. You will want to till and prepare your land before you begin planting to provide the proper foundation for your crop. In business, you need to provide a proper foundation and plan for success. Identifying and establishing your mission, vision, and values for your organization or even your division of the organization is important so that your team members know the growth plan.

Seed – Perhaps it goes without saying but in farming you need to select a crop that is suited for your climate and environmental conditions. Sugarcane is best grown in a tropical or semi-tropical climate, so it is well-suited for the warm, sultry, often steamy climate of South Louisiana. As a leader, you must make wise choices in selecting team members. Although perhaps well-qualified, not everyone will be a good fit for your organization or with your team.

Fertilize - Not all of the nutrients necessary for a bountiful harvest will be available from the soil, so some fertilization will be necessary. Using the right kind of fertilizer and in the proper amounts will be key to nourishing a healthy crop. As a leader, it is up to you to “nourish” and nurture your team members by providing learning and growth opportunities. Sit down with employees and devise a development plan for each individual. Allow team members to further develop their strengths, explore interests, and hone their skills.

Irrigate – As you may know – if you’ve ever spent five consecutive minutes in South Louisiana – it tends to rain a lot here. Sugarcane, like many crops, needs proper, consistent irrigation. Although we get a lot of rain, it’s not necessarily consistent. So many cane farmers irrigate their fields. As a leader, once you’ve prepared the proper foundation and put together a winning team, you’ve got to maintain a work environment and business culture that allows team members to thrive. A work environment of respect and dignity are essential. View each team member as an individual, with valuable gifts and talents to contribute to the organization.

Harvest – Starting in the fall, typically October, harvesters cut off the cane tops and cane loaders place the cane in large wagons for transport to the sugar mills.

At the raw sugar mill, the sugarcane is washed, crushed, and the juice is boiled down to a thick syrup. The cane by-product is bagasse, which is used as a fuel to power the factories. The thick syrup is separated into sugar crystals (“raw sugar”) and molasses (used in livestock feed). Every bit of the sugarcane is processed and utilized. As a leader, your role is to bring out the best that each individual has to give to accomplish company goals. Don’t let any talents go to waste. Both the individual and the organization will realize a cornucopia of benefits.

By investing in your greatest natural resource – your people – you can cultivate untapped strengths, draw out hidden talents and reap a sweet harvest.

What do you have an envie for? As a leader, do you have clarity about what you want to achieve? Have you spelled out specifically what you want to accomplish?

Leaders need to be clear on their goals and have a vision for the future. To really be successful, you must desire these goals with great passion, enthusiasm, and energy, (not unlike my envie for crawfish!).  As you become clear on what you want, that vision becomes a powerful force that will pull you forward. Great leaders are then able to share the vision and enlist team members on the quest.

The Sioux Indians view the eagle as a symbol of great vision and the ability to see distant goals and vistas with great clarity. The mouse, on the other hand, represents the tendency to focus only on what is immediately in front of it – to concentrate on exploring its immediate environment with its nose, eyes, whiskers, and its paws.

Unfortunately, I think we can all relate to the mouse to a certain degree. It’s easy to get caught up in “mouse vision”. Life is “bizzy”. We are all so involved in day-to-day activities, it can sometimes make you dizzy. (Hence, my newly coined word, “bizzy”.) There are dozens of pressing and urgent tasks demanding our time and attention, and we become like the mouse, focusing only on what is right in front of us.

But effective leaders have eagle vision. They concentrate their focus on the big picture, on what lies ahead, what they’re working towards. Although there are always daily “to-do” lists, they keep their long-term goals and aspirations front and center and take action steps each day, week, and month toward those goals.

It’s also important to identify what’s important to you and to clarify the vision you have for yourself and your career. Many people have goals for the organization or for the team, but not for themselves. Business philosopher and motivational speaker extraordinaire, Jim Rohn, often said “You should work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” What he’s suggesting here is that as you invest in your own personal and professional development, and advance toward your goals, the organization and the team will also benefit – collateral benefits, if you will.

Be specific and strategic about the future you envision for yourself and for your team. Your goals and aspirations for the organization should be explicit, inspiring, and should be congruent with who you are and what you believe in.

As you become more clear on your vision and what you want, you can concentrate your efforts on those activities that are more important, that are of higher priority, and that will move you closer to your goals instead of just focusing on what’s right in front of your nose, (or your paws or whiskers, in keeping with the mouse analogy).

So what do you have an envie for? I suggest you get really clear on what you want, develop your eagle vision, and share that vision with your team.

Oh, and by the way, if your envie is for crawfish, you’d better get in line – behind me!

Action Time! What will you:

• start doing,
• stop doing, or
• continue doing

to develop your vision and  enlist your team members? Use the comment box below to share your action plan with us!

The client happened to be an international non-profit organization and one could clearly make the connection that relationships play a vital role in their “business”. The next day, as I spoke to a group of bankers, I thought, “well these guys and gals are surely in the relationship business!” My clients in the healthcare, insurance, engineering, manufacturing, and technology industries are all in the relationship business.

Let’s face it. We’re all in the relationship business, regardless of the industry or product or service we provide. We all know that people do business with people they:

• Know
• Like, and
• Trust

Team members are loyal, committed and engaged when their leader is someone they know, like, and trust.

Relationships — building, nurturing, and maintaining them — are at the core of your business. Without customers, you would have no reason for being. Without employees you would likely not be able to provide the goods or services to your customers – or at least not in a timely fashion.

How’s Ya Mama ‘n’ ‘Em? No, I haven’t taken leave of my grammatical senses. This is a very common expression here in South Louisiana.

It is our way of asking how a person is doing, how their family is doing, and what’s going on in their lives outside of work. And it’s a huge part of our culture. I think it’s a practice that, if you implement it in your interactions with others, could just possibly change your work culture too.

Taking a few minutes to engage someone in a conversation about themselves is a great way to invest in the relationship. Most people like to talk about themselves and are flattered that you’re interested enough to ask. The key, though, is that your interest must be sincere and genuine — not like your interactions with your “pseudo friends” on Facebook, (or as my friend James calls it, “Spacebook”).

Theodore Roosevelt said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” This holds true for your team members as well as your customers. In fact, in many ways, you should treat your employees as you would a valued customer. And yes, it does take some effort and a little bit of time. But, consider it a deposit in your relationship account, and always strive to make more deposits than you do withdrawals in that account.

This ability to take an interest in others may not come naturally for everyone. And that’s okay, because it’s a skill you can learn. I had a client once who was an introvert and who needed coaching in this area. He was so analytical, that he wanted a specific formula for creating great relationships. I remember he even asked me how many minutes he would need to engage in conversation with team members. (I could picture him setting an egg timer on the desk to time the conversation precisely!)

There is no magic formula for creating great relationships. Here are just a few quick tips:

• Ask questions about his family. (You can start with How’s Ya Mama ‘n’ ‘Em?”)
• Notice what she talks about — hobbies, interests, etc. and ask about them. (Ex: “How long have you been competing in underwater basket weaving?”)
• Make a mental note of, say, his weekend plans so that on Monday you can ask how it went. (Ex: “How was the fishing trip? Did ya’ll catch? I must’ve missed your call inviting me to supper.”)
• It’s also okay to engage in brief group conversations after a big weekend or event. (Ex: “How ’bout dem Saints?”)

Your ability to influence team members to perform and produce will hinge directly on the relationship that you have created with them. Taking an interest in them, their family, and life outside of work is a small investment to make with potentially huge returns.

What? You say you can’t afford to take the time to engage in conversation with your employees or customers? I say you can’t afford not to. Your business success depends on it.

By the way, “How’s ya Mama ‘n’ em?”

Action Time! What will you:

• start doing,
• stop doing, or
• continue doing or do differently

to build stronger relationships with your team members? Use the comment box below to share your action plan with us!

It was an early August morning in New Orleans and my friend Myra and I had just left a business meeting. We decided to take the short walk down Canal Street to Magazine Street  to a local restaurant to have another cup of coffee or two and catch up. I’m a country girl come to town, but I like cute shoes just as much as the next gal. So I was wearing shoes that I hoped were both cute and comfortable for the walk.

I was fine on the way there, but walking back, I started to feel my shoe rubbing my heel. I ignored it and kept walking.  It started to really rub and I thought about stopping to adjust the strap of my shoe but didn’t feel like making my friend stop. By the time I got back to my car, I discovered a really nasty blister. I realized that if I had just stopped for a moment to make a little minor adjustment, I might’ve been unscathed. But noooo, I tried to ignore it and kept going.

This is what happens, my friend, when you have a difficult employee wreaking havoc on the whole team. Sure, you can ignore it for a while, but I must warn you, you may end up like me with an ugly festering blister.

When you notice that you have a team member who is, as we say in Cajun French,  deficile, or difficult to get along with, you may think at first that it’s just a clash or a disconnect between the two of you. But, when you start to receive complaints from other people about that same person, you’d better sit up and take notice. One disengaged, disgruntled, and “diseased” team member is all it takes to infect the rest of your team, and before you know it, your customers are complaining too.

Ignoring it will certainly not make it go away. Putting a band aid on it won’t help either. It will still be there, getting worse by the minute. Your best bet is to address the problem head-on, and the sooner, the better. My suggestion is to use coaching and questioning techniques to get to the bottom of it.

For tips on how to handle this crucial conversation, See 

Ask. Don’t Tell. http://www.ledetmanagement.com/ask-dont-tell/#more-670 )

Also see Yeah, But… http://www.ledetmanagement.com/yeah-but/#more-676 .

Give me an update and let me know how things are healing. Oh, and my blister? Still there. And no more cute shoes for me until it’s completely healed. Aarg!

Action Time! What will you:

• start doing,
• stop doing, or
• do differently

to heal your deficile team member? Use the comment box below and share your action plan with us!

It was really a spur of the moment decision. We didn’t plan for it; we certainly didn’t budget for it. My family’s decision to take off for a 10-day California vacation was one of those “carpe diem” moments. But one of the best decisions we’ve ever made for our family.

My mom passed away a few months ago, just shy of her 90^th birthday. I say this, not to elicit sympathy, but to give context to our vacation decision. Mama lived a long, full life, and her quality of life at the end was almost nil. Her passing caused me to reflect on the good memories and to think about my own family. My parents took us on awesome vacations, and those were certainly part of the good memories. Oh we’ve taken our kids on great vacations, but California just didn’t seem to happen, despite the fact that I wanted them to experience the beauty and wonder of Yosemite and the giant Sequoias. Since California is such a big state, you have to devote a fair amount of time to get around. Every summer for us has been spent at a ballpark. Until this year, that is.

Anyway, we did it. I must admit, I threw myself into the experience. I can’t think of a time when I left my business for two full weeks, (I stayed on for the National Speakers Association conference in Anaheim). Before leaving I notified clients, made arrangements for special purchases to be handled by my Virtual Assistant, and really didn’t look back.

Sorry, Facebook friends, I did not post “in the moment” pictures of us walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, nor did I allow you to share in the awe and beauty of the Sequoias or the incredible falls of Yosemite. I didn’t post my exuberance over white water rafting for the first time, nor did I share my reactions to the quirkiness of Venice Beach or the magnificence of Big Sur Drive.

Sorry. Those experiences were just for us. And I was truly in the moment.

One of the best aspects of the getaway was that I really did allow myself to “unplug”. I didn’t bring my laptop, and while I have an i-phone, I didn’t check e-mail or call the office to check voice messages. And I didn’t feel guilty about it either. Unplugging was something I did for myself – and for my clients.

By truly unplugging and disconnecting from my clients, from social media, and 24/7 accessibility, I was able to reconnect with my family. And they are my top priority. It’s not that I don’t value my clients. I do. But they know, from working with me, how very important it is to have your priorities in order.

I am of better service to my clients for having allowed myself to unplug and “recharge”. Certainly the same holds true for any leader. Can you unplug so that you can be of better service to your team? You may not be able to take off for two weeks, but have you considered really disconnecting for even a few days? I know leaders who go on vacation for a week, but they’re constantly fielding calls, emails, and text messages. That won’t cut it.

Why not try to disconnect for even short periods of time?  Train someone to hold down the fort during your absence. You’ll come back refreshed and rejuvenated and your team member will have a renewed sense of confidence and self-assurance.

Let me know how it goes. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get to work!

Action Time! What will you:

• start doing,
• stop doing, or
• do differently

to unplug and recharge? Use the comment box below and share your action plan with us!

In South Louisiana we often use the term “Lagniappe”. If you’re not quite sure what this term means, “Lagniappe” is a term that actually has Spanish and French roots. (Remember, Louisiana has been under both Spanish and French rule, so many of our terms are derivatives of those languages.) ‘Lagniappe’ refers to a little something extra that a friendly shop keeper might add to a customer’s purchase.

We use it today to mean an extra gift or benefit – a bonus. Folks in other parts of the country might use the term ‘baker’s dozen’ to mean the same thing. Literally translated, it means “to give more”.

To give more. If only we could each adopt this as our personal philosophy and practice! In customer service and sales the application of this term is pretty clear – to give more than is expected.  In my business I have made it a practice to under-promise and over-deliver – with the emphasis on over-delivery.

For my family’s California vacation, we enlisted the help of a travel agent who booked hotels, advised us about driving distances, and recommended sites to see. He was compensated for his efforts, but, as “a little Lagniappe”, I’m putting together a Cajun gift basket to send to him.

As a leader, can you give more – offer a little lagniappe?

Think about how you can give more:

• Thanks for a job well-done. Gratitude can go a long way toward re-energizing people to give their best.
• Time to mentor and teach. Share your wisdom, knowledge, and experience to help someone grow and learn.
• Attention to what people are saying. Listen more and talk less. Hear what’s being said as well as what’s not being said. (Yeah, so you might have to peel your eyes away from the i-phone for a few minutes.)
• Empathy for another’s circumstances and struggles. Take your focus off of yourself and really tune in to the other person. Empathy is the ultimate virtual reality. Put yourself in their shoes.
• Feedback to team members. People would rather receive negative feedback than no feedback at all. Please tell them how they’re doing!
• Consistency in your actions and behavior. Your team members need to know what to expect from you – day in and day out.
• Respect for others. Acknowledge that differences in behavior, style, and approach are, as Martha Steward would say “a Good Thing”. Appreciate that we each have strengths that add value to the team.
• Trust in your team members. This is perhaps one of the toughest things to give as a leader, but probably one of the most empowering things you can do for your team members. Mentor, teach, guide, give feedback, and then trust them to get the job done their way.

Lagniappe is a way of life in South Louisiana – a part of our culture. As a leader, you can make it part of your organization’s culture. I believe that the more you model the practice of giving a little lagniappe, the more positive results you will see from your team… and the more positive results for your customers, and ultimately, your bottom line.

Action Time! What will you:

• start doing,
• stop doing, or
• continue doing

to give more – to offer a little lagniappe for your team? Use the comment box below to share your action plan with us!

There are some people who are content with the status quo. Well, maybe they’re not exactly “content” but they are just not willing to take the action necessary to create a different outcome.

I think this is often due to fear of some kind. Maybe it’s fear of failure. Or fear of rejection. Sometimes it’s apathy or lethargy or it may even appear as plain old laziness. But I still think that most of the time it is based on some kind of fear. (Of course, I’m not a psychologist, and I didn’t even play one on T.V.)

You may be able to coach a person like this through the “stuckness”. You can provide encouragement, support, and resources. Personally, I’m a proponent of tough love and would ask the kind of questions that cause the person to dig deep and form their own action plans or conclusions. Agree on specific steps to be taken, with corresponding timelines so that you can hold the team member accountable.

In some cases no amount of coaching will work. There may be deeper issues at play that require a professional therapist. If the “stuckness” involves job duties that must be performed and he is basically choosing… or refusing … to perform them, then you’ve got a decision to make.

As Jim Collins says, (“Good to Great”), you want to get the right people on the bus, but you also want to have each person in the right seat on the right bus. Does this person belong on your bus? Is he a fit with the company culture and the mission, vision, and values? And if so, is this the right seat for this person?

If you determine that this is the right bus but the wrong seat for this team member, consider what options you have to move him to a more appropriate seat on the bus. What are his strengths, skills, and assets? Where would he be a better fit?

You can take the path of least resistance and let him just kick back and pick and choose his job duties, but this may not sit well with your top performers.

And make no mistake about it, everyone else on the team is watching. They’re watching you. They’re watching to see how you will handle this. Bungle it and you will likely lose the respect of other team members and possibly even erode that all-important trust you worked so hard to build.

Action Time! What will you:

• start doing,
• stop doing, or
• continue doing or do differently

to make sure you’ve got the right people in the right seats on the bus?

Use the comment box below to share your action plan and experiences with us!

Here in South Louisiana the summer heat is in full force, and you can tell just by looking at my yard. With severe drought and daily temps in the 90′s , my grass looks, well, a little piqued. Since I’ve begun a daily watering campaign, though, the grass has perked up a bit and I’m seeing less brown and more green every day. (And green contributions – towards my water bill, that is – are welcome!)

Work teams can suffer from the same ailment – and the problem has nothing to do with the summer heat. If your team is suffering from the blahs, you may need to revive it.

They say that familiarity breeds contempt. Contempt may be a bit strong, but I would agree that familiarity can breed apathy, irritation, impatience, and intolerance, though. When you’ve worked with someone for a while, you can start to take their contributions for granted – even become annoyed with their little quirks and habits. Like in any relationship, we sometimes need to be reminded of the value they bring to the team.

Work can also become boring, stressful, or unchallenging. After being in the same job for years, team members can get as burnt out and faded as my grass.

If team members have become a bit jaded, (fatigued, overworked, apathetic, unappreciative, cynical) by their work, as a leader you can revitalize and rejuvenate them without spending a lot of green. Here are a couple of ids:

• Try to bring some fun into the workplace. This could be in the form of po-boys or pizza delivered for lunch, a weekly drawing for prizes, a football pool, (of course, you may have to base it on high school or college football games at the rate the NFL is going!) fun awards when you “catch someone doing good”, or playful awards for doing something silly or embarrassing. You could hold friendly contests, (maybe rif off of one of the popular “reality” TV shows), with proceeds going to a charitable cause, put together a competitive team of some kind – sports, trivia, etc., and celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and accomplishments. If appropriate you may even have themed dress or dress-down days. There are tons of things you can do to introduce some lightheartedness into your work environment. Have some fun!
• Schedule a team retreat where team members come to understand and appreciate each other better. This is best held away from work with a professional facilitator, and perhaps meals and refreshments served. (I work with many clients in this capacity and can tell you first-hand the long-term benefits of holding such a retreat. Give me a call or drop me a line to schedule one for your team.) And no, this does not mean that you will be holding hands and singing “Kumbaya”. (Maybe “We Are the World”, but never “Kumbaya”!)
• People need to know that they are making a difference. Remind team members of the bigger picture and how their contributions count towards the greater good. Acknowledge, thank, and praise people every chance you get. I know one manager who makes it a point to have lots of gift cards to popular retail stores on-hand. When someone really performs and produces, they are promptly rewarded with a gift card for their efforts.
• If possible, encourage employees to take some time off to rest, relax, and recharge their batteries. I know this may not be an option for those without vacation time, but where possible, encourage people to really “unplug” once in a while.
• Provide growth opportunities for team members by giving them new, challenging responsibilities, or by allowing them to cross-train, take professional development classes or learn a new skill that interests them.

You’ll make your competition green with envy (sorry I couldn’t help myself!) if you “Go Green” in your work environment. You will have more engaged, energized, and enthusiastic team members. And remember, happy people are productive people.

Get creative!

Action Time! What will you:

• start doing,
• stop doing, or
• continue doing or do differently

to revitalize your work environment and rejuvenate your team members? Share your ideas with us in the comment section below.