Email a Friend
Print Article
The Difference is YOU
I
MYJOB: Week 4
A couple years ago the most desired brand in high fashion recognized they had a serious problem: their employees were bitchy to people they didn't think would spend a lot of money. After I was asked to get involved in solving the problem, I tested these findings. My business partner (a former Microsoft employee) and I wandered into their boutique in Beverly Hills in our yoga gear. Lo and behold, the septuagenarian security guard is the only person who bothered to acknowledge us for the entire 20 minutes we endured being in the store. Not a good feeling.
This type of profiling happens in any business, but the obvious problem is that while missing out on lots of smaller transactions and creating a relationship with 14 year olds who will someday buy the $3,000 handbag, this company was also missing out on transactions from people like me and you who may not dress fancy, but in Sam Walton style can just as easily whip out the platinum AMEX when the mood strikes us. For the company this meant lost revenues. For the employees, it meant both lost sales commissions, and a very important something else - reducing interactions at work to either ones that "matter" or ones that aren't worth having. By adopting a mindset that precludes the majority of moments at work to being irrelevant, drudgery or a waste of time, the employees there had forgotten why they ever wanted to be a part of this proud brand to begin with. They had forgotten that this brand is the embodiment of luxury, of sophistication, and there is nothing luxurious or sophisticated about being rude or sleepwalking through the majority hours of life.
No matter where you work, for a couture name or a non-profit, there is a higher meaning behind the work you do. Each organization has central ideals and provides services others need. Sure we often look at this as nothing more than a reduced version of b.s. bingo - but those ideals are the core of how we connect and contribute to the highest version of what the organization is. Think about it: we can reduce what we do to its lowest meaning, or we can connect with it at the very highest.
As we've done with employees at organizations ranging from the NYPD to Yahoo!, employees at this company were invited to reconnect to why they ever wanted to work there to begin with. After working through their own stories of how they ended up there, the room was full of remembering the legacy, the attention to every last detail, the creativity of the vision, that working there meant "belonging" in a world of absolute luxury. We asked: okay, so if that's what drew you here, isn't it safe to assume a similar longing drew people into the door? How do you give them that experience in everything you do?
The room got quiet. We were all feeling a bit high on these notions of legacy, creativity, vision and absolute luxury. If you could have bottled that vibe you'd have a blockbuster potion no one could resist. Everyone sat with this question: how to exude these values in everything we do from answering the phone to making eye-contact to acknowledge someone even if we are busy helping someone else? How to treat ourselves with this same level of awareness so that in our interactions with each other (both other employees and the clients we serve), that vibe becomes the defining quality of the interaction. Yes, even in conflict.
Here are a couple practices you can use to get YOURSELF into your highest level of functioning at work:
By using these highest values as an organizing principle as you contribute your energy, intelligence and self to your work, work becomes an outlet for self expression that is inextricably linked to feeling a sense of purpose, whether you've ever thought of it that way or not. Wisdom traditions teach us that Karma is the law of action, and work is another field of your action.
You've got the concept, now work it. Moving through the last week of this series, notice when your action is required at any given moment, and see how it feels to allow yourself to resonate with it at a higher level. Notice when your work calls upon you to create a solution. No matter how mundane the problem or simple the solution, notice that you can respond with a low appraisal of your work, your contribution, your life, or you can choose to embody a higher value for all of the above. Notice that no matter your role, the challenges of your day invite your imagination of other possibilities whether you see it that way or not. Your consciousness and cognitive powers mean that no matter where you are or what your role, it is up to you to make the difference in how you go about whatever it is you do for work.
Be well,
Tevis
IMYJOB - The Series:
Related Topics:
MYJOB: Week 4A couple years ago the most desired brand in high fashion recognized they had a serious problem: their employees were bitchy to people they didn't think would spend a lot of money. After I was asked to get involved in solving the problem, I tested these findings. My business partner (a former Microsoft employee) and I wandered into their boutique in Beverly Hills in our yoga gear. Lo and behold, the septuagenarian security guard is the only person who bothered to acknowledge us for the entire 20 minutes we endured being in the store. Not a good feeling.This type of profiling happens in any business, but the obvious problem is that while missing out on lots of smaller transactions and creating a relationship with 14 year olds who will someday buy the $3,000 handbag, this company was also missing out on transactions from people like me and you who may not dress fancy, but in Sam Walton style can just as easily whip out the platinum AMEX when the mood strikes us. For the company this meant lost revenues. For the employees, it meant both lost sales commissions, and a very important something else - reducing interactions at work to either ones that "matter" or ones that aren't worth having. By adopting a mindset that precludes the majority of moments at work to being irrelevant, drudgery or a waste of time, the employees there had forgotten why they ever wanted to be a part of this proud brand to begin with. They had forgotten that this brand is the embodiment of luxury, of sophistication, and there is nothing luxurious or sophisticated about being rude or sleepwalking through the majority hours of life.
No matter where you work, for a couture name or a non-profit, there is a higher meaning behind the work you do. Each organization has central ideals and provides services others need. Sure we often look at this as nothing more than a reduced version of b.s. bingo - but those ideals are the core of how we connect and contribute to the highest version of what the organization is. Think about it: we can reduce what we do to its lowest meaning, or we can connect with it at the very highest.
As we've done with employees at organizations ranging from the NYPD to Yahoo!, employees at this company were invited to reconnect to why they ever wanted to work there to begin with. After working through their own stories of how they ended up there, the room was full of remembering the legacy, the attention to every last detail, the creativity of the vision, that working there meant "belonging" in a world of absolute luxury. We asked: okay, so if that's what drew you here, isn't it safe to assume a similar longing drew people into the door? How do you give them that experience in everything you do?
The room got quiet. We were all feeling a bit high on these notions of legacy, creativity, vision and absolute luxury. If you could have bottled that vibe you'd have a blockbuster potion no one could resist. Everyone sat with this question: how to exude these values in everything we do from answering the phone to making eye-contact to acknowledge someone even if we are busy helping someone else? How to treat ourselves with this same level of awareness so that in our interactions with each other (both other employees and the clients we serve), that vibe becomes the defining quality of the interaction. Yes, even in conflict.
Here are a couple practices you can use to get YOURSELF into your highest level of functioning at work:
- What does the organization you work for stand for? Whether you work for SAP and deliver networking solutions or you work in food services and serve meals on trays, there are elements of grace and dignified service that are expressed by what you do and where you work. WebMD employees are a great example - they could see themselves as just working at an internet site or they could remember that this service makes valuable information available to countless people. Both interpretations are true - yet one reveals the grace and importance of their work while the other obscures it. I guarantee you it matters to how they feel about their work, how they produce and what kind of day they usually have. Look at your own job and identify those elements.
- Ask yourself which of those elements most resonate with YOU. At Disney for example, employees are led through an exercise to identify which character most reflects their values - you can do a similar exercise for yourself. What about where you work got you there to begin with? If having a job period is what got you there, what about the work of your organization holds beauty to you? I call this the Point of Highest Resonance
- Remind yourself of that Point of Highest Resonance on your way to work, and in the midst of conducting the tasks that are your work. Answering the phone. Responding to a colleague. How does that resonance come alive in everything you do - by doing this you literally bottle that highest vibe within yourself and emanate it with other people.
By using these highest values as an organizing principle as you contribute your energy, intelligence and self to your work, work becomes an outlet for self expression that is inextricably linked to feeling a sense of purpose, whether you've ever thought of it that way or not. Wisdom traditions teach us that Karma is the law of action, and work is another field of your action.
You've got the concept, now work it. Moving through the last week of this series, notice when your action is required at any given moment, and see how it feels to allow yourself to resonate with it at a higher level. Notice when your work calls upon you to create a solution. No matter how mundane the problem or simple the solution, notice that you can respond with a low appraisal of your work, your contribution, your life, or you can choose to embody a higher value for all of the above. Notice that no matter your role, the challenges of your day invite your imagination of other possibilities whether you see it that way or not. Your consciousness and cognitive powers mean that no matter where you are or what your role, it is up to you to make the difference in how you go about whatever it is you do for work.
Be well,
Tevis
I
MYJOB - The Series:- Jobs: Love The One You're With
- Black Holes & Illumination
- Employee ID: Work As Self-Expression
- Rut, Routine or Ritual?
- The Difference is YOU
Related Topics:
- Mind, Body, Spirit: Member Discussion
- The Good Life Neighborhood
- Emotional Wellness - get helpful tips in your inbox
Labels: awareness, positive attitude, work
3 Comments:
I think Chick-fil-A does a great job training its employees to exude a welcoming attitude and a willingness to serve. Every time I'm at Chick-fil-A, no matter how many times I say "Thank you" for something, the answer always is "My pleasure," and it always comes across as genuine.
Hey there, I love that you are noticing how people treat their work. When we notice these things in other people, we can notice them in ourselves as well. And that it feels genuine - as a contrast it calls to mind the old SNL skit about the airline staff saying "buh-bye" as passengers deplane. You can't fake genuine.
Sometimes you really can't judge people from the way they dress. They might just have a yoga class or just happen to dress not so good, but if they don't got the money why they would walk in to the store. It's as simple as that. They walk in, means that they have the buying potential.
Post a Comment