Chemistry in your business

Working together or working for someone

Whether you watch college or professional sports, there is often a discussion regarding the assembly of the coaching staff and the players. Traditionally, the head coach is quick to hand out the credit to everyone in a victory and shoulder all the responsibility in a defeat.

If only that statement were true.

As a fourth-generation retailer, not long ago I learned a lesson about the value of making the right presentation. Moving home to Arkansas, a friend told me who his neighbor was. It was Bill Pitts who I remember working in my parent’s store when I was a child. When I got to visit with Bill, he was telling this friend and I about his experience of working with the previous owner of our store and working with my father.

Bill said that with the previous ownership he was told what to do each day. When my father bought the store, things were different. “You don’t work for Frank Shay; you work with Frank Shay”, was his comment.

That type of owner attitude builds a team.

There was a second lesson I learned. Looking at photos of employees and sales reps dating back to my grandfather’s era, there are very few photos of people in the store. The majority of the photos are in social settings; the staff get togethers.

There was a store my parent’s sold in 1980. During the years they owned the store there was a tradition of semi-annual gatherings on the beach near the store in Florida that included the employees and their families. The gatherings continued after the sold was sold until the early 1990’s when it was decided the gatherings because so many of the staff had passed away or moved away.

We observe that when staff know each other outside of work as well as their co-worker’s families, there is an adhesive that begins to develop. It causes the business to be where people enjoy being with each other. A person comes home at the end of the day, only to have their spouse ask how one of the co-workers and their family are doing.

We find that gatherings should stay away from being events that have any aspect of competitiveness to them (games or contests). They may produce a “winner” but they can often create an undesired aspect with some people.

We also found that the social staff gatherings at Christmas may be a tradition for many stores, but there is a certain degree of expectation with events at this time of year. Instead, multiple events at other times of the year say something extra about the bonding effort.

One event we held each year occurred on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We held a party in the store after we closed. Each staff member was asked to bring one of their favorite holiday snacks with enough to share with everyone. Certain basic snacks, including the drinks, were provided by us.

As we were in Florida, to get into the holiday feeling we turned the air conditioning as cold as possible. Christmas carols were played on the store speaker system. Together we enjoyed the refreshments, but we also decorated the store for Christmas as a team.

At the close of this party, our tradition was to have a present for each employee. One year the gift was a watch with the store logo on it. To our surprise we recently observed a conversation on Facebook among former employees who were showing the watch they had received 27 years ago.

It’s bonding; it is caring; and it is making the task of working together into a wonderful experience.

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This article is copyrighted by Tom Shay and Profits Plus Solutions, who can be reached at: PO Box 128, Dardanelle, AR. 72834. Phone 727-823-7205. It may be printed for an individual to read, but not duplicated or distributed without expressed written consent of the copyright owner.