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Inspire With Decencies
“It’s called the
two- minute schmooze and it’s the essence of the power of small
decencies. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of small gestures of
decency that can be offered by individuals who have no expectation of
reward. We’re people who can make a difference in another’s person’s
day, and we’re people who want to be treated with respect, humanity,
and caring. Out of such actions, multiplied dozens of times a day over
a period of time, corporate cultures take root and out sprout a
thousand points of light.
Here are a selection of decencies from
Steve Harrison’s book The
Manager’s Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great Companies
that many people have already put to work successfully.
Consideration Decencies
Make
introductions creative
- For meetings of up
to 10 people, make names memorable by asking each person to repeat the
name of the ones introduced already.
-
For larger groups,
take
60 seconds for
people to introduce themselves to the person on the right (name,
organization/department, job title). Then have that person do the
introduction of the person they just talked to.
- At new-employee
originations ask individuals to stand and tell their name, department,
previous work, family and one thing about themselves that few people
are likely to know
Invite employees to
lunch (The emphasis must be on the invitation. They need to be able to
say no – if they feel there’ll be repercussions for declining,
then what you have is not a decency but a
meeting.)
Recognition Decencies
Make work a family
affair (One organization, when placing a positive letter in an
employee’s personnel file, has HR also a copy to the person’s home
address.)
Create a Wall of
Fame
Bring “welcome to
the team” flowers on a new person’s first day
Have a brown-bag
welcoming lunch to meet new employees
Post a sign at the
office’s entryway with the new employee’s name
Give $2 bills as
symbols of instant recognition.
Celebrating unusual
holidays, such as Groundhog Day, Arbor Day, Bastille Day, Polish
Independence Day, or the summer solstice.
Simply notice their
work and comment about in – in specific terms
Listening Decencies
Apply the 60-second
rule (The
60-second rule says to divide your subject into thoughts that can be
expressed in a minute or less. If someone is interested, he or she
will ask a question, and then you can continue for another 60 seconds,
and so on. The result will be a conversation instead of a lecture or
monologue.)
Resist the
temptation to interrupt
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