Have you ever re-gifted? Have you ever thought that you were given a re-gift? Have you lived with the anxiety of will I be found out or I hope this re-gift wasn’t given to me from this person? Have you opened a gift and felt like you were not important thus the re-gift?
To me a re-gift is one of those things I’m excited about when I open (for about 30 seconds as I imagine myself using it somewhere, sometime or someplace I will never go or be) and then realize I’m going to use it once and that will be it.
Yesterday I received a re gift. How do I know it was a re-gift? Easy; the person told me in the card that came along with it. I smiled and laughed the rest of the afternoon.
You see, it was the card that mattered more to me; the fact that someone took the time to write a personal note; not email me or tweet me or put something on my facebook wall for 567 people to read.
I’m a big fan of personal notes; I believe they still matter and set you apart. I’m also a big fan of getting rid of clutter. I send people books I have read that I think might be of interest to them. I send people crayons, markers, stickers and whatever else might put a smile on their face. I send them to clients, friends, or whomever might be on my mind at that moment. When I’m staring at an item that needs to be filed/put away I ask myself…….
Do I need this; or is this an opportunity to say hi and put a smile on the face of someone else?
Years ago my circle of friends kept “re-gifting” a bottle of Manischewitz Loganberry wine. It went from one friend to another whenever we got together. No one ever opened the bottle. Finally I gave it away as a prize and got it out of my circle. Honest truth…..it came back to my house a year later. There is no way that 2 people would buy that wine? Or is there?
So today I offer you the regift chain idea. Here’s all you do:
Make a conscious effort to stay in touch with one person this month
Send them a handwritten note just saying hi or Happy New Year or whatever. It should not be a seasonal card from the store but more of one of those “Just Because” cards. Or use your own personal note cards.
Grab that item that you received as a re-gift/or give something away to start your chain
Include a sheet of paper that reads at the top “It’s the note that counts; not the gift. Yes, this is a re-gift. Keep it or add your name to the list and send the gift along the next time you’re thinking of someone you want to make smile today.” So for example mine will have Dani’s name on line one and my name on line 2.
Take a Recess from Re-gifting….Start a Re-gift Chain. Better yet…….Start Re-Connecting!
On Tuesday or Wednesday every week I (Rich DiGirolamo) will be checking in somewhere on Foursquare.
When I check in I will ask you to guess what I’m doing or ordering. For example this past week I checked in at a local coffee shop. No one guessed that I ordered a Vanilla Americano. Yet the week before Shawn @Excel Fitness in West Hartford CT won a free beanie by guessing what I ordered at Dairy Queen. Don’t worry, it won’t always be food related.
The post will tell you it is Giveaway Day and to guess what I’m doing/ordering/seeing/etc.
I will post to Foursquare, Facebook, and Twitter at the same time.
The first to respond with the right answer wins the prize that week.
So if your training budget has been the victim of those Finance People, we’ve got a solution to make them happy. It will also teach them and the rest of your organization how to be more creative, use people’s talents in new ways, and make your existing products and services even better.
To offer an opportunity for imagination, exploration and mind wandering
Well guess what….adults could use a little bit of that too. And that’s why I’ve developed my program RECESS. IT’S NOT JUST FOR KIDS!
So if your organization can benefit from a bit of creativity or a bit of pointed purposeful business building fun, get in touch. Let’s talk. but first see what these two program participants had to say……
In my blog post of June 17th I tossed out the following challenge to you:
How about setting aside the 3rd Thursday of every month to take a 30 – 60 minute Recess with your team, group, department or company? Take it as an opportunity to share successes, build stronger relationships, get everyone involved in the new product development process. And if you need ideas on activities that are not only fun, but have been proven to impact the bottom line (which is what the boss wants to hear), come back here regularly. I’ll be providing you with an activity of the month to do just that.
Well Thursday is that day. This Thursday the 16th, is the 3rd Thursday of September. Summer is over. And why not do what a lot of your kids are doing…………take a Recess. A break from the norm. A temporary cessation of the customary activities of an engagement. Take some time that day and celebrate. Here’s a simple idea……..
September RECESSitation: Gather your team together and ask each of them to complete this sentence in 10 words or less:
The thing I love most about my job is ________.
I could do my job better if ______.
I bet you’ll find more similarities than differences. I’ll bet you’ll find people offer you low or no cost ideas to the second question. The point here is to focus on what makes your place a great place to work and how each and every person can be better. Isn’t that what you want?
I hope you haven’t experienced this but if you’ve been to a hospital, nursing home or assisted living facility you may have seen a sign above the bed: DNR – Do Not Resuscitate.
One definition of the word resuscitate is to make active or vigorous again. I like that. A lot. I think organizations are guilty of this – not making their employees active again; not allowing them to become vigorous again. Now I know we might debate this, but most would say that DNR is a good thing for a terminally ill patient. Employees however are not terminally ill. They can be vigorous again. But instead I am seeing a different version of the DNR sign: DO NOT RECESSitate.
The definition of RECESSitate is to take a break from the norm and undergo a period of learning, recharging and celebrating accomplishments. This is not happening in today’s workplace. Here is what is happening:
Training budgets are being slashed. Makes loads of sense that people are your #1 cost and investment in them is going away (sarcasm).
The order of the day has been do more with less; pick up the work of others as the workforce gets reduced. Hardly a moment is available to recharge?
Accomplishments? Celebrating? Who has time for that? You do. And it is necessary. It’s also not hard.
RECESSitating an organization can be inexpensive or costly. It can be done by the talent within or bringing in someone from the outside to start an initiative. That choice is yours. But if you take some time to regularly RECESSitate your organization, in the long run you will:
Show employees they matter
Make for a better customer experience which results from having an engaged workforce
Impact your bottom line by reducing absenteeism, experiencing increased sales, or lowering turnover/hiring costs
DNR signs belong in medical facilities; not the workplace. Has your organization hung out the DNR Sign; DO NOT RECESSitate.
Today I introduce to you the Recess Formula for Business Success. It’s a pretty simple formula and it will be easy to remember.
R = EE = EC = $$
Where R stands for Recess; EE is an engaged employee; EC is an engaged customer; and I’ll assume that you know what the $$ equals.
Here’s how it works:
Give your employees a Recess (R) ;a break from the customary normal routine. Give them a chance to learn, to think, to play, to innovate, to rejuvenate and wind down. Do this regularly. What you’ll get is an engaged employee (EE).
Engaged employees come up with new ideas, are better team members and provide customer experiences beyond your expectations. And you know what that leads to……………………… an engaged customer (EC).
Engaged customers are fans. They come back. They look for more. They think of you first. You are on their mind. Engage your customers and you increase your bottom line ($$)
But it’s got to start with the employee. It’s gotta start with taking care of your employees. Take care of your employees today; take a recess today in the name of engagement – in the name of profitability.
A: They all recognize that to keep employees engaged, increase morale and create great customer experiences they needed to give their employees a Recess.
On June 17th many of you celebrated Recess At Work Day. Some organizations used it as an opportunity for fun and games; others used it as an opportunity to learn!
You see, here is where most organizations screw it up. They think that one time trainings and morale events will make things all better. Guess what. They don’t.
Engagement, morale, and education needs to be an ongoing initiative like every other initiative if you want a workforce that will truly love showing up to work and creating great customer experiences. Today your Annual Recess Initiative begins. And whether it be fun and games or a true learning experience it doesn’t matter. The key is consistency. That means when you’re done today circle August 19th on the calendar.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with those three large organizations. They get it. Do you?
