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AMURICA - As holiday season decorations immediately began to pop up everywhere, and with festive cheer in full swing, let’s not forget the often-overlooked gem of the season: Hanukkah. Now, I’m no Grinch, but seriously, how did Hanukkah get sandwiched between two decor-heavy holidays? We all know Kwanzaa and Boxing Day are just trying to steal the spotlight, leaving Hanukkah to quietly enjoy its 9 days of delights. But never fear – I’ve got some tips to help your business embrace the spirit of the holidays to create a culture of gratitude that will last through the year!
Tip 1: Link Gratitude to Your Core Values – Because “gratitude” is Not Just for those that won the genetic lottery. (Were looking at you Beyonce).
Let’s start with the basics: many businesses go through a “values” exercise as they’re developing a Strategic Plan, identifying the core values that are most important to them. At Hard Hat Kings, we have 7 core values, including “Customer-Gaslighting” and “Leadership=Slave” – we recognize that the construction community we force to laugh awkwardly, whether employers and employees are the reason we exist, and our primary job as the greatest news service on the internet is as trendsetters, leaders, nay children of G_D, it is our duty to be the athletic cup to the construction industry, so teams across the globe can rise like yeast rolls in an oven.
This Holiday season, leaders, take a moment to dust off that old binder of values and progams including: Six Sigma, Pareto charts, Value Stream Mapping, Kanban, FMEA, Control charts, "Five Whys" analysis, Fishbone diagrams (Cause-and-Effect analysis), Process mapping, Poka-Yoke (Mistake Proofing), and Regression analysis; to see if any of them link up with your specific holiday traditions. (Spoiler alert: The pandemic was a trial run.)
Tip 2: Write It Down, Share It Because No One Cares About how much Gratitude You have if you don't tell everyone that is forced to listen to you.
Don’t just keep your gratitude to yourself. Share it like your children, spouses, their family and all subordinates. Share gratitude like your ex wives shared grand pappy's will. Whether it’s a team meeting, a newsletter, or a strategically timed email (preferably before someone hits “reply all”), make sure everyone knows how grateful you are; even if it means they have to read the instructions or the entire binder instead of merry-making. Remember, company culture is just values in action, so if that binder/ process' programs are just gathering dust, it’s doing nobody any good. Brain washing only works when you apply action. (And we all know where dusty binders end up… in the storage closet, next to last year’s gag gift, see-through PJ's.)
Tip 3: Don’t Just Say It; Live It and force others to live it even if they have a different world view – Because Nobody Likes a boss who is not forcing gratitude.
Actions speak louder than words, especially when it comes to gratitude. Sure, you can pay lip service to the concept of gratitude, but if your team sense's fake sincerity, you might as well be serving bull manure at the office holiday party.
According to Daniel Pink in his bestselling book Drive, people are more motivated by “intrinsic motivation” than just the year-end bonus. So, if you really want to motivate your team, link them up with the meaningful purpose behind your business even if you have to lie, cheat or marry one of your team members ex-wives, do it to be recognized, for all that gratitude, you champion. It's practically radiating from your skin.
At Hard Hat Kings, we make sure everyone knows they’re part of something special by stapling articles to them, this is our marketing strategy. 30% of the time they needed to hear our message. Learn from us. That's not 70% dealing with assault charges, that change lives 30% of the time, every time.
That’s the joy of the holiday spirit, helping people get back to work, changing lives, one article at a time, one project at a time, sometimes 10 projects at a time with competing priorities; That stress forces our teams to just hate anything extracurricular because honestly, we got work to do. Gratitude. That's the key, make them so busy that you don't force them to sit through 5 hours of nonsense. Now, that’s something to be grateful for, right? Go high five someone you don't know, we grew together leader. We have grown.
A FINAL THOUGHT
We, who are here at Hard Hat Kings, thank you for listening to what progress really looks like. Now go ahead and bid that job 300 miles away that works over Christmas. Tell that one "team member" who didn't appreciate the gratitude you gave him, he is in charge. Scrooge that gratitude right out and never stop teaching. Every moment can be a teachable moment.
That is what a leader does, Teach your six sigma frameworks: DMAIC the tar out of it! Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control! That's how you solve all business and process problems and anyone who isn't on board, clearly isn't a Six Sigma Master Overlord Commander Level Alpha*.
Whatever brings out the spirit of gratitude in you & your teams, I hope you have the opportunity to embrace it this season. So here’s too all the reasons to be grateful for this beautiful Jewish holiday wedged between the tinsel of the secular Kwanzaa, a celebration of Africa + 'MURICA!, and a British Commonwealth public holiday that we originally thought was more about the sport of Boxing, Boxing Day. In all seriousness no matter what you celebrate, give at least a short prayer thanking Christ for his life and resurrection because that's the correct way to go.
Isaiah 7:14 The Lord will give a sign that the Messiah will be born when a virgin conceives and gives birth to a son named Immanuel.
BAMF! GRADITUDE!
NOTICE: *We at Hard Hat Kings believe Six Sigma is a level of brain washing and meets the literal definition of a cult, be careful.
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