It’s James’ last day in the office and it just wouldn’t be right without a proper send off. James’ colleagues presented him with a heartfelt video of personal good luck messages and words of wisdom. In classic INVOLVE style; memorable messages included ‘watch out for the chaffing’ and ‘lucky sod, all that time off work’.
Accompanied by a couple of remote controlled sharks, the ‘James’ O’Meter’ was unveiled and favourite rowing ‘horror and hero’ stories were shared. He was treated to one of his last hearty meals – half a tonne of shepherd’s pie, courtesy of INVOLVE’s own answer to Nigella, Vickki. We even believe he may have eaten enough to last him the whole 32 days at sea!
When James told INVOLVE he was going to attempt to beat the world record of rowing the Atlantic in just 32 days, a wave of shock, awe and sheer disbelief swept across the office. Having picked their jaws up off the floor, James’ friends and colleagues wanted to fully get behind his cause, not only motivating him, but empathising with his physical challenge (albeit on a much smaller scale!)
We are therefore delighted to present…the ‘James’ O’Meter’ !
For as long as James is at sea, a member of INVOLVE will be on the rowing machine, ‘racing’ James and his team to the finish line! Fair enough, we’ll be properly fed, watered and rested in a nice warm office with a flushing toilet, storm-free and with coffee at our convenience, but feel it’s the thought that counts…
Comments Off on Make Involvement Your New Year’s Resolution
Happy New Year! Welcome to 2014.
What is your New Year’s Resolution? Growth? Better marketing? Increased productivity?
The New Year is a great time for a fresh start. It is a time for re-examining your organisation and fresh business thinking. It is a chance to approach new goals with a renewed energy and focus.
Wouldn’t it be great if, rather than dreading returning to work for another year, your team came into the office in January with optimism and excitement about the year ahead?
Apathy and frustration can spread quickly amongst your team, and if it doesn’t die with the ending of the year, make sure it doesn’t make it into the office in January. If 2013 ended with any despondency or disengagement among your team, the New Year is a perfect time to inject positivity and culture change amongst their ranks.
Discuss openly with your team how everyone feels about the previous year, its successes and failures, areas for improvement and areas where you got it just right.
Promote Responsibility
Get your team taking ownership of the coming year, and making resolutions of their own, such as ‘I will work smarter.’ ‘I will make myself irreplaceable. ‘I will evaluate my personal contribution to the organisation.’
After all, responsibility for the success of your organisation doesn’t fall on the leader’s shoulders alone. Ask them to identify areas where they feel improvements could be made in 2014, both on a personal and organisation level. Encouraging your team to take part in a fresh start is key to involvement.
Re-affirm Your Mission
The New Year is a great chance to reinvigorate your team’s excitement for the company vision and common goals, when they are fresh and rested, and have had time to recover from any disengagement or disillusionment from the previous year.
Be Objective
Take the opportunity to look at your organisation objectively. Could you make any improvements? Are there members of your team that need to reconnect with the company mission? Is there an area, in particular, that could benefit from a fresh injection of New Year enthusiasm?
Make involvement your New Year’s resolution, fill the new year with positive energy, and 2014 will be your best year yet!
For any more information on how to make 2014 the year your team becomes fully involved, get in touch!
Have a look around your workplace. Is it a visual representation of your organisation? Is it an inspiring and motivating place to work?
A workplace is much more than just four walls, computers, desks and a coffee machine. It’s the place where all the magic happens, or could happen, if you create a creative, innovative and collaborative space.
At the core of any great workplace is a culture. You have hopefully already established what your company culture is, and communicated that to your team. Is your workplace a fertile breeding ground for it? Or is it preventing the kind of creativity and expression that you strive for?
Getting Started
Creating a great workplace is not just about bricks and mortar, pool tables or basketball hoops. Equally, creating the right atmosphere is not just about the feng-shui of your desks and chairs, or whether your workplace is open-plan or divided into booths.
The creation of a motivating and inspiring workplace starts with what goes on in it. If you provide the leadership, guidance and inspiration to make your employees feel fully involved – and give them the freedom to create a workplace that facilitates this – your workplace will create itself.
In this case, the leader’s job is merely to lay the foundation, sow the seeds of a great workplace, and then hope that you have chosen the right people and created the right environment for the seeds to grow. Crucially, you’ll need to be flexible enough to try a few things, throw some ideas out there and see how they play out.
A great workplace is intrinsically linked to the goals and ethos of the organisation and fosters collaboration, productivity and motivation, but it must also allow for individual expression and success.
Have another look around. Does this sound like your office? If not, maybe it’s time to make some changes.
If you would like some more advice on how the right workplace culture and environment can help with team involvement, please contact us.
Change can be scary. Fear can stop many of us realising the change that could revolutionise our organisation and propel it forward. To truly implement change within your organisation, your team need to be excited, inspired and fully involved.
The most effective change programmes are usually implemented by following the five “I”s:
“Imagine”
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” George Bernard Shaw
The power of visualisation, as the practice of using mental imagery and positive thinking to achieve goals and create change, cannot be overestimated as the first step of any change programme.
Visualise your new future together. When your team have a clear picture of the future, they are much more likely to contribute towards reaching that future.
“Intrigue”
Intrigue. v. To engage in secret schemes
The first step to involving your team in a change effort is to arouse their curiosity. Spark their intrigue about how that might happen, and the rewards it might bring. Intrigue will naturally grow into excitement around that change. They’ll start generating their own ideas and their own momentum for the work ahead.
Let them in on the secret…
“Inspire”
Clearly make the case for change, making sure to present it in an inspiring and persuasive way. Act as an example; a beacon of enthusiasm, passion and excitement about the changes ahead.
There are many creative and engaging ways of vision setting to get your team excited about change. An inspired team won’t just want to be part of the change, they’ll want to be the change.
“Ignite”
Involve your people in activating the change you want to see. Interesting and, more importantly, meaningful work towards a positive goal will challenge and vitalize your employees. While there is always an element of risk and uncertainty, engaged employees will thrive with the added responsibility and freedom.
“Integrate”
Change programmes strive for fundamental culture change at the core of your organisation. They are dependent on winning hearts and minds, and then paying close attention to the mindsets of your workforce as time goes on.
Implementing change is just the beginning. The real challenge is to sustain that change. Any victories can fade over time if continuous improvement and re-evaluation is not maintained and your approach is not integrated with your organisation’s wider goals and values.
One-to-one interactions and real authentic conversations are the key to staying on top of sustainable development and change. Why not try recruiting change ambassadors amongst your team to keep the momentum going?
This is not a one-size-fits-all blueprint for making a change within your organisation, but successful change programmes generally tend to follow these five steps.