Ideas from Kahler Slater on How to Build Pride in the Workplace
Building Pride through Storytelling, and Barbara Armstrong and Kelly Gaglione of Kahler Slater shared with us how Best Companies all across the country use their workspace in unique ways to share their story. These stories inspire people, engage employees and invite clients to be a part of the company vision. The fun part is simply figuring out how to tell the story!
The following ten tips can help any company turn a blank wall into an opportunity to engage:
Display your organization’s Mission Statement clearly and boldly. This way employees and visitors alike can share in the company vision.- Select words, values or key phrases. These serve to remind employees of the organizational culture you worked so hard to build, and can be written on the walls or hung from banners and seen on a daily basis.
- Take pictures! Pictures of coworkers, clients, patients or even family members will do the trick. Nothing is a better reminder of the work you do than an enlarged photo of the smiles you helped create J
- Say Thank You. Display appreciation anywhere and everywhere you c
an think of to let your team know how much you value their hard work. - Be proud of your product or service. Sometimes in the middle of a long project people lose sight of the end goal. Think of creative ways to remind everyone of what it is they are working towards.
- Give stories as gifts. Perhaps you have a particularly heartwarming story, or even just a funny moment that you would like to share. Print it, frame it and give it away to a client or coworker that you think might appreciate the story.
- Be creative! Take a look around your office and find areas of opportunity. Maybe the fridge in the employee lounge could use some custom-made magnets?
- Use outside space. Plant a tree in someone’s honor or donate park benches to each of your departments. Whatever you do, remember to tell the story.
- Give the pen to your employees. Let them decide what stories to share and how to share them, with blank walls, magic markers, and buckets of paint.
- Change it up! Kahler Slater had a great idea to use magnetic paint- this way different pictures, words and themes can be displayed depending on the mood, project or life event.
Read yesterday’s blog on Building Pride in the Workplace through Storytelling and learn how Best Companies such as Ebay and Zappos tell their story.
Want to share your story? Join us on Facebook and post a picture of how your company builds pride in the workplace.
