Employee Snitches

You know the ones I'm talking about. They're the adult version of the kids that always ran to the teacher to succor the teacher's support, gain priviledges undeserved, and the teacher unwittingly created a divide within the classroom losing the trust of the students.

Patterns learned in grade school...

We've turned all that on its head here in the company. Here's how:

I actively seek snitches. I tell everyone I'm looking for snitches. Tell on each other. The catch is...I want to know what GREAT things people have accomplished...things I've missed completely or overlooked or forgotten. AND...I'm going to share these stories each month...right in front of everyone...and I'm going to tell who told me those stories as well.

It's a corporate version of Becky McCray's Brag Basket. (Becky blogs at SmallBizSurvival.)

And anyone can join in or add stories of recent victories.

And every other month...I'll be quiet and let everyone else snitch, right there, right in front of everyone on their colleagues. 

The dynamic is the same as with tattle-tales exposed to the group. First one story, then their story back at the first person, then another...with  a key difference...it was  oh yeah?...well, you did [insert something amazing, helpful, beyond the call of duty, made-my-day] so-and-so and such-n-such....We spent half of y'day's meeting sharing little stories of victories, great and small, some already known, some newly recognized. It became a feeding frenzy...of positive reinforcement and recognition of a job well done, done by all.

I'm a firm believer in celebrating successes...big or small, yours or someone else's. It's a choice, really, of you want to spend your day. Me? I'd rather spend it talking about victories. There are always plenty of failures to learn from in growing, innovation, daily life, our competitive world. I don't worry that be spending time celebrating what's good with each other, how we've helped each other, what moments of inspiration we brought...that somehow we'll lose our edge or stop learning from our mistakes.

What's too often missing are people willing to look silly and superficial...not serious as I've been called...by celebrating a victory or a success or a huge accomplishment or a small step of progress. Gotta do it. It's deserved. If the learning lessons are deserved...then so is the celebration when you reach a goal.

I can only barely describe the smiles and enthusiasm as everyone left the meeting celebrating each other, where they work, how they help each other, the boost in their self-esteem and what they look forward to in the future.