Fresh air in your workplace

We have just had our daughter baptised (shes now nearly 4mths old). The priest that did the baptism was the same one who married us. We adore this priest. He is young (mid forties) and understands todays world. He is a breath of fresh air to the Catholic church whose reputation is sometimes not that flash. He speaks in english, explains things well and is an all round awesome, normal bloke. I'm not implying other priests aren't normal - just not the way this one is! He is so easy to relate to and so funny. The sermon he gave at the baptism clearly illustrates this..... He and some other priests had met with a bunch of nuns for the first time and they were all staying at the same place (on retreat or something I think). It was his job to go off to the video shop to get some entertainment for the evening. He picked a movie by a famous Catholic novelist. He felt quite pleased with his (seeminly wise and thoughtful) choice. When it was time to put the DVD on he realised perhaps it wasnt the best choice.....given that the first forty minutes of the DVD was shot IN THE BEDROOM!!!! He said the akwardness in the room got even MORE akward! He went on to explain how the movie redeemed itself (it related to baptism). We were all laughing so hard - he is so human, and speaks so naturally which is a gift not all priests have. Our wonderful priest is going to overhaul the church (I'm sure of it!) as he is a breath of (overdue) fresh air. I'm sure he is the reason many people have grown in their faith after shying away due to the non-human-ness other priests can show. Anyway.... the reason I tell you all this is to get you thinking where and how your workplace needs fresh air. Are you chewing on an old message all the time? Do you need new blood that is positive, enthusiastic and LIFE CHANGING (or in this case business/workplace changing?).

Bring spring fever to your workplace

I read a thing in the paper about how spring can make people go a bit loopy. People start to exercise more, decide to quit smoking or similar. Definitely works on me! I llllove this change of seasons, in spring I start to bounce off the walls – longer days, flowers that smell awesome and the promise of summer to come. How can this spring fever be transferred into workplaces? Well, as a boss you could spring clean yourself. Change behaviours/policys that aren’t working or are negative and freshen up the workplace in any way you can. Change the day core, bring in some flowers, do something to excite the team. Life has seasons and so too should workplaces if you want to keep the energy of the team up. Time to lose the ‘recession’ mindset and ‘sort your sh*t out’ for want of a more polite term! If there is stuff lying around everywhere in your workplace (tut tut) clear that out too (yes a spring clean – does wonders for the soul). ‘Stuff’ you don’t need drains the energy of the place and the people. Be ruthless and sell/throw/donate what you don’t need.

How are you bringing spring to yourself and to your workplace?

How ONE staff member can save your bacon

I had a courier parcel of mine end up at my neighbours place. They kindly brought it over. The next month when this item arrived again it was taken to my other neighbours place. They kindly brought it over. Our street number is very clearly stated - I don't see how the courier driver could get it wrong TWICE! It's not rocket science! The item is also worth about $300 so is 'signature required'. Both times it was taken to the wrong addresses no signature was sought. It was left on its lonesome at the door. I emailed the courier company asking what the rules are about 'sig required' packages and if it goes astray would they replace the item. I also told them it had been delivered to two different wrong places WITHOUT a signature. I waited two weeks and nothing. I emailed again, still nothing. I called - they said they'd find the email and respond. Finally I got an email from a lady at the company. She said she'd look into it (didn't answer my questions yet). I waited and nothing. I emailed her 3x asking her to attend to the email. I then emailed the customer feedback email address to complain about this staff members lack of follow up. I waited a week and still nothing. I found another contact in my citys office - forwarded her the whole chain of emails which showed how many times I'd made contact to no avail. Within two hours she had answered all my questions, apoligized, and sent two lots of feedback to separate departments. I had previously been so so annoyed at this (what I was calling stupid) company, but with by finding one staff member with a brain I was happy again. I was amazed at how many things can go wrong, how many different avenues and contact attempts can be unsuccessful, yet with one awesome person a customer can be made happy again - within two hours. Nothing like a staff member who actually gets things done. How many like this do you have?