Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to
Confessions Beyond the Food.
I'm your host, nancy Redland.
Let's dig in and get inspired.
Hi, welcome back to ConfessionsBeyond the Food.
So let's be honest, work iswork, but that doesn't mean it
has to be boring, stressful orsomething you just get through
(00:27):
to be boring, stressful orsomething you just get through.
At W3, we believe that funisn't just a perk, it's part of
the process, from inside jokesand team banter to real vacation
and think tanks that spark somereally crazy and wild ideas.
We found that building aconnected, energized culture
makes everything better.
So today we're sharing 10 realthings we do to make the job fun
(00:48):
and, spoiler alert, none ofthem involve ping pong tables.
This episode is about creating ateam people actually want to be
a part of and celebrating thelittle things that make a huge
difference.
So the first thing is buildinga strong team culture.
It all starts here.
Culture isn't something youjust hang on a wall.
(01:11):
It's how you show up for eachother, and when the culture is
strong, everything really getseasier.
So and as a salesperson, Ithink we enter a lot of
organizations, organizationswhere they pit us against each
other and while competition,healthy competition is good and
again I said, healthy is good.
(01:32):
It's also really important tomake sure your whole team knows
it's a team, it's a team deal.
The real competition is yourcompetitor outside of the
business and I'm supercompetitive.
So I've had to really adaptwith W3 and just making it a
(01:57):
team culture and so that yourwins are my wins and it's not
just about me posting wins onthe board.
So that was an adjustment, butit has been so fun knowing that
we're all a team and we're allhere to work together.
And the second thing iscelebrating wins with shout outs
(02:20):
.
So, whether it's closing a dealor you got through some crazy
situation, we love to post it tocelebrate those wins.
And a quick shout out canreally turn somebody's day
around.
And also, while it's fun forthe person getting awarded, it's
also really good for the teamto see like, oh my gosh, they're
(02:43):
being successful.
And also, if you have a teamculture and you really promote
it from the top down, they willbe happy for each other.
So, while it might spark somehealthy competitiveness, it also
we want others to be happy foreach other, because when they
(03:03):
win, we all win.
The third thing is to keep thechat open, literally.
So we have a chat, a textthread in W3 and it's called the
W3 Hustlers and it's super funbecause we just keep connected
throughout the whole week.
(03:24):
Super fun because we just keepconnected throughout the whole
week and that chat literallysaves my day sometimes because
I'll be in the middle ofsomething and then somebody will
put something in the chat andit just brightens my day of
something that happened in theirday-to-day or something that
happened with a customer thatwe're all like oh my gosh.
(03:44):
But there's just lots of that.
Team chat just really iskeeping it upbeat and positive
and it's just a great thing tohave and really helps with the
fun side of our culture.
(04:08):
And so also number four isinside jokes and team banter.
So nothing bonds you more likea ridiculous inside joke.
I mean, I'm an easy, easytarget on this.
We I like to tell stories onmyself of the crazy things that
I've done, because there's a lotof things that I wasn't so
smart about.
Like one time I actually pickedup the wrong person from the
(04:29):
hotel is the first time I wasmeeting that person and we like
drove away and I didn't realizeI picked up the wrong person for
like 10 minutes and that is areal story.
So, like sharing these storiesand laughing I mean, I know that
our team has probably heardthat story 1 million times, but
it's something that we all stilllike die laughing at and um,
(04:53):
but we also have you know jokesabout like me I'm just going to
pick on me, like they, for wehad an award and I got the water
burger float because theyalways catch me driving through
Waterburger and so those littleteam jokes and you know things
that they associate each otherwith.
It's super fun and again, youwant to keep it.
(05:16):
You know PC and also you knowPG and everything, but this is
just a really fun outlet foryour team members.
The other thing that is reallyfun is number five is think
tanks.
These are my favorite.
I love to get the team togetherand whether it be like a social
(05:37):
like, for example, a socialmedia idea, so we have a social
media idea that we want to tella story with, social media idea
that we want to tell a storywith, and I love to invite the
whole team because they get togive their input and they see
things way differently thanmaybe the marketing people see
things and it really brings outsome really crazy things and we
(06:02):
don't do all those things, butwe have done a lot of them and
so coming up with ideas on howto do presentations and but also
, you know, tackling problemstogether as a team, that's
number six.
That's another thing we'llthink take.
I think the greatest thing iswhen not to have problems.
(06:24):
But when there is a problem Iknow as a business owner, you
know it's not just me I get tobring in my leadership team and
we sit down and we tackle theproblem as a team and we joke
like okay, get the whiteboardout, like let's, you know, start
playing chess on how this isall going to work out, because
what we do is literally a chessgame.
(06:44):
And I don't play chess, but inwork I do.
But it really is fun to sitdown and really talk it through
your team and it takes not onlythe pressure off but it usually
leads to really goodconversations and again, walking
(07:05):
away.
I'm part of a team, I'm notalone.
The seventh thing that I thinkis really important in a fun
culture is encouraging real timeoff.
So one thing we did when wefirst started W3 was we called
vacation PTO for paid time off.
(07:27):
And honestly, you know, throughthe years and I'm the worst.
Everybody knows this.
I'm preaching to the choir, butyou know we really did
encourage people to take timeoff, and I never do.
I always have my phone, youknow, I'm always checking my
phone, I'm always kind ofstaying in it and then I come
back and I'm just cranky becauseI worked my my phone.
(07:47):
I'm always checking my phone,I'm always kind of staying in it
, and then I come back and I'mjust cranky because I worked my
whole vacation and I'm bitterand I know it's not anyone
else's fault but mine and thepressure I put on myself.
So we've changed PTO because itjust sounds like you're just
not in the office.
We've changed that to vacationand I think it's really
(08:08):
important for people to havedays to just shut down and have
a you know for, as an employer,to have a plan in place and
people that can cover for thatperson while they're gone.
So they don't, they're nothaving the Sunday scaries or
like, oh, I don't want to goback to work, there's going to
be so much, and just to knowthat your team has got your back
(08:31):
, you get to enjoy your vacation, have fun, you know, melt all
the stress or whatever ishappening on in your life and
come back and you could bereally excited and energized and
have a positive attitude.
And so we really we don't sayPTO anymore, we say vacation,
and it's really important toallow your team to have that
(08:54):
vacation and to encourage it.
The eighth thing that you can doto create a fun culture is
celebrate birthdays.
We make birthdays a really bigdeal around here.
So what we like to do is wepost something on social media
acknowledging their birthday tothe world, sharing things that
we love about that person, andso they get all the shout outs
(09:20):
from all their community onsocial.
We also give a birthday holidayand they get to use this
holiday one day that week andthis is just a really great perk
.
You know, sometimes I'm notable to do big bonuses and I'm
just limited by our income, andbut I love this perk because it
(09:44):
really is something that peoplelook forward to and taking that
extra day maybe just to just dosomething fun for them or
something fun with their friendsor family, but this is a really
fun perk that just doesn't costa lot.
So the ninth thing is creatingspace for personal connections.
(10:04):
So knowing your coworkersbeyond their job title makes
collaboration more human and wayway more fun, right?
So I mean to just talk aboutwork all the time when you're
with your team is I don't know.
I don't think I would like thatenvironment.
(10:26):
To me that's not fun.
I mean I love my job, but Ithink what I love about my job
is the people, and people likeconnecting, I mean whether they
like it or not.
And the other thing is I haveto say this is that you know
they don't have to sharepersonal stuff about them.
They don't have to become yourfriend.
That's okay.
(10:46):
But you want to create a spacethat if people want community
and want to know other people ontheir team, that they get that.
And that's really where funbegins.
I mean, I have to say that a lotof people are really shocked
about how well our team getsalong.
(11:06):
We are there's, I think, eightor nine women and one guy.
So how Kevin survives I don'tknow, but I mean he plays like
he's um beyond us, but he really, I think he really enjoys um
being with the girls, but um,but no, but the females in our
(11:28):
group.
We all get along really, reallywell and I think it's because
we do allow every week on ourcall.
We have a, a personal somethingwhere something great that
happened personally, somethinggreat that happened
professionally, but it just allkeeps us connected together and
we realize we're real people andwe have real lives behind all
(11:51):
of this job thing and then thathelps us establish connections
based on common interests.
It's really, really fun and Idon't ever.
Also, we have a multi-gen umteam, um, so people in their
twenties all the way up.
I won't go to what that upnumber is, but uh, we have, our
(12:14):
team is very multi-gen and Ilove and maybe that's just
because I want to be trapped inmy twenties I love connecting
with with my younger staff andwe connect on books, we connect
on reality TV, whatever it is,but it makes it really fun and
definitely they feel morecomfortable the more fun and
(12:37):
friendly environment you're inand they're going to talk to you
more.
They're going to talk to youmore.
They might stay longer.
In this day and age we reallyhave people moving and they get
in a job and they leave.
They get in a job and leave.
(12:57):
But if you can attract peopleby your culture, that's going to
keep them a little bit.
By your culture, that's goingto keep them a little bit.
Maybe not forever, but it willkeep them longer.
And if they are exposed to thatsoon and you know you keep it
not just again, not just words,not just once a year, but you
(13:18):
really keep that fun goingthroughout the year, that really
is attractive to this upcominggeneration.
For us me and my generation wehad to adapt to their culture.
So that's their culture andthat's what it is.
And while you do establish yourculture, you need to understand
(13:38):
what's important to the youngergeneration and what they think
is fun.
I know it's shocking, but whatI think is fun as a 47-year-old
is not necessarily fun for a29-year-old.
So really understanding whatthey like and knowing them
(13:59):
beyond just the surface level isjust so rewarding and it just
makes everything fun.
And I genuinely consider thesepeople my friends and I mean I
don't know if they would saythat back, but I care about.
They're like part of my familyand it's just so fun to know on
(14:19):
Sundays, when I get the scaries,that I at least get to see my
you know my friends and becausewe spend a lot of life together.
And so why not make it fun?
Um, the 10th thing that I thinkis really great that we are fun
that we do is we implemented.
Implemented this a couple ofyears ago was um planning a
retreat, um, and so todayactually, if you're watching on
(14:43):
YouTube, you can see my T-shirt.
This is one of the T-shirts wehave for our retreat that we
made.
There's a theme we do.
The whole retreat is basicallythis Two days away from the
environment, we go into a remotelocation and we just hang out
(15:04):
together.
There's no sales training,there's no strategy about what
we're going to do, planning forthe year.
It's all about our culture.
We do games around our culture.
We use the words and live themout in what we do.
We serve each other.
(15:24):
You know different teams willmake dinners, we do cocktails of
the day, certain people cleanup, so all like.
It's all about serving eachother and all about living out
our.
You know our words and it'ssuper fun.
I think you know, as a businessowner and you know and time is
(15:45):
very important and valuable.
While that is super importantthat we're out in the field and
we're selling, sell, sell, sell,I get it and we do that, we
work really hard, but theinvestment of taking two days
out to just really connect withyour team in shirts and t-shirts
(16:06):
and, you know, casual, just getgetting to know each other is
just invaluable.
You can I cannot put a pricetag on it and I'm really
thankful that our clients um,the people that contract us, you
know support us in this andbecause it really helps our
culture, it helps the team, weknow each other, we can have fun
(16:30):
together and, again, team iseverything and it just really
reinforces that.
So in all of this, I hopeyou've found maybe one or two
things you could do.
This could be as a businessowner.
I know I've talked as abusiness owner, but if you are a
sales manager, you candefinitely implement some of
(16:51):
these ideas as an employee.
Like, hey, I really like thisidea.
Maybe I should suggest it to mymanager or ask to incorporate
it into something that know,something that doesn't cost
anything.
One thing that we do sometimesand I know it's popular, but the
virtual happy hours we dodressing up on Halloween and we
(17:17):
have a contest and we all goblack and then we go, we turn on
the cameras and everyone's incrazy costumes and someone gets
an award.
So those are all fun things,easy things that you can
implement and it doesn't costmuch but people really enjoy it.
You know and again, knowingthat not everybody wants you
(17:37):
know this.
Sometimes it is just a job tothem and that's okay, that's
okay.
But for the people that arewanting that, that's okay,
that's okay.
But for the people that arewanting that community and work,
really just take initiative tomake space for that.
You will not regret it.
And there's so many ideas herethat just don't cost anything
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and so that can mean everythingto each employee.
So thank you so much for tuninginto this and I hope you have
some nuggets that you walked outwith and I'm really looking
forward to seeing you on thenext episode of Confessions
Beyond the Food.
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(18:22):
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