The first company that I worked for spent $4,000 on the annual Christmas party. It was usually enjoyable and posh, but forgettable. It was forgettable was because it was usually held at a nice restaurant and it rarely brought out people’s jovial side. They were reserved, ate their meal, had a few nice conversations then left. No personality. Just the same old thing you can get at any company Christmas party. We should have had it at the office with all of us bringing a dish – a little pot luck to create a friendlier work environment. We would have spent virtually no money and we could have used that $4,000 to create a fun work environment throughout the rest of the year.

Work Fun

Let’s pretend that we stopped spending money on a boring Christmas party and we could use that $4,000 to create 12 parties a year. If we divide the budget by 12 we’d have $333.33 per month. We can use that $333.33 to celebrate the end of each successful month. Your company might have less or more depending on its size, so take whatever you spend on your Christmas party divide it by 12, and that’s your monthly budget.

In this article I will give you 12 ideas that you can use to celebrate the end of each month. They should get the employees talking and stimulate their interaction with each other. They will probably tell their family and friends about this new concept and your company may get a few good resumes from the positive publicity.

You may want to implement these ideas all day long, during lunch, or direct the phones toward the answering service one hour before closing, so all the employees have time to interact with each other. The key is to get as many employees as possible together so they can hang out. At the beginning of each month you should always let them know what the end of the month celebration will be to create anticipation.

Your company may be too small or big for these ideas, so you’ll have to do some creative adjustment. If you’re a large corporation you may want to separate the celebration by department, or if you are a small company you may want to scale down the celebration to fit your size. I would be glad to help you personalize these ideas to fit your company if you want to contact me here.

January – Pizza Bash

Most people love Pizza and why shouldn’t they? It’s perfect for a group of people to hang out and eat. You may have some money left over, so buy some silly party favors or games that get people moving and making noise. A loud group stimulates interaction.

February – Thank You so Much

Buy small thank you cards and distribute them to your employees. I suggest that you give them five cards each. If you only have ten people in your organization then only give each person two thank you cards. Assign every employee one co-worker that they must write a thank you for and allow them to use the other four cards for whoever they want to send a card to then have them distribute them by inner office mail. You can also split this up by department because accounting may not know anyone in sales and vice versa. In this case have a small group gather the cards and distribute them to the employees. With the money that is left over you can buy a few snacks and keep them in the lunchroom for any hungry employees. At the end of the month you can have a small “awards ceremony” to recognize all of the “thank-yous” on behalf of the company.

March – Cupcakes and Caffeine

Supply cupcakes and caffeine (coffee and Soda) to everyone in the company. There is nothing like a good sugar and caffeine rush to stimulate the crowd. You will probably want to do this in the morning or for lunch, so as not to throw people off their routine.

April – Small Token of Appreciation

Divide the money that your company would spend during the month of April’s celebration by the number of employees and purchase something that everyone can use. It might be a Visa gift card or a framed photograph of everyone in the company. It’s important that everyone gets the same thing, otherwise people get jealous and this will create division instead of teamwork.

May – Charity Giveaway

Everyone in the company picks a local charity to donate the money to, then someone posts it on the intranet or sends an email out to everyone. Every employee must vote by the end of the month. The winning charity gets all the money. This is also good PR, which is great for the company’s website, but that’s just an added bonus.

June – Raffle Off the Money

Create three prizes of things that the employees would like or three gift cards and raffle them off to your employees. Make sure everyone gathers in the room, so the tension builds and everybody shares in on the fun.

July – Water Gun Battle

Send everyone outside and have a water gun battle. Depending on your budget you may want to buy towels, preferably with your logo on them so people don’t go back to work or home all wet. You should make sure that people who don’t want to participate don’t have to, but try to encourage them to join in. The more silliness the more laughter. This creates memories.

August – Pool Party

Rent out a pool or have the pool party at someone’s house. Provide snacks and tell people to bring their own drinks and food. If your company is too large or can’t afford a pool then alter the party to the theme of cool off and have fun. You can give everyone little fans and buy ice cream with all the toppings.

September – Musician to Play During Lunch

Hire a professional musician to play during lunch. Live music is always a treat for people because they can just sit back and relax.

October – Employee’s Choice

Ask the employees what they would like to do with the $333 and the person with the best suggestion gets to pick two co-workers to help them bring their ideas to life. Give them a Visa Gift Card with the money on it or the cash. Remind them to keep the receipts so you can keep track of what they do with the money.

November – Karaoke

Karaoke might not be a perfect fit for your company, but you’ll definitely get people interacting and joking with each other.

December – Pot Luck Holiday Party

Get people together by having them cook a dish and the company will supply the rest of the entertainment and supplies. You’ll be surprised that when you have a pot luck your company will really create a family atmosphere. The employees will be more relaxed and willing to have fun.

Reminders

Be consistent with your monthly celebrations. Consistency is the most important part to this plan. When you start skipping months and just telling yourself that you’ll create a better party next month, you are falling into the trap of throwing money into a bigger party instead of creating a consistently fun environment.

Always gather people together so the employees can hang out and learn about each other. People who know each other treat each other like family. They may yell at each other during a heated meeting, but they are also more likely to forgive each other.

No matter how much they make fun of the monthly parties, don’t stop doing them because everyone likes to complain. It’s the nature of a crowd. A monthly celebration will create a reminder that the company wants to create a fun work environment no matter how stressful things become.

Do you think your company would implement a monthly celebration?

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“How Toyota became #1.” A book that has great tidbits for any manager or owner. David Magee, the author, talks about the various ideologies that are ingrained within the Toyota culture. The Toyota Production System (TPS) which cuts waste and improves efficiency, is a large part of Toyota’s success. Every employee is expected to help improve every aspect of the business. If a suggestion is implemented they will receive between $5 and $2,000 depending on the value of the suggestion. In 2005 99% of employee suggestions were accepted, which totaled to almost 600,000 accepted suggestions.

“Dig deeper into Toyota’s history and one finds steady growth, much-better-than-industry-average shareholder returns, off-the-charts consumer loyalty ratings, and some of the happiest employees in the world.”

- David Magee

Not every company can implement the same concepts. Ford tried to create a new inventory system that was supposed to surpass Toyota and failed because they didn’t have the infrastructure. Toyota uses the pull technique when building cars, which means they only build as many cars as their customers demand. Toyota actually had to change their system somewhat in America because customers buy their cars off the lot. In Japan they are ordered then built for the customer – the customer pulls for the car and Toyota builds it. In America they had to build cars to sit on the lot, but they still only build to fill that next space that was taken by a customer. Ford uses the push technique – they build the cars then push them out to the dealers. The dealers have to sell them and if they can’t sell them fast enough they go on sale, which means less profit.

Ford thought they could implement the TPS system into their factories because it worked for Toyota. They didn’t look at their strengths and try to implement a concept that would fit in with their culture.

Understanding The Company’s Culture

Businesses bring in consultants that spit out ideas that have worked for other companies, but don’t tailor the ideas to the company’s culture. The excitement and money flows through the organization, at first, but eventually everything goes back to the way it was because they weren’t ready for such a shake up.

Working happy is so much more than refining a perfect system like Toyota’s; it’s understanding the culture of the the employees. When Ford tried to implement a TPS system, it shocked the employees. They were probably overwhelmed and they didn’t understand how to make it successful. My guess is they were probably told to do something a certain way, but never understood the reason behind it. They didn’t understand why and how it would help. I’m not sure about Ford’s commitment to their employees, but it did fail and it’s probably due to a lack of communication. A company’s poor communication is one of my biggest pet peeves. Every company I ever worked for rarely told me why we were making certain big decisions. They just did it and expected us to follow.

The world is evolving and businesses have to adjust their manager-employee relationships. A company like Toyota who shares their vision with their employees and gives them the ability to improve the company at every level will only get stronger. The employees understand what direction the company wants to head in and can make decisions accordingly.

“The Toyota system is teaching people to think [for] themselves and find a better way to do the job…to take individual ownership.”

- Dennis Cuneo from How Toyota Became #1

Companies have studied Toyota since the 1970’s and still have trouble implementing their ideas. I believe they don’t get the same results because they don’t look at their company’s strengths. They don’t customize the ideas to fit their own company’s culture. They want concepts that they know will work, but the problem is that these patchwork ideas don’t fit because they aren’t built for their company.

Make Small Changes

My suggestion to struggling companies is to start small and make changes in increments. Create a philosophy that doesn’t revolve around money. Focus on the employee then improve from there. Employees that understand why they do what they do and enjoy doing it will make profits.

“Simply put, winning means listening to and responding to the customer, not just telling them what they need or should want.”

- David Magee

I’ve owned a Toyota Corolla and loved it. It lasted until 204,000 miles. It’s still is my most cherished vehicle in my fifteen year driving span. I would buy another Toyota in a heartbeat and that’s the loyalty companies strive for and Toyota has achieved throughout the world.

Toyota is #1 in the car making world because they empower their employees to make their work better. GM, Ford, and Chrysler don’t even come close to creating the enjoyable work environment that Toyota has accomplished. Not every employee fits into their culture, but the ones that do thrive. Toyota doesn’t force their ways on the American employees. For instance, in Japan, Toyota has a morning exercise routine for all their employees. They tried to implement an exercise routine for the Americans and they resisted so Toyota canceled it.

Toyota’s Excellence

Toyota adapts to what the customer wants as well as the employees. There are many companies that try to do the same thing, but fail to make both happy. Toyota understands that they must create a mutually beneficial relationship with their employees, customers, and suppliers to continue their success. Toyota has built cars for over 50 years without an employee strike. They also work with suppliers to reduce costs when needed, looking for a solution that benefits both parties.

The book is well worth the read and shows the accomplishment a company with a long-term vision that doesn’t just focus on profits, but on the customer’s satisfaction.

The author David Magee was kind enough to answer a couple of questions. Tomorrow I will post the short interview.

The questions he answered was…

1. Toyota has a knack for encouraging their employees to stay engaged by empowering them to improve the company. Why do you think American companies struggle to implement such a process?

2. In your book you write that Toyota thinks about long term instead of short term gains. How do you think America companies can change their culture to embrace the long term value instead of quarter to quarter success?

So check back in tomorrow and see how he responded.

You can also check out his book at Amazon or go to his website.

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Check out the short interview here:

How Toyota Became #1 and a Peek into the Short Interview with the Author

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Creating social networks within your organization will improve communication. You’ll be encouraging a “village community” atmosphere instead of cliques (separate groups) who only visit each other when they need something.

Your company can try implementing a social friendship plan. You can do this by rotating various departments to help each other work on tasks or come up with new ideas and systems. If you want your company to foster relationships, you need to create a spider web of connections that help everyone support each other.

This is different from cross-training because you are trying to create new friendships and networks that will help get around some of the red tape as well as construct a friendlier atmosphere.

You don’t want people just hanging out like it’s a mini-party and dragging down the productivity of a department, so you’ll have to figure out the best way to encourage work. You’ll probably want to foster a Teacher-pupil relationship, having the “teacher” show the various tasks that go on throughout a day. You’ll probably be surprised by how much work gets done because the teacher wants to show the pupil how intriguing or intricate their job can be within those few hours.

Creating a Village Solution

Everyone in the company should rotate around the various departments, until everyone gets a larger idea of what the other department does throughout a day.

Small Company

If you have a small company with under ten people, then try a rotation of partnerships every Wednesday morning for an hour, until everyone has had a chance to work with each other. The best way to do this is to pick half the company to rotate to another person’s job. When their time is up then switch the rotation. It should take less than two months and only 9 hours of time. You may think that it will hurt your bottom line because it’s one less hour that they are working on their task, but you must think long-term. The health of a company depends on its relationships and if a small company can stay close-knit then you’ve helped create a team that will assist each other when they are in a bind.

Medium Size Company

If you have a medium size company, between 11 – 500 employees then try rotating between three of the closest related departments.

For instance:

• Put sales with marketing and production

  • Sales needs to understand the message that marketing is putting out to the public. They also need to understand where the product/service comes from so they know how to explain the features and benefits.

• Put marketing with upper management and sales

  • Marketing needs to understand the direction that management wants the products/services to go in to create their message. They also need to understand what is working and what isn’t by communicating with sales.

• Put accounting with creative people and marketing.

  • Accounting needs to understand what the creative people have in mind, so they can explain what the budget looks like for the upcoming projects. They also need to understand the money that marketing spends and what they can do to make their money stretch farther.

By putting the departments together that have the most to learn from one another then you can create open lines of communication. You can also do this with large companies, if you feel like it would benefit the organization. People want to work together for the greater good of the company. It’s up to management to make sure that it happens.

Large Company

If you have a large sized company (greater than 501 employees) then try rotating people within their own department. A Sales department can be filled with 1000 or more people. Everything is so specialized that they might not even know what one of their co-workers is accomplishing. It will foster learning and a little competition.

By rotating a department around you can open social networks, encouraging people who want to help each other achieve success.

Your company should encourage the employees from different departments to get to know each other. It will create friendships and loyalty toward each other. What should happen is a tighter knit group, willing to support each other instead of fighting for better position. You’ll have some grumps and kill-joys in every group, but after a short period of time communication will open.

Discuss Communication Project

The most important part about trying to implement this plan is to recap the project with the employees involved. Ask them what they liked and disliked. You can use this to adjust for the next time. When they see that you are trying to create a more open and friendlier atmosphere they will be more willing to participate.

Opening social networks should also improve company retention. People stay with a company when they feel they are a part of a family atmosphere. Over time, as the program progresses, the villagers will encourage change and adapt new ideas as they learn from each other.

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