Are we having fun yet?

At the AIM Conference in April of 2008 I attended the keynote speech delivered by Bob Parsons who leads the quirky team at GoDaddy.com. He closed his interesting, and at times alarming speech, with a quote from his younger brother (forgive me, he did not mention his brother's actual name). “We are not here for a long time, we are here for a good time.”

Many of us can find the fun in our personal lives, but what about our professional lives?

In the past year, my speaking schedule featured presentations at a number of company retreats. In fact, I checked my past calendars to discover that in the first 5 months of 2008 I spoke at more company retreats than I did in any other year since I began speaking 10 years ago! I have joined companies for beach get a ways, rock star parties, award events, mountain retreats, island fun and even a Mexican corporate vacation.

Sandwiched between the reports of job losses and foreclosures on the the morning news, there was a story about a study that was done on cows. The researchers discovered that cows that were verbally greeted each morning, stroked on their faces, and spoken to over and over again in a very positive tone, produced more milk than cows that were not spoken to or touched. Do you think this is true for humans? I do. The only problem is that in the work place, if you stroke a team member you will probably be sued! So give them the well deserved pat on the back instead and use your positive tone when speaking to your team. During this time, you should see people enjoying the fun and getting more work done.

While speaking at company retreats, I’ve seen smiles on faces and more company loyalty that seems to have been missing over the past few years. Bravo property management companies! Managing an apartment community is hard work in this economy and often a thankless job. Your team members feel a lot better about the job they are doing when rewarded with something fun to look forward to. It may seem like an easy event to cut out of your budget, but it could end up costing you too much. Let’s keep this positive fun trend going, and if you need a speaker for your retreat, call me at (480)888-5028! I promise to add to the fun with my humor and enthusiasm. And, we will get leasing rolling again in a slow economy.