Take a note from some big companies and see what their doing. One of my favorite companies is Dove. They, in the last year or so, have started the Campaign for Real Beauty (http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com). It is a wonderful program that helps promote good self-esteem in young women. In this campaign they ask women around the world for stories about women who helped them and were good role models. Insurance companies do this all the time in their commercials. They'll share a story about how they helped a person or family in a tough situation. Drug stores are now jumping on the bandwagon. Their commercials are filled with stories about how their employees go the extra mile to help their customers.
Each of these examples are about companies taking stories from their customers and using them to draw in new customers. What if you used a similar technique for your organization internally?
Ask for stories from your employees! They can be sent anonymously or not. But the possibilities and potential could be endless.
- To promote good customer service, ask for stories on the topic and share successful customer service examples in meetings or in newsletters and memos.
- For just a good laugh, ask for funny stories (company related or not) that could be put in the newsletter. What a great way to send the message that is a fun place to work.
- If you are trying to reach certain goals, ask for stories about accomplishing goals that you could use in your staff meetings.
- And you could even ask about general stories of success about the company that you could use for employee recruitment!
Use you imagination. These stories will make your employees feel like a part of a team. It doesn't matter is their the person on the front lines or the executive in the corner office, everyone could share stories. People could learn about each other, learn about the company, and learn about the standards you expect them to meet. What a wonderful way to build morale and teamwork within your organization!
