On Friday the 13th, I had a meeting planned with one of my favorite clients. I arrived excited to be there and was greeted by the team having a company lunch.
I asked my client, “What is the occasion?”
He replied, “Flood prevention.”
Oh…Wait! What?
Everyone on to the team laughed as they began to fill me in on the joke. Apparently, the company has a cultural tradition of having lunch on Friday the 13th. The one time that the company did not have a lunch on this notoriously superstitious date, their conference room flooded. So now, they NEVER miss having a company lunch on Friday the 13th…flood prevention!
During lunch, there was a lot of good natured ribbing of one another with a very comfortable banter where everyone was included. It was a lighthearted meal that showed how much of a team this group had become. And, I might add, highly productive and efficient.
Very often, leadership refers to the people who make up the workforce within the company as “human capital”. This reference has always struck me as an odd way to refer to the people, not just “humans”, who sell and produce, care for clients and are essentially the lifeblood of a company. They are so much more than “capital’, they are essential. This CEO is an excellent example of how our workforce should be referenced. He greets his employees by name, asks about their family members and supports whatever fun his people may be having. He never refers to his staff as “human capital”, FTE’s or “current head count”. Instead, he uses words like “team”, “crew” and “associates”, much higher titles of respect and acknowledgement.
If you want to change your company culture, begin with your language. Refer to your staff by name, not as “human capital.” Then celebrate the people who create success with the occasional company lunch, even to ward off superstition. Remember to laugh a lot and chime in on friendly banter. And if you happen to prevent your building from flooding, then congrats… 2 birds, one stone.