The culture of your business has a tremendous impact on employee and client longevity as well as the level of satisfaction both entities feel when having come in contact with your organization.  Having a clear vision of what you want your company culture to be and then having your management team embody that vision is the first step in getting your employees and clients to buy in.  Here at Winn Technology Group, we employee the fish philosophy.

“The FISH! Philosophy empowers employees to be more effective in any job. When a team lives the philosophy, they improve their culture and create better results. Organizations worldwide use the FISH! Philosophy to improve teamwork, customer service, employee engagement, retention, recognition and leadership.”

What Is The Fish Philosophy?

Choose Your Attitude – Attitude is a choice and making a conscious decision to be positive and uplifting at work will impact employee morale as well as your career path. There will surely be days when positivity doesn’t come easy, but as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Play – It’s important that employees enjoy their job in order to get their best effort. Make work fun with games and contests to break up the monotony. This can be as simple as starting funny email chains that circulate through the office.

Make Someone’s Day – Take the time out to encourage and comfort your coworkers. Small gestures like sending a friendly email, bringing in snacks for the team or just being there for someone to talk to can go a long way towards creating a great company culture.

Be Present – Being present doesn’t only mean showing up to work, although that is a big part of it. It also includes being engaged, energetic and productive while you’re on the clock. When a healthy culture is in place you will experience lower absenteeism rates and turnover, which saves your company money.

Some Fun Ideas To Employ The Fish Philosophy:

Monte Carlo Mondays: Every once in a while, our owner will bust out the casino games and we all gather in the center of the office for poker, black jack and craps. This gives everyone a chance to relax, socialize with each other and get to know our newest team members.

Dress Up Days: Funny hat day and other dress up days are a staple here at Winn. It’s hard to get upset when you’re working next to someone dressed in goofy garb. We even hold contests to pick the best dressed, which provides healthy competition and camaraderie.

Holiday Parties: If you’ve ever visited Winn Technology Group during the holidays, you know we have some serious chefs working here in our little marketing company. These parties are a chance for employees to get together and show off their cooking skills. It’s also important to remember that not everyone has a family to spend the holidays with, and these company parties can give a serious boost to those who don’t.

Company Meetings: Our owner basically uses our company meetings as an excuse for a party. They are very informational and let us know the state and direction of the company, but they always have a fun twist. Whether it’s a puppet show, musical performance or a movie, our company meetings are a far cry from your typical grueling corporate get-together.

Fun Emails: Our IT guy has quite the sense of humor and he lets us know every day with his quirky emails. They include memes related to our industry as well as jokes and animal pictures to brighten our day. We also share interesting and funny work experiences via email to get everyone involved. This is just another small piece of building a great company culture.

Fish Of The Month/Year: Our employee of the month/year is named the Fish Of The Month/Year and goes to the individual that best exemplifies the Fish Philosophy. Everyone in the company has a vote and the winner gets some serious perks including cash and a prime parking spot for that month.

Charitable Donations: There are several different ways that Winn gives back to the community including food drives, back to school fundraisers and participating in the Relay For Life. These initiatives and events bring our company together for a worthy cause and helps to improve employee relations. From a business standpoint these efforts have a positive impact on our reputation within the local community.

All of these efforts improve our culture and ultimately allow us to provide a better service. The trickledown effect this has on our customers is always positive.

Each time we’re able to improve a customer’s day, it makes our day. Knowing that we have, either single-handedly or as a team, made a client’s day just a bit better means everything to us. It’s proof that every step we take matters. We affect more than just ourselves and our immediate surroundings. We make decisions that ripple out and touch everyone we come in contact with, like a school of fish.