Blog Post: Good Morning!

A few years ago I had a client that was a very successful businesswoman and my friend. On many occasions we would do lunch or I would be at her office working on her QuickBooks setup. Something she told me has stuck with me and needs passed on.

She had an employee that was a super employee, performed extremely well and everyone liked him. All was fine except the employee never said “good morning” to anyone when he arrived. He went straight to his desk and started working. If the other employees said “good morning” he would respond the same, but never initiated it on his own. No one complained, but after a while it was noticeable and rubbing the owner the wrong way. The owner spoke to the employee pointing out his traditional style of arriving at work. The employee didn’t see anything wrong with it. The owner did. It became an office rule that no one was to start working until they had said “good morning” to the other employees. Heck, the other employees were already doing it, so the pigeon-holer sucked it up and became social.

This successful businesswoman learned years ago that it’s all about customer service; internally as well as externally. You wouldn’t repeatedly shop at an unfriendly store, would you? Or repeatedly go to a restaurant that had lousy customer service? It works the same internally, in the office. No job is so important that you can’t stop and smell the roses, be in the moment and say “good morning”. Ok, if you’re a fireman, I can understand that, or a life threatening situation, sure, but the average person isn’t experiencing that.

So I dare you to do a self checkup. Do you greet your fellow employees or do they come to you? Do you go straight to work or do you socialize a little? Would you like working with someone just like you? I’m not saying you should park yourself in someone else’s work area for hours. I am saying a little sugar goes a long way. What’s a couple of minutes going to hurt? Don’t you feel all warm and fuzzy when someone says “good morning” to you or asks “how are you”? Make them feel the same. Do random acts of kindness and let your light shine!