All Blog Posts (194)

So I work retail. I am in a customer service specialist position. I still have leads and assistant managers and managers above me. However no one likes working were we work. I want to change that i want to implement Fish! I have al lof these ideas! For play, we work in a sporting goods environment so playing is easy but to make it productive we could have the manager on duty at two times during the day take a…

Well it certainly has been an eventful year. A lot of unexpected and a lot of routine. It's the unexpected I wanted to touch on. How we react to what is in front of us says a lot about our personal integrity. How we react to the unexpected can be a "wow" moment or a "whoa" moment. It's how you manage yourself after it settles in. New norms and shifts in paradigms are always inevitable. Count your blessings. WOW!

We’ve Worn The Tape Out……

Lee’s Summit Parks and Recreation purchased the FISH! customer service training program a number of years ago to use as our training program for part-time staff. It quickly became the staple of our customer service training for all full-time staff, part-time staff and volunteers. In fact it is a core component of our “new employee” orientation. As a parks and recreation department we hire well over 300 part-time and seasonal staff each year and…

FISH! 

Actuant Electrical, Lumberton, NC

Lumberton operation’s is a production facility that manufactures Acme Transformer™ brand transformers. Prior to 2009, before the recession hit our industry and our company hard, we had a thriving work culture built on pride and sweat, and sustained by a talented and committed workforce loyal to the brand and Acme…

Harry Geist of ChartHouse Learning shares the following story:

My friend Bob once stopped at a fast-food restaurant and placed an order that came with a cookie. The server responded, “And would you like a cookie with that?” The next time Bob returned to the restaurant, he placed the same order, cookie included, with a different server. Again the server politely asked, “And would you like a cookie with that?”…

One of the important takeaways for leaders from the FISH! For Leaders video series is that their employee’s mistakes can actually be opportunities to build relationships and trust. After Kathleen Flynn, a location Director for PSA Healthcare, attended a three-day FISH! For Leaders retreat, she shared the following story:

“Late afternoon last Friday my administrative secretary came into my office and said, “You are going to be so mad. I am so sorry, but I dropped the mail…

When I was 19, I worked as a nurse’s aid at a large metropolitan hospital. My main job was to take patients back to their rooms after surgery. I often used the patient transport elevator outside of the surgical suites, and it was while waiting for the elevator that I first saw Evelyn.

Evelyn worked in the hospital laundry, and a couple of times a day she would…

In the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and his friend Sallah open a tomb containing the Ark. Peering into the darkness, Jones throws a torch into the tomb, revealing thousands of poisonous snakes. Jones and Sallah look at each other, terror in their eyes. “Asps. Very dangerous,” Sallah says. “You go first.”…

But it turned out the throwing was really an act of creativity. The way the market was laid out, when the guys made a sale, they had to walk 15 steps around the counter to get the fish and 15 steps back to ring up the purchase. One day, tired of walking, a fishmonger tossed the fish over the counter to a fellow employee. Eureka! A more…

“It fits our culture,” says Mike Serchia, director of human resources. “The whole philosophy has allowed our people to be more creative and have fun, and that seems to mix well with our customers.”

“Each store’s take on it is different,” Serchia says. “It’s not dictated from the home office. It’s presented as ‘Here’s…

"After" is a self-defeating word. It robs you of the present, and resigns you to wait without taking any action.

 

You convince yourself that life will be better after something: After you get a new job, after you get a better job, after you get more money, after you get out of debt, after the economy rebounds, after your stocks go back up, after you get that big order.

 

You convince yourself that life will be better after an event: After you get married, after you have a…

Mary Henderson of Providence Everett Health System tells this story to help nurses see new possibilities in their work through The FISH! Philosophy:

My mother lived to be 100 years old. When she was 92, she still lived in my house. One day, she fell on the stairs and was severely injured. My mother and I realized that she was too frail to live in my house any longer. After she had recovered from her injuries, my mother, my brother and I set out one morning, intent on visiting…

In my past work life, I was a cinematographer. Cinematographers make choices about lighting and angles that determine the image that the camera captures. I learned that before you can focus the camera, you have to focus yourself. When I did, it seemed like anywhere I pointed my camera, I got a great shot. I was in this magical flow. It’s a wonderful state to be in. Your senses are alive. You are ultra aware. You see things you don’t usually notice. 

I think we can all benefit…

In a recent newspaper column, David Brooks was discussing several ideas from social scientists on how to improve our thinking. One was that we need to become more aware that many beliefs we accept as “normal or inevitable” started as decisions that were logical at the time, and they continue to be accepted though the original reason no longer makes sense.

For example, Brooks notes, “typewriters used to jam if people typed too fast, so manufacturers designed a keyboard that…

I’ll never forget the day my seven-year-old son David and I stopped by my in-laws’ house to see their brand new car. It was a green two-door with new car smell and a temporary license taped to the back window. The car glistened in the sun as David hopped into the driver’s seat and pretended to…

Is there anyone out there affiliated with a Church or Temple that would be willing to share your contact information with a new FISH! fan, that would like insight from your industry?

Please contact Lynne at ChartHouse 800.811.5216 and I will forward it along. Thank you in advance