Sunday, July 24, 2011

Lean Cupcakes

A couple weeks ago, one of our teams was trying to adapt to a new system.  They knew it would help but it was a change in a long-established routine.  

Our engineer in charge came up with a good idea.  Yes, she talked with them with the usual bromides: "You guys can get this!"  "It'll make your jobs easier, once you get the hang!"  "Don't worry about making mistakes, this is just a trial period."   She needed to say that.  And she knew she could connect as a person besides connecting as a technical expert.

She brought in cupcakes. 

As a way of saying thanks, all the reminder signs had images of cupcakes on them.  The chatter was "Hey, we'll get this new system started and then there are cupcakes at break time."  There was a bounce in the step, a sense of fun, a sense of "play", even though the task at hand was quite serious. 

We don't have to be stuffy.  We can have fun.  And, boy, we often need to have some fun.

Go find some cupcakes, as you keep learning.


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