Monday, October 20, 2008

Fish! Philosophy



Most people spend the majority of their time doing work and work-related activities, and yet, not many enjoyed that part of their life. Some endured their working days by focusing on the upcoming weekend and public holidays. I have the opportunity to conduct a series of training to 120 staff recently. 85% said they wanted to retire as early as they can because it is so stressful at work. Wow!!! Every time each one of them said 'retire', I was astounded to know how so many people can live through their life like that. And they're not even looking for another job!

As for me, I do enjoy my work but I love weekend and public holidays too :)

This book tells a story of Mary Jane, a widowed working mother of two who was sent to manage a department described as "toxic energy dump" by all the other departments in the organization. She was asked to turn the department around without much support from the top management. While walking during one of her lunch time to clear her mind, she stopped at a fish market. The lively fish market attracted the attention of so many people. With the help of a helpful fishmonger who gave four easy but valuable lessons, she roped in all her staff to change the place where they spent most of their life to a much better place.

The Fish! Philosophies are:
  1. Play

  2. Make Their Day

  3. Be There

  4. Choose Your Attitude
It is about choosing to have fun at work, to get everyone feeling involved, to give full undivided attention to co-workers and customers when you're communicating with them and to serve the customer well. They may not buy now but they might be our customer in future.

If the fish market can do it, why can't our organization? There are no "How To" section in the book but Mary Jane's way of getting everyone in the department to buy the idea of change (won't work without this!) and contribute to the change is imitable. Why not? Everyone is involved and have a finger in the pie. Then coming to work will not be such a chore and retire early will not be every staff ultimate dream.


Here's a video of the real Seattle's Pike Place Market where the author draws his inspiration for the book.

This post was originally published here.

Official Website of Fish!.

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