{"id":353,"date":"2018-01-08T18:18:39","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T18:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danielvlopes238992071.wordpress.com\/2018\/01\/08\/how-cereal-improves-employee-engagement\/"},"modified":"2023-02-09T20:08:46","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T04:08:46","slug":"how-cereal-improves-employee-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2018\/01\/08\/how-cereal-improves-employee-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"How cereal improves employee engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As unlikely as it sounds, breakfast cereal can be the ultimate team-builder and way to boost your team\u2019s morale.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The executive director of a prominent nonprofit called iMentor Chicago reached out to me the other week. Her name is Halleemah Nash<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA question I asked my team a few months ago really caught me off guard,\u201d Nash shared with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought it was honestly kind of a silly question\u200a\u2014\u200asomething I\u2019d never answer myself, personally. But I thought, \u2018Oh what the heck, let\u2019s ask it and see what happens.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question was:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your favorite breakfast cereal?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She asked this question to her staff, expecting nothing much to come of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposite happened. Almost every single person on her staff responded\u200a\u2014\u200aenthusiastically, humorously. It got the whole office talking, laughing, joking with one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nash took notice. She saw the collegiality it spurred, and wanted to encourage that positive spirit even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once a month, she decided to plan a \u201cCereal Day,\u201d when she\u2019d bring in everyone\u2019s favorite cereal. She had \u201cCereal Day\u201d take place on the day of her team\u2019s monthly strategic planning meeting\u200a\u2014\u200ano doubt a tough, intense day for the staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her staff absolutely loved it. Nash was stunned. \u201cWho knew that cereal would get people pumped for a strategic planning conversation,\u201d she wrote to me candidly in an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it\u2019s endearing to think that breakfast cereal is \u201cthe thing\u201d that flips a switch for a team\u2019s employee engagement, there\u2019s something deeper going on here. Nash\u2019s \u201cCereal Day\u201d works as a means to boost her team\u2019s morale for specific reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what we can all learn from it as leaders:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great leaders bring levity to a team, not just the load of work.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s be real: Work feels serious a majority of the time. Everyone\u2019s busy, there are deadlines flying around, a thousand decisions to be made\u200a\u2014\u200ait\u2019s easy to get your head stuck in the weeds of work. We all need a break, at some point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nash understands this, and so intentionally chose her strategic planning meeting day as the day to hold \u201cCereal Day,\u201d as a result. She knew how in moments of stress or intensity, people do better work when they can step away, have a laugh, and just lighten up a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a leader, yes, it\u2019s your job to press the gas pedal to make sure folks are focused. But you also want to give people permission to be people<\/em>\u200a\u2014\u200ato have fun, be silly, be expressive. Don\u2019t get frustrated if you notice your team members cracking jokes during a meeting. Don\u2019t be bitter when an employee takes an extra long lunch with a co-worker. Take it as a sign that they might need that levity. Like Nash, if there is a particularly tense time of year, use it as an opportunity to bring lightness to that meeting or season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great leaders find a way to connect everyone, not just some.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCereal Day\u201d was effective at bringing together Nash\u2019s team because, frankly, it\u2019s unlike a lot of other team-bonding events: It involved everyone<\/em>. Think about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a happy hour, typically the same folks congregate and talk to one another. During a one-on-one coffee conversation, you only get to know that one particular person. It\u2019s rare to have moments in the company where everyone gets to interact with everyone else\u200a\u2014\u200abut that\u2019s what \u201cCereal Day\u201d did. Nash\u2019s \u201cCereal Day\u201d is the antidote to the silos that pop up in organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take an honest look at your own company\u2019s current team-bonding events and see if they\u2019re a common touch point for everyone, or just for some. You may be accidentally reinforcing the silos in your company you\u2019re working so hard to dissolve. You may have to get creative\u200a\u2014\u200aor even better, ask your employees about their personal tastes and interests\u200a\u2014\u200aso you can tailor company outings, events, and activities to be a shared, common touch point for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if it\u2019s about breakfast cereal\u200a\u2014\u200athe fact that it\u2019s something everyone<\/em> can participate is what matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Whether you try to engage your employees as a leader with cereal or not, that\u2019s totally up to you. But \u201cCereal Day\u201d is an important reminder for us as leaders that employee engagement isn\u2019t just about the big, grand gestures of extending vacation time or big pay raises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True employee engagement is about caring enough to ask even the seemingly small, trivial questions to your team\u200a\u2014\u200aand paying close attention to the answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was originally published for <\/em>Inc.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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