Customers are attracted to spirited people! And, today’s customers are frustrated with indifferent service—not bad service, just boring, comatose service. They witness service people sleep walking through the workday. And, as they guard their ever diminishing dollar, employee spirit is one component of value they carefully watch. When they witness employees who act like there is no light on inside they are fast to flee with their funds.
Smart organizations nurture spirit. It is not about organizational loyalty anymore. We know the days of employees saluting the company flag are long gone. It is about employees showing aliveness and enthusiasm while at work. Most organizations today would rather have a fired up employee for a couple of years than endure an uninspired one who stays for the gold watch.
However, the very nature of spirit is to be unpredictable and untidy. The heart is more unruly than the head. And, “organization” can become the enemy of spirit. While there must be a balance between enthusiasm and efficiency, the rational side of enterprise has always had the upper hand. Are logical processes rendering your employees apathetically automatic? If mechanical wins over inventive and robotic replaces zealous, then the excitement customers adore will be wrung out of the organization. Where are the spirit leeches in your organization? How can they be exorcised?