Be cheerful...

Here’s something to think about: when you’re feeling blue, smile at someone and their return smile will light up your day. Making eye contact and smiling is a sure-fire way to light up a room. Practice these simple techniques at work and light up your whole department. And get everyone doing it and you’ll light up your customer service. That’s how work should be. I’ve been reviewing job descriptions for a client this month and they were surprised when I added a section called Post Hire Expectations, among which I listed: 

·      Ability to: Maintain a positive attitude, be flexible and resilient, be dependable and flexible, and smile and make eye contact. 

We talk about these things but often forget to call them out in our company policies and practices. Look at your company handbook – anything in there about that? Look in your performance evaluations – do you talk about these. When you conduct an interview – do you practice these and see if the candidates will then practice them too? Like most leaders, you get engaged with your employees for all kinds of reasons – in those moments, be cheerful. Make smiling a part of your job today.

 

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 – 1910): American writer, humorist, and essayist known by the pen name Mark Twain. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced", with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature.