What to do after showing the FISH! film: Unite your team:  When the FISH! film has ended, the leader must follow up. The worst thing a leader could do - is nothing. The leader must not do nothing. Just showing the film leads to nothing. Well, nothing but confusion. Every employee can with their own eyes see that the fishmongers are having a wonderful working environment, with four great values or practices. But what should the employee do about that - alone? Things will only happen when employees are united. The leader is in a position to unite them. The leader must consider the film (before showing it) as a beginning. A new beginning. A refreshing start. A film about a very productive service culture. A film about teamwork and trust, retention and recruitment, innovation and creativity, boosting engagement and morale. What is your aim? What will be your focus? Pick one - not all of them. After showing the film the leader must inspire employees to internalize the messages in the fi...

Read this guide before your first FISH! presentation:  Vital conversations that transforms your business When presenting The FISH! Philosophy, you are about to open the door to something potentially powerful. Therefore, it is important how you present FISH! This guide suggests a simple, yet very effective step-by-step method that you can use when inviting to and presenting FISH! The method involves participants talking about how FISH! can make a positive difference in their job – and inspire them to make this difference. Whether you are a seasoned facilitator or you have never facilitated before, this guide contains suggestions for a FISH! presentation of 75 to 90 minutes. This is a solid foundation for your team to build a long lasting FISH! culture. With this Quick Guide you have 5 simple steps to get started: Insights into introducing FISH! Your preparation before the first presentation Invitation to participants for the first FISH! presentation Facilitating the first FISH! pres...

Start your weekly meeting in a delicious way:  Well begun is half done When you are the meeting leader, you probably think that it is you who has to speak most of the time. You shouldn't. Instead, you must be listening and asking questions most of the time. It is popularly said that he who talks a lot dominates. But he who asks a lot rules. The danger, of course, is that your participants will say most things and decide everything. Nah no. It is not like that. Are you giving up your power? No, neither. You just have to keep calm. You manage abundantly. Now you have to involve. And here are 12 involvement tips. It is for certain that when the meeting is boring, no one hears anything, learns nothing, gets smarter about anything. They all sit and sleep inside. They sleep with their eyes open. Their thoughts are elsewhere. They are not in your conference room. Therefore, try one or more of these tips: 1. Ask your participants to note the topic or issues that, in their opinion, are the ...

How to pat everyone on your team:  Is it really necessary to praise each other at work? I have a story that I would very much like to tell you. A cause I am passionate about. A matter that occupies me most of my waking hours. At the same time, it is an experience that is about you and your employees being able to achieve extraordinary results when you are all involved in creating the team culture you really want. Unhappy employees Being a consultant, I hear about unhappy managers and stressed employees daily. Employees are underinformed. They are overloaded with too many and too difficult tasks. They are stressed. They are overloaded. They get no help. They get confused. They get sick. It can hardly be called well-being and teamwork in year 2022. You can't be like that to the most important people you have at work. It is both hideous, disrespectful and mediocre. It hardly matches the company's values ​​either. The colleagues who remain fear that they may be subjected to the sam...

It is not possible to choose your own attitude, when everything goes wrong at work:  This story begins with a young roofer who shows up for work early in the morning. Cold rain is planing down from gray clouds. The roofer would like to be somewhere else entirely, but he has a job to do. While the icy raindrops cut his cheeks, he turns his face up to the clouds, grinning: 'Is that all you have to offer? Spit it out!' The roofer understands that the 'choice' is his. By 'choice' means that he himself is responsible for the way he reacts in relation to what life offers him in his path. No one else can choose for him. 'You have to choose where you want to be as soon as you get up in the morning,' says Bear, one of the fishmongers at Pike Place Fish. 'I make a conscious choice every day.' Trapped in an unpleasant situation We often feel like prisoners in an unpleasant or stressful situation and our reaction shows it: 'I can not help it! I look like...

Why not be serious at all times?:  What is PLAY? If you think along the lines of learning, experimentation or interaction, then it makes sense. Wherever creativity flourishes, there is play going on. We all learn as we did when we were children - by playing with ideas. We learn by setting aside the idea that we are limited. We open our eyes. Here are 3 ways to relate to PLAY when we are at work: First option: PLAY without working The individual employee or the group can step away from the tasks and start PLAYING. This is what happens when you step out onto the lawn and start a game of football, or go out onto the walkway and PLAY chair racing. It is fun. It gives energy. Those who want to join will have red cheeks. The community sparkles. If the boss allows it, it is a great way to team build, to focus, to boost enthusiasm and a number of other skills. The boss and the employees know that it costs money. Because while the PLAY is going on, we don't solve any of the tasks. We don...

Team tools must be both fun and serious:  I found this pencil sharpener the other day. It is not for pencils but for carrots. This tool is both fun and serious. You can peel the carrot and you can sharpen the carrot. But why sharpen a carrot? Well. Just for the fun. The slices you sharpen off you can eat. Both functions are working very well. Exactly the same expectations you may have to a team tools. It must be both serious and fun. In Copenhagen, Denmark you can walk into TIVOLI - a huge and ancient amusement parc. TIVOLI opened in the year 1843. If you read TIVOLI backwards it says I LOV' IT.  TIVOLI is serious in so many ways (safety first, traditions, good looking parc from all angels, well kept, moneymaking) and fun in so many ways (scary, fun for all ages, concerts). This is why a number of museums have used the term 'Tivolization' - where the customer experience is both fun and serious. You learn something while you're having fun. Laugh and learn.  The very same...

Formulate team interaction rules:  From time to time, the leader can formulate some interaction rules for the group or team. The team leader does not have to come with all the rules - fully formulated and laminated - just ready to hang on the wall. A list of 'sensible' interaction rules' can be a good starting point. The list can be used to check off. Which of these rules do we want here with us? When will they come into force. And what will happen if you do not comply with them? Explain that conversations about the group's way of working together can become emotional. Therefore, it is vitally important that everyone dares to say what they think and dare to mean what they say. Everyone must be safe when the collaboration is easy and unproblematic, as well as when it all becomes difficult and challenging. For example, when the team has to find new solutions, it can be difficult to talk together properly. Everyone must be aware of the good tone, many bad and useless ideas...

The times are full of worries, uncertainty and disturbances. And we don't know for how long: How can we support each other as a community and as a society? Here are a few FISH! philosophical thoughts that you might be able to use. BE THERE  Sometimes we get worried when we communicate more via technology than face to face. Now the situation is completely different. Now our smartphones, tablets and PCs are red hot. The recommendation is clear. Talk to family, to friends, to customers. Contact those you haven't spoken to in a while. Ask how they are doing. Encourage them to talk. When they talk, listen carefully. It is especially important to reach out to people who live alone. They need your ear and your voice and your concern. MAKE THEIR DAY This is not the time for a surprise party with 100 guests. But there are other ways you can show your interest and attention. When you are in the supermarket, you must keep a distance of 2 meters - with a smile. Show that you are interested...

Are you absolutely certain?: When another person asserts something that sounds like it is enacted by law, it is called 'stubbornness'  and 'slanted certainty'. Very few people enjoy encountering bias. In fact, I would argue (with some alacrity) that one can react to skewed confidence, stubbornness and alacrity in 3 ways: You can go with it (accept it and agree with it). You can go against it (- with an equally steep claim). You can escape from it (to avoid more steeps). An unmistakable statement Sometimes the bias can be comical. Then it's okay to laugh at it, for example: 'I saw an episode of Doc Martin the other day. Clint Eastwood starred in a minor role. You might not spot him, but you can rely on me.' or In reality, we drive the wrong way into a roundabout. We should turn left if we were to do it correctly. None of these examples are seriously dangerous or catastrophic. They are just verbal assertions that are unwaveringly certain and also a little ann...

In this article I will describe an age old paradox - the individual against the community. You will encounter a new and surprising message. Hold your horses.   You and me and all of us The situation is that everything is part of something bigger. A drop of water is part of a lake. An ice crystal is part of an ice cream cake. A resident is part of a residential area. Five dollars is part of a monthly salary. An employee is part of a team. A center forward is part of Real Madrid. A singing voice is part of a choir. Seven examples that are clear and understandable. But even so, they can be deeply complicated when the harmony, the balance, the power, the agreements or the balance of power shift. What exactly is a community? A community is a group of people who are connected by something they have in common, something they agree on, something they have the same point of view on or, for example, something that interests them. Community can also be togetherness. In all communities, both i...

How to design a pep talk plus bonus: The one-minute pep talk generator for leaders:  Follow this recipe and deliver a pep talk Prepare your total pep talk - from start to finish. Follow the link and choose with sincerity from the 3 lists of Proclamations, Adjectives, and Team Descriptions. Once you have delivered your prelude, you can elaborate on it: 'When I choose the word (adjective)… it is because… and with the team description… I want to emphasize the importance of us being…'  With this 'generator' you have 15,625 different options for preludes. You can then choose to include one or more of the following 7 ingredients. The order of the ingredients is arbitrary. Remember to explain why you have called your team in:  □ Say something about the original reason What did originally set it in motion? What was the vision? What was the target?  □ Say something about the importance of the group Without YOU we will never succeed. Which competencies, experiences and skills ...

But what is a democratic conversation really?:  When it comes to describing what a democratic conversation is, it can very easily become both nerdy and long-winded. The article here should be read by everyone and especially those who geek out on conversations, examine them from all angles and evaluate them individually and compare them to other selected conversations. A. A place to start might be to begin by delineating what a democratic conversation is and is not. For example, it is not a soliloquy, a monologue, a lecture, a one man show, a TV programme, a film, an opera, a play, a radio newspaper. These one-way soliloquies do not allow for dialogue and feedback. B. A conversation takes place while you are fairly close to each other, in the same room, in the same car, each on his own phone. C. A conversation consists of strings of words that both or all understand. The words are pronounced clearly and unambiguously and without too many repetitions. D. A conversation includes sound...

Enjoy a one hour workshop full of active learning:  Try out a handfull of dialogue-focused tools (Thumball, picture cards, dialogue cards, coaching carpet) with your team. Book a one-hour workshop with Michael Meinhardt. He will guide you and your team through various methods and tools and involve everyone for weeks to come. A tool must be tested before a manager or a teacher can achieve a valuable benefit. Some tools are easier than others to invite to to introduce to present to involve in to let the participants use to facilitate  to review to end on a high note. Therefore, you are invited to try 4 great team tools in 60 minutes - either in your team or in your management group. The focus is on achieving a useful dialogue with the tools Thumball (icebreaker ball), picture cards (Dialoogle), dialogue cards (Icebreaker) and The Team Coaching Carpet. The trial trip with these 4 tools will be combined with several different methods for each tool. Order this workshop 'Testdrive w...

DIY group-workshop ‘Safe at work’:  When you are at work, at a leisure activity, with family and friends or in a place where you have to work with several people, it is paramount that there is a sense of security so that the words that are said and the body language that is used , does not create fear but rather a psychological safety. It is important that we humans can act together and work in practical harmony. So everyone dares to say what they mean, think and feel. All for the benefit of our lives and our development, and the projects we work with and the solutions we try to find. Now you can present your team to an internal workshop: Talk, investigate and decide The best technology out there is talking about it. Talk about fear. Talk about violation. Talk about bullying. Then everyone understands the whole thing much better. We will listen to each other. We will examine the contents and ingredients. We get closer to the words and their effect. And from this point, on a more in...

Bring this ball to your next meeting and throw it:  This is how it works: One throws the ball. Another catches it and reacts to the panel under the thumb. That's why it's called Thumball. Facilitation Tip 1: Explain ... To develop as a team, the group sometimes needs to step back and reflect on their relationships, their communication and their way of working together. Tailor your Thumball activity to meet your needs: Option 1: Have participants respond to the panel under their thumb, then throw the ball to the next person. Option 2: After the first participant has reacted to the panel other participants can also share their reactions or discuss how they can work together more effectively. Facilitation Tip 2: Formulate interaction rules Explain that conversations about the group's way of working together can become emotional. The goal of the Thumball activity is to raise the important questions and have the necessary conversations in a positive environment. In order for e...

The leader can create chaos or create order:  It is actually so true. It is entirely up to the leader whether she or he wants to create chaos (and enjoy asynchronous employees) or wants to create dynamism (by synchronizing the whole group). It may sound both technical and difficult. But just read on. It's as easy as scratching your neck. A few years ago I arrived for a workshop at a major American education fair. In the doorway stood a friendly man with a basket over one arm. He welcomed me and offered me some of the contents of the basket. What he offered me was something as strange as a rhythm egg. I accepted it and entered the room where approx. 250 people were already seated. They all sat and shook the rhythm egg in the same way and in the same rhythm. It actually sounded pretty amazing. I sat down and 'rhythmed' along. Only several years later did I find out what it was I was a part of and what significance the rhythm egg had on the workshop, on the participants and on...

Are you our new Head of Motivation?:  Your 'chair' is brand new. You will report directly to me. I am the company's managing director. You will be tasked with managing engagement in our company. By that I mean that all managers and all employees are interested in the job and are committed to doing it. Your new title will be 'Head of Motivation'. Your task will be to keep track of the commitment of all our managers and employees. They have earned it. And it's not something I just write for fun. I mean it so emphatically that you must follow the commitment so closely that we know the level on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Then nothing gets behind us. Our employees must be committed every day and all day. You will monitor this and alert the managers so that they can motivate timely and properly. Let me start with a few examples. First, example #1 One Saturday I stood in a queue at a checkout in a supermarket. The belt was full of goods. The front customer had ...