Don’t Be a Betty
Imagine…the perfect workplace. Seriously, can you? Everybody gets along all of the time and they work their butts off for the team. Colleagues, bosses, line people, client facing, etc. They never have a beef with each other. Is it a dream, is it a nightmare, is it even possible?
The answer is yes. It is possible and it plausible and there is one woman that can make it happen.
Betty.
Who’s Betty?
Good question, I was hoping you would be curious.
Once upon a time there was a beautiful, booming business at the beach. Fun was to be found around every corner in this whimsical and magical land. One need not even wear attire upon their feet to work as the floor was 35 tons of sand. That’s right, sand between their toes.
One particularly fine morning at “Bring it to Breakfast” the fair team found themselves in a serious discussion. “Bring it to Breakfast” was a platform that allowed for the airing of grievances. Important discussions happened during said events as it allowed for open, group conversation. The team preferred this outlet, as it removed the burden that sometimes occurred during one on one chats.
The topics were not always important, but the results were.
How can we communicate without being mean or hurtful? What information is important? What if I my colleagues aren’t receptive to my issue or ideas? How do we know that everybody received our message?
Finally, where do we keep track of all of this “information”?, asked the group. We want to ensure that everybody hears what we have to say.
Time ticked on as the brainstorming kicked into gear. We decided that we would use a journal; yes, pen and paper. And grievances would be blamed on Betty.
Why Betty? That was actually the easy part. Surf Betty’s from the ‘50’s movies (which were shown in the gallery) exemplified uselessness. Surf Betty’s didn’t do anything.
The team’s only task…write your idea or gripe when it happens and read the journal upon arrival.
The gripes were blamed on Betty. “Blame it on Betty” became a game. It was fun to play and it completely changed the dynamic of any Human Resources issues that arose and why would that be? The entire team wrote in suggestions for the issue. You don’t get better collaboration than that.
The lesson?
“Don’t be a Betty”.
Fast forward, today. Why is the Ford F-250 tow vehicle named Betty?
Betty has evolved and she has: proven reliability, solves problems, works hard and she is darn sexy.
