Customized team building training in Denver – give ’em the pickle!

We create customized team building training in Denver and beyond.

Years ago I designed a 9-day training for supervisors, that included customer service training. You see, everyone has customers, both internal and external. The battle cry was “Give ’em the pickle!”

Let me explain. I grew up near Seattle where we had Farrell’s restaurants. Everyone loved Farrell, and Bob Farrell, the founder, went on to create some program materials for customer service. He has a great story to tell, but the bottom line is that one of his servers wanted to charge a customer for an extra pickle and Bob said, just give ’em the pickle!!

So, give ’em the pickle means – what can you do that is above and beyond the norm to make your workplace extraordinary. If you think about your co-workers as your internal customers, then it is up to each person to create an extraordinary environment.

Years ago I did a team building training for Google in their California offices. Boy, did they have the pickle down! The thing I most remember is they employed a sushi chef to custom make sushi for their employees – for FREE! OK, so maybe not every company is going to do that – but there ARE things you can do.

I walked into the corporate offices of a client I just started working with last week and I was greeted, not by the receptionist, but a canine ambassador!  One of the pickles this organization gives their employees is that they can bring their dogs to work – there were six dogs in that office!

So, what can you do? No matter what your position in the company is, you can work to “give ‘em the pickle.” Some organizations I have worked with have implemented “buddy kudos”. When someone sees someone do something extraordinary they can give them a gift card. Even a $5 gift card is a pickle, and it empowers employees to watch for what IS working.

What would be a great “pickle” for your organization? Brainstorm with your team and see what you can come up with. It takes everyone to make an extraordinary workplace.

We are here to help with customized team building training in Denver. Let us know how we can support your team in 2015!

For your growth,

Jeannie Gunter, MA, President

303 653-3097

Jeannie works with a wide variety of clients to help them increase their team effectiveness and leadership capacity in their teams. She has worked both nationally and internationally as an organizational consultant, facilitator, speaker and wilderness guide.

With a strong background in group dynamics, over the past 20 years Jeannie has guided hundreds of teams in a wide variety of organizations to successful outcomes in team, personal and professional development.