By Ann McGee Cooper
You might wonder, is there a link between growing a leaderful culture and going all out for Halloween? And we would say that there are many opportunities within the fun of Halloween madness and growing a culture based on servant leadership. Here are a few:
1. When a company begins to plan fun such as a contest for best costumes, chili cook off, best decorated desserts, best overall department decorations, etc., the people who emerge as the most creative are very often those who may be overlooked as key leaders in the day-to-day business. Often a shy support person may shine as the enthusiastic organizer of key events.
2. You have to exercise good judgment when designing decorations and costumes. What is appropriate and what is not? What is safe and within bounds? Where do we find the budget or work within what we can generate creatively out of our own hard work and resourcefulness? All these questions and the experience that goes with them raise the social/emotional intelligence of skillful, thoughtful, constructive servant leadership.
3. Walls that divide people get quickly broken down when people are in costume having fun. Seeing someone in a surprising costume can make them more human as you go back into the work of daily work. There are fun stories to tell and shared memories that bond and grow trust.
4. Those of us who are a bit more timid about all this creative fun can be the admirers and audience for our partners who go all out. It can be really fun and surprising to see who comes as what on Halloween.
When three of us went to visit TDIndustries this Halloween we enjoyed seeing lots of amazing creativity such as Robin Newton in the Engineering/Coordination Group in Major Projects who had a blast decorating her workstation. We will never pass Robin’s desk again without remembering how endlessly creative she was on this fun holiday!
“We have used a number of coaches, facilitators, and consultants through many years at Bridgeway. Sadly, too many have been considered ‘the flavor of the month,’ a fad without staying power. Ann McGee-Cooper and Associates partners with us, focusing creatively and intentionally on a small number of clients to ensure servant leadership really ‘takes.’ I've never before experienced the breadth of team leaders saying ‘this is the best thing we've done.’ From helping create a powerful tool chest of communication tools to individual executive and team member coaching to specific problem-solving, AMCA has already added significant target in the first year.”