Like a Pavlovian dog, any time I enter into Trader Joe’s, I make my way to the free sample counter to see what delicacy they are handing out to the masses. Today was no different, and the savory treat I devoured was a melted cheese pretzel.
After washing the pretzel down with another sample of fresh squeezed orange juice, I smiled at the older lady serving everyone and said, “Thank you.” She smiled back, and after a short pause said, “You know what? I’ve been here for 90 minutes, and you’re the first person to say that to me.”
“Really?” I shockingly replied.
“Yeah. I don’t know why, but you were the first one.” She said with an inquisitive look.
“Well, glad I did. Humans need humans.” I smiled and walked away, still pondering the situation.
Ever since my visit to The Apprentice School in Virginia, I’ve been conscious of the value Micro-Actions have on creating a strong culture of engagement within a community. Even though Micro-Actions require almost zero resources, my experience at Trader Joe’s reminded me how rare even a Micro-Action such as saying, “Thank You.” can be.
If you sense that Micro-Actions aren’t common with your campus leaders, here are four ideas to engrain the idea into your team’s daily habits:
1) Include a “Micro-Action” praise section into your weekly meeting/email and praise a team member for doing something throughout the week.
2) Create a mini competition board to track each team member’s micro-actions throughout a set time period and have a prize for the winner at the end.
3) Build the idea of Micro-Actions into your team’s core values. A core value of Swift Kick is to “Raise The Tide” which means we are always looking around us to create ways in which we can help others, because together we win.
4) Assign someone on the team to be the Micro-Actions Captain, and have them come up with weekly Micro-Actions the whole team is challenged to do.
While big, elaborate events are nice and can provide a lot of value to the campus, don’t forget about the little things and how something as simple as a “Thank You” can be more effective towards building a strong culture of engagement where everyone student feels welcomed, connected and engaged.
