On my first day at Pro Motion I was baptized into a business culture that caught me a little off-guard. I was thrown into a multitude of meetings and was downloaded on just about every aspect of the company by a different employee every half-hour or so. And then it happened … at 2:42 p.m. an old-fashioned alarm clock went off in the center of the building. Everyone put down what they were working on and congregated in our Mullet Room (think comfy family room). One by one every employee took the opportunity to explain what they were spending their day working on. Some discussed meetings, others discussed client struggles, and a few just talked about personal issues.
Why do we do this I wondered?
It wasn’t until a couple of weeks later that it hit me. This 20-minute break allows us to be more focused and refreshed in our work. It falls about 2/3 of the way through the day which allows us to evaluate what we have done with the first part of the day and what we can focus on and wrap-up during the second part of the day. It gives some a sounding board to discuss problems or hurdles they are facing at work which many times is answered by a co-worker that has dealt with a similar problem in the past. And, some use it as an opportunity to share program achievements and milestones.
This isn’t the only thing that happens at Pro Motion that defines our culture – we also have a “4:04” happy hour every Friday, a quarterly team-building exercise, unique birthday celebrations, Fall Festivus, recycling programs, personal development plans, kid’s day at work, and many others. When you put these all together, you don’t just get the Pro Motion culture, you get ownership of the culture by the employees due to the fact that all of these elements have been created and implemented by the employees.
Do your office a favor…Go pick-up an alarm clock and set it.