Parables, McDonald's, Teamwork, Workplace Incentives, Goals and Objectives, "Motivational Interviewing"
The Parable of the Limo . McDonald's
The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) certainly gives credence to understanding how we all need incentives in life, whether in the worldly or spiritual realms.
A few years ago, while I was managing a home care agency that certainly emphasized holistic, quality and caring for elders, we incorporated this parable message for all staff. And we had financial growth goals as any business needs to have for growth in a competitive market.
Having been given free rein by the company owner to implement creative incentives to enhance our staff in working together as a team, we would do neat things to encourage this. Every day, we would start with a brief "Huddle Meeting" - to use a football concept, so that everyone was on the same page in our work efforts.
With much previous experience in all types of human services' organizations, I certainly did not want to just do another dreaded "meeting," which can sometimes simply be a waste of time. So I made these "Stand-Up" meetings, so everyone would not get too comfortable sitting and could only give time limited input of essentials.
And we would do monthly and other interval lunches for strategic planning updates to monitor how our team annual planning was doing. If needed, we would make minor or major changes as needed.
So besides all the internal and external "checks and balances" we were doing to keep management and staff on path to common goals, we would post on newsprint for all staff to see the ongoing progress of our efforts.
Since I wasn't a Geek, the owner had to help me wallpaper and screen save all the staff's computers with the financial growth goals that we were all tracking.
Well lo and behold, after 6 months, we met and exceeded the financial goals, which meant that the owner had to treat all of us to a nice dinner that he would arrange for.
What the staff didn't know was that the owner and I secretly were arranging for a surprise dinner and much more.
Behind the scenes, we contacted our staff's families to let them know that we had a real treat in store for the staff. Also, the 5:30 PM Meeting/Dinner was going to last till about 10 PM.
So after pretending to do a brief Victory meeting and then assigning staff for carpooling to Copeland's, all of us walked outside the office to an awaiting limousine!
Since one of our on-call staff had trouble getting through traffic to the meeting, we told her we'd pick her up where she could park, which happened to be the McDonald's on Essen Lane.
Well, here we were inching down Essen Lane at rush hour. Realizing that it would be almost impossible to cross over lanes to pick her up, I got out of the limo, in the middle of Essen, and escorted her to the limo, and we were off to Copeland's.
After a great meal, the limo took all of us to a Salon where manicures, pedicures and massages were rendered to our staff as we sipped wine, champagne and had snacks.
Everyone had a great time and we looked forward to new work adventures.
Like the parable story, the 10 talents were multiplied and not just buried in the ground. The same applies to our spiritual lives.
Photo: Michael Davis, 08/01/2007
Keith John Paul Horcasitas, LCSW, MHA
MHA - University of St. Francis 1998
MSW - San Diego State University 1984
Jesuit Volunteer Corps, 1981 - 1982
Owner, Prayer Care Elder Assessment Ministry and I & R Outreach
1133 Knollhaven Drive
BRLA 70810
Khorcasitas.yahoo.com
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The Parable of the Limo . McDonald's
