A Mariner's
Tale
Gather 'Round and Hear
About a Middle Manager Trying to Keep Her Department From
Sinking
Summary:
Wouldn't it be great if work was like pre-school? All
you would have to do is a little coloring and then head
outside to play for a while before naptime. Well, that's
how it is at one Seattle company-all work and all
play.
At Pike Place fish Market, employees are
instructed to play with their food. By including their
customers in their fun while efficiently serving up the
best fish Seattle has to offer, Pike Place has found a
formula for success. So why isn't your company having
this much fun?
According to Stephen Lundin, you should, and
could! Just follow the four fundamental steps created by
the fish market. So, check it out-see how your workplace
could also be your play place!
This is the
story of Mary Jane Ramirez, a departmental manager for a
fictitious company, First Guarantee, in Seattle. Ramirez
is handed a job no one would envy-she's put in charge of
the notorious third floor. The "third," as they are
called (one of the more pleasant nicknames. Another is
"toxic energy dump"), is a behind-the-scenes paperwork
processing division of this financial services giant.
Within the first month of her new job, Mary Jane finds
workers dozing in the break room, staff who refuse to use
software implemented two years ago and a phone that rings
seven times before being manually disconnected-that is,
she watches as a staff member yanks the cord from the
wall. To make matters worse, Mary Jane is told by Bill,
her new, big jerk of a boss, that she has little time to
get this motley crew straightened out . . . or
else.
Taking a
Breather
The boss' "or else" rings in Mary Jane's ears as
she walks near Seattle's waterfront one day during lunch.
It's no idle threat, and Mary Jane is a woman with a lot
on the line-she's been widowed for two short years and is
still struggling to cover the cost of her late husband's
unforeseen medical bills while keeping herself and her
two young kids afloat. She's desperate to find the
solution that will save her job, and desperate to find
happiness in her life.
Puzzling over her situation, Mary Jane finds
herself facing Seattle's public market. She's drawn from
her consternation by the hustle and bustle of the world
famous Pike Place Fish market, where fishmongers play
catch with 20-pound salmon and cashiers use their
theatrical talents to animate Alaskan crabs. Mary Jane
stands reveling in the lighthearted, energetic fun when a
handsome fishmonger named Lonnie strikes up a
conversation. Talking with Lonnie, Mary Jane learns that
Pike Place Fish was once full of "toxic energy" just like
the third, and that any job, whether it's selling fish or
shuffling paper, can be made into an energetic, fun place
to work.
The Story Behind the
Story
"Lonnie isn't real, but I've based him on a real
person," says Stephen Lundin, Ph.D. and author of Mary
Jane's story, which you'll find in a book called "Fish! A
Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results"
(Hyperion). Admittedly, a fish market is not the first
place that comes to mind when searching for great new
business management strategies, but Lundin and co-authors
Harry Paul and John Christensen don't look in the typical
places.
Lundin is a filmmaker who first got to know his
co-authors while producing films on poet David Whyte for
Christensen, who owns ChartHouse Learning Corporation.
ChartHouse makes videos for the business world that
unapologetically veer into issues of passion, soul and
purpose in the workplace. The same things you value as a
person at home are the same things you need at work,
according to ChartHouse. Those values include being
fun-loving, attentive to others and applying energy and
enthusiasm to the tasks at hand.
While helping to film David Whyte in Seattle,
Christensen stumbled upon the Pike Place Fish market and
was struck by the fun-loving environment he found there.
It turns out, in 1991 one of the fishmongers at Pike
Place suggested the market could be world famous. The
staff got together to discuss how to make that happen and
what they came up with-what looks like a lot of clowning
around-is an excellent model for all businesses to create
a workplace that's easy to love.
Christensen picked up on Pike Place Fish's model
and identified the four main fundamentals of their
success: Choose the attitude you bring to work. Second:
Play. Just like recess-the Pike Place fishmongers play
toss with fish, call out orders and repeat the calls
lightheartedly, and joke with customers. Third: Make
their day. What happens when you go out of your way to
help someone, when you're especially kind, or funny and
engaging? You make their day. At the fish market,
customers are asked to stand up and catch a fish. The
fish are wet and slick and hard to catch, and the
experience is something so unusual, it's unforgettable.
Fourth: Be present. Have you ever been at a store where
the clerks are having a good time, just not with you?
It's not nearly as fun as when you're engaged and taking
part in the joking. People love it, and so do customers.
Being present is paying attention to the customer and
meeting their needs.
Back to Our
Tale
Pike Place Fish's four fundamentals create a
workplace that's fun and successful, and ChartHouse's
fish philosophy (the book, the movie and the Web site at
www.fishphilosophy.com) have helped turn it into a
contagious model that's worked across the business
spectrum, including Sprint, Target, Saturn and Southwest
Airlines.
Mary Jane makes it work for her and her company,
too. She takes her staff on a field trip to witness the
fun and excitement at the market and explains that Lonnie
and his coworkers were once in the line of fire, just
like Mary Jane's staff. There are plenty of fish markets
in Seattle, you see, and at one time Pike Place was no
more special than any of these (let alone world famous,
as it is now). Fishmongering is cold, wet and icky, just
as processing paperwork can be tedious and boring. Make
no mistake, gutting a fish doesn't naturally induce
laughter and clowning around! But the mongers at Pike
Place Fish decided they were going to approach work
differently-like they loved what they did, even if it
wasn't always the work they loved to do.
A Fairy Tale
Ending
So how do you become world famous for selling
fish? Better yet, how do you become a department where
everyone is having fun, where there's low turnover and a
loyal customer base, with a staff who takes
responsibility for their actions and help each other
succeed?
According to Lundin, you commit to the four
principles Lonnie shares with Mary Jane in the story
"Fish!." First, you have to choose your attitude. In the
case of Mary Jane, she convinced her staff that the way
they approached their job was entirely up to them. They
could absorb the negativity from other departments at
First Guarantee and become mired in feelings of
inadequacy and discontent (a toxic energy dump), or they
could choose to be in control of their own happiness.
Next, they had to learn how to play, make their
customers' day, and be present. Mary Jane's staff created
an area of the office called "the sandbox," where
creative work is done. They also implemented the use of
code phrases like "you seem distracted," to remind
coworkers that they need to pay attention to each other
and the customers they serve. The third floor staff
agreed not to read or answer e-mails while talking with a
colleague or customer. And they decided to read books
together about accountability and maximizing time, like
"The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Steven
Covey.
In the end Mary Jane's third floor became the envy
of her company instead of its Achilles heel. If you find
your company limping along, you may want to do what Mary
Jane did-go fishing!
October 2000 News for a
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