Have you ever experienced the contagiousness of helping others?
Real World Story:
On a recent whirlwind business trip, while I was sitting in a plane waiting for other passengers to board, I couldn’t help but notice a woman 
walking toward me down the aisle. She was holding her son with one hand and pulling her bags, jacket and water bottle with her other hand. She was obviously struggling as she walked down the narrow confines of the plane’s isle. I was sitting about eight rows back and couldn’t just sit there and watch her struggle. So I jumped up to help. I told her to take her son ahead while I followed behind with her bags. At first, she looked confused. But when she realized I was serious, she acquiesced. The three of us fumbled our way down the aisle to her seat then struggled briefly to get her over-stuffed bag into an overhead bin. A flight attendant was suddenly at our side stepping in to help. I found this to be unusual since I typically find they just yell at you to hurry up. It was a very nice surprise!
After the bags were stowed and the woman and her child were happily seated, I realized I was in a bit of a conundrum because passengers were now boarding quickly. I felt like a fish swimming upstream as I maneuvered against the tide of people to get back to my seat. However, two other women, who had seen my helpfulness, stopped the onslaught of passengers so I could make my way back to my seat.
It was a such a wonderful feeling to see others step in to help.
Strategies that Turn it Around: (4 ways to promote helpfulness at YOUR office)
- Create opportunities. For example, for one week, promote helpfulness by having your team focus on helping one another. Then officially reward the person who is the most helpful to the most people.
- Gather input from your team. Listen to the people who are on the front lines of your customer service and make a list of ways your team would like others to be more helpful. Perhaps a particular department could reply to emails more quickly, for example.
- Create a helpfulness jar. Allow your team members to document acts of others’ helpfulness on a piece of paper and drop it in a jar. At a weekly or monthly meeting, the meeting leader could read from some of the papers in the jar. Offer a prize for the best documented act of helpfulness.
- Make helpfulness a policy. Every time someone is helped, the recipient of that help must look for and help someone else. Then post this policy for everyone to see daily.
Remember: Acts of helpfulness are contagious. To promote a positive team spirit and work culture focus on this important skill and watch team productivity and morale soar.
What do YOU do to promote helpfulness? I would love to hear your ideas in the comments section below.