You know the feeling, it feels like Christmas.
You’ve spent hours trying to find the perfect gift for your son. You’ve braved the toy aisle at Walmart, battled the holiday-crazed parents at Target, and you’ve found that perfect toy.
Then the day arrives and he tears the wrapping paper open and sees the box. His face goes from excited to an indescribable shade of elation. He screams out loud saying, “Thank you Santa, this is what I wanted my whole life!”.
Deep down your heart thumps an extra beat, and your smile grows wide. The joy of giving and giving anonymously to this little boy is the best part of the whole day.
The feeling of happiness we experience when we give is truly an unparalleled joy. So what about your business, did you know this same joy leads to increased employee morale, retention, teamwork and productivity?
Giving is receiving and what you send out, never comes back empty. That’s why in March of 2013 we implemented the OMEGA (Optimized MEmber Going Above) Award.
If you’re like many businesses, you already donate at some level. So, if you’re looking for a way to inspire your team, create a stronger sense of community within your organization, and enjoy happier, healthier employees and a better world, allowing your team to share in donating to charity will be worth its weight in joy.
How has this revolutionary idea been adopted in the real world; do team members really care?
Absolutely!
One member of our team chose to donate to one of our favorite charities, Peach’s Neet Feet. He was overwhelmed with joy when he received an email with a picture of the little girl wearing her hand painted Neet Feet shoes.
Another team member asked to donate time instead of money, volunteering at the local soup kitchen.
What we’ve seen is our team embracing, researching, and enjoying this ‘competition’ and growing as a team in the process.
Here’s how it works:
- Every month each team member nominates a peer for the OMEGA Award through an anonymous online survey
- They give a brief description why they chose that person (typically it’s for going over and above to help another team member, or doing an exceptional job at a certain task)
- They send off the online survey
- Whomever receives the most votes, wins
What do they win, you ask? The nominee receives $100 to donate to an approved charity of their choosing or they can donate time by serving others.
A 2008 study by Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton and colleagues found that donating money to someone in need lifted participants’ happiness more than spending it on themselves even though the participants’ prediction was that spending on themselves would make them happier.
So what are the direct benefits to you and your business?
- Giving creates a sense of community and promotes cooperation. “
- Being kind and generous leads you to perceive others more positively and more charitably,” explains Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology at the University of California in her book The How of Happiness, and this “fosters a heightened sense of interdependence and cooperation in your social community.”
- Your team members will be healthier, happier, and more productive.
- Jorge Moll and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health found that giving to charities activates regions of the human brain associated with pleasure, social connection, and trust, creating a “warm glow” effect and producing a positive feeling known as the “helper’s high.”
- You’ll be living by example, which is the best way to change lives.
- We all learn through experience, and actions make up those experiences. As a mother, I know all too well that my child will mimic what she sees and it is my greatest calling in life to live a life that when mirrored by her, I can be proud of.
- Realize that your team members are learning from your actions more than your words.
- Foster an attitude of gratitude.
- When we help others, our blessings begin to take on a stronger hue and become clear in the blur of life. When we can see the struggles of others, gratitude naturally follows.
- Barbara Fredrickson, a happiness researcher, suggests that cultivating gratitude in everyday life is one of the keys to increasing personal happiness. “When you express your gratitude in words or actions, you not only boost your own positivity but [other people’s] as well,” she explains in her book Positivity. “And in the process you reinforce their kindness and strengthen your bond to one another.”
- You will be positively effecting your entire community.
- Sticking with the idea that you reap what you sow, the positive effects of giving your hard-earned resources to the community will inevitably be the reason why some choose to do business with you over your competitors. Though one of the less “feel good” motives behind charity, it’s still a valuable one.
And as a leader, you’ll get that feeling of Christmas every month when you see how your team is choosing to bless others in your community and around the globe.
Kind regards,
Amanda Crangle
P.S. We are happy to create a Team Member of the Month online survey for you at no charge. Simply email the names of your team members to Amanda. There’s no reason for not allowing your team to share in the blessings of giving.