In full disclosure I never actually went to summer camp; (I know, poor me. Cue sad trombone sound) however, I did learn a heck of a lot during the #eQsummergames, and the lessons are no less valuable.
Background: In July of this year we launched the inaugural #eQsummer games, a 12 week program at eQ. The goal was to take a very intentional group of passionate, driven, and inspired individuals to deliver a remarkable client experience, have loads of fun, raise our level of intention, and focus on our critical success factors even more.
How: We associated point values with different elements of our day – ones that we really felt embodied our core values, expressed our brand, and linked to our business drivers. For example, categories included: contributing blog topics (that are relevant to our mission, vision, and work we do), connecting clients to key partners, expressing gratitude, and contributing to our business development plan….you get the picture.
What happened: WOW. That’s what happened. Our team absolutely crushed it. Take a bunch of passionate high-performers who also work as a supercharged team and picture throwing gasoline on a fire – BOOM! I’ve been inspired by the thoughtful blogs that our team penned – and we’ve already started getting comments from clients, prospective clients and our community about the rich content we produce – and people have been amazed at how much content we actually produce. For us that’s awesome, because as thought-leaders, it is exactly what we need to do. The level of purpose, collaboration, and focus on business development has been off the charts – and that is for a team who already does a great job in this area.
What’s in it for you by reading this blog (what’s the point)? First thing I’d say is that culture and values provide critical guardrails and foundations for a program like this. Eliminate the culture and people that we have, this program could EASILY have cultivated bad behavior and been overly distracting, with people focusing solely on getting points instead of on the intent of the program, or people taking their eyes off the ball when it comes to primary functions. But in this case, people were rocking the #eQsummergames at all times of day, night, and weekends – not because they had to – because they wanted to, because it was fun, because it fits with our culture. The point is this: you can rock your own version of the #eQsummergames. Heck, we’ll even help you think through it. To start, be conscious of the intended results (be very clear about that), be even more aware of the unintended consequences (distractions, ‘point hoarding’ instead of fulfilling the intent of the program), and be thoughtful about the company culture; will a program like this fit in your culture?
Key themes? Start with culture, vision, and values. Any game like the #eQsummergames needs to connect directly to what is most important in the organization. Too often we’ve seen companies run contests that are counterintuitive to the most important goals, because they are trying to bring a short term change in behavior. When it comes to a sales contest I always think of the sales contest in the movie Glenngarry Glen Ross. First prize? Cadillac Eldorado. Second prize? Steak knives. Third prize? You’re fired! Most of the time a sales contest like that just doesn’t work. Emphasize the key themes, and feel free to make adjustments as you go. We added kickers and new categories as we went – increasing point values for blogs that hit on specific topics that we felt were important messages for our clients, prospects, and communities. HAVE FUN! For goodness sake – this should be energizing. Each week we posted our winners on our social media channels and had a blast with celebrating the weekly winners, and everyone was genuinely happy for the winner – and yes, we have an UBER-competitive bunch.
So, get out there and compete, have fun, drive your mission, express your brand, and live your vision – with YOUR version of the games.
Andrew Freedman, Principal at entreQuest, specializes in helping eQ’s clients grow by creating well aligned company cultures and strategies that result in remarkable client and employee experiences.
