Potty Training — Tree Elf style
Each Holiday season our pop slingers magically turn into Elves.
Okay, maybe it’s not “real” magic, but they do change their names and wardrobe, and the cumulative feeling of a group of outgoing folks donning elf gear and gleefully introducing each other by their elf names (Taco the Elf is my personal favorite) does feel pretty magical.
We started Tree Elves, our Christmas Tree delivery & removal business, five years ago when the seasonality of our quickly growing core business King of Pops was becoming a bigger and bigger strain.
We needed to figure out a way to generate some revenue when pop sales slow to a crawl in the winter, and we needed to provide an opportunity for our part-time staff to have more consistent work.
This year we operated Tree Elves in 5 cities (Atlanta, Greenville, Nashville, Charlotte and Richmond), delivering thousands of Christmas Trees and receiving a ton of positive feedback. But it wasn’t all candy canes and merriment.
Just after Thanksgiving, one of our younger managers was feeling particularly dejected and disrespected by his company directed elfhood. It was our first year trying Tree Elves in his market, and he didn’t like the wool uniform, the suggested overly gleeful disposition, or even his humorous elf name. He felt like he was being made a fool.
This didn’t sit well with me as a youngish CEO that remembers all to well being instructed to do things that seemed demeaning and thoughtless.
Around that time, I was talking to a friend with a Type-A personality and a young toddler. He was telling me a story about the struggles of potty training their 3-year-old. How he and his wife had tried so many methods, read so many books, displayed such discipline as parents. However, they felt nothing they were doing was working.
Their child simply didn’t get it.
And then, luckily, magically, when they sent the young boy to preschool things changed. The teacher instructed the class to form a line, and one by one his new classmates went into the bathroom and took care of business. When the young boy had his turn he nonchalantly followed the lead of his classmates.
And just like that he was potty trained.
Their son had been schooled in the art of potty training several times over. He had the know-how and tools, but he didn’t see the point or understand why it mattered.
I guess it’s a bit like peer pressure, but in the very best way. And once you’re a part of it, it just makes sense. You’re a part of a new club.
The elf club we’ve built in Atlanta (where we started Tree Elves) is strong. We have so much fun. There are dozens of us, and there are years of elves that have come before. It’s a silly escape, where we look at each other for inspiration, encouragement and laughs.
That said, it’s a delicate balance. I know that if a few of us became “too cool” for elfdom, the entire group would suffer. If a few people “forgot” to wear their elf outfit, everyone else would look sideways at themselves in the mirror a little longer before they left each morning.
Our unhappy manager was struggling because there was no elf group for him to be a part of. He hadn’t seen first hand how much fun it could be. All he had was a couple used elf uniforms and a hastily written out instruction process. There wasn’t a club or a culture, and there certainly wasn’t any fun, just un-Jolly people patronizing him as they drove by the tree lot.
The difference between having a ton of fun at work, and it being embarrassing and horrible is oftentimes very little. We were doing the same tasks in each of our cities, but it was a lot of fun for some, and miserable for others.
It takes a lot of work to keep a strong culture going. It’s not a set it and forget it type of thing. It takes work every day. And just because you say something is a certain way, that doesn’t mean it is. Just because we say Tree Elves is going to be fun, that doesn’t make it fun.
It starts with one person, and it builds. If you do it right, eventually everyone shows up with a positive attitude ready to have fun, but it’s something you have to constantly monitor and do your best not to leave anyone out.
I truly believe it’s possible to make just about any task or job enjoyable with the right attitude.
Hauling bulky Christmas Trees up and down stairs on a blustery cold December day, with a wool, one-size-fits-all, elf uniform in a pickup truck with blown speakers … ya that too.
