Starting Your Workday Off on the Right Foot to Build a Better Workplace Culture
When I was researching inspiring workplaces many moons ago in Copenhagen, Denmark, I had the pleasure of interviewing a “Chief Happiness Officer” and the author of Happy Hour is Nine to Five, Alexander Kjerulf. I love the concept of what Kjerulf calls a “Level Five” morning greeting at work. Given how important the start of the day is, and how important first impressions are, his good morning greeting scale serves as a great reminder for everyone to be more intentional about how they’re connecting with one another at work.
Kjerulf breaks down the possible greeting levels as follows:
Level 0: You ignore people completely
Level 1: A somewhat unintelligible grunt
Level 2: Saying good morning without looking at people
Level 3: Make eye contact as you say good morning
Level 4: You add something more than just good morning, e.g. “How are you this fine morning?” or something more personal.
Level 5: You touch the other person – e.g. a handshake or a pat on the shoulder. You can even hug, but only if you want to!
You can conjure up your own version of a scale, with however many levels that make sense (three levels might be more than adequate for many things). You could also create a similar system for other aspects of your customer service or interactions at work.
Encourage people to be authentic – insincere, gimmicky interactions naturally won’t have the same impact. But creating a scale like this can serve as a fantastic reminder to think about how present you’re being, and it creates a shorthand way to capture different behaviors that you’re trying to encourage.
Kjerulf also talks about working at a bank where the cultural norm was for every employee to walk around and say a proper good morning to every other employee in the bank.The impact on your attitude and on the workplace culture was, according to Kjerulf, enormous!
And even if you don’t create a scale simply asking yourself what a “level five” greeting to your colleagues, family members, and friends might look like could help you greet people with more enthusiasm and intention.
Michael Kerr is a Hall of Fame speaker and the author of eight books, including, “Hire, Inspire, and Fuel Their Fire,” “The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses are Laughing All the Way to the Bank,” and “The Jerk-Free Workplace: How You Can Take the Lead to Create a Happier, more Inspiring Workplace.”
