Tag Archives: happiness

What’s your theme song?

Posted on January 21, 2010 by | 4 Comments

This team knows how to have fun. We like the team’s spontaneous tribute to their corporate culture. It isn’t easy to manufacture corporate culture. And this is a team who has a culture that works. They are so aligned that they will take risks together. Trust is high. And they’ve allowed themselves to have fun. Don’t we all need it once in a while!  We’d put bets that this team does some great things together. (perhaps however, not a career in performing arts).

This spontaneous video reminds us of another more structured video where the team is fully engaged and united on a common goal. You can see the magic is real in both environments. Both work. How dull work could be if one couldn’t have smiles on no less than a few faces?

What is your company doing right now to have FUN?

~ Jessica Rozitis

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Posted in corporate culture, Employee Engagement

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Validation – the art of smile

Posted on December 23, 2009 by | 2 Comments

We just love this video! And with the holiday season upon us this is such a heartwarming feel good piece. And for however busy it may be at this time of the year it seems that we always find time to sneak a peek at good content. You might even find yourself replaying it again and again. We did.

It’s about the human condition and how much we all thrive on positive messages. We guarantee that you will smile. And definitely more than once. Corporately, the take home is clear.  We challenge you to apply your own variation of the ‘art of smile’ into your corporate culture.

Too often in this fast moving life of ours we seem to have forgotten one of the simplest messages. Acknowledgement. Remember the last time someone acknowledged you. How did it make you feel? Especially this past year.

Our last December’s post on our recipe for success still stands true: ‘Think: more smiles, more motivation, more happiness- we have forgotten to acknowledge people.  its the simple things.’

So have a ‘nog and spread some holiday cheer!

~ Sarah McNeill

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Posted in corporate culture, Employee Engagement, Inspiration

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Ask the hard questions. Fuel culture.

Posted on December 10, 2009 by | Leave a comment

It’s hard for anyone to admit to themselves or to others that they aren’t perfect.  In this ‘keep up with the Jones’s generation it makes it that much more ridiculous to even consider getting off the treadmill. For businesses, this might seem like cultural suicide.

Common sense may go so far as to dictate that companies have a commitment to their stakeholders, internally and externally to strive for the closest thing to perfection.  While this may hold true in many situations there is a paradigm shift that is needed:  in order to be best in class at something you have to dig down and recognize that you must also accept that you need a counter balance of  being worst in class at something.

Wow. So the bandage is ripped off now. NOT good at something….Its really just an emotional obstacle, one that can be removed with a team prepared to look at the business differently and that is prepared to bravely go forward with a fierce and united discipline.  What can you afford to give up or stop doing? Or rather what can your business do better than the competition. What is essentially unique to your company and what do you not need to be better at than them? Reverse engineer what the company wants to be great at and it will be easier to decide what you can stop focusing on or remove all together. The upside is that your company will be transparent to the marketplace, customers will self select and your internal team will feel happiness and pride in their work.  This is powerful because deeply satisfied customers will further fuel your team’s culture.

Once clear on what you are prepared to be good at and not good at it is easy to move the team into alignment of a clear and united mission. Until a company is totally clear on it’s ‘great at’ and ‘bad at’,  it is hard to move the team forward. There will always be a disparity of focus and competing interests within the team. Out in the open and exposed, the team can really see the company for all that it is and that it can be.

There is nothing stronger culturally  than  a team with a united mission. Company – forward MARCH.

~ Sarah McNeill

photo credit: midiman

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Posted in corporate culture, Employee Engagement, Leadership and Team Building, Management Excellence

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Teamwork.

Posted on December 2, 2009 by | 1 Comment

I should be sleeping. But after spending such a phenomenal day doing strategic planning that included a delicious wind up dinner, family style, at one of our favourite restaurants, with my ‘other family, team McNak, it is so good to close off the day knowing that this was time well spent. I just had to share.

Our  day’s objective: to get clarity around a major goal and set the course for the next quarter.

Our day began extremely smoothly. I think we can attribute this to knowing that we have a team that is prepared to share and take risks for the best interests of our McNak family. We agreed to a no hold back, tell it like it is session. Rip the bandages off if you must. Expose the rocks and then set a plan in place to remove them. The adage that people need to weigh in before they buy in is so very true. We finished the day knowing far more about each other and with a clearer course than when we began. And we left in alignment.

During this session we got on the topic of what we have now called Family loyalty. This is when you know that the relationship has set a course on its own beyond your own controls. Its on autopilot. Loyalty high, trust high.  Bradley Cuzen nailed it with his comment by a recent placement who had called us with new business and had proudly said to him ‘we’re family now’. I think our whole team beamed when he told us the story!

Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – A Leadership Fable had the perfect opening line from this book for today’s retreat. He said, ‘Not finance. Not strategy. Not Technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare.’

As we shared our reflections on the day over a delicious dessert platter we concluded some things that we are certain of. Families aren’t perfect. People aren’t perfect. Trust is crucial. Commitment – everything. And when you take the time to know how each person fits, combined with a single unified goal, the ultimate power of a team is magic.

Row in the same direction and your outcomes will be substantial. We can hardly wait to embark upon our united objectives of the next quarter in our business together. How sweet it is.

~ Sarah McNeill

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Posted in Leadership and Team Building

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The fun theory

Posted on October 21, 2009 by | Leave a comment

You’ve all probably seen this video by now, as it has been making the rounds for the past few weeks.  At McNak, we just can’t help ourselves, but to share this…as FUN is one of our metrics.  It is one of our core values.

Enjoy.

TheFunTheory.com is an initiative of Volkswagen.  The site is “dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.”

~ Jessica Rozitis

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Posted in Inspiration

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We’re in our teens!

Posted on September 23, 2009 by | 2 Comments

13 cue ball

Monday, September 23rd, 1996.  That was the day our company was born.

Today, we celebrate 13 years of doing what we love, and doing what we do best….

Ever since that magical day in 1996 McNak has stayed true to its roots and continues to colour outside the lines. We are still crazy about positive experiences after all these years, McNak enjoys every day conjuring up new ways to make ourselves and others smile. And yes we will always be a remarkable staffing company, but we’d really just like  to make someone’s day a bit brighter.

Our commitment to fun lives on. Its just the McNak way.

Happy Birthday McNak!

~Sarah McNeill and Cheryl Nakamoto

photo credit: Thomas Hawk

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Posted in Human Resources, Leadership and Team Building

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Improve your outlook at work. Part 2.

Posted on August 13, 2009 by | Leave a comment

It’s all about Brain Science. Why staying positive is your best defense against career stagnation.

Fortune Magazine wrote a recent article on the 6 ways to be happier at work. Here are the highlights.

Shawn Achor, head of Aspirant, a consulting firm that advises clients like Microsoft and American Express on how to keep morale and productivity up in these extraordinarily difficult timesIt finds that being upbeat, despite the stress, could actually help you thrive during a downturn.  Most people make the mistake of thinking that success leads to happiness. In fact, our brains work precisely the other way around.

Want to train your brain to stay upbeat? Here are six ways to get started:

1. Practice looking for the good. Think about three things you’re grateful for.

2. Have some fun. Many people think the words ‘work’ and ‘fun’ are mutually exclusive.

3. Brighten your office space. Everything around you affects your frame of mind.

4. Keep a journal. Verbalize your negative thoughts. The simple act of writing it down immediately decreases the magnitude.

5. Invest in people. The greatest predictor of success during stress and challenge is the quality and quantity of your relationships. Keep your social network active.

6. Think of work as a series of sprints, not a marathon. Try to split up your workday into short sprints of 90 to 120 minutes each, with a 5-minute break in between. Walk down the hall or around the block, call a friend, listen to a calming piece of music, or do some stretching exercises.

~ Sarah McNeill

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Posted in career

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Why I love mcnak

Posted on December 26, 2008 by | 3 Comments

Let me count the ways….ok I won’t get Shakespeare on you.i-love-mcnak-sign-fortwitter

I couldn’t think of a better team to be a part of. Here’s why.

After 12 years of building McNeill Nakamoto, my business partner and I still can’t wait to get to the office each day. Just like coffee addicts that need their caffeine each day, we need our ‘mcnak’ fix! What stands out most when I think of our team is that everyone considers things from the heart. If it feels right, then it probably is. They care so much. When Cheryl Nakamoto and I started our company, our goal was to be a different kind of staffing company. We knew our competitor landscape, both of us had been clients as well as applicants at some point in our lives, and still there was no one else out there that even came close to catching our interest. So we had to create our own fun.

We thrive on getting our own attention. We love to be quirky. Quirky feeds upon quirky. I challenge who staffing company that thinks they have more fun than us on a daily basis. Fun is one of our metrics. Laughter is our meter. We love to make ourselves laugh for selfish reasons but we truly love the response we get from our raving fans. So much so that our fans were our inspiration behind mcnak.

At McNak, everyday is a great day. We believe that if we think this then we will experience a great day. And yes some days are more fun than others, but overall our ranking is very high for great days! Our client and applicant feedback reinforce that the work we do is meaningful. Hooray!

So that’s my first post. Cool.

~ Sarah McNeill

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Posted in corporate culture

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