When DIY is a Don't

Is Doing It Yourself really the way to go when putting together an office lunch? Sometimes. When it goes well, it can save you some money if you're willing to sacrifice some time. When it doesn't go so well, it can hurt more than it helps. Let's look at a scenario recently related to me by a customer who decided to try the DIY thing. The names have been changed to protect the embarrassed:

(The Scene: Thursday afternoon, in a typical office in a large downtown building. The characters: A Boss; Stefan, the Administrative Assistant; and Emily, the Receptionist.)
Boss: We need lunch brought in for 25 on Tuesday. Can you take care of that?
Stefan: Sure. I'm on it.

Then Stefan thinks to himself, 'Hey, I love throwing dinner parties! Surely I can take care of this lunch. I'll save the company some money, and maybe I'll get some sorta kickback...' So Stefan asks Emily whether she wants to help him plan this party. They sit down, Emily volunteers to take care of getting a dessert taken care of, and she'll do all the set up and clean up if Stefan will man the phones for her while that happens. Stefan decides to make his grandmother's famous Italian pasta salad, and he'll get the stuff for people to make their own sandwiches. Then they talk about what's happening on Entourage.

Over the weekend, Emily comes down with a bad case of Strep throat. Monday morning, Stefan finds out that he's going to have to go it alone AND also handle both his regular job duties AND answer the phones. So Monday night, after a long day at the office, Stefan runs to Costco to pick up the stuff for sandwiches. Then he runs to a neighborhood store to pick up stuff for pasta salad. He goes home, starts the pasta salad and realizes he's forgotten to triple the recipe. He has a manic evening in which he totally misses Entourage with all the running around, and goes into work with a pasta salad which is not exactly the perfect medley his grandmother had in mind (he bought the neighborhood store out of basil, and still didn't have enough).

Since it's also the beginning of the month, Stefan's got to coordinate reports, and answer the phone, and 11am comes around like it always does, and he realizes with a shock that it's time to set up the meeting room. He's forgotten to buy plates, and since he hates mayonnaise, he forgot that too, but the breads and meats and cheeses are all there. The attendees will have to make do with mustard and tiny plates that say "happy birthday" or have pictures of snow and holly. Everything gets set up, and he goes, exhausted, back to Emily's reception desk. He realizes with a start that he's forgotten the dessert too! He has an assistant manager cover the phones, runs to the convenience store in the lobby, and buys an overpriced bag of mixed candy to substitute.

Sure, DIY (do-it-yourself) sounds like a great idea - you save some money, get out of the office for a while, maybe showcase your favorite recipes - but is it really? Unless your office has extra staff who are paid specifically to run errands like this one, it's almost always going to hurt your bottom-line. Missed time for employees, who then may have to stay late and get overtime to make up the work they didn't do. Clients who think you're too cheap to do it right.

If Stefan had thought to himself, 'Gee, lunch for 25. Sounds like I should call a caterer,' his reports could have been done on time, the meeting attendees would have been wowed with custom-created dishes, and his boss would have said, 'Good job, Stefan. Maybe we'll finally get you that keyboard tray you've been asking for.'

Cultivating Appreciation

In my life, I have attended many parties, and have thrown or helped throw many more. The ones that have truly fun and stuck out in my memory have ranged from quiet and modest to loud and lavish, but all have the same common thread running through them: I felt that every guest there, myself included, was very welcomed and encouraged to have a good time. Making everyone feel comfortable, welcome and accepted is an easy thing to do. It doesn't always happen because it takes either a lot of work, or a good deal of planning to make a party where every guest feels like they're the guest of honor. When I'm planning a function, I try to stay focused on "Cultivating Appreciation."

Well, what does that even mean? I'm glad you asked that question. Cultivating appreciation means asking, "what would my guests actually like to do at this event?" What do they already like? What little touches can I add that will give the gathering some focal point, some pizazz? If I'm having food, is there enough variety so that everyone invited can eat some of it? Is anyone attending afraid of ponies, or perhaps guacamole? These questions can be answered quite easily if you are having an event with several of your close friends; less easily if your invite list grows to an extended network of friends and acquaintances. But, when you're hosting something for coworkers or employees, finding something that makes everyone happy, and cultivates appreciation, can be quite the challenge. Since there are already quite a few books websites and shows dedicated to throwing parties at home, and since Elemental Catering caters only to businesses, I'm going to share my thoughts on that latter-type of party.

If you have decided to do something nice for your staff to say "thanks for your hard work" or "thanks for not testifying against the company," or any kind of more special event, then a regular office function should be out of the question. The same old is the same. It's old. No one's hard work should ever be rewarded with something they get all the time. If your intention is to truly show appreciation, appreciation that will help your staff enjoy their jobs more and help your company run better, then it not only needs to be special, it needs to be thoughtful. The more thoughtful a gift you give to your employees, the more they believe your company is where they ought to be working, and the harder they'll work.

Here's an example. A team who I know work together every day, Monday through Friday, from 7am until 4.30. They eat lunch together every day, some of them even eat their breakfasts at work. So when it's time for the "employee appreciation" lunch, I sat down with their boss, who was coordinating this event, and really figured out how to make this lunch different from every other lunch of the year. We brought in fresh flowers, real plates, real silverware, and every team member got to order an individual entree. They knew that each and every one of them was being appreciated for her individual contributions. Not that "the team" was being recognized with a sheet cake or some bagels, but that Sally and Marge and Lisa were being recognized for Sally's and Marge's and Lisa's good jobs. The team didn't have to pick up their break room, or decorate it with the "birthday box" or take care of anything except enjoying themselves.

That's the sort of appreciation that a good event will cultivate.