What Is Your “Tone” in the Office?

Are you snarky with your co-workers? Do you respond to meeting requests saying you can’t wait for the meeting and you’ll bring party favors with cheese & venison trays? When you send internal memos, do you poke fun at yourself? When you give presentations, do you crack jokes to keep it light-hearted? Or is it button-up business professional all the time?

Photo credit: Alex E Proimos

Delivering Your Happiness

In Tony Hsieh’s book “Delivering Happiness,” individual tone is one of many things he allows – nah, encourages in his employees at Zappos. According to Hsieh, allowing employees to just be themselves was important in establishing an upbeat, positive culture. This included tone in emails, dress code, decorating their personal spaces – even to how they gave tours of Zappos’ facility. Imagine your boss allowing anyone in the company to give a tour of your facility – what is the worst that could happen? They forget to point out the break room?

Negativity can move through an office like a virus. It seems one “negative nancy” starts in a group meeting and its all down hill from there. We used to have an administrative assistant whose energy would sweep through the office. If she was up, the entire office was more upbeat. If she was down, watch out.

Unfortunately, positive energy is a little slower to spread, but it still starts with just one person. When I first started at Sportsman Channel, people noticed my quirky nature right away. I would blurt out off-beat terms and words so much that my closest friend started keeping of list of “Michelle-isms.” (It was small office, so we were in close proximity with one another.)

Fitting in by Standing Out

As I read Hsieh’s book, I had an internal struggle. How do you keep your personality in your work, but yet be respectful and thoughtful of your boss’s own style? I’d say if your boss is casual and candid in speak and manner – you can mirror that. But if he’s the “button-up” type and you like to add “colorful phrases” in your speech, then maybe you need to reconsider how you let your personality shine.

So I take baby steps. And if you have the same struggles, maybe you can try this too. I want happiness, enthusiasm and energy to spread. Perhaps that is too “I want to save the world” of me. But heck, if you don’t try it in your office, who will?

There is some sort of FTC thing I think I am supposed to add to the bottom of posts when I talk about or review anything that could possibly make money off my simple blog. I picked up this book from the library; it wasn’t recommended to me. I have no ties to Tony Hsieh nor Zappos. But I like the name of his company and may, someday, buy shoes from there just so I can experience their awesome customer service.