By practicing FISH!, I am not talking about jumping into the sea and swimming with fish. By practicing FISH!, I am talking about learning, appreciating and applying the universal training philosophy called FISH!

Firstly, if you don’t know the background story on FISH!, how it began and where it originated, I strongly recommended you read this snapshot to provide some context.

The FISH! Philosophy is made up of four very simple practices which when applied and combined as an organisation will transform the relationships between every interaction within business. However, simple in concept; it is much more powerful in practice. Applying the FISH! Philosophy takes work and focus to transform these practices into behaviours.

There are small things that you can apply straight away that will change the way it feels to live, work, communicate and lead. Below are some easy techniques to incorporate the four FISH! practices into your life today:

BE THERE: Be emotionally present for people. It’s a powerful message of respect that improves communication and strengthens relationships.

• 1. Ban phones from meetings.
  2. Remember everyone has a story you know nothing about. Commit to letting go of pre-existing thoughts about individual customers or work colleagues and treat the next interaction as if you have never met them before.
  3. Listen without intending to respond.

PLAY: Tap into your natural way of being creative, enthusiastic and having fun. Play is the spirit that drives the curious mind, as in “Let’s play with that idea!” You can bring this mindset to everything you do.

• 1. Find fun ways to track goals or progress towards targets and make it everyone’s job to update as they achieve.
  2. Team building programmes.
  3. Smile more (check in with yourself during the day and ask yourself how many times I smiled in the last 30 minutes… take it to the next level and go out of your way to make someone laugh.

MAKE THEIR DAY: Find simple ways to serve or delight people in a meaningful, memorable way. It’s about contributing to someone else’s life—not because you want something, but because, that’s the person you want to be.

• 1. Commit to doing something for someone else daily.
  2. Recognise others for anything small or big. Whether it be personal or business related; we all appreciate our efforts being recognised.
  3. Do something for a customer they are not expecting, go above and beyond their expectations.

CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE: Take responsibility for how you respond to what life throws at you. Your choice affects others.  Ask yourself: “Is my attitude helping my team or my customers? Is it helping me to be the person I want to be?”

• 1. Create a company Facebook page or Whats App group and commit everyone to posting their “choice of attitude” for everyone to see every day.
  2. Place “Choose Your Attitude” signs around your workplace in strategic places (ie on doorways to meeting rooms/entrance hall) to remind everyone that attitude is a choice!
  3. Before you meet with ANYONE check in with yourself – YOUR attitude is contagious… check to make sure you want yours to be caught!

Focussing on a new practice each week or month will help introduce the change gradually and allow everyone to have some fun with it.

Remember FISH! is EVERYONE’s responsibility and no ONE person’s job. Commit yourself to making a change and others will follow.

It starts with YOU today!

Dwain Richardson, Managing Director, Corporate Challenge Events

Corporate Challenge Events is an accredited trainer of FISH! and specialist in corporate training, team building and corporate group activities from Auckland in New Zealand to Sydney in Australia.