I worked at Harborside Academy in Kenosha, WI as a middle and high school Band director. My classroom existed in the beautiful, acoustically wonderful auditorium in a building built in 1913. In order to get to my classroom from my office, I needed to enter the auditorium in the balcony and go down what seemed like a thousand steps to get to the stage.
Every morning, Diamond, one of my students, arrived early and began setting up the chairs for the day’s rehearsals. The moment she saw me enter into the balcony area, she waved her arm with excitement and hollered, “Good morning, Mr. Nepper,” at the top of her lungs
What a great way to start my day! And, you know what? It didn’t cost Diamond a cent to send her positive energy to me in the form of a greeting. I started calling that the Diamond Hello.
How do you greet the people in your life, in your organization, or on your teams? Are you enthusiastic, energetic, truly happy to see them? Or when you greet them, are you simply going through the motions, expending no more energy than is necessary?
The way you greet a person is a huge indicator of not only how you feel about them, but also how you feel about providing a positive workplace experience for your people.
Start bringing more energy to your greetings. Try giving a ‘Diamond Hello’ to the people you work with and see how it makes them feel. More importantly, how does it make you feel?