The take and give

I'm not much of a taker - It seems nicer to be a little generous and so I try to be that way in life. Humble and kind, generous and courteous seem like decent personality traits and together with a few others I have and deploy they help me be a better version of me [mostly]. Yeah, I'm not always that best version, I fail a lot, but I work at it.

I know people, men mainly, who see those personality traits as weak or soft but I see them as strengths and tend to gravitate towards others who display them and away from those who do not. Again, seems a legit way to be and a nice way to travel life's journey.

Yesterday I did some take, and a little give also, and combining both left me, and a couple other people, feeling pretty good. And feeling good is a condition I'm happy to take right now.

The take

For reasons I'll write about later in the week I decided to ask a couple of people in my team to have lunch with me. The work these people do directly supports my role at the office and I wanted to say thank you for their efforts over the last few months as I've been driving them reasonably hard in the run down to the last day of the financial year on 30 June. There's been some grumbling, directly to me, and their work-life has been a little more stressed than usual but in the main they have been extremely accommodating, professional and conscientious. I've said thank you and shown gratitude of course, but I wanted to do a little extra so I took them for lunch.

The give

We all met at The Republic and grabbed a seat. I'd already told them lunch and drinks were on me and they didn't hesitate to take advantage. Have at it folks, you've earned it.

We hit the bar and I got some drinks, a couple of Furphy's and a lemon lime and bitters. We selected off the menu and ordered then grabbed a seat - I loved that we were almost the only people there so it was quiet which is just how I like it - Me and noisy places don't work well together.

I made them promise we didn't talk about work so the conversation was about them, their lives, families and so on. It's something I work hard at to be honest; I think it's important for people at the office to see other people as people, not just work colleagues or admin-support, sales and so on. The culture tends to be better for it, in my team at least.

We ate, had a few laughs and generally socialised like three people instead of a group of work colleagues whinging about the office, clients or each other. It was pretty nice actually, rather civilised and a nice culture-builder.

I ordered spiced squid and chips which came with a nice tartare dipping sauce - The squid was lightly-spiced, the chips salted with a herbed salt and it all went well with my Furphy. A teriyaki salmon on a bed of brown rice and crunchy vegetables and a pretty legit looking burger were also ordered, all of which was top notch, like the company.

As I said earlier, I had a reason for the take and give which I'll write about later but the benefit I gained by taking the two team members along was immeasurable. I work hard to support my team, provide support without removing their responsibility, mentoring, guiding and creating a solid culture. It's not just about buying lunches, in fact that's the least part of it. It's a daily show of genuine care-factor, of interest in the team member; It is about the small things done often. Sure, beer and food helps, but only to punctuate a winning culture that's already in place - It alone, will never build that culture.

It was a nice lunch and afterwards we all headed back to the office and our work but not before I received some genuine gratitude from the two team members. You're welcome champs.

It doesn't take much to show some gratitude, kindness or generosity. It starts small, a genuine smile, comment or gesture; It's a thank you, or an I appreciate you, maybe even, can I help you with that? It's small things, often.

I focus on them, in my work and personal life and I'll be honest and say I get great value from doing so. Sure, some will say that oneself needs to come first and to some degree, in certain circumstances, that's true - But there's definite benefit to come from being humble, kind and generous, grateful and courteous...I mean a dual-benefit, for the person giving and those taking.

Anyway, let me know what you think...What's your office or work situation like and could it benefit from some humble kindness, generosity and a show of gratitude? How have you responded to it yourself, or deployed it to others? Let me know in the comments.