So I get to work and I tell my staff of two that I have planned a field trip for them today...and they roll their eyes at me...which I take as a good sign...after all, they didn't run out screaming...
I decide to stop and get each of them a soda to show them how relaxed today is going to be...no tenants! no phones ringing! no clogged toilets!...just a fun day with a little learning...
Aha...did you catch that? "a little learning"... I didn't quite tell my staff the whole "a little learning" part until we were on the road and they were strapped in...
You see, this field trip was a trip to other apartment complexes...I wanted my staff to see things with different eyes...as visitors, not employees. I told them they had to participate...they had to point out things they liked, didn't like and they had to tell me what they thought the grounds looked like (clean, etc)...
After we got going, they relaxed a little (I think the sodas did it..grin)...We drove through about 10 complexes...they pointed out things, we made notes (each of them had notepads) so we can try to incorporate some of the ideas we liked on our complex...they saw all the flaws of these other complexes and then I took them out to lunch...I made sure the talk did NOT go back to our field trip. We talked about family, things we were going to do this weekend, etc.
On the drive back, we talked more about our family, etc. Then just before we got to our complex I told them we had one more part of this field trip...they had to write down on their notepads what they saw wrong on our complex...they needed to compare our complex with the best complex we saw that day...they needed to be visitors...not employees...
We drove through the complex, past each building and they were making notes...when we got back into the office, I had them give me their notes...and then I sent them home...they got to start their weekend early...
After they left, I drove through the complex by myself to see what kind of list I would come up with, then I went back to the office and compared our notes and was very surprised to see all the things we thought needed fixing up...so I made a list (from easiest to hardest) of all the things we saw and come Monday we will have a staff meeting to see how we can fix these things...
This was my "aha" moment for the day...
Isn't this the same thing we are suppose to do with our writing...write something, put it away for awhile and then get the story back out and look at it with fresh eyes...read books that are similar to ours so that we can compare and make our stories better...send our stories to our critique groups so notes can be made and items fixed...
Writing gets us away from our everyday life, our everyday work...it adds a little punch to our day...Writing is our Friday Field trip...
Have you taken a field trip lately? If not, you really should do it...it will make you see things in a whole different light...
Hugs...
2 comments:
Sounds like fun! You clever thing you. I'll let you take me on a field trip any time you want as long as I get lunch. :D
I'll let you know when the next field trip is...grin...
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