Last week the Footers’ team celebrated Halloween with a “spooky” lunch, mini pumpkin painting, a “test your tastebuds” candy edition challenge, office to office trick or treating, and of course a costume contest.  It was impressive to see our team go all out with their attire and decorations.  The design team created a haunted house, some of our sales team members dressed up as the Golden Girls and gave out “old lady” treats, our warehouse team had a fog machine with gory Halloween creatures, the welcome desk had a life size Candy Land board and our culinary managers dressed up as members of our sales and coordination team and proceeded to offer a mock “Footers’ tasting experience” during trick or treating.

While costumes are commonplace on Halloween, there are many people that dress up every day for work, putting on mask or a facade to hide their true self from their bosses and co-workers.  They assess various situations and become chameleon like in their desire to fit in and not draw unnecessary attention to themselves.  They do this to protect themselves from potential embarrassment or ridicule because ultimately, they don’t feel comfortable being themselves at work.  And in doing so, they limit what they contribute to the organization, holding back ideas, suggestions, and even their best work for fear that it might not be well received.  I’ve talked to many employees who have incredible ideas and are too scared or intimidated to share them with their teams. 

Our second conviction at MIBE is Love: Open your heart to be authentic, genuine, and vulnerable.  And we’ve found that great places to work, foster an atmosphere where every day costumes aren’t necessary.  They create an environment where people are free to be themselves and in turn have the opportunity to reach higher levels of potential.  Team members can focus more on their work and doing their best, as opposed to playing it safe and hiding their true colors.  They feel a sense of belonging and instead of holding back, they are willing to lay it all on the line to help their team and their organization.  And when people are genuine and authentic at work, they build closer relationships with other team members - which has been proven to make people happier not just at work, but with their life in general.

The fact that some of our team members chose to dress up on Halloween as their co-workers shows how much they love, trust, and respect one another.  The fact that they were able to be identified so well was also a nod to the character, personalities, and individual nuances that show through every day at Footers.  I feel very fortunate to work in this awesome environment where our team can truly be themselves at work.  If you want to bring out the best in your team, they must feel a sense of belonging and that often starts with the leaders being willing to be authentic, genuine and vulnerable at work.