I may be taking a long shot here, but I believe I am now completely accustomed to my surroundings and my colleagues. I’ve met some fantastic people, and I’ve excavated the never-ending Houston underground tunnels in their entirety. While the latter involved arduously dragging myself on a strange and intriguing expedition past endless halls of restaurants, stores and power-walking businesspeople that made me feel severely underdressed, when I navigated back to the Bayou Place glass door, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Was that pride matched by a feeling of being out of shape? Maybe — but hey, that’s what the company’s fitness challenge is for, right?

That’s right, a fitness challenge. Participants are broken into teams that take this thing seriously. After six biweekly weigh-ins, the team and individuals with the greatest percentage weight loss and body fat loss are declared winners and receive a nice little award. The prize is nice, but the real draw for me was the chance to be motivated by my teammates to lead a healthier lifestyle. I think there’s a saying about a healthy employee being a happy employee, so when a large portion of the staff enthusiastically participates, you see even more smiles around the office. It’s not like the clip from Office Space where everyone’s forced to participate in the droll, TPS-report zealot boss’s birthday – an extracurricular they loathe. If you expect there to be a few Miltons around our office who miss out on the cake when it’s being passed around, you’ll be sorely mistaken.

This environment is completely different. Employees are voluntarily and enthusiastically participating in team events – just because. You can feel a vibe that this is not about the potential award and bragging rights. People are enjoying themselves, getting healthier, developing long-lasting personal relationships and building our team’s bonds simultaneously. You need a certain breed of employee and a certain level of trust to make that happen.

The moral of the story here – yes, there is a moral – is that when you engage a group of people in pursuit of a common goal and allow them to get legitimately excited, you’re going to build an incredible team. It’s that simple. Enthusiasm is contagious and produces happy employees who in turn produce incredible results. I’m witnessing it right now, and I love it.

-Ryan

P.S. On the tangential topic of cake inspired by Milton, there should be a set of rules governing cake distribution. Should there be unfair cake distribution, there shall be severe repercussions, many involving demerits. As Dwight Schrute explains, “[Get] three demerits, and you’ll receive a citation. Five citations and you’re going to get yourself a violation. Four of those and you’ll get a verbal warning. Keep that up, and you’re looking at a written warning. Two of those, that’ll land you in a world of hurt in the form of a disciplinary review placed on the desk of my immediate superior.” I hope this suggestion does not lead to any disadulations.