It’s the little things that make me so happy…
As Oasis once sang:
it’s the little things that make me so happy, all I want to do is live by the sea
And to be fair I do live in a small coastal town at the estuary of the Dee so there may be something insightful to this lyric. Seaside living aside, the part of the lyric that intrigues me is the little things making us happy.
I was once in a talk by Brendan Dawes, the fabulous designer and creative visionary who makes an art of looking at things in unexpected ways. Part of the talk covered the problem that the British Bookshop chain Waterstones had in getting a foothold in Southport, the seaside town about 30 miles north of where I write these words and abode of Brendan Dawes at that time (Oasis were definitely onto something). The puzzle for Waterstones was that they never had a problem claiming a good share of any town’s book buying market whenever they opened up in a town due to the ability to offer 2 for one offers and attract book signings and so on. It turns out that Waterstones had not factored in that Broadhursts, the small independent bookshop in Southport, did one small thing with each purchase. They wrapped each book in paper and tied it with string. This extra care shows how much they value their own product and has the added benefit of presenting the purchase in an approximation of a gift the customers are giving themselves or to another. This small detail was not something that Waterstones factored into their marketing plan and yet it meant the world to Broadhursts customers.
Adrian Webster, the keynote business speaker and author calls these intangible little acts that make us so happy Tiny Noticeable Things. Or business TNT. I really like that. I like the idea so much that I am constantly spotting these TNTs in my daily life.
I’m a fan of Manchester United football club (I know this post feels very Manchester heavy with references to Oasis and United but it gives me contrary pleasure to put that band together with United) and they have recently had managerial woes with many fans feeling like Jose Mourinho, the celebrated and once highly successful manager, had ruined the spirit and ethos of the club. Now that may seem like lofty ideas about a football club but the temperament of the fans before the December 2018 sacking of Mourinho was one of despair at seeing the way the team played and the negative feelings that had descended on the club. It was a far cry from the heady days of winning 38 trophies in the 26 years that Sir Alex Ferguson was the manager. It seemed like all connection with that era was gone. That was until the club brought in Ole Gunnar Solskjær, the former United striker dubbed the baby-faced assassin. Within a few weeks the whole club seemed to turn around and the fans despair was allayed.
But how did this turn around occur? Solskjær had the same players as Mourinho at his disposal, what did he do to lift the whole club?
Aside from the coaching of the players and the style of football Solskjær brought to the club he did some other things. When he was a player at United the Norwegian established a little routine at the club. Whenever he returned to Norway he would bring some Norwegian chocolate bars back with him to United and hand them to staff members at the club whose work at the club often went unseen and un-praised by the fans, not through any malice but through them being the staff behind the scenes. He wanted to show how he really appreciated the work they do. When he returned on the 20th of December to take charge of the club he once played for, he met Kath Phipps on reception, she has been the receptionist at United for over 50 years and gave her one of the chocolate bars. She was the first recipient but not the only one. In one tiny gesture, missable by most, he had started to return the smiles to the faces at the club.
Imagine being able to spark that feeling by one tiny gesture so that your workforce feel like smiling when they come to work and your customers feel like you are giving them gifts.
It is time to look after all the tiny noticeable things to help inspire staff, please customers and win new customers. Those TNTs can be explosive for your business.
Perhaps Robert Brault was spot on when he wrote:
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
