Fish! is about boosting morale and motiavting employees. It is a powerful parable that will help you love the work you do. "Catch the Energy and Release the Potential" truly captures the essence of Fish! philosophy.

1. Let’s fish!
by Sunil Raj

2. Foreword
“Oh! My God! It’s Monday”/ “Thank God It’s Friday”
People spend about 75% of their adult wake time doing work- related
activities - getting ready for work, travelling to work, working,
contemplating work and decompressing after work. If we spend that
much time in that part of our lives, we ought to enjoy it and be
energised by it.
Fish! is a parable, an invented story about finding deep source of
energy, creativity and passion that exists inside each of us by learning to
love what we do , even if at the moment we many not be doing exactly
what we love.

3. The Firm
Mary Jane was a supervisor at First Guarantee Financial. Known for her “can-do”
nature, she was also a good person to work for. She listened to her colleagues and
was well liked and respected. Her small group developed a reputation as a team
you could count on.
In sharp contrast, there was a large operations group on the third floor that was
often the topic of conversation for the opposite reason. Words like unresponsive,
entitlement, zombie, unpleasant, slow, wasteland and negative were used to
describe this group. Unfortunately, nearly every department needed to interact
with this group. Every one dreaded any contact with third floor
Mary Jane was promoted to manager of the operations group on the third floor.
She reluctantly accepted the promotion.

4. The Third Floor
Mary Jane struggled to understand the work and the people in the third floor.
Unanswered phone calls, lame excuses, slow pace of work, resistance to change were
the hallmark of this department.
Five weeks later the leadership called. It sounded the alarm bells. If they want to
survive, productivity have to be improved. They need more energy, passion and spirit
on the job. Leadership descried the department as a “toxic energy dump”.
Mary did not have a clue what to do, only the knowledge and conviction that she
must do something and do it soon

5. Pike Place Fish Market
The Pike Place Fish Market, founded in 1930, is an open air fish market located in Seattle,
Washington’s Pike Place Market, at the corner of Pike Street and Pike Place.
After nearing bankruptcy in 1986, the fish market owner, Mr. John Yokoyama and employees
decided to become "world famous", changing their way of doing business by introducing their
flying fish, games with customers, and staff attitudes of always enjoying their work, so that
customers would as well
Four years later, they were featured repeatedly in the national media and television shows. The
store is now a popular tourist destination in Seattle, attracting up to 10,000 daily visitors, and is
often billed as world-famous. In 1991, CNN named the Pike Place Fish Market as one of the
three most fun places to work in America
Mary strolled down to Pike Place and met Lonnie

6. Fish! Philosophy
1
Choose your
attitude
2
Play
3
Make their day
4
Be Present

7. Inculcating the idea
Mary Jane called a meeting of all the employees and made a presentation of Fish!
philosophy
She arranged a lunchtime field trip to Pike Place for the employees and asked them to bring
their thoughts on the Fish! philosophy
In the meeting that followed, it was decided to form a team for each four Fish! Philosophy.
Teams were given six weeks to meet and present their ideas for implementation
Six weeks later they convened again………

8. The Play Team
The fish market is an adult playground. If the fish guys can have that much fun selling fish,
we too can have fun doing our work
• Happy people treat others well
• Fun leads to creativity
• The time passes quickly
• Having a good time is healthy
• Work becomes a reward and not just a way to rewards
Benefits
Post sign saying “This is a playground. Watch out for adult children”/start a joke –of –the-
month contest / add more colour to the environment / add more life with plants / special
events such as a lunchtime comedian / instruction in creativity and a designated creativity
area called Sand Box/ Form an ongoing play committee to keep ideas flowing
Implementation

9. The Make Their Day Team
Engage customers and welcome them to play. The idea is one of inclusion.
1. It is good for business
2. Serving the customers well will give us the satisfaction that comes to those who serve
others.
3. It will focus our attention, away from our problems onto how we can make a positive
difference to others. This will unleash more energy
Benefits
1. Stagger employee hours to help the customers
2. Focus groups to enhance customer service
3. Have a monthly and annual award for service based on customer suggestions
4. Implement a feedback process
5. Surprise/delight the customers/”come out and play” for customers once a month
6. Make every transaction with the customers a positive transaction
Implementation

10. The Present Moment Team
Be Present. For self, for each other and for the customers
1. When you are present for yourself, you do the work carefully
2. When you are present for each others, you show consideration for them
3. When you are present for the customers, you interact more with them
Benefits
1. Employees decided to confirm their commitment to being present for one another
and for internal customers
2. They also committed to being fully present when discussing an issue, they would
truly listen and not allow themselves to be distracted
3. Never again read or answer e-mails while talking on the phone with a colleague or
customer Implementation

11. The Choose Your Attitude Team
There is always a choice about the way you do your work, even if there is not a choice
about the work itself
1. By accepting that you choose your attitude, you demonstrate a level of personal
accountability and proactivity
2. Choosing your attitude and acting like a victim are mutually exclusive
3. The attitude you choose is to bring your best self to work and to love the work
you do Benefits
1. Copies of a book titled Personal accountability: The Path to a Rewarding Work Life
was distributed to everyone
2. To be followed with discussions of books like Raving Fans, The Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People, Gung Ho!, and The Road Less Travelled
3. An attitude menu for everyone to use Implementation

12. Our Workplace
As you enter this place of work please choose to make
today a great day. Your colleagues , customers, team
members and yourself will be thankful. Find ways to
play. We can be serious about our work without being
serious about ourselves. Stay focused in order to be
present when your customers and team members
most need you. And should you feel your energy
lapsing, try this sure-fire remedy: Find someone who
needs a helping hand, a word of support, or a good
– and make their day

13. Thank you