Put your smile on...
When travelling to Perth frequently, I would always dine at one Italian restaurant. The food was good, the staff exceptional—they were always smiling, enthusiastic, and positively contagious.
One researcher, in studying this emotional contagion, randomly assigned ninety-four business students to twenty-nine groups, giving them a task to do together. Within each group was planted a trained confederate—a drama student—who was instructed to demonstrate cheerful enthusiasm and serene warmth in some groups and hostile irritability and depressed sluggishness in others. His different emotional states had a direct bearing on the mood of the groups, along with their behaviours. Where the confederate was happy and positive, the group reflected a positive mood, which increased over the duration of their time together. Cooperation was greater with less group conflict, and individual task performance increased. And the converse happened: for those groups where the confederate was negative, depressed, and hostile, they reflected lower mood ratings, less cooperation, increased conflict, and poorer task performance.1
Intrigued by the restaurant staff and their consistent enthusiasm, I asked the maître d’ what their secret was. “Oh,” she laughingly responded, “I just always remind them to put their smile on as they walk through the front door.”
Maybe it is, just that simple…
Ray
If this was helpful I’d love to know by your click on the heart and any comments or perspectives are more than welcome.
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Sigal G. Barsade, “The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and Its Influence on Group Behavior,” Administrative Science Quarterly 47, no. 4 (2002): 644–675, https://doi.org/10.2307/3094912.
Thank You Very Much Ray.
Perfection in timing.
Today is our Christmas Show.
With five of my work friends leaving & having lost another two already the New Year is looking bleak.
So today I will have my Smile On, as today will be the last impression some of us have of each other. This reminder to be the positive energy in the Room is Perfect.
Thank You