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Companies are Like Pipes and You Definitely Need a Plumber.

They say there is nothing worse than hating your job. However, I think there is one thing: loving your job, but hating the organization or the person that you work for. I mean think about it. When a person hates their job, they probably don’t care about it all that much. They show up, do their responsibilities, and hate every second of it. A person who loves their actual job (i.e. the responsibilities that fall under their role) is likely to be emotionally invested in the role: they have passion and drive, and genuinely care about doing a good job. However, they are miserable because they hate the company they work for. It’s a polarizing position to be in. 

This concept got me thinking: what goes into a company that makes people not want to work there? What are the overarching themes that contribute to why people DO stay at a workplace? When it came down to it, I recognized something: workplaces are like pipes. 

The Actors

In this situation, we have a couple of different actors. First, we have our pipes. Our pipes are the foundation of the whole plumbing system. They hold the things that go through the pipes, they’re the company structure. 

We’ve got the people who are using the bathroom, our employees. They push things through the pipe (gross) but they’re the people who are making the stuff go through. Then, we have our plumbers. These are the people, initiatives, and efforts we bring in to make sure that our pipes are flowing smoothly. This could be a consultant, a professional development program, or anything that stimulates positive functioning of our pipes. 

Finally, we have our landlord. Our landlord is the person responsible for making sure all the things that help the pipes stay maintained are getting done. They call the plumbers, they tell users not to flush socks down the pipes, and they provide Drano to pour down the sink each month. 

All of these different actors have a role in how the pipes work. If one of these things is breaking down, chances are, the pipes are going to be impacted.

Pipe Maintenance 

I’m not a plumber, but I have lived in enough crappy apartments to have more than a few encounters with plumbers. From these encounters I’ve learned a few basics things about pipes; that water flows through them, and in order for them to function properly, they need to be maintained.

Imagine that your water flow is your company’s productivity. If the pipes aren’t maintained, chances are water isn’t flowing through, or it’s flowing through very slowly. Perhaps it has to push it’s way through, or work unnecessarily harder just to get past all the debris. If pipes are maintained, the water will flow through seamlessly. It doesn’t get stopped in the pipe, because that has all been prevented.  

An organization with bad management or bad company culture is like a pipe that hasn’t been taken care of. They’re old and rusty; they may have clumps of dirt or hair stuck to them that’s preventing stuff from getting through. You’re constantly finding things getting backed up or overflowing, and then having to clean up an even bigger mess on the floor. By the time your landlord decides to call the plumber, they’re told they have bigger problems, and everything needs to be replaced. This is such a common problem in ineffective work environments. People are constantly battling work politics, ineffective hierarchies and policies, and other barriers that prevent organizational success. It can be difficult for employees to feel fully invested in a company if they’re constantly preparing to be on the defense. If they’re constantly waiting for an overflow to happen, how are we supposed to make any new change? 

Comparatively, a company that invests in their pipes (i.e. invests in their structure or their foundation), is likely to see the water flow through easily. Their pipes are clean and functional. The landlord calls the plumber for regular maintenance and takes their advice on preventative measures to ensure longevity. There are trashcans in all of the bathrooms for things that shouldn’t be flushed down toilets. Things operate smoothly because of the cooperation between all of the actors. Everyone recognizes that investing in the pipes makes the water run through. If the water is running through things are getting done. When things are flowing smoothly, management is taking proactive initiative, and people feel that they are set up for success, things are more likely to get done efficiently. Employees are likely to feel more invested in their work because they see the fruit of it actually being produced. 

When You Don’t Fix the Problem Early, You Get a Leak (or maybe a Flood) 

All of the roles in this analogy have a piece in maintaining pipes or letting pipes slowly disintegrate. However, the landlord has the most important role. The pipes are the foundation, but the foundation wouldn’t exist if the landlord hadn’t built the building. Company culture and organizational success starts from the top and flows down, just like water in pipes. Putting in the work to prevent problems from happening is essential in creating an environment that people can have succeed in. However, just maintaining pipes doesn’t always prevent a leak from happening. But, it does prevent a leak from becoming a flood. 

The Emotionally-Invested Bathroom User

Having an employee who has passion for what they do can drive so much good into a company. That emotional investment is likely to drive productivity and positivity that can spread through a company and produce numerous benefits on the culture. If those in administrative roles take the time to invest in and maintain their pipes, it allows all employees to thrive and feel that they can succeed in their position. Personally, I’ve been on both sides of this story: I’m SO lucky to currently work for a company that invests so much in their pipes. Company culture contributes to retention of employees. So, if you want employees that are loyal, productive, and genuinely care about the success of the whole organization, you should start by hiring a plumber.  

Do it for the ‘gram.

When I first went to college, I had big ideas for myself. In high school, I was always a shy chick: I was never 100% sure of my abilities or strengths, but one thing I was definitely sure of was that I had no idea how to vocalize my interests. College was going to be my opportunity to re-brand myself (I know, such an original mental pathway). I can guarantee you that 18-year-old Brittney would not have pictured the late 20’s version of herself as the person responsible for telling college students that today is a great day to protect their genitals. But, alas, here we are.

I’ve been working in the field of college health education for the past four and a half years. I manage a successful model peer health education program. The coolest part about my job is I’ve figured out a way to talk to a challenging audience (i.e. college students; see: if you were a college student or a teenager once, you know precisely what I am talking about) about things they don’t really want to listen to but are probably mandated to hear. Here’s what I did to reach the generation that I’m 95% sure most people are secretly scared of (okay, they’re kind of scary sometimes, so no judgement here):

I learned my audience. Learning your audience is so essential to developing any kind of campaign to reach humans. In my case, I come from a different background than a majority of my audience, so it was imperative I picked up what they were puttin’ down. I followed the people who were following us on social media (Instagram ratio, be damned!). I regularly checked their feeds to see what they were posting and took note of any patterns among all of the users who were viewing our content. I checked analytics every day before posting (yes, I’m up at 7 a.m. but if the person I’m trying to deliver content to went out last night….noon might be a better posting strategy. Bonus points if it’s a post on responsible consumption!)

I learned what my audience likes. I made the discover section my best friend. I flipped to the “following” notification setting on Instagram. I READ CAPTIONS BEFORE I LIKED THE PHOTO. What I learned is that students will do anything for the ‘gram, and they like people who will also do anything for the ‘gram. Therefore, everything I created, posted, scheduled, staged, etc. started with one question: would someone want to take a picture of this? If the answer was no, then back to the drawing board. Social media is such a great tool, but it makes literally no sense to post for the sake of posting. We have so many mini-advertisers around us. It is ESSENTIAL to capture their attention, whether that is with a witty button or giant gold balloon letters that say “Stay Woke”; the option is yours.

I sucked up as much inspiration as I could. The search history on my computer is very questionable. I’m trying to get college students to relate to topics that can be super serious, so I’ll search things on Pinterest like “drug humor”. OBVIOUSLY, drug use is extremely serious, potentially illegal (depending on state and federal laws), damages the health of the user/abuser and is in no way funny. However, I use this strategy to see what people are posting about health topics, so I can flip it around and direct the content to a more productive approach. I like to think of it as my own “sting” operation except for the fact that it is in no way the same thing. Tools like Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram are a SAVING GRACE for inspiration. I also follow accounts on Instagram that spark my creativity or that I find to be hilariously relatable, like Emily McDowell (Emily, if you see this, please be my friend, I’m sort of funny, but I make bomb enchiladas and that’s the real selling point). Additionally, I used inspiration within my own life. My friends are HILARIOUS and say hilarious things. And I’m not saying they are the “you had to be there” kind of funny, they are objectively and conventionally hysterical. Their quotes have definitely made an appearance on our Twitter. Plot twist: our audience loves it. Don’t knock down what you think is funny or awesome. It could be potential content.

I give presentations at conferences regularly on how we do what we do. The truth is, anyone can drive their content the way that we have. It just takes getting out of the bubble, taking a couple trial and error risks, and challenging the norms for innovation. Grab a cup of coffee, your favorite friend to banter with, and make it happen.

 

-BV