Among the most asked questions collected online from builders in preparing discussion topics for one of the education sessions at the International Builders’ Show were how do you cultivate morale within your company? How do you keep the energy level of your organization up? Hip hop artists MacKlemore and Pitbull provided the response, sort of.
Mollie Elkman, president of Philadelphia-based Group Two Advertising, and moderator of the panel “Builder-to-Builder Tell All: Around the Country in 60 Minutes” read those queries and decided rather than having the panel of builders talk about the need to do something fun, let’s show fun. She approached fellow panelist Ronda Conger, vice president of CBH Homes in Meridian, Idaho, with her idea, and the pair secretly devised their plan.
During the question and answer portion of the presentation, Elkman asked Conger to please elaborate on team morale. Conger feigned not hearing the question and said “What? What?” On cue, CBH president Corey Barton, wearing a fur coat with cheetah prints, and new home sales training consultant Myers Barnes, wearing a shaggy lamb fur, rolled into the conference room on scooters. As “Thrift Shop” blared from the speakers, three women, CBH employees wearing sequin skirts, removed their coats and started to dance. Then more people stood up and started a choreographed line dance to a medley of music. As the flash mob proceeded toward the front of the room, more people from other building companies joined them. Many were “singles” and did not know who would be joining them when their cue to dance came. Only the core group of about a dozen CBH employees was able to rehearse in the conference room an hour before the panel discussion started. In all, about 50 people participated in the flash mob.
“Everyone in the industry is excited that 2015 is going to be a great year,” says Elkman. “There’s no reason with the market going up that this year shouldn’t be a great year for your organization as well.”
Click here to see the IBS Flash Mob.
