We Were Ducked!

Written by: Sarah Novak   |   July 26, 2022

Last week, I was reminded that “Attitude is Everything,” just like one of my favorite artists, Bonnie Mohr, painted. As many of us have been working from home over the past several years, it’s strange to come into the office sometimes. So many articles in the media talk about how staff don’t want to come into offices, and leaders are struggling with keeping their teams happy and engaged.

Why should we come in when we were successful doing our jobs from home? That is a common question I’m sure many of us have either asked or answered.

Last Monday, the American Feed Industry Association team reported to the office and suddenly, people started seeing little ducks all over. No – not real ducks, but rather, these little guys (see picture at right).

They (it turns out there were 180 of them!) were all over – in the refrigerator, on the conference room signs, overlooking the windows (if you look carefully, you’ll see the Washington Monument in the background).

There was a lot of laughter and fun had by all. Each time someone found a new duck, it was in our Teams chat. Then, as we ate lunch, we tried to figure out who hid them all? It took us three days to figure it out. Everyone was smiling and chatting with each other, and it really made the “office day" a bit more fun and engaging. What would start as a smile about a duck, sometimes ended up with a spontaneous conversation about a work item.

This reminded me, that attitude is everything. Coming to work, building relationships or balancing homelife with the right attitude is a big part of your success. Without the right attitude, no matter how talented or smart you are, you still want to be that good team member that everyone enjoys working with.

So, I want to publicly say ‘thank you’ to Lacie Dotterweich for reminding me that it can be fun in the office, and attitude is everything!