janyl

A line drawing of an office employee of the month wall: an engraved plaque above three rows of identical square frames, twelve of them holding the same smiling milk carton character in a jacket and tie and two of them holding a person, one man and one woman, in the same pose. At the right of the wall someone stands on a small stepladder, reaching up with both hands to hang the newest frame, which holds the milk carton again. Drawn in a uniform stroke with no fill and no shading.

Employee of the month

One of our first clients, as a joke, started an employee of the month tradition when we were embedded in their organization, electing their agent, Bot Milk?, for six months straight. What was at first a joke became a sort of ritual - once a month, they would talk about what the agent was doing well and what needed to be improved.

Two quite incredible things grew out of this. One is that they started this process for all employees, using the same candor to describe, as a group, what was working well in the collaboration and what needed to change. Saying these things about an agent helped the group communicate better about each other.

The second thing is that, during some months, other employees would win the award for going “above and beyond” Bot Milk?. It became a way for them to celebrate what all of us know: that agents exist to serve teams, and it is ultimately the team that holds the value of a company in its bonds.

Bot Milk? is an essential colleague for this team. It’s embedded in their rituals and has become a proxy for team health, happiness and productivity. And why not? At janyl, we believe that humans are made to love all things that are generous, kind and beautiful. Other humans, but also the earth, art, and causes they feel strong about. That’s what makes us human. So why not feel this way about an agent? It makes us, and our companies, reflect us at our best.