A few years ago, Stephen Lundin, co-author of Fish, visited us, along with Harry Paul and John Cristensen. I perfectly remember his speech. Coincidentally, his book appeared shortly after the publication of “Who moved my cheese? (Who Has Taken My Cheese?) From Spencer Johnson, who further praised Lundin's work by stating:
“This is a story of fish and fishermen in which not one iota is exaggerated. It shows how by changing one's attitude one can enjoy work and daily life. Bite the hook and let yourself be caught by Fish! ”
With a title as striking as "Fish" and having read us the story of how mice and Lilliputians devised the way to eat cheese, and read Johnson's comments, we were eagerly waiting for another story to give us management lessons.
Lundin's visit to Spain was undoubtedly one of the most anticipated.
As a reminder I would like to review some of the key ideas of Lundin's work:
Lundin starts in his book with a basic question: How much energy - joy - is there in human capital? And with her book she intended to answer this question.
He started from four basic premises, necessary in turn to be productive:
1. Choose the attitude: although you cannot choose the job itself, you can always choose how you are going to do it. You always have the option of choosing the attitude you are going to adopt at work. Attitude determines your behavior.
A lot of time is spent being a victim. Our needs are: creativity, flexibility, passion and enthusiasm. We must start by renewing confidence in ourselves. We can create every day. Three elements are needed to change attitude: trust, hope and faith.
How do we want to feel while we work?
2. Play
Advantages of playing:
- Happy people treat others well. Having a good time leads to creativity. Time passes faster. Having a good time is healthy. Work becomes a reward in itself and not on the way to rewards.
How can we have fun and create more energy?
3. " Brighten the day for the customer." But to brighten your day, you have to be in touch. “Involving others and working to have a good time make the attention turn towards the client. Focusing attention on others being well creates a constant flow of positive feelings ”
- Who are our clients and how can we stimulate them to brighten their day? How can we do the same between us?
4. Being present: when you are present, you notice people, it is as if you were with your best friend; A lot of things happen around you, you care about your client
- What can you teach us about how to be present with colleagues and clients?
He ended his presentation with the following comment from his book: “When you enter this room to work, please choose the attitude of making today a great day. Colleagues, customers, team members, and yourself will appreciate it. Find ways to play.
We can take the job very seriously without being so serious.
Be on the lookout so you can be there when customers and team members need you most. And if you feel that you lack energy, try this remedy: find a person who needs help, a word of support or feel heard, and brighten the day.
Honestly, we loved the Lundin conference, and each person who asked the author questions was rewarded with a stuffed fish. That was the most.
When we went to eat, I remember how the conversation of the diners began: we were all shocked with the presentation, but someone asked a question that left us all paralyzed:
This model is very good, but does it really seem applicable to the case of Spain? Or doesn't it seem very "American" ?.
We were all silent, we could not find at that time an example of a Spanish company that more or less followed the guidelines of Lundin.
Two years ago, Lundin visited us and I have continued to look for companies that did something similar ever since. My surprise has been that I have not found this policy in any company, not even in a fish shop.
Don Joaquín Vizcaíno Martínez, Marqués Viudo de Pontejos, contemporary of the Marqués de Salamanca, was appointed Senator for the province of La Coruña in 1834.
However, it was not only for his works in La Coruña that he was known, but for his participation and drive in the creation of the Savings Banks in Spain, in addition to Father Piquer.
Specifically with the Caja de Ahorros and Monte de Piedad in Madrid. In addition, in Madrid, and thanks to your support, the sidewalks are raised, a more modern lighting system is installed, the numbering of the houses is implemented and a plaque with the name of the same is placed on the street corners.
It is therefore not surprising that in the heart of Madrid there is a square dedicated to this senator: the Plaza del Marqués Viudo de Pontejos.
(Today the whole plaza and its surroundings are known as Pontejos. When someone says "I am going to Pontejos", they are not only referring to the Plaza, but to all the shops in it. It is already a typical area of the capital..)
Historically, this plaza housed an inn known by the name of Posada del Peine, which owes its name to the Juan Posadas family.
It was the year 1610 when this inn saw the light for the first time. It was located on Calle del Vicario Viejo (today Marqués Viudo de Pontejos) and it was not until the beginning of the 19th century when it was extended to Calle Postas.
It consisted of 150 rooms, some of them the most expensive and best equipped, with a balcony to the street. Others, the more modest ones, barely had enough space to accommodate the bed, the nightstand and little else, without a balcony or window and with the only ventilation provided by the open door to the corridor. Hence the popular saying: "This looks like the Posada del Peine."
As a curiosity to say that room 126 was the hiding place of many. At the top of one of the walls of the room, and hidden by a kind of cupboard, was a door that led to stairs that were impossible to climb up or down standing, and led to another room that had served as a den for centuries.
The “Posada” became the Girod watchmaking inn, but it was not until after the Spanish civil war that it really is now: the Warehouse Company of Pontejos.
Four generations of the same family are making history in the Almacén de Pontejos, Sucesores de Antonio Ubillos, SA company after 100 years of life dedicated to the haberdashery sector.
Antonio Ubillos, founder of the company, gave it to his son-in-law Máximo Rueda after the Civil War and his sons, Antonio and Máximo Rueda Ubillos inherited it at his death.
The fourth generation, the brothers Maria and Antonio Rueda (sons of Antonio Rueda) have already joined the family business to prolong their existence.
They are now located in a privileged area of Mercer territory where the market situation is stable at "wholesale" and "retail" levels as well as the concentration of haberdashery in the area.
The store has an "L" shaped floor; with two facades, one to the Plaza del Marqués widower of Pontejos and the other to Calle del Correo. Warehouse of Pontejos has a total surface of 450m2 distributed in three floors.
The ceilings are high, about five meters. Countless merchandise hangs from the immense walls since time immemorial; the counters are made of wood, worn by the passing of the years.
On the ground floor is the store. In the basement and on the first floor is the warehouse. There we can find lace, trimmings, wool, trimmings, tapestries, buttons, macrame and crafts, from most manufacturers and brands in the sector.
The samples of the infinite sewing materials are grouped by categories on different counters: beads, buttons-buckles, threads-zippers, sewing material, cross-stitch work…
It is curious to see how the six showcases of the store reflect the products of the six main counters of the same. Each showcase faithfully reflects in physical situation and in products what is served at that corresponding counter.
In this way, we will be able to recognize the lace counter not only because we see that lace is being served, but also because the window closest to that counter is full of them.
Each of these counters is attended by specialized gentlemen who wear a classic cobalt blue robe from a store clerk. None of them is under 40 years old.
It is even more surprising the fact that this feminine business was run by men for so long, in a neighborhood that is precisely that of a man! That of the Marquis Widower of Pontejos !.
Except for the bead counter (where there is a vending machine on duty), in the rest they serve young men according to the shift negotiated by customers.
It is curious how a middle-aged gentleman explains to you in detail and kindly what the smock knit consists of, or what type of fabric flowers would best accompany your dress that is a little "bland" without a nice decoration.
The changes that trade has undergone and its subsequent adaptation to the euro went unnoticed by this store. There are no computers, no barcodes, not even a cash register.
Each clerk bears a yellow checkbook to record their sales, which he records in triplicate, cutting one part for the client, another for cash control, keeping the record of everything sold on the back of the checkbook.
The clientele is fundamentally feminine although it is fun to watch how the drag queens buy little details for their original arrangements.
The conflict arises when the old women with bluish-white hair sneak in outright and become aggressive if you try to make their attitude ugly.
Time is not money in Pontejos. You must leave the rush behind when you walk through its doors. To buy some buttons, a zipper and an embroidered strap you will have to wait for the turn of three counters and fight the elderly with open arms.
In front of this warehouse there is what I call "The English Cut of the Haberdashery": Almacenes Cobián. There I found the "Fish Spanish".
Almacenes Cobián were the last to establish themselves in the Plaza de Pontejos and broke with everything that the Plaza represented to date.
Through modern shift systems and with impeccably dressed, groomed and charming ladies, they tried to make their way in the Plaza de Pontejos.
Three plants of fabrics, beads, lace, lace, wool, thread… everywhere and… best of all, without the queues at the Almacenes Pontejos!
It was the "Haberdashery Palace". But the tradition, the character of the Spanish people and something else that until today I have not known what it was made people to continue preferring to go to the old Warehouse Pontejos - Relojeria Girod - Posada del Peine.
There must be something else for people to continue preferring the queues at the Warehouse in Pontejos, with its outdated payment systems and its staff of mature gentlemen at the forefront.
At first glance it might seem that it was a matter of customer service, you already know the wisdom that gray hair gives, the tradition of the Warehouse (it is lifelong, it is trustworthy) but that argument would have been accepted if it were not because in Almacenes Cobián they did the same.
I also thought it was a matter of popular fame; "As everyone goes to the Almacenes Pontejos" there is a mimicry that makes everyone go to the same place. But it seemed to me a weak argument.
After several visits to both sites, I discovered more than just customer service or mere mimicry. I found the Spanish model Fish.
And I say Spanish because it was precisely Mr. Lundin who stated that: "The Spaniards have large doses of energy but you leave them when you enter the office." No doubt Mr. Lundin does not know Pontejos.
The first thing I observed is that the employees of the Pontejos Warehouse are present, they know what people need as they see them at their counter, they positively know when they see the piece of cloth that the lady is holding in their hands that what they want (if it is in the thread counter) is a thread of the same color as the fabric, if you are looking at a 12 point petit point hanging on the wall, it directly shows you the petit point examples of that size. If he is a transformist, he shows him the beads that best match his jacket…
Without a doubt, they look at people, they know what their customers want.
What can you teach us about how to be present with colleagues and clients?
Another aspect that I observed is the accessibility of the employees in Pontejos and the feeling that they do not care about the time you spend on your shift. There is no rush. Even if you don't know how to knit smock or "honeycomb knit" they explain it to you with a sample of fabric. Lessons are learned there.
Also, there is no problem with the competition, I do not have these flowers in this color, look in this store. That color of entredos will be difficult to locate but I recommend…
It is inevitable not to end up talking to the lady next to you in the queue of how cute are the two-finger-wide satin ribbons that are put on the right wall to put them in the girls' hair or how Put the strech on the party clothes when it's the end of the year.
These conversations do not take place by chance or by sympathy of the people themselves, Pontejos encourages them.
The atmosphere that reigns in the old warehouse makes people be friends for an instant, yes, it's true, drag queens tell you how difficult it is for them to find buckles for their boots, old ladies how tiny crochet needles are, the young women the patterns of their dresses….
That atmosphere of “Greek academy” that exists in Pontejos is noticed and shared by people. I have never seen anyone leave Pontejos angry or disappointed (on the contrary, it is very common to hear the phrase: "In Pontejos there is everything").
It is as if he had a sign on the door saying: "See, learn, buy and come back." And they come back.
They are able to brighten the day for the customer
Who are our clients and how can we stimulate them to brighten their day? How can we do the same between us?
The communication between them is not like that of the fishmongers in Fish, who played with the fish throwing it from one fish market to another.
Yes, there are screams from one counter to another but no threads or tangles are thrown.
We can not say that in Pontejos it is played, but the task of embroidering or sewing contains a playful element.
These are activities that those who do them do for pleasure - also out of necessity, but various studies show how certain activities, such as petit point, greatly relax the distressed executives, even in France in times of
"The Sun King" was considered that "making socks" was a widely accepted task even among men.
Sew, embroider, spin… they are all fun activities that have to do with play. The variety of colors that form on the counters, the shapes of the buttons, the sizes… make any of the shops in the Pontejos neighborhood transform into a giant board where you have to find pieces to play on.
Although employees do not play, they invite to play.
How can we have fun and create more energy?
Perhaps the clearest point where Fish's example can be seen in the Spanish case is precisely in the attitude of the Pontejos employees.
Already only the fact that they are only men, not less than 40 years old and that they have to "deal" between women, shows that some "seamstress" attitude must have their character attached.
I have asked myself this question a thousand times, why men? Why men in a women's neighborhood? Why men in the Plaza del Marqués –eye, not Marquesa- Widower of Pontejos?
It is curious to see how Almacén Pontejos, run by Antonio Ubillos, is the only space attended solely and exclusively by men. Others, except Almacenes Cobián that are exclusively made up of women, are attended by men and women interchangeably. It is also a striking detail.
The conclusion I have come to, after studying the old warehouse several times, is that "they" like their work, which has been a business run for over a hundred years by men (it is still curious that a century ago this type of business was also run by men) is already a tradition.
In addition, formerly businesses were run by men, women were dedicated to "SL" or what is the same "His Jobs", which were those related to home care.
Possibly it was frowned upon that women attended in shops, since the ones who had to run the businesses were men and hence the tradition in this small hole in Madrid has been maintained.
However, the attitude despite everything is still very positive. I am not macho, but it must be difficult for a man to attend to six or seven ladies at the same time asking for telitas, lace or over lace!
Without a doubt, there is a perfect combination of trust, hope and faith in the employees of Pontejos.
How do we want to feel while we work?
Oh Mr. Lundin, you don't know. what is lost by not knowing Pontejos!
When you come into this room to work, please choose the attitude of making today a great day. Colleagues, customers, team members, and yourself will appreciate it. Find ways to play.
We can take the job very seriously without being so serious. Be on the lookout so you can be there when customers and team members need you most. And if you feel that you lack energy, try this remedy: find a person who needs help, a word of support or feel heard, and brighten up the day.
