Mendomi originates from Japan and means taking care of our workers like they were family. For instance, if the family heads to your Dallas home for dinner, you would more than likely make sure you catered to their tastes, their needs, their allergies and more. I love examples:

• Uncle George died of lung cancer, you’d be respectful of Aunt Edna (and save yourself the lecture) by not smoking that day or head to the park to get in that emergency smoke.

• If your Dad’s new girlfriend will be dining with you, you’d certainly put the family wall portrait in the closet. 

• If cousin Rachel is gluten intolerant, you’d whip up some GF stuffing so she could indulge like everyone else.

You get the idea.

Now translate that to your work environment:

• Dwayne has been struggling with alcoholism for decades, however he’s been clean and sober for 10 months now. Do you refrain from serving alcohol at the company-wide holiday party? Of course not. However, having mixers on hand to create bougee virgin drinks in the finest of martini glasses is fun and respectful.

• Is knowing about a co-worker’s personal struggles TMI for a Fortune 500 company? Maybe… However, knowing their favorite restaurant is just getting to know and care about them on a personal level.Armed with this information, instead of giving all your team members an Amazon gift card, you can customize the gift by sourcing pre-paid certificates from each person’s local eatery.

Here is some of what we’ve done in our family recently.

 After sharing this podcast with my son, he used the example of everyone’s favorite donut to gift his team Nothing But Bundt cakes for Christmas. As a supervisor at a UPS hub, he is often greeted with poor attitudes, no shows, complacent work ethics (or the lack thereof). By delivering a miniature cake of their favorite flavor,

if only for an hour or two or maybe even the day, JM was able to conjure up a lot of smiles and gratitude.

My sister in law has for years catered to each family member when we get together. Her soon-to-be daughter-in-law does not eat red meat, so if we are having sausage and biscuits for breakfast, B makes sure there is turkey sausage, too. Her brother/my husband loves pecans. There is always a pecan-inspired dish gracing the dinner table.

Ok, ok… I know Mendomi focuses on co-workers, however, in the United States we have a tendency to treat friends/subordinates better than we treat our siblings. Back to the work environment.

When my daughter was tasked with coordinating a team outing, she sent out a survey. Of course, it is impossible to please everyone. However, at least she could choose an activity that no one person marked as a “No Way.”

Me? I like to mix things up a bit. So, for Christmas I gifted my team with customized blown-glass pen holders and handcrafted pens. Not everyone loves a good pen as much as I do, but almost everyone uses a writing utensil on the daily. And I did ask everyone from my associate photographer to those Legacy West team members who graciously partner up with Photography by Misty for a plethora of mini sessions what colors were their faves. Sometimes people don’t know they want something until they are gifted it. Hopefully they liked their gift as much as I did. 

The guy, my photography editor T did not receive a pen holder. He is a simple man, who would more than likely gift the pen and holdren to his wife. He does, however, love to cook. Cutco kitchen shears may not be sexy, but I was confident he’d use them every day, and they will probably outlive me.

Already practicing Mendomi? Great!! I am so proud of you and oh-so happy for those who work for you. They scored a great leader. Not yet? Try it once or twice. I would really like for you to share your story(ies).