Free Ice cream

I once went to a client office and found that their employees got free (chocolate chip, double chocolate mint, vanilla, strawberry, rum and raisin, pistachio etc.) ice cream. Family and friends got a discount in the company shop.

Another client had free chocolate in the lobby , "Help yourself!"

And a former colleague who had worked at a brewery regaled us with tales of cases of beer, samples of new products and late night team building in the onsite pub.

And I'll admit I was jealous.

Then a colleague asked if I would volunteer for a not-for-profit focused on end of life care for the terminally ill. When I said yes and attended the first board meeting I found many issues they had stemmed from poor (read untrained) leadership.

So I donated my time and my company donated fifteen workbooks for a leadership program.

Running a one day workshop lifted the spirits of the entire leadership team, created a buzz in the organization and sense of shared purpose and vision. It translated into an even better culture for all employees which led to better care for the end users of our services.

Free ice cream might be good, but creating a better environment for those leaders, their teams and their "customers" left a much better taste.