It occurred to me last week to adopt some sort of signal to others that one was in a state of distress. The problem is last week two of our employees found themselves in a state of emergency, but given how busy everyone else is, they became too concerned that their issue was not a large enough concern to distract anyone else.
This was very concerning to me. I’ve worked at far too many companies where I’ve seen people become overwhelmed with stress over issues that could have been resolved easily if they only asked for a little help. From my experience it seems like when bad things happen you can always trace it back to someone being afraid to ask for help or admit they don’t know something.
I feel that being a small company is more like being a family than a company. Issues should be called out as they come up, that solving problems together is what a company is all about. But not everyone can see it this way, especially employees who have been in the rank and file so long they fear admitting they might be in need of help.
So I had an idea. Why not incorporate some sort of emergency code word, something that doesn’t come up in normal conversation, that when uttered everyone stops what they are doing and focuses on the person in need.
While an emergency code word doesn’t exactly fix someone admitting they need help, it does tell everyone that knows it that they are only one word away from having the entire weight of the company behind them, for whatever issue.
So we are going to try it out and see how it works. The problem is, we need to come up with a good emergency word first.
So I put it to you dear reader, what should Blue Flavor’s Emergency Code Word be? It needs to be something that is easy to remember, so an actual English word, but it should never come up in normal conversation.
“Musk-rat” - from Meet the Parents 2.
afghanistan bananastand
I suggest “Atlas,” implying that the person in need has the weight of the world on their shoulders.
In all seriousness: If the word never comes up in everyday language, how are they going to get it into conversation?
I think a “plausible but impossible” route is the way to go: My wife used to work at a retail store where “We need to re-stock the purple T-Shirts” meant “HELP” because the T-shirts did not come in purple.
In a design environment, could you use an app that doesn’t fit into your workflow? “I need your help re-installing PrintShop Deluxe” Or maybe a fake server name? “Hey Bob, I put those files you asked for in the share on the Amiga” Obviously, you’d want to be SLIGHTLY more plausible than I’ve listed here, but the point is there … even you have a call on line 7 (when you only have six lines) could work. The idea is that people want to be able to ask for help without putting themselves in danger. (Bob, could you help me EVICT THE PENGUINS wink nudge)
Just my $.02, YMMV.
Aardvark always worked for us… - Its hardly ever typed either.
Phil, that’s a good one. An animal name came to mind for me as well. Following Bill’s patterns, maybe this might work:
“There’s an orangutan in that network cluster.”
/bd
prodigious: impressively great in size, force, or extent; enormous.
The first time that I heard the word was in October Sky (the movie). It could be used to describe that there is a “prodigious” problem.
How about instead of a word use a hint of sarcasm such as:
“Wow! I didn’t realize fixing IE Bugs was so much fun!”
Or better yet, since pretty much anytime somebody mentions “IE” or “Internet Explorer” in the office you there has to be a problem. Why can’t that just be the word?
Or use a variation such as “F-in IE!”
Ok you get the point…
Oklahoma. Definitely Oklahoma.
Bill’s suggestion is great.
Hmm qouting a movie could be fun. “Kickboxing, sport of the future.” Or the Simpsons, “Ow my eyes. The gogles, they do nothing”. On second thoguht those would probably be a little too common.
I do like the idea. At one place I worked at they used to call it “mindmeld”
goatcheese!
shenanigans - A great nonsense word from <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_Days” rel=”nofollow”>south park</a>
I really like Bill’s suggestion tweaked for the best impact at your company.
Actually, shenanigans isn’t a nonsense word:
<a href=”http://www.bartleby.com/61/61/S0336100.html” rel=”nofollow”><a href=”http://www.bartleby.com/61/61/S0336100.html” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.bartleby.com/61/61/S0336100.html</a></a>
Horticulture. We’ve used it for several similar purposes.
sasquatch: (aka bigfoot) Recognizable, quick to say, and not commonly found in normal conversation, at least in the Northeast… I’ve never been to Seattle. Good luck.
So what did you choose?
Blue Fever
There is some fantastic stuff here, thank you everyone!
We’ve been trying out a few of the suggestions above to see what fits us best. I think the consensus here and in the Blue Flavor office is to go Bill’s route with some sort of phrase that is out of place. We like “evict the penguins” but we’ve been toying around with a few others.
But Afghanistan Bananastand is also very popular.
What I find interesting, is it sounds like a lot of you have used code words in the past. How often were they used? Were they successful?
This is interesting. I like the idea of using a phrase instead of a single word. Just saying a single word and having everyone drop what they’re doing and rush to your aid sounds too embarrassing. It feels more natural to make a statement like “We need to re-stock the purple T-Shirts.” The statement is implying a need, I think that helps.
It reminds me of when I was a kid, our family had a secret code word. In case something happened to my mom for example and a stranger had to come pick us up from school, if the stranger knew the secret word, we knew it was safe and they’re weren’t just trying to abduct us. I think it was a German word, but I can’t remember it now.