Recently, in my little corner of the ‘Ville, change happened. A colleague who had been by my side since my first day here moved on. She didn’t just move on, she moved out of state, actually. And, she wasn’t just a fellow employee, she was, professionally speaking, my rock; personally speaking, a cherished friend. As someone who has always been flexible with change, I stiffened with this one. It was too much to accept and I let my despondency get the better of me for a good week or more. Tears in the bathroom stall, tears walking the aisles at Target, tears as I type this now. (I guess I haven’t quite recovered yet, have I?)

I realized I needed to snap out of it, so I dug out a piece of my own advice—a post I wrote last year around this time—about dealing with change. Since it bears repeating for my own benefit, I figured it would be a worth re-sharing with our readers, too. After all, change happens every day to all of us in some form: new people come in, familiar faces leave; new technology is embraced, old ways are abandoned. With that in mind, here’s the meat of that post…

If you’re a business, you rely on the patronage of your customers to keep the doors open, and customers flock to businesses where they have a positive experience. Businesses spend millions of dollars annually on their décor, marketing, product, and packaging to earn a returning customer. However, one of the best business practices to earn a loyal customer has nothing to do with how a storefront appears or what a company sells. It’s how well a customer is treated, and your employees’ job satisfaction has a direct impact on it...

Here at Baudville, we love recognition. Not only recognition, but peer-to-peer recognition has a special place in our hearts, too. (That goes without saying... but I'll say it anyways!) This month's peer-to-peer spotlight comes from Dan Rogers, one of the head honchos of our sister company, IDville, who decided to recognize our internal newsletter team with a thoughtful e-mail:

In the beginning of summer I always have the best intentions of kick starting a new wellness plan... Then life gets busy and sometime around now-ish, all of my wellness hopes and dreams come crashing down. So, lately I have been trying to jump back on the bandwagon in a very simple way; by infusing my water with fruit!

I’ve been working at Baudville for more than six and a half years, and, the other day, I realized something: gradually, I’m learning to be a better person. I’m not saying I was a complete barbarian “Before Baudville,” but I am definitely improved “After Baudville.” How did this happen? Did I simply mature? Unlikely. No, I’m pretty sure it’s all this exposure I’ve had to the practice of recognition and culture building. Here are some of changes I’ve noticed: