Opening work doors to Gratitude, Play and Surprise

By Radhi de Silva
It is a well-known fact that happy employees make successful businesses, so in order to achieve this, an employer should focus on three main points – Gratitude, Play and Surprise (GPS) – explains motivational speaker Scott Friedman.
The Daily FT met Friedman last week to find out about his work and what led him to Sri Lanka during his tour of Asia.
Friedman is an award-winning certified professional speaker, author and the former president of the American National Speakers Association, with over 29 years of public speaking experience.
Friedman is often described as a Chief Celebration Officer, an ideal designation as it promotes the work he does, which is mainly generating a culture of celebration within the workplace in order for the organisation and its people to grow.
His latest book, entitled ‘Celebrate! – Lessons learned from the world’s most admired organisations’, reveals how leading businesses create a culture of celebration and profit through the effort.  Friedman explains that celebrating success enables a company to maximise potential both inside and outside the workplace. He added that such action within an organisation is everyone’s responsibility, and a simple act of an employee’s achievement being celebrated takes the organisation a very long way.
Friedman was able to discuss certain topics derived from his latest book at a conference which took place on 28 October last month at the Taj Samudra Hotel. The event was organised by the International Speakers Bureau along with AMCHAM Sri Lanka.
Friedman explains that GPS enables an organisation to improve its productivity, performance, and profitability and at the conference held a few days back, Friedman was able to share valuable tips and insider secrets with the participants at the conference. Considering dwindling employee numbers and the competitiveness in retaining employees in specific industries in Sri Lanka, Friedman’s pointers will be ideal to promote such employment opportunities and thereby develop the industry itself.
This was Friedman’s first visit to Sri Lanka and having greatly appreciated the hospitality of the Sri Lankan people he was also able to network with many local organisations and hopes to work closely with them in the near future. Apart from his professional career as a motivational humorist speaker, Friedman is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the charity ‘Together We Can Change the World’, which focuses on providing educational opportunities to orphans through sponsorships. TWCCTW functions by raising money to support non-government groups that are qualified to serve girls, boys and women in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The conference was sponsored by the Oxford College of Business, Legends 96.6, MTV Sports, Newsfirst, Taj Samudra Colombo, Yes Fm, JWT, SriLankan Airlines, Daily FT, Daily Mirror, the Sunday Times, Quickee.lk and DART.