Anthony Onesto watched the Savannah Bananas play Banana Ball and saw a lesson in employee experience. Companies that invest in engagement are four times more profitable, and the Bananas' sold-out games and thousand-person waitlist show what happens when you customize experiences and build real emotional connection.
Questions this video answers
Jesse Cole.
"Banana Ball."
21% higher profitability.
They are four times more profitable than organizations that don't.
Companies that focus on employee experience report about 40% lower turnover.
Chapters
Are you looking for ways to really enhance the employee experience? Well, let's look to Savannah Bananas baseball. Hey, everyone, it's Anthony Ernesto, and this is my quick burn the box drop for this week. Talking about baseball. Well, maybe it's not baseball. If you're a baseball purist, it may not feel like baseball, but talking about the Savannah Banana baseball team, I went to go see them a month or so ago with my son. What an incredible experience we had. And they're really, really changing the game of baseball, really turning it into a sp and entertainment. And how does that connect to employee experiences? I'll let you know. But let's start off. Let's learn a little bit more. And by the way, if you don't know who the Savannah Banana baseball team is, look them up on TikTok and Instagram. I think you'll thoroughly enjoy what you watch there. But let's talk about them. So Jesse Cole established them a couple of years ago, and in fact, when they first came on the scene, they. They really weren't that popular. In fact, I love saying when an idea comes into an existing construct that's different, we attack it like a virus. Well, this virus has taken over because now they're selling out of every game. And in fact, they have a wait list of about thousand more people waiting to get into their games. I was lucky enough to get a ticket. In fact, there was someone on TikTok, a young woman who wanted to go so bad that she actually applied for a job when they came into her town. So not only did she get to see the games, you got paid for it. So they are really taking over. And so what have they done? They've actually created something called Banana Ball, which is a fresh new look at the baseball experience. They make it quicker. And frankly, I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I always felt like the sport was too slow. Obviously confirmed by the pitch count down. But they also make it more exhilarating. And they have transformed baseball, like I said before, from a business into an entertainment enterprise. So why is this relevant to employee experience? Well, let me first take a step back and just show why it's important for you to focus on employee experience. So, first of all, plenty of stats out there from Gallup that says companies with high employee engagement report a 21% higher profitability than those with disengaged employees. And in fact, there's another study by Deloitte that revealed that organizations that invest in employee experience experience are four times more profitable than those that don't. Let Me say that one more time. And this is Deloitte, by the way. It has to be true. Organizations that invest in employee experience, what I'm talking about today, are four times more profitable than those that don't. Really an incredible experience and an important thing to think about within your organization. Let's go back and forth. So how is what the Savannah Bananas do compared to business? Right. So first and foremost they customize and they provide individual attention. It feels like in the game that they're entertaining you specifically and they have garnered acclaim for providing a one of a kind experience that is choreographed but also feels tailored. And in fact, again, I'm a geek on these things. I can see the producers on the field, but they are very like I was looking for them. If you're a fan and you're not looking for these things and you don't care about the behind the scenes operation of anything, then you won't see them. But I saw them and I see how they create this tailored experience for the fans. And how can that relate in business? Well, your organization can learn by this by customizing your employee experience experiences. You could do that through individual career development programs, unique team building experiences, and in fact Susie has done a study around segmentation and drivers analysis that can show based on your Persona, we can actually personalize and customize your experience. Second thing is adaptability and real time feedback. What's interesting about the Savannah Bananas is that even though you know to a degree it's choreographed, it's still live baseball. And in fact depending on how the fans are reacting, they change it up. So it does feel like anytime you go to one of these games that this game was created it just for you. And that has established a huge fan base and high fan engagement in business. An agile methodology to the employee experience, whether it's onboarding or normal employee experiences, have benefits here too. It can increase your employee engagement. So thinking about now, we all have our onboarding experiences that are pretty static and rigid. Think about the agility of those things. How can you change that up a bit in real time depending on your onboarding or employee? The third is the emotional connectivity. In the blog post I put on LinkedIn in about this particular topic, there's a picture of fans in banana outfits. All, mostly all of them in banana outfits. I was not in a banana outfit. Maybe in the second or third game I go to. But what this team does is it fosters emotional bond with their fans and they convert them into supporters and a general community. And that's what we can do in business. This investment, this emotional investment in the workplace can absolutely lead to higher retention rates, higher productivity, and in fact, IBM research has shown companies that focus on the employee experience. Again, what I'm talking about today, report 40% lower turnover. 40, almost half lower turnover. So what are my recommendations? Anthony? You're talking about banana ball and all these things and employee experiences. What can we do well here? One, concentrate on your company's uniqueness. The culture that you have in your organization is very unique to your organization. How do you identify and emphasize what makes your organization's culture distinctive? Two, adopt real time engagement strategies. So like the savannah bananas who react to the fans and their reactions, same thing for employees. Think about reactions like how can you change things up based on the employee? And again, if you use something like a segmentation analysis, you can identify Personas and put people on personal personalized tracks. Third, is that emotional connectivity. You have to establish that workplace culture emphasizing an emotional connection and that could be with your HR leaders. Authenticity could be with your people leaders that will foster greater engagement and productivity. So let's tie it all up in a N ball, Savannah banana, baseball. Thinking differently about a construct that already exists and adding pieces like uniqueness, real time engagement strategies and emotional connection can help companies improve employee engagement, witness substantial positive impacts on their business outcomes. That's my quick drop for today. We'll.
