Give Me a Squiggly!

This summer, I had the distinct privilege of working for the Fortune One company, the world’s largest retailer, Walmart. I had such an amazing experience that it was hard to choose just one lesson to share. Today, I want to talk about the story of a decades-old Walmart tradition that inspires company unity, tears down walls between associates all over the world, and made a particular impact on me, a lowly intern.

One of Sam Walton’s catchphrases that defined Walmart, Inc. is, “Our people make the difference!” He was always watching people and adopting the best ideas that he saw in others. One of these ideas was the Walmart Cheer. Here’s a quote from Helen Walton, Mr. Sam’s wife, telling the story of their visit to South Korea.
“Sam took me out to see this tennis ball factory, somewhere east of Seoul. The company sold balls to Wal-Mart, I guess, and they treated us very well. It was the dirtiest place I ever saw in my life, but Sam was very impressed. It was the first place he ever saw a group of workers have a company cheer … He couldn’t wait to get home and try those ideas out in the stores and at the Saturday morning meeting.”

The Walmart cheer persists today as a company-wide tradition of unity and enthusiasm. From Arkansas to Africa, associates worldwide use the Walmart cheer to kick off and close meetings. It goes like this, with one associate calling out the words on the left and the others responding with the words on the right:
Give Me a W! “W!”
Give Me an A! “A!”
Give Me an L! “L!”
Give Me a Squiggly! “Squiggly!”
(While saying “squiggly”, everyone does a little butt wiggle)
Give Me an M! “M!”
Give Me an A! “A!” Give Me an R! “R!”
Give Me a T! “T!”
What’s that spell? “Walmart!”
Whose Walmart is it? “It’s my Walmart!”
Who’s number one? “The Customer, Always! Huh!”

The Walmart cheer isn’t just a part of the corporate office culture, it’s popular all around the globe. Follow these links to watch associates from Mexico, India, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Japan, and China perform the Walmart cheer, often in their own language!

The Walmart cheer reminds me of one super important aspect of belonging—unity! An organization can only be effective if its members are unified. We would do good to remember that “the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind” (Moses 7:18). He also commanded His latter-day saints to “be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:27). As employees of Brigham Young University, we have the responsibility to follow that commandment in our workplace as well as our wards.

Too often, I have seen people sit around and wait for unity to happen to them. These people expect the organization to go out of its way to make them feel welcomed and wanted. They want red carpet, royalty treatment from their employer, but they don’t want to do anything about it. While in Arkansas, I met interns like this. For one reason or another, they saw the Walmart cheer as “uncool” and would loathe doing it with everyone else. These very same interns would often complain that they weren’t a part of the team or that they didn’t feel like a real employee.

Belonging and inclusion are essential in a workplace, but it doesn’t just happen. In fact, the organization can’t really do anything at all. Belonging happens when individuals decide to commit to creating an environment of support, forgiveness, and understanding. If you are a part of a team or a class or a group and you feel like you just don’t belong, find someone who is willing to belong together with you. Then find another, and another. Soon enough, the community will grow and will begin to create change where you are. Like Christ told his chief disciple, Simon Peter, “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32). As we make belonging a personal matter—individually motivated and executed—we will find that we create stronger teams with stronger bonds because we are stronger ourselves.