Building A Better Workplace

How To Make Easy Course Corrections

2011-12-13T16:31:00.002-07:00

Back in the days before 9-11, I found myself on an overnight flight across the Atlantic Ocean to England. Seated all around me were drunken, Estonian sailors who had proceeded in 1.5 hours to drink the airplane dry of any and all alcohol. At only three hours into the eight-hour flight, I was becoming increasingly agitated by the drunken sailor next to me who insisted on practicing his 3-word English vocabulary replete with spittle, belches and the occasional waft of stomach gases.

The flight attendant, sensing my agitation, took pity on me and asked me to accompany her to the back of the plane. In the back galley, there were several seats occupied by other flight attendants and I was invited to take a seat amongst them and take a break from the beer-burpy-spittle sailor.

After about an hour of quiet, being served coffee and tea and a few munchy snacks, the Chief Flight Attendant asked if I would be interested in meeting the Captain and seeing the cockpit (remember, this was pre 9-11).

Upon opening the cockpit doors, I found the pilot and co-pilot facing one another and playing a game of cards to which the captain chuckled, "I'll bet you're wondering who's flying this thing huh?"

The captain then proceeded to show me how it all worked. To my amazement, I learned that once in the air, the computer flew the plane. The Captain pulled up our flight path on the computer screen which indicated anything but a straight line.

"At 40,000 feet, it's windy and our plane gets knocked off course all of the time," the Captain said. "The computer's job is to make a small series of corrections along the way to keep us on our course so we don't end up in Spain when we were heading for England."

This story illustrates the useful strategy of small course corrections versus the major reactive strategy of trying to recover from a serious, uncorrected error along the way. This same strategy can be applied to daily interaction and communication with employees to make small course corrections so that you don't end up in Spain when you were heading for England.

The Annual Performance Review, as many managers have explained it to me, is like ending up nowhere near where you were headed. The Annual Performance Review only allows for major corrections - the big things that went unsaid for months and were never dealt with when they should have been.

However, Tweaking™ your employees daily in simple ten-second interactions daily will give your people better feedback, better direction and build better trust culminating in better loyalty and reduced turnover.

Remember, if you prefer chaotic crisis intervention, putting out major fires and stressing yourself out in dealing with setback, by all means, stick with the Annual Performance Review of having only one discussion around each employee's performance per year. But if you want to watch your employees get better every day, watch them improve their performance, increase their engagement levels and come together as a cohesive team, then I suggest the Tweak™ Strategy for management.

Small course corrections are much easier to do but require you to pay more attention to your people.

For more information on how Kevin can help your managers get better at communicating with employees and building engagement, value and culture, check here: http://kevburns.com/speaking/tweak-a-new-management-strategy

25 Percent To Jump Ship In New Year

2011-12-06T15:51:00.002-07:00

As you gather for your Christmas parties, (sorry, Holiday Parties - my PC vocab is underutilized), be aware that this is likely the last party for many of your staff. If the numbers are right, and they usually are pretty close, almost every survey indicates that up to 25% of employees are willing to jump ship in the New Year as soon as a better offer comes along.

Y'see, as a manager, you've been doing a terrible job of building employee loyalty. In fact, while you are in your all-too-often management meetings or locked away in your office with the door closed, your staff are whining about their jobs and how they're ready to jump ship at the first opportunity. It's probably because you don't say enough to them about how much you value their contribution.

Oh sure, you talk to them about how you fought for a raise and how your hands are tied by senior managment, but other than that, you really don't say much do you?

The truth is, although more money is always nice, it isn't the reason your people are secretly planning to leave. No, they're planning their exit strategy because they don't feel fulfilled in their work because no one tells them that their contribution is important, that the work matters or that their talent is recognized.

But you're not comfortable with that are you? That's too touchy-feely (Eew). Better to just keep it simple and throw out a few basic but non-commital platitudes in the "annual" performance review. That way, your ass is covered if they ever raise a stink about something you said that may have been heartfelt.

At this time of the year, people have gift-giving on their minds. Eyes and faceslight up when they get a gift. Think of how much your people would light up and light a fire under themselves if they got a regular gift: someone who articulates that they are appreciated.

But there will be no gift come the New Year. No, your lump of coal will be to train their replacement in the New Year. And when that person leaves, then you will do it again, and again and blame it all on a lack of employee engagement. It's always easier to blame turnover on "problem" or "issue" employees.

But Employee Engagement isn't the problem. Management enagagement is the problem. Employees will engage in direct proportion to their direct manager's engagement of them. Without engagement, their is no employee loyalty.

Stop looking for tips and tricks to fix your people. They don't work long-term. What works is honesty. Talk to them. Appreciate them. Be grateful for their work. That's how you keep them. All it takes is a little humility. But that seems to be the problem doesn't it? You think being humble equates to weakness. Not much wonder they're leaving you.

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For more information on how Kevin can help your managers get better at communicating with employees and building engagement, value and culture, check here: http://kevburns.com/speaking/tweak-a-new-management-strategy

Why HR And Management Are To Blame

2011-11-29T18:20:00.003-07:00

Below is an excerpt from Kevin's forthcoming book, Tweak™ - Building A Better Workplace In 10 Seconds Or Less!

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Ultimately, every organization having difficulty with turnover, staff retention, customer retention and recruiting can point their fingers and blame one of two things within their organization: Human Resources (the people they hire) and Management (how they manage them). That's it. Simple. It's either Management or HR to blame for where your company is today.

Are you employing the same kinds of people you did 20 years ago? Are you managing the same staff you did 20 years ago? Are you using the same technology from 20 years ago? Overwhelmingly the answer is "NO."

So why are you hiring the same way you did 20 years ago and still using outdated management practices? The truth is, both conventional (what we've come to know as conventional) Management practices and conventional Human Resources practices are out of date. What ultimately holds almost every organization back is the people they hire and how they're managed. And what propels and organization forward is exactly the same: the people they hire and how they're managed.

Knowing this, why do you think so little effort is spent by organizations in training managers to a level of excellence and/or deploying a forward-thinking and highly-motivated staff of recruiters to go out and steal the best talent in the market?

Is it because companies are happy with mediocrity: a middle-of-the-pack performance? Or is it because that's what everyone else is doing? We don't think companies are "happy" with being in the middle of the pack - that's just where they end up when they follow someone else's model for management and HR.

Not everyone can be a Google or a Starbucks or a Netflix: industry/market leaders. Once your industry has a leader, everyone else automatically becomes a follower. Following another company's management practices or their hiring practices or their training practices will only make you a shadow of what they are. That is no way to ever achieve market-leader status nor is it any way to ever be top-of-the-heap when it comes to attracting the best talent, the best ideas and the best managers.

When companies pay big money for expertise from outside resources, they had better be getting ideas and strategies that weren't even thought of 20 years ago. I know professional "speakers" that if they were to open a book written in the last five years, they would have to scrap everything they're currently preaching because it's old, outdated and just doesn't work anymore. Consultants offering up the same ideas they offered to clients twenty years ago shouldn't be rewarded for not being current. Management trainers who regurgitate old concepts built on hierarchy, bureaucracy, planning and control should refund their paychecks. Google did not achieve market-leader status by doing what everyone else is doing.

This is a new time, a new market, with new faces employing new ideas, new concepts and new values. And the changes are only going to get bigger and faster. In fact, in the year 2015, seventy-five percent of your workforce is going to be either over age 50 or under age 30. That means you are more likely to see seventy year-olds working alongside twenty year-olds. Are your managers prepared to manage a 50-year age disparity? If you think you can manage a Gen Y the same way you've managed a Baby Boomer, because you've always managed that way, you're sadly mistaken. You will not be ready and your company will suffer as a result.

For more on Kevin's Tweak™ Management program, check out http://kevburns.com/speaking/tweak-a-new-management-strategy
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Nine-Minute Seminar On Future Workplaces

2011-10-31T18:50:00.001-06:00

I have just posted a new mini-seminar on where workplaces are headed over the next three years. It addresses the challenges in management, generations and hiring. Take nine minutes out for yourself today and view the mini-seminar.

What The Future Holds - A Mini-Seminar

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Closing Time And Employee Engagement

2011-10-20T22:08:00.001-06:00

"We're closing in five minutes!!!!"

How many times have you been told that by "customer service" personnel (yes I used quotations on purpose)?

I have even been yelled at upon entering the store twenty-five minutes before closing. What does that say about the staff? Worse yet, what does that say about management that lets staff get away with, in essence, saying, "your needs are less important than me getting out of here so hurry up Buster."

While looking at expensive dishes in a small, Independant store, I was approached hurriedly by the sales clerk who seemed impatient that we were still in the store so close to closing time.

Exasperated she exclaimed, " we are closing in like two minutes."

I immediately shot back, "we'll leave then" looking her square in the eye.

She backpedaled making some lame apology. Too late. I didn't want to buy here anymore.

The evidence in retail establishments is staggering but this happens in every organization: people who don't want to start something that they know they can't finish before closing time. Clock watchers are time-thieves. They cost your organization money and productivity and take a big bite out of a culture that claims to be customer-focused.

How your people handle the end of the day is more tell-tale than how they handle the start of the day - especially around engagement.

If you, as a customer, get the warning that they will soon be closing, walk away. You deserve to be treated better. Besides, there's a huge difference between locking the doors and being "closed."

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Some People Need To Be Left Behind

2011-10-19T22:03:00.001-06:00

I sat on a panel at a Chief Information Officers' Conference this week with other thought-leaders from around North America. One of the questions posed to me concerned the push by populist politicians to gain points with the public by endorsing a "leave no child behind" policy when it comes to education and how a policy like this will affect workplaces in the future.

The truth is, although noble, it is not reality-based - at least not in the workplace. In the workplace, not everyone moves ahead. Some people get left behind. Some perform better than others. Some are management material. Some are not. Some are leaders. Some are followers. Some succeed. Some fail. Some are promoted. Some get laid-off. Many get left behind. Maybe you've been left behind once or twice yourself. If you did, I'll bet it changed who you are and how you apply yourself. If it didn't then you'll likely be left behind again.

Success is not a right. It is a privilege. It is earned. It is not simply given away.

In the real world, we don't turn low-achievers into managers and corporate executives. Bottom-achievers are the first to be laid-off when the economy turns. Look, we are already whining, moaning and complaining about poor service, low initiative, poor employee engagement, declining morale, rock-bottom motivation and terrible work-ethic. I'm not sure how lowering the bar so that more mediocre employees can squeak through university makes our workplaces better.

Sorry, but sometimes we need to leave people behind. Not everyone is a top-achiever. Not everyone is a star employee. Not everyone is future management material. If we lower the bar in education, the expectation next will be to lower the bar in employment. And that, in my estimation, is non-negotiable.

We need to raise the bar when it comes to personal performance, to how we deliver service, to how we engage in our work. Removing the consequences of not applying oneself seems counterproductive.

People need to experience difficulty and turmoil. It shapes character and resilience. People learn more from failure than from an easy ride. And I am all for those who do the work, make the effort and achieve what they are capable of. THAT builds better and more cohesive workplaces and I am completely and utterly in favor of that.

If you're still having trouble with this, imagine a world that leaves no person behind when it comes to testing for a Driver's License. Now do you see my point?

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The Critical Key To Succession

2011-10-12T23:28:00.001-06:00

Succession Planning is on the minds of many organizations today. As older workers retire, the challenge is to get the information out of the heads of the retiring workers and into the heads of a new generation of workers.

And this is where it all falls apart.

Don't even try.

Yes, get the information out of the heads of your retiring workers. Yes, do whatever is necessary to get retiring workers to commit to disseminating what they know and yes, put it someplace where future generations of workers can get to it.

But don't expect that the new generation of worker will WANT to put all of that information into their own heads. They won't. They don't. In fact, what's the point? They change jobs more often than any other generation. Really? Do you want to invest in getting the info into their heads only to have them walk away from the job within a year or two?

No. Put it in a place where everyone can access it. Get it on video, audio, written word, seminar, workshop, PowerPoint but DO SOMETHING.

Generation Y is probably the best generation for being able to locate information only when they need it and not have to walk around with it in their heads. Theirs is a generation of written (albeit short form text code but it is written) word. They will want to access the writing or video or other media. That's where it should be anyway - not wasting away in someone's head where you're going to have to try to retrieve it when they leave.

Think ahead.

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How To Build Better Teams And Engagement

2011-10-10T22:24:00.001-06:00

Organizations spend a lot of money on trying to build better teams, better culture and better communication in an attempt to build better engagement. Companies want their workplaces to be more warm and fuzzy, friendly and personal so that employees might connect better with their work, coworkers and managers. And yet these same companies still hire using the most impersonal (and broken) model available: ARIH (Advertise-Résumé-Interview-Hire).

Advertising job duties (instead of desired personal qualities), selecting shortlist candidates based on impersonal stuff written on paper (applications and résumés), asking interviewees questions from a prepared list of impersonal questions and then hiring based on who was best able to remain cool and detached from stress during the interview seems like a surefire strategy to hire cold and impersonal people. All you create are workplaces that make it difficult to build organic teams and a sense of personal connection to the work.

Still, companies complain about employee disengagement, employees who don’t feel a connection to the mission of the company, employees who lack any sense that their work matters, employees who don’t really like or respect their co-workers or their boss. Yet these same companies continue to use the detached approach to hire people who they will later complain aren't connected to their work.

If the whole hiring process is based on disconnect, is it really a surprise that your people end up disconnected from their work, boss and workplace? Really?

If you want to change your culture and build your team organically, you must first change up those who do the hiring, conduct the interviews and set the tone for the expectations of the new employee. The first point of contact of most organizations is Human Resources and it needs to change.

Start hiring personable HR people who are prepared to have side-by-side conversations with potential employees instead of the adversarial model of job-candidate facing the power-panel of intimidating interviewers. Get rid of the "power trip" and start finding ways to make connections with candidates. Start building relationships instead of attempting to justify your job.

If you want to attract people who connect naturally to other people, their work and contribute to a warmer culture, you need to model that behavior for every new employee right from the very first contact with your company.

A couple of ideas that attract a completely different candidate can be found here http://buildingabetterworkplace.com/?p=971 Sadly, most HR people would find a million reasons why it can't be done that way because it is out of their comfort zone. But it can be done and is being done. And it works.

If you keep doing what you've always done, you're going to keep getting what you've always gotten.

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A Place To Go To Die

2011-10-05T21:03:00.001-06:00

I spoke with a manager today whose employees score their workplace low on "passion for the work" while at the same time, that same company boasts of some of the longest serving employees in any industry.

Simply put, although the employees don't have a lot of passion for their work, they are willing to put aside their apathy for the work and stick it out for 30 plus years - all the way to retirement.

Got a few of these in your own workplace? How would you manage and/or attempt to change a Culture like this?

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Relevant Managers vs Irrelevant Managers

2011-10-05T00:41:00.001-06:00

Irrelevant managers say things like: I don't have time to read management books. I don't have time to subscribe to management Blogs and email newsletters. I don't have time to get away to attend that seminar on working with the new generation. I don't have time to work with social media. I don't have time to coddle every one of my employees just to tell them they're doing a good job. I don't have time to go over it and over it again just because a few don't get it.

Relevant managers say things like: I make it a point to read at least 4 new management books each year to stay current. I subscribe to a handful of solid management thought-leaders by email and Blog because they inspire me with new ideas. I have worked out a schedule to attend at least one seminar or training session each year that can help me help my employees. Since I started working with social media, I now see how employees and customers use it to communicate better. I reach out to each employee everyday so that they feel value in the work they do and valued for the contribution they make. I will do whatever I have to do to make sure that every employee gets it right and does it right because our customers deserve our best.

So, are you too busy for the people who depend on you to be your best or are you just too self-absorbed to really care? If you cared, don't you think you'd do something about it?

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New Productivity Tool

2011-10-03T15:53:00.002-06:00

I don't often openly endorse a product but this one is a brilliant tool for anyone wanting to help build better performance for themselves and their company. And it's FREE.

http://idonethis.com/ is a brilliantly simple program to get you focused on not just keeping busy ... but more importantly, being productive. And I am using it and loving it.

I get an email at the end of each work day asking me to take a few moments to itemize the things that got done today - hence the name "I Done This." Then, by simply replying to the email, my accomplishments are placed on a calendar of things I got done. Once you register, you can view your calendar of accomplishments and all of your past history at any time.

Anything that didn't get down today gets moved to the top of the To-Do list (your own list) for tomorrow. This is so much MORE than simple time management.

This is about that voice in your own head that forces you to make decisions, take action and get things done. And did I mention it's free?

Start focusing on what you DID get done and stop placing too much emphasis on what still needs doing. You, like me, will find yourself working smarter and getting a lot more done in the same amount of time.

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All The Time In The World To Complain

2011-09-29T21:51:00.001-06:00

I want to follow up yesterday's post Fixing Tomorrow's Problems With Yesterday's Ideas as I have received some concerns by email.

What I was referring to yesterday is how we hire, manage, communicate and build workable cultures has changed from 30 years ago. Unfortunately companies are still hiring, managing, communicating and are not making any adjustments to culture any different than 30 years ago and yet are throwing their hands up in the air and complaining about turnover, poor retention, absenteeism, lack of loyalty, poor engagement, poor work ethic and a terrible entitlement mentality in their employees.

They are lost for answers and end up hiring outside consultants who also still employ 30 year old philosophies.

We are in the information age but no one seems to want to do the work to keep current or to read anything for fear that they might have to make changes to how they do things.

The key to building better workplaces is NOT in reacting to changes in the marketplace but in being AHEAD of those changes. That requires a commitment to learning and a commitment to keeping current.

Sadly, most will say they don't have the time to keep current - but apparently they have all the time in the world to complain about it.

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Fixing Tomorrow's Problems With Yesterday's Ideas

2011-09-28T19:04:00.001-06:00

Thirty years ago there were no smart phones, no Twitter, no Facebook, no Blogging, no Generation Y in the workplace, no retiring Baby Boomers, no handheld GPS, no laptops, no tablet computers, no MP3 players, no workplace drug testing, no perpetual job-hopping, no workers' smug sense of entitlement, no focus on ergonomics in the workplace, no leadership development for middle managers, no outsourcing to third-world countries, no growing use of part-time and contract employees, no instant access to training videos on YouTube, no text-messaging at work, no telecommuting, no Corporate Culture initiatives, no succession-planning strategies, no anti-bullying programs and no stringent workplace safety programs.

It is a different workplace today than it was thirty years ago.

So why then, are so many organizations and so-called experts clinging to outdated models of management and organizational development when the workplace is clearly a different place today than it was 30 years ago?

What worked thirty years ago will not work today. And it certainly wont work tomorrow. If you're not keeping up - then you're falling behind.

The world won't stop changing just because you're not up to speed. If you're not prepared to read the Blog posts, the books, view the videos, attend the seminars and take a portion of your day, everyday, just to stay current, then you're in the way. You're holding up your organization or, at the very least, giving your organization some very bad advice.

If you don't want to do the work of staying ahead of the changes instead of always having to react to them, then maybe it's time you stepped aside and let someone else take your place - someone who is prepared to offer real-world, current solutions to today's challenges.

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How To Define Workplace Success

2011-09-27T18:10:00.001-06:00

It's very simple to define a great workplace. A great workplace is one that has a lineup of high-performers wanting to come work there.

Plain and simple, that's all that's necessary. No need to talk of management, money or culture. Any workplace that has a lineup of people willing to come over and work obviously is firing on all cylinders: management, money and culture.

Let me put it this way: who would you rather do business with? A company that has attracted all of the industry's top performers or a company that struggles to attract the leftover mediocre employees?

If you want to build a better workplace, you have to start with the end-goal in mind - creating a lineup of high-performing job-applicants - and point everything you do at that. Simple.

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Delicate Little Egos At Work

2011-09-26T17:30:00.001-06:00

Funny how people only seem to want to hear compliments and not necessarily listen to good advice. Because of insular and delicate little egos, constructive criticism is increasingly being viewed as criticism - which in the receiver's mind isn't constructive - it's destructive.

You were told by your parents, lovingly I suppose, that you are special. Well, the workplace surveys would say that most workplaces don't hire special people. Largely, workplaces hire mediocre people with mediocre past employment and mediocre resumés touting perhaps competence but certainly not excellence. Very few people achieve excellence. For those who do achieve excellence, well, they're not standing in the same job-line as you. It is rare that those people need to line up with resumé in hand to compete for a mediocre job.

So, how do you move from competence to excellence? You ask for constructive feedback.

But your co-workers say nothing (the reason 360 degree feedback rarely works as advertised) for fear of creating animosity. Your co-workers don't want to get on your bad side because they've seen how vindictive you can be when your delicate little ego gets bruised. Your managers say little because they weren't trained properly in how to build trust with you resulting in any input they offer as sounding like a personal attack. And, customers never tell you why they chose another vendor because you never bother to ask, so that you can avoid hearing that there was something wrong with you and not the product or the price.

So unless you've done something wrong, you're likely to never hear a thing from anyone - which, if you did, you would probably interpret as criticism - a personal attack. Remember how you acted the last time someone attacked you.

Y'know, once upon a time, you asked people's advice - people who have been where you are and who have been successful. But now you don't because you have YouTube - the perfect way to avoid being judged. Now, unless you ask or click, you don't want to hear what people think.

You especially don't want to hear that its your fault - especially if it is. And when you do ask someone else to chime in, you only want to hear compliments - not necessarily what you NEED to hear.

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Why Working Hard May Not Be Rewarded

2011-09-21T22:11:00.001-06:00

You've heard it before. That person who feels that just because they "worked hard" they deserve to be rewarded.

So let's say you started out driving from Detroit and drove for ten hours. You should end up in New York after 10 hours of driving. But you could just as easily end up in Des Moines, Iowa after ten hours because you made one incorrect decision leaving Detroit. You still drove for ten hours. The effort remains the same. The result? Very different.

So if you end up in Des Moines, do you deserve to be in New York just because you drove ten hours?

Working on a complex Algebra equation for hours only to end up with the incorrect answer doesn't get you a passing grade just because you worked hard.

Working hard on the wrong thing doesn't get you a reward, a raise or a promotion. It may get you ridicule though - especially if you whine that you should be rewarded for your effort.

You don't get rewarded just because you're busy. You get rewarded for your results. Keep that in mind when you get passed over for promotion or a raise. Working hard and getting results don't always coexist. Sometimes they do but not always.

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Front-line People Reflect Their Managers

2011-09-20T21:10:00.001-06:00

I worked with and addressed a group of retail managers this morning. The first message that I made abundantly clear was this:

"To become an outstanding retail manager, you need to first become an outstanding retail customer. Once you've experienced both good and bad service alike, only then can you differentiate. Only when you have set a standard of how you wish to be served can you demand of your staff any sort of standard. If you show apathy in being a customer, you will show apathy in how you train, apathy in how you hire, apathy in how you communicate and apathy in how you manage. The people on the front-line of service are a good reflection of their immediate supervisor's willingness to train and develop his or her people."

You know, come to think of it, this doesn't just apply to retail.

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Playing The Odds With Customer Service

2011-09-19T11:49:00.001-06:00

The printing order I needed on Friday arrived the following Monday. I had placed my order nine days previous and had chosen 7-Day Expedited Shipping and paid a premium for it. They, VistaPrint, missed the deadline because they shipped it by standard mail.

First they first offered a re-order - which seemed pointless since I hadn't yet received the first order. Then they offered a credit which I refused as I didn't want a credit, I wanted a refund - especially since they promised guaranteed delivery and then missed it. They complied and I was refunded.

Upon thinking about it, it seems that they are a company playing the odds. Here's what I mean: by offering a premium purchase option for delivery within 7 days, if they were to ship by Express Post, they would be guaranteed to have it delivered within 3-5 days. But standard Expedited Parcel usually arrives within 7 days. So instead of actually paying extra to ensure every parcel arrives on-time, they are playing the odds - the odds that they only have to pay out on the rare occassion that the Post Office doesn't get it there within 7 days. Do the math. This questionable practice could be a huge financial saving to them but they are taking a risk with their customers.

The third option, a full refund is the only costly option for them and ONLY when their customers say no to the first two options.

I will not do business with them again because they failed in their promise and their web site has no contact info, phone numbers or email addresses. I used to be a regular customer. But this time, I had to Google to find a phone number and got it from a third-party web site whose users complained about the same things as I did here.

So let me ask you, are you treating your customers in a similar way? Do you hide behind your email, voicemail, phone trees and hidden contact info on your web site? Do you make your customers work hard to reach you? Can you think of anything more rude? You know it irks you when it happens to you so why do you do it to others? You are NEVER too busy for your customers.

Here's my commitment to my customers and prospective clients: if you want to reach me directly, my direct telephone number to MY desk is 403-770-2928 and MY email address is abetterworkplace@gmail.com. I answer my own emails and I answer my own phone. I have voicemail, sure, but it gets delivered as an MP3 file directly to my iPhone when I am out and I can call you back as soon as I get your message. I AM available to you.

By the way, I wrote this while waiting on Hold to speak to someone at the phone company, Telus. So far, 48 minutes on Hold and counting....finally, someone. Gotta go.

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Titles Don't Make You A Leader

2011-09-14T23:56:00.001-06:00

Leadership. The word conjures up images of men in suits in high-powered corporate positions leading their companies through the minefield of competition. But yet, leadership has nothing to do with companies or competition or even men in suits.

Corporate America has somehow stolen the word leadership and equated it with executive position within an organization. That has done a huge disservice to the concept of leadership by dumbing it down to a simple philosophy of title equating to leaders. There are many struggling and failed CEO’s who fancied themselves leaders but couldn’t convince their employees and shareholders to follow. It boils down to this simple premise: if you have no followers, you’re not leading – and just because you pay them doesn’t mean that your employees can be called followers.

There is no governing body that administrates leadership, leadership consultants, leadership courses or books and media dealing with leadership. You will, however, see re-branded management courses touting themselves as leadership courses and offering certificates in leadership if you pay your tuition and spend your time in the classes. But is that leadership really?

People don’t follow a certificate or a diploma (sorry to rain on your parade MBA’s). No, leadership is something more than checking items off of a list. Leadership is an ATTITUDE. Leadership is an attitude in the way that you conduct yourself in the world – a way in which you carry yourself and the way you think and treat others.

People follow people who deserve to be followed - not because they have a title.

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How To Engage Employees

2011-09-13T21:58:00.001-06:00

"Go make some cold-calls."

I can't remember how many times I heard that from my boss years ago when I was selling copiers and fax machines for a living. Yes, I've been in the trenches too.

Truth is, cold-calling was 98% unsuccessful. Or put another way, if we called on 100 businesses we were likely to sell about two machines - usually small purchases - and usually months in the future. But you would have to endure a LOT of rejection, animosity and sometimes, downright nastiness. But I suppose it is how I would react to having my day interrupted too.

When managers have no idea how to communicate effectively with their people in a way that taps their motivation, their inspiration and their drive to excel, yeah, you tell them to go make cold-calls.

Barking orders is not engaging your people. If you want your people to engage in their work, you, as a manager, need to engage them. People will engage in their work in direct proportion to how they are engaged by their supervisors.

Otherwise, they shut down when they are told WHAT to do and not given the WHY it is important.

Managers, you get what you give. When you engage them, they engage on the job. There are no shortcuts when it comes to engagement. You MUST do this.

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Senior Management Needs A Safety Wake-up

2011-09-12T20:08:00.001-06:00

Safety conferences are not just for Safety Managers and EHS personnel. Safety conferences are where we should be seeing presidents, CEOs and senior management personnel who are NOT related directly to OHS in their workplaces.

And until non-EHS senior management takes an active role in safety and the adoption of cultures of safety, safety will never completely take hold in an organization.

Safety needs to be treated on the same level as finance, marketing and sales.

Senior management needs to stop treating the health and safety of their employees as an arm's-length after-thought. Senior managers need to get serious about creating cultures and mindsets of safety in their people, but more importantly, themselves.

If you as a senior manager won't make attending safety functions as paramount in your workplace, neither will your people. People will model the behavior of their leaders. And your people will continue to get hurt because, like you, they don't take safety seriously.

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Introducing Games At Work

2011-09-08T10:39:00.001-06:00

There are a lot of self-proclaimed trainers who are willing to waste your company's time and resources by playing games during their learning sessions (make that "games AS learning sessions"). Really? Games like back in Kindergarten? Or spending an hour cutting pictures out of magazines and building dream-boards? Yes, this is STILL happening and companies are paying big dollars for Kindergarten-like games and building dream collages.

Sorry, but games is what you do when you are bored with your work or when trainers are either out of ideas or have nothing of substance to offer to the conversation.

Forcing games into the workplace does two things: 1) it proves that yours is not a fun place to work because if it was fun, it would be happening organically instead of needing to be manufactured, and 2) it gives people an excuse to NOT take their work seriously. After all, if the game is more important than the work at this moment, how important is the work?

If the games are supposed to represent "learning," what is supposed to represent "work?"

"Gamification" is the new buzz-word creeping into the workplace and it seems to be aimed squarely at Generation Y - who bore easily once in the corporate world. (Funny that many Gen Ys want to join in the Kindergarten-like games yet, at the same time, want to be respected and not treated like children in the workplace).

Games are more likely to DISTRACT a workforce - not engage it. A disengaged workforce doesn't happen because there isn't any fun in the job. Disengagement is the result of poor management, poor hiring, poor training and poor communication of purpose and mission. I'm not sure how playing a game for an hour or two fixes all of that because when the game is over, you still have poor management, poor hiring, poor training and poor communication of purpose and mission. Games don't fix - they distract.

Instead of games, Why not find ways to establish purpose and meaning in the work, hire fun people (not just the best resume) and improve the amount of time managers spend engaging their staff?

Managers who don't engage their staff tend to have workers who don't engage. (Do you see the relationship there?) Fix the managers, train them to be better communicators, coaches and inspiration-centers, and you will develop longer-lasting engagement than playing games in the workplace for an hour or two.

If you want to play games, do it off-hours as a social event but don't make it mandatory that everyone join in, because being "forced" to play a game makes the game not fun anymore.

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3 Questions To Better Workplaces

2011-09-07T12:36:00.001-06:00

All successful workplaces have one thing in common: they are operating successfully in 3 different categories: communication, management and culture.

Every issue within an organization will fall into one of these three categories.

For example, let's say sales are down 20% based on year-to-year performances. Now before you enroll the entire sales team into another redundant sales-training course, perhaps you should be identifying the reasons why sales are down in the first place. Three questions will identify the issue squarely:

Is it a Communication problem?
- Are the sales people not communicating to the customer why our product still holds more value than our competitor's recently rolled-out product?
- Are the managers not communicating to the sales people new strategies to combat new competition?
- Are the customer service people not communicating trending in customer concerns back to sales?
- Are the customers not being asked about their thoughts on the products, the sales process, the quality of the sales people and/or the service personnel?

Is it a Management problem?
- Are the managers not mitigating threats in real-time to new challenges from competitors?
- Are managers not front-line managing as well as they could be - coaching, inspiring and troubleshooting with their salespeople individually each day?
- Are managers so busy doing paperwork or tying themselves up in meetings that they are not available to their salespeople on a timely basis to handle issues?
- Are managers simply waiting to respond to a crisis instead of taking leadership roles and being more proactive?

Is it a Culture problem?
- Do our service people just not care enough to work to fix a problem?
- Are the salespeople blaming lack of sales on the economy?
- Are we taking our clients for granted because they've been loyal to us for a long time?
- Have we, as an organization, become complacent?
- Are we, as an organization, accepting "good enough" as our basis for serving and selling to customers?
- Have we given up our training programs because our people complained that they weren't getting anything out of them?
- Are our people asking "what's in it for me" if they go over and above to help our clients?

Don't just treat the symptom of a problem or, worse yet, the result of a problem. Figure out where the problem is originating from and address that. Stop throwing useless money and pointless resources at issues and "hoping" that they get resolved. Be sure.

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If You Had A Bad Manager...

2011-09-06T19:14:00.001-06:00

... chances are you will become one if ever you get promoted.

But if you were coached, encouraged and inspired by a good manager, then you are likely to become one of those.

But if you don't know the difference, you are more likely to become a bad manager. I mean, how can you know a better way if you have never been taught or experienced a better way?

The trick to building better managers is to school them properly. Don't you dare give someone a management promotion with no management instruction to support them. That's like getting a new car without an engine: it may look nice but it's useless.

Shave the budgets on office supplies, photocopying, heck, even the Christmas party but DO NOT shave the Management Training budget. There are too many people who are affected by your managers. How your managers conduct themselves impacts culture, hiring, turnover, absenteeism and workplace respect. Spend your money here first.

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How To Hire More Creative Thinkers

2011-08-31T22:20:00.001-06:00

Fall hiring season is upon us. It's taking place at the same time as hockey Training Camps.

So here's the idea: combine hiring with Training Camps (whenever possible).

Have you got four or five real good candidates all vying for that one job? Bring them all in at the same time and put them to work for a day or two. Have your candidates job-shadow your best people (the ones with the best personalities and who would represent your organization best).

After a day or two, you would be in a very strong position to determine who would best serve and bring some strength and creativity to your workplace.

You can weed out the ones who LOOK good and really find the gems who ARE goodl.

If the Training Camp idea isn't possible, then how about making each candidate deliver a presentation, using the media of their choice, on why they should be the successful candidate. Make them deliver it to the manager and some of the staff they will be working with.

Stop thinking that interviews will suffice. Basing your hiring on people who can answer inane HR questions like, "tell me about a time your were forced to speak up and how that made you feel." Oh please make it stop.

If you want to find the really cool employees, the really creative thinkers, then stop using the same interview techniques as every other mediocre organization. Be creative and you will attract the creative.

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Leader Or Loser: Quick Quiz

2011-08-30T22:54:00.001-06:00

Leaders, in the non-traditional sense of the word, are people who help you set yourself up to achieve small victories. Leaders don't have to be bosses. Leaders can be co-workers or customers (who may have to sometimes irritate you before you can actually see what they see) or friends - but usually not family. I only mention that because most family think the rest of the family are dumber than they are. Anyway, another discussion another time.

Losers (my opposite word to leaders) are the kind of people who wait for that moment when they find you doing something wrong and then pounce on you and use your mistakes as leverage. They somehow believe that by tearing you down, they magically elevate themselves in the process. Maybe you work for or with someone like that or maybe you're married to one. Again, another discussion another time.

But my point here is this: which one are you?

If you want to build a better workplace, you need to thoroughly study what you communicate and how you communicate with others.

It takes a good, hard look in the mirror sometimes before we figure out that we are sometimes being the kinds of people we hate being around.

Do you try to catch people doing something wrong? Do you help people do something right? Or worse yet, do you just put your head down and do nothing at all?

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Seriously, Stop Whining

2011-08-29T20:24:00.001-06:00

If you were not dumped out of a white panel van at your workplace today with your hands bound behind you, blindfold over your eyes and gag over your mouth then you arrived at work ... willingly.

People who say they can't function until they've had their first cup of coffee need to get up about an hour before they normally do, have their coffee at home and THEN go to work.

People who are counting the days until retirement are living a jail sentence. If you can't find any happiness in your work, you are likely to find less in retirement.

But what about the people having a good day who are forced to endure people who complain because it's Monday, Tuesday, 3 more days to the weekend, etc? For the complainers, do you think people actually want to hear you complain? Seriously?

If you disliked your last job and the one before that and the one before that and you've begun to dislike this one, it's not the job that's the problem.

If you're seriously unhappy about your job, then find another job. That's not a flippant statement. Do something else. Run a french-fry truck, weave baskets or do whatever brings you joy. But seriously, stop whining. It really isn't making you very attractive, or your co-workers any happier, is it?

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Mediocrity Is Where Most People Live

2011-08-28T22:03:00.001-06:00

Kevin Spacey, in the opening of the movie Casino Jack, does a monologue in front of his bathroom mirror. Featured below are some of the highlights from that monologue.

People look at politicians and celebrities on the TV, newspapers, glossy magazines. What do they see? "I'm just like them," that's what they see. "I'm special. I'm different. I could be anyone of them."

Well guess what? You can't. You know why? 'Cause in reality, mediocrity is where most people live. Mediocrity is the elephant in the room. It's ubiquitous.

Mediocrity is in your schools, it's in your dreams, it's in your family.

Those of us who know this, those of us who understand the disease of the dull, we do something about it. We do more because we have to. The deck was always stacked against us.

You're either a big-leaguer or you're a slave clawing your way onto the C-train.

I will not allow the world I touch to be vanilla.

Is today a "vanilla" day or are you going to strive for something more?

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How To Find Hidden Clues About People You Work With

2011-08-25T22:31:00.001-06:00

This guy was all set to drive his new fridge home in the trunk of his car (sort of) in Richmond, British Columbia this week. That is until the cops stopped him before he ever left the parking lot (store staff called police when they saw this).

When asked by the police officer if he thought his load was safe, the driver replied that he thought it was indeed safe since it was secured by ropes and the seat belts from the back seat.

Police told him to find another way to transport it home. Seems he was attempting to not pay the $50 delivery fee the store wanted to charge him.

Now while you're chuckling to yourself and shaking your head, think about this: this guy works for someone and wherever it is that he works, he thinks that this is a safe way to transport a refrigerator.

An attitude like this is a possible danger to this guy's co-workers.

You have got to make it clear how important safety is, not just IN the workplace, but outside of the workplace too. The guy with the fridge may abide by safety procedures at work but it is obvious that he doesn't believe in safety or possess a Safety Attitude or mindset.

You can't build a safe place to work on a shaky foundation. Address the attitudes - not just the rules.

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Kevin Burns - Workplace Expert and Speaker

3 Questions To Better Meetings

2011-08-24T09:16:00.001-06:00

Prior to the recession, a Canadian financial services company hired a former U.S. President to address their company. You could ask what a former President could say that would be worth a six-figure speaking fee? And the answer would be "nothing really." But the company would be sending a message that it had done well enough that it could afford to hire a former U.S. President. But luckily, for most organizations, those days of self-aggrandizing have been replaced by more fiscally responsible strategies.

A national bank hired a professional football coach to speak for 90 minutes on leadership to its managers. After the speech, the coach came down into the audience, shook hands and made small-talk with each attendee. When asked to recall the celebrity's content, most had difficulty - but everyone could recall verbatim the small-talk. His celebrity overshadowed his own message - the reason he was paid to speak.

If your organization is going to take the time to meet, then the organization needs to be better as a result of the meeting.

I have spoken with associations who feel the need to hire celebrities as marquees saying, "we use celebrities to bolster registrations for our meeting." Dare I say, if you need a celebrity to get people to come to your meeting, then perhaps you need to reconsider having the meeting altogether. There is obviously little perceived value in attending. (Note: a few select celebrities have been able to transition their celebrity into functional, how-to strategies for organizations - but very few. Choose wisely.)

The same goes for your meetings in the office. Here are 3 questions to achieve better meetings:

1. Is there a specific purpose for this meeting or are you holding it because you've always had a Tuesday Management meeting?

2. Is one person holding the meeting to look like a celebrity or is it really going to make the workplace better and is it readily evident how the organization might become better?

3. Could all but one point of your meeting agenda be replaced by a single page memo and if so, can you focus the meeting on just one issue and still call it a meeting?

Make your meetings worthwhile. Have a purpose, a strategy and an outcome of making your workplace better. Otherwise, let your people do their work. There needs to be perceived value in attending a meeting.

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Kevin Burns - Workplace Expert and Speaker

How Low Is Your Bar Set?

2011-08-23T23:37:00.001-06:00

Students are not tested on their ability to think beyond the scope of their studies. Uniform tests have made sure of that. The average student simply says, "what will I be tested on - I will study only that."

The same philosophy follows a student into the workplace. A worker, knowing what he or she is likely to be graded on, will do only that. They are called performance reviews and they are narrow-focused, spirit-killing, motivation-halting tragedies that happen at work daily.

Managers and organizations set the bar too low in an effort to reduce their potential turnover. The criteria for performance is laid out and the employee is forced into complying with the criteria only. Otherwise, they may receive poor performance reviews if they are not fully focused on their assigned criteria.

Most corporate web sites make it easier for customers to file complaints than pay compliments. My bank's web site didn't provide me any outlet to compliment a call-centre employee but there were several ways to file a complaint. I wonder which they get more of.

Organizations who set the bar low for their customers get just what they ask for.

"Tell me what you're scoring me on and I will do only that," is a terrible attitude that leads to an apathetic Culture. But it happens because most organizations have no way to measure going over and above. Therefore, it rarely happens.

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How To Motivate Staff

2011-08-22T21:27:00.001-06:00

Time Management is rarely about time. It's about setting priorities.

If you can decide what is most important in every situation, who is most important, how it needs to be done and then do that thing first, you won't ever be left wondering what to do next.

But how do you choose which of the dominos needs to be knocked over first? By answering the WHY part of the equation. People are rarely helped to see WHY what they do is important. Without answering the WHY, they are unable to fully understand the HOW. When someone is muddy on WHY and HOW, WHAT seems impossible.

So before you penalize your entire team by forcing them into a generic Time Management session for the sake of one or two (which many managers do), ask yourself if your people fully comprehend the WHY of their jobs.

Don't leave staff motivation in the hands of some guy who delivers the same Time Management course to thousands of differing industries. If Time Management worked, there would only be one course and it would be mandatory for each person to take it in University and never have to take it again.

Time isn't the issue. It's an issue of having a basic understanding of why the job exists in the first place. Communication is your best motivator.

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If You Can Do Better ....

2011-08-21T21:07:00.002-06:00

... Why don't you?

Have you succumbed to the "good enough" attitude of your co-workers and your workplace?

Really? Can you really feel good about leaving your best effort in your big-boy pants at home?

Don't ever complain about the job if you're not giving your all. Don't complain about the job if you can see ways to improve the organization but choose to say nothing. Don't complain about the job if you're not actively encouraging your co-workers to do better by your example.

The truth is, how we one thing is how we do everything. If you don't give your best at work, you don't give your best to your friends or your love partner. You can't possibly give your best to your relationships if you don't give your best at work.

"Doing your best" is an on-off switch that is either on all of the time or not at all. Sadly, for most, it's not at all.

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Are You Still Afraid To Be Honest?

2011-08-18T16:00:00.002-06:00

Honest communication is the backbone of any successful corporate Culture initiative. You can plan and strategize all you want but in order to make a positive change in Culture takes communication - people talking directly to people.

Hiding behind voicemail and email doesn't make a workplace any better. Harboring bitter resentment towards a co-worker without addressing it only creates more animosity. Filter-Free Fridays are designed to get stuff off of your chest before that stuff eats into your guts and creates an ulcer.

You don't have to be hurtful in being honest. In fact, honesty is so rare in the workplace that any sign of it might be conceived as a breath of fresh air.

So, on Friday, take back your spine, pony up and if there is something that needs to be addressed, then address it - in a non-hurtful way. Here's a key ingredient to excellent communication on Filter-Free Friday: be respectful - not regretful.

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How Easy Are You To Work With?

2011-08-17T21:37:00.001-06:00

Dr. Phil asks a similar question: how easy are you to live with? But really, it's the same question only for the workplace. So?

Are you a blustery co-worker with an opinion on everything? Do you suck up all the oxygen in meetings? Is it your voice and ideas that are more important?

Or...

Do you offer help when you can? Do you encourage your co-workers to voice their ideas? Do you congratulate your co-workers who get promoted ahead of you?

Here's the real gauge: how many of your co-workers ask you to join them in social events and activities outside of the office? If you're not invited to play outside of the office, it's probably because you're difficult to work with.

Can't argue with your results.

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Nice Guys Earn 18 Percent Less

2011-08-16T19:03:00.001-06:00

Oh crap, just what we need, a survey showing that nice people at work earn less - as much as 18% less. Workplaces are already facing a civility crisis and now this?

The survey also points out the problem most times: managers who just don't get it.

If you've got a manager who is mostly absent and you want to get noticed for promotion or at least a raise, you have to raise your profile and get in the boss's face. Most people don't know how to do this positively so they act like jerks, the manager doesn't want to deal with it, the employee gets the raise - rewarding lousy behavior.

Got a jerk in the workplace? That jerk getting paid more? Bring it up and into the open. Point out that not-so-nice people are being rewarded for their lack of civility. Ask your boss if that's what they had in mind for the department. Maybe your boss isn't even aware that they are rewarding poor behavior.

Let's be civil in the workplace. There are already enough jerks that we have to deal with daily. Let's not reward them.

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Are Good-looking People Hurting Your Workplace?

2011-08-16T00:06:00.001-06:00

Anyone who has ever been set up on a blind date, and told their date has a "great personality," gets nervous. People want to be seen with the beautiful people. But it's not just when it comes to relationships that this happens. Companies do it too. They put really good-looking people in charge of their reception desks. And sometimes it works. And sometimes it doesn't.

Unfortunately, sometimes companies choose beauty over substance choosing eye-candy with little else in the way of skills - on the phone, in person and in communication. They think they are making a great first impression by putting someone attractive at their front desk when what they should be going for is high- performance and high-function.

The job of the receptionist should not be left to just beautiful people. In fact, I vote that the ones with the really good personality get to be the ambassador for our workplaces - the ones that can carry on a conversation, know what's going on and recognize the importance of their work: the VP of First Impressions.

That person at the front desk speaks volumes about your organization. Hire for substance, not for looks.

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Vacation Time

2011-06-28T23:31:00.001-06:00

I will be taking a little time off over the next month or so to spend some time relaxing, some time thinking and some time writing. Most of all, I want to spend some time developing new strategies to help you build better workplaces. I will return here in August.

Meanwhile, for our Canadian readers, Happy Canada Day on Friday (July 1). For our American readers, Happy Fourth of July on Monday.

Be safe, be courteous and continue to make building a better workplace a priority in your respective workplace.

Kevin

Video: Are You Putting Your People At Risk?

2011-06-21T15:57:00.001-06:00

Are You Actively Putting Your People At Risk? from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Workplace Expert, Kevin Burns argues that companies who do not care about their people enough to ensure that they follow safe procedures it could be argued do not care about their customers either. How you do one thing is how you do everything. How can you say you care about your customers but not the people who serve your customers?

Video: Why Mid-Managers Are The Lifeblood

2011-06-14T22:02:00.002-06:00

Why Mid-Managers Are Lifeblood from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert, says most middle managers get very little training and are thrust into a role that most are ill-prepared for. It is the most thankless job and the one with the highest "hassle" factor. Add to that, when the economy tanks, middle managers are usually the first to go. The truth is, I am on the side of middle managers. I want them to get better.

Video: You Call Yourself A Professional?

2011-06-07T21:52:00.002-06:00

You Call Yourself A Professional? from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert, tackles the subject of being a "professional." How can you call your people "professionals" when you only give them formal feedback once a year? Do you think Tiger gets one golf lesson each year? How about Kobe or Sidney Crosby? You say you run a "professional" organization but do you really?

Video: How To Avoid Embarrassing Onboarding Mistakes

2011-05-31T16:36:00.002-06:00

How To Avoid Embarrassing Onboarding Mistakes from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert offers up advice to counter managers who systematically remove the incentive to perform well by giving away the farm to new hires by not tying it to performance. All your new hire has to do is the bare minimum - just enough to not get fired - and they will enjoy raises. Hiring a new employee is not simple. There is pressure involved to get it right and to start a new relationship on the right foot. So how do you do that?

Video: Where To Find The Best Workers

2011-05-24T21:24:00.000-06:00

Where To Find The Best Employees from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert, shows you where to find the best workers. Do you HONESTLY think high-performers who are happy with their work are going to be checking the newspaper want ads or paying any attention to your "Now Hiring" sign in the front window? The only people who are likely to respond to your ads or your Help Wanted sign are the people who are already looking for a job - the available. And there is a reason that they’re available.

Video: How Managers MUST Engage Staff

2011-05-17T20:25:00.002-06:00

How Managers Must Engage Staff from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Workplace Expert, Kevin Burns, thinks that the real purpose of a good manager has been lost with too many meetings and too much paperwork and that perhaps it’s time managers changed their minds and philosophies of what they are there to do. The truth is that managers work for the staff and NOT the other way around.

Video: How To Get Rid Of Toxic Employees

2011-05-10T20:41:00.000-06:00

Part of building a better workplace is knowing when to remove the weeds from the garden. You don't just move weeds to another part of the garden. You pull them, trash them and protect the garden from future weeds. That's how your garden grows. That's how your workplace prospers.

Video: How To Reduce Pay Raises

2011-05-03T21:54:00.000-06:00

Of the people who came to their boss, in an Accenture survey, and asked for a raise, eighty-five percent got a raise of some sort with sixty-three percent getting as much or more than they were expecting. So what does that say? That people are deserving of getting a raise just by asking for it? No. Of course not. It means that there are managers who have no confidence about their ability as a manager and they don't want to look like the bad guy.

Video: Managers Need Better Time Management

2011-04-26T23:22:00.000-06:00

So managers, let me ask you this question, if only twenty percent of your time is spent actually managing, who is it that really needs a Time Management course? The truth is that Time Management is never about time. It's about having clearly defined priorities. And it is the manager's job to ensure that the clear priorities have been communicated to the staff. So how can the manager make that happen?

Video: Why Companies Say No To Social Media

2011-04-19T16:40:00.004-06:00

Does it seem just a little strange that the people who are supposed to be visionary leaders of our organizations are looking like relics simply because they outlaw social media purely based on not understanding or using it?

A Manager's Easy Performance Review

2011-04-12T22:19:00.000-06:00

Performance reviews rank second on the list of management duties that managers dread - right behind firing someone. The problem with these reviews is that they are left up to the manager to once a year prepare something to say to the employee.

Video: How To Fix Tardiness

2011-04-05T12:27:00.001-06:00

When you let people get away with tardiness, you tell the rest of the staff - the other eighty percent of your workforce - that it’s OK to be irresponsible and you actually encourage more of the same behaviour. You, by not enforcing consequences, are making yourself look bad and ineffective as a manager.
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One-Phrase Engagement

2011-03-29T17:48:00.000-06:00

Employees, left to their own devices, are likely to become distracted and maybe even bored with some of the work. But employees who are engaged by their bosses, who have regular conversations and are given small attainable tasks to accomplish are more likely to keep focused and on task. So how do you go from being an absentee manager to one who engages immediately?

Video: Lessons Are Repeated

2011-03-22T22:06:00.000-06:00

Do you find yourself having to face the same problems and put out the same fires at work? Do you find yourself secretly questioning why does this keeps happening to you? Can I let you in on a little secret? It keeps happening because you’re just not getting it.

Video: The Open-Door Policy

2011-03-15T11:45:00.000-06:00

Do you have an "open door" policy at your workplace? Almost every organizations claims to. So why is it that if so many organizations have an "open door" policy, so much takes place behind closed doors?

Video: Why "Family" Workplace Is A Bad Idea

2011-03-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

This week, let’s take a look at the concept of trying to build a “family” in your workplace or imposing “team-building” on your people. The truth is, most of your staff have nothing in common with each other except where they work. So don’t force them into becoming a family or a team. That just creates a disconnect.

Video: Who Is To Blame For Employee Engagement?

2011-03-01T15:51:00.005-07:00

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert rants on the fact that it just doesn't seem right that all of the blame for what is wrong with the workplace gets placed squarely on the shoulders of the disengaged employee.

Video: Create A Mission For Your People

2011-02-22T11:05:00.001-07:00

Create A Mission For Your People from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Missions Statements are so muddled full of ambiguous language usually created by committee that has dumbed down and watered down any idea to be so empty of any meaning, that no one could take ownership of it. Don’t ever let a committee prepare your mission statement. So how do we fix it?

Video: Employees Are NOT Created Equal

2011-02-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

Employees Are Not Created Equal from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Too much effort is spent in managing people into conformity. The truth is that too many managers want one employee to be just like another employee - one who models the traits and gets the results management likes. It's counterproductive when managers start trying to manage their employees the exact same way. It's worse when they expect each employee's results to be the same.

How To Handle 100+ Emails/Day

2011-02-08T23:02:00.002-07:00

How To Handle 100+ Emails/Day from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Are you a manager who handles upwards of 100 emails per day? Well, the bad news is handling 100 emails a day is not management. That’s treading water. If you’re treading water as a manager, you’re doing it wrong.

Video, Kindle and Embracing Change

2011-02-01T23:33:00.002-07:00

Video, Kindle and Embracing Change from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Workplace Expert, Kevin Burns, talks about recent predictions and current realities when it comes to change. Cisco predicts that by 2013, 90% of Internet traffic and 64% of cell phone traffic will be to watch videos. Kindle format books now outsell traditional paperbacks and hard-covers. Change is upon us. Are you ready?

Book Update

2011-01-13T16:55:00.001-07:00

Just thought I would update you on what is happening. I am continuing to take time off away from blogging while I finish up my newest book, "Tweak - The Definitive Management Strategy to Build Your Dream Workplace, Attract The Best Talent, Regain Your Sanity and Never Have To Deal With Problem Employees - In Ten Seconds Or Less!"

I hope to be back here blogging again within the next 30 days.

But that doesn't mean we're closed. Meghan is still taking bookings for 2011 speaking presentations. Feel free to go to www.kevburns.com to get more information or call us toll-free at 1-877-287-6711.

Looking forward to serving you better,

Kevin

Happy Holidays

2010-12-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

Kevin is enjoying a bit of a vacation as well as putting some finishing touches on a few projects. He will return to this space the week of January 10, 2011. Enjoy some family time during the Holidays and Kevin will see you in the New Year.

How To Get Thrown Out Of An Expensive Italian Restaurant

2010-12-16T19:10:00.001-07:00

On Filter-Free Fridays™ you get the opportunity to tell businesses, organizations and people how they are doing - in a non-hurtful way.
Last Friday, my wife and I headed out for some Italian at one of the city’s most expensive Italian restaurants. We had never been to this particular restaurant before but the reviews showed well.
We ordered a glass of red wine, the Caprese salad to start and my wife ordered the House Specialty Lasagna and I ordered the Veal-stuffed Cannelloni. They brought fresh bruschetta on crostinis as their welcome. Delicious - well as delicious as you can make tomatoes in December but well spiced and flavorful. The Caprese was alright I suppose - but again made with out-of-season tomatoes - it was good.
Then the main courses arrived straight from the oven in the same dishes. We had to wait several minutes before we could taste since it was piping hot. When we did, my wife thought the bechamel/tomato sauce (which the pastas were swimming in) tasted more like Campbell’s Cream of Tomato soup, both pasta dishes were overcooked (disintegrated when touched) and there seemed to be a lack of any sort of seasoning. Have you ever tasted veal or lasagna without seasoning? Well it’s tastes like … uh … nothing.
The “pepper girl” came by a few minutes later and asked if we wanted fresh pepper. I simply replied, “I don’t think that’s going to fix it.”
She immediately summoned our server (turns out he was the owner) and when asked, we simply said that the sauce tasted like tomato soup, the pasta was overdone, there was no seasoning and therefore no taste and perhaps it was the worst pasta I have ever had in an upscale restaurant (true).
“Well then this place is not for you,” he barked and angrily gathered up the dishes. “I will pay for what you’ve eaten. You can leave at any time,” he barked and then threw the dishes into a tub in the kitchen (really he threw them). And we left.
If it doesn’t taste good, don’t eat it anyway and then pay for it. Say something. The worst that happens is they ask you to leave. I suppose I could have said everything was “fine” but then I would have been lying and the next customer who ordered the same dish would get an expensive mouthful of nothing.
On Filter-Free Fridays™, you’re not just helping the business get better, you’re making it better for the next person. Tell the truth. They need to hear it.

Take The Christmas Party Away From The Office

2010-12-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

You can’t erase a memory because once that memory has been committed to … uh …memory, it’s there forever. And that includes the Christmas celebration drinks at the office and the consequences and responsibilities that follow.

If you want to toast with your co-workers, pick a neutral location away from the workplace. Do not, under any circumstances, allow alcohol to cross the threshold of your workplace.

In addition to being responsible for the behavior of your people under the influence, allowing alcohol into the office makes you responsible for virtually everything that your people do between the time they leave the office and actually arrive at home. That includes how they get home. But host an event in a bar or hotel ballroom, and then the responsibility is on the host facility to ensure their guests don’t get too drunk and disruptive.

Do not host a party in the workplace. Your workplace is for working. Bars are for drinking. If you want to have your people enter into a high-performance mindset when they walk through the doors each day, don’t allow them to come out of that mindset while they are in the office by creating a memory of drunken or lascivious behavior fueled by alcohol. Focus.

Build your culture of high-performance by keeping focused. Assess every activity (including the Christmas party) to ensure that you are not sending your people mixed messages. Doing so creates difficulty for managers and hurts your Culture.

If you want to celebrate with your people, take it outside.

How To Finish Christmas Shopping 10+ Days Early

2010-12-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

I’m finished my Christmas shopping altogether. In fact, I finished 12 days early and it took me all of a few hours to get it all done. Every gift was well thought out, well planned and the day went virtually stress-free. Did I mention that I’m a man?

Each person on my list will get an appropriate gift and gifts that have meaning for them. How? They told me what they wanted.

I carry a Blackberry and over the course of a year, I have many interactions with the people on my Christmas gift list. In conversation, they will usually give up some piece of information about something they’ve seen, heard about or just gotta have. I simply enter that information in my Blackberry. Then, come Christmas shopping, I simply pull out the Blackberry and purchase a few items from their individual lists. Hey, it’s exactly how Santa does it. You know the “making a list and checking it twice” thing. At the heart of it all is a list. Make one and you take away your stress.

Look you can’t manage Christmas or your family but you can manage how you find the perfect gift - pay attention all year long. Write it down. Get it into a list or a database of some sort. Then, in a few hours, after you’ve mapped out your stores geographically, you are done in no time.

The busiest and most stressful time of the year are the 10 days leading up to Christmas at the malls. Why, if there were a better way, would you put yourself through the stress year after year? You get to enjoy quiet times at home while others are losing their minds at the mall.

Now give yourself a daily reminder on your Blackberry starting December 26 to pay attention to the conversations going on around you. Don’t worry, once you start entering things into your lists it will simply come naturally.

Meanwhile, good luck out there. I’m home with my cup of tea, feet up, stretched out on the leather sofa watching the original Miracle on 34th Street on the big screen. Yes Virginia, there really is an easy way to be Santa.

Has Casual Friday Gone Too Far?

2010-12-13T23:05:00.000-07:00

The backlash has started. Companies across North America are fighting back and actually placing rules and stipulations on Casual Friday attire. The Reason? Apparently people can't be trusted to make their own appropriate clothing choices. But more likely, managers have been completely ineffective at establishing and communicating a set of boundaries for staffers to operate in.

Some organizations are refocusing and re-naming their Casual Fridays "First Date Fridays" and encouraging their employees to dress as though they were attempting to impress a first date by wearing something appropriate and sophisticated. Others are banning jeans outright so they don't have to deem one pair of jeans acceptable and another not. No flip-flops, no tank tops, no shorts, no halter tops and yes, underwear ... always. Other organizations are offering their employees the chance to dress down (just a little) for a donation to a charity.

Right now the data is being gathered to determine whether Casual Day is leading to a slide to casual service, casual language and casual productivity. I will bet it does. If you lower the standard in one area of your workplace you end up lowering the standard in all areas. Casual is casual no?

The problem is that for the employee, Casual Fridays make the day all about the clothes (or lack of them in some cases) and not about the work anymore. If your people aren't grasping the whole "dress responsibly" thing, it's likely because you, as a manager, have been ineffective in getting the message across.

Casual Fridays is as much a test of communication and Culture as it is about wearing your comfy clothes for a day. If you want your people to dress appropriately, articulate effectively what you would like to see. Otherwise, you'll be putting out fires from staff members who are offended by the dress of other staff members.

Casual Fridays can work but like the other four days of the week, there are standards that must be adhered to.

Oh, and for a chuckle, watch this short clip from CBS's The Office about Casual Fridays.

How To Deal With Bad Parkers At The Mall

2010-12-09T23:49:00.000-07:00

It’s the Holiday season. I know this because the malls are full and so are their respective parking lots. The problem is that there could be more parking available if not for the selfish displays of a few drivers who could care less how they park.

Strange isn’t it that people can go to the mall to buy a beautiful gift for a loved one while at the same time thumbing their noses at everyone else. They don’t care how they park, they don’t care that they take up two spaces and they certainly don’t care that they inconvenience you. No because they’re selfish, self-absorbed little idiots who, if they understood the spirit of the season, would park respectfully to allow others to have a happy holiday season as well.

So here’s my solution: it’s Filter-Free Fridays™ so the gloves are off. Right now, cut and paste the following and put it into a Word document four or five times on a page. Make it 16-point type and a bold font and when you print them out, cut them into strips:

Hey selfish jerk, thanks for parking with such lack of courtesy during this Holiday season. It’s obvious that whatever gift you bought today won’t matter because the Spirit of the Season is apparently lost on you. The truth is, I left you this note because you parked liked a selfish jerk. I didn’t damage your car but you might not be so lucky the next time you don’t think about others. Wake up - oh and Happy Holidays. (www.filterfreefridays.com)

Carry a bunch of these in your car this Holiday Season. You’re going to need them. It’ll take the edge off when you place one under a windshield wiper. Then you can go shopping smiling - with the full Holiday Spirit inside of you. And if you see someone parking like a jerk, correct them before they walk away from their car. I’ll bet most sheepishly return to their cars and park properly. Embarrassment works.

When Managers Make People Wait

2010-12-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

Don’t you just hate standing in line? Banks have that long cattle pen (moo). Airports have the same line, even though you’ve already checked in AND put your own luggage tag on your luggage you still have to line up to give someone the bag. Huh. And now even stores like Best Buy make you line up like cattle (moo) if you want to return something to their store. It seems that buying is efficient - returning will eat up a good chunk of your life.

Organizations have become quite competent at making customers wait and you’re likely quite aware of how long your customers are forced to wait. But have you considered how much your employees wait?

Employees who are forced to wait, especially waiting for fellow workers, cause your people to think. When they think, they reflect on how bored they are waiting, When they discover how bored they are, they blame the job. When they discover how boring the job is, they disengage.

But you, as a manager, can Tweak™ the disengagement out of your people and get them to actively engage. Tweak™ing can identify problems and boredom before they become problems. Tweak™ Management creates dialogue between employees and managers.

Remove wait times for your employees and they actively engage. But only managers who communicate with their people regularly will be able to eliminate boredom. Otherwise, your people sit around waiting to speak with their managers about how long they are forced to wait.

Mission Statement or Vision Statement?

2010-12-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

In my mind, both are important but NOT interchangeable at all. If asked which were more important, I would say, “it depends on who you’re asking for.” Here’s why: the Vision Statement is the long-term forecast and goal-setting of where you would like to be in 1 year, 2 year and 5 year increments. Mission is how you get there - daily.

For the organization as a whole, Vision is the more important of the two as it sets up where you want to end up.

However, for the employees, Mission statement is far more important as it determines what needs to be done today.

The problem is when organizations have such a bland and generic Mission Statement, no one knows what they are supposed to be doing. It’s called a Mission statement because it’s the mission: what you’re supposed to be doing. When a good Mission statement spells it out, it makes it easier for employees to make the right decisions.

Would your Mission Statement allow your people to make the right decisions or is it so muddled and mundane that your people don’t take it seriously?

Every department of an organization should have their own Mission Statement that specifically outlines the duties and Culture of the department within the larger framework. A departmental Mission works because, when in doubt, your people can look to the Mission Statement for the right thing to do. If it isn’t spelled out, your people will do whatever they think is best - based on their perception of the right thing to do.

Managers, if you want to be spending less time putting out fires and more time being able to coach your people better, develop a Mission Statement for your department that keeps your people focused, on-task and engaged.

How Managers End Up With Average Staff

2010-12-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

Take stock of your employees right now. You are about to separate your people into three categories.

Category 1: how many of your people could you consider to be the best in your industry - the high-performers?
Category 2: how many of your people would you consider to be at least average (competent) and do decent work?
Category 3: how many of your people would be considered below average?

I will bet that the largest number of your people end up in Category 2.

So why is that? Why are you hiring and managing only average people to turn out average work?

Most managers will make the excuse that 80% of workers are considered average - when in fact it is 1% of workers who are average (right on the mid-point) and 99% either above or below average. It is nothing more than an excuse because it lets managers off without having to try harder to coach their people to become higher-performers.

This is how managers end up with an average staff - they accept that this is the hand they have been dealt and then make excuses for not wanting to make it better - because it seems like a lot of work. But then those same managers complain that their staff members aren't engaged on the job. Huh. Imagine that.

It's not workers who have an attitude of "good enough," it's their managers who have it. Good enough lets you off the hook of having to coach better, communicate better and to take more of an active interest in their development.

Yes you do have the time. You just have poor priorities. You're not a paperworker or a meetinger. You're a manager. So manage - priority one. Make your people better and want to be better. You are the coach - they are the players. Are you going for an average season or are you going to attempt to win the championship.

The job is "people-work not paperwork." Re-prioritize.

How Speaking Up Saves Your Money

2010-12-02T22:10:00.000-07:00

I received my American Express bill last month as usual. The amount owing was a few thousand dollars - so I paid it, in full. Even though I charged nothing to card for the next month, I still received my American Express bill this time with an interest charge of $7.80 owing.

Huh? But I paid it all off last month.

I called American Express where they happily explained to me that the interest had accrued a few months prior and that was the reason that $7.80 in interest was still owing.

"Well then you sent a bill that wasn't complete," I offered, "and if you send me a bill and it shows an amount owing on it and I pay it before the due date, then we should be square. You sent me a bill that was not complete and I don't think I should have to pay more than you billed me for."

I was asked to hold for a moment. The clerk then returned telling me that he had waived the interest owing.

How many people would have simply accepted the convoluted excuse about interest accruing months previous and simply given up. If every month, 100,000 people were to do that worldwide, then the credit card company would generate $780,000.00 of new income monthly.

The first excuse is to test to see if you'll go along with it. When you don't go along, you get rewarded.

Speak up. It's Filter-Free Fridays™ - a day when you speak the truth - to help, not to hurt. Stop being taken advantage of. Stand up for yourself. Use your voice.

People-work Not Paperwork

2010-12-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

It's the simplest management philosophy ever: people-work not paperwork.

Your job as a manager is to manage people. Make your people your first priority - always.

Your paperwork and meeting with other managers should be secondary to managing your people. After all, the title is Manager - not paperworker, not meetinger. So do just what the title says - manage.

Move your meetings with other managers to off-hours and lunch-hours.
Stop hiding behind paperwork in your office.
Stop making phone calls from anyone but your people more important than your people.
Start engaging your people the same way you want them to engage themselves in their work (if you won't do it, why should they?)
Start giving your people honest, consistent feedback.
Expect them to trust you not because you're their manager but because you take an active interest in their success.

If you aren't touching each member of your team at least once a day, you're doing it wrong. Someone's going to do it better and your good people will be inclined to go to work for them instead.

People-work not paperwork. Now get out of your office and go meet the people you're supposed to be leading.

How Managers Get Labeled Racist and Bigot

2010-11-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

It would so easy to blame your life circumstances on your mediocre teachers of your childhood. Hey, if they had no real understanding of success and how to achieve it, how could they possibly prepare you to be successful right?

So why is it that people are so quick to blame their bosses for not getting ahead at work? Nothing irks me more than hearing that incessant whining of "not being recognized" or "my boss plays favorites and I'm not it" or "it's because I'm (gender, sexual orientation, race, age, weight, etc.)."

Those comments are the result of owning an "entitlement" mentality: you think you are entitled to be further than you are and now you are blaming others for not just giving it to you. Truth is, you are also entitled to be unemployed.

Managers who give credence to the people playing this game for fear of being labeled as a bigot, racist, etc., are just as guilty of keeping this entitlement mentality going.

Look, people who say this stuff do so because no one has told them any different. If they are not being promoted because they aren't competent, then they deserve to be told they are not competent. Saying nothing for fear of offending allows employees to pull stuff out of the air, to make stuff up in the absence of information - and then you have twice the work to do in straightening it out.

If you speak with your people every single day (and that really IS your job - not paperwork and management meetings, contrary to what you might think) and let them know how they are doing in simple ten-second conversations, you end up eliminating a lot of the backlash that could come later. People want to know how they are doing and in the absence of information, they will make stuff up based on what they THINK is the truth. My Tweak™ - The Future of Management program addresses exactly this.

If this is happening to you as a manager then you're not managing, you're defending. And you can't help your people get any better if you're constantly defending yourself. When this happens, you are in the way of your people getting any better. Now you need a new manager to start over. Maybe you should have just told them the truth: that their work is mediocre and not worthy of promotion.

Who Gets Your Ear?

2010-11-29T19:10:00.000-07:00

You've heard the term "getting one's ear" haven't you? It's a term to describe how one person may get the attention of someone else and be able to influence that person. Presidents and other high-powered officials must choose wisely their counsel and be very selective about who gets their ear.

Wrong decisions can be made by listening to the wrong people. In fact, I recall a friend of mine who asked me to join into an investment group a few years ago. I researched the person in charge and found that he had a criminal record was banned him from securities investing. Just a few months ago, he was arrested for heading up a ponzi scheme. I hope my friend made out OK and got out after I sent an email with a link to the criminal's past.

Not just anyone should be able to get to you. You must be selective of the voices you allow to speak to you. And as a manager, you had better be listening to the voices who have something to teach you - no matter what it costs. You, the manager, will be responsible to influencing the ears of others. I hope you've got your facts straight and only people in the know get your ear.

A Filter-Free Fairy Tale

2010-11-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

Part of the reason behind Filter-Free Fridays™ is to give you a chance to tell your team members, fellow employees and the really important people in your life how you really feel about them - especially if they impact your life in a positive way.

Everyone should have at least one person who impacts their life in a positive way. If you don't have one, you're hanging out with the wrong crowd. I have one in my life that, over these past two years, has made a tremendous contribution to my life in helping me be better - every day.

Her name is Trish and we have known each other since Grade 4. She got pushed ahead the year after we met allowing her to skip Grade 5 so, come high school, we never took any of the same classes. But I saw her everyday. Once, I asked her on a date when I was 15 - she said yes. I took her to a school dance but never asked for a second date only because I thought she was just being nice by agreeing to go out with me - she wasn't. My self-image as a teenage boy needed some work. So I had to live with my crush on her and never acted on it for fear that she might say no.

Going to a small high-school of 200 students in a small town, everyone knew everyone else. We had the same teachers, went to the same church, had the same friends, knew each others' parents and came from the same economic background. We had history and a keen understanding of each other's values. We came from the same place physically and philosophically.

After high-school graduation we went our separate ways: her off to university and me off to Kapuskasing, Ontario to take a radio job. We never spoke again for 30 years - until a high-school reunion. We developed a great friendship over the following six months seeing each other only once in that time due to living 2000 miles apart.

Over these past two years, Trish has become my mentor, my confidante and my best friend. There isn't a day where we don't laugh to the point of tears or just relax and feel safe to just be who we really are. There isn't a day where something ever goes unsaid or that a dream goes unspoken. There isn't a place we don't visit together or support each other to be healthy and happy. And if she leaves to do a little shopping, a little part of me goes missing for that few hours while she is away.

Tomorrow, in Gatineau, Quebec, I am going to marry the girl I asked on a date some 35 years ago - and she is going to marry me. She said yes. We will be surrounded by our families and close friends - many from high-school. Trish's 20 year-old daughter will be Maid of Honor and my 25 year-old daughter will be Best Man.

But the lesson we offer to our children is to set a standard and never settle. Keep your standards high and always believe that if your relationship seems like a struggle, it may not be the right one. The right one makes loving easy.

So pardon how long my gushing might seem, but once in a lifetime, someone comes along who just rocks your world and, in the words of Jack Nicholson, makes you want to be a better man.

Tomorrow, I will prove it when I simply say, "I do."

And that, my friends, is a glimpse into my personal life - Filter-Free. Do the same for yourself.

When Managers Interview Over Their Heads

2010-11-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

It really isn't a tough concept to wrap your head around - the chance that a manager is at some point going to interview a job candidate who is clearly superior to the manager in every way: charisma, performance, communication skills, relationship-building skills, leadership qualities, knowledge, experience, etc. So what does a manager do when interviewing someone like this?

The truth is, most managers would be afraid that hiring someone who clearly outperforms them would be simply hiring their own replacement. And so, sadly, many really great people get passed over as "overqualified" because of a manager's own insecurities.

The truth is, a high-achiever might be just exactly what your organization needs - but here is the caveat - only if the Culture fit is right.

Hiring shouldn't always be the best person - but should be the best person for the company Culture. Having a highly-focused, customer-focused, high-achiever on staff might be just the ticket to get the rest of your people to build a new customer-focused Culture of high-performance.

But most times this doesn't happen because if a manager hasn't been able to build that Culture already, then he or she obviously doesn't know how to do it. That makes it unlikely that they could recognize good talent and Culture potential if it came along.

But nowhere is it written in the management handbook that a manager can not learn from an employee. Real good managers, employee-focused managers will do what is best for their employees and won't act out of fear of looking poorly or inept. But the moment you pass over a great potential employee because of insecurity is the moment you look incredibly inept.

How Managers Poison New Hires

2010-11-16T17:10:00.000-07:00

The truth is, new hires will get sucked into the Culture of the workplace faster than formal training will stick.

Managers who welcome new employees on their first day then promptly hand them off to any employee because they have a meeting to run to, run the risk of doing two things:

giving a very poor first impression that staff and their contributions don't matter - meetings do, and
potentially poisoning your new hire by foolishly choosing some random employee and having them learn the real "attitude" of the place from someone disgruntled or actively disengaged.

You say you want to increase employee engagement and reduce employee turnover, yet you hand off a newbie to other staffers without a plan. What are you thinking?

Who is the employee with the best attitude, the best performance, the best engagement and the best intentions? That person is your new on-boarding mentor. Have a conversation with the potential mentor and tell them that because of their performance, you are placing new hires in their care to learn the correct way of doing things around here. Give your people positive responsibility and you will find that they rise to the occasion.

The first relationship that a new employee strikes up is usually the longest lasting relationship. Make sure your new hire gets mentored by the right attitude, the right work ethic, the right performance and the right engagement levels.

If you want to ensure the future Culture of your workplace is headed in the right direction, don't just willy-nilly leave new hires with your staffers. The first few days are important learning times for new employees - especially for improving Culture. Make this a strategic move. You will have made your own job much easier down the road.

3 Ways To Manage Procrastination

2010-11-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at De Paul University in Chicago, and Timothy Pychyl, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada have identified traits of procrastinators:

Twenty percent of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators: they don't pay bills on time, they don't cash gift certificates or checks, they leave their Christmas shopping until Christmas eve.
As a culture we don't take procrastination seriously as a problem. Because we are so nice; we don't call people on their excuses ("my grandmother died last week") even when we don't believe them.
Procrastination is not a problem of time management or of planning. "Telling someone who procrastinates to buy a weekly planner (time management) is like telling someone with chronic depression to just cheer up," insists Dr. Ferrari.
Procrastinators are made not born. Procrastination is learned. Managers may reinforce (and sometimes even create) procrastination because they tend to be tolerant of excuses.
Procrastination predicts higher levels of consumption of alcohol among those people who drink - the effect of avoidant coping styles.
Procrastinators lie to themselves such as, "I work best under pressure" or that time pressure makes them more creative. But in fact they do not work best under pressure nor do they turn out to be more creative; they only feel that way. They squander their resources.
Some are thrill-seekers, who wait to the last minute for the euphoric rush. There are the avoiders, who may be avoiding fear of failure or even fear of success, but in either case are very concerned with what others think of them. They would rather have others think they lack effort than ability.

Here are 3 ways to manage procrastination (taken from my new program, Tweak™ - the Future of Management):

Eliminate long deadlines for project completion - in the same way that manufacturing ramps up daily production over a longer term (5000 more widgets over 25 days = 200 more widgets per day) you must break down projects into daily steps. This forces the procrastinator to engage NOW! Tomorrow is always the deadline. This way you don't get blindsided by being too far behind. You can correct immediately.
"Show me what you have so far" pop quiz in public - risks embarrassing the procrastinator. Knowing that you might ask at any time for status reports forces the procrastinator to have something prepared. Always ask for status. Inspect, don't expect. Procrastinators fear embarrassment. Use this to your advantage.
Deliver consequences and don't buy excuses - last-minute efforts produce mediocre results at best. If a procrastinator is not pulling his/her weight, take project responsibilities away from them and swap project responsibilities with a good worker. Give the procrastinator's project responsibilities to the good worker and give good worker's mundane tasks to procrastinators so that the good worker is not punished by having to pick up the slack.

What are your thoughts on procrastination? What has worked well for you? Leave me your comment below.

What Service Is Supposed To Look Like

2010-11-11T23:11:00.000-07:00

I inadvertently broke the LCD touch-screen of my new camcorder this week. In a panic, I emailed Panasonic to find an Authorized Repair Depot. They emailed back next day suggesting that I contact Southland Crossing TV here in Calgary. I called Southland immediately. But because I would be traveling within a week and needed to take the camera, they asked to see it and diagnose it right away. They confirmed the LCD screen needed to be replaced - but because it is a professional camera and a new model, they couldn't access the parts catalog online.

Melanie at Southland promised to call Panasonic directly - and she did - three times with no reply. Then she sent three separate emails begging for Panasonic to return a call which she finally received with an acknowledgment that the part would be sent by air overnight - no extra charges for overnight shipping.

Melanie then sent me this by email: "Hi Kevin, I heard back from Panasonic. The part is in stock with them, cost of the part is $161.40 + GST. If this is OK, please give me a call so I can create a work order."

I called immediately and Melanie promised to alert me when the part arrived so they could get the camera in right away. The challenge was going to be scheduling because of Remembrance Day. They would be open Thursday but closed Friday and Saturday. She told me the part was being shipped by overnight courier and scheduled to arrive by 9 am next day.

Melanie called at 9:30 saying don't leave the house because the part isn't here yet - but I was already on my way. I left the camera anyway with the intention of picking it up by end of business regardless of whether it had been repaired.

Then, at 11 am, this email arrived: "Hi Kevin, the part arrived & it has been given to Rommel to work on. I will advise once it is completed."

An hour and a half later: "Hi Kevin, your camcorder is done. We will be here till 5:30 today."

Calgary is a city of 1.1 million people. Southland Crossing TV does business like they're in a small town. I gushed to Melanie directly that the service experience was incredible and that given the opportunity, I would return to them in the blink of an eye.

On Filter-Free Fridays™ you speak your truth in a non-hurtful way. Well here's the truth, if you're in the electronics repair business, Southland Crossing TV is the service model you have to compete with. Yeah, good luck to you. It's going to be pretty hard to top that. And given the choice between you and someone like Southland, why would anyone choose you?

Will You Acknowledge Their Service?

2010-11-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

November 11 is Remembrance Day in Canada and Australia. It is Veterans Day in the United States. And although November 11 is the day marked to honor military veterans in the United Kingdom, the ceremonies won't take place until Sunday.

On this November 11, how about we take a moment out of our own busy lives to, just for a moment, think about someone else for a change.

Perhaps you work with someone who has done military service or work with the spouse of someone who has done military service. Perhaps one of your own relatives may be former military. Why not think about them for a moment on November 11.

Look around. Look at all of this stuff you have been able to amass. Think of all the things you are able to do and all of the freedoms that you have. We live in some of the best countries in the world. Oh sure, we have our moments and we have our difficulties from time to time. And we don't always get it right. But, we pretty much have it all.

There is a process in place that is as simple as a young man or woman who makes a decision to sign up for active military service. That one person along with thousands of others get trained, focused and deployed to protect the very freedoms and luxuries of life that we have. How hard would it be to say "thank you" on November 11?

Here's how easy it is: on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month take a moment to just be thankful that you have what you have. Someone, maybe someone you don't know, made a decision to stand up for you. Some lost their lives standing up for you and some returned home. Remember, it's not the price they paid that is important, it's the fact that they chose to do something important at all.

Will you acknowledge their service?

What Good Managers Know

2010-11-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

Your own kid has probably played some sort of organized sport. You've probably already figured out that there are some very good coaches and some that are just awful. The problem with bad coaches is that they can instill some bad habits and behaviours early on which can make breaking them more difficult later on. A good coach will have to first undo what the bad coach has done.

Playing for a bad coach can hurt motivation and the Culture of the team to the point that the players simply don't want to perform anymore. Hey, you've seen it in pro sports too.

Some coaches play to win - others play not to lose. Two very different philosophies that become readily evident in the performance of the team: one team offensively makes things happen regardless of what their opponent may be doing and the other team plays completely in defensive mode, their play dictated by what the other guys do.

Just like sports, the poor performance of an employee is a perfect reflection of the manager's ability to coach that employee to a better performance. Every employee can be coached but not every manager can (or will) coach. If you can't (or won't) coach, you, the manager, are in the way and are solely responsible for hurting the performance of your department. Don't blame your staff - they are working with no direction.

Oh, and trying to look superior isn't coaching. Come to think of it, it has absolutely nothing to do with management either.

Good managers know that the manager of the future (the future starts now) is a coach first, manager second. If you don't know much about coaching then you know little about managing. If you won't improve your game, why should your employees improve theirs? Lead by example.

A Missed Filter-Free Fridays™ Opportunity

2010-11-05T00:06:00.001-06:00

Driving through Calgary recently, I spotted a sign. Well, if the truth be told, it was my wife who saw the sign first and she yelled out, “You’ve got to take a picture of it.” She really gets the concept of Filter-Free Fridays™.

So we turned around the car and rolled into the parking lot to see the sign that I thought was a completely missed opportunity by the sign company sales representative to offer a Filter-Free Fridays™ piece of honesty to a small business owner attempting to gain a share of the “dollar store” market.

Now, first of all, the dollar store market is competitive because … well … because everything costs a dollar. Price isn’t the competition point. In fact, you expect the price to be the same. So what separates one dollar store from another. That’s where someone tried to get a little creative … when, in fact, the sign looks like it was produced by the Department of Redundancy Department. Here’s the sign.

Seriously, do you really need to tell people that you have super deals at low prices? It’s a dollar store. That’s sort of the expectation. The low price ($1) is supposed to be the super deal.

And honestly, would you be encouraging friends and family to buy your birthday gift from the dollar store? “Gifts and much more?”

Every dollar store has low prices. Every dollar store has super deals. I suppose if you wanted to cheap out, you could buy a “friend” (I use that word loosely) a crappy gift from the dollar store.

What separates one dollar store from another? Service, how you treat people and the quality of the product. Maybe that could have been on the sign instead of redundancy. It was certainly a missed opportunity for the sign company sales rep to help the customer differentiate in a crowded market. Instead, they filled the sign full of redundancies, really saying nothing of value and made it into a bit of a joke. Maybe the sales rep should have spoken up.

On Filter-Free Fridays™, will you remove the filters that prevent you from being honest and finally speak the truth to your customers or will you just take the order and only think about yourself? You have a choice.

Bad Managers Are About To Be Found Out

2010-11-03T23:15:00.001-06:00

This is the end of the road for autocratic managers who hide in their offices and avoid their own people and decisions. This is the end of the road for managers are quick to blame, who offer poor communication direction and instruction. Because you can't build a solid corporate culture by busying yourself with meetings or pretending to be swamped by stacking papers on your desk, filling out time sheets, pushing paper and constantly holding a phone to your ear. You're not fooling anyone by starting your own fires just so you'll have something that makes you look busy and important.

No, the job of a manager is to coach, to inspire, to motivate them to spend a little time each day improving the little things that add up to big performance. A manager's job is to tweak performance.

Employees dislike being told constantly what they're doing wrong. Managers should already know that. So by knowing that, why is it that so many managers still spend so much time harping on employees about what they're doing wrong? Because there are a lot of managers out there that have no idea what they're doing. And up to now they have been able to hide it. But, they are about to be found out. And that single fact alone should scare most managers and organizations as a whole.

The truth is, employees want to be coached in the same way athletes are coached. Sports coaches spend time each day with their athletes fine tuning and adjusting their performance. Think for a second about how well a professional athlete would do on the sports field if all the coach ever did was harp on them for what they were doing wrong.

Get with the program managers: there's a new generation of worker that is expecting to be coached not crapped on. Your people don't want you to do the work for them, they want to offer suggestions as to how they can do the work for themselves. Your job as a coach is to find a way to uncover the little a-ha moments of your people that makes them want to be better, to get focused and to engage themselves in their work.

And if you as a manager don't think that you are able to act as a coach to your people because you're too busy, then you're in the way. Step aside and allow someone who can do the job to coach your people to the next level. Your people deserve better.

It's Not The Work That Engages

2010-11-01T23:33:00.000-06:00

Gen Y does not have a poor work ethic. In fact, it could be argued that their work ethic is better than that of Baby Boomers - just different. The truth is, Gen Y doesn't engage in the same things as Boomers do especially when it comes to meaningless work, lack of direction from an immediate manager and poor corporate culture.

To engage the new generation of worker, you have to understand how they think. Every thing they have ever done in their whole lives has involved a menu: cell phone menu, computer menu, web site menu. Even choices that they have could be considered menus: what they would like for lunch, what career path they want to take, courses in school, etc.

Never bark out, "Get that done and then come back for your next task." That's not a menu. A menu is a list of tasks that they can accomplish in no particular order. Give them the choice and they will engage - even the mundane.

The new workers of today may end up with 14 different jobs over a 3-year span but that doesn't mean they are not motivated. It means they haven't found their "fit" yet. This is the first generation to put Culture Fit ahead of pay, benefits, perks and prestige. If it doesn't fit, they won't engage. So understand, it is NOT the work they are not engaging in, it is the workplace they are not engaging in.

This is important. It's not the work that needs to be engaging - it's the workplace.

Leave me a comment. I want to hear your opinion.

“Service Postponement” Is Rampant

2010-10-28T23:18:00.001-06:00

So let’s say you had a bad meal in a restaurant. You call over your waitress and you tell her that the meal is not satisfactory. She apologizes and offers to make it right.

When your waitress appears at the table again she presents you with your bill. You notice that you are being charged full price for a meal you had already told them was not satisfactory but you find attached to your bill is a $10 off coupon good for your next visit.

Offer to fix my problem at some point in the future and you won’t have a problem to fix in the future because I won’t be back. But I will make sure that none of my friends come to visit you either.

Trust me, this happens more often than it should. Why is it that restaurants want to wait until sometime in the future before they fix the problems you had today? But it’s not just restaurants who do this. This same service abdication happens across all industries. This is what I call, “Service Postponement.”

How ridiculous is it that you think that you will be able to solve a problem at some point in the future if you are not prepared to solve that problem today?

A customer who is having a problem today needs to have that problem fixed today. And if you are that customer who is having that problem today, then you need to address it today. Do not let businesses wait until sometime in the future before they fix the problem today.

Remember, on Filter-Free Fridays™ you take off the filters that prevent you from telling the truth and you say something in an effort to help them serve you better.

Leave me your comments about your “Service Postponement” experience below.

Corporate Culture Trumps Pay, Benefits and Perks

2010-10-27T22:46:00.001-06:00

On Monday, I addressed a group of senior and executive level managers about the realities of attempting to create a "tomorrow Culture" using ten year-old managerial practices and ideas. One of the points I made was that the Resume is dying quickly.

Since the new breed of worker is looking more for a Culture-fit than they are for a job, you are going to start seeing resumes that have fouteen jobs in a three year period. So how can you find a "keeper" if they have no longevity in their jobs? You start by tossing the resume because it is distracting. If you haven't figured out by now that the new Generation Y is looking for a Culture Fit instead of a job, you're missing all of the really good potential hires.

They're looking for Culture and you're not spending any time building yours. They're looking for Culture and you're still taking out ads featuring job descriptions. They're looking for Culture and you have no idea what it is. You're not speaking the same language so they don't understand what you want and you can't have any idea what they want.

Culture trumps everything: including senior management, pensions, benefits, pay and perks.

And to prove my point, read this article from Inc. Magazine.

13 Service and Business Oxymorons

2010-10-21T21:24:00.001-06:00

These really don't need much of an introduction. They are pretty self-explanatory. Enjoy on this Filter-Free Fridays™.

Your call is very important to us. Your approximate wait time is 12 minutes. Please continue to hold.
(Voice mail) I am out of the office until Wednesday next week. If this call is important ...
You have exceeded the maximum allowable bandwidth on our "Unlimited" Data Package.
We absolutely guarantee your satisfaction. Would you be interested in purchasing an extended warranty?
To report a non-working phone line, please call our emergency repair department ....
Your $29 item qualifies for free shipping in the USA. Standard International Shipping to Canada fee of $35 will apply.
Thank you for reporting your emergency issue by email. Our support staff will respond to your inquiry within 48 business hours.
If you are unable to reach us by telelphone, please use the automated customer service form on our web page.
(Automated phone message) We attempted to deliver your overnight courier package but you weren`t home. It will be available at our retail location (8 miles away) after 10 A.M. tomorrow.
Our Company is Proudly 100% Canadian Owned. (on the back) Made in China.
While customers want more from the companies and employees they do business with, they have actually come to expect less than they did before.
Have a suggestion for us? We are open to your suggestions Monday to Friday between 10 am to 4 pm. Closed nights, weekends and holidays.
(As found in the operator`s manual) This page has been intentionally left blank.

Go ahead and tell them when they're doing stuff like this - especially on Filter-Free Fridays™. They obviously could use a little help. They probably don't even know they're doing it. Maybe they'll see the humor in it.

The Weak Link Of The Strategic Plan

2010-10-20T21:18:00.001-06:00

A strategic planning session takes place. All of the players gather around the table. Every item in the plan gets voted on - only those with a unanimous vote get included in the plan. The plan is developed and the chairman asks for commitment to the strategy. One by one, around the room they go, each answering in the affirmative.

But back at the office, the truth sets in. The planning session was a waste of time because you had no intention of doing anything in the plan. You already knew in the back of your mind that to accomplish some of these items in your department you would need a herculean effort. You had no intention of doing your part. You simply figured out that it would be easier to just go along with everyone else at the meeting than to explain why it wouldn't work for your department.

In other words, you lied. And because there was no "accountability" mechanism built into the strategic plan, no one will really know until next year, when give your commitment to another plan you have no desire in implementing.

After all, you only have six more years until you can retire. Why embrace all this change and work so hard when you're this close to retirement. All you have to do is hang on through five more annual planning sessions and you're home free. Let the person repalcing you worry about it then.

Don't worry about suffocating your departmental Culture by not embracing new strategic directions. The job is all about you - not those who still have their whole work lives ahead of them. Nope, you just have to figure out a way to get out of embracing new technologies and practices. You're too close to pension to retire. No, you just keep developing your personal strategic plan of finding excuses for not embracing the corporate strategic plan.

By the time everyone catches on, you'll be out of there anyway - with your legacy of "do nothing" and non-accountability to remind your people of your ineffectiveness as a leader. Nope, your replacement will be as welcomed as a cool summer breeze. But you'll have your pension - and the embarrassment of your leadership abilities to keep you warm at night.

21 Management and Culture Contradictions

2010-10-19T21:40:00.001-06:00

What organizations say they want and what they do is in complete opposition:

you say you want your people to become leaders and independent thinkers but you send them to cookie-cutter leadership schools making them followers of someone else's doctrine.
you say you want to attract people with strong skill-sets but advertise titles and job descriptions and base who gets an interview on looking simply at a resume.
you say you want to attract, hire and retain the best but you take out mediocre ads just like everyone else and post the same "Now Hiring" signs as everyone else - attracting the available, not the best.
you say you want to have a strong Culture of Excellence in your organizations but at the first sign of financial crisis, you cut, slash and burn budgets that would help build morale.
you say you want to have strong managers capable of handling issues but you force them into pointless meetings and force them to fill out reports no one looks at.
you say you want to have your front-line staff be more engaged in their work but you don't empower them to make decisions.
you say you offer an innovative place to work but institute blanket policies and refuse to be flexible with work hours, job duties and telecommuting.
you say every person is important but don't encourage senior executives to get out of their ivory towers and press-the-flesh with front-liners.
you say you have open-door policies but won't say the hard things that need because your fear of offending or hurting is greater than your need to be honest.
you say everyone in the company is equal yet senior management act like they're members of an exclusive club of perks and benefits.
you say you encourage ideas and free flow of thoughts but rarely implement employee's ideas or even respond to many of them.
you say every employee is important but you only give awards to and reward your salespeople.
you say you offer superior customer service but when polled, only 8% of customers agree.
you say you want more sales built on your value proposition but at the first sign of competition, you crumble on your value cut the price.
you say you want fewer meetings but you keep on meeting to find ways to reduce the number of meetings.
you say you have the best staff but you put hiring in the hands of old-school HR departments who, by their very results to date, have proven incapable of finding that staff.
you say you want high-performers but don`t arm middle-managers with the skills to coach high-performers.
you say you want to grow but aren't prepared to make a major investment in that growth without absolute certainty.
you say that you want to be the best but compare yourselves to mediocre and low-performing competitors.
you say that you really care about being better than you are but no one is prepared to take the risks and make the moves that elevate the organization for fear of personally looking foolish.
you say that you want loyalty from your employees but slash their jobs when shareholder profits are in jeopardy.

You say a lot of things. But the measure of organizational success isn't in what you say - it's in what you do. So what will you do today?

When Managers Get In The Way

2010-10-18T11:06:00.001-06:00

You are never going to help your people get any better if you insist on sitting in your office or sitting in a meeting with other managers. Management is not an exclusive club where you waste your days in boardrooms talking about the same stuff you talked about last week, or pat yourself on each other's backs for a job well-done, or to create greater divides between you and them (your employees). No, your job as a manager is to get off of your ass and get out, walk around: meet people, talk to people, handle issues for people, compliment people, encourage people, ask people, listen to people, sometimes fire people, but never forget, you are NOT the most important person in your organization. Thinking that creates an fractured Culture.

You are a manager. So manage. Don't hold court in your ivory tower. Don't separate yourself from the very people who are looking to you to do your job properly so they can do theirs. Manage.

There is a culture of entitlement that shows up in management that makes some believe that they, by virtue of their title, are above the other employees. If you believe that, then you probably suck as a manager. The only difference between you and one of your employees is that you have a greater responsibility to your people than they have to each other. They are depending on you to help them do their work more effectively. And you can't do that effectively from the boardroom hobnobbing with other managers or from your office.

You have an office - yes you do. But you should only be using it as a place to hang your coat and to place pictures of your kids. Your work needs to be done on the floor. You can handle your emails among your people on your Blackberry. Get away from your desk phone. There is no one else more important to talk to than the people who you work for (they don't work for you - you work for them - remember that).

Inspire, teach, motivate, mentor, compliment, correct, coach and empower. That's the job of the new manager. If you disagree, then you're in the way. Step aside.

How To Profit From Corporate Mediocrity

2010-10-14T22:17:00.001-06:00

“Sometimes there’s company policy and then sometimes there’s just common sense. I’d much rather have you leave my store happy rather than pissed off so I’ll exercise a little common sense and excuse the policy.”

That was a quote from a retail store manager yesterday after I attempted to understand the fine print when it came to the “Buy One Get One Half Off” promotion they were running.

I wasn’t upset. I wasn’t angry. I just wanted to understand why a simple promotion had been muddled with extra rules and regulations. Some items don’t qualify for half-off but do qualify for first full-priced item. It wasn’t clear, at least not to me so I asked to speak to a manager who I hoped would be able to explain it.

I had four items. The first item, if I would have overpaid by $10 would have qualified me to save $35 on the second item. The third item, if I would have been prepared to overpay by ten dollars again, would have saved me another $30 on the fourth item. So by overpaying by $20, I would have saved $65 – netting a $45 discount.

The manager saw the ridiculousness of how the promotion was structured and ended up discounting my second and fourth items anyway.

Speak up. It’s Filter-Free Fridays™. If it doesn’t make sense, say something. Not every promotion has been well thought out. Don’t assume they have. There are mediocre people working in every organization doing mediocre work and offering mediocre ideas. When you speak up and question them, it forces them to think things through and to get better at what they do. And you might end up saving or even making a little money in the process.

Fighting The 5¢ Fee For Plastic Bags

2010-10-12T22:20:00.001-06:00

Request from a reader: Would you please address the issue of paying 5 cents for a bag to put your purchases in before leaving the store? I'm sure there is enough markup to cover the cost and carrying out the items un-bagged leaves me, the consumer, open to charges of shoplifting and is also opening the door to easier shoplifting for those that take part in this kind of thing.

Response: I agree with you that the 5¢ charge is ridiculous. In fact, I think the charge should be 25¢ and it should be imposed at every store - not just a few. I understand your point of shoplifting so put magnetic anti-theft strips on every item (a cost covered by extra bag fees). Bags were free when we didn't think about the cost of cleaning up all of the free plastic bags in landfills.

But the market is changing and so must we.

I think the discussion really has nothing to do with whether or not a store can cover the cost of a plastic bag. The question is whether a store can cover the cost of what the plastic bag does to the environment in the long run? The bag fee is to make consumers decide whether they REALLY need a bag in the first place. And, if the bags continue to be free, you'll probably see a 3% jump in your property taxes to cover off the the cost of cleaning up all those free plastic bags in the landfill. You're going to pay one way or another.

But the discussion shouldn't be just about shopping bags. There should be another 25¢ charge levied on each plastic disposable diaper (not 25¢ per box but each diaper individually) sold. In addition to the 82,000 tons of plastic a year and 1.3 million tons of wood pulp -- 250,000 trees used to make a year's worth of disposable diapers, these materials are trucked away, primarily to landfills. It is illegal in most U.S. states to dump human waste in landfills. That law is simply unenforced when it comes to diapers.

I am all for charging 5¢ for each compostable vegetable-gluten bag in the stores - a fee I would gladly pay. These bags break down in landfills in less than a year.

Customer Service isn't just about fawning over customers and trying to kiss their butts. It's about being a "service" to the lifestyle of the customers and customers' families now and in the future.

Every organization needs to have a conscience in today's marketplace. And every organization needs to have that conscience drive both their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy as well as their Corporate Culture initiatives. Personally, I think it is incumbent on business to re-shape how the consumer thinks - not just bow to what consumers are used to. Consumers only demand what they know - not what they don't know. So change their minds and make a difference. Your employees will carry the torch of their work meaning something.

How To Score High In Customer Satisfaction

2010-10-11T11:40:00.001-06:00

"Your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line and continue to hold."

Your call is very important to us? No it isn't or you'd have picked up the phone by now. You say it's important but your actions say otherwise.

Your customers are watching that what you say and what you do are in sync. Most times, they are not. Why do you think you don't score "perfect" in your customer satisfaction surveys? Hello! You started by making them wait. You will never get a high score starting out that way.

Whether it is virtual or real-life, those long lineups of "cattle pens" (think banks here - moo) force your customers to wait in line to solve their issue like you're doing them a favor by allowing them to stand (or wait on the phone) in your line. Their business is NOT important to you or you'd be serving them in a far timelier fashion.

This is not a McDonald's or Tim Hortons lineup (people can choose any place for coffee or a burger). Your customers have chosen to call your "support" center or need an answer or want to access some of their own money. This is how you treat the lifeblood of your organization?

Unfortunately, this philosophy swings down into your Culture too. If this is how you CHOOSE to treat your customers and hold them in low-priority regard, your employees can only imagine what you think of them.

Don't TELL me my call is important to you - show me. Then show your employees how important their contribution is to you too.

Stop being so bloody mediocre. Just because "everyone" else does it this way doesn't make it right. But keep doing this if you want to keep your customer satisfaction rates low, keep on treating your customers like they're not the most important aspect of your business. But don't be surprised if they go someplace else - oh, and your good employees too.

You are NOT an employer or organization of choice, you are simply an employer/organization of convenience. Make people wait and it's not convenient anymore.

How To Stop Ridicule: Embarrass Them First

2010-10-07T23:34:00.001-06:00

Would you tell someone if they had toilet paper stuck to their shoe?

What about if their skirt was tucked into their panythose?

What if a man's fly was open? Would you say something? It would mean that you were looking there.

What if their breath was really awful? Would you speak up then?

What about if they were being ridiculed for having bad body odor, would you say something then?

Filter-Free Fridays™ are the days you tackle these nasty little chores. It's the day you speak up and tell the truth in a non-hurtful way. The idea is to say something that helps - not hurts.

Think of it this way: if you were the one with the bad body odor, the bad breath, your fly open, skirt tucked into your pantyhose AND had toilet paper stuck to your shoe, wouldn't you want to be told?

Sure, it might be a little embarrassing for them in the moment but at least it won't be an ongoing problem that creates constant ridicule for them long-term. It's actually pretty simple and you'd probably be surprised how much they would appreciate not being the butt of jokes later.

If only Filter-Free Fridays™ had been around when I went to high-school - I could have told my science teacher that he should stop cutting his own hair, take a breath mint and to stop wearing red socks with a black suit. But then I guess he was just cultivating stereotypes of science geeks and personal deportment.

How Motivational Speakers Can Ruin Culture

2010-10-06T22:27:00.001-06:00

Which do you think would be a better use of your time and resources: watching an episode of reality show Big Brother with backstabbing and in-fighting or hiring a professional speaker to speak to your staff? The answer may not be so simple.

What if it was a choice between a two-minute YouTube inspirational video on Gratitude or a bad motivational speaker spouting platitudes like "fake it 'til you make it" or "wear a smile until you feel happy" or him spewing outdated information from twenty years ago that doesn't work anymore?

The last one is a no-brainer isn't it? You'd choose the YouTube video for sure. So how do bad speakers get hired to spew bad information to good organizations and risk making the organization worse? It happens when the people who hire consultants, speakers and trainers don't do their due diligence.

You can NOT afford to be taking these kinds of risks with your people. Do NOT let regurgitations of old, worn-out, passed-due-date ideas infiltrate your organization. You would never let ten year-old refurbished vehicles be the choice of a company car. You would never purchase ten-year old computers and software to give to your people to improve their performance. Why then would you allow old, tired "motivational" speakers get in front of your people without checking them out first? Think people. Think!

Start following blogs of experts, consultants and speakers and follow and read them religiously. If you like their ideas after a few months, hire them. If it's the same old tired crap that you know doesn't work anymore, stay away from them. Simply "unsubscribe" from their blogs and newsletters but do NOT hire them just because they are "speakers." You have no idea of the damage you could do to your people and your Culture.

Just like your industry, there are a handful of high-quality speakers and then there is a majority of terrible speakers. Make sure you know who you're hiring. Oh, and just because someone might be a member of a professional organization, shouldn't make them an easy pick. No speaker is "perfect" fit for every organization regardless of what their website might say. Don't ever hire from a web site, a brochure or even a referral. Find out for yourself. Do the work. This is important.

Who Would Want To Steal Your Crappy Managers?

2010-10-05T20:51:00.001-06:00

What would you do if 25% of your managers, salespeople and IT people handed in their notice within the next six months? Are you prepared to roll over that many of your key people? Do you have a plan?

Well you had better get one. Survey results today show that's exactly what is happening: 27% of Canadian workers are looking to change companies within the next 6 months. But if your organization has a wage-freeze on right now, that number jumps to 34%.

“Organizations caught in a tight race for survival can ill-afford wide-spread desertions, especially if the people who are lured away are their best performers,” notes Greg Leach, Senior Vice President and study author. “While the sudden departure of any single group would derail any organization, it appears that the greatest threat may be the potential loss of managerial talent. This could lead to a domino effect that could bring the organization to its knees”.

Asking your people to keep on doing more work for the same or less money is creating a Culture crash. Your people have had enough of same pay, lousy work-life balance and you asking them to show loyalty to you while you show a disregard for them.

Worse yet? 31% of managers are looking. Sorry, but that's going to collapse your Culture if you lose 3 in every ten managers. It is true that an employee doesn't quit the company - they quit their manager. But the converse is true as well: good managers keep good employees. You will likely only lose your good managers. Hey, who wants your crappy managers? Your competitors don't want your lousy managers. They want the good ones so you will just lose the good ones others want. When that happens you will suffer the domino effect of employees leaving right after their managers do.

What's your plan now?

How To Pay Your People Less Money

2010-10-04T14:04:00.000-06:00

Workforce attitudes are changing. A recent survey from HSBC Bank Canada found that four out of five respondents agree that being financially secure is important to their tomorrow, but not to the detriment of leading a balanced life and pursuing personal passions.

According to the survey, "practically all Canadians (97 per cent) want to lead a balanced life and particular priorities include: ensuring that their family is well cared for (91 per cent); wishing to travel (89 per cent); contributing something meaningful to society (87 per cent); and living a greener lifestyle (84 per cent)."

In the survey, Canadians overwhelmingly indicated a desire to spend more time with their families (87 per cent). What that means is that if given the choice between getting a high-paying job with high-demand of hours worked or a more moderate-paying job with much more time to spend with family, most would likely opt for the "family" choice.

Workforce Attitudes are changing. You can't expect to own your employees' lives like in past. The new generation of workers won't stand for it. The collective mindset of the workforce is changing: they want to work less, spend more time with their families, travel more, contribute to society (preferrably through their work) and have a more balanced lifestyle they can feel good about.

You can pay people a little less if you don't work them so hard. Separate your people from their families and you will end up looking for a replacement. That costs you money in on-boarding and your Culture will suffer by being known as a tough place to work.

But then, if you as a boss don't have a decent life-work balance (as opposed to work-life balance), how in the world can you relate to what will attract good employees?

How To Handle Arrogant Businesses

2010-10-01T00:20:00.000-06:00

I can admit when I am wrong. It just doesn't happen very often - the "being wrong" part, not the admitting it part.

Last week, for Filter-Free Fridays™, I blogged about how you can't just lie to businesses by saying everything was fine when it wasn't and then go home and trash them on the Internet. In fact, I said, "Businesses want to be better. They want to serve you better. They want to offer you better products and service. They want to offer you innovative new ways of improving what they do to make your experience that much better."

And I was wrong.

Not every business wants to be better. In fact, some businesses are so full of themselves that no matter what you say, they will treat you like an idiot and make you feel as though they're doing you a favor by allowing you to do business with them. Those are the businesses that need a swift kick in the revenues.

I encountered one of those businesses this week. After dealing with a constant turnover of sales reps over a seven-month period, my frustration got the better of me. The new sales rep was more concerned about looking good than serving us well. So, I was honest and forthcoming. I told them face-to-face what I thought they might improve but they refused to listen. I told them directly how disappointed I was with their service but they refused to listen. I told them what we initially agreed on but they attempted to arbitrarily change the contract by adding items and clauses not previously spelled out. I did this in-person, in writing and in telephone conversations. And still, they feel that I need to pay more money than what we agreed so that I can be served less.

So now, I will warn others to keep clear of dealing with banquet staff at a particular hotel in the Ottawa area (and if you are an Ottawa area meeting planner or are considering hosting a Ottawa area conference or event, I would be pleased to offer you the name of the hotel and all of the awful salespeople on the inside. Just shoot me an email). I just know that this expereince will become a story in one of my presentations that I will end up sharing with thousands of people. Whoops.

When businesses refuse to pay attention to professional customers, then maybe they'll pay attention when they are forced to see the (dis)satisfaction of their customers telling their stories on the Internet or in other public forums. But then again, maybe not. There comes a time when you are forced to use the court of public opinion if you want to warn others. And that should be the spirit of your efforts: to warn others - not to be vindictive.

Arrogant businesses need to be knocked a peg or two and you are just the person to do it - especially on Filter-Free Fridays™.

Why Divorcees Make Lousy Managers

2010-09-29T14:12:00.000-06:00

"How you do one thing is how you do everything."

That's the same principle you hire people by: their past performance being the prime indicator of their future performance. You ask people the stupidest questions during interviews that have nothing to do with their ability to do the job and base their candidacy on the answers to meaningless questions like:

Tell me about yourself.
Tell me about a situation when your work was criticized.
What makes you angry?
Tell me about the most boring job you’ve ever had.
What changes would you make if you come on board?
How could you have improved your career progress?
Where could you see some improvement in you?
What do you worry about?

By the way, these questions were taken from an HR LinkedIn group discussing the "best" questions to ask in interviews. Judge for yourself but if these are the "best" questions to ask in interviews, I think HR is in trouble.

Applying the same logic as used in job interviews, if a potential manager were divorced, it could be argued they can't communicate well or work towards solutions or negotiate settlements. That logic would say that divorcees make lousy managers. But stupid HR questions are overlooked when it comes time to being considered for manager aren't they? Of course, because the best indicator of an employees capabilities are hands-on experience - not their past personal lives.

So, in order to overcome the ridiculousness of inane questions that are meant to take up time in an interview, why not change your Culture to consider "test-driving" employees for a few days - even up to a week. Pay them for their time to job-shadow, integrate with other employees, study their on-the-job abilities and base their suitability on what they do present-day instead of asking them what they worry about.

Who cares if they're good at rehearsing smart answers for dumb questions and instead consider the "training camp" philosophy of sports teams. They show up to camp and their on-the-job abilities are judged for suitability. I'll bet you find a better crop of good future-managers this way. And it won't matter what their past looks like will it?

Culture Bounce: Why Culture Initiatives Fail

2010-09-28T13:27:00.000-06:00

Here's where most Culture initiatives fall down: in the "Culture Bounce" pictured here.

Senior Management sends a new policy initiative downstairs with the expectation of implementation (or they would have consulted with their mid-managers and front-line workers prior to the decision). Notice that the policy decisions only travel one way: down. Mid-managers are expected to push the policy down onto front-line workers and have them buy into it.

But here's where policy decisons inevitably hit their "Bounce" point. Employees will want to question the "why" of new policy decisions - change resistance makes people ask questions because they want to feel like they have some control over the "how" of their work. Employees will look at it from their own perspectives and then send the ball bouncing up through mid-management hoping that their suggestions will spark a re-think from senior management. But if the ball never gets back up to senior management, it forces mid-managers to make excuses or to put their foot down and force the initiative down their throats - thus creating a more fragmented Culture.

It's "Bounce" that creates the Corporate Culture of Apathy. Feeling like there is no one listening to them or by feeling powerless, employees will begin to disrespect their workplaces and their bosses.

It's at the point of the "Bounce" that employees test their superiors. If the "Bounce" won't allow the ball to permeate the Executive floor, no matter how much you want to influence a positive Culture change, the old, existing Culture will swallow the new initiative.

If you want to have your policies be more readily accepted, you must eliminate the "Bounce." Culture is NEVER created at the Executive level. Policies and influential direction may be created at the executive level but Culture is always created at mid-manager level and below. Culture is "how we do things" which is decided by employees - regardless of the processes.

Recognizing how the "Bounce" works will help you build a stronger Culture initiative.

Shoot For The Middle Of The Pack

2010-09-27T19:42:00.000-06:00

Sports teams invest heavily in their people: the best training equipment and expertise, the best coaches and assistants and finally, that competitive edge, sports psychologists. Because sometimes, even the best athletes need a little mental advantage to help them reach a new performance level.

So what do you do to invest heavily in your people? Do you have the best trainers, equipment and expertise? How about the best coaches and managers? Even your best managers will come to a point where the student outperforms the teacher. What's your plan then?

How are you going to get your people to be the best in your industry? Or are you OK with establishing a Culture of Mediocrity?

Maybe it's just easier to do nothing special. Maybe it's easier finishing near the bottom of the league every year. How many teams do you think shoot for finishing near the bottom every year? Maybe it is easier to not even try to create a Culture of Performance. After all, if you try then you have to do something about it. Maybe it's better that you play it safe and shoot for the middle of the pack. There's no effort required in being ordinary.