Real Christmas Gifts

I will admit it. I am a hard guy to buy gifts for whenever a gift is warranted. I really don't have need of anything. If there is something I need, I am fortunate enough to be in a position to buy it.

Occasionally I will buy something I don't necessarily need but would still like to have. And then there are some times that I receive a gift that I neither needed nor thought I even wanted but once I get it, I am pleased I did. Such is the gift from my daughter this year.

We had our Christmas celebration tonight as she is having Christmas day with her mom this year. We first did the gift opening in her living room before we spent some time preparing supper together. I gave my daughter a new set of kitchen tools: pots, pans, stainless steel prep bowls and a host of kitchen utensils complete with her own Chef's jacket. (All of these items came into play as we prepared supper together).

My gift came in a medium-sized gift bag; an official NHL Calgary Flames jersey complete with "Burns" and the number "08" stitched on the back. I immediately donned my jersey with a huge smile upon my face.

I admit that I am a pretty die-hard Flames fan but had never really thought to ever buy myself a team jersey. My daughter, perhaps an even bigger fan, found something that would be meaningful yet fun. (We swap text messages during most every game regardless of where I may be traveling. She keeps me up to date when I can't get a score on the game. It's a daddy-daughter bonding thing).

The real gift though, wasn't really the hockey sweater. The gift was that my little girl (now a grown woman) was paying attention over the course of the year, gave me a real gift of thoughtfulness and the most precious gift, some quiet and quality time together making and sharing a meal.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Christmas is never really about the gifts. It's about how someone else thinks you're worthy of a gift in the first place. The real gift is that there are people in your life who love you and admire you. Anyone who has love has a lot. Adopt your "Gratitude Attitude" this year. Remember, life is about the memories you make. That's what really matters when you look back. Thirty years from now I may no longer own my Flames jersey but I will have the memory of the smiles, excitement and laughter that my daughter and I shared tonight. And at the end of life, that's what really matters anyway.

Oh, and the Flames beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3.

You Are Here

It was 1942 when Bing Crosby first sang the immortal White Christmas in the movie Holiday Inn. As a Canadian, there haven’t been a lot of Christmases that I can remember that weren’t white. But the trick in Canada, because the country is so large with weather that is so diverse, is having a coast-to-coast-to-coast (Pacific to Atlantic to Arctic) white Christmas which hasn’t happened in Canada since 1971. This year it will happen.

The weather across the country has been, well, wintry this year. The East Coast is getting hammered with snow this week. The central provinces have had their snow and Canada’s busiest airport, Toronto’s Pearson International, is still trying to catch up with the hundreds of delayed and canceled flights over the weekend due to heavy snow. Those flight delays and cancellations have rippled across North America creating a backlog across the continent. In the meantime, the Prairie Provinces have been hammered by snow and brutally cold temperatures. Then there’s the usually seemingly tropical West Coast - which usually has more rain during the winter - which has been pounded by snow this year (a foot of snow or 30cm which is huge in areas where hardware stores don’t normally stock snow shovels) this weekend alone. It’s white right across the country and we’re just a few days from Christmas.

In fact, this morning, as I was starting my car to warm it up because the temperature this morning was at -28°C (24° below zero F), my neighbor from across the road asked if I would give him a jump. Now if you’ve never heard that term (it is so Canadian), it means to help him start his car by connecting “jumper” cables from my car battery to his. Sometimes cars don’t start when it’s cold like this. I was pleased to oblige.

I recall my Uncle in Northern Ireland once asking me while I was on a visit there, “So what kind of temperatures do you have in Canada?”

I replied that depending on the area of the country, you could see swings of +40°C to -40°C (112°F to 40° below zero F).

Incredulously he asked, “Well why do you live there?”

Funny, but I never really thought about it before. I just live here. It’s the way it is and it is definitely winter (first day of winter was yesterday) in Canada. Canada is where I have chosen to live and the weather is the weather and there’s not much we can do about except embrace it and deal with it.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: As you walk through the shopping malls at this time of year looking for a particular store, you may find yourself in front of the big mall directory sign by the entrance. The most important thing on that big sign is the little red arrow that simply reads, “You Are Here!”

Nothing else on that sign makes any sense without the “You Are Here” arrow. And that’s the way it is in life. Without knowing where you are, you will never find a way to where you say you want to go. So as you take stock of the year you have just completed and begin to set your sights onto where you want to be in 2009, tell yourself the truth. Where you are is not the fault of the economy, the government, your boss, your spouse, your education, your circumstances or anything else outside of you. You are where you are by your own doing – no exceptions.

The economic downturn happened. Were you ready for it? Did you make the decisions this year that prepared you or hindered you? You always have a choice – always. You may not like the choices before you but there’s always a choice. (This part will require a serious attitude adjustment for some. If you’re resisting this idea, then life is NEVER going to get any better for you – ever.)

My friend and mentor, Ken Larson, says something that makes such perfect sense, “If you aren’t living your life by design then you are living your life by default. If you aren’t actively choosing to design your own life then you are living by default, and allowing anyone else’s design to be your life.”

Over this Holiday season, do something that helps you take better control of your own life for 2009.

Featured Expert in Safe Supervisor Magazine

Safe Supervisor magazine is a monthly publication dedicated to helping Occupational Health & Safety managers, supervisors and foremen become more effective in their jobs.

Last week, Dave Duncan of Safe Supervisor, interviewed me on a host of topics related to safety in the workplace. Primarily, our discussion centered around how to get non-complying workers to come around and to embrace the on-the-job safety procedures.

Safety Naggers Need a Bag of New Tricks
This is a two-part series on how supervisors can deal with workers who have an “attitude” and resist working safely. The first segment will look at how supervisors can approach such workers in a manner that doesn’t involve nagging. Part two will examine what supervisors can do to rein in workplace “cowboys” and what can be done when words aren’t enough to budge a bad safety attitude.

The interview is a two-part series that will be published in both the February and March 2009 editions of Safety Supervisor.

Safety IS an Attitude!

Leadership Versus Management

Question Posed This Week:

 

If everyone seems to know what leadership is when they see it, why do most organizations seem to bewail lack of leadership continuously, and why is there an apparent huge dearth of leadership at the top of most corporations these days?

 

Is it?
a) Accident of birth? Leaders are born not made?
b) Demographics? Maybe there is only one leader for every 1000 managers?
c) Training? Do our education systems train managers rather than leaders?
d) Selection? Maybe true leaders don't get selected in favour of managers or get screened out, or just maybe are not recognized as leaders?
e) Desire? Maybe folks just don't want to lead even if they have the skills & aptitude?

 

My answer:
Sorry, I don't buy into the belief that Leaders are born. Anyone can become a leader of any organization at any time. All that is required is a firm commitment to better oneself at every turn, acknowledging every foible and be willing to accept it and to continuously make improvements – real lasting improvements in becoming a better, more decent human being.

 

The more we read, the more we learn, the more personal discovery seminars (not that Meyers-Briggs or DISC fluff – a twenty-minute personality assessment which only explains why you are the way you are but not any real tools to change it) from real hardcore, locked-away for weeks at a time personal development journeys that we can attend, the more work we do on ourselves the more we become real.

 

Leadership must be authentic. In order to be authentic, a leader must be prepared to show all of him or herself - warts and all. Leadership comes from confidence. Real confidence requires no proof (think about that statement until you get it).

 

Management, however, can be done by anyone (I didn't say quality management). That's why it would be easier and more expedient to send someone to management school instead of self-discovery programs. It's quicker. It's cheaper. It doesn't remove the person from the workplace as long. And if he or she doesn't work out, the company can start again and send someone else.

 

You can be a jerk most of your life but it's in the "why" of being a jerk that we can discover many of our subconscious driving needs. Once we figure out what makes us tick, we can find more appropriate avenues to realize those needs.

 

Until organizations around the world figure out that you can't send a jerk to manager's school and expect him to become a leader, we'll keep ending up with the same old - same old. Leaders CAN be made. But they have to want to go out and get it. And it's hard work - I mean HARD work. Most people don't want to do the work. That's why there are so few leaders.

 

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: If you need to have power and control – then you will only ever be a manager. If you want to help people become better, more proficient and help them find meaning in their work – then you are a leader.

 

If you need to demand respect – you will only ever be a manager. If you give respect knowing deep down that you get what you give, then you are a leader.

 

If you believe that your people serve you – you will only ever be a manager. If you believe that you are, in fact, in service to your people – you serve them - and that you work WITH them – then you are a leader.

 

You see, Leadership is an Attitude. Management is a position.
Service is an Attitude. Customer Service is a department.
Safety is an Attitude. Occupational Health & Safety is a program.
Engagement is an Attitude. Work is a job.

 

The moment you give up the NEED to be in control is the moment you stop being a manager and start being a leader. Managers control. Leaders inspire.

Employee Engagement Free E-Book

David Zinger from the Employee Engagement Network released a free e-book this morning, 52 Powerful Sentences of Employee Engagement Advice. I am one of the 52 contributing members of the network.

 

David Zinger writes, "With 52 contributions, you could read a different sentence each week in 2009 and work at applying the advice to your organization each week. Imagine how much stronger employee engagement would be in your organization if you did this each week! Follow our authors’ suggestions or create a sentence of your own."

 

Click here to get the PDF e-book for yourself. http://www.davidzinger.com/wp-content/uploads/free-e-book-52-sentences-of-employee-engagement-advice.pdf

 

If you would like to join the Network or simply read the posts, go to http://www.employeeengagement.ning.com.

 

Step-Aside Attitude Adjustment

So it’s the Christmas season. “Tis the season of giving. And as we all trundle through the malls during this busy gift-buying season, what better gift to give to your fellow man than a little courtesy.

 

This column was inspired by stand-up comedian John Pinette’s “Get Out Of The Line.”

 

This is the “Step-Aside” Christmas Courtesy Attitude Adjustment.

 

When you encounter a friend you just “have” to spend a little time with chit-chatting at the mall, remember you’re not the only customers in the building. Take your shopping carts and yourselves and step aside to allow other shoppers to not be impeded. The hallways are crowded enough without having to circumvent people who don’t care that they’re in the way of others.

 

As you try to find that perfect parking spot at the mall, you know, the one you circle like sharks in the blood-infested water, remember that you’re driving slowly. Step aside and let the other cars find a spot further down the row.

 

Has all that shopping got you a little hungry? When you get to the front of the line at your favorite restaurant at the Food Court, if you’re not ready to order (I can’t imagine what you were doing in line that you didn’t think to be ready to order), step aside and let someone who is ready to order do so.

 

Got your shopping cart full at the grocery store and the person behind you has just a few items? Step aside and let the lesser items customer go ahead (This especially applies at the $300 Store – you know – Costco? Honestly, when’s the last time you spent less than three hundred bucks there?)

 

When your full order of groceries has been bagged and the total comes up, please don’t suddenly remember that you have a coupon “somewhere.” Please be ready or step aside.

 

Feeling frustrated because the staff of the store can’t seem to comprehend simple customer service? Don’t lose your mind about it. Step aside, cool off and let this season be a happy one – it’s your choice after all.

 

Feeling less than your best with customers as you work in the stores at this busy time of year? Don’t even think you’re entitled to lose your patience with customers. Step aside. Cool off. Remember that everyone’s a little nuts this time of year. Trust me; you’ll be looking for someone to talk to in January. Don’t ruin it for yourself.

 

Are you a boss and conduct yourself as though being the boss is more important than serving the customer? Step aside and let someone who understands that “revenue” and “expense” are on opposite sides of the balance sheet. Step aside until you fully comprehend which side of the sheet your position is on.

 

Do you see that Salvation Army kettle right in front of you? This is the only time you DON’T step aside. Drop a few bucks in the kettle. The Sally Ann does good work. Just because there won’t be a gift tag with your name on it doesn’t mean your gift won’t make a difference in someone else’s world.

 

And on Christmas morning, when it’s time to open gifts, remember it’s not all about you. Step aside and let everyone else have their moment of sheer joy and wonder. Holiday time is for everyone.

 

Playing For Change

My friend and mentor, Bobby Ng, of The Pursuit Of Excellence personal development courses based out of Edmonton, sent me a link to an astonishing video today. This video is just a small sampling of a much larger project called Playing For Change. The video is part of the documentary that has traveled around the world collecting video of street musicians playing songs then piecing them together to form an outstanding musical experience from around the world.

 

From the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music", comes the first of many "songs around the world" being released independently. Featured is a cover of the Ben E. King classic Stand By Me  by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it traveled the globe. This and other songs such as "One Love" will be released as digital downloads soon; followed by the film soundtrack and DVD early next year.

Sign up at www.playingforchange.com for updates and exclusive content. Join the Movement to help build schools, connect students, and inspire communities in need through music.

 

Check out the video, check out their web site and then try to tell me that isn't a project that will change your attitude that we are all connected.

Bringing Outsiders In

You are, no doubt, familiar with the “swear jar:” putting money in a jar for every time you use a curse word? Rarely does anyone voluntarily contribute to the jar without being caught uttering a profanity. It requires a witness to make the other party cough up the cash. A contribution to the jar usually requires a little teasing or at least some chiding before the guilty party will ‘fess up. Once admitted, the realization is usually followed by another curse word at being caught and a double fine is issued.

When my daughter was growing up we had a jar in the house called the “I can’t” jar. Every time she uttered the words “I can’t,” she would contribute to the jar. I wanted to instill the lesson that she can - whatever she wanted to do she could do. The jar didn’t last long.

I was asked this week, while being interviewed for an article in Safe Supervisor magazine, how to bring “safety cowboys,” those who won’t get with the program by ignoring safety procedures, not wearing their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or doing things they way they’ve always done them because they haven’t been hurt yet, into the fold and getting with the program. My answer was based on the “swear jar” concept.

Instilling a peer-patrolled, PPE-Check program that allows members of the work-site crew to monitor each other would be more beneficial than a top-down, supervisor-led program. Any member of the crew flagrantly flaunting the safety procedures could be assessed a fine of either a fixed cost (for example $20) or have the offender immediately jump into a vehicle and run to purchase a round of coffees for the rest of the crew at the offenders cost.

Currently, many job sites workers watch for the supervisor’s vehicle to approach and yell out a warning to the workers to “safety up” because the supervisor is on the way. This, unfortunately, makes the one person responsible for the safety of the crew the bad guy (Is the one person who actually cares that everyone goes home safely really the bad guy?). Whereas, the peer-patrolled program ensures that the workers are abiding by the rules at all times by being able to issue a fine to their fellow workers without the need for a supervisor to issue a warning or consequence.

The workers become judge-and-jury and majority rules in the assessment of a fine. Instantaneous gratification to those abiding by the rules at the expense of those who break the rules forces those who wish to operate outside of the rules to get in line or pay up.

The threat of teasing or chiding by one’s peers is a far more powerful compliance tool than the top-down philosophy in place in most workplaces. This same program could be applied outside of safety to issues like workplace tardiness, lack of customer service procedures (for example, customers not being acknowledged within a specific timeframe), missed deadlines that may hold up the progress of fellow workers or even an open display of disrespect for the workplace, the employer or one’s fellow workers.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Negativity, flaunting of the rules, not complying with procedures and grumbling are only allowed to foster in the workplace because there is no immediate consequence to the offender – and more importantly, there is no benefit for following procedures. So switch it up. Let managers manage and let the staff, the people who do the job everyday, police themselves. Empowering your people to improve workplace culture themselves encourages people to take ownership of what they do. People engage better when they have some control over what they do and how they do it. Call a brainstorming meeting and throw out an idea like this. Let your people take the idea, develop the mechanics and institute it themselves. You might be able to hide from the boss but it’s pretty tough to hide from your co-workers. And if you’re one of those on the outside refusing to get with the program, well, step up or pay up. If your workplace is fraught with whiners but you’re not one of them, you may never have to buy yourself another coffee ever again.

Cheap Or Safe? You Choose.

Last December, the government of the Province of Quebec passed legislation requiring all drivers in the province to have winter tires on their vehicles or face a fine equivalent to a new set of winter tires. It turns out that 38% of the accidents during winter months in Quebec are caused by the ten percent of the drivers who choose to drive all year on all-season tires. Quebec made the case, based simply on numbers, that in order to lower the number of collisions, lower insurance claims and lower numbers of injuries simply required a conscious decision to prepare oneself for less than optimum driving conditions. If the general public wouldn’t do it voluntarily, then in order to lower those numbers it would have to be mandated.

I made the switch to winter tires about four years ago and swear I will never attempt to drive in winter conditions on all-season tires again. There is a huge difference. In discussions with tire technicians over the years, I learned that all-season tires start to lose their grip at temperatures below 7 degrees Celsius (44 degrees Fahrenheit). Even with seemingly good driving conditions, a thin layer of frost on a road can cause you to lose your road grip and can cause you slide into another vehicle. If you live in any of the Canadian provinces or any of the Northern States, snow, ice and frost is a reality in the winter. Any barrier that comes between the rubber tread on the tire and dry pavement forces a driver to question him or herself while on the road. Any question, even a split-second of insecurity, makes you a worse driver than you would be in ideal driving conditions.

Drivers across Canada, however, are faced with a lack of selection of winter tires this year, some would say due to the new legislation in Quebec. Tires stores across the country are sold out of popular sizes (especially the less expensive tires) but if you look around, you can still find tires in your required size. You may just have to pay a little more.

Do you carry precious cargo in your vehicle (family, kids, etc)? Do you consider yourself to be valuable enough to your company and family to keep yourself safe? Do you possess a little courtesy when it comes to sharing the road with other drivers? How would you feel if your vehicle was damaged and you were hospitalized due to another driver’s decision to forego winter tires when those winter tires could have clearly helped avoid an accident with you? How would you feel if you took the life of someone else by simply trying to save a few bucks?

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Safety is an attitude. You either have the attitude or you don’t. There is no “sort-of” safety attitude. Far too many drivers choose to “cheap-out” when it comes to tires. The fact is that the average passenger car can be outfitted with winter tires for about $100 or less per tire. Let’s work that out. There are about one hundred and fifty days where snow, ice, slush or frost can come into play during the average Canadian winter. That works out to a daily cost of winter tires of about two and a half dollars per day for a set of four tires. Spread that figure over four winter seasons and the cost is just over sixty cents per day. What do you spend daily at Starbucks or Tim Horton’s each day? The truth is, you will have to replace your current tires at some point – especially if you drive all-season tires in the winter as the tread wears faster in colder conditions. But by driving on winter tires in the winter, you extend the life of your summer tires. If your tires are rated for 100,000 kilometers lifetime, then for every mile you drive on winter tires, you extend the life of your summer tires. Do the right thing and save your own life and perhaps the lives of others. Stop being cheap and start being safe.

Your Mission Statement

Do you know your organization's Mission Statement? If called upon, could you recite it correctly in front of your boss and co-workers? If you ARE the boss, could you recite the Mission Statement without hesitation and flawlessly?

If you've never taken the time to figure out what your Mission Statement is, then I'm going to hazard a guess that the organizational Mission Statement is full of generic messages that mean nothing at all and doesn't resonate with you or the people you work with.

"To be the best while offering superior service to our customers." (Boring)

"Treating our employees with respect so they can respect and serve our customers." (Yawn!)

"To be a successful organization making a healthy profit and leaving the world a better place." (Huh?)

How in the world are your people supposed to engage themselves on specific work if the mission or purpose of the work is not specific? Be specific. Be creative. Be bold. No really. Do it.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Employees get a job description which is fairly detailed and specific in its duties. Why then is the purpose of the work not specific. Here's what needs to happen in your place of work during those slow days over the Christmas holidays when people are in the office just no one feels like actually working: assemble a team of thinkers and doers among your people from all levels of your workplace. Lock yourselves away in a board room and don't come out until you have a single sentence that every single person on staff can buy into - helping each employee engage in a purpose for doing the work. This is a great New Years resolution. Get at it and start making the work more meaningful.


Kevin Burns
Author & Attitude Adjuster
Adjusting Attitudes in Employee Engagement - Service Leadership - Corporate Safety

Toll-free 1-877-BURNS-11 www.kevburns.com

A Disturbing Question

I received a question this morning that disturbed me. The question is real.

 

"My father bought me a gold bracelet years ago for my seventeenth birthday. Every time I wear it, I get bad luck. And after I take it off, it takes me weeks to wash off the bad luck (financial loss, emotional roller coaster, weight gain, getting pulled over, etc....) Fast forward years later, I want to sell the bracelet because I can use the money. I have no desire to ever wear it again (although it looks very good). Every holiday season, my father asks me about the bracelet, and if I still have it. Should I sell it and say I lost it? Advice please."

 

Here is my response:

 

I think you answered your own question. You said that when you wear the bracelet you experience financial loss and now you want to sell the bracelet because you need the money? I'm going to guess that you weren't wearing the bracelet when you decided you needed more money. In fact, you said "fast forward years later" and you are still having financial difficulties. The problem isn't a cursed bracelet from your father. The problem is not being accountable for your life issues. No piece of jewellery comes with a curse. So stop blaming the jewellery for your "bad luck." Bad decisions create bad luck.

 

You don't gain weight from wearing a bracelet. I'm going to guess that poor eating habits, lack of exercise and insulating yourself from hurt may be to blame.

 

You don't get pulled over by police for wearing a bracelet. You get pulled over for speeding or driving poorly.

 

Bracelets don't cause emotional roller coasters. An inability to handle stress, poor view of your life circumstances and/or feeling out of control usually are the reasons behind an emotional roller coaster.

 

When you step up and become accountable for what you are and where you are in your life, you will soon figure out that good decisions overcome "bad luck." Life gets better when you get better.

 

Attitude Adjustment: No amount of blame on an inanimate object is ever going to improve your life circumstances. Blame is an outward view that something other than you is responsible for your results. Blame is what "victims" do. Stop being victimized by a loving gift that obviously meant much to the person who gave it to you - your father. Start figuring out what your decisions are that have led you to where you are in your life today and you'll soon figure out that the one common denominator in every difficult situation you find yourself in is not a bracelet. Take control of your life and stop handing all of the control over to a piece of jewellery. It's not making the decisions - you are.

How To Engage Employees

I have been saying it and writing about it for a couple of years now. And this week, proof positive that it works. What is it that I am speaking of? I'm speaking of getting employees more engaged in their work.

 

A new University of Alberta study, The Promise of Spirit at Work: Increasing Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment and Reducing Turnover and Absenteeism in Long-Term Care was published last month. The findings are no real surprise.

 

Everyone takes a job - or should I say, makes a career choice, for a reason. It is that very reason that most people can re-engage themselves with their work. All it takes is a little reminder once in a while that there was a reason each person chose initially to take a certain job. Rarely do you find yourself taking a job of last-resort. There are usually choices. It is in those choices that people find themselves with a mission or purpose for their lives: to feel that their contribution means something. It is in that feeling that engagement on the job takes place.

 

The study finds that for people who find a deeper purpose in their work, being of service, appreciation of themselves and others as well as a sense of community and self-care actually reduced absenteeism by 60% and reduced staff turnover by 75%.

 

In addition, those who reconnected with their mission saw a 23% increase in teamwork, a ten percent boost in job satisfaction and a seventeen percent jump in morale.

 

Employers benefited too: $12,000 of absenteeism-related costs saved in the five months following the study than over the same period last year.

 

And how difficult is it to see profound changes in employees from employers? It is simple really. Simply help your people remind themselves that the work they do has meaning. The employer must ensure that each employee's contribution is important.

 

Attitude Adjustment: Reminding employees that their work is valued is not done by memo, by email or by setting a policy. The work is done in a face-to-face discussion with an employee (formal or not as it doesn't really matter). The manager has to be willing to help his or her people see that the employee's contribution is being noticed and matters in the big scheme of things. If a manager finds it difficult to have a heartfelt conversation with a staff member, I will guarantee that engagement under that manager is low. Employees, however, can't sit around waiting to be stroked before they apply themselves. If the employee can't find any meaning in their work, then they should leave voluntarily or should be set adrift to find something that matters to them. Enough of the mindlessness at work. If you won't wrap your head around what you're doing, then find something else to do and let someone who can apply themselves do the job instead. 

Whiners Are Leaders Too

Kris is a retail sales representative in a department store. She has been with the store a long time and has proven herself to be one of the store’s top producers in sales. She has enjoyed her status as one of the top producers but unfortunately her success has made her a little arrogant on the job and this is where the problem begins for her.

 

Kris’s attitude is an air of self-deluded superiority and she harbors negative attitudes towards the store, the company and especially her immediate supervisor. She prattles on to some of the newer staff to ignore what the manager has to say and to just do things her way. She believes that her sales success affords her some kind of freedom and an entitlement to do as she pleases. However, time and again she is hauled into the manager’s office and has her hands slapped for saying negative things about the store and her manager - sometimes blatantly right in front of him.

 

“What are they going to do?” she asks some of the newer hires in the store. “Fire the top producer? They wouldn’t dare.”

 

After a hand-slapping, Kris will emerge from the manager’s office only to chide him again by laughing about getting her hand slapped.

 

There’s no doubt about Kris' arrogance on the job. It’s as though she is blatantly attempting to goad her manager into a showdown. Some of the staff resent her and the “I’m going to do things my way – to hell with the manager” attitude she possesses. It is a very uneasy situation for new hires. The new employees are responsible for working with Kris and maintaining a good working relationship with her and while also attempting to demonstrate their loyalty to the company and the boss – the person who gave them the job to start with. Most of the new staff and other department sales reps find themselves in a push-and-pull relationship between Kris and the boss.

 

You can imagine how difficult it would be to be working with a person who blatantly disrespects the boss. The tension in the air would be thick in this kind of work environment.

 

But as I studied Kris’ “could care less” attitude, the question that I came up with is how can Kris, with conviction, offer any kind of genuine customer service if she harbors feelings of resentment, disrespect and negativity towards her boss and her employer? How can she wave the company flag and be believable and genuine in her dealings with customers? Well she can’t. And she needs to be fired immediately.

 

Attitude Adjustment: I don’t care if the cause of a “cancer” in the workplace is the top producer. Anyone who will not show respect to a boss and to co-workers will not show any sort of respect to anyone – including the customer. Remove the cancer before it spreads to the rest of the staff. The boss, unfortunately, looks like a jellyfish by not doing the right thing and sending her packing as soon as possible. Until Kris is fired, she will continue to negatively infect the rest of the staff. Kris, sadly, is a leader. Leadership isn’t about who is in charge. Anyone who has followers is considered a leader – even if they whine, moan, complain and flaunt the rules on the job. Kris’ leadership abilities are misdirected and are causing pain for her, her manager and her co-workers. The solution is to kick her to the curb as soon as possible and send a message to the staff that disrespect is not tolerated. (I am sure a sigh of relief would collectively be breathed by the staff anyway.) At the same time, the staff will rise to the occasion and pick up where Kris left off and will serve their customers in a manner more befitting them. Unfortunately, sometimes “leaders” can be misdirected and negative. That sort of leadership will kill an organization. The negative leader must be deposed before morale goes into the toilet.

Get Rich - Right Now

The world economy is a little shaky right now. The politicians are throwing bail-out packages around like treats at Halloween (all you have to do is come to the door of government and hold open your pillow case and magically that pillow case will be stuffed with cash).

 

Personally, I believe that some businesses can actually turn things around by offering a helping hand during this tough economic time and I am willing to support some of them being helped. But I will never go so far as to say that government should just blindly give money away. I think there needs to first be a trade-off. Here’s what I’m thinking: before money ever gets doled out to a company, there needs to be a caveat in place that requires that the senior management team that lead the business to the point of needing a bailout must first resign and a new management team be put in place or there will be no forthcoming bailout package.

 

Why would anyone reward any senior management’s poor performance with more free money?  How will anyone ever be held accountable if a CEO is allowed to make poor decisions and poor choices and recklessly lead his company to a state of financial turmoil while at the same time being given bags of free money to do it all again? No, no, no. If the money is to save workers’ jobs, then the guys at the top need to go so the workers can be spared.

 

It’s the same idea as one company buying out another company. Senior management of the company being purchased is usually sent packing in a buyout. The same rules should apply here. Since the new investor is government (technically that means you and I), then we should have the right to remove poorly performing managers before we invest our money. Einstein said it best: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” So the guys who got their companies this close to bankruptcy need to go before any more money changes hands.

 

Other businesses and organizations are restructuring, re-tooling, re-thinking, re-adjusting and sometimes regretting not putting enough away for a rainy day – and guess what? It’s raining today.

 

But the point of my writing today isn’t so much about whether or not there is a need for bailouts. My point here today is to discuss the almost certain onslaught of shady individuals and businesses who will attempt to cash in on scared workers and those who fear for their livelihood. When people begin to fear losing their livelihood then without fail, along come those despicable individuals who will offer the “overnight millionaire” scam. They will make grand promises of quick money, easy riches and millionaire lifestyles if you would only purchase their “sure-fire” program. They will sell that program with grand promises of easy money and openly lie to you that if you would purchase their program, you will be able to quit your job and live the easy life - if you would only part with several hundred or several thousand dollars (usually the last of the savings for families hovering close to poverty).

 

The problem here is that most of these “overnight millionaire” scams claim to require little or no effort. Look, if a program or scheme promises you won’t have to work, won’t have to make any effort, just part with hundreds or thousands of dollars and follow a “simple” 1-2-3 step program, you’re getting cheated.

 

Attitude Adjustment: This is not a time for rash decisions and depending upon wild hopes and dreams. Anyone who promises you overnight riches with little or no effort is only after your money. Don’t be a fool. Don’t get taken. Don’t buy the “overnight millionaire” scam. Look, you didn’t get where you are financially overnight. It took a lot of years to get to exactly where you are today. No “1-2-3 program” is going to solve your problems overnight. Don’t buy in. Resist as much as possible. If you want to help yourself right now and you don’t handle money very well, find someone (a financial planner for example) who can help you do better with what you have. Read. Learn. Study. Become better informed about you, your money and how you handle it all. Please. Please. Please. Don’t get sucked into the get-rich-quick schemes. The only one who gets rich is the one who just took your money.

 

 

My Feature Interview on HRGuru.com

My interview from a few weeks ago with Sybil Stershic of Quality Service Marketing is now featured on HRGuru.com - The Resource Behind Human Resources. Feel free to pass this on to your HR Department.

 

Here is the link: http://www.hrguru.com/training/articles/1703-interview-with-an-attitude-adjuster

HRGuru is an online community dedicated to advancement of current and future human resources professionals and of the improvement of HR as a whole. Members of HRGuru tap into this community of like-minded individuals for their daily dose of business news, tools and tips, and job searches.

In 2008, HRGuru joined with Monster Worldwide (Nasdaq: MNST) to accelerate growth and to improve the career and educational opportunities for our members. Monster's vision is to bring people together to advance their lives, which is a perfect fit for HRGuru.

 

Silliness Is Everywhere

A trip to the grocery store is usually a mundane thing. But not yesterday. As I walked through the Produce department of my neighborhood grocery store in Calgary, the sign above the bananas display had me in fits of out-loud-laughter.

 

The sign simply read: "Imported Bananas. 78 cents a pound."

 

Just to be sure that we, as consumers, didn't think we were being duped into buying Labrador Goldfingers or Winnipeg Bluefields or, heaven forbid, Prince Rupert Brazilian Dwarf bananas, they had to erect a sign that actually read: "Imported."

 

I had to buy some and surprisingly, the imported bananas taste every bit as good as the regular, run-of-the-mill Canadian bananas we buy every day.

 

Attitude Adjustment: Go looking for it and you'll find a chuckle every day.

What Goes Around Comes Around

A few months ago my friend and business partner, Marty Park, blogged about how he doesn’t watch the evening news anymore.

“So how much media do you need to take in before you start to recognize you feel bad about the state of the world, the state of your city, your health, your car, your community, etc? I have said be careful of your inputs before. Be careful what you listen to, what you read and what you absorb. The media is often the absolute worst source of information. The news is now made up of opinion as much as it is fact today.”

I witnessed first-hand this week exactly what Marty was writing about. The eleven o’clock news on Global Television (owned by Canwest Global) lead with this story: an Internet television production company catering to the energy sector is laying-off ten employees (out of 100). Could this be the sign that the energy sector in Canada is in trouble? Even the spokesman for the company played it down, “We had to hire pretty quickly when the big boom was on. Now that things have started to settle down a bit we’re simply letting go some of the people who aren’t a really good fit with our organization.”

Are you kidding me? The energy sector is in real trouble because an Internet television production company is laying-off a few people – can you smell my sarcasm in this one? Is this story big enough to justify the “lead” story on any newscast? Will the people of Alberta wake up tomorrow morning and find that their world has changed because of these ten layoffs?

Even the next story, in a blatant attempt at sensationalism, was a little over the top: Westjet Airlines only made a $55 million profit in the last quarter – down from $72 million in the same quarter one year ago. As the Westjet spokesman said, “We are still the most profitable airline per ratio in North America and Top 3 in the world.” Global news tried in vain to show how the economy is crumbling because of Westjet’s "huge" drop in profits.

Literally, I was swearing at the television and the twenty-something news anchor who simply reads the story the way her News Director says to. Oh tell me it isn’t so. The world is coming to an end. Ten people were laid-off and Westjet only made $55 million profit (just in case you missed that last word - PROFIT) in ninety days. Just to put it in perspective, that's a profit of over $600,000 each and every day for 90 straight days.

But then today, proof positive that what goes around comes around. Newspaper publisher and broadcaster Canwest Global announced Wednesday it was cutting five per cent of its workforce across the country, or about 560 jobs, as part of its streamlining of operations in the face of an economic slowdown. The elimination of 210 broadcast and 350 publishing jobs involves voluntary buyouts, attrition and layoffs, and is expected to reduce annual operating costs by about $61 million, the company said in a release.

Attitude Adjustment: What you think about you bring about. You will always find what you look for. You will attract those things that you most worry about. Be careful what news and opinions you expose yourself to. Become a voracious reader. If you’re going to read a newspaper each day, read two – just for balance. If you’re going to watch evening news, watch them all and sort of the chaff from the wheat yourself. If all you do is subscribe to conspiracy web sites, well there's no hope for you. The more we read, the more we know. The more we know, the better our judgment. With good judgment, we are already ahead of most. As Mark Twain once said, “A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read.” And be very picky about who you get your information from and the influences that surround you daily.

Web Surfing In The Sky

Now, I don't get the chance to congratulate Air Canada for much these days (what with the fuel surcharge, extra bag charges, overweight bag charges, yadda yadda yadda) but I couldn't pass this one up. Starting sometime in the spring of 2009, Air Canada will start offering live Internet web service on some of their flights.

Here's some of what their Press Release had to say:

Air Canada intends to begin operating Gogo (on-board Internet Service) by spring 2009 aboard Airbus A319 aircraft on select flights to the U.S. west coast and will be accessible by customers with a standard, wi-fi equipped laptop or Personal Electronic Device (PED). Initially, the Gogo system will be powered by Aircell's (the company providing the Internet service) existing network and only available in the U.S. in order to make Air Canada's rollout fast, economical and simple. Upon successful completion of the initial phase, Air Canada plans to extend the system throughout its North American and International markets as Aircell's coverage network expands.

So, the only question I have: Will I have to pay for it once I'm on board? You've got to know that there will always be a charge while you're being held captive in a steel tube hurtling through the air at forty thousand feet. Where else can you go?

Quality Service Marketing Interview Part 2

A couple of weeks ago, I let you know that Part 1 of my interview with Sybil Stershic of Quality Service Marketing was available on her site. Part 2 is available now. Click here!

Human Resources - The New Corporate Sales Force

The battle for new talent is on. As Boomers are retiring in record numbers over the next few years, finding a workforce that can replace a Boomer's experience, ethic and diligence is going to be a tall order. In fact, too many organizations are resigned to the fact that they won't be able to replace their retiring employees as well. That to me is bullfeathers. Only one thing has to change - the Human Resources Attitude.

Corporations are competing with each other now more than ever over potential employees who don't speak the same language as the people trying to recruit them. It's not done purposely. It's just that Gen Y's fresh out of university don't often get appointed to the post of HR Director. Therefore the people doing the hiring now are older than the people they're hiring and the truth is that the recruiter and potential employee may not speak the same language.

Once upon a time, a Human Resources manager was pretty much the go-to person if you had questions about company benefits or wanted to confirm your number of vacation days. Outside of those two things, most employees were at a loss to explain what HR really did. So, what exactly is HR's responsibility in the corporate world today? Outside of what any HR professional would care to explain, ultimately the job is Sales. HR pros, you can go ahead and argue this one but if you do, you're missing my point (and probably a lot of really good people in the process).

Every job is sales and service. Think about it, sales and service is the starting point to how every company grows and prospers. If your organization is looking for the future stars of tomorrow then you've got to start finding them, attracting them and selling them on why they should come to your organization. That means you're in sales. And you had better be able to speak the language too.

Now, don't get me wrong. There are plenty of people who are willing to drop their resume on your desk in the hopes that you will hire them. There are a lot of people looking for work throughtout the USA and Eastern Canada. There will always be a steady flow of applicants. But what I am talking about is the top talent - the talent that every organization would love to have and the kind of talent that probably already has a job and is in high demand.

So, as an HR pro, consider stealing away valuable people from other organizations. If you want the good people you will have to go out and get them. Their current employers are probably trying to keep them too. Getting them to talk to you is going to take a little selling.

(Note: If your good people are being lured away and not near as many good people are joining your organization, then you have a corporate culture problem. You are going to have to sell even harder now to change that culture.)

The new Gen Y worker doesn't speak "Boomer" and has a resume that looks more like a road-trip hotel itinerary than a Curriculum Vitae. HR pros need to brush up on the jobs they are trying to fill. They need to know exactly what is entailed in every job (probably wouldn't be a bad idea to actually spend a little time in each department getting to know the inner-workings of your own organization if you expect to be able to attract and sell that top talent to come work at your place).

The new HR pro had better know their competitors too. Potential employees will want to know how you stack up against your competitor and you had better have a really good answer - something more than just platitudes of "honoring employees" and "respectful communications" and (ugh - my favorite) "a team-focused environment." Be real. Tell the truth. Acknowledge your weaknesses and show a potential employee how their contribution will actually make a difference to the organization and the culture.

So let's see: HR people have to know the language, need to be able to see through the gaping holes in resumes, need to know virtually every job in their own organization (that's called Product Knowledge), they need to network where these new workers are and lastly, they need to know their competitors and find that competitive advantage. Yep, sure sounds like Sales to me.

Attitude Adjustment: the HR pro that looks at the job as a sales position will be the winner in the search for top talent. If you think the job is some ivory-tower position, the best you'll ever do is to get is the leftovers after the good ones have already been picked. Start reading the books on selling and you'll quickly move further ahead than the HR person who refuses to believe that good talent needs to be acquired, schmoozed and ultimately, communicated with on a completely different level than the person who walks in with a resume hoping that you're hiring today. The marketplace is changing quickly. So should you.

Humor In The Workplace Is A Joke

On the airplane flight I took today, our lead flight attendant was quite a jokester. Of course, once the plane hit a lot of turbulence, the jokes stopped. And I was left to ponder this thought: if the airplane got into some trouble, who would I want at the controls - the funny steward or the unflappable pilot?

As a professional speaker who likes to make people laugh while they are learning something valuable, I am on occassion mistaken as someone who delivers keynote presentations on humour in the workplace. I don't. In fact, I don't see the value of sitting around and trying to be funny for the sake of trying to improve morale. Sorry, I just don't get it. I think laughter needs to be heartfelt - not put on. (Think about how uncomfortable it is to be around someone trying too hard to be funny.) Some people are funny and some are not. It's almost painful to watch someone with no sense of humour trying to be funny. Hey, I don't try to be tall.

So this week I stumbled onto the results of the T-Mobile Workplace Motivation Report. Fifteen percent of those surveyed actually believe that joke-cracking has a demotivating influence. Workers don't feel motivated by colleagues who spend their time joking around and making flippant comments meant to be funny.

The research showed that workers prefer to be surrounded by upbeat people with a "can-do" attitude. Also a calming influence are people who can remain calm in the face of adversity - those who are unflappable and have a "Trust The Process" attitude.

I know a few speakers who conduct "humour in the workplace" sessions. I've never really understood how humour helps improve engagement, leadership or service. It's the same, to me, as wasting a lot of money on personality profiling - are you an introvert, extrovert or even what "color" you're supposed to be. How does that help you get more done, serve customers better or improve your performance results?

When times of economic uncertainty hit us, I want to be hanging out with the calm and "everything-is-going-to-be-alright" attitude guy. I don't want to have to turn to the jokester whose own humour during crisis times turns to blank-stared, crazy-nervous laughter.

Attitude Adjustment: I still think it's a good idea to have a sense of humour in the workplace - just don't annoy your co-workers with your giggles. As a boss, think about how you could better spend your training budgets by helping to actually improve your employees which will improve the workplace. Clown noses at work are just dumb. How is that going to improve the attitudes and performance of your people during times of economic downturns? Help make more of your people unflappable instead of funny. Bring a sense of calm to your workplace first and your people will have more fun as a result.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

The Customer Is Rarely Right

Imagine for a moment, as you serve one of your customers, that the customer begins to become belligerent and abusive towards you despite all of your best attempts to please the customer. Even though you are doing your best to diffuse this tenuous situation, the customer is just being an ass and is rejecting your offers of service. This customer just, it seems, wants to be abusive.

Now, also imagine your boss walking in on the conversation as the customer increases his abusiveness towards you and your boss sides with the customer. How would you feel? Would you feel like the rug was just pulled out from under you? Would you feel your value decreased? Would you pledge your undying loyalty to the company from that point forward? Would you give a damn about the customer anymore?

The sad truth is that this is happening all too often. Bosses, in their mistaken belief that “the customer is always right” will sometimes do whatever is necessary for the sake of keeping a customer (and his or her money) – even if that customer abuses one of his or her employees.

The customer is NOT always right. In fact, it could be argued that the customer is “rarely” right. Sometimes the customer is a jerk. Does being a jerk make a person right?

If you want to keep, not just your good people - but all of your people, working for you, then fire the customers who are insensitive, rude to or abuse your staff members - regardless of who that staff member is. Tell the customer that they are no longer welcome in your business. Refuse to take any further orders from them. Stand up for your people (hey, you trained them, paid for that training and have coached them all the way along – don’t let them down now).

You can’t afford to keep customers who make your staff look like idiots. Money in a wallet doesn’t give a person the right to act like a jerk. And as a staff member, don’t allow yourself to be belittled in the name of job-security.

Bosses, imagine that one of your top performers witnesses a lesser performer getting dumped on by a customer and you, as a boss, do nothing to stop this from happening. You will not only likely lose the loyalty of your lesser performer but your top performer as well.

In a situation like that, everyone, regardless of the performance abilities, will see exactly what kind of company he/she works for. Jumping to the defense of a top performer in the same situation and not jumping to the defense of a poor performer shows complete insincerity. You will not keep any performers if you are not genuinely dedicated to your staff.

Managers serve their employees - not the other way around. Staff serves customers; manager serves employees; the CEO serves managers, employees and shareholders. Every one serves someone. Employee loyalty is far more important than customer loyalty. If you are going to charge your employees with serving the customer, you had better make sure they feel that you (as a manager) are loyal to them if you want them to be loyal to the customer and in turn, make the customer loyal to your business.

Attitude Adjustment: The days of dumping all over your people and the fairy-tale belief that "the customer is always right" is dead. You will never have a relationship with your customers if you don't have a manager to employee relationship that works first. Think long and hard on this one. Customer loyalty is only as strong as employee loyalty. Serve your employees well so that they may serve your customers in the same way. If you, as a boss, don’t stand up for your people, you will probably end up serving the customer directly - you’ll be the only one left in the workplace willing to work with you.

Kevin Is Featured Guest This Week and Next

I had my brain picked this month.

Sybil Stershic, of Allentown, Pennsylvania and author of the book Taking Care Of The People Who Matter Most: A Guide To Employee-Customer Care interviewed me this month on a range of topics. Part One of a two-part interview is now on her Blog - The Quality Service Marketing Blog.

Feel free to have a look at our interview as well as the rest of her Blog. There are some great insights into offering quality service regardless of your industry.

Eye-Opening Survey Results

Perhaps we’ve become deluged with surveys but over the past week I’ve seen some survey results that were interesting enough that I thought I’d pass them along.

American Management Association:
Being kind to employees seems to be the right move for a boss when it comes to boosting performance.
Out of 660 respondents, the findings are as follows:
75% characterized their boss as “kind.”

• 84% of these said they plan to work for their company a long time
• 74% said they look forward to going to work each day
• 70% said they work as hard as they can
• 73% said they believe they can speak candidly with their boss
• 84% said they believe their boss really listens

14% considered their boss a “bully.”

• 47% of these said they plan to work here for a long time
• 32% said they look forward to going to work each day
• 54% said they work as hard as they can
• 42% said they believe they can speak candidly with their boss
• 24% said they believe their boss really listens

11% were neutral

Jobfox.com
Generation Y workers, the youngest of the four generations in the workplace, are not making a great impression on the job.
200 recruiters polled and the findings are as follows:
Who are the Great performers?

• 20% Gen Y
• 58% Gen X
• 63% Boomers
• 25% Traditionalists

Who are the Poor performers?

• 30% Gen Y
• 5% Gen X
• 4% Boomers
• 22% Traditionalists

Human Resource Professionals Association in partnership with retirement lifestyle consultants Life’s Next Step
627 HR pros surveyed and the findings are as follows:
With somewhere between 20% and 40% of the workforce scheduled to retire over the next five years, is your organization prepared for the coming talent shortage?

• 14% are fully prepared
• 60% are somewhat prepared
• 23% are poorly prepared

Hirescores.com
3000 British workers surveyed and the findings are as follows:
Almost half of British workers waste about a third of their workday pretending to be working. Typical time wasted: 2 hours 20 minutes every day.
96% admitted to doing unnecessary tasks to avoid work at some point in their workday.

Attitude Adjustment: We’re in trouble people – unless we all get a serious attitude adjustment soon.

Millenials vs Baby Boomers

Question: In your experience, what are the differences in engaging the different generations?

My answer to this question may seem like a bunch of rash generalizations since one cannot lump all Baby Boomers together and claim that they all have the same value and skill sets nor can you expect that all Millenials have the same sets of values because they were simply born around the same time. Labeling workers based on the year they were born seems a little ridiculous to me.

With that being said, let me say this. As Baby Boomers, we (I am one) were taught the value of achievement. In other words, in high school, winning a gold medal in the 800 meter race was met with perhaps nothing more than a grunt from a father, whereas today, parents will throw a celebration for the child who comes home with a “participant” ribbon.

We have become a much softer society who perhaps tries to shelter our children from the realities of the world. This is the Oprah generation – the generation whose family watched Oprah just prior to supper and has a family discussion about what Oprah said today. These same kids, who are now grown, have entered the workforce with a much more pronounced spiritual side yet at the same time have had many of life’s rewards simply handed to them instead of having to earn it.

Boomers have earned everything they have; Millenials may have had most of it handed to them. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Millenials don’t have a strong values set. Some do and some don’t. Some Boomers work hard and some don’t. Some Gen X’ers have learned the value of applying themselves in their pursuit of excellence and some have not.

However, there is a skill set that the average Millenial possesses that is mind-boggling to the average Boomer: the propensity to use technology. For most Baby Boomers in the workforce today, remembering back to childhood and not seeing a TV remote control in the house until they were into their teens is not uncommon. Color cable television was a celebration as a huge leap forward into new technology. I could make a comment about “Pong,” “Pac-Man” and Commodore-64’s here but suffice it to say, we’ve come a long way in a short period of time.

The Millenials, however, have never had a day that didn’t involve the use of computers, cell phones or portable entertainment devices. For Boomers, a chat was something you did over coffee. For Millenials, chatting is something you do over Java.

Boomers grew up with the notion of finding a good job that they might become proficient at. Millenials have entered the workforce searching for a good fit as opposed to a good job. Each Millenial has a skill set that they hope to be able to use. They don’t work well for organizations that happen to have a position and are just looking for a body to fill it. Millenials want the job to fit them and not the other way around. And at the end of the day, Millenials will leave the work behind whereas Boomers will take it home to finish. Boomers hope to one day achieve a decent work-life balance. Millenials are looking for a life-work balance: life comes first and work comes second.

And when you hire a Millenial, you hire their entire network of friends. MSN, Twitter, SMS and other forms of electronic hand-holding by their friends will be turned on in the workplace. The Millenial may be at work for you, but they are still connected to their network. Ask them to shut it off during work hours and you will be faced with filling a vacancy in your organization. Old school management does not work in today’s Millenial market. Give a poor performance review to a Millenial and that employee’s mother may call to ask why. Why should a job-performance review be any different than a parent-teacher meeting?

Attitude Adjustment: How do you engage the opposite ends of the workforce spectrum? For Boomers, it’s a matter of laying out the project parameters clearly: time frame, responsibilities, expectations and hierarchy within the project. Then, step out of the way and let the Boomer get it done. Oh, and if you expect it will take the whole day to get it done, expect it to be worked on overnight.

As for a Millenial, ask for input on how the project should come together. Give them the responsibility to make the decisions, don’t make them climb a ladder of hierarchy to ask a question, loosen the time frame (4‘ish?) and offer the opportunity to address key areas you’d like explored as well as anything they might feel is of value to the project. If you would expect the project to take all day, don’t. In fact, expect it in your email Inbox completed by noon that same day.

As for praise, give a Boomer an “attaboy,” privately with a handshake and heartfelt thanks. As for Millenials, you guessed it, a very public celebration.

Abundance vs Scarcity

Elections are in the air. Canada goes to the polls this week. America goes to the polls next month. And the big item on the agenda for both countries is the worldwide economy – although many of the citizens in both countries refuse to see that it is a worldwide event and not geographically exclusive to any one country.

I heard a great quote from Warren Buffet, last week. Buffet, if you don’t already know, is the most successful investor ever in the history of the world. Buffet’s advice? “If you’re not prepared to own a stock for ten years, you shouldn’t own it for ten minutes.”

In other words, think long-term. Markets fluctuate. It’s the focus on a short-term buy and sell that can create uncertainty, worry and sometimes panic, not within the market but within the individual buying and selling. That panic then spreads to other areas of his or her life because everything always comes back to money doesn’t it?

There are always short-term events in life that creates uncertainty and sometimes worry or panic. And this global economic slowdown is simply one of those events that will come and go over time. It’s not permanent. It never is. Even the Great Depression wasn’t permanent. We got over it and our economies bounced back and grew. And we will weather this storm too.

There are two attitude choices you can make for your life: not just when a financial crunch comes but something you can practice in good times and bad. Those two choices are to have either a “scarcity” mindset or an “abundance” mindset.

I will let the words of Steven Covey explain it better:

Most people are deeply scripted in what I call the Scarcity Mentality. They see life as having only so much, as though there were only one pie out there. And if someone were to get a big piece of the pie, it would mean less for everybody else.

The Scarcity Mentality is the zero-sum paradigm of life. People with a Scarcity Mentality have a very difficult time sharing recognition and credit, power or profit – even with those who help in the production. They also have a very hard time being genuinely happy for the success of other people.

The Abundance Mentality, on the other hand, flows out of a deep inner sense of personal worth and security. It is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity.

Attitude Adjustment: Before you start to panic, remember that newspapers need to sell big headlines to get you to buy them, TV networks need to sensationalize in order to bring their viewership up. Don’t rely solely on one news outlet for your perspective. There are an “abundance” of perspectives out there. Check out varying web sites, TV news, radio commentators, newspapers, periodicals, blogs, etc. Everyone has an opinion. You will find that there are as many people willing to lessen the severity of the current economic outlook as there are people who are willing to profess that the sky is falling. You owe it to the important people in your life to practice an attitude of “abundance” and not to panic. These current world events are temporary. This too, like every difficult time in our history, shall pass and you will be OK.

How To Engage On The Job

Here's another question that was asked this week: "How are Attitude and Employee Engagement related?"

Employee engagement IS an attitude. It’s an attitude based on values, morals and ethics instilled within the individual. If an employee was never taught or learned that their word is golden (specifically that the agreement they made to work in exchange for the paycheck), then they will never really feel compelled to be fully engaged on the job nor will they ever go over and above the bare minimum in the performance of their duties.

If, however, one of the employee’s values is to keep their agreements and not allow excuses or justifiers to stand in their way, they will perform the job to the best of their abilities. That employee understands that by accepting the offer of employment in the first place, there is an expectation that they were hired as simply the best candidate and carry within them a belief that employment is a privilege and not a right.

People who have a strong set of values and a good sense of doing what is right will always perform their duties to their capacity and will engage themselves in their work.

It is for that reason that I believe that employee engagement is not necessarily something that can be taught directly but, in fact, can only be instilled by soft-skills training: personal development, personal leadership and values-based life strategies. To employ someone in a position where the values of the job are in conflict with the employee’s set of personal values is a waste of a company’s time and money. You can’t fully engage an employee doing a job that goes against everything they believe and expect the employee to give up their own personal and life-long held views of the world.

It is for this same reason that a company’s values need to be developed not by a bunch of expensive-suited executives, but instead must be a grass-roots effort from the people who actually do the work. If the employees develop the corporate values, the chances of the employees engaging themselves in the delivery of those same values are far greater. Corporate values cannot be thrust upon the employee. There has to be a buy-in.

Attitude Adjustment: Engagement comes from values. Any and all discussions to the contrary just don’t line up. Employee engagement is an attitude. Without a strong sense of self-worth, the value of the contribution by that same employee will be much less. To attempt to fully engage an employee with low self-esteem or poor personal values would be futile to any organization. Develop the individual at the personal level and the engagement on the job naturally increases. When the self-worth of the individual increases, their pride in the work they do also naturally increases. When "doing a good job" is a value that becomes instilled in the individual, the engagement level on the job increases. The more you put into your employees, the more you will get out of them. The more you improve yourself, the more the things you do improve.

Should All Rules Apply?

I just got off of the plane in Saskatchewan. My flight included the entire Calgary Stampeders football team. In other words, I was dwarved by the very big men who surrounded me.

We used a little extra runway for takeoff - there's a lot of extra weight with these big guys. The pilot probably didn't account for the extra weight when we landed since we hit the tarmack a little harder than usual.

But as I de-planed (is that even a word?), I noticed that my carry-on bag was the same size as most of the players' bags. Regulations say the bag must fit in the sizing device at the airport and weigh no more than twenty-two pounds. How come there's a weight limit to my bag but not to the person who is carrying it?

Now I'm not saying big people shouldn't fly. Get over yourself if that's what you're reading into this. I'm saying that maybe the airlines could cut guys like me a little slack when a bag is say 5 pounds over. Apparently it's OK to carry an extra hundred pounds on my body but not OK for five pounds in a bag.

Should all rules apply all of the time? Or should we be allowed a little judgment call from time to time?

Just a little food for thought.

Kevin Burns
Author & Attitude Adjuster
Adjusting Attitudes in Employee Engagement - Service Leadership - Corporate Safety

Toll-free 1-877-BURNS-11 www.kevburns.com

Soft Skills vs. Technical Training

Question asked this week: Why are so many companies fixated on technical training with little or no emphasis on soft-skills training (management development, interpersonal communications, customer relations skills, etc)?

First of all, the training listed in the question is, I believe, technical skills training. These are not soft-skills training courses. Soft skills training is the kind of training you would offer to make the individual a better person, not a better manager. Management development IS technical training – you are training a manager for the work place. That’s a technical skill. However, a personal leadership development course which grows a better individual with better self-confidence and compassion is a soft-skills training course. The better the individual, the better that individual would perform their job.

I believe that business gets better when the people in the business get better. Improve the individuals at the personal level and the workplace will naturally improve. In fact, ask yourself, “Will the workplace deteriorate when the people I work with become better, decent, courteous human beings? Of course not. The truth is that sales get better when the sales people get better. Customer service gets better when the people who serve customers become more compassionate, understanding and communicative. Management gets better when the managers get better.

Most technical training (sales, communication, time-management, teamwork, etc.,) in the workplace is a complete waste of money. Organizations and corporations throw away billions of dollars every year on useless training that is designed to make people more proficient at a job that they, as people, are not capable of doing. And it’s not because they don’t want to become better. It’s because they, as people, lack the “self” skills to do it better (self-confidence, self-esteem, self-discipline, self-motivation, etc.).

Here’s what I mean by that. Let’s just say that there are ten representatives working in your sales department. Five of the reps have outstanding sales track records: they consistently hit their targets every month, customers love doing business with them and they seem to achieve their targets effortlessly. Then there are the other five reps who struggle every month to come close to meeting their targets. They can’t seem to get motivated to either get on the phone or make the in-person sales calls. They struggle with dealing with tough customers and know, in the backs of their minds, that they need to improve their respective performances or risk being let go.

Here’s what many companies would do: bring in a sales trainer to improve “company sales.” Even though five of the ten reps are consistently meeting their targets, the company thinks sales training is the key to get the whole team performing well. So, in comes the sales trainer to solve a problem that is clearly out of his realm since the problem isn’t corporate sales, it is five specific sales people. So the company penalizes the five top-performers by making them sit through a course that they already don’t need help with, and then place the five under-performers into a situation where they are now being studied by the peers – and judged as well.

Sales training is a waste of time on someone who lacks the self-confidence to ask for the sale, pick up the phone or make a cold-call in person. Time Management training is a waste of time on people who have no self-discipline. People without self-discipline revert back to old ways because, well, they have no self-discipline to stick with a new strategy. Teamwork training is wasted on individuals who have low self-esteem since they already feel they don’t deserve to be part of the team. And on and on the list goes. You can’t build a structurally sound house on a shaky foundation. In the same way, you can’t build a high-performer out of someone with a poor sense of self-worth.

Attitude Adjustment: Leadership is an attitude – management is a title. Service is an attitude – customer service is a department. Engagement is an attitude – employment is a paycheck. One is personal and one is technical. Organizations, on their own, work fine - it’s people who screw them up. Fix the people (at soft-skills level) and you fix most every problem in the organization.

Waiting On "Hold"

So I'm on hold with the call-centre at Telus, the phone company. I have been on hold for about twenty minutes now.

I have heard this message twelve times so far, "Are you looking for a career in the telecommunications industry? Telus currently has open positions for call-centre agents. For more information, visit our web site."

Hmm, something tells me I'm going to be on hold a little bit longer.

Thanks Telus for the second-best laugh I've had today.

The Attitude of Leaders As Hosts

Leadership is an attitude. Management is a title. You don’t need to be in management to be a leader.

So what does leadership look like in your own life?

Let’s say you are having a social gathering at your house. That would make you the host and those who attended your party would be guests. When in someone else’s house, the guests all defer to the host as being the leader. In other words, you are not managing the party, you are hosting it. The guests will join the host (the leader of the party) even sometimes begrudgingly if the host wants to play a game of charades. It’s the host’s party. We, as guests, will follow along. When there are followers, there must be a leader.

I read an interesting article recently about the concept of “hostmanship” as opposed to the concept of customer service.

There are six fundamentals to hostmanship:

1. Serving others
2. Perceiving the whole
3. Taking responsibility
4. Being caring
5. Searching knowledge
6. Practicing dialogue

The hostmanship web site describes hostmanship as the following:

Hostmanship without pride is empty and cold. In contrast to service, Hostmanship is focused on practice, on people as hosts, on the cultures of businesses, and on the capacity of organizations to tie it all together. Being a host is much about having the courage to let loose your talents and express your personality – to be brave enough to serve every person as she is and to listen to the needs she expresses. Hostmanship also differs from service in that it’s not about treating others as you yourself want to be treated. Hostmanship is to treat a person as she wants to be treated.

Seth Godin, in his Blog, wrote this past week:

If I pay $1000 extra for a first-class seat, odds are the flight attendant will be nice to me. If I pay $2000 extra for the presidential suite at the hotel, odds are the front desk clerk will be nice to me. If I give the valet $50 to park my car, odds are he'll be nice to me as well.

So, here's the question: if all I want, the only extra, is for someone to be nice to me when I visit your business, how much extra does that cost?

I think there's a huge gap between what people are willing to pay for nice (a lot) and what it would cost businesses to deliver it (almost nothing). Smells like an opportunity.

Attitude Adjustment: Is it your right to host your guests or to serve your customers? Or is it a privilege? Shifting your attitude away from customers simply being dollar signs to a nicer approach, that they are your guests, will go a long way to providing you with customer loyalty, better employee engagement, a more courteous and considerate way of dealing with those who choose to support you and, finally, a solid foundation upon which you can build your business and business relationships. Change your mind. Change your attitude. And serve your “guests” as you would wish to be “hosted” at their places of business or even their homes.

Big Rig - Little Brain

OK, now I've written about this particular subject in past and yet there are still a lot of people who, as the offenders, don't seem to care - and as those who supervise the offenders, well, they don't seem to care either. Such is my plight and here is my NEW story.

It was late afternoon as I drove on the four-lane highway. I found myself in the left lane slowly passing a big-rig truck who was just under the speed limit in the right lane. As I successfully got past him, I was unable to change into the right lane as some slower traffic was just ahead so I stayed in the left lane. The big-rig that I had just passed had apparently just called upon all of the horses under the hood and was accelerating quickly in the right lane now - well over the speed limit.

In my mind I thought there is no way he can get all of that rig into the space between me in the left lane and the car just ahead in the right lane. But he tried and without any consideration for any other vehicles he attempted to change lanes just as his back wheels were even with my back wheels. Had he continued to change lanes he would have either knocked me into the median or I would have to go there voluntarily. He put his rig just across the center line and tried to force me to either jam on the brakes (which I couldn't as there was a vehicle coming up behind me) or drive into the ditch. He then, aggressively put his truck back into the left lane to let me go by.

As I passed him I could see him waving his arms, looking at me and mouthing obscenities. I read, just below his face, the sign on the door: Marshall Trucking and the toll-free number. Once past the line of slower moving cars I pulled into the right lane as he flew past me well over the speed limit. I called the toll-free number.

I explained my story to the dispatcher who made a quick radio call and left the line open. She said the following to the driver: "Some guy out on the highway is complaining and wants you to slow down."

She came back on the phone and dismissively said, "Good enough?"

"Nope," was my answer. "Let me speak with your safety supervisor."

I was connected with Dean who listened intently. It was only when I identified myself as someone who works in safety attitude did he seem to genuinely take an interest in my story about his company and his driver.

Attitude Adjustment: If your company has vehicles on the road, please remind your drivers that they are flying the flag of the company when they drive. And if you get a complaint from one person, you can multiply that one phone call by fifty. Fifty is at least the number of people your driver has likely affected but only one stood up to make a complaint. I don't care if you're short-staffed and can't find any other drivers. If one of your drivers chooses to be unsafe on the roads, you should fire him immediately. It will save your company's face and send a very strong message to your other drivers to get with the program. The fast-moving highway is no place to have a little brain behind the wheel of a big rig.

Arrogance vs. Attitude

Question posed this week: What would you do from your own professional perspective to overcome an arrogant attitude in management and encourage to them in being proactive in accepting the necessity, convenience and relevance of an organizational change?

Let's be clear. In most instances, it's not "management" that is arrogant. It is the individual people who hold the title "manager” who may be arrogant. Some managers have come to believe that their title carries with it a deluded belief that they are superior to those who work for them. Change the attitudes of the individuals and you can begin to successfully change the culture throughout the organization. But without acknowledging the existence of the arrogance attitude within oneself, there is likely to be little change in this regard.

Management is not the same as leadership. Management is a title. Leadership is an attitude. I doubt that a true leader, one who genuinely wanted his or her people to become better, smarter and more efficient and to become the best people they could become, would operate from a place of arrogance. But one who chose to try to keep his or her minions down would be operating from that arrogance place.

Here’s a self-test for managers: have you met every single person in your department and had at least one conversation with each of them? If not, what is keeping you from doing that? I can guarantee that employee engagement will increase when the employee begins to feel that their contribution matters. Leadership is encouraging performance that perhaps even surpasses the abilities of the leader. Leaders are selfless. It’s impossible to be arrogant when an individual is selfless.

In any organization, it is not only leaders holding management positions. In fact, arrogant managers actually fear employees who are perceived by their peers as leaders within the ranks. Employees with leadership abilities are influencers. Arrogant managers fear influencers who could undermine their position.

But a real influencer may also be able to influence the arrogant manager by having a private conversation, away from prying ears. It takes courage but it is possible.

Also, it takes courage from consultants and speakers to say what needs saying instead of plying platitudes to ensure the check gets signed. This is an all-too-sad truth in our industry – saying what is safe to say instead of saying what needs to be said.

Attitude Adjustment: There is good news on dealing with arrogant managers. As the market changes (customers expecting better service, expectations of quality products, purchasing patterns, economic forces, etc.,) so will the attitudes of managers ... eventually. All is not lost. This transition time, as Boomers leave the workplace and are replaced by Gen Y's or Millenials, the dynamics of the relationships between those at the top and those who actually do the work will begin to change. The one saving grace is that the customer (us) can tell the difference. We customers vote with our dollars. When the polls (dollars) start to swing away from those organizations with arrogant leadership, the shareholders of those same organizations will correct the problem in short order. The market always has a way of correcting itself.

Die, Conference Dinner

I ran across this article recently in Meeting Planners International magazine. I thought it was brilliant, so much so that I felt compelled to share it with you. If you are a Meeting Planner, pay attention. If you have attended one of these events, well, enjoy. It was written by Tony Carey, CMP.

It would be difficult to invent an occasion better designed for social discomfort than the end-of-convention dinner with its incompatible mix of stale etiquette, corporate protocol, culinary sensitivities, age, gender and cultural frictions all squeezed into a few short hours that, for many participants, seem like an eternity.

Pity the poor association meeting planner (for it is in this field that the tradition survives in its purest form), required to devise a social activity in which the preordained ingredients leave scope for nothing more creative than changing the colour of the table linen.

The evening’s schedule must include a drinks reception, a dinner of at least four courses, a speech by the chairman, another by the principal guest, a series of toasts, the presentation of awards, dancing and then—to show that the organisation isn’t as old-fashioned as the previous four hours have conclusively proved—a disco.

Given the diversity of delegates at most association conventions, few of them will enjoy all these ingredients. For the younger attendees, the reception and the disco fail to compensate for the dinner discomfort and the tedium of the speeches. For the older ones, failing digestion, hearing and prostate glands make the meal an ordeal. Women (who are promoted to “ladies” for the occasion) are invariably disappointed by the men whom they are placed next to, but at least they have the pleasure of putting on a party frock. Generally speaking, men do not share women’s enthusiasm for dressing up. This may be because dress shirts shrink two sizes between uses.

Protocol demands that men and women should be seated alternately at the dinner table. This is arguably the most ridiculous piece of social etiquette since the invention of the fish knife and, fortunately, is increasingly ignored. Any good host will tell you that compatibility and mutual interests should determine a seating plan—not gender.

Would any half-professional meeting planner dare to inflict on delegates, in an auditorium, the levels of discomfort that are deemed acceptable at a banquet? No. Ten guests to a round table ensures that some can’t see the speakers and, as if the room wasn’t hot enough, everyone stokes up on calorific food eaten off warm plates. To further challenge the air conditioning, each table has a candle.

It is a physiological fact that women feel the cold more than men, so, of course, the ladies appear in backless, strapless, insubstantial little numbers (invariably black) which attract welcome attention and an unwelcome chill—while conformity demands that the gentlemen perspire in tuxedos. But I digress.

So the meal has ground to an indigestible conclusion, toasts have been drunk and the awards presented. The chairman has finally sat down to lethargic applause, so it is time for the band to strike up with a tune that only 25 percent of those present will recognise as music and to which no one will dance.

By this time (midnight), the ambient noise has reached battlefield level ensuring that conversations with foreigners—especially Virginians—have become impossible.

Most of the men would rather talk than dance, and most of the women would rather dance than talk. But the single girls have a problem: since most of the younger generation is propping up the bar, their choice of dancing partners is limited. They can choose from another woman, a septuagenarian, a drunk, their own handbag or the Greek they were sitting next to at dinner. (It’s a particularly bad evening if all they can find is a drunk old Greek with a handbag.)

But it is at this point that the group—which has been held together all evening by the glue of conformity—really splits up. The very old and the married couples go to bed, the very young escape to joust, sweatily, in the disco, while the middle-aged singles bribe the barman to remain at his post so they can rearrange the world.

Ironically, because everyone ends the evening doing what they enjoy, the event will be regarded as a considerable success. Such is the amnesic power of alcohol.

TONY CAREY, CMP, CMM, is a speaker and consultant. He can be reached at tonycarey@psilink.co.je or via his Web site, www.tonycarey.info.