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.