Video: Employees Are NOT Created Equal

Employees Are Not Created Equal from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

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

5 Reasons Why Middle Managers Create Culture

Culture, it could be argued, starts at the top. But at that point it is simply a vision, a direction.

Corporate culture is not a plan - it is the result of a plan (or the lack of one). It only becomes a culture once the front line people, the average everyday workers, start to act in accordance with the vision. If they do the opposite of the vision, then the vision becomes a nothing more than a daydream.

But get the middle-manager to see the benefit of the vision and you have one powerful ally in your strategy to make the culture vision a reality. Mid-managers are the people who touch the front-line worker every day. They are the people who either garner their respect or lose it (on senior management's behalf). If you want to get something done (especially shifting your organization's culture) then here are five reasons why you need your middle manager:

1. A strong culture attracts good people. 
2. A strong culture reduces stress-induced sick days. 
3. A strong culture increases employee engagement. 
4. A strong culture silences the dissident voices. 
5. A strong culture attracts better customers. 

Now you tell me one of these things that a middle manager doesn't do.

Middle managers create the culture you have. If you want to improve your culture, improve your management training. The rest follows.

--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Managing with Attitude Blog by Email

Management Excellence In The Moment

Tom Peters, management guru, said last week in a Blog post the following:

EXCELLENCE is not an "aspiration."
EXCELLENCE is not a "journey."
EXCELLENCE is the next five minutes.

In the same way a sports coach instructs the players to win their individual shifts (so that the games might win themselves), excellence is not something achieved. It is purely the practical application of oneself in this very moment.

• To make the customer standing in front of you the most important person in your life at that moment is excellence.
• To make your spouse the most important person in your life at this moment is excellence.
• To make a child the most important person in your life for a moment will bring moments of excellence for a lifetime.
• And to make the employee you are engaging right at this very second, the most important employee on your staff for this moment will show benefits of increased engagement and productivity.

Managers, it's about being focused in the present, to be excellent at this moment, that will make you the most important person for many moments from those you inspire.

--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Managing with Attitude Blog by Email

Stop 360° Performance Feedback Now

For those not familiar with 360° Performance Feedback, here's how it works in a nutshell: 360° Performance Feedback is feedback that comes from all around an employee. "360" refers to the 360 degrees in a circle, with an individual figuratively in the center of the circle. Feedback is provided by subordinates, peers, and supervisors. It also includes a self-assessment and, in some cases, feedback from external sources such as customers and suppliers or other interested stakeholders. The results from 360-degree feedback are often used by the person receiving the feedback to plan training and development. (Source: Wikipedia)

But here's my problem with it: if a co-worker is too afraid to send back a salty bowl of soup in a restaurant because they don't want to seem like a complainer, they can't just all-of-a-sudden be able to grow a pair and be able to offer honest, no-holds-barred feedback for a co-worker. No way. They'd be scared to death of creating animosity.

The 360° Performance Feedback model is based on the premise that people will tell the truth. But you know you don't. You don't address someone who parks like an ass and takes up part of a second space. You don't speak up when you get poor service - you whine about it to your friends though - lot of good that does. You won't even talk to the guy with really bad body odor because you don't want to hurt his feelings.

You're so afraid to hurt someone else's feelings that you swallow your own. That's cowardly and cowards are liars. They will say only that which makes people like them. They will not be honest for fear of being confrontational. Worst of all, they don't want people to criticize them so they say everything is fine. A co-worker's performance is fine. Not getting the promotion is fine. Annoyed by disruptive behavior? Nope it's fine too. Everything is fine (unless you get a one-on-one with the boss and then you secretly tell her that you're annoyed). But you go home and whine to your spouse and friends about how bad it is.

So now do you really believe your co-workers when they say that you're doing a great job?

Stop the 360° Performance Feedback now. It fosters lying, deceit and withholding the truth - and it's killing your corporate culture.
--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Managing with Attitude Blog by Email

Why "Leadership" Fad Will Die in 5 Years

In 2015, 75% of the workforce will be comprised of people over 50 years of age and under 30 years of age. That's 75% who will either be a Baby Boomer (Zoomer) or a Generation Y (Millennial).

Here's what you need to know about each generation:

• The Baby Boomer has only ever known Management. It's how they've worked their whole lives: for a manager. As a generation, they've never really put much stock into the latest fads and corporate trends (see their uptake-ability on technology) but instead prefer to work within a hierarchical chain of command. That chain of command gives an organization order, structure and makes people accountable. Boomers prefer managers who manage. Don't make the workplace seem too new-agey or you are likely to lose your solid workhorses who think work is for work and home is for personal.
• The Gen Y is entering the marketplace with one question for everything: Why? Hence the name, Gen Why. Everything is questioned. Everyone is equal. Everyone is a peer. It's brains and decisiveness over seniority and tenure in their world when it comes to being promoted. They want to know how to be promoted, what they are being measured on and how to achieve the quickest way to the boardroom. They will question why they should be following when they have just as much right to lead. Therefore, they want to know who their boss is and how to become the boss as quick as possible. They are looking for a seat in the manager's chair because of their talent - not because they are most popular in their network. Gen Y is a collaborator and bring their entire network with them - because everyone is equal - theirs is not a world of leaders and followers.

Consensus amongst peers is order for Gen Y - not "follow me for I have a vision." Tangible, measurable and touchable is how Boomers like to work. 

Boomers will respect the title regardless of the personality of the holder of the title. Gen Y will respect the person who holds the title giving little regard to the title itself.

If you want to engage both of these generations, promote your natural coaches - those who can coach, inspire, motivate, problem-solve and are not afraid to get their own hands dirty - to positions of management. Train them solidly in how to manage people, problem-solve, run efficient meetings, build solid relationships and communicate directly with their team-members. Because no matter what new fad is happening in the market place, you are always going to need to have good, solid managers to keep it all on-track.
--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Managing with Attitude Blog by Email

Managers Showing Their Laziness

What's with so many managers bashing the Gen Y work ethic? That complaint comes mostly from Baby Boomers - the same people who raised a lot of the Gen Y's. Do you see the irony here? Boomers raise them and then complain that they don't work as hard as Boomers. Huh?

TRUTH: you will NOT be able to convince millions of new workers to give up everything they know just because it's easier for you. (Who's the selfish one now?) And if you try to make them change the way they think, their values and their ethics, then you will end up with an empty space to fill.

You had just better figure out that the workforce is changing - and either you, as a manager, keep up or get left behind. Asking a whole generation of competent (and incredibly fast with a propensity for technology) workers to stop doing what they've been doing their whole short lives and start doing it your way seems sort of one-sided. Maybe it's that you just don't want to change the way YOU'VE been doing things for the past 25 years because it seems like a lot of work. Think about what you're asking them to do. It sure sounds like laziness to me - and not from Gen Y.

Think of it this way: if you were dropped into a management job in Poland, would you expect all of your workers to learn English or would you attempt to learn to speak enough Polish to communicate effectively? The same rules apply here. You had better learn the language (and the ways and ideas) of your workers if you want to effectively manage them. Complaining about it is lazy. It's what mediocre managers do.

Excellent managers do whatever is necessary to manage effectively - even if that means learning a new language - oh, and how to send a text message.
--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Overtime Or Heart Attack - You Decide

Who knew that working overtime could kill you? An 11-year study of 6,000 British civil servants doesn't provide absolute proof that overtime causes heart attacks but it does show a clear link - likely due to stress.

According to the report, "In all, there were 369 cases of death due to heart disease, non-fatal heart attacks and angina among the London-based study group -- and the risk of having an adverse event was 60 percent higher for those who worked three to four hours overtime. Working an extra one to two hours beyond a normal seven-hour day was not associated with increased risk."

Work/Life Balance is a key to health in the workplace. Giving every waking moment to your job is a lousy way of maintaining your physical and mental health. In fact, long hours creates other issues: poor diet choices leading to weight gain, improper sleep patterns leading to burnout and increased alcohol consumption in an attempt to wind down. And if you're a smoker, well it gets even worse.

As a manager, asking your employees to work an additional four hours of overtime is creating a health risk. Instead, perhaps offer some telecommuting time (a couple of days working from home where the boundaries between work and home are blurred giving a better sense of not feeling as much like work) or offering your people a chance to come in for a few hours on a weekend during the day so it's not a marathon time stretch.

Oh, and I suppose you might consider one more option instead of overtime: hire more people so you're not so short-staffed.

Feel free to show the news story to your bosses to get a budget bump for more people. Think about what could happen if an Injury Lawyer reads this story and can show that you worked your people too much overtime. It's going to cost you either way. Right now, you decide though.

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Kevin Burns - Follow Me on my new Facebook Fan Page
Excellence Attitude/Culture Strategist
Speaking Web Site http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Attitude with ATTITUDE Blog by Email
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The New Mid-Manager: Coach and Mentor

"If I don't hear from my manager, then I must be doing OK."

That's the old-school management philosophy - not talking to your people unless you're dumping on them or chewing them out. And any manager that is still adhering to that philosophy of say-nothing-unless-they're-in-deep-sewage is a prime candidate for "worst manager of the organization." This is NOT something to be proud of.

If as a manager you're not reading books, watching videos and attending seminars on how to be a better manager, something that updates your perspective from the 1970's, then you honestly don't deserve to be a manager anymore because you're holding back some really good people from reaching their potential. You should be stripped of your title and moved out of the way. Your department is in need of a serious makeover - something that honors its people and understands the basic fundamentals of coaching as the new management strategy.

And don't be seduced by the whole trendy Leadership movement. Don't think Leadership is the way to manage better. It is not. Leadership and management are two different things. Think Mentoring and Coaching as the new management philosophy. Leadership is more of a personal development tool. Mentoring/Coaching/Managing are about showing, helping and inspiring your people.

Corporate Culture rests with middle-managers. Mid-managers have the power to hear what employees are saying while being able to sell the vision from upper management. But if you as a mid-manager won't be coached (won't read, won't watch, won't learn), then I can't help you. You're on your own.

PS: Join me on my new Facebook page
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Kevin Burns - Excellence Attitude/Culture Strategist
Speaking Web Site http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Attitude with ATTITUDE Blog by Email
Follow Kevin on Twitter @attitudeburns
The Official Kevin Burns YouTube Channel

Finding Happiness At Work

"When I find the perfect job, then I'll be happy."

Maybe you've bought into it. So what is the number one factor that keeps employees from achieveing happiness at work? Their immediate supervisor.

How many times has it been said, reported, repeated, regurgitated, reissued and rebuked: people don't leave a company - they leave their immediate supervisor. Well, it's absolutely true.

Look, if you want to improve customer service levels, improve your first-line managers (the immediate supervisor to the employee whose performance you are trying to improve). If you want to reduce attrition levels by both customers and employees, improve your first-line manager. If you want to increase initiative, creativity and communication, improve your first-line manager.

If the first-line manager is an idiot, your people will hate working there. They will, in turn, offer lousy service because they could care less about the job. That department will also have higher employee turnover than other departments of your organization - which sucks more budget money for recruiting and training.

Don't you DARE put someone into a supervisory position that has lousy people skills or contempt for the people they work with. And don't you DARE stick a front-line manager into a position before he has been properly trained. Sticking any old body into a supervisory position WILL lose you your staff and your clients.

The first-line supervisor is like the linchpin of a rail-car coupler - the one that locks in your employees, customers and culture of your organization. Even in a fabulous corporate culture, the one jerk-supervisor will still turn over staff and customers.

Get it right. This is far too important to miss. Wherever that first-line supervisor is in the organization, everything right below him either works or it falls apart.
--
Kevin Burns - Excellence Attitude/Culture Strategist
Speaking Web Site http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Attitude with ATTITUDE Blog by Email
Follow Kevin on Twitter @attitudeburns
The Official Kevin Burns YouTube Channel

Managers Are Boring Their Staff

Managers are encouraging the relentless pursuit of mediocrity through repetition, routine and regurgitation that disengages people to treat the work as just a job. Managers who are too focused on following the rules and not enough on encouraging new ideas for new times serving new customers with new products are making it impossible to become organizations of greatness by forcing workers to stick to routines instead of rewarding innovation.

Everything about your business has changed except how you let your people do the work. Innovation is what engages people. Innovation is what gets people excited about coming to work. New things get people to re-focus (think about how happy your people get when they receive a new computer). They love new challenges and new products. Why would you think they wouldn't enjoy a new way of finding solutions to age-old, boring traditions that take too long to accomplish and are, well, they're boring?

Tradition, however, encourages boredom. Repetition encourages boredom. Boredom encourages disengagement. Stop focusing on doing things they way you've always done it. Your new Gen Y hires don't have those same traditions and they don't understand why you're still doing it the old way. Managers who can't relate to their staff also make it hard for them to feel excited about the work.

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Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist
Speaking Web Site http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Creating An Oasis of Greatness In A Wasteland of Mediocrity
Subscribe to Kevin's Attitude with ATTITUDE Blog by Email
Follow Kevin on Twitter @attitudeburns
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"Ordinary" Is Never A Favorite

Do you have a favorite? A favorite restaurant, favorite food, favorite drink, favorite TV show or favorite sports team? How about a favorite make of car, vacation spot, airline, hotel or coffee shop? Do you have a favorite friend, co-worker or boss?

Everyone has a favorite something. Some parents even have a favorite child - even though the right answer is "I love all of you equally."

But now here's the interesting question: are you anyone else's favorite? Are you the coffee shop's favorite customer? Are you your doctor's favorite patient? Are you your waitress's favorite customer? How about at work? Are you your boss's favorite employee or your customers' favorite representative?

If you're not a favorite, you'll never achieve great success. It just can't be done. You can't rise to the top in people's minds by sitting in the middle of the pack. The middle of the pack is for the mediocre.

Are you OK sliding through life just being ordinary? No one picks "ordinary" as their favorite. You find life changes when you stop being ordinary and start finding your Greatness. Greatness is where you find your favorites.

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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Friday Is Employee Recognition Day

Friday, March 5, 2010 is Employee Recognition Day. Now you might think that a day like this is kind of cute and meant to be lighthearted but it's not a really serious thing. That may be true, but then so is Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. Try not to take those two days seriously and see what happens. You would never dishonor your mother on Mother's Day nor your spouse on Valentine's Day if you want to have peace and harmony at home.

Think of Employee Recognition Day the same way. If the employee knows that it's Employee Recognition Day and no attempt is made by management to recognize them, you might as well have forgotten your spouse on Valentine's Day. You will have created a bigger chasm between employees and management.

Yes, there is the argument that you don't need a special day to recognize your employees and you would be right. But you don't need a special day to recognize your sweetheart or your spouse but it seems to be the only days of  the year that many do honor them. So we have this day to force the laggards to get with the program and show their gratitude. It is a day designated to REMIND managers that they have a staff who do their work without a lot of recognition: managers get so wrapped up in attending endless (and pointless) meetings that there is little time left to say "thanks" to their people.

So this Friday, show your Attitude of Gratitude by springing for pizza for the staff, buying a $25 Starbucks card for each member of your team or giving a heartfelt, handwritten card personally prepared for each member of your team. Do NOT hand out awards that day. Friday is Employee Recognition Day. That means all employees are recognized - not just your superstars.

If you want to build a culture of engagement in your organization, you will recognize your people on Friday. Then, make a decision to make the first Friday of every month, Employee Recognition Day. One simple change in your corporate attitude will spread the word that yours is a great place to work. More people will be lining up to work there - good people - not just the ones who are available.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


Subscribe to Kevin's Attitude with ATTITUDE Blog by Email
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When Workers Hate Their Bosses

When workers hate their bosses, you can't always openly tell. Some have disliked their bosses from Day 1. Others learn to increasingly disrespect their bosses and begin to shut down over time - eventually arriving to that point where they actually, in their minds, resign from the job. They end up doing just enough to not get fired.

Now before you go thinking that as long as they continue to do their jobs all is OK, let me clue you in. The levels of employee motivation have tangible ramifications for your organization:

• Rates of theft will rise.
• Quality of work will drop creating more defective products.
• Work accident numbers rise.
• Turnover and absenteeism both increase.
• Customer service scores drop.
• Profitability of the department drops.

If you've got any of these issues, then you've got a group of workers who have become disillusioned with their immediate boss. People who shut down like this don't have it in for the company (in most instances), they have it in for their immediate manager. It's not the corporate culture that irritates people over time, it's usually an immediate supervisor. Once an employee loses respect for their boss, good luck getting them motivated and engaged again.

Stop buying the excuses of department managers who always have an excuse for why theft is up, safety incidents are up, reports are late, turnover is high or why so many people seem to be sick. They're sick alright - sick of their boss.

Act quickly when you see the signs.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE

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Bad Boss And The Attitude of Service

Maybe you find yourself just standing and staring right at your boss's office door wondering why the jerk-boss behind that door doesn't give you the praise you think you deserve. You know you have to go back to work but you find yourself struggling to come up with one good reason (other than being fired) to actually give a best-effort knowing full well you won't even get a grunt of acknowledgment for your efforts. (That's when the thoughts of lottery winnings pop into your head and you picture yourself standing on his desk, reaching down and grabbing him by that stupid yellow tie he always wears to work and saying, "You can take a long, hard" .... um ... heh heh ... sorry got a little off-track there.)

Have you ever wondered why a leader, manager or boss would not acknowledge or praise the work of his or her people? Truth is, anyone who doesn't praise his or her employees is not a leader. Stop calling him or her that. It's insulting to real leaders.

People who don't praise others are lacking in self-confidence. It takes confidence to praise someone's effort. And you don't have to be in management or in a supervisory position to offer a compliment on someone's hard work. People who choose to say nothing when it comes time to acknowledge a contribution don't wish to be outshone - that's why they say nothing. People who hold back praise do it for selfish reasons.

Problem is, if they are in management, it's worse. Managers need to get people to work for them. But people don't give a full effort and do NOT engage in their work when there is no acknowledgment or praise. This is where you need to develop an Attitude of Service. Service is not just about how you serve customers. Service is an Attitude. Customer Service is a department. Treating others how you would wish to be treated requires an Attitude of Service (one of the seven Attitudes discussed in detail in my forthcoming book, "Your Attitude Sucks - Fixing What's Wrong With Corporate America.")

Be in service to someone - offer a heartfelt compliment today and see how much better your day gets.

But if you want to make sure you're viewed as the worst boss ever then don't give people the credit they deserve. Your people will serve you only as well as you serve them.

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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE

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Memo From The Customer

I think I missed a memo recently. I must have. The memo I missed apparently stated that if you are a cashier, a salesperson or even a “sandwich artist,” feel free to have conversations with your co-workers, your friends and other complete strangers while “serving” your current customer.

When exactly did the person with the money (the customer) become the least important part of a front-line worker’s day? Recently, it seems that almost every store I have gone into has someone at the front counter who needs to have a conversation with someone else (not work-related) that is more important than accepting my money. How can everything in a cashier’s day be more important than my willingness to exchange goods and services for money? Did I miss that memo?

In response, here is my memo.

Memo to: The front-line staff of all organizations
From: The Customer
Re: Performance review

It has come to my attention that you have been ignoring me lately. Although nothing has been said directly to me, your performance in the role of customer service has become suspect. I wish to address that here.

Your willingness to make eye-contact with me and to acknowledge that I have chosen to part with my hard-earned money has made me feel as though you really don’t care that I am in your establishment willing to purchase something. I am simply asking that, for the few minutes I am in your business, that you keep your conversations focused on what I would like and, most of all, be thankful for my willingness to frequent your work place. I feel compelled to address this issue as I have noticed it lacking of late.

I am becoming incredibly frustrated at being ignored while I am in the midst of purchasing something. I (the customer) am the revenue source for your business. I (the customer) am the guy who keeps the lights on in your business and gives you the revenue stream to pay for silly little expenses like … oh I don’t know … staff!! I (the customer), in this so-called economic downturn, am the difference between your business going down and your business thriving. Unless there is a fire, ask yourself, is there really something more important that you feel you must handle before you handle my transaction?

Do you really need to create conversations with others about how tired you are, how long the day has been or how many minutes are left before you can head to the bar to hang out with your friends? If I were your boss would you ignore me as I stood in front of you so that you could carry on meaningless conversations with friends or co-workers? Well, how about you think of me as your boss – simply in the fact that I pay you indirectly.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: The secret to customer service is to simply be present in my dealing with you. I don’t want to feel like I’m imposing on you when I buy something from you. I want to hear “Thank you.” I want you to mean it when you say it. You can tell me to “have a nice day” or not – that’s really not important to me. A simple “thank you” is all I require.

For this performance review, I need you to improve in only two areas: 1) your attitude of gratitude when I choose to part with my money in your business, and 2) your focus and attention on me for the few moments I stand in front of you.

Failure to comply with these performance issues will cause me to fire you as a company I do business with. You have been warned.

The Résumé Is Dead

What is a résumé? It’s nothing more than a collection of things you’ve done in your work life – a sort-of “eulogy” at work. Oh sure, it may also point out some skills that you were allowed to use while on the job but it really gives no indication of your aptitude, your natural talents nor your values and attitudes toward the work world.

Michael Bloomberg, NYC Mayor, once said, “You are not paid for what you have done in the past. You are paid for what you’re about to do in the future.”

Isn’t it interesting that you (boss or HR professional) decide who you want to interview is based purely on what your candidate may have done in the past – not what they are about to do in the future.

Why is the résumé dead?

• There is no indication from a résumé of what heights could have possibly been reached – only what someone has been given the opportunity to do.
• There is no indication from a résumé of what a candidate is capable of learning – only what they have learned in the past, what school they graduated from and what pieces of paper (degrees) they may hold (relevant or not).
• There is no indication from a résumé that a particular candidate could be the next great leader for your organization – especially if never given the opportunity to lead.
• There is no indication from a résumé of how brilliant a mind may be when hidden behind average grades and average positions in an organization – especially if the candidate was kept down by a tyrant boss.
• There is no indication from a résumé of values and ethics being paramount – especially if only ever given a lowly entry-level position and no opportunity to provide input.
• There is no indication from a résumé that a candidate is a decent human being – credentials on a wall don’t make you decent.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: The workforce is changing. Baby Boomers are retiring and Gen Y is here to stay. In a few years, Gen Y will be taking over management positions and leadership roles and the organizational structure that we know today will be dead – along with the résumé.

The great leaders of tomorrow and those who will change the world, including your organization, will be the people with ideas and those who will challenge the standard workforce strategy. They won’t be hired because of their résumés. And as long as you continue to believe that the résumé is the best way to find a suitable candidate to fill a position, you will be eating the dust of the organizations who have found a way to attract people with brains, ideas, values, ethics and a shared-effort philosophy. These people are found in chat rooms, blogging, e-networking, texting and hanging out with those of like-mind.

Who do you think would bring your organization a higher degree of greatness: a person looking for a job (armed with a résumé) or one who is already sharing ideas with others (armed with a Blog, followers and a huge network)? Which of the two choices do you think would give you better results in the future?

The résumé is dead.

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.