How much fun could you have if you didn't let "societal norms" dictate how your organization approached innovation? How easy would it be to install a "fast lane" going into a subway station - for those that just wanted to catch their train a little quicker?
You change your attitude on simply accepting the way it's done currently and instead, develop a vision where people can have fun while doing something completely mundane.
Escalators move slow and stairs can be dangerous when you're in a hurry. How would you quickly and efficiently move people to the bottom of the stairs and, at the same time, allow them bring out their inner child while catching their train?
Why not consider a slide in a subway station? Watch the video.
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Monday, June 28, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Have A Nice Filter-Free Friday™
Want to have a little fun on Filter-Free Friday™? When told to have a nice day, respond with, "Do you really mean that?" I'll tell you that you'll likely be met with a mouth-agape, stunned, "huh?" Do it anyway.
And if you're one of the people responsible for ordering me to have a "nice" day, why not order me to have an "excellent" day or feel free to use any of the other following substitutions that would mean so much more than the meaningless drivel you're spouting now:
- enjoy your sandwich
- remember, no speeding through school zones
- make someone else's day
- buy your loved one some flowers
- do something generous today
- or my personal favorite, a heartfelt, "Thank you."
Don't just mindlessly accept a half-hearted, banal greeting. You're only encouraging them to keep on being mediocre. Challenge them to have a better day. It's Filter-Free Friday™, the day you express your truth in a non-hurtful way that forces others (people and organizations) to get better.
(Follow Filter-Free Friday™ on Twitter by using hashtags #fff and #filterfreefriday.)
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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
Monday, September 28, 2009
Measurement Stifles Organizational Growth
"Tell me how you measure me and I will tell you how I will behave." That's how people go to work when they know they are being measured. Think what happens in a meeting once you bring a video camera into the room. What was once an honest discussion and exchange of ideas becomes a watered-down, preening for the camera. That is exactly what measurement does to an organization. Measurement stifles creativity.
Measurement forces people to only do what they are being measured on. After all, if you're not being measured to be innovative (and that can not be measured because in order for measurement to occur there needs to be a benchmark) then employee's attitudes are, "don't waste your time with stuff you won't get points for."
Organizations have for years done exactly the opposite of what science knows. Dan Pink points out that research clearly shows that rewards and incentives do not work and, in fact, retard performance. The bigger the incentive, the worse the performance. Yet, business still insists on hanging onto the attitude that offering rewards and incentives works regardless of what the science says. In the same way, an argument could be made that measurement stifles creativity and forces people to do only what is in their box. In the same way, the argument could be made that those who are at the top of a heavily-measured organization scored the best scores inside the box.
How in the world can you encourage creativity by being overly-measured? Measurement requires a benchmark before it can be considered a measure. If there is no benchmark (because you've never done it before) then any time, creativity or activity spent outside of the scope of measurement would seem like a complete waste of time. If people appear to be wasting time, they will not score well on metrics. Conceptualizing ideas, daydreaming, thinking, studying and watching can not be measured as productive. But that's where innovation comes from. Innovation comes from an Instigational® Attitude.
It is those of Instigational® Attitude who are the innovators, pushers of boundaries and agents of change within an organization. They don't stand on tradition and actually abhor it. They go in search of new ways to operate more efficiently. But innovation is where an organization gets to jump out in front of the mediocre pack and do something different, daring and divine. Measurement retards that same innovation.
If you're working on things outside of the measurement scope then you appear to be wasting time. People don't want to be seen as time-wasters working on stuff that isn't being measured. Therefore, the very act of measurement retards organizational growth and innovation.
Organizations are painting themselves into their own corners by hanging onto the attitude that measurement is necessary. It's how the consultants have had too much influence over organizations and their employees. It seems fairly simple to me: measurement or innovation but you can't have both. Develop your Instigational® Attitude and go find new ways, better ways to serve your organization and your customers. Make your measurement off the charts.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE
Subscribe to Kevin's Attitude with ATTITUDE Blog by Email
Follow Kevin on Twitter @attitudeburns
The Official Kevin Burns YouTube Channel
Measurement forces people to only do what they are being measured on. After all, if you're not being measured to be innovative (and that can not be measured because in order for measurement to occur there needs to be a benchmark) then employee's attitudes are, "don't waste your time with stuff you won't get points for."
Organizations have for years done exactly the opposite of what science knows. Dan Pink points out that research clearly shows that rewards and incentives do not work and, in fact, retard performance. The bigger the incentive, the worse the performance. Yet, business still insists on hanging onto the attitude that offering rewards and incentives works regardless of what the science says. In the same way, an argument could be made that measurement stifles creativity and forces people to do only what is in their box. In the same way, the argument could be made that those who are at the top of a heavily-measured organization scored the best scores inside the box.
How in the world can you encourage creativity by being overly-measured? Measurement requires a benchmark before it can be considered a measure. If there is no benchmark (because you've never done it before) then any time, creativity or activity spent outside of the scope of measurement would seem like a complete waste of time. If people appear to be wasting time, they will not score well on metrics. Conceptualizing ideas, daydreaming, thinking, studying and watching can not be measured as productive. But that's where innovation comes from. Innovation comes from an Instigational® Attitude.
It is those of Instigational® Attitude who are the innovators, pushers of boundaries and agents of change within an organization. They don't stand on tradition and actually abhor it. They go in search of new ways to operate more efficiently. But innovation is where an organization gets to jump out in front of the mediocre pack and do something different, daring and divine. Measurement retards that same innovation.
If you're working on things outside of the measurement scope then you appear to be wasting time. People don't want to be seen as time-wasters working on stuff that isn't being measured. Therefore, the very act of measurement retards organizational growth and innovation.
Organizations are painting themselves into their own corners by hanging onto the attitude that measurement is necessary. It's how the consultants have had too much influence over organizations and their employees. It seems fairly simple to me: measurement or innovation but you can't have both. Develop your Instigational® Attitude and go find new ways, better ways to serve your organization and your customers. Make your measurement off the charts.
--
Attitude w/ ATTITUDE
Subscribe to Kevin's Attitude with ATTITUDE Blog by Email
Follow Kevin on Twitter @attitudeburns
The Official Kevin Burns YouTube Channel
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Love The Work – Hate The Job
How is it that people can love their work but hate their job? I’m going to hazard a guess that it’s not the job that they hate. It’s likely the work environment. In other words, they love their work and responsibilities but hate the commute, despise their little cubicles, simply tolerate their fellow employees, agonize through the dress-code, get annoyed by meaningless interruptions during the day, hate getting sidetracked by office chatter and overall, simply wonder in deep silence “what is his problem?” when it comes to hearing the office whiner in the next cubicle doing the exact same work.
People who love their work but hate the work environment will usually be the first to seek another job. The average cost of replacing a good worker is about 1.5 times the annual salary of the worker. Simply put, if you’re paying a good worker $50K per year, it will cost the organization about $75K to replace a worker once he or she leaves.
It’s likely that only four hours out of an eight hour work day are productive anyway (perhaps even lower depending on the number of memos flying or how crappy the photocopier is). Idle chatter, noise all around, pointless meetings, quick conversations standing in the doorways of a cubicle, gathering in the coffee room to celebrate Mary’s birthday, figuring out a place for everyone to go for lunch, fifteen minute coffee breaks that last 20-25 minutes. You get the point here. There’s a lot of clutter to struggle through before people actually get to work. And the more people you gather in one place the more distractions there will be.
As an employer, the question you have to ask yourself is: are you paying your workers for their productivity or their presence? Sometimes though, they are one in the same. For example, a house framer has to be on the job in order for the work to get done, but someone who is researching marketing trends doesn’t actually need to be in the office for that to happen. If a worker has a high-speed Internet connection, a computer, email and a phone, they can pretty much work from anywhere.
The key to productivity is to remove distractions. If a worker can work from home (spouse and kids are gone for the day), why not see what kind of productivity you can get from your workers? Offer them an opportunity to occasionally work from home while they are plugged into the office network. Remove the distractions, remove the agonizing commutes of lost productivity time, remove the reasons and excuses for not being able to concentrate on a specific task and, most of all, remove the office whiner (please, please remove the office whiner before someone staples a “Stop Whining” sign to his forehead).
People who are allowed to remove the distractions from their work are more productive. Productive workers find greater reward in their work. People who find great reward in their work rarely seek greener pastures. In other words, get rid of the distractions and productivity will rise. It has to. There’s nothing else left for people to do but work.
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Leadership Attitude means having a mindset that inspires your people to want to be better. Treat your people like the potential leaders that they can be and they will rise to the occasion. Treat them as rats in a maze (think of what cubicles look like from overhead), and they will simply be looking for a way out. Think about creative ways to get more out of your people while allowing them a little freedom to do it themselves. Force them punch a clock and they’ll be thinking up creative ways of punching you. Let people do the work they love but don’t force them to do it in a place they hate. Creativity is a key component of a Leadership Attitude.
People who love their work but hate the work environment will usually be the first to seek another job. The average cost of replacing a good worker is about 1.5 times the annual salary of the worker. Simply put, if you’re paying a good worker $50K per year, it will cost the organization about $75K to replace a worker once he or she leaves.
It’s likely that only four hours out of an eight hour work day are productive anyway (perhaps even lower depending on the number of memos flying or how crappy the photocopier is). Idle chatter, noise all around, pointless meetings, quick conversations standing in the doorways of a cubicle, gathering in the coffee room to celebrate Mary’s birthday, figuring out a place for everyone to go for lunch, fifteen minute coffee breaks that last 20-25 minutes. You get the point here. There’s a lot of clutter to struggle through before people actually get to work. And the more people you gather in one place the more distractions there will be.
As an employer, the question you have to ask yourself is: are you paying your workers for their productivity or their presence? Sometimes though, they are one in the same. For example, a house framer has to be on the job in order for the work to get done, but someone who is researching marketing trends doesn’t actually need to be in the office for that to happen. If a worker has a high-speed Internet connection, a computer, email and a phone, they can pretty much work from anywhere.
The key to productivity is to remove distractions. If a worker can work from home (spouse and kids are gone for the day), why not see what kind of productivity you can get from your workers? Offer them an opportunity to occasionally work from home while they are plugged into the office network. Remove the distractions, remove the agonizing commutes of lost productivity time, remove the reasons and excuses for not being able to concentrate on a specific task and, most of all, remove the office whiner (please, please remove the office whiner before someone staples a “Stop Whining” sign to his forehead).
People who are allowed to remove the distractions from their work are more productive. Productive workers find greater reward in their work. People who find great reward in their work rarely seek greener pastures. In other words, get rid of the distractions and productivity will rise. It has to. There’s nothing else left for people to do but work.
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Leadership Attitude means having a mindset that inspires your people to want to be better. Treat your people like the potential leaders that they can be and they will rise to the occasion. Treat them as rats in a maze (think of what cubicles look like from overhead), and they will simply be looking for a way out. Think about creative ways to get more out of your people while allowing them a little freedom to do it themselves. Force them punch a clock and they’ll be thinking up creative ways of punching you. Let people do the work they love but don’t force them to do it in a place they hate. Creativity is a key component of a Leadership Attitude.
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