All The Time In The World To Complain

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

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

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

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

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

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


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Fixing Tomorrow's Problems With Yesterday's Ideas

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

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

So why then, are so many organizations and so-called experts clinging to outdated models of management and organizational development when the workplace is clearly a different place today than it was 30 years ago?

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

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

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


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How To Define Workplace Success

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

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

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

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


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Delicate Little Egos At Work

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Why Working Hard May Not Be Rewarded

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

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

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

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

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

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


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Front-line People Reflect Their Managers

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

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

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


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Playing The Odds With Customer Service

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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Titles Don't Make You A Leader

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

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

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

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

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

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How To Engage Employees

"Go make some cold-calls."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Senior Management Needs A Safety Wake-up

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

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

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

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

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


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Introducing Games At Work

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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3 Questions To Better Workplaces

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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If You Had A Bad Manager...

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

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

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

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

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


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How To Hire More Creative Thinkers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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Leader Or Loser: Quick Quiz

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

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

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

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

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

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


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Seriously, Stop Whining

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

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

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

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

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

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




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Mediocrity Is Where Most People Live

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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How To Find Hidden Clues About People You Work With

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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3 Questions To Better Meetings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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How Low Is Your Bar Set?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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