Issue 97 ~ September 27, 2010
In this Issue:
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There’s a common misconception that the joyful, engaged workplace has to include a lot of waved pompoms, ringing bells, and people popping up like toast over their cubicle walls with a spontaneous WOOHOO!
While I’m all in favor of getting wild and crazy in the interest of workplace engagement, all this woohooing is only an outward expression of an inner joy. And while many workplaces can and should allow their joy to spill over into public view, some others—a hospital ICU, for example, or a funeral home—might call for a little discretion.
But not TOO much discretion. These workplaces are just as prone to dysfunctional, crazymaking behaviors as any other. And they can be even MORE prone to the negative, depressed emotions that can drag a workplace environment into the pits.
So let’s say I’m the owner of a funeral home. A few of my staffers spend half their time working and the other half making everyone else miserable—gossiping, whining, backstabbing, the works. I can’t exactly encourage my staff to put clown noses on the departed, or to woohoo and greet grieving family members with a hearty, “Hey, how’s it going, dude?” They wouldn’t be there if things were going well.
Workplace engagement is founded on mutual respect and on being of profound service to others. Both of these are as compatible with my hypothetical funeral home as they are with any other workplace.
That doesn’t mean people in these “discreet” lines of work can’t go a little crazy in celebration. You can and you should. A party in a funeral home could have a casket full of ice for the drinks and ladyfinger cookies covered with frosting and standing on end to look like tombstones. Why not? Okay, that is a little too weird.
But engagement doesn’t start with wild parties. It starts with employees who care for each other and treat each other with basic kindness. This it both a matter of what we do (“I remember your daughter wasn’t feeling well—is she better now?”) and what we don’t do (no gossiping behind someone’s back—giving OR receiving).
But it’s also a matter of reframing EVERY aspect of your daily work in terms of being of profound service to others. That, not employee cheer pyramids or conga lines through the lobby, are what transforms a workplace into a place of genuine engagement and joy.
© Milous Chab | Dreamstime.com
Change CAN happen if only some of your staff are on board. Engines can also run on three cylinders. But the result is nothing to crow about.
In order for an organization to have a huge and profound transformation, EVERY manager must vote in with their full heart—must pick up that hammer and ring the bell, every time.
There are reasons people head into a new initiative halfheartedly. So you have to ask for extreme honesty—ask each member of your team to go far beyond lip service as they answer this question: On a scale of 1 to 10, how committed are you to a breakthrough?
Most people will give an answer somewhere between 7 (“pretty committed”) and 10 (“committed out of my friggin’ mind”). A seven from any member of your team might just as well be a three for all the good it will do you. Anything less than 10 gives that person a place to hide, an escape clause, a reason to fail. “I wasn’t that committed anyway,” goes the tune.
And it just won’t do.
If anyone gives an answer other than 10, congratulate their honesty, then find out why. Some people will say, “I don’t have enough time,” or “Well, I don’t know. Explain breakthrough,” or “I’m a practical person. I can’t commit until I know EXACTLY what I’m committing to.” For each answer below a 10, you need to help them understand why their answer will end up hurting the rest of the management team because they must be a unified voice for a major breakthrough to happen.
Make it clear that the breakthrough you seek is not an extra credit assignment, above and beyond the job. It IS the job. “I don’t have time for the breakthrough” means “I don’t have time for my job.”
Watch out as well for those who say “10” but mean something else. I remember seeing this played out hilariously once in a leadership meeting. The CEO had zeroed in on one poor schlub named Roger. When asked what he would be on the scale, Roger had mumbled, “Well, I suppose I’d have to be a 10.”
The entire boardroom burst out laughing. It was the least 10-ish tone of voice anyone had ever heard.
“That doesn’t sound like a 10 to me,” said the boss. “Let’s try that again.”
“Okay,” said Roger. “I guess the only right answer is 10.”
Again the room went to pieces with laughter. Even Roger smiled. He explained that he wasn’t really sure what the transformation was all about.
After every other member of the team had chimed in with enthusiastic explanations of what the transformation was about and how much they believed in Roger’s ability to rise to the challenge, he was asked again. And this time, he answered with conviction: “I’m a ten!”
Once everyone is fully on board at the highest level, willing to go the distance AND to hold each other accountable, there will be nothing in Heaven or Earth to stop you from achieving the profound and lasting transformation you need and deserve.
* Transcription
Thank God it’s Monday!™ I.Q. has a correlation to success in the workplace, but E.Q., short for emotional intelligence, trumps it every time.
Emotional intelligence is the come from. Are you skewed in how you see people whereby you either assume the best in people who don’t intend to give you’re their best, or do you usually assume the worst, which is far below what the person would really deliver? When things go wrong, is there carnage everywhere around you? Or are you unwilling to say something because your need to be liked trumps your sanity and dignity?
And how’s your thinking? Do you get caught up in your underwear and over think everything, or are you constantly pulling the trigger without understanding the distinctions you should.
How about your self-view? If your self-view is low, you are crushed by feedback and therefore can’t learn from it because people will tip toe around you. If it is too high, you’ll hear the feedback and proceed on because you’ll assume the person giving it is just plain wrong…thank you very much. Incidentally, the emperor’s buttocks were in clear view.
These are just a few areas of emotional intelligence, but you can see how valuable this is to understand about yourself. If you understand, you can put guard rails around you to protect yourself from your most likely moves that could get you in trouble.
Decide to open the hood on your operating system, your emotional intelligence, and watch your life get saner and your results come through.
Have a great Monday!
Roxanne
Roxanne Emmerich’s Thank God It’s Monday! How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love climbed to #1 on Amazon’s bestseller list and made the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists—all in the first week of its release. Roxanne is renowned for her ability to transform “ho-hum” workplaces into dynamic, results-oriented, “bring-it-on” cultures. If you are not currently receiving the Thank God It’s Monday e-zine and weekly audios, subscribe today at www.ThankGoditsMonday.com.
Love this audio message? You may also download the MP3 version and PDF transcript below:
Download Instructions: Right-click the download button(s) and
choose ‘save link as…’ to save the file to your computer.
* Transcription
Thank God it’s Monday!™ Your discovery is right… your boss is NOT perfect. Not by any stretch of the imagination. So, that leaves you with two choices. You can spend your days complaining to others about the imperfections of your boss, but you must then expect the outcome: you’ll never be promoted to a management position because of your cruel way of handling your boss, or worse, you’ll be made a boss and you’ll have six people knocking you down all day every day. You’ve heard of Karma haven’t you?
Well, if you can’t complain, what do you do? You coach up. That’s right. You ask your boss for what you need. You follow a simple 4-step process that goes like this.
When you allow Tommy to keep coming in late, what happens next to the others in your department?
They start coming in late and pretty soon customers have to wait for service. My request is that when people don’t come in on time, you disallow this act immediately. Do I have your commitment?
What did you just do? You just asked your boss and said, when you create this observable behavior the outcome is this. My simple request is this. And do I have your commitment?
Now… doesn’t that feel better to know you can manage your boss? The good news is it will feel better for your boss as well. Rock on!
And yes, you get to choose the language every day.
Have a great Monday!
Roxanne
Roxanne Emmerich’s Thank God It’s Monday! How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love climbed to #1 on Amazon’s bestseller list and made the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists—all in the first week of its release. Roxanne is renowned for her ability to transform “ho-hum” workplaces into dynamic, results-oriented, “bring-it-on” cultures. If you are not currently receiving the Thank God It’s Monday e-zine and weekly audios, subscribe today at www.ThankGoditsMonday.com.
Love this audio message? You may also download the MP3 version and PDF transcript below:
Download Instructions: Right-click the download button(s) and
choose ‘save link as…’ to save the file to your computer.