Posts Tagged ‘Company Culture Change’

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Love on Wheels

Monday, March 29th, 2010

* Transcription

Thank God it’s Monday!™ Are YOU love on wheels? Now, I KNOW you’re a little concerned, when you heard the title, about where this title is going. So, let’s just get started.

We’ve all met that person who is simply, “love on wheels.” He constantly shows he cares. She always goes above and beyond. He sees the possibilities in you. She sees you blew it and affirms
you with a, “I know you’ll get this. Don’t you give up.”

Love is a word that isn’t used much in business and I suspect business would go better if it was. When we choose to always do the loving thing, spread the joy, build up our team members, provide tough love at the appropriate times, we know that not only will our business go well, but life will go well too.

Know that every one of us is called to a higher place of going beyond transactions, to being transformative for our team members and our families.

Set the intention to think of yourself as “love on wheels”—going gracefully through life spreading
your pixie dust on those around you and making the world a better place.

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.

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The prima donna—and the REAL star

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
Amorimphoto | Dreamstime.com

Amorimphoto | Dreamstime.com

A friend of a friend of mine played varsity basketball in college.  Brian was never a star, but always a good solid team player with good stats.  Most of all, he could be relied upon, on or off the court.

He didn’t get much attention from the press or the fans because he was overshadowed by a hot shot I’ll call Troy.  Troy was the guy who’d make the three-point shot at the buzzer or do the bob-and-weave, dance-and-fake moves that dazzled the other team and put points on the scoreboard.

But as I watched them play, I began to notice a pattern.  If Brian got the ball, he would immediately look around to see who was in the best position to make the shot.  More often than not, he’d pass.  Once Troy had the ball, though, you knew he’d be taking the shot himself.  He saw even his own team members as obstacles to be gotten around on the way to His Big Moment.

When they both reached their senior year, it was time for the team to vote for Senior MVP.  Brian was sure Troy was a lock.  Troy was sure too.  And they were both wrong.  It was Brian.

The Most Valuable Player isn’t the one who puts the most points on the board.  It’s the one who did the most to advance the team’s goals as a whole.

The same is true in business.  Sometimes the last person to get on board in a culture transformation is the big shot, the star—the one who “knows” he or she is indispensible and is far too busy grooming in the mirror for the next close-up to give a thought to what’s good for the team.

Maybe he has twice the sales numbers of the second place salesperson.  Maybe she’s a genius at schmoozing clients.  But if they can’t get on board a positive culture transformation, I have news for you—he or she ain’t your Most Valuable Player.

Culture is everything.  Sales numbers don’t drive culture—culture drives sales.  Allow a prima donna to smirk on the sidelines while everyone else is hard at work building something new and the tail is wagging the dog. 

As your new culture takes root, your “star” will fast be eclipsed by the skyrocketing productivity of those who had been in his shadow—and you’ll have everything to gain and very little to lose by telling your star player, in no uncertain terms, to get on the team bus or hit the showers.

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Posted in Culture Transformation, Employee Engagement, Motivating Employees, Personal Transformation | No Comments »

The Terrible Trio—Vampires, Victims, and Whiners (oh my!)

Friday, February 26th, 2010
© Lisavan | Dreamstime.com

© Lisavan | Dreamstime.com

Part 2:  The Victim

The second in our three-part series on energy drains in the workplace is the perpetual victim—the person who is always yammering on about the crud hand the world has dealt them.

Their past jobs lost, their failed marriages, their C in Chemistry and their FICO score that looks like a batting average are all on the topic list, and most importantly, all the fault of someone else.

Onlookers have no difficulty in figuring out who really ruined the victim’s life. She did. She did it by not moving on and by choosing to stay miserable.

Victims remain victims because they receive feedback that supports their victimhood.  This support comes from others who are often well-meaning and unconscious of the negative impact.

When perpetual victims complain about how awful their lives are, their supporters support them by buying into it. “Yep,” they’ll say, “Ain’t it just awful.” That’s all the positive reinforcement the victim needs, as off they go seeking the next hit of YPT (You Poor Thing—their drug of choice).

A person who supports a victim in that way is not really a friend but an enabler. Sane and loving people will distance themselves from victims precisely to help them stop being victims.

So what do you do when a victim comes to you and complains yet again about something someone else or some other department did? It’s easy. Place accountability for change back on that person. “Sounds like an opportunity, really. What are YOU going to do to make sure that doesn’t happen again or to make peace with it so you can move on?”

Victims hate that—but it’s the intervention they need. They either have to stop being a victim and draining your energy, or find someone else who is a willing enabler to victimhood. Either way, you win!

Another strategy is to appeal to their inner ego, no matter how deeply buried, to contradict the self-image as a victim. “You’re pretty powerful,” you say, “so I know you don’t view yourself as a victim. I can’t wait to hear what you’re doing to make the situation better!”

The person must either admit to helplessness and weakness or seize on your appraisal of strength.  Ninety-nine out of a hundred will go for the strength.

If you’ve done everything you can to reprogram, empower, and redirect a perpetual victim, the next step is simple avoidance. Steer clear of the person so that you can preserve your own energy.  If they seek you out and begin their monologue, simply raise one hand, silently, and continue on your way.

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The Terrible Trio—Vampires, Victims, and Whiners (oh my!)

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
© Khz | Dreamstime.com

© Khz | Dreamstime.com

Part 1:  The Energy Vampire™

“They are Vampires, and their modus operandi is not to steal your blood but rather, your precious energy. Your life-force. Your mojo.  To drain you emotionally and psychologically. To frustrate you with their repetitious, self-indulgent, attention-seeking diatribe.”—Craig Harper

She doesn’t wear all black.  You can see her reflection in mirrors. She likes garlic just fine.  Yet her coworkers know she is a vampire as soon as they open their mouths.  But it’s not blood she’s sucking—it’s positive energy.

“I’m up for a promotion,” you say. “Isn’t that great?”

“Hey, a higher cell in the prison. Congrats on that,” she replies with a smirk.

“Sales are going to be up, up, up this year,” you say.

“That’s only because they were in the toilet last year.”

“My glass is half full.”

“You call that a glass?”

You get the idea.  And you know this person, I’ll bet.  These vampires are as common in the workplace as their bloodsucking cousins are in Anne Rice novels.  Within seconds, they can take your great day and make it miserable.

The vampire’s arsenal is limitless, from rolling eyes and crossed arms to smirks, whining, name-calling…you name it. Whatever the form, know that you have the right to protect yourself and to call the vampire out.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we have to admit that we’ve ALL have had our moments like this—times when we can’t think of anything good to say and seem to want to guarantee the same fate for everyone around us.  But that doesn’t make it okay.

Next time you find yourself on the sharp end of the Energy Vampire’s smile, your job is to suck away their NEGATIVE energy just as hard.  They thrive on commiseration, so deny it!  Answer each pronouncement of darkness with something like, “Oh I don’t know about that—I like working here!”  Then watch how fast they shrivel up and blow away.

Now if the person is part of your responsibility, you’ll need to get serious about this.  It’s up to you to either convert the vampire to a productive human or join the mob with pitchforks and torches and get that person out of the company before their toxic behavior spreads—and you end up with a company full of the walking undead!

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Posted in Culture Transformation, Improving Morale, Motivating Employees, Self-Growth | No Comments »

Top 10 Workplace Dysfunctions—and How to TERMINATE Them

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Creatista | Dreamstime.com

Creatista | Dreamstime.com

The dysfunctional workplace is a killer.  Untreated, the dysfunction will kill off your customer base, your profits, and your joy for living as surely as anything.

So you’ve got to kill it first.  Here are the Top Ten dysfunctions—and the cure for each:

No. 1:  People being at odds with each other with no desire to fix it.
Have the most direct supervisor meet with those involved to learn what it will take to resolve it and to secure a firm commitment to do so.  Spell out immediate consequences in the event of failure.

No. 2:  Saying one thing and meaning another.
If you have an employee with a pattern of saying, “But what I meant was…”, call them on it.  Requiring the offender to have all communications checked for clarity for a period of time usually nips this in the bud.

No. 3:  Giving lip service to new ideas, then undercutting them in private.
You’ll want to enlist everyone’s help in keeping this one out.  Make it clear that dissenting opinions are welcomed during decisionmaking, but that once a decision is made, undercutting will not be tolerated.

No. 4:  Defensiveness at reasonable suggestions.
Let your people know that you consider a willingness to improve to be one of the hallmarks of a person with a bright future in the company.  Defensiveness should be viewed as what it is—an unwillingness to improve one’s self.

No. 5:  Attraction to chaos.
Pot stirring is a violation of principles both written and unwritten and a threat to productivity.  Counterbalance the pleasure they get from drama with a greater measure of negative consequences.

No. 6:  Not following through on commitments.
Let people know that they are expected to acknowledge errors and make a commitment to clean up every last bit of the resulting mess.

No. 7:  Deflecting blame.
Deflecting blame equals deflecting responsibility.  Make it clear that the only acceptable behavior is acceptance of responsibility and (as above) quick work to clean up the mess.

No. 8:  People pretending like they “never got the memo.”
If there was no breakdown in the actual system, make it clear that the employee is responsible for consistently accessing internal communications—memos, email, and so on—so that he is never again “out of the loop.”

No. 9:  Refusing to deal with conflict directly.
Conflict resolution is an essential part of a manager’s job.  Performance reviews can and should count disruptive interpersonal conflicts against managers on whose watch they occur.

No. 10.  Gossiping and backstabbing.
Once you establish a zero-tolerance policy for talking behind another person’s back, give your people permission to address conflict head-on, out loud, courageously and honestly. And make it clear that giving or receiving gossip is not acceptable.

You may have noticed a refrain coming back again and again in this advice:  Make it clear.  Once you’ve made the determination to purge your workplace of dysfunctional behavior, your greatest ally and most powerful tool will be clarity.

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