March, 2010

Tired of the status quo? Stop whining and get busy!

By Barbara Burke. March 31st, 2010

You don’t have to have a title to be a leader. Informal leaders can be change makers.

You just might go postal if you hear management’s “do more with less” refrain one more time. If you are like millions of others, you yearn for the good old days when there was enough resources to get the job done. You remember when you actually looked forward to coming to work every day. Not any more. Everybody in the office is in survival mode. Now it’s all about keeping your head down, doing what needs to be done, and not rocking the boat. There is no relief in sight. You are frustrated, feeling powerless and fed up with waiting for things to get better. What can you do?
Stop whining and get busy.
5 Ways to Change the Status Quo

1. Praise others for their contributions. Positive recognition is one of the most powerful motivators there is.  When you give your co-workers kudos and encouragement they are more likely to be more generous with each other.
That’s the power of paying it forward.

2. Show up. Instead of sitting on the sidelines, be the first to step up when your boss is looking for help on a project. Adopt “be the change” as your mantra.

3. Keep your promises. When you do what you say you will do, you contribute to an atmosphere of trust. If you are going to rally your co-workers to make changes, they need to believe in you — and each other.

4. Don’t be a downer.
If you’ve let yourself become one of the “downers” in your group, you could be part of the problem. Shift your attitude and you become part of the solution.

5. Befriend fear.
Leaders have the courage to step out of their comfort zone. Remember that fear is nothing more than an expression of your anxious thoughts. Taking action, even if it turns out to be wrong, is better than doing nothing at all.

This week think differently. Be the change you want to see at work — and in the world.

HR Professional Magazine Review

By Barbara Burke. March 29th, 2010

What’s Worth Reading

With its parable format and quirky title, this book might get overlooked by HR professionals, but that would be a shame.
In its 140 pages are some practically applied powerful messages.

Read the article…..

New Breed of Supervisors (4) Communicate using stories

By Barbara Burke. March 22nd, 2010

This is the fifth and final article on the crucial role that supervisors play in driving employee engagement and customer satisfaction.

Four ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS
1. Accountability for employee engagement scores.
2. Time to spend with their reps.
3. Specialized engagement training.
4. Creative communication tools.

“Conventional supervisors rate the person and develop the performance. The New Breed of Supervisors do just the opposite — they rate the performance and develop the person” — Barbara Burke

Sharing stories builds trust. Trust is the cornerstone of employee engagement. Supervisors gradually build trust by taking the time to get to know and connect with each employee. Short, easy-to-read fable books are becoming a popular communication tool.
I learned about the power of a story book ten years ago when I introduced the fable, Who Moved My Cheese? (WMMC) to 80 change-weary reps. Having just survived a difficult CIS conversion, they balked at my idea to make yet another significant change in how they did business. As hard as I tried I couldn’t get them to go along with the idea so I hoped that if they read a short book about dealing with change they might understand that change is just a natural part of life. I bought copies of the book for the reps and the supervisors and asked them to read it before their next team meeting.
Thinking that we’d be lucky if 1/3 of the reps actually read the book, I was surprised when 90% said they had read it. By the end of the our second team meeting — the reps’ attitude about accepting the proposed change had been transformed.
I noticed that the best part about introducing the book was how it became a new communication tool for the six supervisors. For both the supervisors and the reps, reading the book provided a common vocabulary they could use when talking about change. I recall one meeting in which a supervisor stated that she was “100% against” the procedural changes being discussed. She did an about face when a fellow supervisor said, “Well, Lori, it looks like somebody moved your cheese.”
As many of you know, I wrote a story to help reps with another challenge — dealing with irate customers. That story eventually became the book, The Napkin, The Melon & The Monkey. Over the last 7 years I have become intimately acquainted with the many ways a story book can be used by supervisors as a powerful communication tool. It still amazes me how something as simple as reading a story can change attitudes and open up meaningful dialogue between employees and between supervisors and their employees.

Top 7 Reasons leaders use fables and parables to connect with their employees

1) Stories have a unifying effect on groups of employees. The shared experience provided by reading the same story creates an instant connection.
2) Stories validate the employees’ experiences. It is reassuring to know that many of our hopes, dreams, disappointments and experiences are shared by others.
3) Stories make it safe for employees to be candid and open. Realizing others feel the same way makes it easier to talk about our own situation.
4) Stories help employees communicate. When we read the same story we have a shared vocabulary that can be referenced again and again.
5) Stories are easy to read. Unlike other “business” books these simple stories are informative,  entertaining and easy to relate to. (Even “non-readers” say they enjoy them.)
6) Stories and the lessons they offer, apply to all areas of the employees’ lives. We are more motivated to read books that aren’t “just about work.”
7) Stories have been used for thousands of years as a powerful vehicle for sharing knowledge and teaching life lessons.

The most unique feature of fable or parable books
A customer service supervisor from an insurance company contacted me recently to tell me about how he used the book to open up dialogue with his team of 12 reps. I asked him why he thought the book worked when his other attempts at building trust had failed. He summed it up nicely when he said that the story, “Hit them where they lived — in their heart.”

Related resources:
> Vertex case study that describes training supervisors to use the book to improve employee engagement survey scores.
> Top 15 Ways to utilize The Napkin, The Melon & The Monkey in customer service