I learned a lot from the worse boss I ever had.

Like a lot of idealistic twenty-somethings in the early 70′s, when I got out of college I was determined to “save the World.” But, after spending several years working for non-profits, I concluded that the World was too screwed up for me to save. By then I was married, had a child and mortgage. I  reluctantly accepted my first job as a Capitalist, working for a corporation.

After a few weeks in my new job, I could see that several internal processes were needed to be fixed.  I was positive that my new boss Artie, would be so enthralled with my Great Idea that he’d praise me for being a genius and offer me a corner office.

Eager to share my brilliant solution, I burst into his office and exclaimed, “Artie, I’ve got a GREAT idea!.” Without missing a beat he grinned and replied, “Shake your head. Maybe it will go away.” Naturally, I was crushed and bit shocked at his reaction. I was even more surprised when the man reached into his bottom desk drawer and pulled out a cold beer. It was 9:30 in the morning.

Artie was one of the worst bosses I ever had. But he did teach me a valuable lesson: The trick to getting a Great Idea accepted and acted upon by management is to sell it.

7 Rules for Successfully Selling Your Great Idea.

1. Know how your boss makes decisions and gear your approach accordingly.
2. Point out the gravity of the problem and what it’s costing the company.
3. Illustrate, in vivid detail, how your Great Idea will solve the problem.
4. Create a sense of urgency for making a decision.
5. Explain the WIFmes for him and for the company.  (WIFme (“What’s in it for me”) is based on the fact that people rarely do things for altruistic reasons. Most of us agree to change only after we see how we will personally benefit.)
6. Make sure you have answers to questions your boss is likely to ask. Particularly the cost and potential ROI.
7. Don’t leave the meeting with out a “yes,” “no” or “maybe.”

Even if you don’t succeed this time, don’t be discouraged. Remember the words of hockey great, Wayne Gretzky, “You’ll miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Big or small — do something this week that will make things better.

Have a terrific week!

Barbara Burke
2010 © Barbara Burke. All rights reserved.

At Lands’ End it’s the people that make the difference.

Imagine what it would be like to work for legendary Lands’ End.  Every year the company gears up for the peak season by hiring thousands of new employees (2400 this year) over a 10-week period and gets them trained and ready to process the tsunami of customer orders for the Holiday season. Imagine what it would be like to be one of the many employees who are cross-trained so they can start the day packing boxes and by mid-day be on the phone taking customer orders. Imagine what it would be like to work for a company that thinks nothing of sending an employee hundreds of miles to deliver a red jacket to a woman so she could have it for an important Holiday event.

Last Thursday I had the honor of presenting a keynote seminar for 160 of Lands’ End’s managers, supervisors and team leaders to kick off this year’s peak season. Over the next two months these leaders will be under immense pressure to deliver flawless service in a fast-paced environment where each day delivers a different set of challenges. The demands of the peak season means every single employee needs to be fully engaged and committed.

The key idea of my presentation, Making a Difference Starts with You, is for leaders to recognize the awesome power that comes from a simple act of  acknowledging the efforts of an employee. During our 90 minutes together the group laughed, learned some easy mindfulness techniques and even shed a few tears as they gathered around “campfires” and shared their personal stories. The group left the session knowing that the simple act of letting another person know that who they are and what they do makes a difference to you can change their perspective — and in some cases the direction of their life.

This week find out for yourself what happens when you tell the special people in your life that who they are makes a difference.

Have a terrific week.

Barbara Burke

PS. I’d like to do a little acknowledging of my own. That is to thank Sandy Johns, Lands End’s Manager of Learning and Development, for all you and your team did to make last week’s event such a memorable experience.

2010 © Barbara Burke. All rights reserved.

This Monday’s Aha! is from my customer service fable about a service rep in a call center, The Napkin,The Melon & The Monkey.
> Quantity Discounts Buy direct from the Publisher (at 50% off the cover price)
> Listen to Chapter One.

What makes us want to get out of bed in the morning has changed.

According to author Daniel Pink, we are moving out of the era of extrinsic rewards to internal satisfaction. In his new book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Pink uses the latest research in psychology to show that reward-based motivation can actually backfire. The big prize that you thought was getting people to get the job done can actually be getting in the way of real satisfaction.

Pink presents conclusive evidence of what we already know deep down –  that what makes us want to get out of bed every morning has nothing to do with “increasing shareholder value.” It is knowing that the people who matter to us value our contribution. It is the satisfaction that comes from getting something done that required us to stretch ourselves to our limits.

The carrot-and-stick pattern of motivation, what Pink calls motivation 2.0, is giving way to the recognition that people have a stronger drive for purpose and meaning than they do for rewards, what Pink calls motivation 3.0. Bonuses and other rewards work well for short-term gains but can become an obstruction to long-term satisfaction. If your team does something for the money or the prize, you forfeit the real reason people want to work at something – as a display of autonomy, mastery and purpose.

Now that you have this information, I challenge you to re-think your approach to rewards and recognition. If your goal is to have a highly engaged work force, make it a practice to involve your people in decisions, do everything you can to help them master their craft, and never forget to let each and every employee know that their hard work really does make a difference to you, your company and your customers.

Have a terrific week.

Barbara Burke
2010 © Barbara Burke. All rights reserved.

Resource: Check out the excellent video of Daniel Pink’s TED presentation. (about 19 minutes, but well worth it.)