Anyone who has heard me present in the last 18 months has heard me reference this wonderful little book.   And while it may just be a clever re-presentation of Gallups infamous Q12 Engagement Questions…it’s perhaps the most elegant and concise restate I have come across.  Here is a quick look at the 3 signs ..for the full post by Lisa Cullen click here.

The first is anonymity, which is the feeling that employees get when they realize that their manager has little interest in them a human being and that they know little about their lives, their aspirations and their interests.

The second sign is irrelevance, which takes root when employees cannot see how their job makes a difference in the lives of others. Every employee needs to know that the work they do impacts someone’s life - a customer, a co-worker, even a supervisor - in one way or another.

The third sign has been called immeasurement,. It’s the inability of employees to assess for themselves their contribution or success. Employees who have no means of measuring how well they are doing on a given day or in a given week, must rely on the subjective opinions of others, usually their managers, to gauge their progress or contribution. 

How will you make someone’s life “less miserable” today by getting to know them, helping them see more clearly how they matter, and the measurable impact of their contribution?

Kirk Out

“Where’s Dave today?”
He Quit.
“What?  Why?”
He said he felt too appreciated.
“He felt too appreciated?”
Yes sir, he said we thanked him too much…so he quit.

  When asked in exit interviews why they left their jobs, workers often say they didn’t feel appreciated. The same response shows up in surveys of workplace morale: Lack of recognition is a top-cited problem.  It’s a pity. Feedback problems are easy to fix. Feedback doesn’t cost anything, doesn’t require any hired experts or added personnel, and doesn’t even take much time if done routinely.  ~ Knight Rider Newspapers

To who will you express genuine appreciation today?

For more on appreciation…. I did a post on my kids “1 Thing I love” blog… Click Here to see it.

Kirk out

 If you will join me in the culture kitchen today we’ll explore Why Many Managers Fail to Cook Up Great Corporate Culture

  Rebecca made some chocolate chip cookies one Sunday while I was across town.  We were talking on the phone as she was doing it and I asked her to save me some cookie dough because I wouldn’t be home in time to grab some before she cooked it all.

Like so many people I love raw cookie dough, especially chocolate chip cookie dough.   When I got home we had some guests over and I ended up eating the cooked cookies instead of the dough.  The next morning(Monday) as I was leaving for a flight I slipped the zip lock bag of chocolate chip cookie dough into my computer bag thinking this will be perfect for the flight to Oklahoma.

Cookie Dough or Peanuts? 

As we reached altitude… and the flight attendant began handing out peanuts.. I reached into the zip lock and pulled out my cookie dough.  I was feeling sorry for my fellow fliers because I was about to indulge in one of my all time favorite treats and they were going to have …peanuts of Biscoff cookies!

So I tore off a chunk and popped it in my mouth.  And … well it was good, but it was not nearly as good as I had imagined it was going to be.  I thought what’s wrong here?  Come on, everyone else has a bag of peanuts and I have COOKIE DOOUGH!!  Why isn’t this as great as it usually is and I imagined it would be?  

Something was Missing

It tasted the same…and Rebecca hadn’t left out any of the listed ingredients.  But as I thought about it… I realized that at least two key “unlisted” ingredients were missing… family and tradition.  Part of the cookie dough experience at our house involves creative strategies to get Rebecca away from the cookie dough so we can snitch some.  And the other part is Rebecca, who always goes along with our lame ploys as she pretends she won’t let me and the kids have any, or at least not very much, so we have to pretend we’re sneaking it and she pretends not to notice.  Until she feels we have had enough then we are all banished from the kitchen until the remaining dough is baked.

Cookie Dough is Like Pizza?

Cookie dough it turns out is a lot like pizza.  I love pizza but have seldom ordered pizza when I was alone.  Pizza is something you do with friends.  Friends, gathered around a couple open pizza boxes seem to make bad pizza good, and good pizza great.  Friends and gathering are the unlisted ingredients to experiencing great pizza.

Cookie dough is good… Snitching a bit of cookie dough with the kids while Rebecca is pretending not to notice or that she is upset that she caught us is an ingredient that makes cookie dough something that can only be experienced when the right people are present.   

Gatherings & Traditions

Managers often fail or fall short in their efforts to create a more positive workplace culture not because they don’t follow the recipe, but because they think management theories and recipes are all that is needed.  So they don’t allow for or foster the traditions and gatherings where the unlisted and unpurchasable ingredients can add so much to flavor the work experience, and positive culture.

Workplace Culture without Gatherings and Traditions that allow for Connection and Community is like Cookies without Milk, Cookie Dough without snitching, and Pizza without friends…it just won’t be what it might it have been.  Something will be missing.

How will you go about creating and cookie a more powerful and positive corporate culture today?

Kirk out

Two for One Cookies

PS  For anyone who goes to http://www.morebetterbooks.com/ between now and the end of April and orders copies of my book “The Cookie Thief” I will see that your order is doubled(softcover only).  For more about the classic “Cookie Thief Story” and how you might use it with your work teams visit The Cookie Thief Book home page …and become a fan of The Cookie Thief on Facebook by clicking here or typing in The Cookie Thief while you are logged in.

Thank you …

   Instead of watching action movies with my teenagers we have been watching a few of the more “thoughtful” films like, Much Ado about Nothing, As Good as It Gets and others.  After watching “The Bucket List” by daughter Brittany (age 15.5) and son Jake(14) both agreed it was “Way better than Avatar”.  Britt went on to say it was “The best film ever”. 

One of the most memorable bits from the film for me was the conversation they had on the top of the pyramid.  Here is a nugget from it.

“You know, the ancient Egyptians had a beautiful belief about death.  When their souls got to the entrance to heaven, the guards asked two questions.  Their answers determined whether they were able to enter or not.  ‘Have you found joy in your life?’  ‘Has your life brought joy to others?’”

There were lots of great one liners and bits of wisdom in the film (Click here or here if you want to see more)

Do you have a bucket list?  or How Full is Your Bucket List?

Kirk

 I have another word for the survey…. ”unfortunate”  a word that seems to pop up quite a bit when I am actualy recieving or about to recieve an ”unfortunate” experience as a customer.   We’ve all heard it… it’s become the word that most often preceeds the even worse news and servcie we are about to recieve.  It’s the words that signals that you are certainly not going to get what you want….or feel is fair and right.  I’ve never heard the word in Nordstroms or on the phone at Zappos or at any of the retail shops that I frequent.  Hmmn, I wonder if there is a connection?!

So you can’t give them what they want.  Before you start flinging around the word “unfortunately” and using it as a defensive shield…perhaps we can consider another alternative.  What do they need, or what could they use…and give them some of that.  Some items on that list might include…. respect, love, listening, a cup of Joe, a smile… heck, maybe even a hug or how about a call back to give them an update and let them know they are not forgotten. 

There is much that can be done before it all comes undone.  If you can’t do what they want…. still do what you can….in the best way you can.  It may not bring them total satisfaction or even happiness….but it’s the best way I know to achieve a personal measure of peace.  An act of kindness can go a long way… and certainly a lot farther than the word “unfortunately” will.

“Just because you can’t give a customer something they want, it doesn’t mean that you can’t give them something they need.”  ~ Kirk Weisler

  When I was as young Army Ranger we would often place 50lb weights in our rucksacks  and do training marches for strengthening and conditioning.   We all know that you don’t build strength, endurance or good charachter by carrying a grudge around.  Carrying those kinds of things around in our emotional backpacks actually has the opposite effect.   And that brings us to this wonderful e-mail from friend Aimee who implies that I sound like Oprah? 

Kirk,  I heard something on “Oprah” as I was scanning channels the other day and it really hit home for me.  It sounded like just the type of wisdom I have come to expect from you, so I thought I would share. 

“Failing to forgive someone is like drinking poison every day and expecting the other person to die.”

We harbor animosity that eats away at our well-being in the futile hope that it is somehow harming those we feel have harmed us.  Forgiveness is such a simple treatment for a diseased soul.   STOP DRINKING THE POISON!

Aimee Yarwood   ~ TrustSolutions, LLC

I don’t mind sounding like Oprah, if that’ a good thing.  And Aimee, I don’t forgive you for saying it.  :)  Because there is nothing to forgive.

Kirk out

First off… let me say thank you to the nearly 1000 of you who took the time to visit my children’s “1 Thing i Love” blog.  I know you are busy people - and wish I could describe their reaction to the wonderful comments you left for them.  Needless to say…I think the writing will increase … THANK YOU!   http://1thingilove.wordpress.com/

Today’s T4D comes from an e-mail I recieved 6 years ago called “early to rise”… I can’t tell you much more than that…so enjoy and say Yes…even when you know the answer is NO.  (and have a great weekend).

SAYING “YES” WHEN YOU KNOW THE ANSWER IS “NO”

Refusing to agree to do that which you won’t have time to do well is often a good move. For ambitious, hardworking people (like you and me), it’s a valuable skill. But there are times when you should say “yes” — even though you know you can’t and won’t do what’s asked of you.

Let’s say, for example, that there’s an irate member of your tour group who insists that you speak to the general manager to get him a better room. You know the general manager won’t listen to you — you are too small a customer — but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t agree to try. Say something strong and positive but noncommittal, such as “Good idea, Mr. Jones. I will jump on it right away.” Later on, after he’s calmed down, you can find some other reasonable thing you can do for him to make him feel that he has gotten special attention.

If your boss insists you do something you cannot do — find him an $80 room in a good hotel in Rome, for example — resist the temptation to explain the facts of life to him. Say something like “That’s a challenge!” and then get to work, doing the best you can. Let him overhear you shouting at a travel agent “I don’t care what you say. There must be a good $80 hotel in Rome. My boss told me there is!”

When you come back to him with his real choices — three rooms, the cheapest of which is $300 — he’ll know you did everything possible to achieve his impossible objective.

Bonus: Every once in a while, when you say “yes” but mean “no,” you’ll discover that you really can do something you thought was impossible. That’s a lesson you’ll benefit from for the rest of your life.

Kirk says YES

 Some of you know that my children (with some encouragement) created and write on 4 blogs.  Their favorite (and most active) is called “1Thing I Love” … I would appreciate it if a few of you might visit this blog and leave a comment or two in hopes that it will encourage them even more.  The comments / recognition they have recieved in the past seem to have the greatest effect on their future efforts.  http://1thingilove.wordpress.com/

I think we are all like that… a little recognition and appreciation goes a long way towards helping others and ourselves not only feel better, but do better….and not only do better, but be better.

 

We must find time to stop and thank the people who have made a difference in our lives.   ~ Dan Zadr

Thank you - Kirk