If Only The Same Rules Applied

Imagine walking into a bar and overhearing a couple of strangers discussing your job performance. Then, your attention is drawn to the TV above the bar where you see a picture of your face with the word, "Under-performing" featured under your portrait.

Dejected, you walk home to find a newspaper laying on your step and the headline reads your name followed by, "Is It Time He Was Fired?"

After a restless night's sleep, morning radio's call-in show is all about you: your lack of production, your below-par performance and your seeming unwillingness to explain why you are overpaid for such sub-standard results.

And to top it all off, just as you find your rhythm in your work day, you are constantly interrupted by small groups of people who stick their heads over your cubicle wall and yell, "YOU SUCK" at the tops of their lungs.

Such is the life of a sports figure. That's an average workday when a public sports figure seems to be under-performing or hitting a dry spell in production.

Maybe the same rules should apply to every person, sports figure or not. Imagine if your performance were under the watchful and judgmental eye of the public.

Maybe the same rules should apply in how we treat sports figures. Perhaps everyone's performance should be open to judgment and public discussion. Maybe then, the half-hearted efforts and "good enough" attitudes would cease to be.
Maybe.
--
Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist
Speaking Web Site http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Creating An Oasis of Greatness In A Wasteland of Mediocrity
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Managers Are Boring Their Staff

Managers are encouraging the relentless pursuit of mediocrity through repetition, routine and regurgitation that disengages people to treat the work as just a job. Managers who are too focused on following the rules and not enough on encouraging new ideas for new times serving new customers with new products are making it impossible to become organizations of greatness by forcing workers to stick to routines instead of rewarding innovation.

Everything about your business has changed except how you let your people do the work. Innovation is what engages people. Innovation is what gets people excited about coming to work. New things get people to re-focus (think about how happy your people get when they receive a new computer). They love new challenges and new products. Why would you think they wouldn't enjoy a new way of finding solutions to age-old, boring traditions that take too long to accomplish and are, well, they're boring?

Tradition, however, encourages boredom. Repetition encourages boredom. Boredom encourages disengagement. Stop focusing on doing things they way you've always done it. Your new Gen Y hires don't have those same traditions and they don't understand why you're still doing it the old way. Managers who can't relate to their staff also make it hard for them to feel excited about the work.

--
Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist
Speaking Web Site http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Creating An Oasis of Greatness In A Wasteland of Mediocrity
Subscribe to Kevin's Attitude with ATTITUDE Blog by Email
Follow Kevin on Twitter @attitudeburns
The Official Kevin Burns YouTube Channel

What Has Google Done To Your Business?

If you want to just hang out and do things the way you have always done them, you're dead. Google has changed the way we do business, the way we deliver, the way we sell and the way we hire our people.

Think about the number of times you've showed up in a store and didn't need a salesperson, just a cashier. By the time most of your customers get to you they already know more about you than you think they might. If you think that not having a web site gives you an advantage in that regard, then you're not getting it. A business without a web site is a business that can't be trusted. If you haven't got a web presence with testimonials and satisfied customers then you can't be trusted - and people won't buy from you because you have no on-line reputation.

Even the new people coming to our workplaces have a different idea about what they need to know and what they don't. Most new young workers won't remember facts and figures because they can access the facts and figures on Google when they need that information. If they don't need it always, they won't remember it.

If you think you're running the same business or organization that you were five years ago, hiring the same kinds of people and delivering the same customer expectations - you are out of touch with your own customer base.

Sure, you can run a business this way but it will always be a middle of the pack performer - mediocre.

Greatness requires visionary thinking and an embracing of change. Whether you like it or not, your customers are changing their buying habits. Are you changing your selling and service habits to match them?
--
Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist
Speaking Web Site http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Creating An Oasis of Greatness In A Wasteland of Mediocrity
Subscribe to Kevin's Attitude with ATTITUDE Blog by Email
Follow Kevin on Twitter @attitudeburns
The Official Kevin Burns YouTube Channel

Disinfect Workplace Bullies

In walking through the hospital today, I noticed a janitor sweeping up fallen leaves from some of the large plants in the common area. He was addressing the things that visitors to the hospital could see, not the things they can't see - like those who were sick enough to be admitted to hospital who had touched door handles, arms of chairs, vending machine buttons, elevator buttons and counter-tops. How often do you see janitors wiping down the coffee vending machine with disinfectant spray? How many dirty hands touch the daily-mopped floor versus how many flu-infected hands touch the elevator buttons or touch the arms of a chair in the Emergency room?

Now before you go thinking I'm some sort of weird germophobe, let me explain why I point this out.

Every single business and organization runs like this hospital: they spend an inordinate amount of time on things that might address how they are perceived but little or no effort on things that might affect their customers and clients profoundly. A poorly disinfected waiting room could result in a patient's second trip to Emergency in a few days. But if there's litter on the floor, one might perceive the hospital to be unclean. So you clean what they can see and ignore what they can't.

Think about when an organization offers their people a chance to air their griefs as a team-building exercise - but no one does because the staffer they want to complain about is sitting beside them. What about organizations whose front lobbies are immaculate but their shipping department can't seem to get a delivery done on time to save themselves. Then there are organizations who preach a safe and happy workplace but refuse to reprimand workplace bullies for fear of the employee union.

Management's failure to address a workplace's silent issues is no different than a hospital janitor rarely wiping down bacterial surfaces. Either way, someone will end up not well enough to come into work.

And then you have absenteeism which costs you money; big money. Soon it becomes a lousy place to work because your standards are lax. Your culture suffers and your new-hire candidates become more mediocre. If only you had just wiped the doors more often, enforced the rules and dealt with the bullies, you could have kept your good people.

A germ is a germ. Disinfect it before it makes your whole organization sick. 
--
Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Raving About the Continental Breakfast

The hotel clerk handed me my room key and then a coupon for a free continental breakfast the next morning. The previous three nights I had stayed in a hotel that included a full, hot breakfast buffet of scrambled eggs, sausages, toast, oatmeal, cereals, bagels, etc. After being treated to the hot buffet for breakfast, the continental breakfast seemed like a cheap, half-hearted effort.

There was a time when a free continental breakfast was fashionable. Now, customers expect their hotels to make a fuss over them. A continental breakfast seems like the very least a hotel could do.

In fact, here's where the market is going and what other hotels are doing:

• The Hyatt Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona offers guests a margarita upon check-in.
• The Gansevoort in New York and Turks and Caicos offer guests a Sony Reader Digital Book for the length of their stay.
• Opus Montreal offers guests Xboxes and PlayStation in their room because packing these can be a pain.
• The Zetter in London boasts an interactive guide to local restaurants, bars, clubs and more - all through the room TV - as well as 4,000 music tracks.
• The Crescent in Beverley Hills leaves a loaner iPod in every room loaded with music.
• Seven hotel in Bangkok lends you a mobile phone preloaded with all contact info for recommended restaurants and bars in the city.
• Doubletree still offers a hot cookie upon check-in (a little thing but a deliciously nice touch).
• Hotel Palomar in Dallas will offer you a goldfish in a bowl as a companion for your stay.
• Toronto’s Hazelton Hotel offers a pillow menu including the Therapeutic Siesta Body Pillow and the Snore No More Pillow.
• The Esperanza in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, will place a painting or sculpture of your choice from the hotel’s collection in your room upon request.
• At the Four Seasons Hotel Washington, you'll get the loan of a Kindle, featuring 80 different newspapers from 15 countries at the breakfast table.
• The Whatever/Whenever service at W Hotels around the world includes free services like staff running errands to get your favorite perfume or foreign newspaper.

So how is that continental breakfast tasting right now? Doing the bare minimum is not how an organization achieves greatness. What was once a nice perk years ago is well below ordinary now. I mean honestly, would you rave to your friends about the continental breakfast? What is your organization doing to add value? How are you separating yourself from being ordinary and mediocre? Become the standard that everyone else follows. Find your greatness.
--
Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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"Ordinary" Is Never A Favorite

Do you have a favorite? A favorite restaurant, favorite food, favorite drink, favorite TV show or favorite sports team? How about a favorite make of car, vacation spot, airline, hotel or coffee shop? Do you have a favorite friend, co-worker or boss?

Everyone has a favorite something. Some parents even have a favorite child - even though the right answer is "I love all of you equally."

But now here's the interesting question: are you anyone else's favorite? Are you the coffee shop's favorite customer? Are you your doctor's favorite patient? Are you your waitress's favorite customer? How about at work? Are you your boss's favorite employee or your customers' favorite representative?

If you're not a favorite, you'll never achieve great success. It just can't be done. You can't rise to the top in people's minds by sitting in the middle of the pack. The middle of the pack is for the mediocre.

Are you OK sliding through life just being ordinary? No one picks "ordinary" as their favorite. You find life changes when you stop being ordinary and start finding your Greatness. Greatness is where you find your favorites.

--
Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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What Doctor's Offices Can Learn From Hotels

There are things that some businesses do badly that no other business should adopt as a service strategy:

• help desks that seem to shrug their shoulders on issues, "Yeah, that problem happens on occasion. Oh well. Not much we can do."
• retail stores whose on-line stock check shows there are several items in stock but when you get there, they don't have any.
• automated reminders that it's time for another visit - phone reminders that call you incessantly until you have to lose your temper with them to have your number removed.
• Costco's "everyone's a potential shoplifter" policy that creates lineups at the exit while someone with a highlighter goes through your stuff to make sure you didn't take more than on your receipt.

But then there are some ideas that other businesses should adopt. Hotels, good hotels, have something to teach doctor's offices, dentists, chiropractors, medical labs, etc. I check into a lot of hotels. At the front counter, I simply give my name and the clerk usually finds my reservation within a few seconds. The paperwork has already been done, keys are ready and I can check in quickly. After all, the quicker I get into the hotel, the quicker they have a captive customer spending money.

"Do you have an appointment?" is a question that shows a lack of initiative. Of course I have an appointment. Otherwise I would say that I don't have an appointment and ask if the doctor can see me today? How hard is it to look at a schedule of appointments and match my name with an appointment on or about the same time?


Here's the rub though: if you do have an appointment, it's because you made an appointment (called in and actually spoke to someone), then had the doctor's office call you back a day in advance to re-confirm your appointment asking you to show up a few minutes early and then when you do finally show up for your scheduled appointment, you get asked, "Do you have an appointment?"

Hotels process more guests an a daily basis than the average doctors office, or chiropractor or dentist. So how come they don't ask if I have a reservation? Remember, we're talking about good hotels here - not the ones whose clerks are standing outside the front doors having to butt their smokes when you stand at the front counter. Most people who check into hotels have a reservation otherwise they ask if there are any rooms available. Unless your medical practice is a walk-in clinic, I would suspect most patients have an appointment. Same could be said of dentists. Those without an appointment would probably call ahead in an emergency to see if they could be squeezed in amongst the appointments.

Most people have appointments when they go to see their doctor, dentist, chiropractor, lawyer, accountant, hairdresser and auto mechanic. OK, let me explain that I rarely get asked if I have an appointment when I get to my lawyer, accountant, hairdresser or auto mechanic. They assume that I do or I wouldn't be there. This really just happens in doctor's offices - but there are a lot of organizations who take their lead from treating clients like cattle. They may not necessarily ask if you have an appointment but they do the bare minimum to impress you on your first impression.

Stop thinking of your receptionist as a receptionist. Change your Attitude. That person at the front counter is the Executive Vice President of First Impressions for your company.

Mediocre, apathetic organizations make it difficult to do business and first impressions are lasting impressions. But then, as I've been saying for a while, there's no effort required in being ordinary.

--
Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Friday Is Employee Recognition Day

Friday, March 5, 2010 is Employee Recognition Day. Now you might think that a day like this is kind of cute and meant to be lighthearted but it's not a really serious thing. That may be true, but then so is Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. Try not to take those two days seriously and see what happens. You would never dishonor your mother on Mother's Day nor your spouse on Valentine's Day if you want to have peace and harmony at home.

Think of Employee Recognition Day the same way. If the employee knows that it's Employee Recognition Day and no attempt is made by management to recognize them, you might as well have forgotten your spouse on Valentine's Day. You will have created a bigger chasm between employees and management.

Yes, there is the argument that you don't need a special day to recognize your employees and you would be right. But you don't need a special day to recognize your sweetheart or your spouse but it seems to be the only days of  the year that many do honor them. So we have this day to force the laggards to get with the program and show their gratitude. It is a day designated to REMIND managers that they have a staff who do their work without a lot of recognition: managers get so wrapped up in attending endless (and pointless) meetings that there is little time left to say "thanks" to their people.

So this Friday, show your Attitude of Gratitude by springing for pizza for the staff, buying a $25 Starbucks card for each member of your team or giving a heartfelt, handwritten card personally prepared for each member of your team. Do NOT hand out awards that day. Friday is Employee Recognition Day. That means all employees are recognized - not just your superstars.

If you want to build a culture of engagement in your organization, you will recognize your people on Friday. Then, make a decision to make the first Friday of every month, Employee Recognition Day. One simple change in your corporate attitude will spread the word that yours is a great place to work. More people will be lining up to work there - good people - not just the ones who are available.
--
Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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McLovin' It

Have you gotten caught up in Olympic fever yet? Watching the thousands and thousands of people on the streets of Vancouver daily, seeing the cheering and flag-waving crowds at the events and even seeing the people wearing Canada clothing in every city across the country makes it difficult not to feel a sense of pride that something special is going on.

At the top of Calgary's Canada Olympic Park, known as COP, where many of the athletes prepared and trained themselves for the Vancouver games flies a lone white flag, the five interlocking Olympic rings.

At the base of COP, the legacy to the '88 Calgary Olympics lies a McDonald's restaurant, the official restaurant of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. But there's nary a sign that the Olympics are being hosted in Canada in the restaurant. There's no signage touting their "official" status even though they look right up the slopes of COP. And on either side of the chalet-style four-sided fireplace on the two thirty-two inch plasma TVs there are no Olympics playing. Just the news from one of the non-Olympic news networks.

There are seven television networks broadcasting the games but not one channel is being shown in the official restaurant of the 2010 Vancouver Games. And until I mentioned it to the manager, no one even seemed to notice that the Olympic spirit had left the building.

For the 2010 Games, McDonalds chose 350 servers from across Canada to work the McDonalds in the athlete's village (which doesn't charge the athletes anything for the food). This is a major promotion for the company and one they take pride in.

By the way, my car dealership had the Olympics on in their customer lounge today. They are not an official sponsor. The electronics store I visited this afternoon had almost 100 televisions all tuned to the Olympics. They are not an Olympic sponsor either. Even the Mongolian restaurant I had supper at had the Olympics on in their lounge. They may have been supporting Team Mongolia if there was one but I don't think so.

Apathy exists even in management. It's missing little details like this that makes it a very mediocre place to work and an even worse place to be a customer.

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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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No Effort Required In Being Ordinary

I had a quote of mine make its way around Twitter this week. The quote was, "There's no effort required in being ordinary."

Maybe that's the reason why we are overrun with mediocrity, ordinary, sameness. There's no effort required in just being good enough. That's easy. That's why there's so much competition at the mediocre level because almost everyone competes at that level.

The stretch is when an individual or a company makes a decision to move toward "greatness." That's when everything changes. That's when it get s hard. That's when the scrutiny of those who would throw stones (the secretly envious) arises and that's when you hear from the naysayers in your life, all of the reasons why you can't do it.

"You can't increase your business in a recession."

"You can't have a banner sales month in a market downturn."

"You can't risk renovating your house when jobs are tenuous."

"There's no such thing as a perfect relationship."

"Blah. Blah. Blah."

You can do these things and you most certainly will do these things if you have made the decision to stop being ordinary and strive for greatness. The sideline critics are just too lazy to get off their fat asses and do it themselves and they know it. You're embarrassing them and they will complain about it.

There is no effort required in being ordinary. That's why there's so little competition at the "Greatness" level. The people and companies willing to do whatever it takes to be the standard to which every mediocre person and organization will measure himself are very few.

There's hardly been any effort needed to get your results so far, huh? That means you're capable of more but you're not even trying.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Set Your People Up To Win

At the door last week, was a rep from my cable and Internet provider. She introduced herself and displayed her company employee card clipped to the outside of her jacket.

"I'm here to see if I can save you a few dollars by bundling our services," she started out.

The she asked, "So, can you tell me what services you are currently subscribing to from us?"

Huh? Wouldn't she already know what services I subscribe to before she got to the door if her purpose was to actually save me money?

What I soon figured out is that the cable company, instead of using a third-party call center to phone to pester me, sends people out into the field to knock at doors. They probably have a better closing ratio than the phone since no one answers their phones anymore. But why did she have NO information about my account?

This is what makes an organization look dumb, mediocre, ordinary: sending their people (contracted or not) out to represent the company, to talk knowledgeably to their customers, to sway new customers to increase the number of service subscriptions, and yet give them absolutely nothing to go on - no help, no "warm call," no support, no nothing. Any ordinary and mediocre company can do that. Most do. There's no effort required in being ordinary.

If you were an organization of greatness, you'd make sure that the reps you send would at least know a little something about me - even what services I subscribe to. If you're going to save me money, then you had better know exactly how you could do that before you get to my door. This pathetic sales attempt at my door was not about making me, the customer, the focus of the call.


I checked their web site under the "Careers" section. It's where I found their "Values" statement: Together, we designed a value system that will guide us and that will represent to our team and our customers how we do things here. Our values are: Accountable, Balance, Customer Focused, Loyalty, Integrity, Positive, Can Do Attitude and Team Player.

Do you want some advice cable behemoth? How about you walk your talk and actually do what your "Values" statement says you will do: support the people out in the market who deal with your customers by at least giving them a modicum of information and set them up to win instead of finding ways of getting doors slammed in their faces and your company to get a bigger black eye as a company out-of-touch with its customers?

Just another mediocre company paying lip-service to their company values.  It's no big surprise that on the same page of their web site I also found: We are always looking for motivated individuals to fill a wide range of positions in a variety of locations. No kidding.

 

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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Why "Help Wanted" Is Not A Good Sign

Coming out of a recession, the last thing that should be cluttering the sides of roadways are "Help Wanted" or "Now Hiring" signs. Here's why: with unemployment rates the highest in years, you would think that people who are out of work would be taking the initiative and applying for jobs that are not being advertised - at companies that they would WANT to work for - not just those that happen to have an opening. If the job-seekers have not taken the initiative to be proactive, are these really the kinds of workers you want working in your organization?

Also, your "Help Wanted" sign sends a message to job seekers and your competitors that you don't have a lineup of people who are clamoring to knock down your door and come work for you. That means that your corporate culture is not attracting the best and brightest minds or you would be flooded with resumes all the time and never have to place an advertisement or a roadside sign.

Do you think Google has a road sign of neon red letters which reads, "Now Hiring?" No, of course not. Google has thousands of applicants everyday trying to join their company. And they have a full complement of HR administrators who sift through the thousands of resumes submitted daily and make contact with each of them. They even tell you on their web site that if you can differentiate yourself, you have a good chance of getting an interview. Does your HR department operate like that?

If your HR department is only accepting resumes when there's an opening, find a new HR director. You don't get the best and brightest minds when you advertise a job opening. You get whomever is available. That's not how you build a strong culture that attracts more of the best. It will simply attract more of the available - you know, the people who couldn't find work elsewhere.

Half of the North American workforce are actively looking for new work in 2010 (according to Right Management Survey results). Just because there may be no openings today, doesn't mean you can't start a conversation with potential candidates today.

Oh, and if you're a job-seeker and you see a big "Now Hiring" sign or big ad in the newspaper on Saturday don't get terribly excited. It probably hasn't got much of a culture of innovation or leadership or people would be busting down the doors to work there. It'll probably be just like the last job you had - kind of mediocre.
--
Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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7 Ways To Detect Fake Job References

News that job-seekers are now buying fake references in an effort to jump ahead of deserving candidates struck me as being the lowest of the low. Even the slimy name of the company helping these liars makes my skin crawl - CareerExcuse.com. These guys, for money, will build a great reference for you, create a fake past employment history, create a fake company with accompanying phone number, fake web site, fake logo and even a fake LinkedIn profile.

This is a site for people who don't work well with others, are jerks on the job, get fired often, show up drunk or high and put their co-workers at risk or who have done criminal acts while on the job. In other words, this is a blantant attempt to avoid accountability and personal responsibility.

How popular is this site? Well, they aren't taking any more subscribers at this time because they are full. That means thousands of job-seekers are lying their way into companies and organizations as we speak. Thousands of organizations are falling victim to unscrupulous job-seekers and their accomplices. Possibly, organizations will be stolen from in short order: recruitment and training time, training budgets, deserving candidates and expertise.

But, HR Directors can unite and fight back. Follow these 7 strategies to ensure that liars and cheats are NOT infiltrating your organization and rotting your culture from the inside-out:

1. Build a network of real people on the ground who can check addresses and business licenses to ensure that the companies are real before you accept the reference at face-value. Fake companies don't have real business licenses and real addresses. Google search the address. Google search other businesses in the area and call a business across the street or in the same building to see if they can see the sign on the building from across the street and if it really does exist.
2. Spread the word. When you discover a fake business and/or a fake reference, let your network know about it immediately. Hold nothing back. You would like to know if the business is a fake before you hired wouldn't you? Well, so would your fellow HR Directors.
3. Don't stop checking after the candidate has been hired. There may have been enough window-dressing to keep you distracted while a fake reference made its way through. Follow up monthly while the candidate is still on probationary period and tell the candidate up front about your plan.
4. Stop placing so much emphasis on the reference. If an HR Director is following potential candidates on social networks long before they ever get close to hiring, they will discover the truth and not rely solely on a piece of paper.
5. Track the candidates on social networks like their Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts and look for things out of the ordinary. Watch how the candidate interacts with others and messages he or she may leave on the walls of others.
6. Watch for job titles that don't make sense in the context of the organization. Question someone who was "director of personnel" for a five-employee company or "vice president of production" for a service organization that doesn't manufacture anything.
7. Trust your gut. If something seems hinky, it probably is. Ask the candidate to provide any personal particulars of their former workplaces (or fake workplaces) like how many worked in the department, the receptionist's name, the name of their favorite co-workers, the name of their co-worker's dog, spouse's name, co-worker's golf handicap, etc. Liars are never prepared for questions like that and get very nervous when asked.

I look at it this way: there are some things that past employers won't tell you (because they are afraid of lawsuits).  So take the offensive. If you have just discovered an employee who falsified his resume, fire him and sue him for the expenses incurred by recruitment and training. And don't forget to sue the accomplices like CareerExcuse.com. Make them feel the pain of consequence too. A good dozen or so lawsuits ought to shut down their motivation to continue to lie. It also sends a very strong message to your employees that you will not stand for lying. A great way to foster a culture of honesty is to toss the liars.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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How Managers Can Ruin Culture

Three middle managers who worked for the City of Calgary were discovered to have been making money on the side using City technology (email) and contacts and contractors. This information was discovered by audit of the department. A few others were found to be visiting gaming sites on company time and using the City email account to make money while off on disability.

Management is not a right but a privilege. Those who have been elevated to management need to lead by example. It's hard to do when the manager is obviously devoid of scruples, ethics and morals. How do people like this get promoted?

These managers need to be fired immediately. If you don't, you risk giving your own organization a black eye. Being afraid to do the tough thing is exactly how corporate cultures rot from the inside out. If the leaders are corrupt, they will corrupt culture. Those who are easily swayed will come to believe that this sort of  behavior is acceptable.

Fire those who can't tell right from wrong - especially if they are in management. Then, gladly pay the legal bill to get rid of the offenders. It will be much cheaper in the long run once you send a message to your people.

If you want to create a culture of Greatness, stop thinking "ordinary." Nothing gets swept under the carpet. Everything is dealt with. Everything is talked about. Everything is in the open. Set a standard for your people to rise to. They will.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Savvy Shoppers Are Kicking Your Butt

This week, I went looking for a specific item, an AV cart for my office, but didn't know the name of any stores that would carry what I wanted. For the office supply stores, it is a "special order" anyway. So why not just save a useless trip to the store (only to be again disappointed) and instead just order it on-line - like they would at the store. So I Googled.

I didn't bother with opening my copy of the Yellow Pages because, well, the information in the Yellow Pages is from last year - and besides, there are no prices - and no pictures of the specific item - and no updates - and no way to check if it is in-stock - and no info on new stock - and no way to see their web site - and no interactivity - and no way to compare against others - and no video showing how to use the product - and no recommendations - and no reviews from customers - and no pictures of the storefront - and no interactive maps with directions. And businesses still spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars monthly on their Yellow Pages ad for basically a billboard on paper that only gets seen when someone needs your product immediately and is willing to haul out a big book and you hope they can find your category.

I search on-line. I am a Baby Boomer with no fear of technology. Today I know the name of a great kitchen store because I've read some great reviews on it. Today I know to NOT deal with my neighborhood flower shop because they're out of business - caused by poor service that I discovered on-line. Today I know which restaurants are great, which car dealers to avoid, which hotels have the best view, which second-hand store has that classic guitar I've been looking for and also that people, no matter how great the review, will not put their trust in a hair stylist that isn't recommended by a friend or neighbor. I might use the Yellow pages at 2 in the morning if I wanted a pizza - but then maybe not - unless I were in a strange city.

If you are using the Internet to do your homework before you buy, wouldn't it stand to reason that your customers are doing the same thing? You've got to be on-line and on-line needs to be one of your primary marketing strategies. You can probably forget that big, flashy Yellow Pages ad and go with a simple free listing in the book with your web site address included. Then, make sure you are where everyone else is already gathered - on-line. Besides, if your customers already know your name, they'll find you in the white pages - not the Yellow Pages surrounded by all of your competitors.

I bought the AV cart, not from a local company, but from one in the USA. They had the best web site, the best selection, outstanding pricing, free shipping to my front door (even to Canada) and it was in-stock today and would be shipped immediately. Add to that the fact that their web site was so easy to navigate, didn't ask me to set up an account but automatically set one up for me (with user name and password) once I keyed in the credit card info, gave me a tracking number for my shipment, had hundreds of testimonials from over-the-top satisfied clients who rated each product individually ... and ... they also said "thank you." And I think they meant it.

Stop being ordinary. Start being the standard to which your customers become raving fans and your competitors bristle. Change your Attitude about how you do business. Your customers have just as much knowledge as you do. Don't ever treat them like you're doing them a favor. You're not.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Correcting A Bad Business Cycle

As a boss, when you make a decision that affects the whole organization, are you really clear of the practical and real consequences and fallout on your front-line employees and their families? Really clear?

As a sales rep, are you prepared for the consequences that follow by stretching the truth of your claims just one time too many?

As a customer service rep, are you prepared to accept the fallout that results from you being apathetic in your effort and your job responsibilities?

As a customer, are you prepared to reward lousy quality and poor service by purchasing anyway?

As a future consumer, aren't you upset because the customer before you could have corrected bad service by simply saying something?

As a person of value, are you going to allow the "takers" of the world to butt in line, take more than one parking space, not offer a seat to an elderly lady on the bus or any other event that requires decency?

It's not employees who work for you. It's not prospects you sell to. It's not customers you serve. It's not businesses you buy from. It's not jerks you deal with. It's people. Every single interaction, every single event, every single experience has people at the center of it all.

If you're not "good people" yourself, you'll be an even lousier employee and customer.

The Attitude of Connectedness says we are all connected to other people - all of us. No exceptions.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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How To Excel When Business Is Down

Jeffery Gitomer, perhaps America's top sales trainer, said yesterday, "When business is down, it’s likely morale is down. Invest in attitude training for every member of the team FIRST. The best way to get more sales is by creating more friendly and human interaction. The best way to gain loyalty from existing customers, and get more sales (the surest path to survival and growth), is by making service IMPROVEMENTS, not service cuts."

When business is down, there is greater competition for fewer dollars in the marketplace. My audiences always seem amazed to hear that 51% of buyers buy "Attitude" factors like staff, friendliness, approachability, ease-of-business, after-sale service and follow-up. A smaller percentage buy from you because of product knowledge.  

More people buy your Attitude than your knowledge. Pay attention to that. The companies who will be successful when times are tough are the ones who have the right customer-focused Attitude. A buyer expects you to have product knowledge but the competitive edge goes to organizations that address Attitude factors.

Attitude also happens to be tied for second as most popular criteria on job performance reviews: first, quality of work followed by Attitude and productivity. Attitude finished ahead of teamwork, goals, customer service and skills development. Why then do most organizations spend the majority of their training dollars on teamwork, goals, customer service and skills development if the top three criteria for how you judge your people aren't even in that list? When times are tough, you're wasting your money if you're not addressing Attitude.

45% of workers feel "work" is the biggest source of stress in their lives. That's about half of your staff who hate coming to work because they get stressed. Great Attitude to build a successful organization on.

Your Corporate Culture is nothing more than a collection of prevailing Attitudes in your workplace. You will never, and I mean NEVER, improve your culture without addressing Attitude. Without addressing Attitude, you will be never be more than an ordinary, mediocre organization. To go to a "Greatness" culture requires you to do something that none of your competitors are doing - like, change your attitude about Attitude.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture
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Just Say NO

Question: How do you say NO with out hurting your relationships? At some point, I realize we have to say no to people who are expecting you to say yes out of obligation. So how do you say no to them without it affecting your relationships?

Answer: The only person who absolutely needs to hear "yes" every single time when they expect something out of obligation is a baby who is expecting to be breastfed. Outside of that, you had better learn to say "no."

If your co-workers are expecting you to nod in agreement and say yes to every request, then you've done a great job of breastfeeding them. You have become the "whipping boy" of your organization saying yes to everyone else's requests and have put them all ahead of your own responsibilities. Are you burnt out yet? You should be.

Say yes too often and you'll eventually find yourself picking up the boss's dry-cleaning during the day and getting your work done at home at night. But say yes too many times and you eventually create a toxic culture, one that has no personal or job boundaries, no respects or any consideration for others.

Most people can't say no because they're afraid that if they do they won't be liked. Who cares if you're not liked? You want to be respected more than you want to be liked.

Develop your Attitude of Leadership and learn to say "no" before you burn out and drop dead of a heart attack. Saying "yes" to everything creates too much weight to carry and trains people to take advantage of you.

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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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A Kinder, Gentler Business Of The Future

This month marked a very important milestone, one that quietly slipped under the radar. The consequences of this milestone are far reaching and it is only going to get bigger and play a far more important role in business in North America.

January officially recognizes that women now comprise OVER 50% of the workforce. Where once women were largely confined to menial jobs, their brain power now outnumbers men in the workforce.

Add to that women dominating in terms of educational performance, volume of university degrees and especially advanced professional degrees and you can see how this can become a tsunami of change down the road.

It's been said that women are better leaders overall than men - largely due to their ability to lead with compassion instead of cutthroat business tactics - and we face a workforce that is about to change. As more women move up the ladder, the old-boys clubs are doomed to go the way of the dodo.

Personally, I welcome a change in the demographics. More women in senior management would mean more women dominating boards of directors as well as shareholders. That means how business gets done is going to change with a heavier emphasis on long-term growth and prosperity for the sake of the employees and loyalty while lessening concentration on jumping into takeover situations, raping and cutting up companies for the sake of profit and not caring about the families that cutthroat business affects.

Maybe by finding a way to be kinder, gentler organizations, we can help employees find loyalty, purpose and pride in their work and the companies they work for.

It couldn't hurt. I can't possibly imagine how much worse employee engagement, diligence and work ethic could get. Maybe we'll see the end of the practice of "company profits first, employee welfare second." Maybe it'll turn into employee welfare AND company success together. After all, you can't have one without the other.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Whiny Complainers and Pointless Meetings

According to survey results, the average manager spends over seven hours per week sorting out personality conflicts among staff members. In addition, that same manager can spend anywhere from 20% to 80% of his or her time in meetings too.

Let's work the worst-case numbers. 80% of an 40-hour week is 32 hours spent in meetings. Add another seven hours per week spent sorting out personality conflicts among employees who can't seem to get along and you have one hour left each week for a manager to get some work done.

Hmm, seems to me that the least productive member on-staff is the average manager.

If these numbers hit close to home for you, then I would suggest that you're doing management all wrong.

How could any manager be involved in meetings for 32 hours each week and be a productive member of the staff. Asking a manager to attend that many meetings is a waste of a good salary. Let your managers do some work.

And managers, if you're sorting out personality conflicts for the same few people bringing up the same few issues about the same few co-workers who annoy them each week, then get rid of them. People who should be putting their nose to the grindstone but instead put their noses in other people's business are a drag on productivity.

I agree that workplaces work best when everyone gets along. But some people don't want to get along. They just want to complain. If they want to complain, let them complain about being unemployed. The longer you let the whiners hang around, the worse your company culture will get.

With that one hour per week that you have left, find a way to get rid of the annoyances like whiny staff and pointless meetings. Start hijacking your own schedule. Change your Attitude and the way you do things.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Where's Service In A Tight Economy?

It's no secret that this recession has hurt many businesses. There are only a handful of businesses who are having, or have had, a banner year over this past 12 months.

That means that more businesses are fighting for fewer dollars from fewer customers in the marketplace.

That last statement begs the question: so if there are more businesses fighting over fewer customers trying to win a larger share of fewer sales, then where is the increased customer service experience you would expect to see in a tight economy?

I'll tell you where it is: it was eliminated (cut) with all of the other so-called "wasteful" programs that organizations felt they could do without as mediocre organizations made cutbacks and sat on hoards of cash hoping to weather the storm. Unfortunately, most organizations think that Service is something to be addressed by only their Customer Service department - when, in fact, Service is an Attitude, not a department

Ironically though, 80% of senior executives have reported they would use this recession to improve their competitive position (Bain & Company Survey 2009). Has your organization done anything about your customer experience over the past year? Hmm, then you must be one of the 20% who aren't doing anything about it (or the other 80% who are simply blowing smoke about re-tooling in a down economy). Service is an Attitude, not a department.

80% of senior executives believe that their companies are delivering an exceptional customer experience (Bain & Company Survey 2005). Only 8% of their customers agree. Why is there so much delusion at the top? Because senior managers believe that by training their Customer Service Department using the same trainers and same training models that churns out the same mediocre service of every other competitor, that somehow it's good enough. "Good enough" is mediocre - not great.

88% of companies view Corporate Culture as important as Strategy for business success (Bain & Company Survey 2009). So why then are 60% of North American workers actively looking for a new job in 2010 (Right Management Work Force Survey 2009)? They're leaving because they feel abandoned by their bosses which creates a terrible corporate culture - the same culture that 88% of companies apparently view as important as Strategy. They work in a culture of "good enough" which obviously isn't good enough to keep their people.

The numbers don't add up. Organizations are becoming so out of touch with their customers that they think they know what is right for their customers and employees but in reality, until you create a two-way dialogue, you will never know. It's arrogant to think you know what is best for people without asking.

There are too many sides not talking to each other - and that makes for a corporate culture that sucks.

The difference between a mediocre culture and a Culture of Greatness is seven distinct Attitudes. Here's a 7-minute video overview of the Attitudes that make organizations "Great."


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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Comparing Corporate Culture to Homelessness

How is it possible to fix a corporate culture that is good for employees, clients, customers and shareholders? Why would you fix something that doesn't need fixing - not improving - fixing. You wouldn't fix a culture that is working and giving you the results you want would you? You wouldn't feel the need to fix a culture where employees are productive, happy, service oriented and a culture that attracts the best talent and more customers. In fact, you would encourage more of the same to get more of the same. You would build on what you have to go up to the next level. You would move forward - not backward.

A culture that works is the result of a strategy that works. Culture is not the strategy. Culture is the result of strategy.

So if your culture sucks, don't blame the culture - blame the strategy that gets you the culture. Remember, culture is not the strategy. Culture is the result of the strategy.

Let me illustrate: homelessness is not the problem - it is a result of the problem. People end up homeless through a long-term series of choices and circumstances. You see, no one can have everything going for them on Monday and suddenly wake up homeless on Wednesday. In the same way, you don't have a productive and happy workplace on Monday and suddenly a culture that sucks on Wednesday. Nothing happens overnight.

Can you fix homelessness overnight? Sure. Rent each homeless person an apartment. Problem solved - for now. But over time, many of those same people will end up homeless again because homelessness isn't the problem, it is the result of choices. If you don't address the choices they are likely to repeat. Change the choices and you change the results.

Culture works the same way too. Culture doesn't magically shift overnight. You can fire your entire staff and start over and your culture would no longer suck - for a while. But unless you address the long-term processes, policies, management and attitudes, you will end up with the same sucky culture before long.

In the same way you have sales targets, every organization needs to have culture targets if they want to attract the best talent, retain their good people, lower turnover, raise morale and increase customer spending and numbers of loyal customers. None of it happens by accident. Ignore your culture and it will end up sucking over time. Pay attention to what you want to go right.

If the turnover rates of employees and customers is high, your culture sucks because the underlying attitudes in your workplace suck. Culture never improves by ignoring the contributing factors. Morale never improves because you demand it. It changes because you address the contributing factors.

A culture of greatness is the result of a strategy of greatness. If you don't develop a strategy of greatness then you will, at best, end up as just another mediocre organization whose people could care less about their work and their results. The choice is yours.

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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy To Greatness Culture


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Putting The Blame Where It Belongs

As simple as this post may seem, there's a real chance you might miss the profound message - or dismiss it as you do most things in your life with a condescending, "I already know that."

We let me help you understand it better: if others don't see you as the leader you consider yourself to be, if you are not considered the best manager in your organization, if you are not the most requested vendor of any of your competitors or if you think that your workplace could use a little improvement, then you don't know it all. Your results don't lie. They only amplify the truth. So put aside your ego and listen up.

How is it possible to be a genuinely effective leader if you have only ever been a lousy follower? How is it possible to be a good manager if you've only ever been a whiny, self-centered employee? How is it possible to improve your organization if you are no better than the collective average working there? How can you become a vendor of greatness if you have only ever been a customer who accepts sub-standard service?

It's the comparison points that separate the great from the mediocre. You need comparison to achieve anything really great.

You can not be a great leader if you have never been a great follower. You can't know what it is like to follow hence impossible to fully comprehend what it is like to lead.

You can't be a great manager if you view all of your past bosses as morons. Unless you have experience as a model employee you will never know how to be a model manager.

You can not improve your organization if you are not among the best in your organization. Average people have average ideas which bring average results. Exceptional people get exceptional results. If you are not constantly self-improving, then your work is not getting any better which means that your organization is not improving either. Organizations can't possibly improve if the people in those same organizations stay the same.

How can you know what outstanding service is if you have willingly accepted poor service and not voiced your opinions? If you won't set a standard of acceptable service for yourself, how can you serve your customers better? When a customer raises his or her expectations, the selling organization is forced to improve or lose the customer. If you have never helped another organization improve their service then you can not know what better service is exactly. You may have an idea but no proof.

So before you think yourself entitled to be promoted, to be followed, to receive an award or think your organization superior to others, ask yourself, "What have you done lately that makes you a better person, manager, leader or vendor?" If you haven't read a book or attended a seminar that improves you then you are the same delusional person you always were.

Greatness doesn't happen by accident. It requires effort. So how about you change your attitude and admit that you don't know it all and crack open a book for the proof. Blaming the economy, your bosses, your customers and your co-workers isn't going to change your results. You are. The problem isn't everyone else. Never has been.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE

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Are You Beaten?

Just prior to Christmas, I was engaged in a conversation with an elegant lady - the owner of a sheep farm.

"You had better be prepared to laugh at yourself," she said.

"If not," I added, "then you'll be the only one not laughing."

We both broke out in laughter. 

Change your Attitude. Quit taking yourself so seriously. The times may have been much gloomier but there's daylight on the horizon. Lighten up and get back to work.

Sure, running an organization is serious work but it doesn't mean you have to be a humorless dolt while you're doing it. Enjoy your work - but don't make it the bane of your existence.

And make sure that your people get that message too. Enjoy the work. Be thankful for your job. Have an Attitude of Gratitude for what life sends your way. And, at the end of the day, smile for goodness sake. It makes you look less beaten down by your work.
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Managing By Hug or by Handshake

Do you shake hands with your mom or do you hug her? What about your siblings? How about your spouse? Your kids? How about your close friends? What about your employees?

I suppose we were on a roll with hugs until the employees question huh?

So what is the differentiating factor between offering a hug and a handshake? Perhaps it is this simple: a hug is reserved for people we care about and have feelings for. Everything else would be a handshake.

Managers, do you not care about your employees? I mean, is your corporate culture one of faceless people doing a job or is your culture one of only hiring people who matter to do work that matters? That's the difference between a handshake and a hug.

If you treat your employees as "handshake" people, you will attract people who view their work as "just a job." But if you really value your people, are grateful for their performance and diligence and care about them as people, you will attract people who value their work, are grateful that you chose them and will reward you with performance and diligence. They will take ownership of their work.

People who feel valued and cared for outperform all others by 20%.

A Culture of Greatness is created by managers who know the difference between a hug and a handshake. You don't actually have to hug them - just make them feel like you care enough about them.

If your managers can't do that, then get new managers. The world is changing and your attitude is out of touch with reality. You had better get with the program or you'll end up attracting the employees that no one else wants - you know, the "handshake" people.
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Managers Responsible For Poor Employee Engagement

Have you made a decision to improve your corporate culture in 2010? Look, you can't keep putting it off. 2010 is going to be the year of mass exodus of employees to new jobs. You are going to lose some good people unless you stop digging in your heels and get with the program.

Right Management's survey results last month says it all: 60% of employees say they will move to a new job in 2010 and another 21% are actively networking right now to see what's out there. That's 81% of the workforce on the hunt for new work because during this recession, you let your people develop fears and feelings of uncertainty. You abandoned them when they needed you most. You took away their training, their perks and the things they looked forward to just to hang on to a few lousy dollars. They feel abandoned now and they have as much loyalty for you as they felt you had for them.

Employees don't leave an employer - they leave their managers and their culture - specifically managers who make your corporate culture hard to swallow.

Now before you hire the Employee Engagement consultants as a knee-jerk attempt to fix the problem, let me clue you in on what the real problem is and why employees don't engage. It's not because there aren't enough perks. It's not because the work isn't rewarding. It's not because the cubicle is too small. It's, most times, because the supervisor is a jerk who under-appreciates them, who treats them like a number, who plays favorites and who has little or no compassion or soft-skills as a decent human being.

Can you honestly say that each and every manager in your group could muster up the courage to have a heart-to-heart with an employee about a sick child at home or to be truly thankful and grateful for the work of their employees? Do your managers, in addition to being taught how to manage, have the ability to communicate feelings or just to bark orders?

You may have been able to get away with that when you had a full complement of Baby Boomers working for you but the numbers are turning and by late next year, Gen Y's will outnumber Boomers in the workplace. Your workers want only a few things and they will actively engage themselves:

• a decent work environment - not a funky new office but a place where they feel like they matter, are told so and are asked their opinions and ideas on company initiatives.
• a rewarding career - not just a job but something that they can become more than just proficient in and be encouraged to become considered one of the best in their field.
• a manager who is as much a coach and mentor as they are a boss - someone who can find the drive, the spark and the magic in every single employee and find ways to inspire those employees to reach for the next level daily.
• a senior management that doesn't just pay lip-service to the softer side of doing business - but a senior management team that actually encourages it and if a manager is incapable of coaching and inspiring, they fire his ass to save their good people.

If you've got a manager or two who refuse to accept that business is run by people, for people and to serve people then I encourage you to pay the legal bills to remove that manager instead of having to pay the recruiting, re-training and recurring bills of getting a constant parade of new employees up to speed.

If you want your employees to engage, you had better engage your managers. If you've got high attrition numbers in one or two departments, it's because of your managers. Stop buying the department manager's excuses and remove them. Your managers are costing your company good people and a lot of money.
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Leadership Fad Has Created A Culture Crisis

Too many people want to be perceived as being at the forefront of their niche so they will use the word leadership to describe just about anything that will help them make a few bucks. It's sad really, that the word leadership has been sold out. Authentic leadership, servant leadership, reflective leadership, thought leadership, absolute leadership and transitional leadership are nothing more than vacuous terminologies of self-importance in a desperate attempt to carve out a money-making identity that no one else has yet exploited.

Truthfully, this preoccupation with the leadership fad is so last year. It is time to get your head out of the clouds because it's about to rain - hard. Corporate North America is headed toward a corporate culture crisis in 2010 because, in spite of all of the leadership books and all of the courses available, no one has actually been leading.

The truth is, you don't become a leader in a few days or weeks in exchange for money. (If you need proof, go find out which leadership course Winston Churchill, JFK, The Dalai Llama and Ghandi enrolled in and also find out their passing grades.) So while marginal managers have been off trying to re-shape their personal brands from dolt-manager to leader-of-minions, they have been forgetting (or ignoring) their work: managing. And now because of it, workplace culture is crumbling.

Right Management's recent survey results show that 60% of North American workers will be actively seeking new jobs in 2010. Another 21% are actively networking to see what's out there before they decide to update the resume. That's a total of 81% of North American workers who are not happy with their workplaces. Why aren't they? Because while the economy was crumbling, managers weren't managing and weren't responding to the very real concerns of their people. They were too busy pretending to be visionaries who were above that icky business of managing.

That's what happens when no one pays attention to the very people who make the whole business of business work. When people feel let down, culture follows. And people will quickly exit a crumbling culture. And who was supposed to be looking after the culture? The same people who were trying to getting a passing grade in leadership courses.

North American organizations are about to suffer the largest workplace exodus in decades due largely to, you guessed it, a lack of real leadership.

Your need to be seen as a "leader" has been overshadowed by your inability to lead during tough times. You may have passed the course but you have failed the test. 
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Fire The CEO To Shift Culture

Fritz Henderson is gone as CEO of the "New And Improved" General Motors. He was on the job only nine months. Had he done anything wrong? Not really. His removal was due to one simple reason that far too many companies succumb to: complacent culture.

It's hard not to feel sorry for Mr. Henderson, who had little time to prove himself. But his removal was the right move. He is a GM lifer, and job one at the company is to change a management culture.

Once asked about the culture at GM, Henderson said, "It's fine. In reality, it's the only culture I know." Which was precisely the problem. If you're going to try to be different or going to try to shake things up, then you need someone at the helm who isn't a product of the culture that you're trying to change.

I believe it was Einstein who said that you'll never solve a problem with the same thinking that created the problem.

If you're going to to attempt to shift a culture dramatically, it will rarely happen with the same faces running the place. You can make culture shifts gently keeping the same senior management but to do so effectively requires a shift in the senior management's communication, involvement of lower levels of management and inclusion of front-line workers.

Sorry, but you can't sit in the ivory tower and hope things on the ground are going to shift by decree. If you want to institute a culture shift, you have to first shift the attitudes of the employee. Once you can get a buy-in from the employee, only then will you get lasting changes in your culture.

GM wasn't getting that so Fritz is gone. What about you? Are you near the top thinking everyone else's attitude needs to change except yours? The answer to that question might explain your culture.
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When Workers Hate Their Bosses

When workers hate their bosses, you can't always openly tell. Some have disliked their bosses from Day 1. Others learn to increasingly disrespect their bosses and begin to shut down over time - eventually arriving to that point where they actually, in their minds, resign from the job. They end up doing just enough to not get fired.

Now before you go thinking that as long as they continue to do their jobs all is OK, let me clue you in. The levels of employee motivation have tangible ramifications for your organization:

• Rates of theft will rise.
• Quality of work will drop creating more defective products.
• Work accident numbers rise.
• Turnover and absenteeism both increase.
• Customer service scores drop.
• Profitability of the department drops.

If you've got any of these issues, then you've got a group of workers who have become disillusioned with their immediate boss. People who shut down like this don't have it in for the company (in most instances), they have it in for their immediate manager. It's not the corporate culture that irritates people over time, it's usually an immediate supervisor. Once an employee loses respect for their boss, good luck getting them motivated and engaged again.

Stop buying the excuses of department managers who always have an excuse for why theft is up, safety incidents are up, reports are late, turnover is high or why so many people seem to be sick. They're sick alright - sick of their boss.

Act quickly when you see the signs.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE

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How To Improve Company Morale

Why is it that I have never heard of a senior manager being dragged to work kicking and screaming and bemoaning their job? I'm not saying it doesn't happen but I've never actually seen it. But how many times do you witness an employee or middle manager moaning about their job? You know exactly who I'm talking about in your office don't you?

Why is the practice of whining about work only reserved for those not in senior management?

Also, while we're at it, why is it that two people working in side-by-side cubicles doing the exact same job can view their jobs so differently? One can choose to complain about the job and the other loves the job. Why the difference? It's obviously not the job or both would be either happy or whining. The key to job satisfaction and company morale is to understand and acknowledge the differing attitudes toward the work. Fix the attitude of the one who dislikes the job and you improve the workplace for two people - the complainer AND the person who has to endure the constant complaining in the next cubicle.

And that's how you change workplace morale; by affecting the prevailing attitudes regardless of position. I urge senior management to demonstrate these traits by example and most do when it comes to complaining about their job. But the truth is that those outside of senior management will always do as they please regardless of the example set, always. This leads me to believe that it's not the job that people dislike - it is the perceived lack of control over the job and their own destiny and/or contribution. And that is an attitude of feeling dominated/controlled by another which can be reversed by addressing the underlying attitudes and opinions.

My point is always, if you're not making your conscious choices about making your own life better, then you're going to get whatever is left over from everyone else. If you are not acting to create the results you want then you are, by default, allowing whatever happens to be your choice. If there are more "good-natured" people going to work, then we end up having more good places to work.

Everything starts with the individual. Take the people out of a building and you don't have a business anymore: you have a building with a lot of stuff. There is no business without people. My mission is to improve the people and let the business improve itself. And I mean everyone - regardless of position.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE

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When Middle Managers Blame Upper Management

Upper management isn't perfect. They are humans just like their middle-management counterparts. Just because upper management doesn't seem do the job as well as they could doesn't mean that middle managers can just give up, throw up their hands and blame upper management for their own sub-par performance. Where is accountability? In spite of what your organization does, if you have personal values and ethics, you're supposed to plow through the difficulties and model to your staff what resilience looks like.

C'mon folks, sure it's never perfect no matter where you work. And if it's so painful being in middle management, then get out of it and go do something else. This blame game does nothing but hurt corporate culture.

Contrary to public opinion, upper management does not create the culture, the workers do. Culture is nothing more than a collection of attitudes. If everyone thinks the job sucks, the culture will suck. Add to that middle-managers who encourage blaming upper management - not by their words but by their actions - only makes the culture worse.

It's so easy to complain about how bad it is in middle management. And it is tiresome that people simply accept the attitude of blaming someone or something else for their own shortcomings. To blame is to choose to be a victim of your circumstances. You know for a fact that you're better than that. So be better. Take a stand. Set a standard. Ask for a heart-to-heart with a decision-maker but stop the blame. It's counter-productive and it is actually disengaging your employees.

Middle-managers are measured by their department's engagement and productivity. Productivity and engagement go up when blame goes down. You have no control over what upper management does so get over it and get on with the work you're here to do. 
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Training - Killing Time or Filling Minds

Professional development courses that play like Kindergarten class having you build newspaper towers, run scavenger hunts or other useless games are not courses you should be paying big money for nor taking them incredibly seriously. It might be fun and the facilitator might have some lame "creativity" excuse but training is not play time - unless you work in a toy store. Professional development is serious. Do you want people who are more adept at the job or someone who is more playful?

The sad truth is that many of these play-date activities have made their way into so-called "leadership" courses - not to mention "team" building. The people in your company are looking to their leaders to lead - not play when the economy tanks or when sales drop or when your competition surpasses you.

Trainers, with little else to offer in the way of substance and learning, are incorrectly teaching you that it's OK to play. Look, I'm all for blowing off a little steam now and then and getting monotony out of the way but why do you have to pay someone to have your people play with blocks or dollar-store novelties or sticky notes or voting each other off of the island?

Just going out on a limb here: do you think that this playtime trend in training has anything to do with recent survey results that show workers waste 2.09 hours a day on the job? I'm just saying.

Let me offer a really solid piece of team-building, corporate attitude and culture strategy: stop making all of the decisions unilaterally. Give your team a real organizational problem or issue that is affecting your organization right now and let them come together and solve it. They will. In fact, you will probably be surprised at how good they are at it.

In the meantime, building paper airplanes or gluing new pictures to a dream-collage are not going to make you or your people any more creative or successful. It will not improve your corporate culture or the ability of your salespeople to sell more, your customer service people to serve better or your managers to manage better. A one-time creativity exercise does not magically unlock the brain's creativity for eternity as it applies to problem-solving in the corporate environment.

The truth is, most of the training involving arts and crafts, hugs, personal drawing, paste or chanting together really may only have about an hour of really solid information spread over a whole day. Never insult your people by treating their training as a play-date - if you want them to take you, the company and the work seriously.
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Change Is Coming To Corporate Culture

There are a host of changes coming to your corporate Culture as the workplace demographics and dynamics change. Thinking that you can operate in the same way you did ten years is going to get your butt kicked.

Sales & Service
51% of your customers choose to do business with you because of attitude factors: your friendliness, your approachability, your after-sale service, your exchange and return policies and how easy you make it for people to do business with you. But a lesser percentage buy from you because you know your product. In every sales situation, there are two sales being made: 1) you - if you don't do a good job of selling you and offering good reasons why people should do business with you, there is little chance that you will get the chance to make the second sale, which is 2) the product. Train your people in being better people. It's far more important than having facts, figures and ammunition in their heads. I would rather hear a sales rep say, "let me get right back to you with that information," and then get right back to me with it. We like to deal with people with good attitudes and abhor bad attitudes and smarmy "know it all" attitudes. Training of the future is going to need to focus on building better attitudes toward customers and not so much on knowing everything.

Absenteeism
1,000,000 North American workers are home sick today because of "stress." Stress is caused when you don't believe that you can handle what is in front of you today, can't meet deadlines, feel overwhelmed, stretched too thin, etc. All of it is perception. People perceive they have too much to handle and that's why they feel stressed. So their attitude is that work is stressful and they get sick because of an attitude they have developed about work. If you would just help change the attitude, you would lower your absenteeism rate.

Values
A recent survey showed that up to 40% of Gen Y (Millennials) workers are prepared to use lying, cheating, backstabbing and even blackmail to get ahead. They don't see anything wrong with it. Four out of ten new workers think that way. Wake up people. Are you addressing this new worker's attitudes towards getting ahead? Think about it, many have grown up with a steady diet of reality TV and all many of them know about operating in the real world is what they have seen watching the contestants on Survivor backstabbing each other to win the million. In their own real world (which isn't real at all - it's mostly virtual), when they anger a friend, the biggest consequence is being removed as a friend from someone's Facebook page. Values and attitudes in the workplace are changing.

Productivity
Having computers on desks connected to the Internet is a double-edged sword. People need it to do their work but it's just as easy to get sucked into the abyss called YouTube - and be lost there for hours. The average worker today wastes 2.09 hours of productivity doing things like surfing the net or shopping - especially as we get closer to Christmas. Managers knew some time was being wasted and thought it was 0.94 hours. The truth is, workers waste more than twice the amount of time managers thought they were wasting. Why? Two reason: 1) they don't feel they are paid enough (kind of a work-to-rule campaign - I'm only being paid 75% of what I think I'm worth, I'm only going to work 75% of my day), and 2) an attitude of apathy - they just don't care about the job, the work, the responsibility, the customers or the company. They've got an attitude of doing just enough to not get fired.

Management
The future worker does not want to have all of their decisions made unilaterally. The Gen Y worker needs to be involved in the planning and strategy development. Locking them out of the process is only going to dump your corporate culture program on its ear. If you want to engage people in their work, engage them in the decision-making. If employees believe they have a hand in deciding the corporate direction, they are more likely to help you deliver it. Employee engagement's problem is nothing more than a separation of today's Gen Y and Gen X attitudes clashing with old-school, top-down employment hierarchies. Workplaces that have found ways to include their people in critical decisions (not social fluff like Christmas parties) of the day-to-day workings of the organization have a much higher engagement rate because their employees "own" the work. Change your attitude that there is only one person who makes decisions. You have a lot of bright minds working for you. Ignoring that fact is only going to send them someplace else where they will be recognized. 89% of managers think their people leave for another job that pays more money. Truth: only 12% of employees leave for more money. The rest leave because of an attitude of believing management is out of touch with what they want.

Culture
Your corporate culture is changing whether you think you have a handle on it or not. No culture "program" is going to stem that change. Culture is nothing more than the collective attitude of your workplace anyway. If you want to improve your culture, then you must change the prevailing attitudes that are creating your culture right now. Culture is how your employees see your organization. When you see your employees differently, they see the workplace differently and that's when the corporate attitude/culture changes.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE

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Connectedness Attitude And The Environment

I'm as environmentally conscious as the next guy. Uh no, let me take that back. Most people are so average that they don't think about the environment until someone tells them to think about it. So no, I guess not. I am not like the next guy. I think for myself which leads me to my thought here today: why would an organization launch an environmental initiative when their corporate culture is stagnating, their mediocre service sucks and their apathetic staff turnover rate is high?

I mean, before you clean up an ocean, wouldn't you want to first clean the beach?

Organizations are focusing on environmental policies and bringing eco-speakers into their organizations. Now, I don't have a problem with protecting the environment. In fact, I applaud it. But if you are going to tackle the environment, shouldn't you make sure you've cleaned up your environment first; your work environment - your corporate culture?

Aren't there a whole lot of more important issues that need addressing during an economic downturn? Have your people been reassured about their future? Have you halted the waning morale eroding your corporate culture? How about stopping your high-turnover or helping management find a direction? What about your incredibly ordinary customer service? Shouldn't you be developing a sense of greatness that changes people's lives (both your employees and your customers) before you attempt to change the world?

Come on, focus on the crucial things first: making sure there are jobs to go to tomorrow so that you are able to lend a hand to the environment. Make sure you are operating from a position of strength with your eco-program so that you don't have to slash the eco-program budget later because you were focused on the wrong things for survival.

This could end up as a colossal resource waster: trying to pursue an eco-friendly direction for a company with a bad attitude - people who bring plastic water bottles to work each day and still toss them out instead of recycling but don't care that they do it. You've got to change the unworkable attitudes inside the building before you can convert them to eco-evangelists. Don't get ahead of yourself. Make your people "service evangelists" first. Clean up problem areas before you create new ones. Fix the attitudes that will undermine your eco-program before you try to establish an environmental Attitude of Connectedness.

I agree all should be on-board the environmental bandwagon. But if your organization is achieving mediocre results, shouldn't your focus be on becoming an organization of greatness first - an organization whose example others will follow? Face it, if the culture stinks, you'll end up with an eco-program of mediocre results too.

Launching an eco-program while your people fear for their future makes you look completely out of touch with what your people want and need. That's not a message you want to send if you want to attract and keep good people, increase your customer base and become an organization of greatness.

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