If you’re like me you’ve bought books that were going to change your life, make you a better employee, a better boss, a better parent, achieve great riches, become a better athlete, learn a language………do I need to go on?

And if you’re like me most of those books did not achieve those things – or at least it didn’t happen the way the book or author led you to believe. There were probably some great pearls of wisdom or some nuggets that helped you move forward, and your intentions were good, but alas…..things did not happen as fast or the way you had hoped. 

Then there were the books that people gave me because they wanted me to promote their business or perhaps I was quoted in the book or a story/chapter included something about me. Nice, but I usually don’t run around going “Look. Look. I’m in here!”

Right now I’ve got six books sitting on my desk; these are books that have made a difference; I keep them on my desk as reference/textbooks. They do change over time. But the rest, they sit in the closet (see picture) and I look at them wondering if I will ever do anything with them. You hate to throw them out; after all you spent money on them; or someone gave them to you as a gift; or maybe the answer to life really is inside one of them.

And then I realized maybe the answer to life for someone else was in those books. Or maybe they are a great way to reconnect with a friend. Or what a way to let a client know you are thinking about them. Or an employee to engage with a customer? Or maybe you had a brief conversation with an audience member who shared some interest, dream or idea with you and in your closet is a resource or something that might be of use?

So usually two times a month I send someone a book. That’s 24 in a year. I probably won’t run out of books before I die but hey, it’s a good feeling to know I’m making room for the next book. It’s an even better feeling to know I may have just made someone else a very rich, happy or successful person.

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I read lots of articles, blog entries and tweets about the importance of offering employees flexible hours in order to improve employee morale, employee engagement and productivity; and create a better employee experience. And I agree. I have seen the benefits first hand and have had many conversations with employees and employers who embrace such a policy.

But what if we went one step further……………

What if the policy was just “Offer Flexibility.”

You are given a job or a task with a date it is due:

• You work the hours you want
• You work from where you want
• You utilize the resources that make the most sense for you; without compromising the organization
• You seek guidance and help from people outside the organization (without giving away proprietary information, trade secrets, etc.) where you think it would be helpful
• You pop in to the office to update and seek mentoring and guidance when necessary

Could it work? Sure it can. Look at all the successful virtual companies out there; some where employees are hired over the phone and never even meet the boss face-to-face. It also gives the employee a feeling of being somewhat of an entrepreneur which so many companies say they are looking for when hiring.

Will this work for everyone? Of course not. Some employees need structure or need to show up somewhere for the camaraderie and socialization that an office provides. But for those who are entrepreneurial spirits and project oriented this has great power. It might also provide a heck of a real estate savings.

So here are two questions to think about:

1. As a boss, are you willing to let go of the reigns and give it a try?
2. As an employee, do you think you have the discipline to deliver without a structured environment?

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I was watching a video this morning where a young man called his job “The Worst Job in the World.” (You can watch the video here.) It got me thinking about what is the worst job in the world and who has it.

Several years ago I read an article about a job that involved pulling a sheet through the jungle to collect ticks. That sounds like a possible “worst.” There is the Dirty Jobs show on television; those might apply. I’ll bet a lot people might classify their job, at times, as the worst.

What I liked about the video was that the young man acknowledged it is not a great job and decided he wanted to do something about it. He didn’t wait for others to do it for him. He and his peers made the job fun. They turned something boring into a performing art of sorts.

In the end I’ll bet we could all find a reason to classify our job at times as the worst. If you’re feeling that way what can you do or have you done to change it? I’d love to hear from you.

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And speaking of worst jobs……The Recess At Work Day System is a great way to inspire the creative juices to make your workplace a bit more fun and productive. Save 20% if you order by May 13, 2011. Visit the Really Fun Products link

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Back in early March I wrote a piece about Verizon Wireless and how 15 years of Customer Loyalty was killed with one bad customer experience. You can read that piece here.

So my 5th piece of crap Samsung Fascinate stopped working this morning and once again it was determined not to be a user problem but a manufacturer problem.

However Verizon did the right thing this time. Without the slightest bit of hesitation the tech support person said “let’s get you out of this phone once and for all.” No gimmicks. No having to speak to 18 supervisors. No suggesting we go for #6. Yep, 5 strikes and you’re out! (As a reminder #1 was purchased on 12-20-10.) A few computer strokes later and it was done.

But here’s what I loved about Amber:

• She didn’t feel tied to a policy
• She was willing to make something work despite the fact that my account was eligible for nothing in terms of an upgrade
• She seemed genuinely excited about helping me and solving my issue

At the end of the day it comes down to this:

1. Employees first – let them feel empowered to do what is the right thing; even if it might not be the policy. There are always exclusions/exceptions.
2. Customers second – we won’t put up a fight and get all annoyed with you when your employees are genuinely working to solve our problems and use some common sense.

Now of course it did take 5 strikes before someone said enough is enough. But hey, my loyalty level just rose a whole bunch of notches because someone pretty down on the chain of command “gets it!”

And I suggest any leader/manager/CEO/business owner think about this a bit from time to time:

Are any of your policies holding employees back from being great and offering a truly amazing customer experience?

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You walk into a business you frequent regularly. During your experience you get into a conversation with an employee about a policy that you may or may not agree with. You make a suggestion for that employee to pass along. To which the response from the employee is:

Management doesn’t want to hear from us, it is best that it come from you (or something to this point).

Then it is suggested to you that you go home and call some number or visit some website to share your idea/suggestion/frustration.

Well here’s what I start thinking:

• What has happened at that company that employees feel that information they pass along goes nowhere?
• Is it that the employee is lazy and just doesn’t want to be bothered with taking down some information and passing it along? Perhaps it is taking away from his or her texting time
• Has the employer started assuming these were employee complaints/suggestions and not those of a customer?
• Do I really want to do business with a company that makes employees feel this way or with employees that are just lazy?

For a company to be great three things need to occur:

1. You have employees who care about their jobs, love their jobs and feel like their ideas and opinions matter
2. You have customers who love your products and your employees.
3. You have a management team that is engaged with employees and customers

Is your company great? Or do you need some help? Perhaps I can help.

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Imagine if you showed up to work one day and started derailing the credibility of a coworker by either saying they were involved in some corporate cover-up or you felt they were incompetent.

So much for ever getting that promotion. So much for being invited to the CEO’s house for a weekend retreat. Heck, you might even find yourself looking for a job. At the very least they are words that will follow you for your remaining time at that company. You sure as heck ain’t getting the Employee of the Month Parking Space or the Most Engaged Employee Award.

So CIA Director Leon Panetta is saying that Pakistan was either involved or incompetent regarding Osama Bin Laden’s whereabouts. Harsh words. Words that you know are going to come back and haunt him or require him to defend. But the reality is that he said what he is truly feeling at this moment; based on the information he has available. And if he’s wrong a great wordsmith will come along and make it all better; kinda like the employee who says words out of turn. He or she sits there and says well what I really was trying to say was……

Do people speak too soon? I guess. Do organizations hold back information forcing us to make opinions and accusations that are unjustified? Probably. Does communication in general suck in a lot of organizations? You bet it does.

But what if he’s right? What if you’re right about that coworker?

Saying what’s on your mind is not a matter of right or wrong; it’s a matter of opening up dialog to find answers, new ideas and new successes. So whether you’re involved or incompetent it’s all good; as we’ll find out soon enough.

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June 16^th is Recess At Work Day!

Do you have your

RECESS AT WORK IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM?

Since its inception in 2004 the 3^rd Thursday in June has been designated as Recess At Work Day. Acknowledged by Chase’s Calendar of Events (the Official Bible of Unofficial Holidays) and worldwide media, Recess at Work Day has evolved over the years. It has evolved because of people like you; people who have embraced the holiday and used it to make your organization a better place for employees, volunteers and members.

What started out as a day of fun in 2004; a day of schoolyard games; has morphed into a day to recharge teams, celebrate success, and offer a chance for some learning. It has evolved into what I call an opportunity to RECESSitate any group, team, customers or business.

Look Who Has Participated:

Over the years I have hula hooped at Harford Hospital, celebrated the successes of school cafeteria workers, and enjoyed breakfast while delivering a fun professional development program for McDonalds Corporation. As you can see Recess At Work Day is good for any industry who understands the importance of morale, engagement, and productivity; any organization that values its number one asset – its people. 1-800-MATTRESS seized the marketing opportunity and invited their customers to come take a Recess and try out a new mattress.

The definition of RECESSitate is to undergo a period of learning, recharging or celebrating; versus the definition of Resuscitate which is to bring back from the dead. That’s what Recess At Work Day is all about; that’s what this system is all about. It’s about RECESSitating your organization before the need for resuscitating. The benefits of RECESSitating or a RECESSitation as I like to call it, include, but are not limited to:

• Improved employee morale
• Increased employee engagement
• Higher productivity
• Stronger work teams
• Better Communication
• Stronger Leadership/Grooming Leadership
• A more fun workplace

And given the last few years, don’t you think your organization deserves some time to have a little fun with a purpose? To have their hard work and loyalty recognized.

The CEO will kill me if we’re outside playing:

In response to people looking for Recess At Work Day ideas that have organization value (words the CEO likes to hear) while also being fun I have developed the RECESS AT WORK IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM. Included are 12 opportunities for you to do just that; 12 Recesses, RECESSitations, employee morale boosters, employee engagement strategies, creativity & innovation ideas, or whatever you choose to call them. No, you don’t have to do all 12 at once. Let Recess At Work Day be the beginning of something bigger; perhaps a year-long approach to RECESSitating your company; to making it an even better place for employees as well as customers.

There are so many ways to use this system:

• Use it one activity at a time; perhaps to tackle an organization challenge
• Give different departments an activity that might help them move forward, break through a barrier or bond
• Let one department choose the activity for another department
• Challenge a neighboring company in your vicinity to a little competition/collaboration
• Commit to a monthly or quarterly Recess to recharge, celebrate or learn something
• Use the shorter activities as a meeting ice breaker

Are you getting the idea?

Committing to periodically (perhaps monthly) incorporating a RECESSitation when it looks like your company is heading towards needing a Resuscitation might be just what the morale and turnover statistics need.

June 16^th will be here before you know it. Don’t be one of those companies who send me an email that day saying I wish I had known or I wish I had some ideas. I’ve done that for you and am offering you a savings if you pre-order now!

RECESSitate today and you might not have to Resuscitate tomorrow.

It’s time to Learn, Recharge and/or Celebrate.

But most importantly, it’s time to have some fun instead of talking about it!

Happy Recess. And please do not hesitate to contact me with comments, thoughts, ideas, successes, or just to say hi!

CLICK HERE TO SAVE 20% during the PRE-ORDER PERIOD!

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Years ago I supervised a guy named Adam. Adam frustrated the crap out of me. He just didn’t seem to pick things up as quickly as I had wished – or should I say as quickly as I seemed to pick up things. I would see Adam and my stomach got into knots. Simple tasks took him two and three times as long as I had expected. I slowly started to distance myself from Adam. When I looked at Adam I saw ineptness, incompetence and a big “L” on his forehead. I found myself doing Adam’s work in order to complete our one project every month – to issue the financial report/book for our division.

Yep, I was a horrible person. I was also young, needed to grow up and figure some things out. Notice I say “was.” I was 28 years old when I figured a lot of stuff out. How old are you? Have you invested in yourself, your crap and who you are? You’re worth it. Do it.

One morning I sat down with Adam in the cafeteria. He was eating breakfast alone. I asked him what he did the night before. His eyes lit up. We had a great conversation about the one thing that excited him….softball.

Seems that Adam was in a couple of softball leagues. He lived for softball. It was clear that getting out of work at the end of the day, on time, was critical as he had a one hour drive home. And so the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. It wasn’t that Adam wasn’t grasping things; Adam was getting frustrated as the end of the day drew closer. Handing him work at 3:00 PM just sent him into a downward spiral. As he rushed to get out of the office by 4:30 his work suffered (and my stomach knots got tighter). Mistakes and errors were abundant. Was his not being able to grasp simple things because of being distracted by the clock? 

So where possible I gave him a To-Do list every morning. I did my best to keep him from spiraling out of control with end of day requests and deadlines. I asked about softball on a regular basis. When things got a little crazy I let him know early in the day if I thought getting out on time was going to be a reality for the day. Did it work all of the time? Of course not. But for the most part it did. His work quality improved. His attitude improved. He was actually taking initiative and looking for improvements and efficiency opportunities in getting our work done. And believe it or not my attitude improved.

A better employee experience starts with each and every person taking some responsibility for moving the organization forward; reaching out and bringing people together and not further dividing groups, divisions, teams and individuals.

Are you taking an interest in your employees, co-workers, perhaps even your boss? Want a more engaged workforce? Improved morale? Increased productivity? Take an interest in the people you work with – TODAY!

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• Why does the customer get mad at the employee who is following the company policy and not the people who came up with the policy?
• Why does the waiter get stiffed/shorted on his or her tip, after giving you incredible service, just because the kitchen screwed up your meal?
• How can a manager who ignores/breaks the rules on a regular basis talk poorly of/disqualify someone who ignores their rule of “no phone calls” when trying to fill an open position?
• Why do people just quit a job versus going into the boss and saying I’m disengaged, miserable and looking at my options? Afraid they’re gonna fire you?? You were gonna quit!

I’m sure there are more. I’m sure you can add your own. These have been my observations and discussions with people over the last few days.

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I just received one of those forwarded emails about how to fix the US Congress. In case you haven’t had the opportunity of seeing some version of it, good for you; but here is the version I received (skip down if you don’t need to be bored).

Congressional Reform Act of 2011
1. Term Limits.
12 years only, one of the possible options below..
A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in
office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

3.. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social
Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social
Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

4. Members of Congress can purchase their own retirement plans, just as
all other Americans may do.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional
pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in
the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American
people.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective
1/1/2012. The American people did not make this contract with
Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s),
then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only
take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message.
Maybe it is time.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!! If you agree with the above, pass it
on. If not, just delete

Now since the person who sent it to me decided not to BCC the list I sent back the following reply:

Wouldn’t this be the smarter thing to do: 

Send this to your local Congressmen (daily until they respond) and ask them to defend why they don’t agree with this?

I receive these types of emails all the time yet no one has the balls to spearhead the cause. So passing it around and doing nothing makes us all as lame as our Congress.

So maybe I’m not Mr. Popular this morning with a whole bunch of people, but that is the reality. It’s not only the reality about how we may or may not feel about our political system, but it also applies to organizations. Employees do this all the time. They talk around the problems and issues; not to the problems and issues (if they even are issues.) They talk about people; not to people.

A long, long time ago I worked for a Corporate Travel Service. Our Controller, to put it mildly, was clueless. I felt like he was the Pied Piper and I was one of the rats being led to my doom with each move he made. He gave us busy work; things to do that were in complete opposite of the direction the company was heading. He was trying to implement ideas that had seen their day. Employee morale was at an ultimate low. Employee Engagement? While not a buzzword at the time we were clearly disengaged. 

But we did the right thing and went to him first; expressed our concerns and gave him an option to defend/argue them and educate us on his decisions. Sometimes directions are changed and not communicated to the organization. Other times people are taking unconventional approaches to move the organization forward. He ignored us.

We ultimately did what needed to be done and went to his boss, with all of our concerns/facts/ideas to fix. Yes, we feared retaliation. Yes, we were worried how this might backfire. But we were UNITED; as a business unit. We recognized that talking to each other was unhealthy, unproductive and just plain stupid.

He “resigned to pursue other opportunities” 5 days later. We later found out that we did not open the floodgate; but I guess you could say we were the final nail in the coffin. Senior Execs were already on top of this. 

Talking to others does nothing. Talking to the cause of your pain and frustrations is a much smarter thing to do – for everyone. There is no loser; and then the right plan of attack can be assembled.

That’s how you fix any broken organization.

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