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Read a fascinating book recently:  “The no asshole rule: building a civilised workplace and surviving one that isn’t.” by Robert Sutton.

Conflict in the workplace is a common topic, but what I particularly liked is Sutton’s exploration of individuals who cause conflict, and just exactly what they do to undermine performance.

Now apologies for those of you with sensitivities to language. Sutton himself explains how he, when asked by Harvard Business Review, to write about “mean-spirited people” in the workplace, felt using the AH terminology would be unacceptable, and yet using words such as “jerk” or “bully” or “difficult people” wouldn’t  have the same emotional resonance  for readers.

To his surprise, HBR not only published  his article using the word, he receive a deluge of responses from  readers, many of which told stories of real experiences with workplace bullies, tyrants and mean spirited people .

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Many of you may know Daniel Pink’s new book: “Drive; the surpising truth about motivation”,  is due soon.

I can’t wait to read this one when it comes out!

For those, like me, interested in motivating others, reserve your copy now!

I’ve just stumbled on a video of Pink’s discussing the research. There’s some great quotes in there. My favourites?

“There’s a mismatch between what science knows and what business does”.

“Those 20th century rewards/motivators we think are the natural part of business, do work, but only in a surprisingly narrow band of circumstances.”

“Those “if–then” type rewards (carrot stick) only destroy creatvity.”

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What does the word “culture” mean to you?

If someone asked you to describe the culture of your team or organization, how would you answer them?

Not sure how you’d answer? Maybe you’ve never really thought about it that much – and you wouldn’t be alone. And yet every day, in hundreds of organizations you’ll hear people talk about:

What’s your employee turnover like? Do you tend to keep staff (particularly the good ones!), or is staff turnover an issue for you?

Is there a relationship between customer service and employee loyalty?

In the third Undercover Boss programme last night they followed Paul Fisher,, Head of the Jockey Club, as he went undercover to try to understand what was going on at the coal face of his organisation.

Now, this is a business which has few full-time staff. The vast majority of it’s staff are casual, part-time labour, which brings with it its own set of problems in terms of management and  customer service.

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I’ve recently been learning from my mentors how to do some of the techie stuff which has been scaring me for months! Learning how to navigate my wordpress site; learning the intricacies of Facebook and Twitter, and LinkedIn  and a whole new platform which will help me develop on-line programmes and resources to support new manager training.

Learning these things has been a little daunting, but with a little patience and persistence, a good coach, and some practise, I’m getting there!

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Found myself on my soap box this morning when I saw this question from Ankhur Chadha posted on Linked In from one of the groups in which I’m a member!

“We are starting an Employee Motivation Survey. Please share your ideas and insight on Do’s and Dont’s.

1. Necessity of conduction this survey.
2. Pre & Post planning of survey.
3. What should be the Sample size.
4. how to motivate employees to take part in the survey.

Would also like senior members to comment on the analysis and post analysis part of the survey.”

Here’s my response!

David Clark, 60 year old UK CEO of the Best Western brand, goes undercover for 5 days to see what’s really happening at grass roots level, and is shocked and humbled in equal measure.

If ever a programme helps to portray the everyday heroes who exist in our businesses, this is it: a talented young chef, struggling with long hours, understaffed, under-resourced and no guidance or encouragement yet still turning out excellent food; a loyal, committed and conscientious head housekeeper, whose quiet, unassuming, yet inspiring leadership kept her team behind her; a cheerful, and brilliant head of restaurant,whose ability to build rapport with customers and staff alike was simply stunning   and a groundsman who, despite recovering from serious illness, worked punishing  hours on minimum wage because of understaffing, yet still remained cheerful, conscientious and committed.

This rises to £9000 or around $13,250 for senior managers.

Whew! Don’t know about you, but as a practising manager myself, as well as a trainer and coach for other managers, losing even one good member of staff represents not just forking out a considerable sum of money to advertise, recruit and train any new staff, but a considerable amount of time and hassle for me, whilst I try to keep my eyes on the ball in terms of sales and customer satisfaction.

OK, so the recession may have represented an opportunity for you to re-shape the look of your team. Maybe you’ve had the unpleasant job of making some staff redundant, or having to discuss moving them to a different role, which they may, or may not be excited about.

One thing’s for sure: the staff who are left will feel a bit “jittery”.  How they feel may well be dependent on how you’ve managed any cuts, and on your relationship with your staff, but it’s highly likely loyalty is probably the last word on their minds, and their level of engagement may have plummeted, with the inevitable dip in performance too.

So how do you, as a manager, keep your team “on-side”, minimise “jitters”, and save yourself the hassle and high costs of losing talented people? Is it possible to have your top performers recognise they are still in the best place and not be tempted by competitor offers?

Whilst you can’t get it right all the time – I believe you can get it right more of the time. Here are three key actions you can take right now, which will have a massive impact on staff morale, motivation and engagement, and which will reduce the likelihood they will leave you first chance they get.

1. Get your staff talking!
   What do I mean by this? One of the most destructive things for staff motivation and engagement is negative gossip and attitudes. And you can be sure, if you’ve been cutting back lately, if you’ve been changing team structures, if you’ve been making some people redundant, then you’ll have some incredibly fertile ground for negative gossip, negative attitudes and negative behaviours.

   The trouble is, in most cases, it’s done behind your back – in the canteen; over the water-cooler, or in the pub after work.

   Negative talk breeds negative thinking. It’s contagious. It spreads. Even staff who you really value, who are solid performers and who you’d hate to lose, start to feel the negativity and lose some of their “sparkle” for the job.

   You need to channel this energy into something more positive – but how?

   You need to give people an opportunity to talk about their concerns and their opinions about what it’s like to work with you out in the open – but in a way which is non-threatening, and constructive.

   One simple, quick and non-threatening way to do this is through a team survey – but I don’t mean the complicated surveys some organisations embark upon, where it takes months to set up, weeks to get people to fill in, and more months to get the results!

   I mean a “quick and dirty” survey – something you can implement and have results back for within weeks, if not days. Something which just gives you a starting point for a team meeting where you can get people talking. (see below for help choosing a survey)

2. Set up a team meeting to discuss the results of your survey!
   Make it a priority to pull your team together within 2-4 weeks of the survey results coming in. Set aside at least 90 minutes. If you can, see if you can engage a couple of your team to co-facilitate the meeting with you.Have two flip charts at the ready where you’ve captured the top-line results of:
   What we’re doing well                                                      What we’re concerned about

   Then say you know they completed the survey anonymously, but that you genuinely want to understand more about what people feel about their work, so you’d like someone to start the ball rolling. Ask someone to say if they gave a high score and why. Then ask for people to speak out if they gave any low scores and why.

   I guarantee someone will speak up! And once they do, others will follow. Allow time. Reassure your staff this is not about judging; nor about recording any of this formally. This is about understanding that times have been hard recently, and wanting to genuinely look at how we can make things better.
   Keep your language to “we”, not “I”. And be prepared to hear stuff which might be critical of you. (How can you give constructive feedback to others if you won’t take any yourself?)

   Have your co-facilitators capture some of the main points on blank flip charts.

   Tip: Sometimes, once people do start to open up, this could be in danger of becoming a long-winded moaning session! Be clear at the outset you want all the moans out – but you’re allowing a set amount of time – say 20 minutes. Don’t allow people to go on about a specific thing – just encourage them to put the “moan” into one sentence – so you can capture it on the flip chart! This helps keep focus and brevity!

3. 3. Agree an action plan!
   Now for the most important part. Explain the objective is to make things better for people at work.
   Ask them to vote for the issues they feel need addressing first, from the “concerns” flip sheet. Take no more than two “concerns”. Explain if you’re going to make any real progress, it’s no good biting off more than you can chew, and you’ll come back to the other stuff later.

   Then, if you’ve a biggish team, of say 6 or more, split them into groups of between 3 and 5. Give each group a “concern” – and ask them to come up with at least 5 actions which might help reduce this “concern”. Allow at least 30 minutes for this – let them go for a coffee; break out into other areas and have some nice buns/fruit or other “goodies” available to “feed” their imaginations!

   When time’s up, bring them back together, share the ideas and agree at least one or two actions you will take forward.

   Encourage both a team action and individual actions. Have each team member write down one thing they will do differently to help improve that “concern” – and have them share that action with a colleague who will hold  them accountable!

   Finally, thank them for their honesty and their participation – and agree how you will measure improvements, and when you will meet again.  

I promise you, this simple strategy will take up little time but can totally re-energise team morale and employee satisfaction – and will help you build strong working relationships and better staff loyalty.

It’s not just the fact that a boss can make your life really difficult, their influence may undermine some of the good stuff you’re trying to do to improve performance, motivation and engagement within your team too.

Unfortunately, 9 staff had to be treated in hospital – so perhaps this didn’t work out quite as the company hoped! (No serious injuries – but I’m sure this event will be remembered for all the wrong reasons for many months to come!)

Now I’ve done a firewalk myself with the US coach, Tony Robbins.  I  didn’t get hurt – nor did any of the 12000 people who also joined in that evening – and yes, the event was inspiring and motivational – but would I recommend it as an effective motivation strategy or technique?