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Editor: Dr. Wolf J. Rinke
Publisher: Wolf Rinke Associates, Inc.
(c) 2006 Wolf J. Rinke
Vol. 10 No. 1, February/March 2007
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IN THIS ISSUE
1. NEWS YOU CAN USE
2. MONEY SAVING OFFER--FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
3. PRACTICE KID NOT KITA--Part I
4. HEAR WOLF HOWL--I MEAN SPEAK
5. HUMOR BREAK
6. ABOUT THE EDITOR
7. PRIVACY STATEMENT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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REALITY CHECK
"Leaders often forget that people arrive on the scene predisposed
to do a good job."
--Lionel Tiger
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1. NEWS YOU CAN USE
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MUTLTITASKING DOES NOT WORK
According to Linda Stone, a former executive at both Microsoft and Apple,
most of us are in a state "continuous partial attention" where
our attention is constantly divided among all the electronic devices
that are supposed to make us more productive. How bad is it? According
to a study by professors at the University of California employees at
two high tech companies spent an average of 11 minutes on a project
before being interrupted or moving onto something else. After the interruption
it took an average of 25 minutes for them to work their way back to
the original task. Another study found that 2.1 hours per day is lost
to interruptions. According to Jordan Grafman, chief of the cognitive
neuro science section of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders
and Stroke, the only problem with multitasking is that it does NOT work.
What the brain really does, according to Grafman, is "a rapid toggling
among tasks rather that simultaneous processing." So contrary to
what most of us believe or do, doing several activities at once, for
example, answering an e-mail while listening to a presentation makes
both activities LESS productive. The only exception, pairing one activity
with another that you do on auto-pilot, such as walking.
ACTION STEPS
Separate the workday into blocks of activities--I call that "chunking"--and
do like activities at one time. For example do all of your e-mails twice
a day--once in the morning and once before you go home. Also block out
at least one hour a day on your calendar for thinking or decision making.
During that time turn off ALL distractions--yes that includes your Blackberry--and
focus on only one thing at a time. And work on that one item until it
is done. And remember you are not nearly as important as you think you
are.
Source: J. Averill-Snell, "Is Multitasking Counterproductive?"
www.researchdept@hr.com, Issue 346, 1/26/07.
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2. MONEY SAVING OFFER--FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
=================================================== Don't Oil the Squeaky
Wheel and 19 Other Contrarian Ways to Improve Your Leadership Effectiveness,
by W. J. Rinke. McGraw Hill, Price: $14.95.
"Tells you what you need to know to win in the game of leadership
in these turbulent times."
--J. W. Marriott, Jr., Chairman of the Board and President, Marriott
International, Inc.
POWERFUL CD: How to Motivate Employees to Achieve Peak Performance.
Publisher Price: $19.95.
This LIVE audio by yours truly (~60 mins.) will teach you how to build
a positive organizational culture that will achieve quantum leaps in
performance, productivity and profitability.
Both book and CD--$24.90 + s/h. SAVE $10.00!
------------------------- Offer expires 4/1/2007 -------------------------------
Log onto www.wolfrinke.com/SpecialSW.htm or call 800-828-9653. Mention
this ad when ordering by phone!
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3. PRACTICE KID NOT KITA--Part I
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When you get down and dirty--and who doesn't want to do that--there
are only two ways to manage people: KITA (kick in the ass)--fear. .
. or KID (kick in desire). Fear causes employees to move away from something--which
does not work. (Quick, don't think of a green dinosaur! What did you
think of? I bet you thought of a green dinosaur. I know I've tried it
with thousands of audience members.) Plus the plain old truth is you
can't get away with it anymore, not even in the military. Note this
headline on the front page of the Washington Post: "Embattled Naval
Academy Chief Resigns." The reason: Vice Admiral Richard Naughton
"had embarrassed and humiliated subordinates with his leadership
style. . . " (Having served in the US Army Medical Department,
and retired as a LTC, that is a real WOW to me!) Now stop and think
for a moment, if a Vice Admiral in the Navy can't get away with KITA,
what makes you think you can? The other way to lead people--KID--gets
people to move toward something. And that works!
I like to ask participants: How many of you believe that fear works?
It's amazing, about 30-45% of the hands go up. (And those are the honest
ones.) When I can be a fly on the wall--that is when I'm consulting--I
find that the number of managers who use fear as a way to motivate employees
is even higher. (I know we don't use physical KITA anymore--however
there are many subtle forms of KITA such as: No time off for you; you'll
do it because I say so; or; I decide who gets promoted and the list
goes on.)
To have participants discover consequences of fear I like to do a role-play.
It involves a Boss--the kind of person that is spelled backwards. .
. double SOB--usually played by me and a volunteer, lets call him Jason,
who plays the role of my direct report. We set it up so that the boss--me--is
visiting Jason's office. While walking through the office I notice a
wad of paper on the floor. I turn to Jason and say: "Pick that
up." Jason responds: "Do I look like I'm one of the cleaning
crew? That's housekeeping's job, not. . . " (Well you catch my
drift). At that point I turn to Jason and say emphatically--some would
call it nasty: "Pick that up or you can pick up your paycheck on
Monday." At that point Jason of course picks it up. Next I ask
Jason and the audience: "What are you going to do just as soon
as I leave?" Here are some of the responses:
--I'm going to get even with you. I'm going to throw more than just
paper on the floor.
--I'm going to say bad things about your "momma".
--I'm going to tell my team members what a jerk you are.
--I will kick someone else's "cat".
--I'm going to polish my resume and start looking for a new job.
The last comment is the most important, because that gets to the essence
of what happens when you use fear as a leadership model. And this is
important, so listen up! YOUR GOOD PEOPLE WILL LEAVE YOU! Your good
people, I call them water walkers, can go right across the street and
get paid more than you are currently paying them. What about the losers?
That's right, they'll stay. Are you seeing the light here? If you want
a bunch of unmotivated, demoralized, good-for-nothing slackers, go ahead
keep using fear as a management model.
Practicing any from of KITA today will surely get you in even more
trouble in this era of employee mobility where only 42% of the nation's
employees consider themselves loyal to their jobs and about a fourth
plan to stay at their current job for only two years. Why? According
to a nationwide study by the Hudson Institute and Walker Information
of Indianapolis, 56% of 2,300 employees surveyed feel that their employers
fail to show concern for them--a subversive kind of KITA--only 45% said
that their employers treat them fairly, and a mere 41% feel that their
employers trust them. Those feelings will have a debilitating impact
on your performance and bottom line.
The ramifications of KITA can however be much more serious--it can
kill. In an independent study two Princeton University professors found
broad and consistent evidence that tires made at the Decatur Firestone
plant during a period of serious labor unrest were more likely to fail
than tires made at the same plant at any other time, or at any other
Firestone plant. (The labor unrest came about when Firestone management
pressed employees for wage cuts and 12-hour shifts. Workers struck and
management brought in replacements. After more than a year, labor capitulated
and returned to work at lower wages and 12-hour shifts alongside the
replacements.) The result: "tires made during the labor strife
were 376% more likely to prompt a complaint to the National Highway
Transportation Safety Administration [and] customers with tires made
during the labor dispute were more than 250% as likely to seek compensation
from Firestone for property damage or injury blamed on faulty tires
than were customers of tires made there [the Decatur plant] during more
peaceful times." Plus the researchers estimated that ". .
. 40 lives were lost" as a result of the faulty tires. Firestone
is still paying for that KITA today.
What's the alternative to the KITA or fear model? Create desire--KID!
Back to our role-play. I ask the audience: what if people who picked
up paper from the floor could take it to a central location and get
paid $5 for every deposit? Would there be any paper on the floor? Of
course you may also not have any on your desk. That's the paradox of
leadership, every action you take as a leader almost always has an unintended
side-effect. Now paying someone $5 for picking up trash maybe a bit
extreme, however it is a great way to illustrate the importance of getting
people to want versus have to do something. Desire is a powerful motivator
that gets people to take action without the boss being around.
Want a more current example of KID? Think of Coach Tony Dungy of the
Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl XLI champions. He never curses or even
raises his voice. (I know that that sounds unreal in this day and age,
but if you watched the game you saw it for yourself.) His players report
that they deliver 111% because they do not want to let him down--not
because they are afraid of him.
In the next issue of this eNewsletter you'll discover the alternative
to KITA and what specific action steps you must take to facilitate KID
in your organization or team.
SOURCE: Based in part on Chapter 9 of my book "Don't Oil the Squeaky
Wheel and 19 Other Contrarian Ways to Improve Your Leadership Effectiveness,"
McGraw-Hill. (Get this book at a significant discount. See the special
offer in section 2.) http://www.WolfRinke.com
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4. HEAR WOLF HOWL--I MEAN SPEAK
===================================================
These full day seminars maybe open to you if your company is a member
of the Institute of Management Studies (IMS). Contact the chairperson
for specifics.
Winning Management: Building a Peak Performance Workplace
3/27/07, Toronto, Can, Mark Jesty, Toronto@ims-online.com
4/4/07, Columbus, OH, Wes Mirick, Columbus@ims-online.com
6/5/07 Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX, Mike Godwin, Dallas@ims-online.com
6/7/07 Pittsburgh, PA, Maury Burgwin, mburgwin@ims-online.com
Don't Oil the Squeaky Wheel: Innovative Strategies to Improve Leadership
Effectiveness.
10/11/07, Seattle, WA, Bill Woods, Seattle@ims-online.com
12/11/07 Hartford, CT, Art Muldowney, Connecticut@ims-online.com
NOTE: I have other "in-house" presentations scheduled in
the U.S.A., Canada and Europe. Please let me know if you are interested
to preview me or bring me into your organization at reduced expenses
when I'm scheduled to be in your area. That way we can let you know
when I'm coming your way!
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5. HUMOR BREAK
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Conversation between consultant and manager:
Consultant: Do you have a plan for retaining your best team members?
Manager: I do my best to consistently belittle them until they believe
that no other employer will hire them.
Consultant: Doesn't that demoralize them?
Manager: Yes, but if everyone is demoralized no one can tell the difference.
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6. ABOUT THE EDITOR
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Dr. Wolf J. Rinke, CSP is a highly effective management consultant and
executive coach who specializes in building peak performance organizations,
teams and individuals. He is the author of 14 books including "Don't
Oil the Squeaky Wheel and 19 Other Contrarian Ways to Improve Your Leadership
Effectiveness" and "Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies
for Building High-Performance Organizations" available at www.WolfRinke.com.
Wolf is also an internationally recognized management/leadership keynote
speaker and seminar leader who delivers customized presentations that
combine story telling, humor and motivation with specific "how
to" action strategies that participants can apply immediately to
improve their management and leadership effectiveness. You can preview
a live demo at www.WolfRinke.com.
To take advantage of Dr. Rinke's services contact us at 800-828-9653
or WolfRinke@aol.com
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7. PRIVACY STATEMENT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
===================================================
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