Book Review: The No Complaining Rule

The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work by Jon Gordon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


We all need more "Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work." Sometimes we are the center of negativity ourselves and sometimes we have a co-worker who is. Either way, this book is a strong contribution to the self-help literature.  Writing fable-style, with a lead character whose personal and professional life is headed south, Gordon gives us a way to connect our own situations with his master thesis.  Chronic venting is not productive... it creates a downward spiral of negativity that makes everyone feel rotten and does not solve the problem.  The best way to avoid this situation is to avoid it - to implement and enforce a rule against complaining in the workplace. 

Got a problem? Fine, let's talk about it.  What is your proposed solution?

I felt like I benefited a lot by reading this little tale.  I took the Are You A Complainer? Self-Assessment and got a bit of a wake up call.  I have become more aware of my tendency to grumble and moan - and I try to keep myself from wearing out others with my irritation du jour.  I've even stopped myself mid-sentence and apologized to whoever I was dumping on.  Most people are too polite to say "Thank God you get it now" but they may well be thinking it.  So, thanks Mr. Gordon.

A word of caution: I tried to introduce the rule to a group I was consulting with and it backfired big time.  I had been hired to help a work team implement a new set of rules they absolutely did not like. Many of those involved were not past being mad at the upper administration of their organization, so when I introduced the rule in an effort to give them a way to take back some control over their quality of work life, I was seen as casting blame.  In retrospect, it would have been better to hold on to this one until someone within the group surfaced the negative work atmosphere as an issue.  Live and learn.

If you like fables... and you want to work on yourself or find strategies for dealing with coworkers who suck up time and energy with endless caterwauling, pick this one up.  You'll be glad you did! Here's a link to a downloadable two-page summary of four of my favorite fable-style books with a leadership message.




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Book Review: Who Moved My Cheese?

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It probably isn't all that helpful to write a review of a book read a decade ago, but I am committed to providing a full slate of reviews of books I share with others... so here goes. 

This one was an instant classic that touched a lot of people.  It went to the top of the charts and was passed from cubicle to cubicle all over the world.  Those who wish to promote change read it on behalf of others they know and consider change resistant.  I can't test this theory without a crystal ball, but I would bet only a small percentage of people who read this little fable saw themselves in it, and made adjustments in their own lives.  I hope I'm wrong.

Some very excellent material on change management has come out in the 15 years since this was published, much of it by John Kotter and his colleagues (Our Iceberg is Melting, Leading Change, etc.) Those with a serious interest in helping to move their organizations forward will do well to settle in with one of those. Get a quick overview of four of my favorite fable-style books by clicking here for a free download.

This one still makes a great stocking-stuffer though. Share it with the Hemmers and Hawers in your life. Just don't be surprised if they give it back to you!


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I Love Ken Blanchard!

Sometimes the best way to get a simple idea across is with a simple story.  The practice of delivering business or leadership lessons in a fable is more common today than it was when Ken Blanchard first started kicking out his timeless little tales of success in the workplace.  Here are some of my favorite Blanchard tales, each of which I recommend.  Clicking on the title of each will take you to a free downloadable summary of the book written by me. 

The One Minute Manager; The Quickest Way to Increase Your Own Prosperity (with Spencer Johnson, author of Who Moved My Cheese, Berkley Books, 1981.)  Here's a quick primer for anyone who finds themselves in a management role at work even though they've never had any training.  The basic premise is that successful leaders know to moderate their style depending upon the needs of the person being managed, and upon the specific situation.  People need different things at different times from their managers... but no one should ever need more than a minute to set goals, receive praise or take in a reprimand.  I'm not sure what the subtitle is about. This book is not about personal wealth. It is about managing others.

Leadership and The One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership (with Patricia Zigarmi and Drea Zigarmi, William Morrow and Company, 1985.)  Though this one involves the same fable character as in The One Minute Manager, this book is denser and more complex than the others in the series.  Here Blanchard and his co-authors take the "Different strokes for different folks" theme a little further to describe how managers and leaders can determine what level of guidance their employees require.  By the time we get to page 94, a fairly sophisticated flow chart is presented, detailing the steps in the "Contracting for Leadership Style" process.  Once again, each employee will get the level and intensity of management they need according to their skills, motivation, and work goals.


Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service. (with Sheldon Bowles, William Morrow and Company, 1993.) Truly, truly I would like to live in a world where every business I encounter is eager to make a raving fan of me!  The strategies spelled out in this fun little tale (including a Fairy Godmother named Charlie) could be applied by any restaurant owner, nurse, cashier, case manager, realtor, or consultant.  Anyone who ever has to serve another person's needs would benefit themselves and their customers by picking this one up.  It's so easy to make the people who pay us wildly happy... why doesn't everybody do it?

Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization (with Sheldon Bowles, William Morrow and Company, 1998.)  What do squirrels, beavers and geese have in common? They all have lessons to teach us about motivation and how it influences the quality of the work we do in groups and organizations.  Squirrels busily gathering food for the winter are engaged in the worthwhile work of preparing for their future.  Beavers take on different roles and seem to leave each other to organize their work however they like.  And geese are famous for the noisy way they cheer each other on.  Unlike other Blanchard classics, this one is based on a true-life story of a factory that was saved from closure because of the business learnings embedded in the stories one middle-manager's Native American grandfather told. (And because the top manager was wise enough to listen.)



Whale Done! The Power of Positive Relationships. (with Thad Lacinak, Chuck Tompkins, and Jim Ballard, The Free Press, 2002.)  Whales don't learn to jump through hoops because they are punished when they fail to jump through hoops.  Whales learn to jump through hoops when they are rewarded for jumping through hoops.  Can it really be that simple?  Well, not quite.  But the truth is that people respond to and perform better for managers who guide them toward the actions and behaviors they seek, rather than only ever steering them away from the actions or behaviors they dislike.  Tell me what you DO want and not just what you DON'T want.  I'll get it done! 

Book Review: Getting Naked

Getting Naked: A Business Fable about Shedding the Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty by Patrick Lencioni

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Great consultants are leaders.  They develop a particular area of expertise and use it to influence their clients to make decisions that are in their organizational best interests.  Much time, effort, and money can be wasted whenever a consultant fails to persuade, which happens whenever s/he is not liked or trusted by the people in the client group.  Patrick Lencioni is a well-regarded organizational development consultant whose previous books (The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Death by Meeting, for example) address specific issues faced by consultants and client groups.  In Getting Naked, Lencioni turns his attention to the business of consulting itself and offers clear and cogent advice about how to build and maintain strong relationships with clients. 

Among the golden nuggets:
           *Always consult instead of sell. (Answer their questions and don't worry about whether you have a contract.)
           *Give away the business. (Don't worry about the so-called problem of free advice.  Just help people and eventually you'll have all the business you need.)
           *Enter the danger. (Dive into the conflict between group members. They need an outsider to help, and you are it!)
           *Take a bullet for the client. (The consultant is expendable. Let them throw you under the bus.)
           *Do the dirty work. (Type up the meeting notes, wash the whiteboard, spare the others.)

The "getting naked" idea has to do with being vulnerable, admitting when you don't know something, or acknowledging an error.  Most consultants struggle with a perceived need to be the expert all the time (after all, they are paying you money for your guidance.)  But we are people too, with weaknesses like everyone else.  It's OK - even preferable - to let others see that.  Clients are more likely to reward that than to punish it. 

Like all of Lencioni's fable-style books, this is a good read, fun and practical.  As a consultant, I'm sure glad he turned his attention to our unique situation and needs.  Very helpful. For those who are interested to learn more, you can download a free two-page summary, written by me, by clicking here.


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Book Review: Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars

Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable about Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors by Patrick Lencioni

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The thing to know about Patrick Lencioni's fables is that they are written from a consultant's perspective.  Since I am a consultant, I deeply appreciate that. It helps to have established methods and models to effectively help client organizations work through their challenges.  Both Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Death by Meeting contain excellent tools I have used to help others identify their specific needs and take steps to improve.  It's fun work. 

In my practice I have sometimes found it difficult to convince clients that their team is dysfunctional or that their meetings don't have to suck.  In those cases, I can rely on one or more of the tools in Lencioni's books to help then diagnose their issues themselves, which of course increases buy-in for whatever solutions are chosen.  With Silos, Politics and Turf Wars, however, no such tools exist.  When units within an organization are siloed (not communicating effectively) or when people are spending energy guarding their turf rather than contributing to team success, it seems particularly easy to blame others. "It's the fault of the people in that other department. They are causing the problems." That's when my client really needs me to share my observations directly and suggest strategies for changing their own habits and practices. And that's where Lencioni lets me down this time.

In the fable, an aspiring consultant identifies turf issues at play in each of the first three clients he takes on. As the story progresses, we see how he addresses the problems and reveals his method for helping them work through it.  We even get to see him fall on his face, causing real damage by ham-handedly pointing out how internal politics is holding one organization back.  Though it almost gets him fired, he pulls it out in the end.  This was an excellent caution for me as a consultant... but Lencioni then provides little guidance on how to avoid the same mistake myself.

As with all of Lencioni's works, the "model" is described in the last 30 pages.  For Silos, Politics and Turf Wars, the prescription includes 1) identifying an over-arching, organization-wide "thematic goal", 2) establishing "defining objectives," 3) developing a set of "ongoing standard operating objectives", and 4) choosing the "metrics" with which to measure progress.  All good stuff and hugely beneficial for any group of two or more people. I just wish I knew how to convince more of my clients that this is the way to go. I think the need for goals, objectives, and metrics is so obvious to Lencioni (as it is to me) that he struggles to articulate the "why" part, though that is exactly the part that people outside of our professional field need most.

Still, I am glad I read this one and I will also recommend it to anyone I think will benefit.  Maybe someday I will be the one who figures out how to explain the why part, and write that book myself. 



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Book Review: Death by Meeting

Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...about Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business by Patrick Lencioni

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Nine times out of 10, when someone says "we need our nonprofit board to be more 'business-like,'" what they are really saying is "we need these meetings to suck less."  That's one reason why I enjoyed this book.  The other reason is this: I love meetings.  Working collaboratively with others is a big thrill for me, one of my strengths, something that gets me going in the morning.  But good collaboration requires face time, sometimes in large-ish groups, and it can be difficult to convince others to set a meeting or attend one if their usual experience of meetings is a slow death.

Lencioni goes directly at the resistance so many of us have to meetings and offers straightforward, easily implementable advice for making each meeting worthwhile and productive.  Following the fictitious fable, in which our hero introduces an effective meeting method to a group of skeptical stock characters, Lencioni spells out his plan for stopping the endless string of boring and ineffective meetings that dominate most of our work lives. He encourages readers to differentiate meetings based on their desired outcome and to plan each accordingly: a daily check in with your team is a different thing than an annual planning meeting.  Don't you wish everyone in your community knew that?

It's always good to find an unread Lencioni fable on my shelf at the end of a long day when my eyes are still working well enough to read but my brain is a bit saturated.  The short story part is quickly read and easily digested, usually good for a knowing giggle or two.  The description of the method is well-organized and concise.  This is why Lencioni is one of our favorite business authors today... and why I'll keep picking up his fables as long as he keeps putting them out.  





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Change Management

Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John P. Kotter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've been reading quite a bit on change management again lately, and I still keep coming back to John Kotter.  Maybe it's the simple eight-step process, and maybe it's just the characters in the fable.  (Haven't we all met people we would nick name "No-No?")   Maybe I just like his writing style.  Either way, though I've reviewed Our Iceberg is Melting and Leading Change before, both are worth another go.  In the next few weeks I'll post reviews and summaries of three more books by Kotter, but for today let's look again at the eight steps and remember - we can't blow past any of these if we want our effort to succeed.  

1.     Establishing a Sense of Urgency

§       Examining the market and competitive realities

§       Identifying and discussing crises, potential crises, or major opportunities

2.     Creating a Guiding Coalition

§       Putting together a group with enough power to lead the change

§       Getting the group to work together like a team

3.     Developing a Vision and Strategy

§       Creating a vision to help direct the change effort

§       Developing strategies for achieving that vision

4.     Communicating a Change Vision

§       Using every vehicle possible to constantly communicate the new vision and strategies

§       Having the guiding coalition role model the behavior expected of employees

5.     Empowering Employees for Broad-Based Action

§       Getting rid of obstacles

§       Changing systems or structures that undermine the change vision

§       Encouraging risk taking and nontraditional ideas, activities, and actions

6.     Generating Short-Term Wins

§       Planning for visible improvements in performance, or “wins”

§       Creating those wins

§       Visibly recognizing and rewarding people who made the wins possible

7.     Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change

§       Using increased credibility to change all systems, structures and policies that don’t fit together and don’t fit the transformation vision

§       Hiring, promoting, and developing people who can implement the change vision

§       Reinvigorating the process with new projects, themes and change agents

8.     Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture

§       Creating better performance through customer- and productivity-oriented behavior, more and better leadership, and more effective management

§       Articulating the connections between new behaviors and organizational success

§       Developing means to ensure leadership development and succession

Book Review: Raving Fans and Gung Ho!

After spending last week with Tony Hsieh's wonderful book about the founding of Zappos, which is all about how to create a billion dollar enterprise by focusing on excellent customer service, I decided to revisit two of my favorite Ken Blanchard stories on the same subject...

Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service by Kenneth H. Blanchard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I no longer know whether I picked up this book and read it because I was irritated by the level of customer service I often observe, or if my irritation is caused by learning from this book how ridiculously easy it is to provide good service.  It's probably a cyclical thing.  This I do know for sure: more than any book I've read in years I want to hand out copies of this one.... not in restaurants or grocery stores.  Those folks tend to provide good service.  I want to hand it out at the hospital, at the nursing home, at the social services agencies where some of my family members have been treated very badly.  These are the places who take their customers for granted... who behave so abominably that one wonders how they can possibly feel any pride in their work. 

Blanchard writes fun fables, that deliver important messages in a spoonful of sugar.  This one comes complete with a golf-loving Fairy Godmother named Charlie, who introduces our open-minded hero to a series of new colleagues who can explain the simple process of ensuring an exceptional customer experience.  As with so much else in life, excellence starts with vision... a vision of the service you want to provide.  It includes developing high-quality, actionable feedback from the people you serve, and committing to continuous improvement.  Easy peasy! 

My two-page summary of both of these books is available for free download here.


Gung Ho! by Kenneth H. Blanchard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


One would not expect to find Native American philosophy in a book called Gung Ho! but that is exactly what we have here.  Thought-provoking, applicable, much-needed, and timely philosophy, embedded (because it is Blanchard and Bowles) in an easily-read story.  This time the tale is less fable and more adapted true story of a real-life newbie CEO who is sent to oversee the closure of a factory owned by a large conglomerate.  That is what she is sent to do.  What she ends up doing instead is to turn the organization around and save it. 

Key to her success was energizing the entire enterprise with the possibility that the place could be saved, and that the existing employees could do it.  The spiritual lessons taught by Native American elders paying careful attention to the work habits of squirrels, beavers, and geese infuses the process with life and purpose.  The natural Gung Ho-ness (Gung Ho-nity?) of these species make them great role models for us humans.  I am really glad I learned that.

The subtitle here is illuminating: Turn on the People in Any Organization.  Yes, it can be done.  By you.  Pick up the book (or download my summary and find out how!





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