Workplace Rudeness Causes Mistakes on the Job
Whether you see or experience it, disrespectful behavior can create errors
Jill Provost ON Jul 7, 2010 at 12:33PM
Ever had a boss who chewed you and your coworkers out on a regular basis? Turns out, it’s not just bad for morale—it’s also bad for your performance. According to an article in the July issue of British Medical Journal, rudeness in the workplace causes mistakes. And, it’s not just the work of the person who’s been chewed out that suffers. Bystanders who witness tension, arguments and cruelty also become more accident-prone. While this can be troublesome to any business, it can be dangerous when the workplace is a hospital or operating room, says author Rhona Flin, Ph.D., professor of applied psychology at the University of Aberdeen.
In a poll of 800 North American employees, 10 percent said they experience rudeness at work on a daily basis. And in a survey of surgical health-care professionals, 60 percent of respondents said they had been subjected to aggressive behavior from a nurse or surgeon within the past six months.
In her report, Flin describes a series of studies that point to the troubling effects of workplace discourteousness. In the first, a group of students were invited to take part in an experiment. Those who were insulted by the professor on the way to the test session scored significantly lower on a series of memory tests than those who were not spoken to rudely. According to Flin, human attention is driven by emotion. When an altercation gets us riled up, it prevents us from being able to concentrate on the task at hand.
The next segment tested how students would react to seeing a colleague treated brusquely. Here, the professor told a student who showed up late that he was irresponsible, couldn’t expect to hold a job down in the real world and that he could not participate in the experiment with his classmates. The students who saw the incident performed worse on their cognitive tests than a control group that had not witnessed the negative interaction.
Past research has shown that all it takes is one person’s negativity to spoil an entire work environment. According to the University of Washington study, a single toxic team member can bring down an entire organization. In a follow-up study, they also found that the vast majority of people surveyed could identify at least one bad apple that brought about dysfunction to their team.
Back before I became a company of one, I had my fair share of rude bosses and coworkers who always brought the rest of us down with them. Though I can’t say whether they made my work sloppier, their negativity definitely sapped my mental energy and made it harder to concentrate. Plus, it puts a damper on any enthusiasm you had for your job up to that point. And for me, I know that I do a much better job when I can actually enjoy the task in front of me, instead of worrying about whether I’m going to be the one who gets chewed out next.
MY THOUGHT
i hope i'm not "the" rude person. i'm sure some people think so because i'm frank and i say things people prefer not to hear. but i wonder what's worse - the frank honest person who comes out in the open (but will probably need to work on diplomacy) or the silent worker whose rudeness doesn't come out but does everything they can to undermine you by working through the grapevine.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
How to Tap into What Really Motivates You
How to Tap into What Really Motivates You
By Daniel H. Pink
O, The Oprah Magazine | December 08, 2009
The most effective incentive on the planet? It's not a pile of cash, praise or gold stars. There's a far more powerful motivation, says Daniel H. Pink, the guy who turned Oprah on to the power of right-brain thinking , and he's not talking about denial or punishment, either. Scientists are discovering a far more powerful third drive. To tap into it, you need to develop three things: a sense of mastery, autonomy and purpose. Here's how…
1. Discover Your Reservoir of Grit
The thirst for mastery is akin to the thirst for water. It keeps the soul alive. So what is the best way to cultivate a sense to accomplishment? An interesting answer recently came from a group of researchers studying new cadets at West Point to understand why some students dropped out. All the recruits were talented, but the successful students shared a certain quality: grit. Everyone has a reservoir of grit, though you can't tap it for a random endeavor. (There's a reason Dara Torres didn't become an accountant. As a kid, she was willing to swim 2000 yards at 5 a.m.—not balance her mom's checkbook.) To figure out where your reservoir of grit is, ask yourself: "What would I do for free?" Or: "What I'd really like to be doing now is ________." The answers point you toward areas where you'll naturally persevere—and improve.
2. Figure Out Where You Can Be Your Own Boss
We come into this world curious and self-directed—just look at any toddler—but we can become passive and inert in mundane situations, like when we're stuck on the low end of the office totem pole or in the cook/housecleaner/chauffeur role at home. Two business school professors, however, found that people in the least-empowered positions can develop a sense of autonomy. They studied the performance of hospital cleaners, and found that those who went beyond doing the minimum job requirements—chatting with patients or helping make nurses' tasks go more smoothly—reported an increase in job satisfaction. By reframing their duties, the janitors helped make their work more fully their own. This isn't just about taking on more responsibilities. It's about exploring what you can do differently to make your role, whatever it is, more interesting. If you reframe "I have to go the grocery store" to "I'm a player in the worldwide supply chain for food"—okay, no one but a nerd like me will do that—but you could choose to see how your choice of eggs can affect a larger system. Or you can make a game of it and see how fast you can get in and out of there. Either way, you're not at the mercy of a to-do list; you've taken control (if only in a small way) of your time, efforts and responsibilities.
3. Find Your Sentence
Seeking purpose is part of how we're wired—by doing something that endures, we prove that we were here, that we mattered. Clare Boothe Luce once told John F. Kennedy, "A great man is one sentence. Abraham Lincoln's was 'He preserved the Union and freed the slaves.' What's yours?" If you can't seem to access your purpose in life, I've found the best place to start is with Luce's question.
MY THOUGHTS
GRIT! That's it. That's exactly what we have when we find that something that we will do for free. What willI do for free? Exactly what I'm doing right now.I have found my sentence.
http://www.oprah.com/spirit/How-to-Get-Motivated-Daniel-Pink-Article
By Daniel H. Pink
O, The Oprah Magazine | December 08, 2009
The most effective incentive on the planet? It's not a pile of cash, praise or gold stars. There's a far more powerful motivation, says Daniel H. Pink, the guy who turned Oprah on to the power of right-brain thinking , and he's not talking about denial or punishment, either. Scientists are discovering a far more powerful third drive. To tap into it, you need to develop three things: a sense of mastery, autonomy and purpose. Here's how…
1. Discover Your Reservoir of Grit
The thirst for mastery is akin to the thirst for water. It keeps the soul alive. So what is the best way to cultivate a sense to accomplishment? An interesting answer recently came from a group of researchers studying new cadets at West Point to understand why some students dropped out. All the recruits were talented, but the successful students shared a certain quality: grit. Everyone has a reservoir of grit, though you can't tap it for a random endeavor. (There's a reason Dara Torres didn't become an accountant. As a kid, she was willing to swim 2000 yards at 5 a.m.—not balance her mom's checkbook.) To figure out where your reservoir of grit is, ask yourself: "What would I do for free?" Or: "What I'd really like to be doing now is ________." The answers point you toward areas where you'll naturally persevere—and improve.
2. Figure Out Where You Can Be Your Own Boss
We come into this world curious and self-directed—just look at any toddler—but we can become passive and inert in mundane situations, like when we're stuck on the low end of the office totem pole or in the cook/housecleaner/chauffeur role at home. Two business school professors, however, found that people in the least-empowered positions can develop a sense of autonomy. They studied the performance of hospital cleaners, and found that those who went beyond doing the minimum job requirements—chatting with patients or helping make nurses' tasks go more smoothly—reported an increase in job satisfaction. By reframing their duties, the janitors helped make their work more fully their own. This isn't just about taking on more responsibilities. It's about exploring what you can do differently to make your role, whatever it is, more interesting. If you reframe "I have to go the grocery store" to "I'm a player in the worldwide supply chain for food"—okay, no one but a nerd like me will do that—but you could choose to see how your choice of eggs can affect a larger system. Or you can make a game of it and see how fast you can get in and out of there. Either way, you're not at the mercy of a to-do list; you've taken control (if only in a small way) of your time, efforts and responsibilities.
3. Find Your Sentence
Seeking purpose is part of how we're wired—by doing something that endures, we prove that we were here, that we mattered. Clare Boothe Luce once told John F. Kennedy, "A great man is one sentence. Abraham Lincoln's was 'He preserved the Union and freed the slaves.' What's yours?" If you can't seem to access your purpose in life, I've found the best place to start is with Luce's question.
MY THOUGHTS
GRIT! That's it. That's exactly what we have when we find that something that we will do for free. What willI do for free? Exactly what I'm doing right now.I have found my sentence.
http://www.oprah.com/spirit/How-to-Get-Motivated-Daniel-Pink-Article
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Job Satisfaction Wherever you are?
Job Satisfaction Wherever you are?
Get Happy or Get Out!
Attitude is the Key to Organizational Success
By Nathan Jamail
If your organization is looking for the true secret to increase sales and productivity, it's simple: increase morale. Rather than looking for theories or testing unproven research, increasing employee morale has proven itself over again as the one tool that produces the most positive results. It just requires work, thus it's often ignored. Essentially morale creates a culture - a "get happy or get out, but get somewhere" culture.
Creating the culture of "get happy or get out" is simple but that doesn't mean it's easy, which is why most leaders keep looking for the "other" secret sauce that is easier to execute and deliver. It takes strong leadership and commitment to the process to make the culture change successfully.
A "get happy or get out" culture encourages employees to stop complaining and being negative; either enjoy your job and be a positive person or find a job that makes you happy. Nobody likes to work with negative employees, but sometimes as leaders it's easier to ignore them than to take action and deal with "bad attitude" Bobby or "negative" Nancy. News flash: as a manager or leader of an organization it IS your job to deal with them.
Why is a positive attitude so important? What about the people who are just not positive or are naturally grumpy? Do we fire everyone who doesn't come into work with the overly bubbly attitude of, "It's so great to be alive and so great to work with all of these great people"? Being positive is not about being overly cheerful, rather it is about being externally happy and pleasant toward others and it should be a requirement of any organization. When people ask, "How are you doing?" it means responding with "I'm doing great!" or heck, even, "I'm living the dream!" And being positive shouldn't be difficult - in fact, there are three simple reasons why everybody in a successful organization should have a positive attitude:
1. Life is too short to be unhappy.
2. Many individuals spend more time at work than anywhere else including home, so they should not have to deal with negative, life-sucking peers and supervisors.
3. It increases productivity, sales, customer satisfaction and employee job satisfaction.
It's your job
Oftentimes, managers and leaders make the mistake of defining doing a good job as completing a task. For example, if the warehouse employee is early everyday, has zero shrinkage and his facility is in perfect condition, but he is always negative and cranky, and most people avoid him because he is unbearable to be around, his manager may say he does his job well - he's just a grumpy and negative person by nature. Wrong! His job is to work the tasks of the warehouse and be a positive aspect of the business. The operational stuff is just part of the overall job description. The actual job is doing the tasks with a positive attitude and enjoying your work.
It's easy to think that only customer service employees should be happy and positive (actually some customer service people don't even realize that is a priority either). That's a mistake. If a company treats all of their employees the same way they want their employees to treat the customers, they will start see an improvement in the results. This does not mean people don't have bad days and that nothing ever goes wrong, but it does mean that employees shouldn't make other people's days miserable and project their problems onto others - especially not customers and co-workers. This culture starts at the top. A leader must first be happy and positive before he or she can expect it from the team.
How is it done?
The first thing is to make it a hard and fast expectation for all employees - not just customer service personnel or management. The second thing is to hold everyone accountable to it. Like most job expectations it must be tracked and enforced consistently. If a person stole money or product from a company, they would be fired instantly. Bad attitudes and negativity are stealing - and in fact, it's usually at a much larger dollar amount than the tangible things that people steal.
Measuring a positive attitude is difficult for many HR departments because some feel it is not tangible. Why not make it tangible by working on the little things? A smile is part of the work uniform. Negative gossiping is not permitted. Treat all customers like your mother or someone you love and respect. Every employee needs to be helpful and make it their priority to make others feel special.
Being a positive and a helpful person is not always an attribute; it is a skill that can be taught. Show the team members how to walk with a customer to find a product, how to greet a customer, how share struggles with management and co-workers, how to communicate. Teach people how to have a great attitude and how to be helpful. Most importantly, make this part of your weekly and monthly practice sessions during meetings and trainings.
It makes ALL the difference
The fact remains that negativity and bad attitudes will hurt a company's financials a lot more than a poor economy. Creating a positive and happy environment does not mean to accept subpar performance and not hold people accountable; in fact, it is the exact opposite. Hold everyone accountable to exceeding his or her expectations. Constructive feedback and corrective action by a manger is not being negative because the intent is to make them better (or should be approached as such). How the person responds to the coaching is the basis of determining their coach-ability and their attitude. So tell everyone "get happy or get out but get somewhere!"
Nathan Jamail, president of the Jamail Development Group and author of "The Sales Leaders Playbook," is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur and corporate coach. As a former Executive Director for Sprint, and business owner of several small businesses, Nathan travels the country helping individuals and organizations achieve maximum success. His clients include Radio Shack, Nationwide Insurance, ThyssenKrupp Elevators, The News Group, Metro PCS, and Century 21. To book Nathan, visit http://www.NathanJamail.com or contact 972-377-0030.
Email Editor
WHAT I HAVE TO SAY
Who doesn't want job satisfaction? We spend more hours at work than elsewhere. In my 7 habits workshops I always maintain that staying in a job where you can't have job satisfaction, where you feel more miserable than happy - will make you even more miserable. Job Satisfaction, however, cannot be dependent on salaries, your boss, your tasks, your peers. Happiness is a state of mind. You can be happy wherever you are, whatever the circumstances. Stop blaming everyone else and everything else for your lack of job satisfaction. Grow up and make your own job satisfaction your accountability. "Get Happy or Get Out"
Get Happy or Get Out!
Attitude is the Key to Organizational Success
By Nathan Jamail
If your organization is looking for the true secret to increase sales and productivity, it's simple: increase morale. Rather than looking for theories or testing unproven research, increasing employee morale has proven itself over again as the one tool that produces the most positive results. It just requires work, thus it's often ignored. Essentially morale creates a culture - a "get happy or get out, but get somewhere" culture.
Creating the culture of "get happy or get out" is simple but that doesn't mean it's easy, which is why most leaders keep looking for the "other" secret sauce that is easier to execute and deliver. It takes strong leadership and commitment to the process to make the culture change successfully.
A "get happy or get out" culture encourages employees to stop complaining and being negative; either enjoy your job and be a positive person or find a job that makes you happy. Nobody likes to work with negative employees, but sometimes as leaders it's easier to ignore them than to take action and deal with "bad attitude" Bobby or "negative" Nancy. News flash: as a manager or leader of an organization it IS your job to deal with them.
Why is a positive attitude so important? What about the people who are just not positive or are naturally grumpy? Do we fire everyone who doesn't come into work with the overly bubbly attitude of, "It's so great to be alive and so great to work with all of these great people"? Being positive is not about being overly cheerful, rather it is about being externally happy and pleasant toward others and it should be a requirement of any organization. When people ask, "How are you doing?" it means responding with "I'm doing great!" or heck, even, "I'm living the dream!" And being positive shouldn't be difficult - in fact, there are three simple reasons why everybody in a successful organization should have a positive attitude:
1. Life is too short to be unhappy.
2. Many individuals spend more time at work than anywhere else including home, so they should not have to deal with negative, life-sucking peers and supervisors.
3. It increases productivity, sales, customer satisfaction and employee job satisfaction.
It's your job
Oftentimes, managers and leaders make the mistake of defining doing a good job as completing a task. For example, if the warehouse employee is early everyday, has zero shrinkage and his facility is in perfect condition, but he is always negative and cranky, and most people avoid him because he is unbearable to be around, his manager may say he does his job well - he's just a grumpy and negative person by nature. Wrong! His job is to work the tasks of the warehouse and be a positive aspect of the business. The operational stuff is just part of the overall job description. The actual job is doing the tasks with a positive attitude and enjoying your work.
It's easy to think that only customer service employees should be happy and positive (actually some customer service people don't even realize that is a priority either). That's a mistake. If a company treats all of their employees the same way they want their employees to treat the customers, they will start see an improvement in the results. This does not mean people don't have bad days and that nothing ever goes wrong, but it does mean that employees shouldn't make other people's days miserable and project their problems onto others - especially not customers and co-workers. This culture starts at the top. A leader must first be happy and positive before he or she can expect it from the team.
How is it done?
The first thing is to make it a hard and fast expectation for all employees - not just customer service personnel or management. The second thing is to hold everyone accountable to it. Like most job expectations it must be tracked and enforced consistently. If a person stole money or product from a company, they would be fired instantly. Bad attitudes and negativity are stealing - and in fact, it's usually at a much larger dollar amount than the tangible things that people steal.
Measuring a positive attitude is difficult for many HR departments because some feel it is not tangible. Why not make it tangible by working on the little things? A smile is part of the work uniform. Negative gossiping is not permitted. Treat all customers like your mother or someone you love and respect. Every employee needs to be helpful and make it their priority to make others feel special.
Being a positive and a helpful person is not always an attribute; it is a skill that can be taught. Show the team members how to walk with a customer to find a product, how to greet a customer, how share struggles with management and co-workers, how to communicate. Teach people how to have a great attitude and how to be helpful. Most importantly, make this part of your weekly and monthly practice sessions during meetings and trainings.
It makes ALL the difference
The fact remains that negativity and bad attitudes will hurt a company's financials a lot more than a poor economy. Creating a positive and happy environment does not mean to accept subpar performance and not hold people accountable; in fact, it is the exact opposite. Hold everyone accountable to exceeding his or her expectations. Constructive feedback and corrective action by a manger is not being negative because the intent is to make them better (or should be approached as such). How the person responds to the coaching is the basis of determining their coach-ability and their attitude. So tell everyone "get happy or get out but get somewhere!"
Nathan Jamail, president of the Jamail Development Group and author of "The Sales Leaders Playbook," is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur and corporate coach. As a former Executive Director for Sprint, and business owner of several small businesses, Nathan travels the country helping individuals and organizations achieve maximum success. His clients include Radio Shack, Nationwide Insurance, ThyssenKrupp Elevators, The News Group, Metro PCS, and Century 21. To book Nathan, visit http://www.NathanJamail.com or contact 972-377-0030.
Email Editor
WHAT I HAVE TO SAY
Who doesn't want job satisfaction? We spend more hours at work than elsewhere. In my 7 habits workshops I always maintain that staying in a job where you can't have job satisfaction, where you feel more miserable than happy - will make you even more miserable. Job Satisfaction, however, cannot be dependent on salaries, your boss, your tasks, your peers. Happiness is a state of mind. You can be happy wherever you are, whatever the circumstances. Stop blaming everyone else and everything else for your lack of job satisfaction. Grow up and make your own job satisfaction your accountability. "Get Happy or Get Out"
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