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WORKPLACE ATTITUDES. HAPPY PEOPLE ARE PRODUCTIVE PEOPLE Dan Moynihan, MBA, NREMT-P Executive Director, Trinidad Ambulance District. What WAS management?. Keeping employees in line Firing employees that didn’t “toe the line” Intimidation Watching over shoulders Punishing
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WORKPLACE ATTITUDES HAPPY PEOPLE ARE PRODUCTIVE PEOPLE Dan Moynihan, MBA, NREMT-P Executive Director, Trinidad Ambulance District
What WAS management? • Keeping employees in line • Firing employees that didn’t “toe the line” • Intimidation • Watching over shoulders • Punishing • Not a friend, a boss • Interpersonal communication discouraged
What is management • Making sure people have the tools they need to do the job • Encouragement • Ensuring production goals are met • Enforcing workplace policies • Safety • Compliance • Knowing our people • LEADERSHIP!
Employee Manual…or • SOPs • Employee Guidelines • Protocols • Workplace Rules • Directives • We can probably name more…
What is the purpose of your “Employee Manual”? • Establishes standard procedures (rules) for employees to follow • Describes your Chain of Command • Explains benefits • Provides consequences for unwanted behavior • CYA (Making the attorneys happy) • Job Descriptions • MINIMUM STANDARDS = HOW NOT TO GET FIRED
MINIMUM STANDARDS • Is our goal as leaders to inspire people to reach minimum standards? • Are our organizations better if everyone only meets minimum standards? • Is our organization designed to operate with everyone meeting minimum standards? • Would our organization be able to continue operating if everyone met, but did not exceed, minimum standards?
LEADER or workplace cop? • Which are you? • Is your job to enforce rules and punish violators? • Are you the hammer and employees are nails? • OR… • Is your job to provide direction and true leadership?
Happy people are productive people • Has everyone here worked for a boss or an organization that made us feel like we dreaded having to get up and go to work? • Do you have people working for you that feel that way? • Have you created an environment where your people actually enjoy coming to work? • Do YOU enjoy coming to work? • What is your turnover rate? • Are your people using almost all their sick time or PTO during the year? • Are you experiencing a higher than normal volume of equipment failures? • Are your vehicles having to be repaired more often than you would expect?
Right people in the right jobs • The way to resolve having a square peg in a round hole is NOT:
Attitudes matter “Hire for Attitude, Train for Skills” • Lorraine Grubbs-West, senior executive at Southwest Airlines
How do we inspire our folks? • Military has a great carrot and stick system (Rank and prison) • Do you have employees or teammates? • Are you all working towards the same goals? • Have you stated your goals? • Are your folks aware of any goals? • How do you communicate those goals to your people? • Do you measure your achievement? • Do you recognize those that go above and beyond? • Do you reward those that go above and beyond?
How do we get the most from our people? • Value your people as individuals. • They don’t care what you know, until they know that you care! • People need to feel like their job is important. • How do they make the world a better place (think Dirty Jobs)? • Do you let them know? • If so…How? • Everyone has to be working towards the same goal. • Goals should be like yard markers on a football field. They help you measure progress towards a critical goal. • Think football when cheering on your team!
How is work like football? • Do you have clearly marked boundaries? • Are there consequences for infractions of the rules? • Is there a level playing field? • Are there rewards for achievements? • Do you wait until the game is over to cheer, or do you cheer every first down, great catch, sack, etc.? • Are you calling the plays and letting your team execute the best they can? • Remember, if there’s no score, there’s no game!
80% 10% 10% • Generally speaking… • 80% of our people come and go, do their jobs, create no problems and don’t stand out from the rest of the workforce. • 10% of our people are overachievers that go above and beyond what is expected of them. • 10% of our people are the “problems” in our organization. You couldn’t get a fire started under them with five gallons of gasoline and a hand grenade! • These 10% take up an incredible amount of our time! • How do we lessen the bottom 10% and increase the top 10%? • Suggestions???
WHAT IF? • Instead of simply punishing those that violate the rules, we actually reward and recognize those people that are going above and beyond? Catch them doing something right! • What if those overachievers were placed on a pedestal for others to emulate? • I contend that you have people in your organization right now, that want to do more, but feel it’s a waste of time because their efforts wouldn’t be recognized and rewarded. • I also contend that when you reward superior performance, the bar is raised for the whole organization. • When your people raise the bar on themselves, what do you think happens to the poor performers in the organization? • Peer pressure does much more than management pressure!
How do we recognize great performance? • You guys are doing a great job • Vs • I want to personally thank John Smith, who has been doing a great job by making sure the shop has been free from hazards. Because of John’s actions, all of us are safer here. • Which is more powerful and meaningful? • General is never as good as specific • Spontaneous is always better than pre-arranged • The more individualized and unique you can make your congratulations, the more effective and appreciated they will be.
Let’s wrap it up • Aiming for minimum standards won’t get us where we want to be. • If the only goal you set is not getting fired, how will that inspire people to do better? • It is better to recognize and reward good behavior than to solely punish inappropriate behavior. • We should be creating an environment where we would like to work ourselves. • Make sure you’re using your people’s strengths to your advantage. Put round pegs in round holes. • Hire for attitude, train for skills. • Measure your performance. Remember, no score, no game! • Set goals and share those goals with your people.
Let’s wrap it up • Cheer every accomplishment our team makes! • Value your people as individuals • They don’t care what you know, until they know that you care! • Peer pressure can be your best friend • When recognizing performance, do it the right way • People don’t quit organizations, they quit managers! • GO HAVE FUN!!!
DAN MOYNIHAN • EMAIL - DAN.M@TADEMS.COM • CELL – (719) 290-7396