Until a year ago, I rarely dealt with the bank branch that handled my business account. Those transactions were always handled by an associate. Then, it became more convenient for me to take care of those transactions. When I first started going there, the place seemed dark, dreary and lifeless—I felt like I was in a funeral home. At the time, I thought, “Why do people bother banking here?” In an attempt to change things, I made it a point to get to know the receptionist and some of the tellers. Now when I walk in, I’m greeted with an enthusiastic, “Hi Ross!” and everyone is smiling. This morning, as I was finishing my business at this bank, I looked around and noticed that the place seemed much brighter and more cheerful than it did a year ago. The lesson here is that your world is what you make it. If you want your world to be bright, cheerful and welcoming, all you need to do is start smiling and get to know the people you come into contact with on a regular basis i.e., the people who work at the grocery store, the bank, the dry cleaners and so forth. This requires very little effort on your part, but I guarantee it will make your world a much better place.
Recommended Reading
Instant Turnaround!: Getting People Excited About Coming to Work and Working Hard
Transform Your Workplace!
Imagine a company where people are excited about coming to work and giving their best efforts every day. In this innovative and engrossing business parable, Harry Paul and Ross Reck show managers at all levels how they can immediately and easily increase productivity by tapping into the discretionary effort of the people who work for them. Starting from the most basic aspect of business reality—that people intentionally regulate the amount of effort they put into their jobs based upon how they feel they’re being treated—the authors point out that the most important part of the job of every manager, team leader, supervisor, and executive is to treat people in such a way that they become excited about applying all their discretionary effort toward performing their jobs.
At the book’s center is the story of Nancy Kim, a human resources director at a magazine that is struggling with all the problems associated with unhappy employees—low productivity and morale along with high absenteeism and turnover. After she openly challenges the CEO’s new management-by-the-numbers system, she’s charged with turning the situation around immediately. Filled with real-world studies, Instant Turnaround! shows anyone how to turn the workplace into a destination—a place where working hard feels like hardly working because it’s engaging, enjoyable, and fulfilling.
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