 |
|
A Toast to you . . .
This past year has
been one of challenges for many of my friends, clients, family members
and self. Ranging from bad news
about health, to fears about loved ones overseas, and to business
challenges, many have been on a roller coaster. Truly, this has been a
year or turbulence. One of my friends sends a traditional toast each
year. I pass it along with wishes for good health, prosperity, joy
and peace to you.
May your worst day of your future
be better than the best of your past.
Survival and Success
. . . The Formula for 2004
I confess, I’m like millions of
television viewers: I watch “Survivor”. It’s a great place to watch a
microcosm of relationships and deception at work. As a professional
speaker on dealing with the BS in the workplace that involves conflict
and sabotage among the players (be they staff or management), this is an
excellent resource that many in my audiences can relate. |
So how did the final
three—Rotten Jon, Boy Scout Leader Lill and Confronting and Fish-Kicking
Sandra fit in the survival-and-success formula? Are they representative of
the workplace—your workplace?
Instead of bluntly
telling a “Bert” or “Bertha” at the first pass that lying to his or her
coworkers to avoid finishing a project could be a ticket to the unemployment
line, all I need to do is weave in the example of Rotten Jon faking the
death of his beloved Grandmother to get sympathy from his island mates.
The reality is that
there’s often someone suspicious of another’s actions. If it’s a lie and it
leaks that it is, those who have to deal with him, will nail him at the
first chance. Sandra never trusted Jon, although she had to team with him a
few times—her suspicion radar was very high.
To his credit, he said
the game was about lying, cheating and scheming and he would do his best to
be the best at it. Of all the Survivor shows, Jon is the best weasel that
has surfaced to date. In the workplace, if you have a rat, it’s better to
know who it is.
Boy Scout Leader Lill
violated the ‘ole “walk your talk,” negating the image she put out. It
didn’t jive with what her fellow Survivors experienced. It was unfortunate
that Lill had to jump ship wearing the Boy Scout uniform; I had empathy with
her for wearing the wrong thing at the wrong place. But, when she showed up
with it again for the final vote, my “it’s too bad she got stuck with those
clothes” rationale disappeared.
Boy Scouts aren’t
supposed to lie, whine and manipulate others. Any veteran viewer knew that
part of the game is lying, whining and manipulating. Behaviors that violate
the visual or verbal projected image will sour the workplace.
As “Survivor: Pearl
Islands” unfolded and I got to know
a bit about each of the players, it wasn’t difficult to see scenarios for
the series. Survivor Sandra Diaz-Twine, an office worker for the Army and
Air Force Exchange Service, walked away (or maybe scratched away after all
those bug bites) with the top prize, and I wasn’t surprised.
You see, Sandra
understands sabotage and conflict—how to stay in the background when
necessary and kick a few fish around when appropriate. When she kicked the
bucket of fish like a little kid that didn’t get her way, the evening’s menu
disappeared. She let her pal Christa take the fall, claiming to the viewing
audience that it was an accident. Hmm, maybe not. Winner Sandra was a
master of manipulation but far more covertly delivered than what the overt
Jon did.
There was also
interesting gender plays—men (Jon and
Burton)
denigrated the women, didn’t claiming that they couldn’t come up with a
strategy if they had to. The guys’ fatal mistake was leaving the women
alone and a new alliance sprang up—women against men or us vs. them. How
primitive, how effective—adios Burton and Jon.
Believe it or not,
these players were able to put into play and practiced the key components of
Bob Burg’s nifty booklet, The Success Formula (www.thesuccessformula.com).
Burg’s formula is based on three principles—
-
Seek out and find information
-
Apply the information immediately
-
Be persistent
Each one of the
Survivors had to gather info on their competitors—what were their strengths?
Weaknesses?
Each had to use the
information—some did it as soon as a discovery was made and some of it was
stored for later use.
Each had to be
persistent in the goal, be it set this person up for the fall today or
create an alliance with him. The reward and goal was $1,000,000.
The workplace is the
ideal place to practice Burg’s formula. I’m not suggesting using it to set
someone up. No, let’s be proactive here and use it to get and do better at
what you presently do. I don’t care how great everyone says the economy
is—it’s tough out there. To paraphrase Burg’s formula, here’s my two-bits
for a thriving 2004:
-
To compete and survive in your career,
you must continue to seek out and find information that applies to what
you do and what changes your environment and industry are experiencing;
-
You’ve got to apply the information
immediately—it’s a very competitive (and sometimes ugly) world out there,
if you position yourself to merely react to whatever comes your way, you
are going to be steamrolled with the rate of change that is
common today; and
-
Be focused, myopic in your quest and
persistent . . . it’s your time to be the little engine that could. Every
successful person, be they athletic, business person or a star has
failed. But they get up, they come to bat, they show up—again and
again.
There are lots of
traits and qualities of the Survival gang that you don’t want to
incorporate. But the three mentioned above were all key factors in their
success. What are your factors? How can you incorporate them into your
game plan for 2004?
ATTN: All Health Care Professionals!
|
|
|
The
Judith Briles Health Care Management -Leadership Forum is getting great
reviews!
We had our first Forum last March
and received rave reviews—an intensive two-days that created a variety
of new tools, skills and techniques for Forum participants.
Participation in the Forum is
limited to 16 per 2-day session. Beginning at 8:30 in the morning, it
ends at 5:30 each day. Tuition includes all Forum supplies and day
meals. Each Forum has added
new elements and item—it’s the perfect platform for new managers.
|
What
is the Forum?
The Judith Briles
Health Care Management-Leadership Forum
is designed exclusively for the frontline manager of five years or less
experience in the health care workplace. Too often, people are promoted with
minimal, if any, training in "How to be a Manager." Even less is offered in
"How to be a Leader." They are not the same! The Forum delivers an intensive
lab/training that focuses on developing the soft people skills that just
don't come naturally. Most people don’t leave their workplace for another
position because of more money . . . they leave because of abusive
managers. Is your organization breeding them?
Participants will learn: Effective Use of Influence and Power; Effective
Leadership; Managing Staff Expectations; Managing Multi-Generational Staff;
Managing Diversity; Identifying and Eliminating Red Ink Behavior;
Identifying and Dealing with Marginal Employees; Team-Building;
Prioritizing; Motivation; Building Staff Loyalty; Documenting and
Carefronting® Problem Employees; Managing Conflict; Effective Communicating;
Proactive Listening; Peer Mentoring; Peer Networking; eMentoring; eCoaching;
Transitioning to Management and much more.
Based on the phenomenal research detailed in my book, “Zapping Conflict in
the Health Care Workplace”, as well as several of my other books, the Forum
delivers results that can be implemented immediately upon the attendee's
return to the workplace! And the coaching doesn't stop when the session is
over -- participation in the Forum includes continued access to Judith's
coaching and mentoring skills through a special website, email, and phone
number. Ever wish you could remember what the trainer said to do in a
certain situation? Now you can -- Judith will continue to be there even
after you've returned to your workplace!
More
Info . . .
All sessions are held in Judith’s
offices in Aurora CO. When weather permits, they are outside, surrounded by
beautiful gardens, ponds and charming fountains. Dress is casual and
comfortable and food excellent. All it needs is you. Future dates include:
2004
- March 18-19
- May 27-28
- July 22-23
- September 23-24
For those of you who would like to take
advantage of this program by traveling to our corporate office in the Metro
Denver area, we have made special arrangements with the Radisson Hotel
Denver Southeast to provide not only lodging and complimentary breakfast in
a full-service hotel with views of Cherry Creek Lake, but also
transportation to/from Denver International Airport, and to/from The Forum
site - all for $89 per night!
To take advantage of this exclusive
program and special rates when more than three individuals attend from one
organization, call Angie Pacheco at
303-627-9179 or 800-594-0800 now!
More info at
http://www.judithbriles.com/forum/index.html
Etc.,
Etc., Etc.
Speaking . . .
Call Angie Pacheco in our offices to
check on availability and fees for your group. We are booking our 2004-2005
calendar now. With the recent publication of “Zapping Conflict in the Health
Care Workplace” (already a second, revised and expanded edition is
available); groups who book this talk get a special discount. Call Angie to
find out more.
Consulting . . .
After constant requests, I've allocated a few hours each day for consulting.
By the hour or the project, you can schedule an intensive brainstorming
session with me. Each year, we commit to up to three health care systems to
do a combination of on and off-site training, coaching and mentoring. This
year, we’ve added publishing to the list of offerings—as in everything you
need to know, and you didn’t know you needed to know. To check available
times or if you group qualifies, either call at 800-594-0800 or email me at
Judith@Briles.com
Movie Reviews . . .
If you like the movies, make sure you sign up for JB's Movie Spots-they're
quick, snappy and let you know if a Gramma would be comfortable. Rating
scale is the Golden Egg-one's a dud, five, drop everything and get ye to the
theater!
The
Foreign Press . . .
This past year, several of Judith’s
books have been translated into nine languages—China, Thailand, Korea, Saudi
Arabia, Indonesia, India, Lebanon, France, and Brazil.
News to Share . . .
www.FindCE.com
is a new site acting as a continuing education portal that should be good
news to many of our clients. It caters to three entities: Health
professionals, meeting planners and speakers, all of whom register
themselves with the site. Professionals benefit by having free access to
exhaustive information about meetings and speakers, including report cards.
Meeting planners benefit by marketing their events to professionals and
having more than 1,000 registered speakers to search through when planning
their next event. Speakers market themselves to meeting planners without
paying a commission to a bureau. In addition, home-study courses, online CE
sites, audiovisual materials and other CE outlets are displayed. Check it
out.
If you
are a health care professional, than this is the book for you . . .
Zapping Conflict in the Health Care Workplace is available—all 420
pages of it! A bestseller
with the Nurse’s Book Club this past fall, it’s the must have for any health
care professional. If you work in healthcare or know someone working in
health care, this is the perfect book for dealing with conflict and change
that is woven throughout the industry. Over 3000 women and men responded to
our Conflict and Workplace Abuse surveys-lots of surprises!
Available at Amazon.com, Borders.com and Barnes
& Noble.com or by calling the Tattered Cover at 800-833-9327.
Price is $35. A sample free chapter is posted on our site at
http://www.briles.com/products_toc.htm
Speaking
of Zapping Conflict in the Health Care Workplace… The Reviews Are In!
Here's what's being said about "Zapping Conflict in the Health Care
Workplace" by Dr. Judith Briles:
From the Midwest Book
Review:
”Zapping Conflict in the Health Care Workplace” by author, consultant,
research, spokesperson and international speaker Judith Briles is an
exhaustively researched, accessibly written, informationally practical guide
for workers and employers on a spectrum of health care issues focused upon
the importance of preserving a well-regulated workplace when people's lives
are at stake every day. Individual chapters instructionally address positive
means for handling conflict between employees, the straight scoop on
workplace sabotage and how to deal with it, advice on generational
differences, and much, much more.
Highly
recommended for non-specialist general readers with an interest in health
care workplace issues, policies, and concerns, as well as offering
specifically useable advice for workplaces beyond the field of health care,
Zapping Conflict In The Health Care Workplace is a welcome and invaluable
addition to personal, professional, corporate, and community library Health
& Medicine reference collections.
From The Director of
NADONA/LTC:
This outstanding publication is a MUST for
every nurse working in long term care, including the director of nursing!
By the year 2005, an estimated 11.5 million women and men in the United
States will work in the health care industry. Shortages exist in nursing and
dental hygienists and assistance. Conflict and sabotage in the "caring"
environment of health care is increasing. Instead of actively finding ways
and methods to resolve conflict, managers and staff totally disagree on WHY
conflict is increasing and on HOW to reduce it. Therefore, they avoid it.
Dr. Briles shows why women must eradicate traditional and harmful learned
behaviors, why organizations must rebuild their educational offerings to
include both clinical and professional development offerings and managers
and staff must learn constructive and effective ways to deal with conflict
and sabotage when it surfaces.
Return to top |
