takes, fads and social media.
First, a final reminder on the 50% discount on our new book --
Defusing Hostile Customers Workbook (3rd Edition, 2010), and then back
to articles and other nifty stuff.
THE HUGE DISCOUNT - Defusing Hostile Customers Workbook
For a limited time, and as an introductory offer we are making this
book available through amazon.com/createspace at a 50% discount.
Retail price is $38.95 U.S., but you can get it for half price.
However, please order today if you want this price, since it can end
at any time. It will NOT be repeated once it expires.
The process is simple. Go to https://www.createspace.com/3432410. You
will notice the interface is familiar. That's because createspace is
owned and operated by amazon.com. Add the book to the cart, and use
the following code- VREXVCKH to get your discount (type in the proper
box). Follow the prompts, and that's it. Your book will be shipped to
you from amazon.com. Your cost: $19.47 plus whatever shipping amazon
charges.
This is the only way to obtain the discount at this time. Stay tuned.
We'll have more information as time goes by.
If you just want excerpts or more details about the book go to
http://customerservicezone.com/products/defusingcustomersbook.htm
Again, the purchase link is https://www.createspace.com/3432410 and
the discount code is VREXVCKH
Tired of Hype and Fads? Me Too
As I get older, I seem to become more and more impatient with the
"newest" ideas that are recycled, and marketed as the next big thing,
or the current big thing. If these ideas were, in fact, new, and if
they came close to delivering on the exaggerated claims for them, I
wouldn't mind so much. But they don't. For example, did you know that
"social media" has been around on computers since the Apple 2 and
Commodore 64? Did you know that multiple intelligences is actually a
very old concept that has been debunked by a great deal of research?
Or that personality types go back to about 400 BC?
Now we seem to have entered a new era that is expanding the potential
for faddish movements to have larger and larger impacts in education,
the workplace, and even politics. What's shifted? The ability to reach
many many people with relatively little monetary cost is one change.
The second has to do with people being overwhelmed by information, and
looking for simple solutions for problems so they no longer have to
research or think through things themselves.
The corollary of this is that what is perceived as truth is more and
more determined by what is popular than what can be demonstrated as
accurate in other more relevant and important ways. For example,
because so many people tell us that businesses MUST be active on
social media like Twitter and Facebook, it becomes accepted as true
even though there is only sparse and anecdotal hard evidence that
businesses are profiting from their social media involvement. People
who can manipulate social media well have huge influence as their
"truths" are virally re circulated by others simply parroting those
"truths".
It's getting scary. School budgets have always been stretched and
comprise a major portion of taxes we pay, so it's imperative that we
use that money as best as possible. But now, there are various
movements around pushing for the use of ipods and twitter in
classrooms under the thin guise of "engagement". Just because we have
these nifty tools doesn't mean they have any value in classrooms, or,
for that matter, in business. Can we as a society afford to squander
more money trying to force fit tech. toys into some function or
purpose? I don't think so.
Anyway, my concern at the moment is the absolutely ridiculous and
unfounded claims made by social media "experts" who are leading
businesses of all sizes into ill thought out adventures that are only
going to result in worse customer service. If this was just an issue
of differing opinions, that would be one thing. The scary part is that
the social media and social learning fanatics often, presumably
through ignorance, misinterpret, and mis-state research findings to
show how useful these technologies are. This helps create the illusion
of truth, when often, the conclusions in the research do not match the
data.
One essential irony of the social media movement is that it broaches
little dissent, and conflict is strongly avoided, counter views are
hard to find. The people pushing engaging the hardest will only engage
if you happen to agree with them.
So, I've started work on a new book entitled "Giving the Business To
Social Media - Hype, Hope, Bust, Reality which maps out why these
folks are just plain wrong, what the research says, and provides
numerous examples of misinterpretation of data to support the
effectiveness of social media for business.
We will also have a companion website, and some other fun things. I
may be a voice going counter to the fad, but frankly, we need more
people to step up and point out that the emperor is naked.
Stay tuned.
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I can never have enough time to read non-fiction books. That's why I
like places that offer book summaries and executive summaries of key
points. Granted it's not the same thing as reading the books, but it
does allow me to keep up with some interesting stuff. Here are a few
special offers of free book summaries. The company making these
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If you want to see the six currently available book summaries go here:
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The Google Story - Free Book Summary: http://work911.tradepub.com/c/
pubRD.mpl/?sr=sr&_t=sr:solr&qf=w_geta13
The Art of Engagement: Bridging the Gap Between People and
Possibilities - Free Book Summary: http://work911.tradepub.com/c/pubRD.mpl/?sr=sr&_t=sr:solr&qf=w_geta18
The Myth of Multitasking: How 'Doing It All' Gets Nothing Done - Free
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The Effective Executive -The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right
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Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions That Will Get
You the Job! - Free Book Summary: http://work911.tradepub.com/c/pubRD.mpl/?sr=sr&_t=sr:solr&qf=w_geta16
The Art of the Start - The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for
Anyone Starting Anything - Free Book Summary:
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--
Short Takes
Thought I'd pass this along. It's based on something in our Defusing
Hostile Customers Workbook, but it pertains to how people handle
negative emotions.
Venters versus Hoarders and Negative Emotions: (Defusing Hostile
Customers Workbook): There are two kinds of people. There are the
venters who actually benefit from venting, because they quickly let go
of the negative feelings. Then there are the hoarders, who, the more
they focus on the bad feelings/insult/ etc the more upset they become.
These folks need to distract themselves. This is consistent with
another principle: "What you focus on your get more of"
It's important to learn about yourself so you know what works best for
you.
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Preventing Conflict – Such A Simple Idea That's Ignored
It's been a decade since I wrote Conflict Prevention In The Workplace
– Using Cooperative Communication. Who would believe that still, when
it comes to conflict, the old standards of conflict management and
conflict resolution still dominate the conflict field, while the idea
of preventing unnecessary conflict in the first place is almost never
mentioned. It's passing strange.
It's clear that once a conflict gets going, it's much harder to put
the brakes on, so why not work as hard at eliminating conflict in the
first place, particularly since so much of the really destructive
conflicts between people are really not about issues, per se, but
about how each of the parties interacts with each other.
What's so surprising is that it is not difficult to change how we use
language to reduce unnecessary conflict, and it's quite easy to teach
the skills needed. In my book I outline the phrases and language that
is inflammatory and explain how each of these phrases can be replaced
by words that are not inflammatory. Hence the term "cooperative
communication". In any event, it puzzles me. So, do you have a comment
about why the idea of preventing unnecessary conflict (which is
different than conflict avoidance) is so foreign to people? If so,
drop in to our blog at
http://www.thetrainingworld.com/wp/adult-education/preventing-conflict-such-a-simple-idea-thats-ignored/
to comment. For more information on the book, go to:
http://busylearners.com/products/i-coop.htm
--
Boosting the Brain's Power Into Old Age (Free Lecture)
As we have an aging population, and many of us are moving into our
later middle and elderly years, the issue of brain health is becoming
more interesting to many of us, both on a personal basis and as a
societal issue.
Here's some information in lecture form about some claimed techniques
for maintaining and creating healthy brains into old age. Are they
legitimate? You'll have to decide. In this lecture delivered at the
Chautauqua Institution, author Dharma Singh Khalsa talks about
"Boosting the Brain's Power Into Old Age". He provides methods for
preventing Alzheimer's disease and other brain related illnesses, and
how to boost your memory and to become more mentally energetic. Dr.
Dharma provides some nutrition and supplement suggestions. He claims
that the days of declining mental activity during old age are over
with, if people will make a conscious effort to maintain their healthy
brain. This title is available on streaming video and MP3 download
from FORA.tv. http://www.learnoutloud.com/Product/B026461/53783
Feature Article
The Tyranny of Middle Class Values and How Some Think About Work
I wrote on the human resources discussion list, a short piece that was
stimulated by one consultant's praise for the employment engagement
concept, one that, by the way, I abhor for a number of reasons.
The gist is that pretty much all the fads that get popular — employee
engagement, autonomy, TQM, etc are based on a hidden set of values
that tends to come from the upwardly mobile middle class — a group
that is ambitious, and desires to get ahead. Perhaps one reasons these
initiatives fade away is because the work world simply isn't made up
exclusively by those people.
Here's my comment, a bit rough, but…
Gary's comment about Pink reminded me of something. I'm not sure I've
mentioned it here, but it has to do with how our "modern" approaches
to management are based on a middle class set of values that fits with
people who we traditionally think of as upwardly mobile.
Whether it be:
TQM
autonomy
empowerment
engagement
or choose your buzz
it's largely based on a set of under pining values that idealize a set
of values "we" want employees to have, and stresses ways of looking at
work that are, in many cases, way out of whack with reality.
Which, I suspect, is why these things come and go, pretty much leaving
the planet as it was before.
For some odd reason I have a group of childhood friends who, by
different routes, all became organizational type consultants in their
fields, a few of whom I'm comfortable speaking of as world class, top
in their fields. Several have worked for the top 3 consulting firms in
N.A.
What is great above these folks is they don't sit in offices but get
down and work with the people at the bottom, and actually prefer it,
whether it's in International Development or helping mining companies
become more effective.
They don't talk using the buzz words though of course they all have
the vocab and understanding. They implement multiple strategies,
realizing, for example, that the people who dig iron ore out of
mountains don't share the values of Gallup, or even Deming.
One of the real dangers for authors/consultants is believing that
because most of our contacts with people involve people in the upper-
middle class, that somehow we are better, or our values are better.
There are perfectly excellent employees who don't want to run their
own jobs, let alone anyone else's, and who go to work with their lunch
pails to work their shifts, take their money home, and put forth their
engagement in their families, friends, gardens, etc.
Understanding that the world is not a seething mass of get along
upward middle class people wanting to be autonomous is part of
understanding what diversity means.
That is one reason I have such strong reactions to models that
prescribe middle class values to "fix" employees. Employees who are
not "engaged" are not "broken" and it doesn't mean their managers are
broken either.
I think HR folks who interact often with real employees where they
work for extended periods of time understand this, and get torn
between the allure of the fads and rejecting things outright.
I happen to embrace those middle class values. I am what I am. But I
don't go around expecting the housekeeping staff at this hotel to want
what I want. All I want is clean towels when I need them.
And finally, as a customer, since I'm sitting here with the flu in the
hotel. I don't give a rat's ass about what goes on in the heads of the
people in this hotel. Is that chamber person down the hall engaged?
Well, maybe not for the job, but she sure is engaged in her university
studies that she works at part time. And she's "engaged" in her life.
Not mine. Not yours, Not Garry's.
--
That's it for now.
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