USE FISH BAIT to Maintain the CAN DO Attitude

Prepared by Jim Messina, Ph.D

Available on www.jamesjmessina.com

Commit to FISHing in Your Organization Commit yourself and your

organization to the four keys of FISH through a culture statement which emphasizes : 1. Choose your attitude2. Play3. Make their day4. Be there

Remember this Culture Statement: As you enter this place of work choose

to make today a great day - Your colleagues and customers and you will be thankful. Find ways to play - We can be serious about work without being serious about ourselves. Stay focused in order to be there when your customers and co-workers need you. Should you feel your energy lapsing try this surefire remedy: Find someone who needs a helping hand, a word of support, or a good ear – and make their day!

Commit to the Can Do Attitude! Encourage your staff to become the

LITTLE ENGINES THAT COULD Help them to Think they Can

become more than they ever thought they could become!

Encourage them to believe: I think I can!

What Do You Do First to make FISH a reality?

1. Introduce the FISH Culture concept to your leadership team and then to your workers

2. Create a Culture Enhancement committee to help organize how FISH can become a reality in your organization

3. Pilot and try things out - some will work and others will not but do not tie yourself into “it must be this way” attitude

4. In a positive work environment it’s not about taking things away - It’s about learning every day and finding solutions that allow people to have an energized culture

Learn to PLAY• Invite your workers and leaders to play• Play is the lighthearted feeling you release

inside of people when they are enthused, committed, and free of fear

• Play must come from within you so you can only invite play from others if you are playful

• Play requires trust and shared commitment of coworkers to make playfulness possible at work

Learning to Play• Play happens naturally in a healthy

workplace where people are free to be passionate about their work and accountable to their teammates

• Look for opportunities to bring a lighter tough to interactions with customers and teammates

• Owners, managers and employees must play together to make PLAY a “state of being” in your organization!

Benefits of Play The more management and workers play

the more creative problem solving occurs The more open the door to employees you

allow, the more ownership and input they will provide for problem solving, suggesting innovations and improvements

Allowing them to play will interestingly increase productivity

Learn to: Make Their Day!

In the FISH Environment the work setting is the stage and the workers and customers are members of the cast

The goal is to make a memory for workers and/or customers so that when they leave you, they have something they will want to remember and share with others

The goal is to engage one person at a time There is nothing quite as powerful as turning your

attention away from yourself and asking how you might connect with another human being, customer, family member or colleague and “make their day”

5 Essentials to Make a Business Successful1. Customer enthusiasm2. Employee satisfaction3. Ability to generate profits4. Growing your market5. Continuous improvementMaking Their Day will directly impact

each of the five essentials for successful businesses

Making Their Day is focusing on Customers & Employees

You stop focusing on what you want and you start focusing on what the people you are serving want

It is like treating all people you serve as if they were long trusted friends

Goal is to be so effective that you are able to be helpful to others no matter what their needs are

The better you become doing what you do the more people will come to be served by you and more you feel great! Profits won’t be bad either!

What is the Goal of our Journey in life?

Is it to make millions? So that we can become happy? Maybe the lesson in Making their Day is:

The only way to be happy in this life is to get outside yourself and serve others

That is a journey which Making their Day takes you on!

The owner must see the organization not as an investment but as a mission for real change to occur in Making their Day!

Impact of organization based on TAKING from others Customers have their defenses up Workers try to make as much as they

can on each call because they think they might never see that customer again

Management tries to squeeze profits from every corner

Employees focus on what they can GET rather than on what they can GIVE

Impact on Organization focused on GIVING to othersWhen you look outside yourself and

concentrate on helping other people You discover a satisfaction you

never imagined could happen As you serve more people More people come to be served As you serve more people you feel

great!

Making their Day & FISH is a philosophy not a programA philosophy is not implemented it is: Explored Chosen Believed Practiced It is a way of living your life not only at

work but in all aspects of your life! It is not just another program to be tried!

Impact on customers of Make their Day

Customers have a real need which impacts their life or they would not be contacting your for your service

Remember that their needs are “real life” problems and issues which need a resolution-you are not just taking care of the problems you are taking care of people

By solving their problem for them in a straightforward pricing model you take away their fear and the bargaining and can focus more on their concerns and needs

You provide for them something that works for them rather than something that just works for you

In Making their Day Bosses need to change

Bosses need to learn to: Really listen to their employees and really

hear out their concerns, fears, and reactions to the work of the organization

Give their employees freedom to make decisions which have financial repercussions-without shooting the messenger

Commit themselves to the value that: ”We have nothing of greater value than our people”

Be patient with their employees and show them they are valued

Learn to Be There or Be Present!

Being fully present to customers, coworkers, employees is Being There

It is not dwelling about what has happened in the past or worried about what may happen in the future

It is being fully attuned to opportunities that develop and to the needs of the people you encounter by being fully present when you are interacting with them

By Being There, you gain a healthy perspective and capacity for greater focus and creativity

Being There is: All about who you are, not what you do All about “who you are being” as you do

the work you have been paid to do Not just being physically present to others

but it is being “fully present” to them Not being distracted by the other things in

your life which interfere with your focusing on the person you are with at the time

Being there for customers and coworkers physically, emotionally and spiritually

Being There is Being a Team with your Coworkers

Being There teams rank high in:1. Teamwork2. Positive team attitude3. Communication4. Support for others5. Satisfaction within the team6. Having a say within the team7. Seeing in others what others do not see

in them

Here are some things to help You Be Present

Keep a picture or small reminder card of who you are being there for

Be sure you are not just saying things out of routine with no realization you are not present to the person you are speaking to

Helping a person with something way outside of the realm of the work you are there to be doing for them

Spending time with lonely and isolated people who need more than just getting a job done

Look straight into the eyes of the person you are speaking to, to assure them you are present

Here are some more things to help You Be There

Letting go of the need to sacrifice your family life by working all hours of the day and night and Being There for your family members more

Do not allow cell phones, beepers or PAD’s to distract your focus from the person you are talking with at the time, keep your eyes on the person

Keep in mind: How do you want to be remembered by the people you engage every day on your job

Choose Your Attitude! Ask yourself this question: Is the attitude

you are choosing right now the one you want?

Do you believe your feelings are under your control and no one makes you feel the way you are feeling right now except for you?

This is the TEA system available on www.coping.org

The message of the TEA system is that people can only control three things in their lives: their Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions

TEA SystemThoughts

Emotions

Actions

The TEA System

Lessons from the TEA System

You must first change the way you think about work! You must recognize that your attitude at work is your choice and no one but you can make your attitude poor!

Second you then must change the way you feel about work based on the way you have changed your thinking about work and realize that your feelings are your choice as well and no one but you determines how you feel about things!

Lessons from TEA Third then once you changed the way you

Think and changed the way you Feel or Emote about work then you can proceed with changing your behaviors or actions on the job to be more positive and FISH-like

We call the TEA system a system of recovery, in the work place it is a recovery plan for the morale of the workforce in an organization so they can acquire the CAN DO Attitude!

Choose Your Attitude Means having integrity!

It is doing what you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it!

Being a person of integrity and making sure your word is your bond with people

If you promise to be there on time and do a good job for them, then do just that and choose to be there for them in a playful way so as to make their day!

Some questions about attitude to ask yourself Why am I here at this workplace? What am I doing this work for? What’s important to me? What is the worst possible thing that

could happen if I choose today to be positive and maintain my “CAN DO” attitude of The Little Engine that Could

References1. FISH! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results

(2000) by Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul and John Christensen. Hyperion Books, New York

2. FISH! Tales Bite-sized Stories. Unlimited possibilities (2002) by Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul and John Christensen. Hyperion Books, New York

3. FISH! Sticks Make Change Stick (2003) by Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul and John Christensen. Hyperion Books, New York

4. FISH for Life (2004) by Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., John Christensen and Harry Paul, Hyperion Books, New York

5. When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating Vital and Energized Workplace from the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market (2004) by John Yokoyama and Joseph Michelli, Hyperion Books, New York

6. Catch! A Fishmonger’s Guide to Greatness: Stop Floundering and Become More Effective in Your Life and Work (2004) by Cyndi Crother and the Crew of World Famous Pike Place Fish, Berrett-Koehler Publisher, San Francisco, CA

Where can you get the Fish books? http://www.fishphilosophy.com Graphics come from http://www.charthouse.com/ecards.asp?whoenter=