8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Decencies in action, April 25, 2007
This review is from: The Manager's Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great Companies (Hardcover)
Steve Harrison reminds leaders of what they have forgotten. Leadership starts with small gestures. What leaders do when they think no one is watching defines true leadership. These gestures are available to all. The Manager's Book of Decencies catalogs dozens of them. For example:
Jim Donald, CEO and president of Starbucks, insists that hour-long meetings be completed in 45 minutes. As a time management technique, this policy improves meeting efficiency and saves untold hours. But the small decency embedded in this policy is what Donald suggests meeting participants do with the freed-up 15 minutes.
"I want you to take your extra 15 minutes to call someone you usually do not contact every day," he says.
That's a small decency in action. Here's another one.
Peter Ueberroth, the former commissioner of Major League Baseball, knows how important it is to welcome a new employee on his or her first day. Ueberroth's small decency is that on the new employee's first day, he sends flowers or a fruit basket no to the employee, but his or her spouse or significant other. In a handwritten card he acknowledges that the spouse or significant other is important to the success of the employee and that Ueberroth warmly welcomes them, too,
There is a philosophy of doing business that goes beyond the transfer of goods and services. It calls for a transfer of values which goes by the name of small decencies Small decencies are business gestures that are cost-free or nearly so. They can be implemented without a lot of planning or training. And they are invariably focused on customers or employees.
Some small decencies are obvious:
* Call fellow employees by name and remember their names.
* Better yet, instead of "employees," try "associates" or "colleagues"
* Respect confidences and avoid gossip
* Send out a handwritten thank-your note every day
* Avoid asking questions to which you already have the answer
Some small decencies require extra work or courage:
* For meetings you convene, be the first to sit down and the last to get up
* Take the time in every meeting for introductions
* Convey bad news in person
* Answer your own phone (unless you are with someone)
* Give away recognition when things go well; hoard responsibility when they don't
* When you make a mistake, admit it and apologize
* Answer your own phone (unless you are with someone)
* Seek to understand before seeking to be understood
* Send out personalized birthday cards to every employee
Others require a high level of empathy or leap of imagination:
* Have published office hours where your door is open for colleagues to drop in
* Avoid slang, idioms, and colloquialisms out of courtesy for colleagues whose first language is not your own
* Send job interviewees a map and driving directions from their home to the interview site
* If you have to terminate an employee, check if it's their birthday or significant milestone
* When you meet with a colleague, signal your willingness to listen by opening a notebook
* Value silence
These decencies and more are described in a new book called The Manager's Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great Companies by Steve Harrison. Harrison is chairman of Lee Hecht Harrison, a global leader in career management solutions.
Harrison defines a business decency as a gesture offered without expectation of reward that in ways small and large change the corporate culture for the better. He wrote the book to illustrate how high-performing, people-oriented companies create ethical cultures by practicing small decencies.
Here's one last small decency. As Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1984 to 1989, Peter Ueberroth attended hundreds of baseball games every year. Most people don't know that every major league baseball stadium has a special seating area reserved for the commissioner. These boxes invariably have the best views, the best food and drink, and every amenity. "I never sat in one of those boxes," Ueberroth says. "Not once."
When Ueberroth attended baseball games, he wanted to sit among the fans. Sometimes fans recognized him, but mostly they didn't. "I was a better Commissioner of Baseball for having so many conversations with regular fans," he says.
This is a book to consider in those quiet moments when you think no one is watching. But here's a word to the wise for any leader. Whatever you do, there's always someone watching.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Make a Difference in Your Organization. Starting today., June 16, 2007
This review is from: The Manager's Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great Companies (Hardcover)
Managers at any level sometimes feel that change is arduous, if not impossible. Most significant changes in the way an organization operates require a big pile of money, some kind of culture change or both. Most managers don't have a pile of money to invest even when they can demonstrate the potential ROI. And culture change takes forever, even if someone can figure out how to do it, which doesn't very often happen.
Steve Harrison's book is about how any manager who decides to do it can change the culture of their organization, or at least their part of the organization -- without investing very much time and without investing any money at all. It's all about remembering to do the little things that mean so much to employees. When a manager models the right behaviors on a daily basis, it creates goodwill that affects not only employees, but also spills over to customers, vendors and everyone else the company deals with.
Does it guarantee increased revenue and profits? No, but it helps. And it definitely helps make the organization a more desirable place to work.
I know that the things Steve describes in his book are effective because I've had the privilege of watching him do them in his company, Lee Hecht Harrison (Yeah, that last one is him), for many years - with excellent results. LHH has been repeatedly recognized over the years as a "best place to work." And the collection of great people that Steve helped to attract have also been very successful in keeping the business solidly profitable as well.
So if you're looking for a way you can make a real difference as a manager, reading this book is a great way to start. It's a good read too, something you can finish on the last 90 minutes of your next plane ride. You know, after you're done with the spreadsheets.
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