| Humor at Work |
ISSUE 625 - Apr. 6, 2016 |
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Why Aren't You Speaking Up? |
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I speak to many CEOs and senior leaders who express frustration over their inability to get employees to speak up - literally (as in actually expressing something out loud) and metaphorically (as in bringing ideas and concerns up the ranks to senior leaders). A speaking colleague of mine, communications expert Dianna Booher, suggests there are a few
possible reasons that employees don't speak UP:
- There's simply no system in place that allows ideas to be moved up the chain.
- There's never any response (as I jokingly say in my talks: "Have you ever worked in a company where they have a suggestion box, but you're beginning to feel like there's a paper shredder on the other side of the box?")
- There's too slow a response.
- Fear of reprisal.
- Fear that the employee making the suggestion will now get their suggestion dumped onto their already filled-to-the-brim workload.
- Concern about accountability. If employees don't share information, they won't have to be held accountable for anything.
- A "parental culture" - which Booher describes as a culture where the leaders function like Mom and Dad who will take care of everything for the kids at work.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this topic: What else might be preventing people from speaking up at work? If you're a manager, what do you do to encourage people to speak up?
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Mike's Fun at Work Tip |
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The community of Scotch Creek, B.C. is using Wild West-style posters with an offer of a $5,000 reward to anyone who can rope a doctor into the town of 700 people. Now you may not have $5,000 to dole out, but there may be instances where you could make use of humorous Wild West wanted posters with fun rewards to encourage customers or employees to either bring forward ideas and referrals, or to change their behaviors.
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Quote of the Week |
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"When an idea is at your desk, it's yours. But when it's up on the wall, it's everybody's." Tim Jones
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It's a Wacky World |
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In The Humor Advantage I write about how many companies are hiring employees with humor and for humor, sometimes by throwing out humorous questions during job interviews to gauge reactions. Here are a few more wacky questions companies have been known to ask during job interviews:
- "Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?" (Whole Foods Market)
- "What would the name of your debut album be?" (Urban Outfitters)
- "What would you do if you found a penguin in the freezer?" (Trader Joe's)
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Thanks for the Amazing Response! Over 400 people responded to last week's e-book giveaway - the first 7 winning respondents came in within two minutes of the e-zine going out! And thank you for the kind words much appreciated! MK.
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mike@mikekerr.com
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