K-12 Leadership/Administration

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Part 8 Developing Others

16. The Leader as Coach 17. Helping People through Change

and Burnout Prevention

THE BEST WAY OF EDUCATING PRINCES is to teach them to become intimate with

all sorts and conditions of men. Their commonest handicap is that they do not

know their people. People are always masked in their company because they are

the masters. They meet many subjects, but no real people. Hence, bad choice of

favorites and ministers that dims the fame of kings and ruins their subjects. Teach

a prince to be sober, chaste, pious, generous, and you will teach him how to love

his people and his kingly dignity; and you will implant in him every virtue at the

same time.

—Marquis of Vauvenargues, 1715–1747

Maxims and Reflections of Luc de Clapiers

Learning Objectives

After studying Part Eight, you will be able to: • Describe the role of the leader as coach and developer of people. • Identify the conditions conducive to growth. • Know how a leader can help people through change, including the impor-

tance of attitude and personal example. • Identify where you are in the burnout process, including steps that can be

taken for emergency, short-term, and long-term aid. • Identify the characteristics of a hardy personality. • Determine your level of adaptive capacity. Are you a stress-resistant

person?

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T he Native American totem for teacher is Wolf. As the moon rises every night, Wolfalways finds something new to learn from it. Leaders, too, in exploring life maydiscover new truths to share with the rest of the clan, the human race. How does a leader show concern for others? An important way is by taking interest in people and by helping them grow to their full potential. The signs of caring leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers engaged in their work and striving to do their best? Are they learning and growing in knowledge, skill, and attitude?1

Many leaders view developing others as the most relevant and rewarding of all their tasks. Effective leaders at all levels of responsibility—chief executive, middle manager, and frontline supervisor—are aware that the failure experienced by Roger in the following story can occur in the adult world of work as well.

CHAPTER

16

Why Can’t Roger Learn? When Roger was first observed in the classroom, he was beginning to fail and to feel defeated, but he was trying. When the observers walked in, he was lis- tening with obvious interest to a story his teacher was reading. He sat quietly for at least 15 minutes. After the story, the teacher wrote some letters of the alphabet on the blackboard and requested that the children copy them on a sheet of paper she passed out. Roger picked up the crayon and looked at his neighbor’s paper to see what he was supposed to do; he then started to write. The teacher moved over to him, took the crayon out of his hand, and said firmly and with minor irritation, “Not a crayon, Roger; use a pencil.”

Roger glanced at the little girl on his right, in obvious embarrassment. He wanted her to like him. He turned back to the teacher and said in a small voice, “I don’t have a pencil.” The teacher turned to the class and announced, “Some of us are not prepared. Who has a pencil to lend Roger?” Another child, eager to please the teacher, moved over to Roger and handed him a pencil. Roger was looking at the floor in embarrassment, but managed to thank him. In a few moments he again tried to find out how to do the as- signed task. He watched his neighbor, but the child turned to him and said an- grily, “Stop looking. Do your own stuff.”

Finding no answer to his dilemma, Roger decided to escape by going up to sharpen his pencil. Another child was ahead of him, so Roger waited patiently for his turn. His smallness in comparison to the other children was very evi- dent. Two other children came to sharpen their pencils and pushed Roger

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aside. He allowed the intrusion, because what can be done when others are so much bigger and aggressive? Another child came up and also attempted to push Roger aside. Anger flooded over his face. He had to show them that he had importance too. He attempted to push the intruder away saying, “It’s my turn.” The teacher noticed Roger pushing and said angrily, “Roger, take your seat, immediately.” The teacher then glanced over at the observers, grimaced with distaste, and shook her head. She was sure that they shared insight into Roger’s problems.

Roger walked dejectedly back to his seat. After a few moments of depressed staring at his paper, he leaned toward the girl on his left and whispered des- perately, “How do you do it?” The girl frowned and said, “Shh-h,” and hit him on the head with her pencil.

The teacher noticed difficulty again and assuming that Roger was responsi- ble (after all, he is such a problem), said in exasperation, “Roger, will you please pay attention to your paper!”

Roger glanced around the room to see if everyone else was looking at him. He stared down at his shoe, his face red. He could have been saying, “What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I do anything right? Why does everyone hate me?” He still wanted to try; he had not reached the place where complete failure and hostility had taken over. Therefore, he attempted to do something about the hated paper before him. He made some marks; then, as though talking to himself, he said, “Is this good?” He glanced over at the paper of the boy on his right. As if in answer to his own question, he said, “Oh, ugh. Look at his.” He wanted to think somebody was doing worse than he was. The boy stuck out his tongue at him, and Roger turned listlessly back to his paper.

The teacher was coming up the aisle again and paused at Roger’s seat. “Roger, we are not writing our names, we are just practicing M’s.” She hurried over to the blackboard without showing him what to do and started moving through the next lesson. Several more letters were presented. Roger became restless. He didn’t understand. He wiggled in his seat and then stood up. The children began to practice the letters again. Roger became very frustrated as he found he was unable to form them. He let his paper fall to the floor.

“Pass your papers to the end of the table,” the teacher said. “Roger, get your paper,” said the little girl next to him, “Roger, I’m telling. We have to pass them down.” The angry voice of the teacher was once again heard. “Roger, get your paper off the floor.” Roger complied, but he hit the paper with his pencil. He didn’t like it. It was no good. He felt bad. He didn’t want anyone else to see it.

The teacher gave all the children another piece of paper to continue the letter-making practice. Roger somehow found new determination and tried again. He followed the teacher’s movements in the air, whispering to himself in concentration. The angry little girl leaned over to him and said, “Shh-h,” and hit him on the head with her pencil again. Roger wanted her to like him, so he did nothing. But his frustration had to be expressed. He zoomed his pencil in the air, making a quiet airplane noise. He forgot the task. The teacher scolded him again and wearily exhorted him to pay attention.

The observation lasted only one hour. What happens over time to such a person, who experiences hour after hour of failure? Two months after the ini- tial observation, Roger refused to try any learning task. He often crawled on the floor like an animal, making odd noises. He could not sit still for more than

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Effective leaders know that Roger’s failure wasn’t necessary, that preventing such failure is important, and that their own ability to coach is often the key. It is a proven fact that expectation of failure can help bring about failure. Conversely, expectation of success can help bring about success. Children have been found to score from two to three points higher when an IQ test is administered by a teacher who conveys expectation for success than when the same test is given by a teacher who does not convey high expectations. This phenomenon is called the Pygmalion effect.3

Eugene Krantz, NASA Flight Director of Apollo 13, describes the role of the Pygmalion effect in the world of work. Expecting high performance is prerequisite to its achievement among those who work with you. Your high standards and optimistic anticipations will not guarantee a favorable outcome, but their absence will assuredly create the opposite.4 Closely related to Pygmalion is the Galatea effect, when an in- dividual’s high self-expectation leads to high performance.5

The role of positive expectations and the strength of the self-fulfilling prophecy has been widely supported in the workplace. Research by J. Sterling Livingston confirmed and popularized the concept. A meta-analysis of 17 studies involving 3,000 employees shows the positive power of beliefs to influence results, including employees considered by management, and by themselves, to have low expectations.6

It should be noted that the self-fulfilling prophecy works in the negative direction as well. Low expectation of success leading to poor performance is known as the Golem effect.7

Leadership author and educator John Gardner explains the importance of the leader as teacher and developer of people:

If one is leading, teaching, dealing with young people or engaged in any other activity that involves influencing, directing, guiding, helping or nurturing, the whole tone of the relationship is conditioned by one’s faith in human possibilities. That is the generative element, the source of the current that gives life to the relationship.8

How do high-performance companies like Great American Insurance, Google, and others capitalize on the power of the Pygmalion and Galatea effects? Management educator Jeff Walter explains—the task is accomplished by using combinations of the following: (1) Treat all employees like top draft choices—expect success; (2) recog- nize that everyone has the potential to increase performance; (3) set high perform- ance “stretch goals”; (4) provide the input and resources needed to achieve success; (5) provide constructive feedback and redirection when necessary; and (6) reward employees for hard work, dedication, team work, and jobs well done.9

The Development of Others Motivation expert Zig Ziglar once observed that he had read a lot of birth announce- ments, all of them indicating that the newborn was a boy or a girl. None of them announced the arrival of a farmer, a doctor, an engineer, or a member of any other

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five minutes, and he hit his peers and yelled at them. His teacher became frantic. His mother was so worried that she came to school often and peered through the window of the schoolroom door. “He cries every day about school. He says everyone hates him,” she explained.

Failure and a particular kind of punishment had distorted Roger. In many schools where administrators and teachers are unaware of the seriousness of allowing a child to fail or of using aversive techniques to change behavior, they still ask about such a child, “Why did it happen?” “Probably the parents,” the accusing answer echoes down the school halls.2

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profession. There is an old saying—“If you ever see a turtle on a fence post, you know it didn’t get there by itself.” So it is with people: Performers in every field are developed, not born. Effective leaders recognize the importance of developing peo- ple. Like the productive farmer who plants good seeds and cares for them properly, effective leaders view developing others as an essential key to success.

Leading is like coaching in many ways. In basketball, for example, the coach cannot cross the line and move onto the playing court. She works in advance of playing time and on the side of the action. Before the game, she prepares her players by anticipating the problems they will face and by readying them to meet those problems. She trains, advises, and encourages, but she never touches the ball. The coach cannot do the players’ work for them. Instead, she is a mentor and teacher.10

The leader as teacher is a concept that has been with us for centuries. The term mentor is derived from The Odyssey, in which Homer describes Ulysses as choosing his trusted friend, Mentor, to look after his son, Telemachus, as Ulysses begins his 10-year journey. Mentor gives Telemachus good counsel, and he cares for and protects him as his teacher. These attributes have been central to our modern concept of mentoring in the workplace.11

Just as there is no single best way to lead, there is no one best way to develop others. Each leader brings unique personal experiences and talent to the task. The following list describes five types of coaches/leaders.12 Keep in mind that not all types are appropriate for all learners in all circumstances.

■ Shamans heal through the use of personal power. They focus the attention of their followers on themselves. When this approach is combined with unusual gifts and skills, shamans are charismatic. They have power, energy, and commitment that they use to energize others.

■ Priests claim power through office. They are agents of omnipotent authority, and the people who follow them are taught to see themselves as set apart from others. Priests establish structure, order, and continuity—a past program and a plan for the immediate and distant future. Priests operate in a hierarchy with roles and duties in a hierarchical ladder.

■ Elected leaders undergo trials, self-transformation, training, or some other rite to achieve their positions. Elected leaders derive power not only from their own experience, but also from the mandate of their followers. Consent of followers constitutes much of the power of these coaches/leaders.

■ Missionaries are goal-directed. Usually, missions involve a utopian view of the future and a program for achieving reforms. Missionaries teach out of personal conviction, believing in certain ideals and seeing it as a duty to pass on these ideals to others.

■ Mystic healers seek the source of illness and health in the follower’s personality. Mystic healers try to discover the statue in the marble and seek, like Michelangelo, to find what can be created from the raw material. To be successful, these coaches/leaders require unselfish motivation and considerable sensitivity, as well as flexibility to vary treatment according to the nature and needs of each individual.

Much of contemporary leading and coaching incorporates the priestly, elected, and missionary types. The priest brings continuity and hierarchy to the task, as power is delegated by the most powerful, and people at each level, division, or unit are differentiated from others. The elected leader gains authority by election, and followership is by consent of the governed. Missionaries can be found in many organizations that have some kind of central mission—economic, religious, political, social service, or other. Shamans and mystic healers may or may not operate within

Types of Coaches/Leaders

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the bounds or the dictates of an organization. Their approach to developing others tends to be individualistic and personalized.

Like pine trees that are stunted if they grow near the timberline, more fully developed if they grow farther down the mountainside, and tall and green if they grow in the valley, people also experience maximum development under certain conditions.

Personal conditions conducive to growth are the following:13

1. People grow when there is a felt need.

2. People grow when they are encouraged by someone they respect.

3. People grow when their plans move from general goals to specific actions.

4. People grow as they move from a condition of lower to higher self-esteem.

5. People grow as they move from external to internal commitment.

Organizational conditions conducive to growth are the following:14

1. Basic respect for the worth and dignity of all people is a cardinal value.

2. Individual differences are recognized, and a variety of learning experiences are provided.

3. Each person is addressed at his or her level of development and is helped to grow to fuller potential.

4. Good communications prevail—people express themselves honestly and listen with respect to the views of others.

5. Growth is rewarded through recognition and tangible signs of approval— commendation, promotion, income, and the like.

The learning organization is a familiar term for successful leaders and companies. Learning organizations use six ingredients to discover, create, and transfer knowledge and skills: (1) They search constantly for new knowledge and ways to apply it; (2) they carefully review both successes and failures; (3) they benchmark and implement best practices; (4) they share lessons learned; (5) they reward innovation; (6) experienced and new employees learn together.15

Principles to follow in developing others include the following: 1. Have a respectful attitude. Deep inside each person is the desire to achieve

something, to be somebody. If you tap into that desire and demonstrate that you believe in the person, self-respect can be ignited. Ultimately, it is self-respect that fuels success. The effective leader agrees with W. B. Yeats, who said: “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”16 Consider the story of the banker and the beggar:

Principles of Developing Others

There was a banker who would regularly drop a coin in a beggar’s cup. Unlike most people, the banker would insist on receiving one of the pencils the beg- gar had with him. The banker would say, “You are a merchant, and I always expect to receive good value from the merchants with whom I do business.”

One day the beggar was gone. Some years later, the banker walked by a concession stand, and there was the former beggar, now a shopkeeper. The shopkeeper said, “I always hoped you might come by some day. You are largely responsible for me being here. You kept telling me that I was a mer- chant. I started thinking of myself that way. Instead of a beggar receiving gifts, I started selling pencils, lots of them. You gave me self-respect and caused me to look at myself differently.”17

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Thomas J. Watson, Jr. (1914–1993), son of the founder of IBM, initially had trouble living up to his father’s charisma and achievements. Watson Sr. was one of the great entrepreneurs of the 20th century. He put IBM on the map and gave the world the motto THINK. In contrast, Watson Jr. even needed a tutor to get through the IBM sales school. “I had no distinctions, no successes,” he writes in Father, Son & Company.

When Watson started taking flying lessons, however, something important happened. “What a feeling,” he says. “I was good at flying, instantly good. I poured everything I had into this activity and gained a lot of personal self- confidence.” This small success led to greater successes. Watson became an officer in the U.S. Air Force during WWII. It was in the Air Force that he discovered he had “an orderly mind, the ability to focus on what was important, and to put it across to others.”

Watson eventually became the CEO of IBM and launched the company into the Computer Age. In 15 years, he multiplied IBM’s earnings almost tenfold. By the time he retired, the IBM he shaped was the greatest success story of America’s postwar boom, routing computer-industry rivals like General Elec- tric, RCA, and Sperry-UNIVAC. During his tenure, IBM created more wealth for its shareholders than any other company in business history, an achievement that led Fortune magazine in 1987 to declare Watson, “The greatest capitalist who ever lived.”18

2. Build self-esteem. The importance of developing self-esteem can be seen in the following story:

3. Use the correct medium or combination of techniques. Consider whether one- on-one coaching, formal education, professional conferences, or on-the-job learning is the best method, or whether a combination of approaches would be most appropriate.

Sabbaticals in various forms are ideal ways to keep leaders fresh and motivated. They have long been a tradition in universities and can be equally effective in the business world. One example is the company with five leaders for every four turns or depart- ments. By rotation, one person is available at any time to study and work on projects that otherwise would never be addressed. New products, markets, and enthusiasm are the by-products of such a system of working sabbaticals. This is a good way to combat the typical syndrome in which people get promoted, learn the job, then get bored, and pass the feeling on to others.

4. Use coaching versus judging in developing people; consider—purpose, timing, focus, and process.19

Purpose. Judging serves to label performance. Coaching serves to improve performance.

Timing. Judging is time-specific, such as a quarterly review. Coaching is ongoing and provided as needed.

Focus. Judging is standardized for all subjects. Coaching is tailored to each individual.

Process. Judging is unilateral, one-way. Coaching is interactive, two-way.

5. Practice. Practice builds proficiency. Most things people learn involve more than abstract thinking; they must be learned with the senses and muscles as well. By actually repairing a car, a person will learn more about automobile maintenance than by merely reading about it. As the Greek dramatist Sophocles said, “Knowledge must come through action.” And as Confucius said, “I listen and I hear; I see and I remem- ber; I do and I understand.”20

Practice is especially important in the development of leaders. As leadership expert Henry Mintzberg explains: “The idea that you can take intelligent but inexperienced

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young people who have never managed anybody and turn them into highly effective leaders via two years of classroom training is unrealistic. This is the reason coopera- tive education, internships, and other learn-by-doing assignments are so important.”21

Training in the Workplace Management author Gary Hamel asks a challenging question: “Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?” It can be argued that the most successful organizations are masters of learning, and the most effective leaders are masters of teaching.22

Both the organization and the individual are helped if people have multiple skills, if they can move easily across functional boundaries, if they are comfortable switch- ing between regular duties and special projects, if growth is valued, and if continuous learning is a way of life. In such organizations, there is an understanding that the employer and employee share responsibility for maintaining proficiency and achieving success. Employers give employees the chance to develop enhanced employability in exchange for better productivity and commitment to the company’s purpose for as long as the employee works there.23

The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) states that the overall U.S. commitment to training is approximately 2.34 percent of payroll ($1,103 per em- ployee), with better employers providing substantially more—from 2.5 to 5 percent of payroll.

Annual training hours per employee average 32 hours, with leading employers providing 57 to 62 hours. Leadership development, technical procedures, and information technology are the three most-cited types of training. It should be noted that revenues and overall profitability are positively correlated with training expenditures. Evidence shows that training pays off in terms of higher net sales and gross profitability per employee.24

Employers spend $55 billion annually on formal training programs and another $180 billion on informal on-the-job instruction. It is interesting to note that training expenditures as a percentage of payroll are highest in Asia (3.8 percent).25

Through research on best practices, ASTD has developed a model of training that supports organizational effectiveness and contributes to individual productivity. Table 16–1 shows a model of highly effective training, including targeted training needs and types of training provided.

Targeted Training Need Types of Training Provided

Ensuring organizational performance Executive development Management training and development Supervisory training and development Staff/employee training

Meeting strategic goals Strategic planning, team building, employee orientation, quality improvement

Implementing new technology Technical training Scientific and engineering training Technician training Craft and apprentice training Employee skill training Data processing and computer training Information systems training

Engaging customers Sales and marketing training Customer service training

Protecting employees and communities Health and safety training Regulatory compliance (e.g., meeting environmental standards)

Ensuring job readiness Basic skills training

Table 16–1 Model of Highly Effective Training26

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Measurement of Learning Effectiveness The measurement of learning effectiveness is an important issue in today’s work- place. The clearest path through this maze continues to be The Four Levels Approach, outlined by Donald Kirkpatrick at the University of Wisconsin. Paraphrased, the levels are as follows:

1. Satisfaction—generally measured by participant approval ratings.

2. Learning—defined as measurable improvement in knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

3. Application—understood as on-the-job use of new concepts, principles, tools, and techniques.

4. Impact—as measured by improvement in bottom-line results such as sales, quality, customer satisfaction, safety, employee morale, turnover, costs, and profits.

The individual learner tends to be concerned about the first two levels, while managers focus on applications, and sponsors concentrate on impact.27

■ At Level 1, data are usually gathered by questionnaires administered at the conclu- sion of a training program. They are a measure of participant satisfaction and typically evaluate content, delivery, and the like.

■ At Level 2, learning is measured in terms of increased knowledge, skill, or atti- tude. Methods range from paper-and-pencil tests to complex job demonstrations.

■ At Level 3, the question, “Are learners using new knowledge, skills, and attitudes back at work?” is answered. This can be determined through observation, surveys, and interviews.

■ At Level 4, the focus is on business results. Assuming people have learned and are applying what they have learned, what difference does it make? Level 4 evaluation measures return on investment. Are the gains recorded greater than the expenditures for training?

Most training conducted in the United States is evaluated at Level 1, if at all. The next most-used level is Level 2. Levels 3 and 4 are used in the minority of cases, usually because of the time, cost, and skill involved in collecting, evaluat- ing, and reporting the data. Table 16–2 is a sample format for evaluating Level 1 training effectiveness.

The following are four factors of training effectiveness—pace, relevance, value, and participation. On the basis of training you have attended, evaluate each factor on the scale provided.

Table 16–2 Four-Factor Training Evaluation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Too fast or too slow Just right

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Unimportant Important

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Low value High value

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Low participation High participation

Pace If the pace of training was either too slow or too fast, indicate with a low evaluation; if the pace of training was just right, indicate with a high evaluation.

Relevance If the subject matter was unimportant, indicate with a low evaluation; if the subject matter was important, indicate with a high evaluation.

Value If the training experience was of low value, indicate with a low score; if the training experience was valuable, indicate with a high score.

Participation If participants were not involved, indicate with a low score; if participants were actively involved, indicate with a high score.

Comments/Suggestions:

Poor Fair Average Good Excellent

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Developing Leaders Vince Lombardi is famous for saying: “Leaders are not born. They are made. They are made just like anything else, through hard work. That’s the price you have to pay to achieve that goal or any goal.”28

Organizations typically identify a leadership gap and then seek to fill the gap through training efforts. Competency and performance goals are usually set for achieving business results and developing people-building skills. Interventions in- clude classroom instruction, seminars, assessment and feedback, performance coaching, mentoring, and action learning, or field activities. Are the results worth the effort? An example from sports shows the big dividends leadership develop- ment can pay.

In the book Sacred Hoops, coach Phil Jackson talks about his work with Michael Jordan. With such a gifted athlete, no coach could do much to improve his basketball play. So Jackson focused his efforts with Jordan on making the su- perstar a true leader of the team. And it worked. In 1989, five years after joining the league and the same year that Jackson became head coach of the Bulls, Jordan began to see his role not just as stealing balls and scoring points, but as a leader whose job also was to help raise the level of play of every other player on the team. It is this contribution, Jordan’s ability to help his teammates be better play- ers, more than his superb athletic talent, that made the Chicago Bulls the world’s winningest basketball team.29

Robert Katz, in his book Skills of an Effective Administrator, explains that lead- ership is a learned skill. Although people possess varying amounts of aptitude to lead, their skills can be improved through training and practice. Furthermore, even those lacking strong innate ability can improve their performance through coaching and learning. This is the rationale for the establishment of leadership schools— Plato’s Academy, 387 BC; Aristotle’s Lyceum, 355 BC; Oxford University, AD 1117; Harvard University, AD 1636; and the U.S. military academies, as well as over 2,000 corporate universities found in American business, industry, and gov- ernment by AD 2008.30

One good way to learn is by studying the masters, those who have gone before. If you observe carefully, you will note a trace of Jonathan Winters in Robin Williams. The Beatles learned from Chuck Berry. Matisse learned from Gauguin. The most effective performers are honest in appraising their current skills and humble enough to learn from others. They copy, adapt, and sometimes surpass the heroes who were the source of their inspiration. They take to heart Yogi Berra’s famous slogan, “You can observe a lot by watching.”31

Individuals who want to develop leadership effectiveness should identify superb leaders and learn from their example. They should observe their behavior and ask questions. Understanding the values and goals of successful leaders, the rationale for their decisions and actions, the principles underlying their skills and techniques, and the resources they use to solve problems and make decisions can serve as an excellent foundation for developing one’s own leader- ship ability.32

It should be noted that leadership development is not always a top-down process. Many leaders have grown through the example, advice, and caring encouragement of direct-reports and peers. It must be said that for this to occur, all individuals involved (leaders, subordinates, and/or peers) must show a good deal of maturity and personal courage. Reverse mentoring can be a powerful process for keeping leaders current in both the technical and human aspects of work.

Although much of what is labeled as leadership development is classroom-based and is provided in courses, seminars, and lectures, important growth can come from on-the-job “stretch” experiences and, sometimes, the crucible of crisis. These experi- ences usually force people to rise to a challenge or endure a trial they have never faced before. Out of adversity, hardship, and even loss can come meaningful develop- ment that cannot be easily achieved in the classroom setting.

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Experiences having developmental possibilities include early work experience, first-time supervision, responsibility for starting something from scratch or for fixing something (turnaround), expansion of job scope, special projects and task force as- signments, and line to staff switch. As an example, an international assignment may help develop a leader to be more open-minded, appreciate different perspectives, improve communication effectiveness, and raise self-confidence.33

A popular approach to leadership development is individualized coaching to address areas for improvement—public speaking, product knowledge, financial management, computer skills, interpersonal effectiveness, and so on. Most leaders who have received coaching value their coaches’ recommendations, and rate the process as useful to their career development. See the Web site of the International Coaching Federation with links to corporate coaching, small-business coaching, and career coaching— www.coachfederation.org. See also the Corporate Executive Board’s resource, “Maximizing Returns on Professional Executive Coaching.”34

Coaches use a variety of resources for developing leaders including helpful books. Examples include Peter Drucker’s Effective Executive, Douglas McGregor’s The Human Side of Enterprise, Ken Blanchard’s The One Minute Manager, and Jim Collins’s Good to Great. Books such as these provide valuable insight into concepts, principles, skills, and applications for effective leadership.35

Psychologist David Dunning explains how the rewards of effective coaching far outweigh the costs: (1) The organization is rewarded with the successful development of the next generation of leaders; (2) emerging leaders are rewarded with tremendous learning and growth opportunities; and (3) experienced leaders are rewarded with a profound satisfaction that comes from guiding and coaching others to achieve their potential.

Dunning describes the role of the coach as that of First Assistant. The First Assis- tant philosophy is best when it results in a total organizational culture of managers’ developing their direct reports. The commitment of the First Assistant is as follows:

I will do everything in my power to help you be successful. I will share my knowledge and skills, disclose my value system, and assist you in every way for your professional and personal growth. I will not lower the bar of performance or excuse ineffective performance. If anything, I will raise the bar higher because I believe you are capable of stretching yourself and increasing your capabilities.

The First Assistant helps the individual develop learning and performance goals and action strategies to reach those goals, identify formal and informal training or learning opportunities, review progress and lessons learned, and keep focused. The following are some sample coaching challenges: a competent division manager needs to learn to manage anger and deal with conflict in more appropriate ways; a newly promoted project manager needs to develop better time management and delegation skills; and an associate who aspires to partnership wants to increase her leadership skills. For these individuals and countless others, coaching can provide invaluable assistance.36

Noel Tichy, author of The Leadership Engine, states that great organizations—such as IBM, Intel, GE, and Walmart (when they are great)—don’t have just one strong leader or a few here and there; they have many good leaders at all levels of the or- ganization. They make leadership development and leadership excellence a strategic commitment and basis of success.37

The most effective leadership development efforts are owned at the top (including participation by senior leaders), sustained over time (versus one-time-only, flash-in- the-pan activities), deemed strategically important (to support mission and goals), and based on behavior (emphasizing on-the-job application of principles and practices).38

Coaching for Success

Leadership Development for Organization Success

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The Employer–Employee Relationship The employer–employee relationship is an important subject for both the individual and the organization, and it is especially important for people in leadership positions. The following is a discussion of what employers want in an employee and how to attract and keep good people.

The number one quality employers want in an employee is honesty. The need for trust is paramount because the employer relies on the employee to serve its customers, protect its property, and uphold its reputation. Employee honesty is essential.

Next, the employer wants someone who will take initiative and be a self-starter. The employee who is eager to serve is viewed as an asset. Specific skills are less important than the underlying qualities of self-motivation, desire to learn, and personal commitment.

Next, employers want employees with (1) technical knowledge; (2) communication skills; (3) the ability to get along well with others; (4) creative responses to setbacks and obstacles; (5) a high attitude–low maintenance approach to work; and (6) leadership potential.40

The shift from career dependence to career self-leadership is a reality in today’s work environment.41 The following are basic rules for succeeding in one’s work:

Rule 1: Put your best foot forward. Ask what is expected of you and with whom you will be working; then exceed expectations. Build good working relationships from the beginning.

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Developing the Leadership Pyramid The business world is filled with dying organizations where people are paid at rates more than the value they contribute. There are also thriving organiza- tions where people contribute over and above what they are being paid—and do so willingly. The central element of successful organizations is effective leadership and its development. Current leaders provide the engine for suc- cess, and a pipeline of emerging leaders provides the gas required to sustain success.

The example of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) makes this point. The core competencies of the organization are containment and humane treatment—this is why CCA is hired. But the factor that most determines the quality of containment and quality of treatment is leadership effectiveness. CCA is fanatical about effective leadership and its development.

CCA has many caring leaders, but none more so than Jimmy Turner—once most happy on his horse, shotgun over the saddle, guarding the perimeter of a Texas prison, and now chief operations officer for CCA’s 63 institutions. To quote Turner about corrections: “What we do is important, and we do it right.” Turner describes CCA’s approach to leadership development: “We don’t delegate it to others—we have to develop too. And we don’t delegate training either. Experts help us, but senior leaders provide training for new leaders. We are in this together.”

The CCA model of leadership development has vice presidents and direc- tors training wardens; directors and wardens training assistant wardens and captains; assistant wardens and captains training correctional officers—people at the “doing” level of containment and treatment. CCA doesn’t miss a link in the leadership chain, and its business success shows it.39

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Rule 2: Deliver results. Be known for reliability and performance. Stay on task, and persevere in the face of challenge. Let your deeds speak louder than the words you use.

Rule 3: Be considerate. Work cooperatively to accomplish tasks. Lend a helping hand to others in need, and have a one-team attitude in dealing with people.

Rule 4: Be creative. Keep an open mind, and look for ways to improve your organi- zation and the work you do. Be original and open to new ideas.

Rule 5: Have integrity. Remember, success comes from doing the right things for the right reasons in the right way. Keep your thinking cap on to know what is right. Keep your character strong to do what is right.

Attracting and keeping good employees is an ever-increasing concern for today’s em- ployers. The investment in time, money, and energy to hire a good employee is high, and the cost in lost time, lost money, and psychic letdown if the company loses a good em- ployee is even higher. Consider that the financial cost alone for turning over one semi- skilled employee after a 90-day probation period averages 30 percent of annual wages. The cost can be as high as 150 percent of yearly salaries for professional employees.42

Based on a salary of $50,000, the cost of turnover would be $75,000. A company with 1,000 employees and a 10 percent turnover rate will pay an annual cost of $7.5 million.

It is important to know what attracts the best employees to a company and what makes them stay. These are two of the oldest issues in the business world, and maybe the most important.43 Employers should meet employee needs in the following areas: clarity of work assignment, good work tools and supplies, challenge in one’s area of expertise, recognition for one’s accomplishments, opportunity to grow, respect for one’s opinions, a mission that motivates, feedback on performance, positive social interactions, and pride in one’s group.

As a leader, if you want to know what you should do to maintain a strong and productive work group, addressing these areas would be an excellent place to start. Three points should be noted: (1) None of these areas deals with employee wages; (2) in general, employees join organizations, but they leave supervisors; and (3) effective leaders possess a positive attitude and use an individualized approach in the development of people.44

Marcus Buckingham, author of First Break All the Rules and Now Discover Your Strengths, emphasizes the importance of point three. “There are as many styles of man- agement as there are managers, but there is one quality that sets truly great managers apart from the rest. They discover what is unique about each person and then capitalize on it. Great managers know and value the special abilities and even the eccentricities of their employees, and they learn how to best use them for the highest performance.”45

The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly is a useful tool for managers and organiza- tions who want to improve retention through caring leadership. Imagine a normal prob- ability curve representing all leaders. The top 10 percent of this curve are exceptional leaders who are true gifts to their employees and organizations. The bottom 10 percent of the curve are good people, but their leadership beliefs and practices are harmful to others. The middle 80 percent will be awakened by The Dream Manager and will be nudged in the direction of effective leadership and the retention of good employees.

Peak performance is important for the individual and the organization. It is hard to describe, but you know it when you see it.

Peak Performance

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A Perfectly Beautiful Laundress When I was very young—five years old, as I remember it—I heard my mother say that she had engaged a perfectly beautiful laundress. I hid behind the kitchen sink to have my first look and my first disenchantment. My mother’s

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The moral of this story is that whatever you are called to be in life you should per- form your work so well that all the hosts of heaven will pause to say, here is a great baker, machinist, farmer, or chief, who does his or her work well.47

To personalize the concept of peak performance, answer the following questions:

1. Describe a time in your life when you performed at your personal best. When was it? Who was involved? What happened? What were the results?

2. As a result of your personal best, what did you learn about yourself? About other people? About excellence?

3. Based on your personal best and lessons learned, what are your plans for the road ahead? What goals do you have? What steps can you take to perform (again) at a peak-performance level?

In every endeavor, there are four levels of performance effectiveness, from novice to master. (See Figure 16–1.)

Level I. At the lowest level, one is unconsciously incompetent; one doesn’t know what one doesn’t know. One is a novice.

Level II. At the second level, one is conscious of one’s incompetence; one knows what one doesn’t know. This is the first step toward growth.

Level III. At the third level, one is conscious of one’s competence; one knows what is required to be competent and is competent, in fact.

Level IV. At the highest level, one is unconsciously competent. The performance that results seems effortless, yet it is remarkable. One is a master.

The conscious-competence performance continuum can be seen in every art, sci- ence, profession, and trade. To personalize the subject, consider your own level of performance effectiveness. You should do the work you love and develop from novice to master through learning and practice. The result will be both personal happiness and professional success.48

laundress was less beautiful than the soap that she exercised on my jumpers, and her figure was, like that of her tub, round, stable, and very wide.

That which was called beautiful was neither the laundress nor the objects of her laundering, but the performance to which these were machine and medium, a performance made express and visible in the comforting, crisp cleanliness of linens, pajamas, towels, and pillowcases.

The work done was well done; the task and the process were perfectly mas- tered; the end was well attained, completely and without excess; and my mother, perceiving this unity of intention, method, and product, cast over all of these the aureole of beauty.46

Level I Level II Level III Level IV

Novice Master

Low Performance High Performance

Effectiveness Effectiveness

Unconscious Conscious Conscious Unconscious

Incompetence Incompetence Competence Competence

Figure 16–1 A Conscious-Competence Performance Model

Levels of Performance Effectiveness

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Although late bloomers and later-life success stories are not uncommon—showing personal performance is a lifelong concern—for most people the early career sets the stage for all that follows. No matter what field or profession you pursue, the follow- ing guide will be of help.49 Before your middle years, do these things:

1. Know yourself. Know who you are and what is important to you. This will an- chor you and make you efficient. The time and energy required to do this can be substantial, and these are best spent in your youth, not in midlife when the needs of others should be the focus of your attention.

2. Become an expert. Develop a body of knowledge and skills that people need and will pay you to do. Examples are carpentry, nursing, accounting, cooking, singing, writing, typing, and plumbing. In the final analysis, your ability to perform a wanted service is the best insurance you can have.

3. Establish your style. Whatever methods or tools you use—early riser, suit and tie, fresh flowers, thank-you cards, pickup truck—be sure they are both productive and comfortable for you. Do this when you are young. Adopt work habits that make you truly productive. Watch successful people in any line of work. Each has developed a distinctive and productive way of doing the craft, trade, or profession.

4. Build a network. This is usually done through personal interactions on the job, in the neighborhood, and in the family. It is best done by generous and gracious service to others—paid or unpaid. A web of trust, respect, and mutual support will build relationships and benefit all parties for years to come.

5. Focus. Cherish the past, plan for the future, but live in the moment. Only then will all of your faculties be functioning on the task at hand. By living life fully in the moment, you maximize all you have been and realize the full potential of which you are capable.

6. Create a cushion. Ideally, you don’t want to be in your midlife years and unable to say, I quit. By this time you will know in your heart the hills worth dying on versus minor matters of opinion or style. When faced with such a hill, your con- science will cry out for expression, and it will help if you have economic strength to support it.

7. Be true to your values. Yogi Berra once said, “Everything is easy until it becomes difficult.” This is where integrity comes in. Integrity requires honest assessment and action, and it requires courage to live by your convictions even at self-risk or sacrifice. Integrity is the foremost requirement for a successful career and life.

8. Stay young, stay foolish. In 2007, Steve Jobs addressed the graduating class of Stanford University with this advice: (1) Be who you are; (2) do what you love; (3) stay young, stay foolish. Jobs’s challenge applies before your middle years, as well as after. See www.apple.com.

To help this list be more than words, respond to the challenge of the Latin phrase—Carpe diem—seize the day!

Personal Performance

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360

Helping People through Change and Burnout Prevention

Nearly 2,500 years ago, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus noted that one cannever cross the same river twice. In other words, change is a constant in life.In Managing at the Speed of Change, Daryl Conner writes that the volume, speed, and complexity of change are increasing in modern times. In our personal lives, we are constantly having to adjust to family changes, job changes, and health changes. In society at large, we face escalating changes in government, educational, religious, and other institutions.50

Change in the Workplace Change is the label under which we put all the things that we have to do differently in the future. In general, people dislike change. It makes a blank space of uncertainty between what is and what might be. The four major types of change in the workplace are the following:51

1. Structure. Change in structure is often severely resisted. Mergers, acquisitions, right-sizing, and reengineering activities typically involve tremendous change.

2. Tasks. Changes in the environment, including products and processes, require changes in tasks. Driving forces include customer needs, productivity improvement, and quality initiatives.

3. Technology. Innovations in this area have dramatically increased the rate of change. No industry, trade, or profession is immune to change caused by technologi- cal advancements.

4. People. Change in any of the above variables can result in changing relationships—change in managers, employees, co-workers, and customers, and change within a given person, such as change in knowledge, attitude, and skills.

A particularly stressful change in the American workplace is the downsizing and reorganization activities resulting from reengineering business, reinventing govern- ment, and other management initiatives. Employees who are victims of job loss, particularly those in their middle years, face enormous economic, social, and personal stress. Employees who remain with an organization often experience the “survivor syndrome.” They are afraid they will be part of the next round of cuts, and they feel sadness and guilt over their co-workers’ fate. In addition, they often have more work to do personally if production demands do not reflect the reduced number of people to do the job.

CHAPTER

17

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Many lessons have been learned from studying organizational change, but four stand out: (1) People need to be flexible and willing to change to preserve important values and goals; (2) people need a positive attitude toward lifelong learning to remain viable in the workplace; (3) career education is a survival skill, since people must learn to manage their own careers; and (4) change can be expensive—consider that if 100 employees with an average annual salary of $24,000 go through a six-month change or transition resulting in two hours of distraction per day, the cost is $276,000.52

How prevalent is change in the workplace? A recent study found that 42 percent of the North American companies surveyed engaged in 11 or more change initiatives in a five-year period. In essence, the report describes a “change frenzy” that is creating cynical, demoralized employees and failing to produce meaningful improvements. The result is frontline workers who are overstressed by all the changes created by managers frantically searching for the next formula for success. Consider the follow- ing letter from an apologetic and enlightened management:53

Dear Employees:

For the last decade, we have been trying to change our organization. Because we are frightened for our economic future, we kept looking for—and finding—another program du jour. We’ve dragged you through quality circles, excellence, total-quality management, self-directed work teams, re-engineering, and God knows what else. Desperate to find some way to improve our profitability, we switched from change to change almost as fast as we could read about them in business magazines.

All of this bouncing from one panacea to the next gave birth to rampant bandwagonism. We forgot to consider each change carefully, implement it thoughtfully, and wait patiently for results. Instead, we just kept on changing while you progressed from skepticism to cynicism to downright intransigence because you realized that all of these changes were just creating the illusion of movement toward some ill-defined goal.

Now we’ve got a lot of burned-out workers and managers, tired of the change-of-the-month club and unlikely to listen to our next idea, no matter how good it might be. For our complicity in this dismal state of affairs, we are sincerely sorry.

The Management

Managing People through Change Figure 17–1 depicts the all-too-common responses to change at various organizational levels.

Top management. Top leaders may underestimate the impact of change on lower levels of the organization. They expect employees to go along when a change is announced and blame middle managers if people resist or complain. They may be so insulated that they truly don’t know the results of their decisions and programs.

Figure 17–1 Organizational Response to Change54

Squeezed

Resistant

Top Management

Isolated

Middle Management

Frontline Employees

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Middle management. Managers in the middle feel pressure to implement organizational change, but often lack information and top leadership direction to be successful. They may feel squeezed between resistant or withdrawn subordinates and demanding but out-of-touch superiors.

Frontline employees. Frontline people may feel threatened by changes announced by management and may respond with denial and resistance, leading often to worry and protective behavior. At this point, employees may shut down and be morale casualties. In this state, lack of willingness to take initiative and to be accountable is not uncommon.

People judge a change primarily on the basis of how it will affect them. If a change is personally disruptive, resistance can be great. Even computer professionals resist change when computerization has an impact on their own lives. Loss of control is one of the things people dislike most about change. Out of a need for control, they may choose dysfunction over uncertainty. Often the only way to get people to say good-bye to the past is to convince them that the price of holding on to it is too high and that change is the only way to survive.55

When organizations have the right goals in mind—they want to be customer-focused, quality-conscious, empowered, and profitable—and the reason for change is accounted for by market competition, customer demands, and other forces, the question of how to implement or manage change should be addressed. Seven rules should guide leaders in all change efforts:

1. Have a good reason for making a change. Consider each change carefully against the following criteria: Will it support the organization’s purpose and goals, and does it reflect the organization’s basic principles and core values? If the answer is no, don’t change. Change for the sake of change is a waste of precious resources, in- cluding people’s time.

2. Personalize change. Let people know where you stand. Explain your commit- ment. Why is the change important to you? How will you be affected if the change is successful or if it fails? Why is this change important to them? What do they stand to gain or lose? People may resist or give lukewarm support to a change initiative unless they see how they will personally benefit.56

3. Implement change thoughtfully. Follow four proven principles: Involve the people who are affected by the change (if you want people in the landing, they have to be in the takeoff ); go slow, giving people time to adjust (if you go too fast, you will have an empty train going down the tracks; sometimes you must slow down to carry more passengers); keep people informed through constant personal communi- cation (however much you communicated before the change, raise the level by a factor of 10); be available (not just mentally, but physically as well).

4. Put a respected person in charge of coordinating change. Select someone who is trusted by all. Then tap the constructive power of the group through transition teams to plan, coordinate, and communicate change efforts. Provide training in new knowledge, attitudes, and skills to support change.

5. Tell the truth. When change is necessary, give the facts and rationale, not sugarcoated pep talks. Trust goes up when the truth is shared. Only after people know the truth and come to terms with negative feelings can they focus effectively on the future.

6. Wait patiently for results. It takes time for a seed to grow, and it takes time to realize benefits from change. Change that is too rapid can be destructive. Rush the process and reduce the results. The effective leader knows personal, political, and financial costs accompany any organizational change, and is willing to pay the price. To ensure success, install methods for tracking progress and stay personally involved.

7. Acknowledge and reward people. As change is made, take time to recognize people and show appreciation. Acknowledge the struggles, sacrifices, and contribu- tions people have made. A word of thanks goes a long way.

In helping people through change, leaders must remember the different time and information perspectives of different levels of the organization. Senior leaders may be

Rules to Guide Leaders in Implementing Change

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eager to implement changes that frontline personnel are just learning about. Listening, understanding, and being patient are necessary leadership actions for successful change to occur.

Social psychologist Kurt Lewin identified a three-step process for helping people through change: First, unfreeze the status quo; second, move to the desired state; third, live by conditions that become the new, but not rigid, status quo.57

■ Unfreezing involves reducing or eliminating resistance to change. As long as people drag their heels about a change, it will never be implemented effectively. To accept change, people must first deal with and resolve feelings about letting go of the old. Only after people have dealt successfully with endings are they ready to make transitions.

■ Moving to the desired state usually involves considerable two-way communication, including group discussion. Lewin advised that the person leading change should make suggestions and encourage discussion. Brainstorming, benchmarking, field study, and library research are good techniques for channeling the energies of the group. The best way to overcome resistance to change is to involve people in the changes that will affect them.

■ Living by new conditions involves such factors as pointing out the successes of the change and finding ways to reward the people involved in implementing the change. Recognizing the contributions of others shows appreciation for their efforts and increases their willingness to participate in future change efforts.

Understanding Complex Organizational Change Does this sound familiar? Senior leaders spend months coming up with a plan for moving the organization in a new direction. The board says, “Full speed ahead!” There is only one problem: The managers who actually run the place and the employ- ees who actually do the work have no understanding of the plan, and are maybe even complaining about the newest “new thing” of senior management. The only way to move from boardroom discussion to on-the-job reality is to help managers and workers understand, share, and commit to a vision for change.58

There are many models for understanding organizational change. One of the best is an eight-stage process provided by John Kotter of Harvard University. Kotter’s model summarizes the steps necessary to produce successful change. The first four steps un- freeze the status quo and energize the organization around a new vision. The remaining four steps help move the organization to the desired state, including implementing new practices and reinforcing changes in the organizational culture.59 See Figure 17–2.

Kotter has identified common errors and their consequences in creating organizational change. These are presented in Figure 17–3.60

Organizational culture plays an important role in dealing with change. Imagine culture as an iceberg. Above the waterline are visible artifacts such as language, physical and social architecture, and customs for dealing with significant events. Below the waterline, and far more powerful, are deeply rooted assumptions, values, and beliefs. These strong forces must be appreciated when leading organizational change. Business history is replete with examples of merger failures traced to in- compatible organizational cultures.61

Culture reflects the behavior and assumptions that are shared by members of a group. These give the group a unique character that can enrich its members and all who are af- fected by the group. Advancing the positive elements of culture (such as a tradition of service excellence) and eliminating the negative (such as an authoritarian management style) are the tasks of leadership, and it is this responsibility that is often the basis of change initiatives. To be successful, the leader must maintain a strong vision that serves as a source of purpose, exhibit strong values that serve as a guidance system, and display patience, understanding, and resolve when implementing needed change.62

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Figure 17–2 The Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change

1. Establishing a Sense of Urgency • Examining the market and competitive realities • Identifying and discussing crises, potential crises, or major opportunities

2. Creating the Guiding Coalition • Putting together a group with enough power to lead the change • Getting the group to work together like a team

3. Developing a Vision and Strategy • Creating a vision to help direct the change effort • Developing strategies for achieving that vision

4. Communicating the Change Vision • Using every vehicle possible to constantly communicate the new vision and strategies • Having the guiding coalition role-model the behavior expected of employees

5. Empowering Broad-Based Action • Getting rid of obstacles • Changing systems or structures that undermine the change vision • Encouraging risk taking and nontraditional ideas, activities, and actions

6. Generating Short-Term Wins • Planning for visible improvements in performance, or "wins" • Creating those wins • Visibly recognizing and rewarding people who made the wins possible

7. Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change • Using increased credibility to change all systems, structures, and policies that don't fit together and don't fit the transformation vision • Hiring, promoting, and developing people who can implement the change vision • Reinvigorating the process with new projects, themes, and change agents

8. Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture • Creating better performance through customer—and productivity—oriented behavior, more and better leadership, and more effective management • Articulating the connections between new behaviors and organizational success • Developing means to ensure leadership development and succession management

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Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business School Press. From Leading Change by John P. Kotter, Boston, MA, 1996, p. 16. Copyright © 1996 by John P. Kotter; all rights reserved.

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Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business School Press. From Leading Change by John P. Kotter, Boston, MA, 1996, p. 21. Copyright © 1996 by John P. Kotter; all rights reserved.

• Communicate a clear, compelling vision to employees. If employees have a shared sense of purpose, it will be easier to initiate actions to achieve that purpose.

• Make structures compatible with the vision. Unaligned structures block needed action.

• Provide the training employees need. Without the right skills and attitudes, people feel unempowered.

• Align information and personnel systems to the vision. Unaligned systems block needed action.

• Confront supervisors who undercut needed change. Nothing disempowers people the way a bad boss can. If managers fail to display commitment to a change, it is difficult for employees below them to be supportive.

Table 17–1 Empowering People to Effect Change63

The empowerment of people is a key element for successful organizational change. Table 17–1 presents five principles leaders should follow for tapping the constructive power of all employees.

Figure 17–3 Eight Errors Common to Organizational Change Efforts and Their Consequences

Common Errors • Allowing too much complacency • Failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition • Underestimating the power of vision • Undercommunicating the vision by a factor of 10 (or 100 or even 1,000) • Permitting obstacles to block the new vision • Failing to create short-term wins • Declaring victory too soon • Neglecting to anchor changes firmly in the corporate culture

Consequences • New strategies aren't implemented well. • Acquisitions don't achieve expected synergies. • Reengineering takes too long and costs too much. • Downsizing doesn't get costs under control. • Quality programs don't deliver hoped-for results.

In dealing with change, employees are faced with uncertainty and lack of role clarity. Often there are more questions than answers. In such times, success belongs to the committed, to those who work from the heart and adjust quickly when change occurs. These individuals create role clarity for themselves. They chase down the information they need and align their efforts with the organization’s larger purpose and goals. Then they attack the work to be done as best as they understand it to be. Two rules to follow are: (1) contribute more than you cost; and (2) make your customer your first priority.

Imagine a workforce that costs more than it contributes; this is a dying institution. Imagine a workforce that contributes more than it costs; this is a thriving, growing institution that meets the needs of employers and employees alike. The successful individual focuses on performance and results, not tenure, activity level, or good intentions. The successful employee contributes more than he costs.

The second rule is to put the customer first. Identify who you are supposed to serve—the customer (patient, passenger, guest, student, etc.), another department, a direct report. Then get close to this person or group. Anticipate special needs, know preferences, and develop a reputation for responsiveness. Make customer satisfaction your number one commitment. The successful individual makes the customer king.

To personalize the subject, consider yourself: Are your efforts aligned with your orga- nization’s purpose and goals? Do you contribute more than you cost? Who is your cus- tomer, and what evidence shows that his or her interests are your number one priority?

The Role of the Individual

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Technology is a major influence at work and at home.

All forms of work are affected by computerized systems. New technology puts a premium on technical knowledge.

The pace of technological and social change is rapid and accelerating.

We expect things to change; some like it, but some resist the pace. It is often easier to throw away objects and relationships than to repair them.

The speed of communication and access to information is increasing.

People are bombarded daily by information from a myriad of sources—print, electronic, and so on. More available information poses more choices.

There is increasing reliance on self-help versus institutional help.

There is a trend toward empowering individuals. There is greater need for continuing education and lifelong learning.

A dominant trend is greater diversity in the workplace.

Increasing numbers of women and minorities in the workforce means systemic change in family and social life. Issues such as human dignity, mutual respect, and inclusion are important social concerns.

There is a greater variety of living arrangements.

More people are living in nontraditional families. Young people increasingly are raised by nonrelated adults as less and less time is spent with natural parents and legal guardians.

There is greater variety of working arrangements.

Multiple careers and multiple employers are the norm. Couples pursuing careers in different geographic locations is an increasing trend.

There is growth in population, including cultural and ethnic diversity.

The population of our planet didn’t reach 1 billion until the 1860s, about the time of the Civil War; the U.S. Census Bureau predicts it will reach 10 billion by the year 2040. Minority groups are affirming themselves as well as their rights to mainstream entitlements. Differing beliefs make it more difficult to know how to live.

There is globalization of world economies.

International competition in goods and services has an impact on the marketplace and employment patterns. Globalization brings opportunities to exchange ideas and customs.

There is a trend toward breakdown of traditional values and social order.

Parents, teachers, and other leaders increasingly fail to live by high ethical standards. People are increasingly exposed to crime and violence, both in person and through the media.

Figure 17–4 Changes in Today’s World

Myths and Realities in Dealing with Change Historians have identified ages or periods of history—the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, the Age of Reason, and so on. An argument can be made that the current period is the Age of Change; further, the rate of change keeps picking up speed. In one way or another, people have always had to deal with change. What is different today is the pace and volume of change with diminishing time of the effectiveness of our responses.64

Consider these facts: The top 10 jobs in demand in 2010 did not exist in 2004; the U.S. Labor Department estimates new college graduates will have on average 10 jobs by age 38; new technical information is doubling every 2 years; and one out of 8 couples married in the United States in 2008 met online.

Figure 17–4 shows the broad changes that are occurring in U.S. society today. These are drivers or themes that can result in significant pressure, conflict, and frustration. To personalize the subject, put a check mark next to those changes that affect you.65

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Organizational Change

A. Less supervision: As organizations downsize and cut back, managers have more subordinates—and less time for each.

B. Team culture: It’s typical for employees today to work in a team environment, and being a team player can be difficult.

C. Focus on quality: Many employees are learning new methods and approaches to ensure that the organization is doing “quality” work.

D. Downsizing: Organizations feel the need to get “lean and mean,” leaving many employees without jobs and others as layoff survivors.

E. Mergers and acquisitions: Companies are buying each other out; the result is very different companies—a situation that affects employees.

F. Diversity: As the workforce becomes more diverse, employees interact more with co-workers who have backgrounds different from theirs.

G. International environment: Companies are becoming more international, and employees often find themselves working in a different culture.

H. Innovative pay strategies: Employees are faced with different payment plans, such as gainsharing and bonuses.

Techniques for Dealing with These Stressors

A. Develop your own responsibilities and objectives. Seek high-quality feedback from co-workers and supervisors.

B. Be prepared for and accept empowerment. Improve your communication skills.

C. Don’t wait for training; start learning on your own. Look for ways to improve your work—slowly, but steadily.

D. Be aware of rumors, but don’t let them dominate your thoughts. Work hard and creatively to prove your worth to the organization.

E. Learn as much as possible about the other company. Be prepared and receptive to organizational changes.

F. Become more aware of your own values and prejudices. Consider the many benefits that come from diversity, including increasing productivity.

G. Be honest in considering whether an overseas assignment might work for you and your family. Expect six difficult months at first, with serious adjustments necessary on your part.

H. Understand the organization’s new pay strategy. Ask for periodic performance reviews.

Table 17–2 Organizational Changes That Lead to Stress

There are a number of myths and realities in dealing with change.66 One myth is that change will go away, when the reality is that change is here to stay. If you have lived long enough, you have witnessed firsthand the truth of this statement as you have seen your own body change, your family change, your work change, and even your mind change.

Another myth is that you can just keep on doing things the way you have been, when the reality is that if your world is changing—home, work, and society—then you may have to change as well. For example, if the marketplace or technology or other external forces require doing business differently, you may not succeed if you are unwilling to make adjustments. Sometimes, to protect family, health, and other high-priority values, people have to make changes. As Charles Darwin wrote,

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”67

Overcoming Fear In their book, Working Scared, Ken Wexley and Stan Silverman argue that stress as- sociated with change causes many employees to work in a state of anxiety and fear. They identify eight major areas of change in organizations and provide helpful tech- niques for dealing with these stressors. (See Table 17–2.)68

Figure 17–5 shows the relationship between morale and time in dealing with change. Figure 17–6 shows that the volume of change in the modern workplace in- creases the challenge.

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Figure 17–5 Change Process Starts

Journey through Fire

Time

Morale

Figure 17–6 The Changes Keep Coming

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Figure 17–8 shows effective responses in dealing with change. Denial, resis- tance, and negative attitudes are avoided in favor of proceeding directly to states of exploration, personal responsibility, and commitment. This positive reaction is most likely to happen when people:

■ Believe the change is the right thing to do.

■ Have influence on the nature and process of the change.

■ Respect the person who is championing the change.

■ Expect the change will result in personal gain.

■ Believe this is the right time for change.70

Figure 17–7 Attitude Curve in Response to Change

Current Conditions Satisfaction with the way things are.

Denial Unpleasant facts are ignored or dismissed in favor of more satisfying thoughts.

Resistance Security and other needs are threatened, so overt defenses are employed.

Attitude Trough Negative emotions include resentment, anger, and worry. Some people live in this attitude trough.

Exploration There is recognition that something must be done.

Responsibility Responsibility is accepted, decisions are made, and actions are taken to improve conditions.

Change occurs

Commitment Dedication continues until a new change occurs.

The Importance of Attitude What a person does when change occurs depends on his or her attitude. At one extreme, the individual may shut down and declare, “I will never change.” A more effective approach is to keep an open mind and say, “Let’s consider the possibilities.”

In all areas of life, attitude affects our happiness, effectiveness, and general well-being. Attitude can make or break your career, your relationships, and even your health. We have all known someone with an attitude problem.

Some people take the attitude of the victim when change occurs. This robs them of personal energy and makes them less appealing to others. In contrast, other people view change as a challenge and focus on the opportunities and benefits that change can bring.

The power of attitude to change people’s lives is reflected in this statement: Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it. If you change your attitude, your attitude will change you. Figure 17–7 shows an attitude curve in response to change.69

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What the Individual Can Do What Others Can Do

Denial Remember the adage “He who drinks from the Provide information. Answer questions. Communicate, cup of denial will sleep in the inn of defeat.” Live communicate, communicate, ideally in person. by the principle, “Know the truth and it will set you free.”

Resistance State how you feel. Get it off your chest. Listen and acknowledge feelings. Listening shows respect and may yield important and otherwise unknown information.

Attitude Trough Say this is intolerable—enough is enough. Resolve Model and reinforce positive actions. Be patient. to improve. Say good-bye to the past. Be willing to alter behavior.

Exploration Have an open mind. Consider all possibilities. Focus on possibilities. Channel energy in a helpful way. Coping includes fact-finding and visioning an Brainstorm ideas and alternatives. Provide helpful training. ideal future. Set short-term goals.

Responsibility Have courage. Take action. Accept the consequences. Encourage and expect the best. Help with planning and goal setting. Show support when decisions are made.

Commitment Learn from the past. Enjoy the present. Plan for Acknowledge and celebrate accomplishments. Help the future. prepare for future challenges.

Figure 17–8 Effective Responses in Dealing with Change

Current Conditions

Denial

Resistance Attitude Trough Exploration

Responsibility

Change occurs Commitment

Change often means loss—loss of security, confidence, relationships, direction, or possessions. Healthy coping means dealing with loss realistically and letting go of what must be given up in order to move on. You must adopt the belief that it is never too late to change your attitude and set your life on a new and positive course. At each phase of the attitude curve, there are strategies that can be taken to help you deal successfully with change.

Strategies for Dealing with Change

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Initiating Change Thus far, our discussion about change has dealt with reacting healthfully and effec- tively to a changing world. What about initiating change? What if one’s goal is to change others or improve conditions? These are admirable ambitions, but a word of advice from a Church bishop (name unknown) of Westminster Abbey (AD 1100) is worth remembering:71

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Avoiding Burnout Danger lurks in modern society, and the victim is often the dedicated and talented per- son. This danger is called burnout, and it can occur both on the job and in the home. The dictionary definition of burn out is “to fail, wear out, or become exhausted due to excessive demands on one’s strength, resources, and energy.”

In the human sphere, burnout is what happens when a person experiences physical, psychological, and spiritual fatigue and is unable to cope. Lack of energy and low vitality are characteristics of physical fatigue. Symptoms of psychological fatigue include depression and loss of sharpness in thinking and feeling. Spiritual fatigue is characterized by lack of interest and meaning in life, resulting in unhappiness and pessimism.73

Burnout can strike the businessperson with too many pressures and too little time, the homemaker with too much work and not enough appreciation, and the friend who is tired of being his or her “brother’s keeper.” The following are common types of burnout victims. Do any sound familiar to you?

■ Superpeople, who want to do everything themselves because no one else can or will, and they have never let anyone down.

■ Workaholics, who are driven to meet unreasonable demands placed on them (either by themselves or assigned by others).

■ Burned-out Samaritans, who are always giving to others while receiving little help or appreciation in return.

■ Mismatched people, who do their jobs well but who do not like what they are doing. ■ Midcareer coasters, who may once have been high performers but whose enthusiasm

is gone.

■ Overstressed students, who are holding down full-time jobs and full course loads.74

Burnout was introduced to the scientific literature in the early 1970s by psycholo- gists Herbert Freudenberger and Christina Maslach. The evocative image of their term has made it a popular topic in the print and electronic media since that time. Extensive research has also been carried out. A literature search of the Psychological Abstracts reveals 2,446 research articles and nearly 127 books on burnout.75

When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country.

But it, too, seemed immovable. As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for

changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it.

And now as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realize: If I had only changed myself first, then by example I would have changed my family.

From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country and, who knows, I may have even changed the world.

More modern, but similar, advice on this issue is provided by the Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas Gandhi, who believed: If you would change the world, then you must be the way you want the world to be.72

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We Buried Joe Today People were surprised when Joe suffered a sudden fatal heart attack since he didn’t seem ill or particularly out of condition. Joe was a salesman in his late 50s, who went into sales 30 years ago because he could sell anything. He was a great talker, people liked him, and he was known for his tremendous en- ergy. One day, Joe accepted a position with a large corporation. He liked the idea of having a big product to push and wanted the security that working for a big company offered him.

Gradually, though, Joe found that what he had accomplished was under siege by younger people who had the kind of energy and enthusiasm that, af- ter two decades on the job, Joe found hard to muster routinely. The facts be- fore Joe were scary—his mortgage payments and living expenses were high, his children were in college, and the prospect of retirement loomed darkly be- fore him. The benefits of his work—a larger home and more expensive toys— suddenly caused more worry than joy.

Joe became troubled over whether he could maintain the pace that he set for himself and his company expected him to meet. He began pushing him- self harder and harder to perform, complaining almost daily that he was los- ing his touch, that his memory wasn’t as sharp, that he couldn’t make the number of sales calls he used to, and that he couldn’t put in the hours he did 25 or 30 years ago.

Joe’s fears led to increased irritability. He had trouble sleeping and found himself in a constant state of worry. He even began drinking to relax and to help him fall asleep. Trying to overcome his alcohol-induced sleep, he began drinking more and more coffee in the morning to lift the veil of drowsiness. Joe also kept his fears and concerns shielded from what was potentially his great- est support system—his wife and family.

Finally, Joe’s boss called him into his office one day. Joe had been anticipat- ing this particular call with extreme dread for weeks. He had seen the trend— his good accounts gradually were being siphoned to younger people, he no longer was invited to management meetings, and he sensed that people were talking behind his back. Even as Joe became more frantic and desperate, work- ing harder and longer, his territory was dwindling around him. Joe was at the wrong end of a dangerous game of burnout. When the call came, Joe knew exactly what it meant. He never made it to his boss’s office.76

Burnout is a great equalizer. It is blind to age, sex, color, and creed. It is a condi- tion that can affect both white- and blue-collar workers as well as those who work at home. Job burnout is widespread in modern society. It is hazardous, and it can be contagious. If left unchecked, it can harm individual health, human relationships, and organization effectiveness.

The result of burnout is that a company loses its best people at a critical point, or it leaves them so stressed that their attitude sabotages projects. The result for the individual can be even more tragic, as the following stories show.

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Joe and the ambulance attendants are tragic stories about stress and burnout. They are extreme but instructive, because they show the life-and-death consequences this subject can have. The following is a formula for the burnout process:

Too many demands on strength and resources over a prolonged period of time

�

High expectations and deep personal involvement in the work one does

�

Too few actions taken to replenish the energy consumed in meeting these demands

�

Burnout

Job burnout can be prevented and overcome. This effort requires self-understanding and the support of others. For a better understanding of the job burnout phenomenon, take the test in Exercise 17–1 to evaluate your own status (homemakers should evaluate conditions at home).

A Tragic Story The job was getting to the ambulance attendant. He felt disturbed by the re- curring tragedy, isolated by long shifts. His marriage was in trouble. He was drinking too much. One night it all blew up.

He rode in back that night. His partner drove. Their first call was for a man whose leg had been cut off by a train. His screaming and agony were horrify- ing, but the second call was worse. It was a child-beating. As the attendant treated the youngster’s bruised body and snapped bones, he thought of his own child. His fury grew.

Immediately after leaving the child at the hospital, the attendants were sent out to help a heart attack victim seen lying in the street. When they arrived, however, they found not a cardiac patient, but a drunk—a wino passed out. As they lifted the man into the ambulance, their frustration and anger came to a head. They decided to give the wino a ride he would remember.

The ambulance vaulted over railroad tracks at high speed. The driver took the corners as fast as he could, flinging the wino from side to side in the back. To the attendants, it was a joke. Suddenly, the man began having a real heart attack. The attendant in the back leaned over the wino and started shouting, “Die, you . . . ,” he yelled. “Die.”

He watched as the wino shuddered. He watched as the wino died. By the time they reached the hospital, they had their stories straight. “Dead on ar- rival,” they said. “Nothing we could do.”77

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For each question, indicate your most accurate response by circling the number in the appropriate column.

Do you Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

Feel less competent or effective than you used to feel in your work? 1 2 3 4 5

Consider yourself unappreciated or “used”? 1 2 3 4 5

Dread going to work? 1 2 3 4 5

Feel overwhelmed in your work? 1 2 3 4 5

Feel your job is pointless or unimportant? 1 2 3 4 5

Watch the clock? 1 2 3 4 5

Avoid conversations with others (co-workers, customers, and supervisors in the work setting; family members in the home)? 1 2 3 4 5

Rigidly apply rules without considering creative solutions? 1 2 3 4 5

Become frustrated by your work? 1 2 3 4 5

Miss work often? 1 2 3 4 5

Feel unchallenged by your job? 1 2 3 4 5

Does your work

Overload you? 1 2 3 4 5

Deny you rest periods—breaks, lunch time, sick leave, or vacation? 1 2 3 4 5

Pay too little? 1 2 3 4 5

Depend on uncertain funding sources? 1 2 3 4 5

Provide inadequate support to accomplish the job (budget, equipment, tools, people, etc.)? 1 2 3 4 5

Lack clear guidelines? 1 2 3 4 5

Entail so many different tasks that you feel fragmented? 1 2 3 4 5

Require you to deal with major or rapid changes? 1 2 3 4 5

Lack access to a social or professional support group? 1 2 3 4 5

Involve coping with a negative job image or angry people? 1 2 3 4 5

Depress you? 1 2 3 4 5

Exercise 17–1 Up in Smoke—Are You Burned Out?78

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Scoring and Interpretation:

Add all the circled numbers, and record your total:

Score Category

94–110 Burnout

76–93 Flame

58–75 Smoke

40–57 Sparks

22–39 No fire

■ Burnout. If your score is 94 to 110, you are experiencing a very high level of stress in your work. Without some changes in yourself or your situation, your potential for stress-related illness is high. Consider seeking professional help for stress reduction and burnout prevention. Coping with stress at this level may also require help from others—supervisors, co-workers, and other associates at work, and your spouse and other family members at home.

■ Flame. If you scored from 76 to 93, you have a high amount of work-related stress and may have begun to burn out. Mark the questions on which you scored 4 or above, and rank them in order of their effect on you, beginning with the ones that bother you the most. For at least your top three, evaluate what you can do to reduce the stresses involved, and act to improve conditions. If your body is reflecting the stress, get a medical checkup.

■ Smoke. Scores from 58 to 75 represent a certain amount of stress in your work and are a sign that you have a fair chance of burning out unless you take corrective measures. For each question on which you scored 4 or above, consider ways you can reduce the stresses involved. As soon as possible, take action to improve your attitude or the situation surrounding those things that trouble you most.

■ Sparks. If your score is from 40 to 57, you have a low amount of work-related stress and are unlikely to burn out. Look over those questions on which you scored 3 or above, and think about what you can do to reduce the stresses involved.

■ No fire. If your score is 22 through 39, you are mellow in your work, with almost no job-related stress. As long as you continue at this level, you are practically burnout- proof. A note to remember: Although you may currently have a low burnout score, others may not be as fortunate. Awareness, understanding, and support may be required.

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Dealing with Burnout Although you may be in a state of burnout, the “phoenix phenomenon” can occur. You can rise from the ashes to a new level of energy and commitment, depending on your use of corrective strategies. Strategies for dealing with burnout include emergency aid, short-term actions, and long-term solutions.79

Examples of emergency aid are doing deep breathing, engaging in positive self- talk, taking a physical retreat, and talking with a friend. Sample short-term actions are reducing workload, setting priorities, taking care of your body, and accentuating the positive. Important long-term solutions are clarifying values, renewing commit- ments, making lifestyle changes, and developing personal competencies.

For many people, both the job and the home represent potential sources for high stress and burnout. For this reason, having at least one safe haven is important. Ideally, if things are going badly on the job, rest and comfort can be found in the home. Simi- larly, if home conditions involve pressure, conflict, and frustration, having a satisfying work life helps. The person who faces stress on the job and stress in the home at the same time is waging a war on two fronts and is a prime candidate for burnout.

The Leader’s Role in Burnout Prevention Executives can institute the following 10 practices to prevent burnout in the workplace:

1. Clarify the mission, goals, and values of the organization, and live these personally.

2. Clearly communicate role expectations. People need to know their place in the plan.

3. Maintain a healthy work environment—meet physical, safety, and emotional health needs.

4. Manage work processes so that individuals and groups are neither overloaded nor underloaded.

5. Maintain an effective balance between continuity and change. While self-renewing change is vital for keeping up with shifting conditions, change should not occur at a pace so fast that it produces widespread stress.

6. Foster a spirit of belonging and teamwork throughout the organization through personal involvement, effective communication, and morale-building activities.

7. To the degree possible, allow people flexibility to work at the pace and manner that will ensure personal satisfaction while maintaining needed productivity.

8. Provide people opportunity for ongoing involvement in decisions affecting them.

9. Have career development policies and activities that help people achieve their full potential.

10. Provide assistance in times of stress. Services ranging from fitness programs to counseling centers can be provided within the organization, or referral networks can be established.80

In Managing Stress for Mental Fitness, Merrill Raber and George Dyck list 10 strategies for supervisors to follow in helping employees manage job stress:

1. Maintain a safe and organized work environment.

2. Clarify work unit goals and objectives.

3. Be sure individual job expectations and instructions are clear.

4. Evaluate workloads and deadlines. Are they reasonable?

5. Have regular reviews to provide accurate and timely feedback; give assurance that good work is appreciated.

6. Show patience, understanding, and support in dealing with employee problems.

7. Deal with personality differences directly and constructively.

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8. Coach and develop employees to their full potential.

9. Involve people, as much as possible, in decisions that affect them.

10. Keep communication lines open with an open-door policy.81

Job Stress Stress in the workplace is being encountered at ever-increasing rates. In 1983, 55 percent of people reported experiencing stress on a weekly basis. In 1996, almost 75 percent reported experiencing great stress on a daily basis.82 Of the stress Americans experience, 82 percent say that work is their biggest source of stress. Thirty-five percent of American workers report their jobs negatively affect their physical or emotional well-being.83 It is well documented that stressors in the work situation are positively related to intentions to quit the organization and to job search behavior.84 The American Institute of Stress estimates that work stress costs U.S. industries $300 billion a year.85

Organizational stress is related to health problems and their associated costs, with costs 46 percent higher for employees who experience high levels of stress.86 About half of all absenteeism is related to workplace stress, costing organizations billions of dollars per year.87 There is consistent evidence that stressors at work have a causal effect on health and well-being.88 A large-scale meta-analysis of more than 30 years of research shows that occupational stress can suppress the body’s immune system, leaving the individual more vulnerable to disease with fewer physiological resources with which to combat it.89

Unwanted job loss can be especially distressful. Loss of social status, financial security, and personal control can lead to chronic physical problems and impaired emotional functioning. Distress can trigger the sensation of pain, thanks to a part of the brain called the anterior cingulated cortex. Interestingly, it does not distinguish between physical and emotional pain. It responds equally to a broken arm and to a broken heart.90

Michael Losey, past-president of the Society for Human Resource Management, de- scribes the impact of stress on the individual in the modern-day workplace:

The feverish pace most corporations have set for themselves is perhaps the largest contributor to workers’ high stress levels. Fax machines, beepers, computers, cell telephones, and other products of the modern workplace have fueled the problem. Automation has left many workers virtually on call twenty-four hours a day. They feel a sense of “never punching out” and “no down time for rest.” Clients and bosses can and do contact employees at home, in the car, at restaurants, during family outings—basically anywhere, at any time. As Henry David Thoreau once said, men have become the tools of their tools.91

Technology can offer great convenience and efficiency, but it can also fuel the flames of stress. Employees can reach a point when increasing demands simply become too much—a point at which family relations, personal health, and the quality of work itself are seriously threatened. Employers should not assume that by getting more hours out of their employees, they will necessarily increase productivity. Findings show that the more overworked employees feel, the more likely they are to make costly mistakes and the less committed they feel toward their employers.92

Surveys by the Families and Work Institute report that 44 percent of Americans say they are overworked, up from 25 percent who felt this way three years earlier. Work overload is an important factor in job burnout and can be a major cause of work–family conflicts. Overworked employees have insufficient time and energy to address nonwork responsibilities of being a parent, or a spouse, or other roles.

Juliet Schor, Harvard economist and author of The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure, sheds light on historical forces and events that have helped create the overstressed American worker:

It all began with the Pilgrims who reduced leisure by dropping from the calendar more than 50 holidays enjoyed by the English since medieval times. Sunday was declared to be the only toil-free day. By the time the Industrial Revolution arrived in America, the Pilgrims’ work ethic

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Stress in the Modern- Day Workplace

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was woven thoroughly into management’s expectations; so much so that labor unions had to work for a century to secure eight-hour workdays with at least one day of rest.

With the end of World War II and the increased prosperity and leisure of the next twenty-five years, most unions reduced their vigilance. When the era of layoffs and vast cutbacks came to first one and then another industry and company during the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, employees were unprepared to resist the side effects of “downsizing.” Today companies routinely ask employees, including managers, to do the work of 1.3 people—for the same pay and with less time off. Overtime is at a modern-day high (an average of 4.7 hours a week) while in the last decade, the average yearly vacation and other paid absences decreased by 3.5 days. These are patterns that are expected to continue.93

A half century ago, social scientists predicted that technology would allow employees to enjoy a 15-hour work week at full pay by 2030. So far, it hasn’t turned out that way.94

More than 150 million Americans spend approximately one-third of their day on the job. Currently, five major forces or trends are sources of stress for increasing numbers of these people:

■ New technology. Job skills and tasks are changing rapidly. No one can ignore the revolution in work caused by computer technology. Nearly every employee, from the frontline worker to the corporate executive, has been affected by the introduction of the computer in the workplace.95 No longer can a person just walk in the door and be a decent citizen. Now it’s walk in the door, be a decent citizen, and know how to run several computer programs. Millions of workers use computers every day, along with other products of modern technology—faxes, cell phones, e-mail, and instant messaging. This situation creates virtual offices for workers on the go, accelerating information transfer and changing the way products are developed and services pro- vided.96 Check here if new technology affects you.

■ Workforce diversity. New members of the workforce are increasingly diverse and possess skill sets and value systems that are different from those of earlier generations. These differences, along with differences in race, gender, nationality, and creed, can result in a social mix that is highly stressful.97 Check here if workforce diversity affects you.

■ Global competition. The intensification of international competition brings pres- sure to perform and fear of failure. This phenomenon has been studied extensively in the case of Japan and the manufacture of automobiles, but it involves many other countries and a multitude of industries.98 In the relatively sheltered era of the 1960s, 7 percent of the U.S. economy was exposed to international competition. That number grew to 70 percent during the 1980s, and it continues to climb higher with every passing year.99 Check here if global competition affects you.

■ Organizational restructure. The phenomenon of organizational restructuring— mergers, takeovers, reengineering, and rightsizing—is a continuing drumbeat reported in newspapers, magazines, and television. For an enormous number of people, these developments are sources of uncertainty, worry, and stress.100

Displaced workers typically experience pay cuts, as downward mobility is the norm more than the exception. The reality for most people caught in organizational restructure is that spending power and standards of living decline.101 Check here if organizational restructure affects you.

■ Changing work systems. There is an emerging redefinition of work itself, with a growing disappearance of the job as a fixed bundle of tasks. In its place is an emphasis on fluid and constantly changing work assignments required to fulfill ever-increasing demands of customers. Change in how work is accomplished has become a way of life in the workplace, as many new concepts are tried, adapted, and discarded, only to be replaced by newer approaches. Quality teams, process improvement, and semiautonomous work groups are examples of trends in which traditional methods of hierarchical supervision are replaced by work teams and self-direction in a general shift from tier to peer.102 Check here if you are affected by changing work systems.

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Stress at Work and Public Policy The good news is that the majority of U.S. workers are psychologically sound and are coping relatively well with work and with life in general. The bad news is that substantial numbers of people do not enjoy this condition, but are afflicted by the job stress syndrome. Some of these people are struggling with personal or family problems that often have repercussions on the job. Further good news, however, is that in recent years the mental health community and some governmental agencies have focused attention and resources on the subject of work and well-being.103

One product of collaboration between the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the Association of Schools for Public Health, and experts from the American Psychological Association, labor, and industry is agreement on a blueprint for protecting the health and well-being of American workers. The four cornerstones of this blueprint are as follows:

■ Well-designed jobs.

■ Evaluation systems to detect psychological disorders and underlying risk factors.

■ Education of workers and managers on the signs, causes, effects, and control of work-related psychological disorders.

■ Improved mental health service delivery for workers.104

Stress across Cultures Recognizing occupational stress to be more than just an American phenomenon, the World Health Organization has identified its prevalence in almost every occupation in every country, stating that it has become a “global epidemic.”105

A report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health states between 26 and 40 percent of all surveyed workers in the United States experience their work as very stressful. Similarly, 28 percent of the workers in the European Union report their work as stressful. In Japan, the percentage is even higher.106 The Japanese word Karoshi means “death (shi) from overwork (Karo).” It is officially defined as a fatal mix of apoplexy, high blood pressure, and stress. Karoshi strikes primarily middle managers in their 40s and 50s who are characterized as being moretsu sha-in (“fanatical workers”) and yoi kigyo sen-shi (“good corporate soldiers”).

Karoshi is becoming more common in Japan as men and women struggle to meet the physical and emotional demands of modern Japanese life. Long working hours, little or no exercise, constant pressure to meet expectations, relentless traffic, little time for family, too much alcohol, too many cigarettes, increasing financial pressures, and a poor diet set the stage. The curtain comes down, not from an epidemic of some insidious virus, but from heart attacks, complications of high blood pressure, lung cancer, suicide, and the entire collection of degenerative diseases.107

Research conducted by Japan’s Institute of Public Health identified five patterns of work behavior that lead to the fatal karoshi syndrome:

1. Extremely long hours that interfere with normal recovery and rest patterns.

2. Night work that interferes with normal recovery and rest patterns.

3. Work without holidays or breaks.

4. High-pressure work without breaks.

5. Extremely demanding physical labor and continuously stressful work without relief.108

Women, Work, and Stress Many women do not work for wages, yet the stress in their lives can be fully as great as for those who do. The tasks required for maintaining a home and raising children may result in overload or underload, depending on the person and the situation. For those

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who choose or are required to hold down a job and raise a family at the same time, sig- nificant levels of stress can result. The amount of pressure these women face, the con- flict they experience, and the frustration they feel can be enormous. Interviews with children of working mothers indicate that they do not object to their mothers working, but they do object to how stressed their mothers are when they return home.

Sociologist Arlie Hochschild describes the working mother’s plight in her book The Second Shift. After working a full day on the job, she then puts in a full shift at home. In fact, women work an average of 15 hours a week more than their husbands do when a single child enters the picture. In a family with three or more children, working women spend an average of 90 hours on paid (workplace) and unpaid (household) work combined, while men spend an average of 60 hours.109

The Center for Work and Family at Boston University reports that the fastest-growing segment of the American workforce is women with young children. The typical problem unfolds like this: Wanting to be a model mother and a wonderful wife, as well as a perfect professional, the modern woman is increasingly overcommitted and overstressed. Consider the following description of a working mother’s day.

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A Day in the Life of a Working Mother She is up at 6:00 A.M. has a shower and her makeup on by 6:30, at which time she wakens her husband and kids. She makes breakfast and everyone eats by 7:15. Everyone needs something—lunch money, a doctor’s note, or a news- paper tucked under the arm—on the way to the door.

As she drives to work, she makes three stops: drops off Jessie at day care, picks up dry cleaning, and buys donuts for the monthly office meeting. It is 7:55 when she swings into the parking lot. She grabs her high-heel shoes (because she’s supposed to dress great, too) and dashes across the drive and into the door at 8:00 sharp.

She no longer feels fresh as a daisy as she confronts her desk and the to-do list ahead. By 8:15 and with a kickoff coffee, she is focused and in the work groove. Her pace is steady as she moves efficiently through the day, from meeting to memo to meeting again. Her energy holds up as she maintains a high level of production, pausing just once for a personal break. She loves her work and is proud of her company, so her job is not a negative.

Lunchtime is used for errands, the normal pattern for most workdays. She buys a card for her friend who has just had surgery and has lunch while she drives, including a soda from the cooler that she keeps in the car.

From 1:00 P.M. on, the day goes crazy. A supplier slips up, a customer com- plains, a co-worker has problems, and then she gets the message she most hates to hear—“Your son’s school called.” She handles them all and still finishes the key account report by the end of the day.

As she straightens her office and prepares to go home, she thinks of the day and what it has meant. She is relieved that her son’s school problem was easily handled, but she is also thankful that she could have called on her husband if the problem had required a trip to school. It was work as normal, but what does that mean? It was money for the family, but was it enough? It was time, which is life, and was it well spent?

These are good questions for the future, but more important is the flurry of activity that lies ahead. First is day care pickup of little Jessie, then a swing by school for Billy. Both of these are must-hits and they are always eventful, with progress reports, funny stories, laughter, and sometimes tears.

She arrives home at 5:45 but can’t sit down or even start dinner because Susie is standing in the driveway and needs to be at her dance lesson by 6:00.

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While she waits for Susie, she uses the time productively to outline the talk she has to give the next day. The company believes in employee involvement and her team presentation has to go well.

She’s off again by 7:30, but now it’s so late she decides to zip by the fast- food drive-through rather than cooking the meal she had planned. At 8:00 she is ready to set the food out, talk with the kids, and meet her husband.

Dinner goes well, but as with most things, it seems a little late and a little rushed, plus dishes, homework, and laundry are yet to be done.

At 10:00 she has a choice: do the family bills, check the news, return her mom’s call, sew Billy’s pants, write her friend’s card, or talk with her husband. She wants to talk with Fred, but he is concentrating on Billy’s Cub Scout proj- ect. She does 1 through 5, and then it’s time for bed.

She is too tired to fall asleep, plus she is waiting on Fred. She thinks about the family, each one in turn—their health, their happiness, and what they need. She then thinks about herself. She is tired but happy. She knows she is spending her chips, but she wouldn’t change if she could. Her only question is, Can I keep it up? And how do others do it who don’t have a husband?

As women have moved more and more into paid employment, there has been little reduction in home responsibilities. Some employers have responded with help for working mothers, offering flexible work schedules, job sharing, telecommuting, personal leave, and child-care facilities.110

The Executive Monkey Studies Whether yours is a high-stress field, such as law enforcement, or a low-stress profession, such as library science, if you feel the responsibility of office, yet you feel out of control, then the case of the “executive monkey” and related research will be of interest to you.

“Executive monkeys develop ulcers” was the conclusion of a study Joseph Brady did in 1958.111 In this study, Brady placed pairs of monkeys in an environment where both received electric shocks. A red light signaled the shock period. However, the monkeys were not shocked if one of them operated a lever that prevented the flow of electric current. See Figure 17–9.

Figure 17–9 The Executive Monkey Studies

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In each pair of monkeys, the executive monkey (so named because of the analogy to human executive situations) was the one having access to an operational lever and was able to learn the relationship between the light, the lever, and the shocks. The other, nonexecutive, monkey had a nonoperational lever and therefore was unable to learn any way to prevent the flow of electric current. The only thing this monkey knew was that every once in a while there was a shock, but the monkey didn’t know why.

In this study, the executive monkeys, who were responsible for saving their partners and themselves, developed ulcers and died, while the uninformed, nonexecutive monkeys remained healthy. The results of the study suggested that the burden of responsibility, including the need to maintain a high degree of vigilance and the pressure to make decisions, was the cause of the high level of stress resulting in death.

A follow-up study on rats conducted by Jay Weiss of Emory University provided additional information as to the demise of the executive monkeys.112 One primary difference between the Weiss study and the Brady study was that Weiss used a warn- ing tone to signal the imminent onset of electric current. Weiss showed that the exec- utive animals were much more able to cope with responsibility and avoid ulcers if they were given feedback on their behavior. He did this by arranging conditions so that the lever, when operated, would prevent shock and would also turn off the warn- ing tone that preceded the shock. This provided clear evidence to the executive ani- mal, in the form of tone cessation, that shock could be avoided, whereas Brady’s executive monkeys received no such assurances.

Weiss’s animals learned through feedback that they could control their situation, whereas Brady’s monkeys felt less control. The conclusion was that pressure to perform without feeling in control can result in health problems and even death. Weiss found that the responsibility of office was not the cause of debilitating stress, but the feeling of frustration and being out of control was.

A sense of powerlessness is a universal cause of stress, and it can have negative health consequences. Robert Karasek of Columbia University has found that people with little control over their jobs, such as assembly-line workers and cooks, have higher rates of heart disease than people who can choose the pace and method of their work. People who deal with the public but have little opportunity for independent decision making are those most negatively affected. The combination of high psychological demands and low personal control appears to raise the risk of heart disease by “about the same order of magnitude as smoking or having a high cholesterol level.”113

If you are in a position to accept responsibility, be sure you have adequate power to influence the events for which you will be held responsible. In addition, as a leader, be sure to delegate to subordinates sufficient authority as well as responsibility to accomplish tasks. The following is a classic experiment demonstrating the importance of feeling in control—not only to manage stress, but to maximize job performance:

Adult subjects were given complex puzzles to solve and a proofreading chore. In the background was a loud, randomly occurring distracting noise; to be specific, it was a combination of two people speaking Spanish, one person speaking Armenian, a mimeograph machine running, a desk calculator, a typewriter, and street noise—producing a composite, nondistinguishable roar. The subjects were split into two groups. Individuals in one set were just told to work at the task. Individuals in the other were provided with a button to turn off the noise, a modern analog of control—the off switch. The group with the off switch solved five times the number of puzzles as their cohorts and made but a tiny fraction of the number of proofreading errors. Now for the kicker: . . . none of the subjects in the off switch group ever used the switch. The mere knowledge that one can exert control made the difference.114

Job Stress Interventions The workplace is a recognized breeding ground for stress and associated mental and physical health disorders. Stress prevention can be achieved with various programs. Historically, three distinct approaches have been used as strategies for reducing or

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controlling stress. These approaches can be classified as primary, secondary, and ter- tiary prevention.115

Primary prevention seeks to correct the fundamental cause of stress by changing working conditions and the physical environment. Primary prevention strategies include occupational safety, physical work comfort, work design, and participative management initiatives.

Secondary prevention strives to reduce the severity of stress symptoms before they lead to serious health consequences. Stress education, health promotion, and wellness programs are examples of secondary prevention efforts.

Tertiary prevention involves the treatment of health conditions to lessen the impact on personal functioning, regardless of the source. Tertiary treatment is typically reactive to existing problems and is traditionally provided by medical personnel, often through an employee assistance program. An important example is treatment of post-traumatic stress syndrome.116

The workplace has become the home of many stress management and wellness pro- grams. A dramatic example of the success of a wellness program is the one used by the New York Telephone Company that saved the organization $2.7 million in re- duced absenteeism and treatment costs in one year alone.117 In Fortune magazine’s “One Hundred Best Companies to Work For,” the most important criterion is the ex- tent to which these companies are helping employees balance work and life issues. In 2008, Google emerged at the top for the second straight year. Google’s benefits include on-site child care, subsidized fitness programs, and family-friendly work policies.118 One of the national health objectives to be achieved by the year 2010 was to have at least 60 percent of American work sites employing 50 or more people provide programs to reduce employee stress.119

Wellness programs are implemented at three levels of intensity and depth.120

Level I programs include newsletters, health fairs, screening sessions, posters, flyers, and classes. These activities are useful in making people aware of the specific consequences of poor health habits.

Level II programs provide specific training, such as physical conditioning and proper methods of performing physically demanding tasks. The programs may last several months or may be available on an ongoing basis. Level II programs are aimed at helping people develop lifelong healthy habits, and may use behavior modification to achieve this goal.

Level III programs create an environment that helps people sustain healthy lifestyles and behaviors. A Level III program fosters participation by providing fitness center memberships and making healthy food available. Although a Level III program could be conducted independently, it is usually an outgrowth of ongoing Level I and Level II activities. The following describes a Level III program.121

In 1979, the Johnson & Johnson Company (J&J) began its Live for Life program for 28,000 employees in 50 plants. The name was changed to “Health and Wellness” in 1993. Today the program serves 120,000 employees worldwide. The goal of the pro- gram is to provide the means for Johnson & Johnson employees to become the health- iest in the world and to control the increasing illness and accident costs of the corporation. The program is free for employees.

The Johnson & Johnson program is a prototype of effective in-house wellness pro- grams that reduce company costs by improving employee health. The J&J program incorporates the following basic elements:

1. Lifestyle assessment and health screening.

2. A lifestyle seminar that introduces employees to the basic concepts of wellness and the Live for Life (Health and Wellness) program.

3. Classes for smoking cessation, weight control, good nutrition, and stress manage- ment. The program also includes yoga classes, alcohol education, physical fitness classes, and work-life balance training.

Live for Life

Wellness Programs

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4. Alteration of the work environment; that is, nutritious food in the cafeteria, rewards for nonsmokers, exercise facilities, car pools, flexible scheduling of work time, and training programs to improve employee–manager relations.

5. Feedback and follow-up. Each employee receives a summary of lifestyle points earned during a three-month period for lifestyle improvement and fitness achieve- ment. Participants are contacted by letter or telephone for their reactions and progress in the program.

Kenneth Pelletier of Stanford’s Center for Research in Disease Prevention has re- viewed 48 studies of work-site health promotion programs published since 1980. The result: Every program but one has shown positive effects on workers’ health, as mea- sured by risk factors and by rates of actual illness. Of the 30 programs analyzed for cost-effectiveness, every one has saved money.122

Two examples of organizations with successful health promotion and employee wellness programs are the Cianbro Companies and The Jackson Laboratory, both in Maine. These are organizations with long histories of concern for employee well-being and good business practices.123

Important keys for success in implementing work-site health promotion programs include long-term commitment, top management support, employee involvement, profes- sional leadership, clearly defined objectives, careful planning, and family involvement.124

The Role of the Family Robert Haas, retired chairman of Levi Strauss, explains the relationship between home and work. Long hours, stressful jobs, and dual careers serve to compound problems.

We used to think we could separate the soft stuff from the hard stuff. The soft stuff was our commitment to the workforce, and the hard stuff—what really mattered—was getting pants out the door. No more. Now we know we can’t get stuff out the door unless your employees are 100% committed and free of home life distractions. And the way you get them there is simple. You do everything you can to help them handle those home life issues, so work and family can coexist successfully.125

George Burns once said, “Happiness is having a large, close-knit family in another city.” On a serious note, in different shapes and sizes, still the number-one source of satisfaction worldwide is having a family. Satisfaction with family relationships is a better predictor of overall life satisfaction than other key aspects of adult life, such as one’s work. This is true even among highly educated people, for whom work com- mitment is typically high. In his autobiography, former Chrysler chairman Lee la- cocca makes this point: “Yes, I’ve had a wonderful and successful career. But next to my family, it really hasn’t mattered at all.” What does a family need to be effective? What qualities help its members deal with the stress of the external world as well as the demands of family life—disputes, disagreements, foibles, and finances? Author Jane Howard identifies eleven characteristics of effective families.

Complete Exercise 17–2 to evaluate a real-life family.

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Evaluate a real-life family on 11 key characteristics using the following guide: A � excellent; B � very good; C � average; D � needs improvement; F � dysfunctional.

1. There is love; that is, members show love and affection for one another.

2. There is authority; that is, there are parents who make final decisions.

3. There is an anchor; that is, there is someone who keeps track of what the others are doing.

4. There is a place; that is, there is a house or a town or some other place to which members feel connected.

5. There is ritual; that is, members celebrate holidays, grieve at funerals, and in other ways experience a sense of tradition.

6. There is safety; that is, members are secure in the knowledge others will provide comfort and protection.

7. There is competence; that is, when problems arise, they are dealt with quickly and effectively.

8. There is continuity; that is, members feel as though something came before them and something will continue after them to which they are linked.

9. There is honor; that is, all members are valued and cared for. Their experience and wisdom are respected.

10. There is work; that is, all lend a hand to do household chores, make a pleasant home, and provide economic security.

11. There is talk; that is, conversation is rich as members say what they think and listen to each other.

Scoring and Interpretation:

To determine a grade point, use the following code: A � 4; B � 3; C � 2; D � 1; F � 0. Add the points for the 11 items and divide by 11. The interpretation is: 3.5 � 4.0 � A, excellent; 2.5 � 3.4 � B, very good; 1.5 � 2.4 � C, average; 0.5 � 1.4 � D, needs improvement; 0.0 � 0.4 � F, dysfunctional.

Discussion:

If improvement is needed for family effectiveness, time should be taken to have a family conversation around six key questions: (1) What are the positive forces that are helping the family? (2) What are the negative forces that are hindering the family? (3) What should be done to reinforce family strengths? (4) What should be done to correct low areas? (5) What action steps should the family take? (6) How should we monitor progress? All family members should participate—as the saying goes, the person in the boat with you never bores a hole in it.

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Exercise 17–2 Family Report Card126

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The Stress-Resistant Person In Crucibles of Leadership, Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas identify a critical attribute of effective leaders—adaptive capacity, the ability to transcend adversity and emerge stronger than before. Like a phoenix, the Egyptian mythical bird that perished by fire and then rose from its ashes to live another life, leadership requires stress resistance, the ability to survive even the most negative experiences.127

Stress-resistant people are hardy individuals who are able to accomplish tremendous tasks and still remain healthy. They are comfortable in almost any situation. Their lives are full, yet unhurried. They are relaxed and confident, even when they are making critical decisions. Physically fit and seldom tired, they project a sense of control and strength.128

Personality factors influence the coping strategies one uses, which in turn influence the amount and type of stress one experiences. Certain characteristics of personality belong potentially to everyone, but hardy people have more of them than do nonhardy individuals. These characteristics are personal commitment, sense of control, posi- tive attitude, balanced perspective, and caring relationships.

Complete Exercise 17–3 to determine your level of stress resistance.

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Exercise 17–3 Characteristics of a Hardy Personality

The following questionnaire features the five characteristics of a hardy personality. Rate yourself on each characteristic by circling the appropriate number on the scale below each description.

Commitment

The Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle believed: We don’t fear extinction, we fear ex- tinction without meaning.129 This entails having a purpose in life and being true to one’s values. The hardy personality thinks he knows what is important and that he is doing the right thing. This translates into commitment that gives tremendous strength to overcome obstacles and persevere in the face of adversity. The committed person is emotionally strong, and this emotional strength, like a wonder drug, results in physical strength as well. Where does commitment begin? It begins with choosing to be an active participant in life, not a bystander. With involvement comes understanding. Only when we under- stand will we care. Only when we care will we be committed. Only when we are commit- ted will we make a difference in life. Rate yourself on commitment.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Low Middle High

Control

In Don Juan in Hell, George Bernard Shaw wrote, “Hell is to drift, heaven is to steer.”130

The hardy personality believes this idea fully, and seeks to control her own life. When asked the question, “Who is in charge, the world or you?” the hardy personality’s answer is “I am.” She sees herself as the master of her own destiny, the captain of her own ship, not the pawn of fate and not flotsam on the sea of life. What gives legitimacy to this feeling is the fact that the hardy personality has mastered and employs effective time management principles. She sets goals in line with her values, keeps a daily to-do list with priorities indi- cated, works on first things first, and checks off tasks as they are completed. The result is a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. Rate yourself on sense of control and practicing effective time management principles.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Low Middle High

Attitude

The hardy personality lives by William James’s prescription: “Change your attitude— change your life.”131 Unlike the pessimist who builds dungeons in the air, the hardy per- sonality accentuates the positive. He recognizes the influence of mind over matter and therefore chooses to think positive thoughts that elicit positive moods that result in posi- tive actions.132 This doesn’t mean he denies reality; the opposite is true. He sees life as it is, both good and bad. Then, having seen both, he emphasizes possibilities over prob- lems, strengths over weaknesses, and potentialities over deficiencies, both in the situation and in himself. In the area of attitude, the hardy personality practices three key habits— expect greatness, strive for the best, and appreciate any good that results. The hardy per- sonality agrees with Hans Selye, who prescribed a technique for optimism—”Imitate the sundial’s ways; count only the pleasant days.” Because the hardy personality is an opti- mist, he is energized and focused; and with energy and focus, he indeed achieves his goals.133 Rate yourself on attitude.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Low Middle High

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Perspective

The hardy personality keeps life in perspective and doesn’t get upset over small matters. She realizes, in the final analysis, most matters are small matters. Consequently, she doesn’t develop a full-blown fight-or-flight response to every minor hassle, obstacle, or setback. In this way, she avoids unnecessary states of alarm and vigilance leading to exhaustion and breakdown. The hardy personality realizes there is a need for the hot-reacting linebacker in times of defense, but she prefers to remain the cool-thinking quarterback on offense.134 One way she does this is to remember what is important (her hills worth dying on). All else is viewed with tolerance and patience as matters of style, taste, and individual differences that can enrich the world. Rate yourself on keeping things in perspective.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Low Middle High

Relationships

For most people most of the time, concern for others is the most important characteristic of a hardy personality. This person develops caring relationships in his home life, work life, and community at large. He gives tender loving care (TLC) to all creatures, great and small; and as he sows, so he reaps. The hardy personality gives love, and in turn is beloved.135 In this process, physiological responses are generated that are life enhancing and life prolonging, helping to explain the hardy personality’s ability to overcome germs and disease and maintain good health in spite of heavy responsibilities and demanding schedules. Rate yourself on TLC.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Low Middle High

Scoring:

Add your scores for each characteristic to obtain a total:

Score Grade

90–100 A

80–89 B

70–79 C

60–69 D

59 and below F

Interpretation:

A You currently embody the characteristics of a hardy personality. You are doing all that you can do to succeed in life, plus live to enjoy it. You are a model for psychological strength and effective living.

B This is a high score. Your life is characterized by an effective pattern of personal commitment, sense of control, positive attitude, balanced perspective, and caring relationships.

C You do some things well but need to improve in others. To improve, focus on low spots and take positive steps to change yourself or the situation.

D D stands for deficiencies. This means you must improve, not only to succeed in your life, but to live to enjoy it. Low scores for commitment, control, attitude, perspective, and relationships should be addressed.

F F is for falling short. You should begin immediately to raise the quality of your life. Advice and support from others can be helpful. Attention and a sustained effort are required.

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Discussion:

If you are currently low in one or more of the characteristics of a hardy personality, take concrete action to improve; in so doing, you will enhance your life. If you are high in an area, you should continue to capitalize on this strength and asset for effective living.

The five characteristics of a hardy personality are moving targets that you must keep your eye upon. This is a lifelong challenge, meaning that just because you have a high score today; it doesn’t guarantee a high score tomorrow. Also, it is never too late to improve. Doing so at any point in time is worthwhile, resulting in a fuller and more satisfying life.

After heredity, the three most important influences in our lives are the people we are around, the messages we give ourselves, and the books we read. Along with religious and other inspirational books that mean so much to so many millions, there are five books that are particularly helpful in developing the characteristics of a hardy personality:

For commitment, read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

For control, read First Things First by Stephen Covey.

For attitude, read Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman.

For perspective, read Is It Worth Dying For? by Robert Eliot.

For relationships, read The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm.

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The Stress-Prone versus the Stress- Resistant Personality Table 17–3 presents a day in the life of two individuals—one with a stress-prone per- sonality and the other with a stress-resistant personality. Multiply this day by weeks, months, and years, and you can see the important influence personality patterns can have in determining the quality and length of your life.

7:00 A.M. Alarm goes off.

8:15 A.M.

8:30 A.M. Traffic is slow.

9:00 A.M.– 11:00 A.M.

11:00 A.M.– 12:30 P.M.

12:30 P.M. Lunch break (Behind schedule)

1:00 P.M. Board meeting starts.

2:30 P.M. Modest progress made.

7:00 A.M. Alarm goes off.

8:15 A.M.

8:30 A.M. Traffic is slow.

9:00 A.M.– 11:00 A.M.

11:00 A.M.– 12:00 P.M.

12:00 P.M.– Lunch break (On schedule)

1:00 P.M. Board meeting starts.

2:30 P.M. Modest progress made.

Thoughts: The first thing he thinks of is last night’s argument. The second is the battle ahead. He resolves to be vigilant.

Action: He hurries through showering and dressing, and walks out the door, calling good-bye to his wife.

He sees snow on the car, and the roads are icy. He is furious, because he doesn't have a scraper.

Action: He honks the horn, grips the wheel, gnashes his teeth, and yells at bad drivers.

Result: Blood pressure and pulse rate go up. He arrives at work angry and tense.

Events: Unimportant meetings follow disorganized meetings, and frustration goes up. He becomes increasingly resentful, angry, and worried because of wasted time.

Emotions heat up when a customer complains and an employee gets angry.

Reaction: If people don't like the way things are, they can go elsewhere. This is a free country. Besides, complaints and problems are hassles I don't need.

Action: He delegates the problem to a subordinate and gets into a shouting match with another customer.

Action: He eats at his desk with a telephone in one hand and a pencil, candy bar, and coffee sharing the other.

Effect: Stress builds as he feels chained to his chair; indigestion sets in.

Mental State: Coming off a working lunch, he feels fragmented and ill- prepared.

Thoughts: This group couldn't change a lightbulb in a weekend. We aren't accomplishing a thing! If they don't get their act together, this company's going down the tube.

Thoughts: The first thing he thinks of is last night's get-together. Good times should be relished. His second thought is about the day ahead. He knows he will do his best.

Action: He showers and dresses and takes time to have breakfast. He gives his wife an affectionate good- bye hug and kiss.

He sees snow on the car, and the streets are icy, but he is calm because he has a scraper and a shovel and is prepared for bad weather.

Action: He goes with the flow, realizing that getting upset will not change the conditions. He listens to the radio.

Result: He remains calm and relaxed and arrives at work fresh and alert.

Events: There is a sense of progress and satisfaction as well-run meetings support important goals.

When a customer and an employee fail to communicate, he remains calm.

Reaction: When people complain or get upset, it gives me a chance to share information, learn something important, and try to improve things by developing a common ground.

Action: He meets with the customer and employee personally. He takes the time to listen and understand their concerns. He takes their grievances seriously and is responsive to their suggestions.

Action: He escapes for a while by taking a walk in the park. He eats yogurt and a banana on a bench.

Effect: Exercise and nutrition are healthy, and getting away from the office helps put things in perspective.

Mental State: He returns from lunch energized and focused, ready to give his best to the important meeting ahead.

Thoughts: We were slow today, but we did make progress. We need to celebrate these victories and learn from our shortcomings. If we work together, I think we'll succeed.

Mr. A’s Mr. B’s Time line Stress-Prone Path Time line Stress-Resistant Path

Table 17–3 A Day in the Life of Mr. A and Mr. B

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Developing Resilience The following are two scenarios in the life of a leader and her company:

Good Times Your product is great, your service is fabulous, and you are the envy of your industry and market. You have a vision that energizes your people, a strat- egy to succeed, all resources are aligned, and (critically) your execution is flaw- less. Your leadership team masters complexity and your frontline employees respond positively to change in structure, tasks, technology, and people. The com- pany has achieved remarkable success. On a personal plane, your home front is smooth and your happiness is high. The question on your mind is how do I keep this up?

Bad Times Your board is unhappy, your team is dysfunctional, your spouse is ill, and your son’s school wants “a meeting.” Hitler couldn’t win a two-front war and you have four. On top of this, your customers are complaining, you have a cash-flow problem, IT systems have failed, and you are personally exhausted. You are in your middle years, disaster surrounds you, and the future looks dim. The question on your mind is how do I keep this up?

The answer to both scenarios is resilience, based on the five characteristics of a hardy personality.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow once remarked: “If you purposefully choose to be less than you can be, then you are surely doomed to be unhappy.” As inspiration

4:00 P.M. Board meeting ends.

7:00 P.M. Arrives home.

8:00 P.M.

10:00 P.M. Disagree- ment occurs with teenage son.

11:00 P.M. Goes to bed.

Action: He goes to the bar for a quick drink and to lament the wasted day. One drink leads to another as he tries to forget his problems.

Action: He has dinner with the family. Interaction goes from polite conversation to active argument.

Effect: Stress goes up; tension leads to headache; indigestion develops.

Everyone watches television—alone.

Result: Self-absorption develops and loneliness sets in.

He is tired and his patience is thin. He launches into an attack and “wins” by intimidation.

Action: Can’t sleep; tosses and turns for two hours.

Thoughts: What is wrong with everybody? Why can't things be smooth instead of a constant struggle? All I do is work and worry, work and worry. The truth is, I'm fed up.

Result: Wakes up at 7:00 A.M. exhausted and depressed.

4:00 P.M. Board meeting ends.

7:00 P.M. Arrives home.

8:00 P.M.

10:00 P.M. Disagree- ment occurs with teenage son.

11:00 P.M. Goes to bed.

Action: He goes to his office to summarize thoughts while they are fresh and to return telephone calls in a timely manner. 5:30 P.M. finds him exercising (three times a week).

Action: He has dinner with the family. Interaction goes from discussion to dialogue.

Effect: Happiness and a sense of well-being are experienced.

He helps his son make a kite and helps his daughter with her homework.

Result: Responsibility is taught and relationships grow.

He garners his energy and seeks the facts. He talks with his son, not at him, and gives reasons for his views. Father and son reach agreement together.

Action: Falls asleep quickly.

Thoughts: This has been a good day. There is much to appreciate—family, good health, good job.

Result: Wakes up at 7:00 A.M. refreshed and happy.

Personal Commitment

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for living a purposeful and committed life, consider the words of Theodore Roosevelt:

The credit goes to the man who is actually in the arena, Whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood;

Who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions,

and spends himself in a worthy cause; Who at the best knows the triumph of high achievement;

and who, if he fails, at least fails While daring greatly.

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure,

Than to take rank with those cold and timid souls who live in the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat.136

With fervor and eloquence, Roosevelt advocates a life of engagement and meaning. For the caring leader, this means personal commitment to accomplish a goal. The goal may be a one-time endeavor or a life’s work. The goal may be a tangible product, such as the creation of a business, or it may be an idea or a cause, such as stamping out tyranny. In any case, the leader’s commitment becomes contagious, igniting the emotions of all who are present.

For sense of control, remember Benjamin Franklin’s advice, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for it is the stuff that life is made of.” If you waste time, you waste your life. If you master time, you master your life. For what purpose should time be used?

Take Time

Take time to think, It is the source of power.

Take time to play, It is the secret of youth.

Take time to read, It is the basis of knowledge.

Take time to love, It is the essence of life. Take time for friends,

It is the road to happiness. Take time to laugh,

It is the music of the soul. Take time to give,

It is too short to be selfish. Take time to work,

It is the price of success

Franklin was well known for his wise use of time. To keep himself on track, he would start each morning with the question, “What good shall I do today?” and he would end each day with the question, “What good have I done today?”137

William Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” The physical basis for Shakespeare’s observation is the fact that the autonomic nervous system cannot differentiate between real and imagined experiences. It acts the same in either case, and this is the reason why voodoo, hyp- nosis, and other forms of “mind over body” work.

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Sense of Control

Positive Attitude

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The following story shows how it helps to focus on the positive and natural things in life, however small:

The historian Will Durant described how he looked for happiness in knowledge, and found only disillusionment. He then sought happiness in travel, and found weariness; in wealth, he found worry and discord. He looked for happiness in his own writing, and was only fatigued. One day he saw a woman waiting in a tiny car with a sleeping child in her arms. A man descended from a train and came over and gently kissed the woman, and then the baby, very softly, so as not to waken him. The family drove off and left Durant with a stunning realization of the true nature of happiness. He relaxed and discovered, “every normal function of life holds some delight.”138

When asked for advice, it is not unusual for those who have survived heart attacks or learned they have only a short time to live to say, “Take pleasure from the little things in life.” Finding something that gives you pleasure may require a change in your environment. If so, take steps to make your work and living areas pleasant and satisfying. Surround yourself with people who give you happiness, and, every day, strive to do at least one activity that gives you peace of mind.

Cardiologist Robert Eliot relates a personal account showing the importance of keep- ing things in perspective.

Balanced Perspective

Wise men speak of the moment of clarity—that instant when absolute knowl- edge presents itself. My moment of clarity came as I was doubled up in a bath- room at a Nebraska community hospital 200 miles from home. Earlier that morning, after conducting grand rounds in the facility’s coronary care unit, I had participated in a cardiology conference before my peers. My lecture had been on heart attacks and sudden death. I had experienced some discomfort during the program but dismissed it as indigestion—or, at worst, a bout with my gallbladder.

It had been a hectic week. The day before the conference, back at my own hospital, I had argued both vehemently and unsuccessfully with administra- tors over the budget, manpower, and timing regarding a planned cardiovas- cular center of my own. Two days before that I had flown back from an exhausting lecture series in New Orleans—where, once again, I had been the so-called expert on sudden cardiac death.

In that bathroom, the first symptom I noticed was intense pressure. It be- gan near my breastbone; shot up into my shoulders, neck, and jaws; and surged down again through both of my arms. It was as if an elephant had plopped down on my chest. I could barely catch my breath. I started sweat- ing. I began getting bowel cramps and then overwhelming nausea. Immedi- ately I diagnosed my own condition: myocardial infarction. Later, as the nurses helped me into a hospital bed, I remember saying with astonishment, “I’m having a heart attack.” I was 44 years old.

During my recovery I realized my professional life had become a joyless treadmill. I had worked tirelessly for acceptance within the medical commu- nity, and yet efforts to establish my own cardiovascular center had failed. This was a bitter pill for someone who had always defined life in terms of victory or defeat. My disillusionment was compounded by the knowledge that I had brought promising associates into this seemingly futile situation. I’ve since de- scribed my state of mind as invisible entrapment.

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Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled, describes the character of loving rela- tionships. Such relationships are safe precisely because no one is attempting to heal or convert you, to fix you, to change you. Instead, you are accepted as you are. You are tolerated and your foibles are accepted. You are valued, not as an object or means to other ends, but as a precious thing in your own right. In loving relationships, you are free to be you. You are free to discard defenses, masks, and disguises; free to grow and achieve your full potential; free to become your whole and true self.

What about the benefits of positive relations for leaders? One of the best examples comes from the life of John D. Rockefeller. As a young man, Rockefeller entered the business world and drove himself so hard that by the age of 33 he had earned his first million dollars. Ten years later, he owned the world’s largest business, Standard Oil. By the age of 53, he was the world’s first billionaire. During the process, he had de- veloped alopecia, a condition in which his hair fell out, his digestion was so poor that all he could eat was crackers and milk, and he was plagued by insomnia. His doctors agreed that he wouldn’t live another year. Then, John D. Rockefeller changed. He be- gan to think of and care about the welfare of others. He decided to use his wealth for the benefit of others. He founded hospitals and universities and a myriad of missions to help his fellow man. When Rockefeller began helping others he helped himself as well. For the first time in years, he was able to eat and sleep normally. He felt re- newed. He lived to see not only his 54th birthday, but his 98th birthday, too, giving and caring for others.140

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I didn’t like being on the wrong side of the sheets in a coronary care unit. Something had to change; and I asked myself, “Is any of this worth dying for?” Fortunately for me, my answer was “No!” I had looked into the abyss and decided to stop sweating the small stuff. Pretty soon, I saw that it was all small stuff.139

Caring Relationships

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Part Eight Summary After reading Part Eight, you should know the following key concepts, principles, and terms. Fill in the blanks from memory, or copy the answers listed below.

Many leaders view (a) as the most rewarding of all their tasks.

Types of leaders as teachers include shamans, priests, elected leaders, missionaries,

and mystic healers. People grow best when there is a felt need, when they are

encouraged by someone they respect, when their plans move from general goals to

specific actions, when they move from a condition of lower to higher self-esteem,

and when they move from external to internal commitment. These are

(b) . One good way to learn leadership is by (c)

and learning from their examples. Good rules for succeeding in one’s career include

(d) , , , , and

. What do employees want from their employers, and how do you

keep good people? Six powerful answers are (e) ,

, , , , and

. Types of change going on in the American workplace involve

(f) , , , and .

There are seven rules for guiding people through change: (g) ,

, , , ,

, and . Effective responses in dealing with change

include (h) , , and , versus

denial, resistance, and the attitude trough. Types of burnout victims include

(i) , , , and .

The formula for the burnout process is this: Too many demands on strength and

resources � high expectations and deep personal involvement � too few actions to

replenish the energy consumed � ( j) . Strategies for dealing with

burnout include (k) , such as deep breathing, positive self-talk,

physical retreat; (l) , such as reducing workload, setting priorities,

taking care of one’s body; and (m) , such as clarifying values,

making lifestyle changes, developing personal competencies. Five major forces or

trends are sources of stress for increasing numbers of people: (n) ,

, , , and . The

most stressful jobs have high-demand tasks with little relief, power, or pay. The

combination of high demand with low personal control and small psychic or financial

compensation is a formula for stress that the good leader can help prevent or solve.

The five characteristics of a hardy personality are: (o) ,

, , , and .

Answer Key for Part Eight Summary

a. developing others, page 346

b. personal conditions conducive to growth, page 350

c. studying the masters, page 354

d. put your best foot forward, deliver results, be considerate, be creative, have integrity, pages 356–357

e. (any six) clarity of work assignment, good work tools and supplies, challenge in one’s area of expertise, recognition for one’s accomplishments, opportunity to

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grow, respect for one’s opinions, a mission that motivates, feedback on performance, positive social interactions, and pride in one’s group, page 357

f. structure, tasks, technology, people, page 360

g. have a good reason for making a change, personalize change, implement change thoughtfully, put a respected person in charge, tell the truth, wait patiently for results, acknowledge and reward people, page 362

h. exploration, responsibility, commitment, page 369

i. (any four) superpeople, workaholics, burned-out Samaritans, mismatched people, midcareer coasters, overstressed students, page 371

j. burnout, page 371

k. emergency aid, page 377

l. short-term actions, page 377

m. long-term solutions, page 377

n. new technology, workforce diversity, global competition, organizational restructure, changing work systems, page 379

o. personal commitment, sense of control, positive attitude, balanced perspective, caring relationships, page 389

Reflection Points—Personal Thoughts on the Leader as Coach, Helping People through Change, and Burnout Prevention

Complete the following questions and activities to personalize the content of Part Eight. Space is provided for writing your thoughts.

■ Discuss the vignette “Why Can’t Roger Learn?” What could the teacher have done to keep Roger from failing?

■ What is your style of developing others? Are you a shaman, a priest, an elected leader, a missionary, or a mystic healer in your approach to teaching? How did you develop your style?

■ Apply conditions conducive to growth to your own development. What factors are present that will help you fulfill your potential?

■ Apply the attitude curve in dealing with change in your own work and career. Where are you now—denial, resistance, attitude trough, exploration, responsibility, or commitment?

■ Identify a change initiative in which you are either the owner or a principal player. Apply the seven rules for helping people through change to critique your efforts. Discuss success points and areas for improvement.

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■ Discuss job stress and burnout prevention based on your own experiences. Discuss the role of the leader, as well as effective coping techniques.

Part Eight Video Case Working Smart

The image of the American worker, putting in long hours at the office and at home and rarely taking time off, is one popularized by television programs and magazine columns. Is the overworked American an urban legend or a reality? It’s a fact that 26 percent of Americans take no vacations at all; 13 percent of American companies don’t even offer them. Some firms require employees to perform extra tasks before getting a vacation. Unlike other countries, the United States has no laws mandating companies to offer vacations. On average, workers in America take about 10 days of vacation a year, compared with 25 days in France, 20 in Italy and Great Britain, and 15 in China.

In much of the world, time off is a time for renewal. In the United States, taking time off can put people on a guilt trip, says author Jo Robinson. Without it, however, workers are more inclined to experience what Robinson calls vacation deficit disor- der, the negative consequences of being overworked. Vacations serve the valuable function of interrupting job stress, which Robinson says is rampant among American workers. The Families and Work Institute states that an environment where workers don’t take all of their vacation results in high stress rates and employee burnout.

Yet some experts believe that increased vacation for workers could bring more harm than good for the American workplace. Professor Brigitte Madison of the Uni- versity of Chicago School of Business argues that more vacation time for Americans could mean lost jobs. “If employers can’t pass the cost of vacation time on to workers in terms of lower wages,” says Madison, “then we’ll end up with reduced employ- ment levels as well.”

Besides forgoing vacations, many people never really leave their work on a day- to-day basis. Technology has linked people to their jobs even when they are out of their offices. E-mail, fax machines, cell phones, and laptop computers make workers more readily available day and night. Along with the time spent on the job, the nature of the work itself influences how employees feel. Demanding jobs that require a great degree of multitasking leave employees feeling more overwhelmed. Low-value work, which people complain about as a waste of time, increases the likelihood of feeling overworked.

One in three American employees is chronically overworked, according to Ellen Galinsky, the Families and Work Institute president who wrote a study called “Over- worked in America.” Galinsky looked at three different factors to determine whether someone is chronically overworked: Does a worker feel overworked? Is a worker overwhelmed by everything he or she has to do? Do workers have time to stop and think about what they are doing? The study showed that the percentage of over- worked Americans goes up from 29 to 54 if you consider people who are over- whelmed by what they do. Only 29 percent of that study’s respondents said they never feel overworked. Galinsky notes that while America’s perspective on work and families is different from that of other countries, younger U.S. workers are more likely to put an equal emphasis on work and family. She attributes this attitude in part to the downsizing and the demanding jobs they have seen their parents experience.

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Feeling overworked can influence not only job performance but also personal and family relationships and health. Galinsky reported that 20 percent of those feeling over- worked make more mistakes, 39 percent feel angry with the employer, and 34 percent indicate being resentful of co-workers. In terms of personal outcomes, 36 percent report high levels of stress and 21 percent have symptoms of clinical depression. Additionally, those feeling overworked experience more work/life conflict, feel less successful in their personal relationships, are more likely to lose sleep because of work, and are less likely to report they are in good health.

Several strategies can be used to help prevent feeling overworked. On the job, workers can focus on the task at hand and the contribution they are making. Taking breaks during the day is also beneficial. Away from work, people are learning to cre- ate more boundaries between work and their personal lives. For instance, some work- ers simply refuse to work while on vacation. Finally, employees should take their full vacations and leave the job behind.

Questions for Discussion 1. Do you think Americans are overworked? Explain your opinion.

2. What do you do to maintain balance in your life and in your work? Are you aging at the rate you want and for the purpose(s) you want?

For more information, see www.familiesandwork.org and www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/99-101/.

Action Assignment As a bridge between learning and doing, complete the following action assignment.

1. What is the most important idea you have learned in Part Eight? 2. How can you apply what you have learned? What will you do, with whom, where,

when, and, most important, why?

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