Archive for the ‘Great Work Ethic’ Category

Labor Day: Re-Building American Work Ethic

Monday, September 6th, 2010

This Labor Day the United States is embroiled in what could, very easily, turn into a double dip recession. Millions of Americans are receiving umemployment benefits and millions more find themselves under employed or working in jobs that don’t reflect their skill-sets. Some estimates place the real unemployment rate at 22%.


It is telling, that on Labor Day number 12 on Alexa’s top 30 search terms was ‘Make Money Online.’ The point is that Americans are desperate for work. The fact is that millions of Americans want to work and are perfectly willing to do any number of tasks, but after 80 years of relative prosperity we may simply be unable to remember how.


According to Wikipedia, the purpose of Labor Day was originally outlined in 1884 as “[a holiday] to exhibit to the public ‘the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations.’”Since then, membership in trade and labor organizations (which once stood at nearly 40% of the American public) has fallen to just over 12%. Clearly, the esprit de corps of working class Americans is lacking something.


As the son and grandson of union members, I propose that what is lacking is a common understanding and acceptance of the values that once made working class Americans the most powerful influence in the United States and the world. What is lacking is work-ethic.


Work-ethic is more than just a willingness to work. Work-ethic(s) are those values that make it possible to work for, with and to the benefit of others. In The A Game’s last post our President, Matt Smith, recounts his observation that the problem resides not in the older or younger generations, but in the middle generation where, as parents, we have failed to instill appropriate work-ethic values in our children.


As parents we’ve taken our work-ethic values for granted and neglected our responsibility to give our children the best educations we can. As true leaders, our first responsibility is to admit it when we simply aren’t adequate to a task because we lack the skill, knowledge or time to complete it. We cannot begin to re-build America’s work-ethic and economy without first acknowledging that we need help.


The A Game is designed to be a resource for parents, educators, workforce advocates and employers who recognize that re-building the American work-ethic starts with leaders like them; it starts with a desire to help our children bring their A Game to work.

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Memorial Day- Remembering Work Ethic

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

I have to admit that Memorial Day ranks pretty close to Christmas as a favorite holiday in my book.

Other than the sun, I do believe in the significance of Memorial Day.  It’s a time to honor those who work to tirelessly to preserve our freedom and died fighting for us.  While a little bit of R & R is nice, the weekend really drives home the how hard others have worked.

On Saturday afternoon, I was outside washing my wife’s car and was able to observe three generations of men hard at work on our neighbor’s yard.  My neighbor was out with his father (grandpa) and his probably 8 year old son.  Watching the modern family ‘work’ together made me think about the time honored traditions of hard work and what, sadly, could be in store for the future.

To make the story short, the grandfather was doing most of the heavy lifting and had the vision for the project.  The dad was doing a great job at ‘supervising’ as he watched his son and father toil with heavy loads of dirt, pecking away at his Blackberry.  The son, while he was doing a good job at shoveling dirt, told Grandpa that he was doing a poor job and called him stupid at least 4 times in the 35 minutes I watched.

This may be an isolated incident, but it made me sick to my stomach to see a father stand by while his son belittled his grandfather and didn’t even say thank you to his dad for helping all day.  This same father told his 8 year old son that he could be done working after about ½ an hour (I think because he was annoying him) and let him go play with friends.

I know this isolated incident gave me a few reminders we can use at home or at work to help ourselves and others work:

  1. Respect for Elders is a Lifelong Value-  They may be old and not understand our technology, but their wisdom will always surpass us.  At work or at home, an elder holds a special status they have earned.  Show them respect and learn from them.
  1. Rewarding Poor Work Doesn’t Create Good Work- Letting employees off the hook because you can do it better yourself is no excuse.  Hold them accountable for working until the job is done right.
  1. Hard Work Breeds Hard Work- Model the behaviors you want people to follow.  Pick up the darn shovel, spatula, garbage can, whatever and help!

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3 Lessons Wile E. Coyote Teaches Us About Business

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Wile E. Coyote has issues catching the Roadrunner.

In fact, one could say that Wile E. Coyote has a serious tendency to self-destruct in the course of his ill-fated efforts to catch the Roadrunner. And it’s not for lack of equipment. Wile E. always seems to get his hands on the coolest ACME brand rockets, roller skates, and anthropomorphic-coyote-sized-sling-shots.

wileecoyote

Despite all the awesome gear he has, Wile E. Coyote just plain stinks at catching that bird.

But failures are often more instructive than successes, and that means that Wile E. Coyote can teach us a whole heck of a lot.

1. When times are tough, a positive attitude is a must

If at first you don’t succeed, you aren’t Chuck Norris.

If you fail again and again and again, you’re probably taking a page out of Wile E. Coyote’s book. But as much as he is to be faulted for his failures, Wile deserves a lot of credit for his attitude. Every time he sets about his task, he’s certain that he’s going to succeed. He never allows a negative attitude to stand between him and a full-fledged effort at catching the Roadrunner. He is the eternal optimist. (Though you might be, too, if you withstand countless explosions and falls from tall cliffs.)

Business often feels like you’re chasing the Roadrunner. Sometimes there’s that last task you just can’t get finished. Sometimes the ground just falls out from under your feet. Sometimes you just want to say [beep] [beep]. But you can’t let that down. Wile E. Coyote wouldn’t be fun to watch if he were always griping about his failures. It wouldn’t be fun to be around him. So, no matter how hard the hits keep coming, if you can keep a good attitude about it, you’re much more likely to be tolerated by the people around you – whether they’re your employees or your bosses.

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2. Reasonable goals are important

No matter how great your drive, your spirit, and your ability, you will never be able to jump from Manhattan to Hollywood in a single bound. You probably couldn’t even make it to Jersey.

In business, as in life, goals and ambition are important. They give you something to aim for, something to motivate yourself toward, and a way to measure it. But it’s just as important that you’re setting achievable goals as it is that you’re setting goals in the first place. If you’re shooting too high, you’d just as well be banging your head against a wall.

And this is the problem that Wile E. Coyote has. His goal of catching the Roadrunner (and presumably devouring it, post haste), is out of his league. The bird is too fast, too wily, and just too darned likable to become coyote food. So, no matter how hard the coyote is trying to catch the Roadrunner, the fact is that he should be setting his sights elsewhere.

3. Awesome gear will only get you part of the way.

You have to imagine that the Acme account executive responsible for Wile E. Coyote lives a very comfortable life. The guy has gotten his hands on more sophisticated ballistic equipment than most developing nations will ever have, and that kind of stuff has to cost a pretty penny.

While his account exec. may be living the high life, Wile E. Coyote is pretty much constantly in pain. If he isn’t exploding, he’s falling off of a cliff. And maybe it would all be worth it if he could just catch the bird. But we all know that’s not going to happen.

And the real world is just the same way. It doesn’t matter how good your computers, ingredients, tools, or machines are if you don’t have competent people backing them up. A great team can overcome extraordinary odds with only the most rudimentary of tools. (We got a man to the moon on a spacecraft that had less computing power than my cell phone.)

Smart organizations spend time looking for people who can do the job regardless of the tools they’re given. Great potential employees take the time and energy to show employers that they can do a great job, regardless of the circumstances.

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What Book Would You Hire Someone for Reading?

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Walking into a job interview is a nerve-wracking process. Many of us enter dressed to the nines, carrying a note pad and something to write with. Maybe we’ve done some prep work, Googled the company, run through typical interview questions, and maybe even tried to find the blog or Twitter feed of the HR manager so we know what they care about.   And everyone comes in with a stack of expectations, hopes, and dreams.

But not very many people bring a book to a job interview.

This isn’t terribly surprising. Your focus is supposed to be on the interview. You’re supposed to wear clothes a step above the everyday dress code. You’re supposed to follow six thousand different pieces of advice, and bringing a book is never one of them. book

I’m unclear on why the “bring a book that makes you look like a super-genius” approach to job interviews hasn’t caught on yet.

But here’s the thing about all of that advice: The bottom line is that you’re supposed to get yourself hired. So, whatever works will do the trick.

Our friend DJ went to a job interview the other day. He brought a copy of Bring Your A Game to Work with him, and after discussing what he had learned from reading the book, he was hired. Now, we’re not shy about making it known that our goal is to eventually have every employer require that a teen applying for a job complete A Game Certification, so we took this as great news.

But it also got us thinking. There are tons of great business books out there. So, if you had an applicant walk in the door today, what book would you hire them on-the-spot for mentioning that they’ve read? What book would they have to have read to even get your consideration for the job?

Post thoughts to comments.

TJ Wihera is the Director of Development for the Bring Your A Game to Work Initiative. Contact him via e-mail or check out www.theagame.com. The A Game helps youth learn that work isn’t a bad thing so that they can lay the foundations of great careers.

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Creating Sustainable Workers

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

At present, there is a major national push to create sustainable jobs, sustainable business practices, sustainable products, sustainable lifestyles, and all manner of other sustainable tangibles and intangibles. The idea is that if people and businesses use resources at a rate at which those resources can be replaced, the practices are sustainable.

This post has nothing to do with that.

hippies

Hippies: Not a sustainable staffing option.

Instead, I’d like to discuss sustainable workers. You know, the ones you never turn over. The ones who put in hours and hours and hours of quality hard work. The people who call in sick only if and only if they’re on their death beds. The ones you would pay a million dollars to hire and another million to keep. The people whose job safety will always be guaranteed because their work keeps businesses going. The members of your staff who create more than they cost, thus sustaining their careers and your business.

That’s what I’m talking about when I talk about sustainable employees.

But the good news is that the principles that apply to other discussions of sustainability can be applied to the discussion about sustainable employees. Here are a few guidelines you can follow to be a more sustainable employee, or give to employees you want to teach about being more sustainable:

Reduce: Don’t use more than you need.

Conspicuous consumption is extremely fun until you’re paying for someone else’s consumption. Just ask any company that has ever realized that its employees are using its resources irresponsibly. Using just what you need, whether it’s office supplies or food portioning, is an important way to show employers that you aren’t just concerned about the business. It shows them you can be trusted.

Here at The A Game, we call unquestionable honesty “Accountability.”

Re-use: Do it over and over again.

The reason companies take the time to create policies is that someone has tested them and determined that the practice is the best one for the business. The reason you get a job is to get paid. The reason you get paid is to execute policies. See how that works? As much as independence and creativity are virtues, there are a lot of times when companies are looking for employees who are able to execute policy flawlessly, time and again.

Here at The A Game, we call  that “Acceptance.”

Recycle: Sure, they’re leaving, but you want to see them again.

When you buy a can of soda, you get the can. Once you’ve got the soda out of it, you can throw it away or you can recycle it. If you recycle it, some day, you’ll get a bit of that can back and get soda out of it again. Well, customers are the same way. Once they’re in the door, you’ve got their business for that day. But depending on how you treat them, you’re either throwing them away to never see them again, or your recycling them and get their business again and again.

Here at The A Game, we call that kind of awesome customer service “Appreciation.”

While sustainable jobs and companies may or may not find their place in the economy, there is no question that sustainable employees will always have a place where they can work and earn.

TJ Wihera works to sustain his role as Director of Development for the Bring Your A Game to Work Initiative.  To learn more about the seven fundamental workplace values – including Accountability, Acceptance, and Appreciation – contact him via e-mail, or check out www.theagame.com.

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Defining Work Ethic

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Starting my professional career on the academic side of the world brought with it a fair amount of writing, studying and doing anything I could to be knowledgeable on the lineage of research and practices informing the subject I taught.  The area I focused my attention on happened to be (and still is) leadership development.

As with almost anything in academics, there is a time tested process to defining a subject area.  First, you need to build a theory on what it the subject is. Second, you figure out what discipline it falls into.  If it can be measured it becomes a science and if it can be actively pursued or expressed, it is an art.  Lastly, you agree upon a definition and then you go about researching the ways in which it manifests itself in the world (research).

So, as this is my first blog post, it’s appropriate to do the same with work ethic.  I set out on a rigorous exploration of the theory, discipline and definition of this illusive trait.

Let’s start with building a theory about work ethic.  The term dates back to the Forefathers of our great country and Benjamin Franklin posing great questions and sharing lessons regarding “Protestant Work Ethic.” Oddly, though, the term is yet to be clearly defined or researched in modern application other than anecdotal sayings that usually come from the older generation saying the younger generation doesn’t possess the same work ethic of yester years.  The fundamental writing on the subject still is based on the work of Max Weber in 1904.

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The one thing most agree on in terms of work ethic is that it is comprised of a closely held set of values.  These fundamental values come together to manifests themselves in daily habits.  In the workplace, this theory holds true as companies and executives around the country share that the fundamental values that comprise work ethic are the most desirable traits in employees.  Check box one in the research process complete, our theory is that work ethic is comprised of fundamental values that manifest themselves as daily habits both on and off the job.

Our next step is to look at the discipline that work ethic can be classified into.  This is a bit more challenging.  Is it a science, can you measure it? Or is it an art, something you can pursue or express?  I would assert that it is really neither.  While it can be measured, values don’t lend themselves to scientific methodology and while it can be expressed and  seems like it may be a dying art, can you really be an artist of work ethic?  Could it be a discipline itself? I would venture to say the answer is yes.  Values only manifest themselves in life if a person is disciplined enough to live by those values, so work ethic is a discipline.   A person can know the fundamental values, but if they don’t practice those values every day, work ethic simply doesn’t happen.

Now that we know that work ethic manifests itself as a set of fundamental values and is practiced as a discipline in life, our last step is to build our definition of the discipline.

Context is key in defining anything.  In the context of this blog, work ethic is defined by how the values are exhibited on the job.  One way of building a definition is to look at what something isn’t and compare what you think it is.  To define work ethic most appropriately, I thought this to be the right approach. Here’s an equation that best sums up the definition.

Minimum Daily Commitment = MDC (what work ethic is not)

Minimum Daily Commitment is putting in just enough time, talent or energy to get by every day.  People that show MDC regularly are the seat fillers, time watchers and process stallers in a business.

MDC + Work Ethic = MDC2 or Maximum Daily Contributor

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A Maximum Daily Contributor gives their best every day.  They come to work knowing their priorities and leave only when they know they have done more than what was expected.

Having a positive work ethic can be defined as the discipline of practicing fundamental values that equal becoming a maximum contributor on the job every day or simply bringing your best to work.

This is just the beginning to our research journey together into work ethic.  We will continue to use this forum to explore together how to discipline yourself to become MDC2 on the job, how to instill the discipline of work ethic in your employees and tips for how to practice work ethic daily.

What do you think about this definition? What would you change?  What questions do you have about work ethic that you want to see us tackle together?  How do you discipline yourself to have good work ethic?

A few resources to check out on our journey:

Benjamin Franklin’s “The Way to Wealth”

Max Weber’s “Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”

Eric Chester’s “Bring Your A Game to Work”

Matt Smith is the President of the Bring Your A Game to Work Initiative. Contact him via e-mail, or check out www.theagame.com. The Bring Your A Game to Work Initiative is a national workplace initiative aiming to rebuild work ethic in young people. Youth can earn mastery level certification to prove that they are work ready, and the adults who teach them, manage them, and care about them can help get them there.

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Don’t Hope that The Luck of the Irish Will Bring You Good Workers

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

When it comes to the good things you want to happen in your life, you can hope that fate will bring them to you or you can seek them out. Those who adopt the latter strategy are known for having significantly higher success rates. And with good reason – the odds are against you lucking out. To illustrate, please consider the following odds:

1: 2 – Odds of winning a coin toss

1: 38 – Odds of hitting 00 in roulette

1: 1,000 – Odds of being accepted to the One-in-a-Thousand Society

1: 864,000 – Odds of correctly picking the NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL Champions (Assuming each team has equal chances of victory)

1: 195,249,054 – Odds of winning the Power Ball

1: 6,692,030,277 – Odds of being born as James Bond (Or any specific person for that matter. Side note: If you’re reading this, it’s too late for that.)

bondpoker

Yeah, when you’re going to try to play the odds in an attempt to get rich, your odds of a major pay-off are anywhere from not-very-good to practically-impossible. That’s why most of us develop skills, get jobs, work our butts off, climb to responsible positions, and run businesses.

Sure, the risk of failure is there, but the risk/reward equation isn’t nearly as unbalanced as it is in a casino or playing the lottery. The fact is that as we go through the path of a career, we are slowly working to shift the odds in our favor. Each time we develop a new skill, we are trying to stack the deck. And while most of us won’t ever get the odds to the exact point we’d like them, we generally make progress in the right direction.

Hiring decisions are, in this sense, no different from other decisions. We’re betting that the people we hire are going to create more value for us than they cost. We’re betting that they’ll help our business grow by bolstering the team, interacting with customers, and making good business decisions. We’re betting that they won’t drive us so insane that we have to retire years early to avoid chronic ulcers.

Sadly, the numbers on those bets aren’t looking too good when you hire young employees. Consider the following results from Pew Research:

  • 70% of people 18 and up believe that older people have better moral values than younger people
  • 71% say that older people have better respect for others
  • 74% say that older people have a better work ethic

Companies have always viewed the young as a gamble – it’s their view on anything that’s unproven. But these numbers don’t just reflect that apprehension. Nor are they simply a reflection of the inevitable adult belief that young people are slacking. The research found that even young people were likely to say that older people have a better work ethic.

This isn’t a reflection of a skewed set of beliefs. It’s a reflection of a reality in which many young workers simply are not good workers.

There are a number of ways to level the playing field when you look for the pot-of-gold employees you know are out there:

Check References

Most applications ask for references. Very few managers check them. Three two minute calls now could save you hours of developmental training later when you find out that your new hire has no idea how to arrive at work on time.

Screen Out Bad Workers

Sometimes when we interview, we focus on personality, knowing that we can teach skills, but we can’t teach a person to fit in with the team. The problem is that good work habits are just as hard to teach as being agreeable is. You’re better off taking the time to find someone who knows how to work well and is a good fit.

Prior Behavior is the Best Indicator of Future Behavior

Are you thinking of hiring someone who has admitted to past problems with attendance, honest, or interpersonal interactions? Have they told you that they have found the light and changed their ways? Whatever you do, don’t just take their word for it. Ask them to tell you what they’ve done that demonstrates the changes they’ve undergone. Everyone deserves a second chance when they’re ready – it’s your responsibility to make sure that they’re actually ready.

Hire Certified Workers

Skill certifications are out there to prove that an applicant understands how to run cable, prepare food safely, or perform CPR. The A Game’s certification is here to prove that an applicant understands the most important foundation of how to work. Learn more about it.

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Will Smith Always Attributes his Success to his “Ridiculous” Work Ethic

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Eric here;

Like him or not, it’s hard to argue with the enormous success of Will Smith, now listed as Hollywood’s highest paid actor.

I’m a big Will Smith fan.  I don’t always like his movies, but most are worth seeing.  Moreover, I like the way he handles himself. Aside from being a devoted husband and father, he’s down-to-earth, honest, and likable.  But what’s gotten Will to the top of music, television, and the box-office has less to do with talent than it does his work ethic. And if you want proof, check out this video to see a 10 minute montage of his media interviews over the years to see how many times he credits his ’sick, ridiculous work ethic’ for any and all success he’s had.

Will Smith is a poster child for how to “Bring Your A Game to Work!

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