Читать книгу Stepping Forward Together: Creating Trust and Commitment in the Workplace - Mac Ph.D. McIntire - Страница 3

I know why I “exist.” All my life I have tried to help people understand the reason for their own existence – whether it be as an employee, committee member, spouse, child, student or any other role in which people find themselves. I strive to help people succeed both professionally and personally. This is my purpose. It is why I do what I do. It is also why I have finally written this book.

This book is about moving people. It’s about getting people to understand their roles and to make the commitment needed to fulfill those roles as expected. In this book you will learn about the process people go through before they will commit to a specific course of action. You will learn how to get people to willingly climb the Ladder of Commitment to the point where they always do the right things for the right reasons.

My wife, friends, colleagues and clients have been pestering me for years to put my ideas about how to gain the enthusiasm and commitment of employees into a book. Participants in my management seminars have begged me for additional reference materials to remind them of the key points I make in my presentations about the Ladder of Commitment.

Unfortunately, even though this book is about commitment, I’ve had a hard time making the commitment to write down my thoughts because I couldn’t figure out how to write something I normally tell. I didn’t know how to translate what I say into the written word so it would have the same powerful, life-changing impact it has when people see and hear my presentation in person. I tried to write about the principles of the Ladder of Commitment as a management book, a text book, and a scholarly piece. But none of those approaches seemed to work.

Then a friend said to me: “Mac, you’re a consultant, so consult. Just explain it like you would in person. Make it easy. Make it real. Just tell people how to do it.”

That sounded like a great idea, but I was then afraid, if I wrote it like I tell it, that people who had been through my seminars would be disappointed because the book would duplicate what they had already heard. Then I remembered something another client once told me: “Mac, you are like a good movie. I never tire of watching or listening to you. Every time I hear you talk about the Ladder of Commitment, I get more out of it and enjoy it more.”

A short time later, another client echoed the same sentiment. He was attending one of my workshops for the seventh time as the leader of another cross-functional problem solving team at his company. I was embarrassed to have him in the session because I always tell the exact same stories and deliver the seminar the same way each time. What could he possibly be hearing or learning that would be new? That’s when he said: “Every time I’ve attended this workshop I’ve learned something new because each team had a different problem, so I’ve heard things from a different perspective. Finally, after seven times, I think I’ve got it! I have become what you teach. I am this stuff.”

With that encouragement, I embarked on this writing journey. I put behind my fear of not being able to write what I tell, as well as my fear of being repetitive. I communicated my story as though I was speaking one-on-one with you. I’ve carefully included every point, and a lot of new ones, so you can use this book as a reference any time problems arise as you strive to develop a strong team. It is my hope, when you have worked your way through this book and climbed the Ladder of Commitment, that you, too, will become “this stuff.”