Читать книгу Stepping Forward Together: Creating Trust and Commitment in the Workplace - Mac Ph.D. McIntire - Страница 7

Paul and I had been talking for almost twenty minutes and we were just now getting to what I wanted to share with him. It had taken us some time to get to this point but I felt it was important he understand the key concepts we’d just discussed before I showed him my model for getting people to step forward together as a team.

I picked up my mechanical pencil and drew two parallel vertical lines on my yellow notepad. I then connected the vertical lines with four equally spaced horizontal lines, as shown in the diagram below. I wrote the word COMMITMENT above the top rung of the ladder.

I pointed to my diagram and said, “OK. What I’m going to show you is a model I developed many years ago I call The Ladder of Commitment®. Sometimes, however, when I’m really humble, I refer to it as the ‘Holy Grail,’” I said, only half facetiously.

Paul smiled.

“I really do believe this model is the Holy Grail because this simple visual powerfully explains a complex process – the unconscious evolution people go through before they commit to a specific course of action. The Ladder shows what happens inside a person’s head, heart and intuitive senses before they will accept and enthusiastically embrace something,” I explained.

“Once you understand the Ladder of Commitment, you can use it to accelerate the process of gaining the commitment of your employees. By knowing this you can propel people to the top of the Ladder quickly. You can get your employees to perform at a higher production level earlier in their employment. Most important, you can get people to do what you want them to do, the way you want them to do it, when you want it done.

“You can also use this model in your personal life. Husbands and wives who understand the Ladder of Commitment can use it to build a stronger relationship early in their marriage. They can create an enduring partnership that truly does last forever. Parents who consciously climb the ladder in their relationships with their children can form strong family bonds of love and support and get everyone in the family to step forward together.”

I went on to explain to Paul that before he could get a company of people to step forward together as a team, each employee must first step forward as a committed individual. Likewise, each partner in a marriage must be committed to the relationship individually before a collective bond of unity can be formed in the marriage. The process of obtaining one’s commitment begins as a solo climb up the Ladder. And it is, indeed, a climb up the Ladder, because most people don’t start out in their relationships – work or personal – at the top of the Ladder.

I took my wedding ring off of my finger and held it in the air, showing it to Paul.

“When a bride and groom stand at the altar, place wedding bands on each other’s fingers, and say the words ‘I do’, where do you think they think they are on the Ladder at that moment in time?” I asked, pointing to my drawing.

“At COMMITMENT,” he rightly concluded, pointing to the top of the Ladder diagram.

“That’s exactly right. They think they are making a commitment. In fact, they usually make vows to that effect, saying such things as: ‘until death do us part’, ‘in sickness and in health’, ‘in good times and in bad’. Yet 52 percent of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. That’s a pretty horrific statistic. That means every other person sitting here on this plane – if they are or have been married – are divorced, in the process of getting a divorce, or will be divorced in the future.”

“Well, that’s encouraging,” Paul said, sarcastically.

“Even if you’ve been married twenty-three years, like you have, does that mean your marriage is secure?” I asked.

“I guess not.”

“That’s because commitment has a short shelf life. It’s something that has to be continually reinforced and strengthened day after day,” I offered. “The commitment process starts on day one of a relationship and continues as long as the relationship lasts. Of course, you could change your partner and start all over again, but the odds get worse in second marriages. Seventy-five percent of second marriages end in divorce. Since the odds are against you with each subsequent marriage – or each subsequent new hire – it’s much better to get it right the first time.

“So, if over 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, what does this wedding ring really mean?” I asked, again showing my wedding ring to him.

“Apparently it doesn’t mean anything,” Paul replied.

“That’s right. Placing a wedding ring on someone’s hand and making a vow of commitment apparently doesn’t mean the person is committed. Saying words of commitment doesn’t mean a person actually is committed. So I guess the wedding vows recited by one out of two marriages in this country actually mean: ‘I do for now’, ‘I do until something else comes up’, or ‘I do until someone better than you comes along.’”

Paul chuckled.

“Obviously there must be more to the commitment process in marriage than just proclaiming one’s commitment,” I suggested. “The same is true at work. Unfortunately, employers make the mistake of assuming employees are making a vow of commitment when they accept a job offer. That would be wonderful if it were true. But people don’t automatically commit to something – to a task, to an organization, to a team, to a manager, or anything else – even if it that thing is something they themselves chose.”

“I accept that a lot of marriages end in divorce,” Paul countered. “But I’m not ready to buy the premise that newlyweds aren’t committed to each other on their wedding day. It seems more likely that they lose that commitment over the course of their relationship. I’d argue the same is true for employees. Why would anyone apply for a job and then not want to do it?” Paul asked.

As he verbalized the question I could tell the gears were turning in his head. His push back was a way of confirming or denying my premise in his own mind, thereby firmly grounding his understanding. I did not respond.

“I think that, at my plant, almost all my employees showed at least some initial enthusiasm for their work in the beginning,” Paul suggested. “But I’m shocked at how quickly that wanes. I just hired a supervisor who looked, sounded, and acted great during the interview. He seemed motivated and genuinely interested in the position. But once we hired him, that motivation just evaporated. I guess you just need to weed them out early.”

“No!” I countered. “Don’t start weeding, start nurturing. You need to start building real commitment early in the relationship.”

I explained that when couples make vows at the marriage altar or a job candidate accepts an employment offer, they’re not at the top of the Ladder at COMMITMENT. They’re at the bottom! They’re in the unstable, scary, I-hope-everything-works-out-okay stage. They hope it will be a good marriage or a good job. They hope everything will work out – ‘Please let her be a good wife’, ‘Please let this job be a good one’, ‘Please don’t let my boss (or husband) turn out to be a jerk.’ In the early stages of a relationship what people actually experience is hope; not commitment. It would be great if people started out on the first day of a marriage or new job at COMMITMENT. But most people don’t. When two people look into each other’s eyes across the marriage altar or the interview desk and say yes, it is only the beginning of the commitment process. It’s not real commitment or total commitment. Not yet.

Prudent managers seize the opportunity at the early stages of a person’s job to consciously secure lasting commitment from an employee. Wise newlyweds turn their initial hope into long-lasting reality by moving up the Ladder as fast as they can. Sensible parents anchor the commitment of their children to family values and parental teaching while their children are young, knowing they have to start early if they want their influence to last.

Paul nodded as he thought about this. “So how do you get people to the top of the Ladder?”

“When I’m done explaining the entire model you’ll see how everything fits together,” I replied. “But, first, let me tell you how I would conduct an interview if I was hiring a person for a job. I want to test the job applicant’s commitment early on, during the interview. I want to know exactly where he stands. I don’t want someone taking a job and then finding out later he didn’t want to do the work. I also don’t want someone to take a job he doesn’t want, just to get his foot in the door. When I interview someone for a job I want him to be committed to that job. So this is how I would conduct the interview. . . .”

I turned in my seat and faced Paul so I could model my mock job interview. I looked directly into his eyes, acting as if he were the job candidate. I then began my interview role play.

“If I owned a restaurant and was interviewing you for a pot washer position, this is what I would say: ‘I noticed you applied for the pot washer position, Paul. Are you interested in a job washing pots?’”

Paul played along, nodding his head and saying yes.

“‘Just to be sure that you understand the job, let me explain what a pot washer does. A pot washer washes dirty pots. These pots are huge, heavy metal pots that usually are very greasy and sticky. Sometimes the pots have burnt stuff stuck to the bottom that is extremely hard to scrape off. Your job, as a pot washer, would be to scrub those pots clean, no matter how dirty they get and no matter how yucky they become, and return the pots completely clean to the cook. Then, after you’ve worked hard scrubbing those pots, guess what the cook is going to do with them? He’s going to get them dirty again. You might get those same pots back three or four times during your shift. It’s your job to clean those pots again and again no matter how many times they come back to you, no matter how dirty they get, and to wash them cheerfully without complaint. Does that sound like something you want to do? Is this the job you’re interested in?’”

Paul smiled. He knew during an interview people will say and commit to almost anything in order to get the job. He said yes.

“‘That’s good,’” I said, continuing my example. “‘So you’re saying you’ll commit to wash the pots as I’ve explained. That’s your commitment. And in return the company will make a commitment to pay you for washing those pots. That’s our commitment. See the connection? You wash pots . . . and we pay you. Your pay is directly connected to your washing pots. As long as you keep your commitment to wash pots we’ll keep our commitment to pay you for working. How does that sound? Does that seem fair to you?’”

Paul and I agreed an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work is a reasonable agreement. We both knew, however, it doesn’t take long to discover some new employees have no intention of keeping the commitment they made during the job interview.

“So how soon do you find out they aren’t keeping their commitment?” I asked.

“Not long,” Paul replied with a laugh. “Sometimes you can tell within days. Sometimes you don’t find out until after the 90-day probationary period when the employee starts to slack off. It’s like they think they can be fired after that.”

I smiled and asked, “Yet even though the employee is no longer keeping his commitment, what does he still expect the company to do?”

“To pay him!” Paul exclaimed.

“I don’t get that part, do you? Why should the company have to keep its commitment to pay the employee when the employee is no longer keeping his commitment to work? Personally, I think a manager should be able to go up to an employee during the workday and say: ‘I’ve been observing your performance today and noticed you’ve rendered six hours of behaviors that we pay for and two hours of behaviors that we don’t pay for. Consequently, you can expect your paycheck to reflect your effort accordingly. We’ll only pay you for the six hours that you actually worked.’”

“That would be great!” Paul chuckled.

“I agree. But I know a lot of employment lawyers who won’t let you do it. They’d sue you if you tried. That’s because the employment laws say you have to pay people for their time at work, not for working at work. And, unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for some employees to realize all they have to do at work is put in their time, rather than work, to earn their paycheck.”

Paul nodded his head in disgust, knowingly.

“So, let’s talk for a minute about what you would like your managers and employees to be committed to at your plant in Las Vegas,” I said. “What commitments do you expect from them?”

“I expect them to do their jobs,” he said. “I also hope they’ll be committed to the goals of the company. I want them to do a quality job and to provide good customer service. And I expect them to work as a team.”

I wrote down on my notepad the words company goals, quality, customer service, and team on my Ladder diagram just to the left of the COMMITMENT level.

“Do you also expect your managers and employees to be committed to you as the general manager of the company?” I suggested. “Would you like them to be committed to following your leadership, accepting your direction, and doing what you ask?”

“I was going to say ‘no’, not as long as they’re committed to the company. But, you’re right. I do expect them to be committed to me as the general manager.”

I added the word me to the list I was making.

“And when there are changes made at your company, do you expect your employees to commit to those changes?”

“Of course,” Paul confirmed.

I added the word change to the list.

“OK. So let’s talk about the process people go through in order to commit to your list,” I said, pointing to the bottom of the Ladder.

“Typically, how do your employees respond when you roll out the production goals for the year? When you introduce quality or service improvement programs, do your employees rally in support of those programs?”

Paul listened to my questions without responding.

“Whenever you announce a new policy or major change in your organization, do your employees get all excited, pump their fists in the air, and shout: ‘Yes! This change is going to be great!’” I asked in my most enthusiastic and patronizing tone.

Paul rolled his eyes and looked at me with a funny smirk on his face.

“No?” I exclaimed. “You mean when you implement new procedures, change the processes, or alter the work on the shop floor, your employees don’t get jazzed about it? Are you saying your employees don’t commit right away when you implement a change at your company?”

“No! They hate change!”

“Yes, most people resist change,” I concurred. “Resistance is a natural and normal first response to change. In other words, most people respond CLOSED to the introduction of any new idea, process or program,” I said writing the word “closed” at the bottom of the Ladder.

“As I said earlier, Paul, it would be wonderful if people started out at COMMITMENT when the company goals are announced, quality or service programs are rolled out, or a new manager is hired; but they don’t. I’m going to explain why people respond CLOSED to new ideas or concepts by using how they respond to change as the example. All of the things you’ve listed here where you expect commitment from your employees – company goals, quality, customer service, etc.,” I said pointing to his list, “ – each requires accepting some degree of change before a person can commit to them.

“When you declare the company goals for the upcoming year, those goals are almost always higher than the previous year’s goals. That means the employees have to do something different than they did the year before in order to perform at a higher level to accomplish the new goals.

“If the level of quality and customer service is not where you want it to be in your company, the employees must modify their performance according to the new standards you wish them to achieve.

“And anytime you add new members to a team, there is a period of adjustment while the new and long-term members become accustomed to each other.”

Paul nodded his assent to these points.

“Practically every commitment you desire from your employees, and even from your family members, requires some sort of change,” I emphasized. “So knowing how people react to change will help you understand how to get people up the Ladder to the COMMITMENT level. The problem is, as you so rightly said, most people don’t like change. They are CLOSED to it.

“Therefore, you ought to thank your lucky stars whenever people are responding CLOSED because it means they are at the threshold of commitment. They’re at the bottom of the Ladder just waiting for someone or something to convince them to climb up to COMMITMENT,” I declared. “Since being CLOSED is the first step in the commitment process, you shouldn’t feel discouraged or frustrated when you sense resistance in your organization. You just need to give people a reason to climb up the Ladder.”