Book Smarts....

How Full is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life

By Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton, PhD

Reviewed by Christie Walker

Interactions with people can have a positive or negative effect. Think about how you felt after an interaction with another person? Did that person–your spouse, your best friend or coworker or boss–“fill your bucket” by making you feel more positive—Or did they “dip from your bucket,” leaving you more negative.

In How Full is Your Bucket you’ll learn how even the briefest interactions affect your productivity, health and longevity. The book is organized around a metaphor of a dipper and a bucket and grounded in 50 years of research. The book shows you how to greatly increase the positive moments in your work and your life and how to create a positive work environment for your employees.

“Managers take note; Praise is rare in most workplaces. One poll found that an astounding 65 percent of Americans reported receiving no recognition for good work in the past year. Our latest analysis, which includes more than 10,000 business units and more than 30 industries, has found that individuals who receive regular recognition and praise: increase their individual productivity; increase engagement among their colleagues; are more likely to stay with their company; receive higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers; and have better safety records.”

A quick and easy read, How Full is Your Bucket is just the beginning. Go to www.bucketbook.com to take the Positive Impact Test to assess your own bucket filling score; download and print the Bucket Filling Interview guide; and learn more about applying the concepts found in the book.

Be the first person to send a Letter to the Editor about this month’s issue of LabTalk and receive a free copy of How Full is Your Bucket?

Quotable Quote....

“No enterprise can exist for itself alone. It ministers to some great need, it performs some great service, not for itself but for others; or failing therein, it ceases to be profitable and ceases to exist.”

Calvin Coolidge

MANAGER’S CORNER....

MOTIVATE YOUR PEOPLE

by Rene Soltis

From the workshop, How to Motivate People in a Production Environment

Seventy percent of your employees are less motivated today than they used to be; 80 percent could perform significantly better if they wanted to; and 50 percent only put enough effort into their work to keep their job. Employees in a production environment consider their role a JOB, not a Career. So what’s a manager to do? Here are just a few ideas that have worked. Boost morale and help employees feel good about working for your lab with: pizza parties, preferred parking, employee recognition, gifts, personalized workspace and/or movie tickets. Personalize your approach by getting to know your employees. What boosts morale or motivates one employee may not have the same effect on another.

Engaged employees are more productive, have fewer absenteeism problems, take pride in their work and are less likely to turn over. By creating a personalized approach to engaging your employees, you can teach an Old Dog to like, appreciate and want to do new tricks.