Fish!

Fish!

A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results

| Authors: Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen, 2000 |

So I saw this book while I was visiting the Norplas plant in Ohio, where they actually have a book club. It caught my attention, and I ordered one when we got back. I liked it so much, I passed it around for others to read as well. The book is written as a parable, an easy read that only takes about 2 hours.

Summary: Mary Jane has just been promoted to the third floor at her office, where that team has been labeled as a ‘toxic energy dump’.

She ends up finding her inspiration at a fish store while she is on a walk at lunch. Yes, a fish store, where they sell fresh, smelly fish, but it’s a crazy positive environment, the furthest thing from toxic and she ends up getting mentored by one of the employees, Lonnie. She learns, ‘There is always a choice about the way you do your work, even if there is not a choice about the work itself.’

4 Key Points:

1/ Choose your attitude – speak from the heart, find a message that communicates the notion of choosing your attitude in a way that everyone will understand and personalize, provide faith and motivation.

2/ Play – yes, just have some fun, life is short!

3/ Make their Day – engage your team, make them feel special, it is so easy to find good things if you are looking for it, a lot more enjoyment in rewarding the positive than always pointing out the downfalls

4/ Be there – Don’t read or type an email when someone is talking to you, it is rude!!! Be present.

My main takeaway from this book is, no matter what problems you have at work, you always have the choice in how you respond to it, and don’t underestimate what kind of a positive effect you can have on others.

Reviewed by Trevor Blondeel

Mindfulness Manufacturing

Our show is about providing listeners with real stories that come from a place of experience, transparency, and authenticity. Most importantly it’s about what we learn from these stories and applying Mindfulness in our everyday work and personal lives.
Our intention is to create an environment where people can learn through open honest discussions on how we apply Mindfulness. Although our experiences and stories come from time in a manufacturing environment hence the title “Mindfulness Manufacturing”, we still see our discussions and topics relatable to any organization or profession.

When a mistake occurs on the plant floor, your mind might jump to one question: who caused this issue, and should I write them up for their mistake? But there’s a more productive approach you could be taking—and in this episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing, guest Dr. Jake Mazulewicz breaks it all down!

With a background as a firefighter, EMT, and military paratrooper, Jake knows the challenges of high-hazard industries, and works with organizations to reduce errors and create safer, more reliable workplace environments. In this episode, Jake shares why you can’t procedularize everything, including the way you handle errors and accidents, and offers great insights and stories about how to use connection and curiosity to improve safety, address errors, and strengthen your organization.

3:35 – Procedures and policies are the work that is imagined, and on the floor is how the work actually gets done

4:19 – The work as-done is almost always radically different than the work as-imagined

5:20 – Even when you have standards and people show up wanting to do a good job, you can still see issues that need to be addressed

6:44 – There will always be areas that absolutely need to have procedures in place

8:02 – There are also adaptive jobs, which leans less into procedures and more intro troubleshooting and tacit human knowledge

10:56 – In an ideal environment, both mechanistic and adaptive models are used and respected and needed

12:11 – There are four levels, ranging from strict procedurals to looser guidelines that show what to do, but not how to do it

15:36 – Tacit knowledge gets shared through conversations

16:22 – A way to share important information is to have frontline experts record videos sharing their insights to problems, especially those that are not covered in procedures

19:44 – Through conversation and connection, more knowledge is shared

21:58 – Debriefing also plays a central role

23:45 – If you have strong discipline, you’ll find more freedom

25:31 – In most situations, errors are signals, not defects

27:07 – When an error occurs, be curious and find the deeper cause of the problem

Connect with Jake Mazulewicz

Find him on Linkedin

Visit his website