Whale Done! 9

Today, we conclude our little journey with Wes Kingsley in Ken Blanchard's book entitled Whale Done! It carries the subtitle "The Power of Positive Relationships." The message and the "to do" items meld nicely with our journey to culture excellence in safety, quality, ethics, production, in fact, with all we do.

Wes contacts the Consultant to compare notes. He shares with the Consultant all the positive changes he is witnessing around him due to following the few simple steps of the WHALE DONE Response.

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Consultant: "As long as you're busy accentuating the positive with others, a little self-praise won't hurt. I come across a lot of managers who are hard on others because they're so hard on themselves. They're always after themselves in their heads. 'Oh, I should have done that better,' or, 'What a dummy I am, forgetting that detail.'  If you catch yourself doing things right, everything in your life will improve - especially your relationships. That's because it's fun to be around someone who, likes himself."

 

As a way to summarize this great book and the message it contains, I encourage you to review the following slides from the Consultant's presentation:

 

 

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc

Whale Done! 8

Today, we will continue to learn with Wes Kingsley in Ken Blanchard's book entitled Whale Done! It carries the subtitle "The Power of Positive Relationships." The message and the "to do" items meld nicely with our journey to culture excellence in safety, quality, ethics, production, in fact, with all we do.

Our friend, Wes, is back at SeaWorld to talk with the Trainer about what he has learned so far. The Trainer doesn't waste any time, he picks up right where he left off the last time they spoke.



Trainer: "Rather than focusing on the negative - what they do wrong - we pay attention to what they do right. We always try to catch the whales doing things right ... Our success with the whales happens a little bit at a time. We can't wait until they behave exactly as we want before we praise them."

 

Wes: "Always praise progress. It's a moving target."

 

Trainer: "Not only does focusing on the positive motivate the behavior we want, it builds trust and the fun-loving kind of environment we need to work successfully with these animals ... Rewards aren't the issue. Trust is the issue."

 

Wes remembers earlier comments about ignoring poor behavior and redirecting energy onto something else that can set up a Positive Response. He wonders out loud how hard that is to do.

 

Trainer: "You're right. It is hard - not so much because people are so difficult, but because through practice we've trained our attention to notice only what they do wrong. We have our eye out for the negative behavior. We think it deserve much more attention. That's why we jump all over it and make a big deal out of it. Plus, those people that get labeled as difficult always have people around them looking for them to goof up. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy."

 

This type of behavior is really easy to do especially when you are having a tough day, or deadlines are approaching, or your boss just jumped all over you, Wes admits. The Trainer suggest that when you are having a tough day, that you ought to practice redirecting.

 

Trainer: "In fact, when you're first starting out, you'll actually find yourself redirecting a lot - in place of the negative responses you've been giving. In many cases, your first positive responses will follow right after redirecting. You observe their new efforts, and see how quickly you can accentuate the positive and catch them making progress in the new direction... When they didn't do something they were supposed to do, rather than spending a lot of time on that, we'd go back to the goals we'd agreed upon and get them refocused on them... Redirecting and giving 'approximately right' WHALE DONEs are the keys to turning poor behavior around... Humans naturally want approval from others. When you're dealing with your kids or with the people at work, and you consistently call attention to what they do right, it's like you're responding to the best that's in them. After a while, they begin to enjoy all the positive recognition. They find out it's more fun to succeed and achieve and be praised for it."

 

Wes is certainly glad he circled back to talk with the Trainer. It's all starting to come together for him. Next time, we'll see if Wes can piece it all together.

 

(I really like the following phrases spoken by the Trainer: "When you're dealing with your kids or with the people at work, and you consistently call attention to what they do right, it's like you're responding to the best that's in them." Wow, that's good stuff right there!)



Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc

Whale Done! 7

Today, we will continue to learn with Wes Kingsley in Ken Blanchard's book entitled Whale Done! It carries the subtitle "The Power of Positive Relationships." The message and the "to do" items meld nicely with our journey to culture excellence in safety, quality, ethics, production, in fact, with all we do.

In our last lesson, the Consultant had just concluded her presentation on the "Whale Done" philosophy. Wes and the Consultant meet for a cup of coffee. Wes is full of questions.



Wes: "But aren't you asked if the WHALE DONE Response isn't manipulation?..."
 

Consultant: "I'm very glad you brought that up. There are two points about manipulation. First of all, the only people who don't need to be motivated by others are entrepreneurs - people who either own their own businesses or are individuals working for themselves.  They are self-motivated and their goals are aligned with the organizational goals. In fact, their personal goals and the organizational goals are usually the same... Secondly; you don't want people to become dependent solely on your noticing and commenting, so they do well only when you're around. The point of good management is to influence people to do the right thing when you're not around... The ultimate goals of the WHALE DONE Response is to help people become self-motivating."

 

Wes: "You means, so that the WHALE DONEs are coming from inside themselves?"

 

Consultant: "After giving lots of WHALE DONEs, you start to make comments like 'I bet it felt good when you finished that project before the deadline' or 'You must be proud of what you did on that report.' Or when you know that they must be feeling good about their performance, you can say, 'Tell me how that feels,' or, 'What's it like, to have done such a good job?' Then really listen to them and reinforce their pride and feeling of accomplishment."

 

Wes and the Consultant begin talking about business and business models. Why some are successful and others aren't.

 

Consultant: "Any new business improvement today, whether it's a technology or a service innovation or a pricing strategy, becomes instantly known and copied by the competition. That means that your only real competitive edge is your relationship with your people. If they trust and respect you and believe in your goals, they will want to please your customers. When that happens, provided you've got other factors like product quality, pricing, and marketing, and delivery in place, no one can beat you. The one thing your competition can never steal from you is the relationship you have with your people, and the relationship they have with your customers."

 

(Interesting! I sure thought the Consultant was going to say the only real competitive edge is your people! However, she said your relationship with your people.  That goes back to lesson #1 - trust and time.)

 

Wes leaves the coffee shop with a briefcase full of notes and a head boiling over with ideas.

 

Next time, Wes returns to SeaWorld to continue his learning with the Trainer.

 

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc

Whale Done! 6

Today, we will continue to learn with Wes Kingsley in Ken Blanchard's book entitled Whale Done! It carries the subtitle "The Power of Positive Relationships." The message and the "to do" items meld nicely with our journey to culture excellence in safety, quality, ethics, production, in fact, with all we do.The Consultant is about to bring her lecture to the large group, including our friend West Kingsley, to an end; however, she still has a couple of points to share ... specifically regarding unacceptable behavior.

Consultant: "People ask me, 'What about unacceptable behaviors or poor performance on the job? How do you deal with those?' I usually recommend the Redirection Response. But if someone knows better and they continue with the unacceptable behavior, that's an attitude problem. A Redirection Response will have little effect because they already know what to do. They need to know in no uncertain terms that what they are doing is unacceptable to you. But remember, a Negative Response is a last resort. You tell people, immediately and specifically, what they did that was unacceptable - including the negative impact of their action and how you feel about it: disappointed, confused, frustrated. But since you don't want the focus to be on your feelings, always end that kind of message with an affirmation of the person. They need to know that it's the behavior, not them, that you find unacceptable."

 

The Consultant is describing the "how to" for some "tough love." (I've often heard the phrase - be hard on the process and easy on the people. I wonder if that applies here?) The Consultant continues with her recommendations ...

 

Consultant: "You should also remember that whenever you criticize someone's performance or give negative feedback, no matter how carefully you do it, it tends to harm or detract from your relationship with that person. If you keep it up, you will poison the relationship. They'll lose trust and start trying to get even with you. This is where it helps to think of a relationship as being like a bank account. If you give a Negative Response to someone who knows better, it helps if you have money in that relationship bank - that is, if you've previously been giving that person lots of WHALE DONEs. Then he or she won't mind the correction. When the trust is there, a mistake can even lead to better performance. WHALE DONE - accentuating the positive - always creates a constructive cycle."

 

And, with that, the Consultant concludes her presentation. Next time, Wes meets with the Consultant to further his understanding (and ours) of the WHALE DONE Response.

 

In the meantime, below is a quick reminder of the WHALE DONE Response.



Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc