The Pickle Challenge For a More Positive and

Productive Workplace CultureThe University of Iowa College of Public Health

February 15, 2017

Joe Tye, CEO and Head CoachValues Coach Inc.

Values Coach Inc.Copyright © 2017

Are you old enough to remember when people smoked everywhere?

On airplanes!

Toxic emotional negativity (TEN) is the cultural, emotional, and spiritual equivalent of cultural cigarette smoke!

If TEN was visible

Will this help you create a healthier workplace…

If you don’t first get rid of this?

Guiding insight #1

Culture does not change unless and until people change.

Guiding insight #2

People will not change unless given new tools and structure, and inspired to use them.

Guiding insight #3

Attitude really is everything!

“I got a whole new team and didn’t have to change the people because they changed themselves.”

Paul Utemark, Chief Executive OfficerFillmore County HospitalGeneva, Nebraska

Same job. Different attitude.

Who do you think is happier?

Who would you rather work with?

Who would you rather live with?

Who would you rather be like?

The invisible barrier on the potential of

every organization

Companies that study employee engagement* consistently find:

~ 25% fully engaged

~ 60% not engaged

~ 15% aggressively disengaged

* e.g. Gallup, Avatar, Press Ganey, Modern Survey

Spark Plugs

22

Zombies

23

Vampires

24

Disengaged employees, especially disengaged managers, are a quality defect

Employee disengagement costs our economy 500 billion dollars...

every year!

Leadership Job #1

Shift the shape of your Attitude Bell Curve

The Healthcare

Crisis Within*Is also a public health crisis!

“A silent epidemic, a great threat to patient safety, an ugly secret in the most caring of professions, these are just a few of the ways that incivility and bullying have been referred to in the literature over the last 10 years.

Edmonson, Bolick and Lee: A Moral Imperative for Nurse Leaders: Addressing Incivility and Bullying in Health Care, Nurse Leader, February 2017

TEN is not a new problem!

“Prying into one another’s concerns, acting behind another’s back, backbiting, misrepresentation, bad temper, bad thoughts, murmuring, complaining...”

Florence Nightingale, in a letter to graduates of the Nightingale School of Nursing

“Prying into one another’s concerns, acting behind another’s back, backbiting, misrepresentation, bad temper, bad thoughts, murmuring, complaining. Do we ever think of how we bear the responsibility for all the harm that we cause in this way?”

Florence Nightingale, in a letter to graduates of the Nightingale School of Nursing

“She laughed at my questions when I dared ask them... She also let me know she was willing to throw me under the bus.” http://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/preceptor-from-

hell-1088911.html?awt_l=6J3lI&awt_m=3gy9jxym26oxpx0

February 5, 2017

“People complain and gossip but refuse to get involved. They won't come to staff meetings, they won't join committees, they won't offer solutions.”

http://allnurses.com/nurse-management/the-enemy-the-1089398.html?awt_l=6J3lI&awt_m=3Zwn_z.R66oxpx0

February 8, 2017

“Roughly 60 percent of new RNs quit their first job within 6 months of being bullied, and one in three new graduate nurses considers quitting nursing altogether because of abusive or humiliating encounters”

https://www.americannursetoday.com/break-the-bullying-cycle/

And it’s not just nurses!

Toxic emotional negativity harms everyone!

TEN kills people – it is the invisible quality chasm

“The negative impact of incivility can be significant and far-reaching and can affect not only the targets themselves, but also bystanders, peers, stakeholders, and organizations. If left unaddressed, it may progress in some cases to threatening situations or violence.”

In one survey of more than 4,500 healthcare professionals, 71 percent tied disruptive behavior, such as abusive, condescending or insulting personal conduct, to medical errors, and 27 percent tied such behavior to patient deaths.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/opinion/sunday/is-your-boss-mean.html

W. Edwards Deming told us to drive fear out of the workplace

You cannot drive fear out of a workplace polluted by toxic emotional negativity!

The Values Coach Culture Assessment

Survey

Our people LOVE our culture

Really?

60% do not agree & only 5% strongly agree!

We don’t smile at each other in

the hallways

Actual result for a critical access hospital:

$3,280,000

Actual result for a large community hospital:

$13,930,910

Actual result for a multi-hospital system:

$119,000,000

52%

55%

97%

11%

First impression

s

This one takes your breath away…

This one makes you hold your breath!

Lasting impressions are created by your

Invisible Architecture™

Invisible Architecture™ is more important than bricks & mortar

Invisible Architecture is to the soul of your organization what physical architecture is to its body.

With great architects and builders, the physical construction is seamless – there is no gap between the foundation and the walls.

In great organizations the Invisible Architecture is seamless...

There is no gap between the values posted on the wall and the behaviors seen on the floor.

Many hospitals use the acronym ICARE to describe their core values...

IntegrityCompassionAccountabilityRespectExcellence

Those are the words printed in the plaque on the wall...

But when attitudes and behaviors seen in the workplace do not reflect the words on the wall, there are values-attitudes gaps...

The words on the wall say integrity but there is gossip in breakrooms

The words on the wall say compassion but there is incivility in the teaming stations

The words on the wall say accountability but there is complaining and finger-pointing in the hallways

The words on the wall say respect but there is bullying and intimidation in the workplace

The words on the wall say excellence but disengagement reduces safety, quality and patient satisfaction

The words on the wall spell out ICARE

But people in the workplace see GICBD

GossipingIncivilityComplainingBullyingDisengagement

All it takes is one toxic person to pollute the entire room

83

Workplace attitude is determined by what you expect and what you tolerate…

84

And over time, what you tolerate will dominate over what you say you expect!

You cannot be a negative, bitter, sarcastic pickle sucker in the break room…

This place sucks

Then somehow flip an inner switch and become a compassionate caregiver in a patient’s room…

May I help you? I have the time.

NOT!

And patients see right through the fraud!

You cannot be a negative, bitter, sarcastic pickle sucker at work…

My job sucks

Then somehow flip an inner switch and become a nurturing and empowering parent at home…

I wish she would stay at work!

92

“One toxically negative person can drag down morale and productivity of an entire work unit.”

93

“It is a leadership responsibility to create a workplace environment where toxic emotional negativity is not tolerated.”

“We complain to get sympathy, attention, and to avoid stepping up to something we’re afraid of doing.”

Will Bowen: A Complaint Free World

Chronic complaining makes you depressed and depressing, bored and boring, victimized and victimizing

When you complain you are saying three things...

Something is bothering me, otherwise I wouldn’t be complaining about it.

There is nothing I can do about it, otherwise I would be taking action instead of just whining.

And it’s not my fault, otherwise I would be looking in the mirror instead of pointing a finger.

Can you think of a better definition for being a victim?

We can do better than this.

We can BE better than this.

The Pickle Challenge

104

The simple promise that can change your life and transform your organization

109

Important!

The Pickle Pledge is about whining – it does not mean you don’t identify real problems!

110

Important!

The Pickle Pledge is not a disciplinary program – it is voluntary and lighthearted

The Pickle Challenge has taken on a life of its own!

113

The Pickle Challenge gives people a new language – a lighthearted approach to confronting toxic attitudes and behaviors

You’re being a Pickle, Doc… Please put a quarter in the jar.

Caveat: You will get resistance to The Pickle Challenge.

It will be most vociferous from people who could most benefit from taking it to heart.

Important!

You have to internalize the promise before you are called upon to keep it!

We are going to have to cut out a part of your colon and put you on a colostomy bag

No way! I would rather die!

Yes, that is another option…

You can rewire the hardware by reprogramming the software!“[W]e are seeing evidence of the brain’s ability to remake itself throughout adult life, not only in response to outside stimuli, but even in response to directed mental effort. We are seeing, in short, the brain’s potential to correct its own flaws and enhance its own capabilities.”

Midland Memorial Hospital Culture of Ownership Results

Tourist Attraction!

Daily Leadership Huddle at Midland Memorial Hospital

63%

87%

Annual Cultural Productivity Benefit

$7,200,000

RN Turnover: 32% reduction overall 43% reduction for new nurses

(in first 2 years of employment)

22% reduction in CLABSI 38% reduction in ventilator

related events 64% reduction in CAUTI

Patient satisfaction from record low to record high

Emergency Department from bottom 10% to top 10%

First hospital to earn the

INSPIRED Award

The first 30 organizations to take The Pickle Challenge for Charity raised over $60,000 (including Values Coach matching donations)

The campaign to raise one million dollars for charities by turning 4 million complaints into contributions

It begins with a shared vision…