SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR |  RSS | | REPRINT
|
How Full Is Your Workforce Bucket?
July 02, 2009
Chances are your workers have never considered their metaphorical workforce buckets, and many of them, if they did, would say their bucket was lacking, or maybe even empty. Nevertheless, Gallup Press is publishing an expanded Anniversary Edition of "How Full Is Your Bucket?" by the late Donald O. Clifton and Gallup executive Tom Rath.
The "bucket" refers to an analogy in which each person has an invisible bucket of emotions, along with a dipper, which he or she can use to either add to other people's buckets or to dip from them. Research shows filling someone else's bucket benefits both parties—the person who gave the praise and the person who received it.
Clifton embarked on his study of the power of positive reinforcement after reviewing a case study by Korean War Major Dr. William E. Mayer, who would later become the U.S. Army's chief psychiatrist. Mayer studied 1,000 American soldiers in a North Korean POW camp where the prisoners were subjected to only negative reinforcement from their captors. Though their basic needs for food, water, and shelter were met, 38 percent of the soldiers died. According to the report, many grew hopeless under the negative onslaught and gave up on life. Clifton theorized that positive reinforcement could have an equally powerful, but opposite, effect.
Clifton's work also had a personal side. He spent much of his life serving as mentor, friend, teacher, and prodigious "bucket-filler" of his grandson (and co-author), Tom Rath. Rath, who has been successfully battling a rare form of cancer, credits his grandfather's philosophies and teachings with helping him cope with his health challenges. "How Full Is Your Bucket?" was written by grandfather and grandson as Clifton's life was ending. He did not live to see the publication of the book, which embodies his life's work.
"How Full Is Your Bucket?" shows how our approximately 20,000 moments of small, daily interactions can influence who we are, how we feel, and how we perform. The book outlines the following five strategies for increasing positive emotions:
• Prevent bucket dipping. Bucket dipping is when you do or say something to or about someone that is hurtful. Increase your awareness of how often your comments are negative. Then work toward a ratio of five positive comments to every negative comment.
• Shine a light on what is right. Try focusing on what employees, peers, and friends do right rather than on where they need improvement, and discover the power of reinforcing good behaviors.
• Make best friends. Create an environment that supports and welcomes trusting relationships. People with best friends at work have better safety records, receive higher customer satisfaction scores, and increase workplace productivity.
• Give unexpectedly. Bucket filling doesn't have to be formally scripted or planned, and anyone can fill buckets any time. A recent poll showed the vast majority of people prefer gifts that are unexpected.
• Reverse the golden rule. Instead of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," you should "Do unto others as they would have you do unto them." Remember, how you like your bucket filled may be different from how others like theirs filled. Individualization is the key when filling others' buckets.
|
SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS |
|
|
| Back to Marketing Index |
|
|
