USE FISH BAIT to Maintain
the CAN DO Attitude
Prepared by
Jim Messina, Ph.D.
Commit to FISHing in Your
Organization
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Commit yourself and your organization
to the four keys of FISH through a
culture statement which emphasizes :
1.
2.
3.
4.
Choose your attitude
Play
Make their day
Be there
Remember this Culture
Statement:
As you enter this place of work choose to
make today a great day - Your colleagues
and customers and you will be thankful. Find
ways to play - We can be serious about
work without being serious about ourselves.
Stay focused in order to be there when your
customers and co-workers need you. Should
you feel your energy lapsing try this surefire
remedy: Find someone who needs a helping
hand, a word of support, or a good ear – and
make their day!
Commit to the Can Do Attitude!
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Encourage your staff to become the
LITTLE ENGINES THAT COULD
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Help them to Think they Can become
more than they ever thought they could
become!
Encourage them to believe: I think I
can!
What Do You Do First to make
FISH a reality?
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2.
3.
4.
Introduce the FISH Culture concept to your
leadership team and then to your workers
Create a Culture Enhancement committee to
help organize how FISH can become a reality
in your organization
Pilot and try things out - some will work and
others will not but do not tie yourself into “it
must be this way” attitude
In a positive work environment it’s not about
taking things away - It’s about learning every
day and finding solutions that allow people to
have an energized culture
Learn to PLAY
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Invite your workers and leaders to play
Play is the lighthearted feeling you release
inside of people when they are enthused,
committed, and free of fear
Play must come from within you so you can
only invite play from others if you are playful
Play requires trust and shared commitment of
coworkers to make playfulness possible at work
Learning to Play
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Play happens naturally in a healthy workplace
where people are free to be passionate about
their work and accountable to their
teammates
Look for opportunities to bring a lighter tough
to interactions with customers and
teammates
Owners, managers and employees must play
together to make PLAY a “state of being” in
your organization!
Benefits of Play
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The more management and workers play the
more creative problem solving occurs
The more open the door to employees you
allow, the more ownership and input they will
provide for problem solving, suggesting
innovations and improvements
Allowing them to play will interestingly
increase productivity
Learn to: Make Their Day!
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In the FISH Environment the work setting is the stage
and the workers and customers are members of the cast
The goal is to make a memory for workers and/or
customers so that when they leave you, they have
something they will want to remember and share with
others
The goal is to engage one person at a time
There is nothing quite as powerful as turning your
attention away from yourself and asking how you might
connect with another human being, customer, family
member or colleague and “make their day”
5 Essentials to Make a
Business Successful
Customer enthusiasm
2.
Employee satisfaction
3.
Ability to generate profits
4.
Growing your market
5.
Continuous improvement
Making Their Day will directly impact each
of the five essentials for successful
businesses
1.
Making Their Day is focusing
on Customers & Employees
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You stop focusing on what you want and you
start focusing on what the people you are
serving want
It is like treating all people you serve as if they
were long trusted friends
Goal is to be so effective that you are able to be
helpful to others no matter what their needs are
The better you become doing what you do the
more people will come to be served by you and
more you feel great! Profits won’t be bad either!
What is the Goal of our
Journey in life?
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Is it to make millions?
So that we can become happy?
Maybe the lesson in Making their Day is: The
only way to be happy in this life is to get outside
yourself and serve others
That is a journey which Making their Day takes
you on!
The owner must see the organization not as an
investment but as a mission for real change to
occur in Making their Day!
Impact of organization based
on TAKING from others
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Customers have their defenses up
Workers try to make as much as they can on
each call because they think they might never
see that customer again
Management tries to squeeze profits from
every corner
Employees focus on what they can GET
rather than on what they can GIVE
Impact on Organization
focused on GIVING to others
When you look outside yourself and
concentrate on helping other people
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You discover a satisfaction you never
imagined could happen
As you serve more people
More people come to be served
As you serve more people you feel
great!
Making their Day & FISH is
a philosophy not a program
A philosophy is not implemented it is:
 Explored
 Chosen
 Believed
 Practiced
 It is a way of living your life not only at work
but in all aspects of your life!
 It is not just another program to be tried!
Impact on customers of
Make their Day
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Customers have a real need which impacts their life or
they would not be contacting your for your service
Remember that their needs are “real life” problems and
issues which need a resolution-you are not just taking
care of the problems you are taking care of people
By solving their problem for them in a straightforward
pricing model you take away their fear and the
bargaining and can focus more on their concerns and
needs
You provide for them something that works for them
rather than something that just works for you
In Making their Day
Bosses need to change
Bosses need to learn to:
 Really listen to their employees and really hear
out their concerns, fears, and reactions to the
work of the organization
 Give their employees freedom to make decisions
which have financial repercussions-without
shooting the messenger
 Commit themselves to the value that: ”We have
nothing of greater value than our people”
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Be patient with their employees and show them
they are valued
Learn to Be There or
Be Present!
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Being fully present to customers, coworkers,
employees is Being There
It is not dwelling about what has happened in
the past or worried about what may happen in
the future
It is being fully attuned to opportunities that
develop and to the needs of the people you
encounter by being fully present when you are
interacting with them
By Being There, you gain a healthy perspective
and capacity for greater focus and creativity
Being There is:
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All about who you are, not what you do
All about “who you are being” as you do the
work you have been paid to do
Not just being physically present to others but it
is being “fully present” to them
Not being distracted by the other things in your
life which interfere with your focusing on the
person you are with at the time
Being there for customers and coworkers
physically, emotionally and spiritually
Being There is Being a Team
with your Coworkers
Being There teams rank high in:
1.
2.
3.
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5.
6.
7.
Teamwork
Positive team attitude
Communication
Support for others
Satisfaction within the team
Having a say within the team
Seeing in others what others do not see in
them
Here are some things to help
You Be Present
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Keep a picture or small reminder card of who
you are being there for
Be sure you are not just saying things out of
routine with no realization you are not present
to the person you are speaking to
Helping a person with something way outside of
the realm of the work you are there to be doing
for them
Spending time with lonely and isolated people
who need more than just getting a job done
Look straight into the eyes of the person you
are speaking to, to assure them you are present
Here are some more things
to help You Be There
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Letting go of the need to sacrifice your family
life by working all hours of the day and night
and Being There for your family members more
Do not allow cell phones, beepers or PAD’s to
distract your focus from the person you are
talking with at the time, keep your eyes on the
person
Keep in mind: How do you want to be
remembered by the people you engage every
day on your job
Choose Your Attitude!
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Ask yourself this question: Is the attitude you
are choosing right now the one you want?
Do you believe your feelings are under your
control and no one makes you feel the way
you are feeling right now except for you?
This is the TEA system available on
www.coping.us
The message of the TEA system is that
people can only control three things in their
lives: their Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions
TEA System
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Thoughts
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Emotions
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Actions
The TEA System
Lessons from the TEA System
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You must first change the way you think about
work! You must recognize that your attitude at
work is your choice and no one but you can
make your attitude poor!
Second you then must change the way you feel
about work based on the way you have changed
your thinking about work and realize that your
feelings are your choice as well and no one but
you determines how you feel about things!
Lessons from TEA
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Third then once you changed the way you
Think and changed the way you Feel or
Emote about work then you can proceed with
changing your behaviors or actions on the
job to be more positive and FISH-like
We call the TEA system a system of recovery,
in the work place it is a recovery plan for the
morale of the workforce in an organization so
they can acquire the CAN DO Attitude!
Choose Your Attitude
Means having integrity!
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It is doing what you’re going to do when
you say you’re going to do it!
Being a person of integrity and making
sure your word is your bond with people
If you promise to be there on time and do
a good job for them, then do just that
and choose to be there for them in a
playful way so as to make their day!
Some questions about attitude
to ask yourself
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Why am I here at this workplace?
What am I doing this work for?
What’s important to me?
What is the worst possible thing that
could happen if I choose today to be
positive and maintain my “CAN DO”
attitude of The Little Engine that Could
References
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2.
3.
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5.
FISH! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results (2000) by
Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul and John Christensen. Hyperion Books,
New York
FISH! Tales Bite-sized Stories. Unlimited possibilities (2002) by Stephen C.
Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul and John Christensen. Hyperion Books, New York
FISH! Sticks Make Change Stick (2003) by Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry
Paul and John Christensen. Hyperion Books, New York
FISH for Life (2004) by Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., John Christensen and Harry
Paul, Hyperion Books, New York
When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating Vital and Energized Workplace from the
World Famous Pike Place Fish Market (2004) by John Yokoyama and Joseph
Michelli, Hyperion Books, New York
6.
Catch! A Fishmonger’s Guide to Greatness: Stop Floundering and Become
More Effective in Your Life and Work (2004) by Cyndi Crother and the Crew
of World Famous Pike Place Fish, Berrett-Koehler Publisher, San Francisco, CA
Where can you get the Fish books? http://www.fishphilosophy.com
Graphics come from http://www.charthouse.com/ecards.asp?whoenter=