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     KEYZINE: An e-zine for LEADERS:
   ABOUT THE PEOPLE PART OF BUSINESS
             Volume 21, December 2002
    Publisher: © Key Associates, LLC, 2002
           http://www.mkkey.com

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This Issue: "Joy in the Workplace"

Contents:

• What's Hot in Leadership
• Maintaining Yourself as a Leader
• Frequently Asked Questions from Leaders
• Educational Opportunities
• Useful Websites
• Articles/Publications

"Happiness depends, as Nature shows, 
Less on exterior things than most suppose."
                    -William  Cowper, Table Talk

"What do you have without pride of
workmanship?  Just a job, to get some money.
There's not much joy in that."
                              -W. Edwards Deming 

"The manner in which it was given is worth 
more than the gift."
                               -Pierre  Corneille

"All who joy would win
Must share it--happiness was born a twin."
                               -Lord Byron,  Don Juan

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WHAT'S HOT IN LEADERSHIP
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PROMOTING  BALANCE BETWEEN
WORK AND FAMILY/PERSONAL LIFE.

GIVING PEOPLE MEANINGFUL WORK
TO DO AND RECOGNIZING THEM FOR
THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS.

CREATING HEALTHY WORKPLACES,
WITH LOW STRESS, ROOM FOR 
INNOVATION, AND OPTIMISM.

MAKING SPACE FOR CELEBRATION:
SUMMONING JOY TO THE WORKPLACE.

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MAINTAINING YOURSELF AS A LEADER
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Dr. W. Edwards Deming said, "Management's
job is to create an environment where everybody 
may take joy in his work."  He felt that leaders
failed at this by instituting faulty practices, some
of which are:

• Performance appraisals
• Deliberate introduction of fear, conflict and
  competition, incentives and threats, slogans 
  and exhortations to motivate
• Poor materials and tools
• Lack of constancy of purpose to stay in business
• Management job-hopping
• Emphasis on short-term profits
• Managing by numbers alone
• Management by objective
• Arbitrary numerical quotas
• Merit pay
• Treating the exception as the rule 
  (special/common cause confusion)

Oddly, he also mentioned two deadly diseases
unique to the U.S.--excessive medical costs and 
the costs of liability.  None of these is under the
control of the worker; only leaders can change 
the system.

As a gift to your organization, audit these practices 
that defeat pride.  In the end, Dr. Deming held 
that all of this good work is about the Human Spirit.  

In this season of Joy, Hope and Light, 
awaken and encourage Joy in Work 
and it will come.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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How do I help put joy and meaning in work?

Everyone authors their own work, and our 
failure is not matching people with work that gives
them joy.  Work is a creative act, and to the extent
that individuals/teams can control their own
processes and have freedom to innovate,
their work can become their art.  A second 
aspect of meaning is the connection of their 
work to the big picture--why theirs is important 
work to do.  I once witnessed a dietary worker 
in a hospital display her notebook of hand sketches
on how to array the cold plates--with swells of
pride; a maintenance worker who led the way to
saving $35K by product substitution; a housekeeper
who could evaluate and make recommendations on 
efficiency by observing the refuse.  There are
no unimportant players in organizations like this.

I can't afford celebrations.  We used to have an
annual employee recognition ceremony, but I
had to cut it off when times got hard.  Besides
frivolous spending wouldn't look right to the 
Board and investors (a frequent comment).

There are a few flaws in thinking here.  One is 
that celebration is only for good times, when in
fact, it's more important in down times--that's 
when people really need to pull together.  Second
is the belief that it is the leader's job to orchestrate 
the function--people are actually very good
at creating their own celebrations, given time 
and permission.  Last is the idea that it costs money.
The best celebrations are those that are born
spontaneously, and consist of basic activities, 
like eating together and telling stories.

Corporate gifts--any ideas?

Time is the most precious commodity, something 
we cannot manufacture more of.  What about
time for  family, education, altruistic activity, fitness
activities and other healthy undertakings? Anita
Roddick of The Body Shop offers corporate 
"externships" for staff to go out and do good in the
world.  "People become motivated when you guide 
them to the source of their own power," she says.
Spell out your company values in your giving.

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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
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Key Associates offers facilitation in planning
and executing corporate celebrations.  See
http://www.mkkey.com.   Also, check out our
publication, Corporate Celebration: Play, 
Purpose and Profit at Work (1999).
http://www.bkconnection.com/products/productshow.adp?code=23

See our back issue "On Spirit at Work,"
http://www.mkkey.com/Key Associates/ezine5.htm 

Read DHHS' publication on Stress at Work 
and learn what you can do about it.
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pdfs/stress.pdf 

Make Joy in Work part of your culture,
http://www.employeedevelopmentsolutions.com/cultureconsulting/joyatwork.htm 

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OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES 
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A CEO talks about "Joy in Work"
http://www.angelfire.com/nt/Yeoh/JoyWork.html

Six ways to enjoy work:
http://www.dreamjobcoach.com/joyofwork.shtml 

Create a psychologically healthy workplace--
http://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug01/spark.html

Add  joy to the work formula,
http://www.focusedperformance.com/articles/ut17joy.html 

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ARTICLES/PUBLICATIONS                              
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Adams, Scott.  The Joy of Work.  Harper Business, 1998.

Autry, James.  Life and Work: A Manager' Search 
for Meaning.  New York: Avon Books, 1995.

Weihrouch, Jacqueline, J.O. McGrath (Editor), &
J. Kulak (Illustrator).  Joy in Work. Jaw Publishing, 2000.