Fish

[tieguy]

For those of you who like to read or like to know how the management teams think managers and divison managers in the east central region have been asked to read and learn from a book called Fish this year.

For those of you who have not read the book its basically about making work fun. The fictionalized story evolves around a management person who moves to seattle and learns to make work fun by studying and implementing concepts from the world famous seattle fish market.

Some of the basic principles taught are to bring a positive attitude to work , involve the customer, to allow some ways to play, to stay focused.

One of my favorite quotes out of the book states:

There is always a choice about
the way you do your work
even if there is not a choice
about the work itself.

In the seattle fish market the vendors found a way to take a dirty cold job of selling fish and make it fun.

There are lessons to be learned here.

I would be curious as to your thoughts on the subject , thoughts on the book if you have read it and your thoughts on how to make the job you now have fun.

[Devilsfan666]

The most important thing in any job is a positive attitude. The drivers I deal with that are pissy everyday make life miserable. Complaining and dwelling on the negative makes everything worse. All management needs to do is speak to their employees with respect and honesty to get a better response.

[speeddemon]

Originally Posted by Devilsfan666

The most important thing in any job is a positive attitude. The drivers I deal with that are pissy everyday make life miserable. Complaining and dwelling on the negative makes everything worse. All management needs to do is speak to their employees with respect and honesty to get a better response.

This coming from a man named "Devilsfan666" and who's avatar is a kitten with a gun to his head. Umm, thats a real positive attitude going there.

[wornoutupser]

Tie,
There is no such thing in my area.
We now have a division manager that is micro managing our facility to death. His largest goal seems to be to scare drivers and hourlies to death for their jobs. He spends time going over delivery records and SPARCS alerts. That is (in my opion) a center manager's or supervisor's job. Our center manager called in yesterday because of health issues. He was heard telling a driver that he may not be back at alland he has only been here a few months.
Our facility has had 10 managers in a row quit. They are not given the tools or lattitude to properly run this place. Our facility seems to be a place to get managers to leave. I REALLY wish that UPS would allow a winner to come in and run the place on their own merits.
We are already running helpers here for a week. The center manager told me personally that we will only add 3-5 trucks for peak. Last year we had 12-15 extra drivers onroad depending on the load for the day. We even had rentals into April. The division manager seems to not be able to comprehend what happens here at peak. He has not had a peak season in this area. As we are in Florida, volume explodes in all of the retirement areas.
What we NEED is a managing style that will allow employees to take pride in the job and not be intimidated. Harrasment is also a major problem. I have personally been a target myself.

Will YOU notify this division manager about this book for us? YOU could save a peak for an entire building if it will make a difference. Thank You!

[brownmonster]

Give me a properly loaded truck. Start me on time. Ask me to do too much but not way too much. Use the expensive technology properly the way it was designed, and then leave me alone. Do not need any contact from supervision as long as we all do our jobs properly. Delivering boxes, satisfying customers, making friends, bringing home top dollar. That's fun. Constantly fighting failed technology, leaving an hour late, meeting drivers to get preload mistakes, too few drivers and unloaders, now that makes it not fun. Like one of the poster's motto says. "I like the job, I don't like what they've done to it." BM

[coldworld]

If ups wants to survive for the next 50 years there is going to have to be a bring together of management and hourly. UPS has to work as ONE group instead as IE telling center and district managers how to run things. Numbers will have to be way down the list of priorities.

[fredly00]

Sounds like a great Stocking stuffer for management...

[Mustang Sally]

UPS isn't the only company who needs to adopt the FISH! attitude. I have read it, and also have read "Who Moved My Cheese" I think everyone who has a boss needs to read both of those books. There are too many people out there with bad attitudes, bringing all of their coworkers down with their toxic talk. It only takes one person to lighten up a place and keep it from being a black hole. I think (and I know this would never happen) UPS should adopt some sort of FISH! program for everyone in the company, especially now, heading into peak.

[Thebrowntruth]

Originally Posted by coldworld

If ups wants to survive for the next 50 years there is going to have to be a bring together of management and hourly. UPS has to work as ONE group instead as IE telling center and district managers how to run things. Numbers will have to be way down the list of priorities.

Cold,

You are 100% correct! If I had two sides to choose from IE & a division manager on one side and on the other a decent (not great or even very good) management team with an average group of drivers (again not the best "burners" or hardcore union guys) I have NO doubt the front line guys would find the best, cheapest and most productive way to run THEIR center. SPARCS and a morning report should not be the bible to run an effective company.


Tie,

Great thought and book. However I think you would agree UPS is the closest thing you will find in business to the military. It would be tough with our strict (and i would argue valid) methods to virtually every job, to implement a lot of "fun" approaches. After all, the drivers are in the building for 15 minutes a day (minus late air, etc). After that its methods, methods, methods for 9+ hours. I would trade all the concepts for basic human compasion

---and don't think it's just management vs non-management...where I am, it's management vs. upper management! Upper management actively monitors the time management enters in the morning, how long they take for lunch, and what time they leave in the evening.

[brownnblue]

Originally Posted by speeddemon

This coming from a man named "Devilsfan666" and who's avatar is a kitten with a gun to his head. Umm, thats a real positive attitude going there.

Perhaps he is a fan of the New Jersey Devils? You have hockey in Alabama, don't you? Didn't Gordie Howe score his 1000th goal in Birmingham?

Here's two reviews of the book FISH. One Good the other Bad. From Amazon.com.

************************************************** *******
70 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

Dear God, it'scome to this, October 26, 2002
Reviewer: A reader
Here's a few ideas for all we can have fun in the workplace: We cap CEO salaries so they're not making 400 times what the average worker is making. We get a decent national health care system so Americans have a choice besides enslaving themselves to corporations. We give all Americans a decent amount of vacation. We apply labor laws across the board, ending the 60 to 70 hour work week that so many of us now routinely endure. We stop shipping our skilled jobs overseas. That's how we can all have fun in the workplace.
See, here's the problem - if you're a manager who forced this nonsense on your employees you probably didn't bother to ask them if they wanted a toy fish. If they wanted a "sand box." It probably never even occured to you to step up to one of your employees and ask "how would you like to be humiliated and treated like a small child? How would you like to be forced to go home after 9 awful hours and bake cookies for everyone in the office to avoid being labeled 'not a team player'?" Because that's what "living the fish! philosophy" really means.

None of it even occured to you, and that's the problem. From some particularly cruel act of fate you, who think that handing out children's toys to adults is treating them with respect, have somehow become a cog in the ever-turning wheels of power in this country. Somehow, people with the emotinal awareness of 2 year olds and the intellectual debth of sand crabs have taken control, and the rest of us are being forced to suffer for it.

Anything which can be written out on a 3x5 card is not a philosophy. Anything which involves handing out a stuffed fish is not respect.

************************************************** *******
51 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

Fishmonger lessons for the rest of us, January 17, 2002
Reviewer: Layla (Dubai - UAE) - See all my reviews
This is a wonderful little book in the tradition of 'Who Moved My Cheese." Fish! explores some of the trickiest and toughest concepts in management - employee motivation and performance improvement. The book introduces a parable that can be used, simplified, or made more complex, depending on your needs. All the ideas are simple and so are their solutions that will guarantee powerful results. The main premise is that you should:
1. Choose your attitude. Your attitude is your choice and is not dictated by anyone, or anything else. If you choose to enjoy your work, you will.
2. Make their day - Make someone day every day of your life. Do something extra, even if it is little or small.
3. Play. All work and no play makes for low morale and bad attitudes. So make your work routines playful and enjoyable for everyone.
4. Be Present. That's the same as saying as forcus on every moment of your life. Don't watch your life go by, BE THERE every minute.

This book should be read by everyone. I cannot think of a single profession or any situation where the lessons of this book cannot be applied with wonderful results. This is a must read for anyone who is tired of existing from day-to-day and has finally made the decision to LIVE.

[DS]

He did? I`m a hockey freak...In Alabama?tell me more

[satellitedriver]

I will check the book out. Is it about the "Fish Throwers"? These kind of motivational books remind me of the 80's. One minute manager ect...(that was a good book). Does management still promote the Carnigie style of managing? Micro managing from district or region is a negative.

[satellitedriver]

Originally Posted by Devilsfan666

The most important thing in any job is a positive attitude. The drivers I deal with that are pissy everyday make life miserable. Complaining and dwelling on the negative makes everything worse. All management needs to do is speak to their employees with respect and honesty to get a better response.

Good Post. I really like you avatar. I have had cats since I was in the crib, but I laughed out loud when I saw it.You are correct, a positive attitude and honesty always wins the day.

[tieguy]

Originally Posted by Thebrowntruth

Cold,

You are 100% correct! If I had two sides to choose from IE & a division manager on one side and on the other a decent (not great or even very good) management team with an average group of drivers (again not the best "burners" or hardcore union guys) I have NO doubt the front line guys would find the best, cheapest and most productive way to run THEIR center. SPARCS and a morning report should not be the bible to run an effective company.


Tie,

Great thought and book. However I think you would agree UPS is the closest thing you will find in business to the military. It would be tough with our strict (and i would argue valid) methods to virtually every job, to implement a lot of "fun" approaches. After all, the drivers are in the building for 15 minutes a day (minus late air, etc). After that its methods, methods, methods for 9+ hours. I would trade all the concepts for basic human compasion

Good point Brown. And one I think makes the concept tougher. While I have probably forgotten most of the bad times I do remember having fun in the military.

I appreciate all the feedback good and bad. a follow up question. Are there any operations where they actually try to make the job fun and or a positive experience and if so what do they do differently.

[upsdude]

Originally Posted by wornoutupser

Tie,
There is no such thing in my area.
We now have a division manager that is micro managing our facility to death. His largest goal seems to be to scare drivers and hourlies to death for their jobs. He spends time going over delivery records and SPARCS alerts. That is (in my opion) a center manager's or supervisor's job. Our center manager called in yesterday because of health issues. He was heard telling a driver that he may not be back at alland he has only been here a few months.
Our facility has had 10 managers in a row quit. They are not given the tools or lattitude to properly run this place. Our facility seems to be a place to get managers to leave. I REALLY wish that UPS would allow a winner to come in and run the place on their own merits.
We are already running helpers here for a week. The center manager told me personally that we will only add 3-5 trucks for peak. Last year we had 12-15 extra drivers onroad depending on the load for the day. We even had rentals into April. The division manager seems to not be able to comprehend what happens here at peak. He has not had a peak season in this area. As we are in Florida, volume explodes in all of the retirement areas.
What we NEED is a managing style that will allow employees to take pride in the job and not be intimidated. Harrasment is also a major problem. I have personally been a target myself.

Will YOU notify this division manager about this book for us? YOU could save a peak for an entire building if it will make a difference. Thank You!

Are the division managers initials "PK"?

[30andout]

Fun, what is fun, my center manager frowns on any fun. I think fun to him is making everyone as pissed off and miserable as possible. The whole thing sounds a little fishey to me.

[30andout]

Originally Posted by Devilsfan666

The most important thing in any job is a positive attitude. The drivers I deal with that are pissy everyday make life miserable. Complaining and dwelling on the negative makes everything worse. All management needs to do is speak to their employees with respect and honesty to get a better response.

Good and true post, but not a practice at UPS, seems they try to knock you down and piss you off.

[brownnblue]

Originally Posted by double_standard

He did? I`m a hockey freak...In Alabama?tell me more

He got his 1000th professional goal as a member of the New England Whalers against the Birmingham Bulls when I was a junior in high school.

The smilies are courtsey of my six year old

[dumbsup]

That's all well and good but we all know that goes out the window when numbers are down...

[tieguy]

Originally Posted by dumbsup

That's all well and good but we all know that goes out the window when numbers are down...

the bad sups?

[over9five]

Safety????

[over9five]

Common sense??

[over9five]

Customer service???