Working in interesting times
White, Thomas H
Vital Speeches of the Day v62n15 PP: 472-474 May 15, 1996 CODEN:
VISPAG ISSN: 0042-742X JRNL CODE: VSP
DOC TYPE: Journal article LANGUAGE: English LENGTH: 3 Pages
WORD COUNT: 2656
ABSTRACT: Everything in the telecommunications industry has turned upside down, and it will keep on turning, especially in light of the telecom bill.
If the telecommunications industry is going to succeed, it needs knowledgeable, motivated employees. Three aspects to the employee issue are discussed: 1. the overall mood of America today and how it affects the workforce, 2. the need for a new attitude in the workplace, and 3. the need for better balance between work and personal lives.
TEXT: Headnote: EMPLOYEE MORALE AND BUSINESS SUCCESS IN THE
INFORMATION AGE
Address by THOMAS H. WHITE, President, GTE Telephone Operations
Delivered at the 1996 Western Communications Forum, Sponsored by the
International Engineering Consortium, Dallas, Texas, February 13, 1996
Have you ever heard the phrase, "May you live in interesting times." Within the past month, I've read two different articles that used that very phrase to describe life in the '90s.
One said the phrase is an Irish blessing, and the other said it's a Chinese curse.
I don't know the true origin. I doubt that anyone does. What's important is that we do live in interesting times, and whether it's a blessing or a curse depends on your individual point of view.
More to the point for all of us here today, we work in interesting - and dynamic --times.
Everything in our business has turned upside down, and we can expect it to keep on turning, especially in light of the telecom bill.
Typically, when people like us get together to talk about changes in our industry, we spend our time examining new technology applications, and what they mean for our customers.
That's the purpose of meetings such as this Forum. And, for the most part, that's what's on the agenda this week.

For my presentation today, however, I'd like to look at how the blitzkrieg of change has affected employees.
How have the survivors of downsizing responded to unrelenting change? What should companies do to help them? And how can we create mutual benefits for both employees and the company?
In other words, after you reengineer the organization, how do you reengineer the psychology that makes it work?
I have picked this topic for discussion because I view workforce concerns as one of the most critical issues facing our industry today.
If we're going to succeed, we need motivated, knowledgeable employees. And, that means that we need to understand what's happening to them and - let's face it - ourselves.
Today, I'm going to focus on three aspects of the employee issue:
First - the overall mood of America today and how it affects the workforce;
Second - the need for a new attitude in the workplace; and Third - the need for better balance between our work and personal lives.
I guess you could say that America has fallen into a bad mood. We live in difficult times.
Bad news is everywhere -shouted at us on television, splashed across newspapers and the topic of practically every cocktail party conversation.
We are stuck on the negative.
I don't know about your experience, but I overhear a lot of conversations in the cafeteria about how tough it is out there. It's become a badge of courage among workers to be tired, grumpy and overworked.
In some ways, it makes sense. We are asking employees to do more with less.
We are asking employees to adjust and readjust and readjust again. And, we aren't promising them a whole lot in return for their efforts.
It takes courage and resolve to keep up today. Many of our people are tired, frustrated and scared.
But, looking at life as a glass half empty - or, even worse, as a glass with a chronic leak - is not making it easier for anyone.
As president of GTE Telephone Operations, I'm dealing daily with downsizing, culture shifts and workforce insecurity. I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about these issues how I feel about them organizationally

- and how I feel about them personally.
In the process of this introspection, I've been fortunate to spend time with some experts who have helped me - and who I believe can help all of us.
First, I'd like to share some ideas I've learned from a rather unassuming young man from Case Western Reserve University who is making a name for himself in organizational development circles. His thoughts are simultaneously revolutionary out there thinking and plain old common sense.
His name is Dr. David Cooperrider and his concept is called "appreciative inquiry."
Appreciative inquiry focuses us on the positive aspects of our lives and leverages them to correct the negative. It's the opposite of
"problem-solving." Let me give you a real example.
Dr. Cooperrider conducted a study in which two separate groups of people tried to improve their bowling skills. Both were videotaped as they bowled.
For the first group, the instructor pointed out their weaknesses and concentrated on helping the team work through them. In the second group, the instructor pointed out strengths, helped the team analyze what made them strong and offered suggestions on how to apply that strength to other aspects of the game.
So, what do you suppose happened?
If you're like I was when I first heard the story, you're probably saving,
"Oh, I know. The first group got worse and the second group got better."
Well, that's not the case. The first group improved. The traditional approach to problem solving does work.
The second group also improved - but, much more quickly and to a much greater degree.
Dr. Cooperrider believes - and has proven - that you can use this approach in business. Appreciative inquiry can get you much better results than seeking out and solving problems.
That's an interesting concept for me - and I imagine for most of you - because telephone companies are among the best problem-solvers in the world.
We trouble-shoot everything. We concentrate enormous resources on

correcting problems that have relatively minor impact on our overall service performance. We don't tolerate imperfection.
This has led to some excellent results. But, Dr. Cooperrider suggests that, when used continually and over a long period of time, this approach can lead to a negative culture.
If you combine a negative culture with all the challenges we face today, it could be easy to convince ourselves that we have too many problems to overcome - to slip into a paralyzing sense of hopelessness.
And, yet if we flip the coin, we have so much to be excited about.
We are in the most dynamic, and the most influential business of our times.
We ought to be excited, motivated and energized. We can be... if we just turn ourselves around and start looking at our jobs - and ourselves -- differently ... if we kill negative self-talk and celebrate our successes.
If we dissect what we do right and apply the lessons to what we do wrong, we can solve our problems and re-energize the organization at the same time.
Test yourself: When you get survey results that tell you that 94 percent of your customers are satisfied, what do you do? Do you conduct additional research to find out what makes those 94 out of 100 people so happy - or do you send your entire research department out to gather as many negative stories as you can from the miserable 6 percent?
In the long run, what is likely to be more useful: Demoralizing a successful workforce by concentrating on their failures or helping them over their last few hurdles by building a bridge with their successes?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating mindless happy talk. Appreciative inquiry is a complex science designed to make things better. We can't ignore problems - we just need to approach them from another side.
We need to turn our curses into blessings.
Try this exercise the next time you assemble a team to address a sticky issue. Don't start the meeting by assaulting everyone with the problem.
Instead, before you get going, ask everyone in the room to think about - or, better yet, to discuss among themselves - a time when they felt most energized, productive, and useful. As the conversation progresses you can literally watch the energy build in the room.

Now, ask your team to apply the same approaches that made them successful before to the problem at hand. Instead of throwing out a daunting and depressing assignment, you've provided them with a new opportunity to shine.
Your people know they can succeed because you've just reminded them they've done it before. Your people want to succeed because you've just reminded them how good they felt when they did it before.
Try it. I have. And, it works.
Now, let's talk a little more about attitude. Webster defines attitude as
"a mental position." Successful companies - and employees - take the position that change is positive and challenge is good.
They accept the environment in which they find themselves instead of wishing for the "good old days." They know that change creates opportunities to win if - and only if -we're willing to look for new ways to operate instead of letting the challenges overwhelm us.
Tomorrow's winners share similar characteristics:
They're positive and they believe in themselves;
They listen because they understand that most good ideas build from other's thoughts;
They're committed and don't easily give up;
They take accountability for results;
They take charge of their own attitude because they know that it comes from within their own minds and their own hearts; and
Finally, winners have balance.
That's the last point I'd like to discuss.
Back when the economy was less global, when technological change was more orderly and when customers were less demanding, companies were in charge.
The degree of control varied depending upon the business and, in telecommunications, it was significant.
Well, that's not the case anymore. The marketplace is in control - and it often feels as though no one's at the helm.
Now, we answer to the customer.

Now, the marketplace tells us when and where to deploy technology.
Now, the competition helps define how many people we can employ, how much we can afford to pay them and how much equipment we can provide them to do their jobs.
As, I said, we live in interesting times.
In the past decade alone, 3 million white collar jobs were eliminated in the United States and some say that up to 80 percent of middle management jobs could be eliminated in the coming years.
The people who remain are faced with doing more with what seems like less.
There's not much that companies can do to reverse that trend.
And yet, employees who are used to employers that call the shots are befuddled, confused - and, quite often, angry.
Well, I have a potential solution to that one. This one's not quite as
"easy" as the appreciative inquiry approach, but it does make as much sense.
It's simple. As individuals, we each need to take control. To stop being victims. To get ourselves back in balance.
Many of us have responded to the feeling of spinning out of control by putting all of our energies into work. We spend too many hours on the job and we spend all our time off the job worrying about work.
Now, imagine your world and each of your employees' worlds as a triangle.
One point is work. One is family. And, one is self.
When we put all our weight in one corner of our triangle, that weight just keeps us spinning and spinning and spinning. And, if we do it for too long, when we stop spinning, we're finding ourselves burned out.
I believe that we need to redistribute our energy to each corner of the triad. By focusing equally on our work, our nonwork selves and the ones we love, we balance ourselves out. And, by personally deciding how much energy we expend on the three facets of ourselves, we regain the control that we felt has been lost.
The result is more confidence, less stress and, quite frankly, more receptivity to an appreciative approach to life. This is not easy to do.
When you are terrified of losing your job, it takes incredible courage to stand up and say, "Stop!" when the demands become too great.

And yet, I've found that employees who set the proper parameters on their own time and who have a life outside of work are actually more productive.
They're more creative, sharper and, quite frankly, a whole lot more fun to be around.
But, employees can't easily do this by themselves. Companies need to make it OK for them to take back control of their own lives.
For example, we can:
Offer flextime, compressed work weeks, jobsharing and telecommuting options so that employees can tailor jobs to specific lifestyle preferences and obligations;
We can provide training to help employees understand themselves and their needs;
We can offer exercise facilities and wellness programs so that workers can build positive mental health through improved physical health;
We can increase workplace efficiency by eliminating duties that suck up employee time without producing positive results; We can share "how-to" literature to help employees deal with their own balance issues;
We can be more sensitive to the work demands we place on our employees - and on ourselves;
And we can watch what behaviors we reward to make sure that we're not subconsciously asking employees to live unbalanced lives.
To reinforce the importance of balance, and to provide some helpful hints that we all can apply, I would like to refer to the book, "Walking the
Tightrope" by Dr. Tom Barrett.
Dr. Barrett is a family counselor and therapist from the Washington, D.C., area who has spent much of his career working with members of congress.
Talk about a group that's out of control and out of balance! In his book, he asks the question, "If you found that you only had one week more to live, what would you do?"
Your answer to the question identifies what is most important to you. Then, if you ask yourself how much time you spend today on the activity you identified, you get a real glimpse into how much balance - or unbalance - you have in your life.
I guarantee that if you were to take more to do those things that are most important, you would be happier, healthier and feel more in control.

That's just one exercise Dr. Barrett prescribes. He also recommends that:
We should share our spotlight with the others -- family and co-workers - who help us succeed;
We should take time to listen to the concerns and issues that affect the other people around us;
And, we should stop asking our families and our co-workers to "hold their breath" just a little longer until we get past our current crunch and can devote more time to them.
Each of these actions requires a conscious choice. But, each lifts us out of the victim role and puts us back in control.
I consider the issues that I raised today as critical. And yet, I don't generally believe that business people do a very good job of addressing them.
We need to help our employees take that control because a better outlook on life in general, a more positive attitude in the workplace and better work/family balance all lead to happier and more productive employees, which in turn leads to a more successful company.
By success, I mean a company with financial and market strength as well as a work environment where personal relationships and teamwork can flourish where employees have a positive self-image and a positive company image... where accomplishments are celebrated and where employees are respected for their contributions to the organization.
Achieving that in these interesting times might appear to be a challenge, but with the right outlook and attitude, it's not. Let's look at the opportunities we have as not a curse, but a blessing.
I hope that I have been able to provide you with some food for thought toward that end.
Let me say what I mean another way and leave you with this thought:
Life is not a problem to be solved, but rather a gift to be enjoyed.
You've been a great audience, thank you!
THIS IS THE FULL-TEXT. Copyright City News Publishing Co. 1996
GEOGRAPHIC NAMES: US