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Instant Turnaround!: Getting People Excited About Coming to Work and Working Hard
Transform Your Workplace!Imagine a company where people are excited about coming to work and giving their best efforts every day. In this innovative and engrossing business parable, Harry Paul and Ross Reck show managers at all levels how they can immediately and easily increase productivity by tapping into the discretionary effort of the people who work for them. Starting from the most basic aspect of business reality—that people intentionally regulate the amount of effort they put into their jobs based upon how they feel they're being treated—the authors point out that the most important part of the job of every manager, team leader, supervisor, and executive is to treat people in such a way that they become excited about applying all their discretionary effort toward performing their jobs.At the book's center is the story of Nancy Kim, a human resources director at a magazine that is struggling with all the problems associated with unhappy employees—low productivity and morale along with high absenteeism and turnover. After she openly challenges the CEO's new management-by-the-numbers system, she's charged with turning the situation around immediately. Filled with real-world studies, Instant Turnaround! shows anyone how to turn the workplace into a destination—a place where working hard feels like hardly working because it's engaging, enjoyable, and fulfilling.
- GenresNonfictionBusiness
176 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 10, 2009
3 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Harry Paul
65 books7 followersHarry Paul aka Harry the Fish Guy is an internationally sought-after speaker and author who is helping businesses and organizations create a culture of excellence and increase employee engagement. Harry believes people can to start to do positive things instantly–as in overnight! He delivers presentations clients describe as informative, content-rich, funny, dynamic, entertaining, memorable and that make a difference. Harry helps organizations reach their goals and increase productivity by engaging and energizing employees to give and do their best. He shows everyone how to enjoy what they are doing by getting excited about coming to work and working hard. Harry has shared information with and motivated audiences from India to Asheville, Bahrain to Raleigh and New York to Singapore.
Harry is the co-author of seven business books including FISH! A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results. FISH! is one of the best-selling business books of all time with well over five million copies sold and is translated into thirty-five languages. His books have been on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, Business Week, Amazon.com and The Wall Street Journal. His latest book is Who Kidnapped Excellence? What’s Stopping Us From Giving and Being Our Best.
Harry is the co-author of seven business books including FISH! A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results. FISH! is one of the best-selling business books of all time with well over five million copies sold and is translated into thirty-five languages. His books have been on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, Business Week, Amazon.com and The Wall Street Journal. His latest book is Who Kidnapped Excellence? What’s Stopping Us From Giving and Being Our Best.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 26, 2012
Instant Turnaround!
by Harry Paul and Ross Reck, PH.D.
Happy employees:
Smile more.
Have more fun.
Work harder.
Work better with fellow employees.
Love their boss.
Happy employees are productive employees.
Discretionary effort – People regulate the amount of effort they put into their jobs based on how they feel they’re being treated by their boss. If they feel they’re being treated well, they will become excited about giving their absolute best efforts, which means they’ll work way beyond their job descriptions. If they feel their efforts are unappreciated, they’ll pull back and do only what they have to do to keep their jobs. And if they feel they’re being abused, they’ll either get even by figuring out a way to sabotage their boss’s performance numbers, or they’ll look for a job somewhere else.
Trying to manage by focusing only on performance numbers is like trying to coach a football team by focusing only on the scoreboard. The problem with doing so is that the scoreboard isn’t going to score any points for you; it only keeps track of them. It’s the people on the field who score the points, so that’s where your attention needs to be focused.
Research studies show that companies who put their employees first also reap the following additional benefits: Their employees:
Work harder
Perform a higher quality of work
Take more initiative
Are more accountable
Are not afraid of change
Work better with fellow employees
The Four Be’s for motivating with trust
Be real
Be appreciative
Be interested
Be nice
People love to work hard when their efforts are appreciated. Being appreciated is one of the strongest needs people have – they crave appreciation almost as much as they crave food.
One of the things that keeps showing up in employee surveys: Most employees say they would be more than willing to put more effort into their jobs if their bosses would just come around and say thank you once in a while. But since their bosses don’t, their attitude is, ‘why bother?’”
Nothing is more demotivating than going the extra mile and having your boss not notice or care.
Saying “thank you” often not only energizes your employees, it makes you a more effective manager.
Talking is about meeting your needs while listening is about meeting theirs.
Your smile draws people toward you. It tells people that you’re open, approachable, and that you care – the kind of person they want to get to know better. People have to like you before they’ll trust you, and they have to trust you before you can tap into their discretionary effort.
A study reported in the Wall Street Journal found that being a nice approachable person who listens goes hand in hand with being a highly successful manager.
Managing is all about tapping into the discretionary effort of our employees.
In their book The Invisible Employee, they cite studies which point out that the biggest single reason people quit their jobs is the behavior of their immediate supervisor – they were either abusive, didn’t care about them, didn’t listen, didn’t notice or appreciate what they did, or were only out for themselves.
How can you tell if you’re using fear as a motivator? They next time you walk through your department, ask yourself the following questions:
Do my employees look like they’re glad to see me?
Do my employees have smiles on their faces most of the time?
Do my employees eagerly make eye contact with me?
Do I feel my employees have my best interest at heart?
If the answer to each of these questions is no, you are using fear as a motivator. This means your department is underachieving.
Working in an atmosphere of trust allowed them to be themselves and turn their work into fun.
Probably, the biggest single mistake senior managers make is that they don’t positively interact with these people on a regular basis. They don’t see the need because they don’t understand that their not interacting with frontline employees sends a very clear message that they don’t care about them. Employees respond to this by cutting back on the amount of discretionary effort they are willing to apply to their jobs.
Global Workforce Study, which included nearly 90,000 workers, indicates that senior management could significantly increase levels of employee discretionary effort by:
Communicate openly and honestly
Be visible and accessible
Show support for new ideas.
The study also points out that senior management’s function as role models for managers cannot be overestimated. Their interest in staff, even if demonstrated in small ways, will be carefully noted by others lower down the management structure.
Be Real
Behave the same way around employees as you do around family and friends – treat them as equals, not subordinates.
Be Appreciative
Let Employees know how happy you are they work here.
Make a point to notice when an employee is doing a super job and be sure to tell them “thank you.”
Be Interested
Ask employees questions about them and their jobs
Listen to what they say.
Ask follow-up questions.
Don’t talk about yourself.
Be Nice
Smile
Say something that brightens each person’s day:
A cheerful hello
Ask “How are you doing today?”
“I really appreciate your cheerful attitude.”
Keeping your hands “dirty” as an executive or manager sustains your success. Doing this not only keeps you in touch with the “nuts and bolts” of your business and your customers, but it also lets the frontline employees know that you understand how hard it is to do their job. This sends a clear message that you, as the manager, respect what they do. This not only energizes the frontline employees, it greatly increases the amount of respect they have for you as manager.
You have to make your frontline employees your top priority. If you treat them right, they’ll work hard and they’ll treat your customers right.
[Running a business like this]
Costs nothing
Requires almost no effort
Drives performance numbers and the bottom line through the roof
The impact is instant
Everybody wins
Guidelines for applying these things:
Goal – To turn work into a destination – a place that employees are excited about coming to every day.
Focus on people as well as performance numbers. Employees regulate the amount of effort they’re willing to put into their jobs based upon how they feel they’re being treated. Your job as a manager is to treat them in such a way that they become excited about applying all their discretionary effort toward performing their jobs.
You bring out the best in people by motivating with trust instead of fear.
Be appreciative – People love to work hard when their efforts are noticed and appreciated by their boss.
Make a point to notice all the things your employees do on your behalf.
Thank them in a way that is meaningful to them.
Remember, nothing is more demotivating than going the extra mile and having your boss not notice or care.
Be interested – Treat your employees like they really are your most important resource. It’s their level of effort that determines your success.
Regularly circulate among your employees.
Let them get to know you.
Ask their opinion on things.
Listen to what they have to say.
Take actions when appropriate.
Be Nice – This is what makes people like you and they have to like you before they can trust you.
Smile.
Say or do something that brightens each person’s day.
Turn work into fun. When you’re having fun, what you’re doing never becomes old or boring.
Be a role model for your employees by having fun yourself and being a fun person to be around.
Encourage your employees to express their uniqueness.
Senior management must get involved with frontline employees.
The Global Workforce Study found that the top single driver of discretionary effort is “senior management’s sincere interest in employee well being.”
Regularly circulate among frontline employees while executing the Four Be’s [Be real, Be appreciative, Be interested, Be nice]
Jump into the trenches, on a regular basis, and work alongside frontline employees to show that you respect and care about them.
by Harry Paul and Ross Reck, PH.D.
Happy employees:
Smile more.
Have more fun.
Work harder.
Work better with fellow employees.
Love their boss.
Happy employees are productive employees.
Discretionary effort – People regulate the amount of effort they put into their jobs based on how they feel they’re being treated by their boss. If they feel they’re being treated well, they will become excited about giving their absolute best efforts, which means they’ll work way beyond their job descriptions. If they feel their efforts are unappreciated, they’ll pull back and do only what they have to do to keep their jobs. And if they feel they’re being abused, they’ll either get even by figuring out a way to sabotage their boss’s performance numbers, or they’ll look for a job somewhere else.
Trying to manage by focusing only on performance numbers is like trying to coach a football team by focusing only on the scoreboard. The problem with doing so is that the scoreboard isn’t going to score any points for you; it only keeps track of them. It’s the people on the field who score the points, so that’s where your attention needs to be focused.
Research studies show that companies who put their employees first also reap the following additional benefits: Their employees:
Work harder
Perform a higher quality of work
Take more initiative
Are more accountable
Are not afraid of change
Work better with fellow employees
The Four Be’s for motivating with trust
Be real
Be appreciative
Be interested
Be nice
People love to work hard when their efforts are appreciated. Being appreciated is one of the strongest needs people have – they crave appreciation almost as much as they crave food.
One of the things that keeps showing up in employee surveys: Most employees say they would be more than willing to put more effort into their jobs if their bosses would just come around and say thank you once in a while. But since their bosses don’t, their attitude is, ‘why bother?’”
Nothing is more demotivating than going the extra mile and having your boss not notice or care.
Saying “thank you” often not only energizes your employees, it makes you a more effective manager.
Talking is about meeting your needs while listening is about meeting theirs.
Your smile draws people toward you. It tells people that you’re open, approachable, and that you care – the kind of person they want to get to know better. People have to like you before they’ll trust you, and they have to trust you before you can tap into their discretionary effort.
A study reported in the Wall Street Journal found that being a nice approachable person who listens goes hand in hand with being a highly successful manager.
Managing is all about tapping into the discretionary effort of our employees.
In their book The Invisible Employee, they cite studies which point out that the biggest single reason people quit their jobs is the behavior of their immediate supervisor – they were either abusive, didn’t care about them, didn’t listen, didn’t notice or appreciate what they did, or were only out for themselves.
How can you tell if you’re using fear as a motivator? They next time you walk through your department, ask yourself the following questions:
Do my employees look like they’re glad to see me?
Do my employees have smiles on their faces most of the time?
Do my employees eagerly make eye contact with me?
Do I feel my employees have my best interest at heart?
If the answer to each of these questions is no, you are using fear as a motivator. This means your department is underachieving.
Working in an atmosphere of trust allowed them to be themselves and turn their work into fun.
Probably, the biggest single mistake senior managers make is that they don’t positively interact with these people on a regular basis. They don’t see the need because they don’t understand that their not interacting with frontline employees sends a very clear message that they don’t care about them. Employees respond to this by cutting back on the amount of discretionary effort they are willing to apply to their jobs.
Global Workforce Study, which included nearly 90,000 workers, indicates that senior management could significantly increase levels of employee discretionary effort by:
Communicate openly and honestly
Be visible and accessible
Show support for new ideas.
The study also points out that senior management’s function as role models for managers cannot be overestimated. Their interest in staff, even if demonstrated in small ways, will be carefully noted by others lower down the management structure.
Be Real
Behave the same way around employees as you do around family and friends – treat them as equals, not subordinates.
Be Appreciative
Let Employees know how happy you are they work here.
Make a point to notice when an employee is doing a super job and be sure to tell them “thank you.”
Be Interested
Ask employees questions about them and their jobs
Listen to what they say.
Ask follow-up questions.
Don’t talk about yourself.
Be Nice
Smile
Say something that brightens each person’s day:
A cheerful hello
Ask “How are you doing today?”
“I really appreciate your cheerful attitude.”
Keeping your hands “dirty” as an executive or manager sustains your success. Doing this not only keeps you in touch with the “nuts and bolts” of your business and your customers, but it also lets the frontline employees know that you understand how hard it is to do their job. This sends a clear message that you, as the manager, respect what they do. This not only energizes the frontline employees, it greatly increases the amount of respect they have for you as manager.
You have to make your frontline employees your top priority. If you treat them right, they’ll work hard and they’ll treat your customers right.
[Running a business like this]
Costs nothing
Requires almost no effort
Drives performance numbers and the bottom line through the roof
The impact is instant
Everybody wins
Guidelines for applying these things:
Goal – To turn work into a destination – a place that employees are excited about coming to every day.
Focus on people as well as performance numbers. Employees regulate the amount of effort they’re willing to put into their jobs based upon how they feel they’re being treated. Your job as a manager is to treat them in such a way that they become excited about applying all their discretionary effort toward performing their jobs.
You bring out the best in people by motivating with trust instead of fear.
Be appreciative – People love to work hard when their efforts are noticed and appreciated by their boss.
Make a point to notice all the things your employees do on your behalf.
Thank them in a way that is meaningful to them.
Remember, nothing is more demotivating than going the extra mile and having your boss not notice or care.
Be interested – Treat your employees like they really are your most important resource. It’s their level of effort that determines your success.
Regularly circulate among your employees.
Let them get to know you.
Ask their opinion on things.
Listen to what they have to say.
Take actions when appropriate.
Be Nice – This is what makes people like you and they have to like you before they can trust you.
Smile.
Say or do something that brightens each person’s day.
Turn work into fun. When you’re having fun, what you’re doing never becomes old or boring.
Be a role model for your employees by having fun yourself and being a fun person to be around.
Encourage your employees to express their uniqueness.
Senior management must get involved with frontline employees.
The Global Workforce Study found that the top single driver of discretionary effort is “senior management’s sincere interest in employee well being.”
Regularly circulate among frontline employees while executing the Four Be’s [Be real, Be appreciative, Be interested, Be nice]
Jump into the trenches, on a regular basis, and work alongside frontline employees to show that you respect and care about them.
November 15, 2018
Bgs bukunya, prinsipnya mesti selalu perhatian,peduli,misal ky ke anak anak pulang kerja bw oleh2 meskipun permen tetapi mereka seneng,lbh mengapresiasi drpd mengkritisi,celebrate little success, involve & listen let them talk about themselves not yourselve, focus on people happiness then performance will follow
December 26, 2025
Quick, easy read about how to get the best of of employees. I read it to see if there were some tidbits that I could use with my students. I think the "Four Be's: be real; be appreciative; be interested; & be nice" are good for the classroom also. I'm going to work on "be appreciative" because I think that's the one that I don't do enough.
February 15, 2018
Simple Book on what it takes to have people follow you with excitement and joy. parallel drawn from aviation industry. Not to hard to guess which company was mirrored.
April 5, 2024
Mansplaining!
August 11, 2009
I enjoyed this because I was already doing most of what was suggested:
1. The better you treat employees, the harder they will work.
2. Happy employees: smile more, have more fun, work harder, work better with fellow employees, love their boss = are more productive.
3. The 4 Be’s for motivating with trust: Be Real, Be Appreciative, Be Interested, Be Nice
4. Check list for those you supervise:
a. Are they excited about coming to work every day?
b. Do they feel appreciated and cared for?
c. Do they come to get their batteries recharged?
d. Do they wake up in the morning and say: “Wow! I get to go to work today! Lucky Me!
5. Assess if you motivate through fear or trust:
a. Do my employees look like they’re glad to see me?
b. Do my employees have smiles on their faces most of the time?
c. Do my employees eagerly make eye contact with me?
d. Do I feel my employees have my best interests at heart?
6. Turn work into Fun: a destination place employees are excited about coming to every day.
a. Encourage employees to express their uniqueness
b. Be a role model for employees by having fun yourself and being a fun person to be around.
7. Senior Management must embrace these concepts as well.
1. The better you treat employees, the harder they will work.
2. Happy employees: smile more, have more fun, work harder, work better with fellow employees, love their boss = are more productive.
3. The 4 Be’s for motivating with trust: Be Real, Be Appreciative, Be Interested, Be Nice
4. Check list for those you supervise:
a. Are they excited about coming to work every day?
b. Do they feel appreciated and cared for?
c. Do they come to get their batteries recharged?
d. Do they wake up in the morning and say: “Wow! I get to go to work today! Lucky Me!
5. Assess if you motivate through fear or trust:
a. Do my employees look like they’re glad to see me?
b. Do my employees have smiles on their faces most of the time?
c. Do my employees eagerly make eye contact with me?
d. Do I feel my employees have my best interests at heart?
6. Turn work into Fun: a destination place employees are excited about coming to every day.
a. Encourage employees to express their uniqueness
b. Be a role model for employees by having fun yourself and being a fun person to be around.
7. Senior Management must embrace these concepts as well.
April 26, 2010
Another easy-to-digest quick read on motivating employees.
Obvious-sounding but useful tidbits:
Manage by wandering around. (i.e. Be visible. It works.)
Motivate with trust by being real, appreciative, interested and nice.
Make work a destination.
Senior managers need to show that they understand how hard it is to do your job by helping during undesirable shifts, offering to carry the workload during busy hours, etc.
Smile.
Your manager is there to lighten your load.
Obvious-sounding but useful tidbits:
Manage by wandering around. (i.e. Be visible. It works.)
Motivate with trust by being real, appreciative, interested and nice.
Make work a destination.
Senior managers need to show that they understand how hard it is to do your job by helping during undesirable shifts, offering to carry the workload during busy hours, etc.
Smile.
Your manager is there to lighten your load.
May 8, 2012
Sometimes the best advice is the most simple - and it doesn't get more simple than this. Using a story as the framework, the authors give concrete examples of how and why to be kind to those who work for you.
January 23, 2015
It's good and easy reading. It does not deal with staff that are do not intend to work. Have tried this method before and feel that carrots alone are not enough - sticks are needed too. No sticks here...
August 29, 2009
Pretty much what I expected. This is a combo self-help, motivational, how-to for managers. As such, it does a good job. Not much new here.
May 4, 2010
Good, quick book about motivating your employees. I read it to maybe help pass on some words of wisdom to my boss - who is not very positive. From the co-creator for FISH.
April 2, 2017
A decent business book with some good tips.
October 7, 2014
Easy read with a lot of great take aways.
Read
February 24, 2016Good book for leadership. Best practices to manage, lead and motive others.
March 15, 2015
simple with brilliant ideas! can't wait to try it out
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews