No Excuses

In their follow-up to The Great Workplace which described the organizational model of a great workplaceone in which people trust those they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work withJennifer Robin and Michael Burchell turn their attention to the managers role in creating a great workplace. In No Excuses the authors expose the self-defeating mindsets that lead managers to believe a great workplace is out of their reach. As the authors explain, even managers who yearn to create a successful workplace are often deterred by an ingrained idea that their organizationdue to constraints of their own or the companys leadership, of their operating environment, or their employee baseis not the kind that can be transformed into a great workplace. They say their company is too big, or too small; it has an introverted CEO, it is multi-national and culturally heterogeneous, is too new in the market, is undergoing too many changes. The reasons they proffer are many. But these excuses are what keep managers and their workplaces locked on its same trajectoryless successful and not as great as it could be. To create great workplaces, managers need to get out of their own way. Robin and Burchell make a case that the first step toward making any workplace great is a shift in the managers attitudeand paint a detailed picture of what that attitude adjustment entails. Then they explore the three general categories of perceived challenges or obstacles managers face: (1) leaders skills and characteristics; (2) perceptions of employees capacities for building trust, pride, and camaraderie; and (3) limitations of the working environment or industry in which the organization operates. Finally, the authors offer a clear path for managers to identify these limiting patterns, interrupt them, and make credible, sustained change. Through their experience as consultants as well as material from original interviews, the authors will share case studies, stories, tips and tools for managers to show them that creating a great workplace is an essential goal of being a successful manager at any level, in any company, in any industry. There are no good excuses: Any organization can be a great workplace and every manager at every level has the ability to make it so. This book will show them how.