This week’s Quick List* is a companion piece to our Quote of the Week: Which dog is winning? and is based on this.

A Native American Elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner:

“Inside of me there are two dogs.
One of the dogs is mean and evil.
The other dog is good.
The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time.”

When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied,

“The one I feed the most.”

10 Ways to Help the Good Dog Win,  included ways each of us can fight off the mean dogs inside of us.  The mean dog that tells us we aren’t good enough.  Or smart enough.

Or the mean dog that tells us our co-workers are mean and evil and incompetent and out to get us.  The mean dog that leads us to stand by the water cooler or out in the parking lot, talking with our co-workers about these mean and evil co-workers.  Not to mention the boss!  Talk about mean and evil!  Everything – EVERYTHING she does is mean and evil.    At this point, the mean dogs are winning  – devouring every speck of morale and productivity in the process.

Before it gets to that point, take steps to starve those mean dogs.  Here are 10 suggestions:

1. First make sure the good dog in you is strong and currently winning.  See 10 Ways to Help the Good Dog Win.
2. It’s dangerous, if not impossible, to break up an angry pack of dogs.  Use the tips in 10 Small Ways to Improve Office Atmosphere to strengthen your relationships, one dog at a time.  In the process you’ll be drawing out the good dog in each of them.
3. If you sense some meanness while meeting with an individual,  consider asking what he’s upset about.  See tips in How to Have a Great Gripe Session.
4. He may be shocked that you actually invite him to gripe.  Let him do it.  Just be sure you don’t allow him to stay stuck there.  See tips in Complaint Land.
5. If the gripe involves a conflict with a co-worker, be sure to push resolution forward.   If you need motivation for that, this quote from Tom Lutz’s book Dare to Lead will do it:  “To permit a disagreement to go on and on is a sure sign of a weak and ineffective leader”.  Get more details from this interview with Tom Lutz.
6. Put our Ready-to-go Meeting:  On Hell & Happiness to work.
7. At a subsequent staff meeting, consider telling everyone that you want a productive and positive work environment (see note)  and that if they know of anything that’s causing inefficiency or negativity, you’d like them to come share it with you.  I recommend you have them do this in private.  Once you know what it is, you can determine if it should be shared on a wider basis.   Note:  If appropriate for your group, consider  sharing the good dog/mean dog story and quotes with them.
8. At least once per month, include positive reinforcement exercises in staff  meetings.  An easy favorite of mine is to ask each person to write down what she appreciates about the person sitting across from her.  (Beside works too.  But often this is a person he already likes so…)  This is a quickie 3-minute agenda item.  After 3-minutes, call time and ask each person to pass his paper to his subject.   The good dog gets fed.  The mean dog goes hungry.  On both sides – writer and recipient.
9. For future hires…don’t hire mean dogs. When you hire people, let them know you want a positive work environment.
10. Remind & reinforce the importance of these culture concepts.  An easy way to do this is by sharing and posting quotes like:    I choose to be happy and Which dog is winning?   Choose from 151 more in the Business Class Quote Library.
11.  And when you see evidence of even the tiniest shift – mention it, celebrate it, say “Thanks” for it.

Can you tell I’ve seen the mean dogs winning before?  Several times.  I’ve been one of the attackers.  I’ve been a manager under attack.   And have witnessed attacks on colleagues and client.   Each time, it took a while to end the attack.   Each time was a reminder of the importance of prevention.

Whether working to prevent or to end an attack, the strategy can be summed up with the same two pronged strategy:

1. Pump in good, positive energy food to strengthen  the good dog in each person.
2. Cut off sources of mean, evil energy.

By doing so, you will starve the mean dogs at work.

Let me know if I can help.

copyright 2010 – Business Class Inc