Make Work Great

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MAKE WORK GREATSupercharge Your Team, Reinvent the Culture, and Gain

InfluenceOne Person at a Time

AUTHORS: Ed MuzioPUBLISHER: The McGraw-Hill Companies

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2010

229 pages


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Make Work Great by Ed Muzio

FEATURES OF THE BOOK

Make Work Great, Ed Muzios second book focused on

workplace improvement, is targeted toward anyone, from C-

level executive to individual contributor, who is looking to

reinvent corporate culture. Each chapter ends with a series

of exercises aimed at improving relationships and finding

solutions. Make Work Great offers a blueprint for growing a

positive business environment, one person at a time.


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THE BIG IDEA

In Make Work Great, Ed Muzio outlines a strategy for

creating and growing cultural change in the workplace.

Muzio compares this growth to that of a crystal, whichbegins as a seed and spreads outward.


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INTRODUCTION

Cultural change must begin with a seed crystal, or one person

committed to reinventing how things are done. This culture of

one can start a chain reaction, intersecting with positive

environments created by others, and impacting the entire

workplace. In order to begin this process, a person must practice

two core competencies: overtness about tasks, and clarity within

relationships. Role-modeling this positive behavior will

encourage others to join and grow this new business

environment.


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PART 1: IT STARTS WITH YOU

You...as the Seed

While modern technology allows workers to be more connected,

there is a growing sense of detachment and isolation in the

workplace. Similarly, while technology allows for greater accessto information, workers must search harder to find the right data.

This new age of information has also changed organizational

structures, which in the past were fairly linear with each worker

acting as one point in a process. Today, this structure has

evolved into a network model, with each worker as a node in a

network, interacting with multiple supervisors and other workers.


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Overtness About Task

Being the seed of change is a conscious decision that begins

with becoming the solution to problems in the workplace rather

than the victim. The first step to improving the workplace isimproving output, while reducing the amount of stress it takes to

produce the desired output.


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Clarity Within Relationships

Overtness about a task, the first step in building a crystal of

cultural change in the workplace, leads to questions. Clarity

within relationships, the second step in the process, looks foranswers. There are three steps to developing clarity within

relationships:

1. Define the question. First, determine which of the six types

of overtness generated the question: purpose, impact,incentives, progress, resources, or capability?


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2. Define the approach. Next, prepare for the interaction.

Begin by determining whom to approach with the question.

Next, prepare the question by outlining current

understanding and asking for edits rather than positing an

open-ended question. Finally, set to match the pace and thetenor of the question to the personality of the other person.

3. Define the need for agreement. To make a clear need for

agreement at the outset, it is helpful to think ahead about

other questions that may arise, and prepare to agree todisagree on these other issues.


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PART 2: GROWING YOUR CRYSTAL

Beginning Your Crystal

Cultural change is a slow-moving, organic process. It begins at

the individual level, with the personal node, as described in the

first section of the book. Once this seed crystal has been formed,the crystal can be grown by encouraging nearby particles, or

people, to attach to the seed. This next step begins by changing

the relationship with just one coworker. This process should

begin with an easy target, someone who shares a positive

relationship, such as a manager, an employee, a customer, or apeer.


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Organic Growth

The next step in making work great is to add more members to

the crystal by attracting additional coworkers to the seed of

cultural change. This process becomes easier with each newmember, due to the multiplicative effect that grows with each

addition. Muzio suggests making a network chart of contacts,

beginning with oneself, then adding the first new member as well

as those people directly and indirectly influenced by the crystal of

cultural change.


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For those individuals who fall in the middle of the desirable-to-

difficult scale, Muzio offers a strategy designed to improve

communication by outlining the five building blocks of reality:

1. Information. This is the most objective building block since itincludes both the factual information and the person who

presents it. Information is the starting point.

2. Situation. The situation is connected to the information, and

is made up of the surrounding context.


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3. Beliefs. This building block is at the opposite side of the

spectrum from information. It is the most personal and the

most difficult for another person to perceive.

4. Approach. Approach, which is connected to beliefs,determines how a persons environment is addressed and

handled.

5. Interpretation. This is the meeting point between the outside

world (information and situation) and the inside world (beliefsand approach).


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PART 3: LEADING YOUR CRYSTAL

There are three types of advice that may be requested:

1. Information requests

2. Requests for feedback3. Solicitations for situational advice


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Mobilizing Groups

Once a person has become a successful advisor, the next step

in growing the crystal is to begin mobilizing groups of people. As

in the previous steps, leading groups of people should begin withovertness of purpose, or determining why the group is meeting.

There are two main purposes for group work: to inform and to

solve. Meetings designed to inform tend to be one-way

transmissions of information. The audience for these meetings

can be small or large.


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You...as the Definer

Moving from member to contributor to advisor to definer is a

gradual process that leads to increased responsibility. When a

person has moved to this final category of definer, it is importantto continue to remain true to the original principles that brought

them to this role: overtness about tasks and clarity in

relationships. However, there are three roles that can undermine

this culture-building effort. Muzio cautions against the following

three positions: rescuer, persecutor, and victim.


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The key to resisting these three roles in the drama triangle is to

continue to practice overtness about tasks and clarity in

relationships. Staying true to these principles will open the path

from member to definer. While there may be setbacks along the

way, it is important to keep in mind the adaptable nature of thecrystalline network. Unlike a chain, which is only as strong as its

weakest link, a network is quickly evolving. A non-functioning

node in the network is easily by-passed. The more each

individual practices the principles outlined in Make Work Great,

the faster and more effective information transfers will be,creating an entire network of high performers.


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