I Wonder Where They Got This Idea?

As they say, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. I do, however, agree with Jon Gordon's general premise in The No Complaining Rule (as I understand it...I have just read through the chapter titles and jacket, and glanced through the book).  On this point, my favorite maverick, Annette Kyle, led one of the most impressive organizational transformations I've ever heard of at a loading terminal in Bayport, Texas (This is described in the prior link, and in detail in The Knowing-Doing Gap and Weird Ideas That Work).   One of the actions that Annette took was to sew "no whining patches" on employees uniforms, on the theory that if something was wrong, people should try to fix it rather than complain about it, if that didn't work, they should come to management and they should try to fix it together.  When the problem was impossible to change, however,  then her view was that it was a constraint that they just needed to work around.  In such cases, constant complaining about something they couldn't change, Annette argued, was poison because it made people depressed and diverted energy away from problems that they could solve.  

Yet I do worry that this new book, and even Annette's patches, are the kind of thing that can backfire in the wrong hands, unwittingly stifling people from pointing out problems that need to be fixed.  The no complaining rule may create fear of being labeled as a complainer or whiner, even when a person has legitimate concerns.  People need to feel psychologically safe to speak-up, or you end-up with disasters like the Columbia and Challenger space shuttle accidents. See this post about "shooting the messenger," and I especially recommend following-up on Amy Edmondson's research if you are interested in this issues of speaking-up and psychological safety.

Comments

[Alex]

I think they have a word for this in publishing - isn't it called a "parasite"?

Ala the Da Vinci Code, where for a period of a year, every other book coming out had the word "code" in it (same with the God Delusion).

The lack of originality is laughable.

[Totally Consumed]

At the SHRM conference last week, Jon gave a presentation on one of his books. I stayed for about 1/2 hour then left because I had better ways to waste my time other than listening to his muddle-headed nonsense.

[Rick]

Bob--I echo your concerns, but I would phrase it even more strongly: without a proactive, authentic effort to eliminate the actual retaliatory action which seems to be endemic in many social and business institutions toward anyone critical in the least, no amount of mouthing the words of "safe place to bring your criticisms" will suffice.

So, stop talking about how there is a no-retaliation rule, and start really spotlighting those who improve things by pointing out where they are currently falling short, and we'll see real improvement in the line worker's attitude toward bringing problems to the fore. Heck...reward them! There is no better evidence in a business situation to show true intent than to reward the desired action with money.