Book Review - Nonfiction: Instant Turnaround

Title: Instant Turnaround
Author: Harry Paul and Ross Reck, PH.D.
ISBN: 9780061730429

The title of this book says it all, “Instant Turnaaround, Getting People Excited About Coming to Work and Working Hard.” How do you accomplish this task? Simply follow the practical advice offered in this book.

The plan is simple; you must first turn the workplace into a “destination.” If you create a “destination,” people will want to come to work because work now becomes a place of fun.

The second thing is to focus on people as well as performance numbers. Here, you must make people feel appreciated. When people feel appreciated and acknowledged, they tend to be more productive in the workplace.

Next and in my opinion is most important, the employer must motivate employee with trust not fear. Here the authors states that bosses should motivate staff by using the “Four Be’s,” Be Real, Be Appreciative, Be Interested, and Be Nice. These are all clearly explained in the book, so make sure you check out the books to get examples of these. When the “Four Be’s” are used, employees feel as if they are trusted to do their jobs and most times the results are positive.

I think this book is a winner because it offers solutions to problems that exist in all types of organizations. It all boils down to this simple equation, employees 1st, customers 2nd. Most books say the opposite is true, but here is the scenario from this book. If you treat your employees well, they will in turn treat your customers well, which will make the customer return because of the good service, which increases productivity, profit or statistics, or whatever is used in your organization. Very simple, right?

If you are a new manager or an old one and need a way to turn your organization into a positive one, you must read this book.