Slides used by Values Coach CEO Joe Tye for presentation at The University of Iowa College of Public Health, 2-15-17

2. The Pickle Challenge
For a More Positive and
Productive Workplace Culture
The University of Iowa College of Public Health
February 15, 2017
Joe Tye, CEO and Head Coach
Values Coach Inc.
Values Coach Inc.
Copyright © 2017

3. Are you old enough to remember
when people smoked everywhere?

6. Toxic emotional negativity
(TEN) is the cultural,
emotional, and spiritual
equivalent of cultural
cigarette smoke!

7. If TEN was
visible

8. Will this help you
create a healthier
workplace…
If you don’t first
get rid of this?

9. Guiding insight #1
Culture does not change
unless and until people
change.

10. Guiding insight #2
People will not change
unless given new tools and
structure, and inspired to
use them.

11. Guiding insight #3
Attitude really is
everything!

12. “I got a whole new team and
didn’t have to change the people
because they changed
themselves.”
Paul Utemark, Chief Executive Officer
Fillmore County Hospital
Geneva, Nebraska

13. Same job. Different attitude.

14. Who do you think is happier?

15. Who would you rather work with?

16. Who would you rather live with?

17. Who would you rather be like?

19. The invisible
barrier on the
potential of
every
organization

21. Companies that study employee
engagement* consistently find:
~ 25% fully engaged
~ 60% not engaged
~ 15% aggressively disengaged
* e.g. Gallup, Avatar, Press Ganey, Modern Survey

22. Spark
Plugs
22

23. Zombies
23

24. Vampires
24

25. Disengaged employees,
especially disengaged
managers, are a
quality defect

26. Employee disengagement
costs our economy 500
billion dollars...
every year!

27. Leadership Job #1
Shift the shape of your
Attitude Bell Curve

30. The Healthcare
Crisis Within*
Is also a public
health crisis!

31. “A silent epidemic, a great threat to
patient safety, an ugly secret in the most
caring of professions, these are just a
few of the ways that incivility and
bullying have been referred to in the
literature over the last 10 years.
Edmonson, Bolick and Lee: A Moral
Imperative for Nurse Leaders: Addressing
Incivility and Bullying in Health Care,
Nurse Leader, February 2017

32. TEN is not a
new problem!

33. “Prying into one another’s concerns,
acting behind another’s back,
backbiting, misrepresentation, bad
temper, bad thoughts, murmuring,
complaining...”
Florence Nightingale, in a letter to graduates
of the Nightingale School of Nursing

34. “Prying into one another’s concerns,
acting behind another’s back,
backbiting, misrepresentation, bad
temper, bad thoughts, murmuring,
complaining. Do we ever think of
how we bear the responsibility for all
the harm that we cause in this way?”
Florence Nightingale, in a letter to graduates of
the Nightingale School of Nursing

35. “She laughed at my questions when I
dared ask them... She also let me
know she was willing to throw me
under the bus.” http://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/preceptor-from-
hell-1088911.html?awt_l=6J3lI&awt_m=3gy9jxym26oxpx0
February 5, 2017

36. “People complain and gossip but refuse to
get involved. They won't come to staff
meetings, they won't join committees,
they won't offer solutions.”
http://allnurses.com/nurse-management/the-enemy-the-
1089398.html?awt_l=6J3lI&awt_m=3Zwn_z.R66oxpx0
February 8, 2017

38. “Roughly 60 percent of new RNs
quit their first job within 6 months
of being bullied, and one in three
new graduate nurses considers
quitting nursing altogether because
of abusive or humiliating
encounters”
https://www.americannursetoday.com/break-the-bullying-cycle/

39. And it’s not just nurses!
Toxic emotional negativity harms everyone!

40. TEN kills people – it
is the invisible
quality chasm

41. “The negative impact of incivility can be
significant and far-reaching and can affect
not only the targets themselves, but also
bystanders, peers, stakeholders, and
organizations. If left unaddressed, it may
progress in some cases to threatening
situations or violence.”

42. In one survey of more than 4,500
healthcare professionals, 71 percent tied
disruptive behavior, such as abusive,
condescending or insulting personal
conduct, to medical errors, and 27
percent tied such behavior to patient
deaths.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/opinion/sunday/is-your-boss-mean.html

43. W. Edwards Deming
told us to drive fear
out of the workplace

44. You cannot drive fear
out of a workplace
polluted by toxic
emotional negativity!

45. The Values Coach Culture
Assessment Survey

46. Our people
LOVE our
culture

47. Really?

49. 60% do not agree & only 5% strongly agree!

50. We don’t smile
at each other in
the hallways

53. Actual result for a critical
access hospital:
$3,280,000

54. Actual result for a large
community hospital:
$13,930,910

55. Actual result for a multi-
hospital system:
$119,000,000

56. 52%

57. 55%

58. 97%

59. 11%

61. First
impressions

62. This one takes your breath
away…

63. This one makes you hold
your breath!

64. Lasting impressions
are created by your
Invisible Architecture™

66. Invisible Architecture™
is more important than
bricks & mortar

67. Invisible Architecture is to
the soul of your organization
what physical architecture is
to its body.

68. With great architects and
builders, the physical
construction is seamless –
there is no gap between
the foundation and the
walls.

69. In great organizations the
Invisible Architecture is
seamless...
There is no gap between
the values posted on the
wall and the behaviors
seen on the floor.

70. Many hospitals use
the acronym ICARE
to describe their
core values...

71. Integrity
Compassion
Accountability
Respect
Excellence

72. Those are the words
printed in the plaque on
the wall...

73. But when attitudes and
behaviors seen in the
workplace do not reflect
the words on the wall,
there are values-attitudes
gaps...

74. The words on the wall
say integrity but there
is gossip in breakrooms

75. The words on the wall
say compassion but
there is incivility in the
teaming stations

76. The words on the wall
say accountability but
there is complaining and
finger-pointing in the
hallways

77. The words on the wall
say respect but there is
bullying and intimidation
in the workplace

78. The words on the wall
say excellence but
disengagement reduces
safety, quality and
patient satisfaction

79. The words on the wall
spell out ICARE

80. But people in the
workplace see GICBD

81. Gossiping
Incivility
Complaining
Bullying
Disengagement

82. All it takes is one toxic person
to pollute the entire room

83. 83
Workplace attitude is
determined by what you
expect and what you
tolerate…

84. 84
And over time, what you
tolerate will dominate
over what you say you
expect!

85. You cannot be a negative, bitter,
sarcastic pickle sucker in the
break room…
This
place
sucks

86. Then somehow flip an inner switch
and become a compassionate
caregiver in a patient’s room…

87. May I help you? I
have the time.
NOT!

88. And patients see right through the
fraud!

89. You cannot be a
negative, bitter,
sarcastic pickle
sucker at work…
My job
sucks

90. Then somehow flip an inner
switch and become a nurturing
and empowering parent at
home…

91. I wish she
would stay
at work!

92. 92
“One toxically negative
person can drag down
morale and productivity of
an entire work unit.”

93. 93
“It is a leadership
responsibility to create a
workplace environment
where toxic emotional
negativity is not
tolerated.”

94. “We complain to get
sympathy, attention,
and to avoid stepping
up to something we’re
afraid of doing.”
Will Bowen: A Complaint Free World

95. Chronic complaining
makes you depressed
and depressing, bored
and boring, victimized
and victimizing

96. When you complain you
are saying three things...

97. Something is bothering
me, otherwise I wouldn’t
be complaining about it.

98. There is nothing I can do
about it, otherwise I
would be taking action
instead of just whining.

99. And it’s not my fault,
otherwise I would be
looking in the mirror
instead of pointing a
finger.

100. Can you think of a better
definition for being a
victim?

101. We can do better
than this.

102. We can BE better
than this.

103. The Pickle
Challenge

104. 104
The simple promise that
can change your life and
transform your organization

109. 109
Important!
The Pickle Pledge is about
whining – it does not mean
you don’t identify real
problems!

110. 110
Important!
The Pickle Pledge is not a
disciplinary program – it is
voluntary and lighthearted

112. The Pickle Challenge
has taken on a life of
its own!

113. 113

126. The Pickle Challenge gives people
a new language – a lighthearted
approach to confronting toxic
attitudes and behaviors

127. You’re being a Pickle,
Doc… Please put a
quarter in the jar.

128. Caveat: You will get resistance
to The Pickle Challenge.
It will be most vociferous from
people who could most benefit
from taking it to heart.

129. Important!
You have to internalize the
promise before you are called
upon to keep it!

130. We are going
to have to cut
out a part of
your colon and
put you on a
colostomy bag

131. No way!
I would
rather die!

132. Yes, that is
another option…

134. You can rewire the hardware by
reprogramming the software!
“[W]e are seeing evidence of the
brain’s ability to remake itself
throughout adult life, not only in
response to outside stimuli, but
even in response to directed mental
effort. We are seeing, in short, the
brain’s potential to correct its own
flaws and enhance its own
capabilities.”

135. Midland Memorial Hospital
Culture of Ownership Results

141. Tourist
Attraction!

144. Daily Leadership Huddle at
Midland Memorial Hospital

145. 63%

146. 87%

148. Annual Cultural
Productivity Benefit
$7,200,000

149. RN Turnover:
 32% reduction overall
 43% reduction for new nurses
(in first 2 years of employment)

150.  22% reduction in CLABSI
 38% reduction in ventilator
related events
 64% reduction in CAUTI

151.  Patient satisfaction from
record low to record high
 Emergency Department from
bottom 10% to top 10%

152. First hospital to
earn the
INSPIRED Award

155. The first 30 organizations to take
The Pickle Challenge for Charity
raised over $60,000 (including
Values Coach matching donations)

156. The campaign to raise one
million dollars for charities by
turning 4 million complaints
into contributions

157. It begins with a
shared vision…