Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results

Rating:
Summary: Always Smell Your Fish Before You Buy
Review: This book was given to me as part of a Fish seminar conducted by my company. The book must be addressed on three different levels: as a story, as a philosophy, and as a business book. The story is about a woman who takes over a failing department in her company, finds the inmates are running the asylum, learns some pearls of wisdom from some local fishmongers, teaches the employees the philosophy, and ends up with a successful department. The preceding explanation is only slightly shorter than the book itself, which contains so much white-space that it could easily be halved, and repeats so often that it could easily be halved again. As bad as the story and writing are, the philosophy underlying the Fish idea is even worse. It is essentially a hedonistic philosophy - that what employees really need to perform well is enough fun at work. The problem is that all jobs and careers involve a certain amount of tedium. Everone must "pay their dues." Too often the people complaining the loudest are those that refuse to deal with tedium as a fact of life. As a business book it fails as so many business books do because the ultimate goal of the book is not to attract a reader, but to convince corporations to buy a whole suite of products and services: the books, videotapes, fun fish things, decorations. Avoid this book, read Drucker instead.

Rating:
Summary: Pointing The Way To Happier Staff And Happier Clients !!
Review: The title sounds "FISHY" but the contents do deliver concrete information on making everyone's work day more pleasant, while gaining happier customers. There are only 112 fast-reading pages in this new book, but they provide a wealth of knowledge and things to think about. Seattle's Pike Place Fish Market provided the fundamentals for this book which can be used in any work environment and situation- office work as well as front-line work. You'll learn eye-opening fundamentals and common sense approaches to dealing with customers and staff actions and accountability, that produce not only happier customers, but happier staff members as well. Did I find any magic formula in this book to accomplish all of this? Not really. But there's a wealth of stuff to think about. The fundamentals presented are: Choose Your Attitude, Make Their Day, and Be There. The principles taught by this book are currently being used by organizations all over the world with great success being reported. The FISH pilosophy is relevant to nearly every issue facing business today: productivity, teamwork, quality improvement, customer service, creativity and innovation, employee turnover and job satisfaction. What else is there ? Simple lessons are presented, teaching managers how to energize staff and how to result in a completely improved workplace. The information is easy to learn and apply. The principles presented are a win-win for everyone from management, to staff, to customers. Well worth reading !!

Rating:
Summary: Inspirational!
Review: But then again, what else would a philosophy built around Abe Vigoda's popular Barney Miller be? I'm eagerly awaiting the follow up based on the teachings of Reverend Jim from Taxi.

Rating:
Summary: FISH!
Review: If you have never heard of the FISH! philosophy, I recommend that you start with this one first. It explains the history behind how the FISH! philosophy first got started. Mary Jane Ramirez who was a recent widow with two young children stumbled into the Pike Place Fish market to find out that the fish market held the secret to her sucess as a new manager. Mary Jane was just promoted to manage a difficult department nicknamed the toxic energy dump. She observed the high energy team building and positive attitudes that she saw at the fish market on her lunch breaks. As she got to know the fishmongers and heard their stories, she knew that she could apply the same principles to the business world. One day she brought her department to the fish market and soon transformed the toxic energy dump around!

Rating:
Summary: Go ahead make my day ....
Review: I read this book awhile back and I actually liked it enough to give it a decent rating. The book itself is closer to a 3.5 but you know there are no half star ratings allowed. I am normally not a big fan of parable type stories, but I liked this one because it encouraged managers to become ACTIVELY involved. This is the biggest problem that I have seen in corporate work enviironments - managers are seldom involved. They tend to delegate. They typically don't jump in and help. Regarding the "choose your attitude" approach, I think (from a managerial perspective) it is best to control it. As a manager, one should strive to mainatain as close to a postive attitude as possible. If they fall short of that, it is their responsibility to control it when things get bad. I am not the biggest fan of "playing" on the job. I have worked in a few organizations where a play day was instituted. I felt like this was re-living kindergarten, but most of my non managerial employees really seemed to enjoy it. Worth taking out of the library if you are a manager who is looking to motivate your team. Hey, when all else fails.. go fish!

Rating:
Summary: Relief for the Toxic Workplace
Review: The book recognizes most of us don't work in a fish market. It does show us how the fish market attitudes were adjusted for a financial company. By examining the turnaround of an extremely toxic workplace, it also shows us how to make work fun and interesting again. It also doesn't lead you to instant expectations. Change takes time and effort. You have to want to change your attitude at work and alleviate the toxicity of your workplace before you can truly affect change.

Rating:
Summary: Fishing for what?
Review: This book illustrates 4 principles which can be effectively used to increase enjoyment and lower burnout in the workplace. Although the principles are not new or different, the overall perspective is unique. For this, the author should be commended. I recommend Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self as the definitive book for individuals and organizations to be their best and produce the best results.

Rating:
Summary: Two Questions
Review: Any time you discuss workplace motivations techniques, you are talking about two things. The first-and most important-is whether or not motivational programs IN GENERAL are effective. The second is whether this specific program IN PARTICULAR is effective.

As to the first, I do not believe that a company can motive or change a person. That is the business of missionaries, evangelist and philosophers. Business has no business in shaping the beliefs and ideas of the employees. These motivational programs all have silent value-statements, and to propagate these is a a form of intellectual evangelism. In short, you manager is a missionary for the gospel of corporate success. Unless you specially work for a church, or a philosophy-specific organization, such as the Freemasons or a political party, this smacks of violating conscience.

A few years ago, "USA Today" did a study of employee motivational programs, and they discovered that they do not work. People have free conscience and free will, which includes the freedom to be bad employees. I am not endorsing this attitude, but people must be freed to be devils as well as gods to be a just society.

As to the specific FISH! Program, I thing the first question answers the second. I do not thing programs in general are effective, and I do not think the specific FISH program will be effective. Like most people, I was exposed to this philosophy via work. So it wasn't my personal choice to take the initiative. I can only react, or choose to accept this.

I do believe the program is sound. In saying that all programs are equally ineffective, I am also saying programs are also equally effective. At my company right now, I have three different motivational programs (Destination Ten, Team Vitality, and FISH!), and the funny thing is that they are all pretty much the same thing.

This isn't surprising, since a motivational program is essentially an ethical value-statement, and all ethical systems are pretty much the same. C. S. Lewis said that "Really good moral teachers never do introduce new moralities: it is the crack and cranks who do that." (Mere Christianity). Lewis traces the similarities of ethical systems in "Abolition of Man," especially the appendix.

The FISH system is based on some ideas from the Pike Place Fish market. Essentially, it a group of guys horsing around at work. They chuck fish around, shout, and make fun of the gawkers. It sounds like fun, and it is. The authors distill the fish-chuckers attitude into a fourfold system:

* Play
* Make their day
* Choose your attitude
* Be There

This is a good system, if you actually believe it, and want to live it. My religion, which dominates everything I do, has room for these principles. I have no problem living these since I already am. The problem, however, is convincing people who do not believe these things to subscribe to them.

In other words, human free will and freedom of conscious get in the way of this program.

Another problem is that the fish-chuckers had an attitude PRIOR to the system. It was something that sprang out of who they were, and it was not something that was imposed top-down.

If you saw the video, then you remember that the shouting began with a joke on their boss. How many of your bosses would let that happen? Or would they see it as insubordination and a challenge to their authority?

Fun, and frivolity is an essential part of work, since fun an frivolity is an essential part of life. We need opposition and contrast in all things to have sense and life. However, fun is always in contradistinction to the serious work that must be going on for work to be done. If our serious work is to have fun, then you are in for trouble. You are trying to mix humor and seriousness in a way that violates this Law of Opposition. Aristotle (quoting Anaxagoras) said that if we combine two opposites, we would arrive at a metaphysical mélange where nothing really exists, and humans become vegetables (Metaphysics, Book IV)

Fun lubricates, but it cannot be a primary mission. Fun, as Covey points out, is a Quadrant IV activity, not a Quadrant II.. Besides, if your bosses were serious about fun, then they would let you stay at home an zone out in front of HALO 2 for seven or eight hours, which is far more fun than dealing is sourpuss customers.

I do not think that this book can be used a la B. F. Skinner and "Walden Two," or as a substitute for the really work. You cannot change a heart-only the individual can do that-you can only persuade.


Rating:
Summary: Teaching Employees How To Fish
Review:
I like the storybook approach and entertaining characters that are introduced in Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale & Improve Results. Many employees and employers are feeling overwhelmed and disenchanted with the struggles and victories of turbulent economic times. So, Fish! offers a short read and easy escape from the daily grind.

Incorporating fun and laughter in the workplace is just good business; most customers expect a welcoming environment when buying a product or service. But, readers seem to be more interested in practical advice on how to enjoy work and life. I would have enjoyed the book more if it offered specific ideas about tackling the difficult issues that face everyone in the workforce.

By JoAnna Carey, Author of Rat Race Relaxer: Your Potential & The Maze of Life


Rating:
Summary: Enjoyment AND results in the workplace
Review: Fish provides a four-step elementary formula to add fun to the workplace. It will appeal to personnel in stressful situations. If you want to avoid burnout, enjoy every moment to the max and achieve optimal results in the workplace, I suggest two excellent books: Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self and Execution.