Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results

I was extremely excited to receive Rosa's invitation to contribute again to Joyful Jubilant Learning. Rosa always provides such a positive environment that it never ceases to be an honor to be invited to contribute here. AND, it was so fortuitous that I had just read a book that I was really excited to share with others. So, let's share!

First let's get the credit where credit is due out of the way.

Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results was written by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen. Published in 2000 by Hyperion Publishing of New York, New York.

Don't let the title through you as it did me. My mind immediately set about conjuring up images of Dicky-George and Eddie-Bob trawling their Evin-rude up next to the bank for some up close and personal bass fishin' tips. Nothing could be further from reality.

I suppose I should have been tipped off by the book jacket, which resembled nothing so much as one of the Pepperidge Farm Gold Fish Cracker boxes. You know, the ones with the friendly little smiling fishies that make such a delectable Cheddar morsel. In fact, that image kind of sets the tone for the often lighthearted flavor of this wonderful book (is anybody else hungry for a salty treat right now?).

There are a few things you should know about me to get the most out of this review.

• I love parables
• I love playfulness
• I love attentive behaviors
• I love engaging attitudes
• I love fish (but not batter)

This book jumped right into my affections by relating to me through those very 5 loves I listed above.

Fish! begins with a forward which dedicates itself to the principles above (with the exclusion of fish, oddly enough). I was (dare I say it?) hooked from the beginning.

The book teaches in story format four key lessons learned through the life lens of Mary Jane. Mary Jane is an adequate middle manager who has not been spared the difficulties of life. However,due mostly to her own work ethic Mary Jane is promoted to a department of her organization which is dreaded by all and known as the company toxic energy dump. Her mission is to find a way to bring vitality to this department or face impending dissolution and outsourcing the department work.

After one particularly dreadful morning she decided to take in the fresh air and consider her options for escape. However, as she wondered about she stumbled upon an open air market which happened to be the home of the "World Famous Pikes Place Fish Market." There she was struck by the joyful manner in which these fish mongers went about their smelly, messy business. And after a brief talk with one of those very fish mongers she set about finding a way to bring their verve and vigor to her own, less than joyful workplace.

With the aid of gentle nudges from her fish monger guide Lenny she was able to uncover the four secrets to a joyful and productive workplace.

1. Choose your attitude. You can't choose everything that your encounter in life. But, you can choose how you react to it and the attitude with which you address it. Be you angry and disinterested or be you caring and energetic; the choice is yours.
2. Play! Get your work done but have fun doing it. It will lower turn over rate. It will instill pride in what you do.
3. Make THEIR day. Look for creative ways to make someones day. Colleagues as well as customers and clients. Engage people.
4. Be Present. Be focused on the individual you are working with at that moment. Constantly scan for opportunities to interact. Speak to others as if they are your long lost friends.

Their are, of course, obstacles to this plan. You will encounter skeptics almost certainly. But, if you consider most skeptics are scared; scared to take a chance, you will likely find a way to reach them.

Ultimately, it comes down to the following:

"You can't change others. If you're in a frustrating job, you have three choices:

1. You can go somewhere else.
2. You can go through the motion, complaining about people and situations you can't change.
3. You can choose to live in a way that acknowledges the value of your own life and take charge of the only person you can control--YOU."

---Fish! The Guide, Charthouse Learning, page 79.

Well, in case you haven't been able to tell by the review, I am definitely a fan of this book. I heartily endorse it and recommend you add it to your personal library.

Here it a link to all things Fish!.

Reg Adkins writes on behavior and is a temperament specialist who counsels, coaches and writes about the human condition at www.elementaltruths.com.

Comments

[Steve Sherlock]

Thanks, Reg. I had heard of the FISH story before but your insights are helpful.

I was exploring a bit and found that there is another side to this as well. Check out the wikipedia entry. At the bottom are some external links including one critizing the approach
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FISH!_Philosophy

Bottomline for me, it is simple and it appears to work!

[Rosa Say]

I am so glad you chose this book for us Reg, for I think that we vastly underestimate what great tools “parable books” can be (and not just for the workplace). Compare Fish! with the Opposable Mind which Tim just reviewed for us: Parable books are ‘bite-sized,’ more easily doable coaching tools that work particularly well for those people who will say, “I hate to read.” That’s a sentiment that is not widely shared by this community (if at all!) but every teacher, trainer and coach will say it is way more prevalent than we’d like it to be.

My own Fish! story is that I picked it up from a bargain bin in a Walgreens one day just prior to a trans-Pacific flight back home from a convention. Fast forward: about 6 months later, I’ve signed up for a 3-day course at Seattle’s Pikes Place Fish Market with John Yokoyama and his Fishmongers — which included a 5am start on the final day: My assignment was to build their crab display that morning (which logistically means that the fish are already getting thrown over your head — I got the job because I was the shortest one in the class).

Fast forward again: This is years before my own publishing of Managing with Aloha, but within the actual practice of it, and you can bet that John’s fishy coaching has made its mark on what I now consider my “Hawaiian sensibility for worthwhile work” in contrast to that toxic dump that Mary Jane had described. What I most recall from John was his Why: The work there itself is physically hard and demanding behind the scenes of the playful fish-throwing, and creating a workplace in which the staff is valued and respected – and yes, loved – is what it takes to win and keep talented, engaged, capable-of-so-much-more people working together.

Like you, I loved those four, easily adopted and transferable ‘secrets.’ However we were already doing pretty well with them, at least in part, and reflecting back on our then-big-corporate experience with Fish!, what we most got out of putting it into practice was their peer-to-peer coaching: Everyone coaches everyone else, and they are taught to do so in a respectful, highly effective way. It is not only the job of the managers. I think the Pikes Place Fish Market is the closest companies on my personal radar have come to having self-directed work teams: As manager, John felt his job was progression, growth, and the illumination of more opportunities outside the day to day.

Good grief… I guess you can tell that I’m a Fish! believer too. Should’ve wrote this up on my blog and sent a trackback… maybe I still will!

[Skip Weisman]

Reg,
I agree, the FISH book and concept is outstanding. I've read the book, seen some of their videos and believe wholeheartedly in the concept.

I've also had the privilege of working with some regional companies and organizations in my area that have exposed their program to their entire workforce.

Everyone agrees that its a great concept and would love to have an environment like Fish Market. Unfortunately reality is a different thing as few organizations are able to sustain the momentum necessary to carry it through.

The reason it worked at the Fish Market is that the company leadership was committed to it and made sure it became part of the company culture, values and corporate strategy.

Sadly, not enough corporate leaders are committed to investing the time, energy and financial resources to stay with it and as many corporate initiatives do, they fail and become a fad and a 'been there, done that' mentality begins to creep in.

I love working in this area, however, and will continue to strive to encourage business leaders and business owners to commit to this type of culture. In the ones in which I've worked I've found it usually takes a minimum of 6 months and as much as 18 months to fully integrate a culture transformation of this type.

It's a very rewarding process more companies should invest in for the long term health of their company and their greatest asset, their employees.

[David Zinger]

I will be just a bit of a contrarian here. I like the FISH! philosophy and see it as a great way to work.

I have witnessed two times it did not work.

First time was I was excited about the book about 4 years ago and took my kids to see the Fish Market in Seattle. This was part of a 3600km road trip. Bad news...they were having a bad day, they were not very present, and their attitude was surly ---there was no fun at the fish market. This was educational for me as we are all human and sometimes we set up unrealistic expectations that even the origin of the idea cannot always hold.

The second time I saw this was when people were told to have fun at work and to lighten up. This was during a major reorganization. I think there are few things worse than imposed fun or being told to lighten up when you are going through some tough stuff.

As invitation the FISH! philosophy is good as an imposition it can be worse than just being neutral. Without attention to timing the FISH! philosophy can turn into something quite fishy.

Having offered my experiences overall I think fun and playfulness is great, I wrote my Master's Thesis on humor, and my number one signature strength is humor and playfulness.

I invite others to fish both I don't make them play FISH!

Thnaks for the review Reg, it got me thinking about this approach.

[Reg]

Gosh, those are some really great comments! I should have known readers of Rosa's site would be very insightful.

Steve, I agree that simplicity carries a powerful elegance that is key to any workable plan.

Rosa, I have always loved parable style books. In fact if you do another book review call I have an additional favorite by Og Mandino called "The Greatest Salesman in the World" that I like to do.It really is a needed medicine in a world of self promotion.

David, I agree. It is PEOPLE not PROGRAMS that create success. Now matter how eloquently designed any program is doomed to failure if the team isn't behind it 100%.

May I add that it is quite humbling to be able to interact with such a talented group.

[dave]

I've gone on record many times stating that I am not a Fish or Cheese type of guy. Actually the books are good. It is the notion that corp America can buy cases of books, hand them out and say, "here have fun," Like David states. I worked for a company that did this. They gave out the books AND showed the movie. Of course those attempting to run the company never bought in and I never even heard the word fish mentioned again.

My experience demonstrates how deep wounds run and if you let them get to you, you'll miss out on worthwhile stuff - like the true meaning of these books. Though in reality I've always got the meaning of the books...like an old time treasure map handed out to a blind man...there was no relevance.

[Reg Adkins]

Skip and Dave, I agree. As with a thriving tree true growth of any organization depends upon the roots. All true growth comes from the ground up.

[Chris Owen]

Reg
Thanks for reminding me of the Fish books. I remember reading them with such hope and inspiration. Unfortunately I was working in a deeply dysfunctional workplace run by a group of people who were still making extremely healthy profits and so had no concerns about whether staff enjoyed their work or customers enjoyed their experience as long as they got their own way!
As a manager to have tried to incorporate Fish into my workplace would have been to just speed up my decision to leave. And in hindsight that would have been a good thing. Instead I chose to put Fish aside and fight other battles I thought I might win.
I left there some time ago (surprise, surprise) and am now reminded that I could now reread Fish and be inspired again. Thanks for the reminder.