The Cranky Middle Manager Show #90 The UNCRANKY Phil Gerbyshak
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #090 (mp3 10.9MB 31:30Min)
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Hey everyone, welcome to Episode 90! I’m less cranky than usual for several reasons, not the least of which is I’m thrilled to announce that starting May 1 there will be a Cranky Middle Manager E-Newsletter. Since I don’t want to send out spam, if you’re interested, please Click Here and put “Subscribe” in the subject line.
Second reason I’m less cranky than usual has nothing to do with me. Today’s guest is the relentlessly chipper Phil Gerbyshak, who is a blogger and schmoozer, to be sure, but more than that he’s a working manager in a place that’s recognized as a great place to work. We’ll talk about the things he does day in and day out without ever snapping and taking a life. A cynicism-free episode!(at least on his part).
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show and “6 Degrees of Phil Gerbyshak”. Name a guest we’ve had on here and odds are they’re on Phil’s blog roll on Make It Great. Phil is one of the all time great networkers.
The show is dedicated to Liu Jingting, the great Chinese Story-Teller. Let’s face it part of our job is to entertain, motivate and tell the stories that get the best out of our employees.
2:40 The quote of the week is from Viscount Henry St John- wise men spend their time in mirth. Cheer up dang it.
4:08 Welcome Phil Gerbyshak of Make It Great and The Relationship Geek. It’s about not settling for “good”enough. I envy flat out his ability to do that on a regular basis. We drop the first name of the day, Steve Farber, who was our guest in Episode 86. The point is that Phil is a manager as well as a blog king and we’re discussing how to keep that cheery attitude in an IT, help desk, call center. The man is my hero.
8:17 What’s it like to try and maintain a positive attitude all the time- and don’t his employees occasionally want to throttle him? The answer is you don’t, but you get over it and move on.
14:34 How do you help mend relationships between departments? Phil took his Help Desk department from necessary evil to strategic partner. Here’s how….
19:00 Phil is a big proponent of the FISH Philosophy (check it out here). The four main components are:
- Make their day
- Play
- Be there
- Choose your attitude
Some companies believe in fun, some don’t. Why don’t I feel entirely comfortable with this? I’m a good guy aren’t I? Death by Chocolate, however, sounds like a blast.
24:24 Okay, listen up. Networking is a vital component of the manager’s job, but you have to build them. No one is better at this than Phil Gerbyshak- I am working on it but we can all learn from him, even if you’re not looking for another job. Network in your own company. We also recall Rajesh Setty’s philosophy of ROII- Return on the invesment in the interaction…..
28:21 Phil’s recommendations:
Joyful Jubilant Learning- Phil and I are part of Rosa Say’s posse, many of whom have been on this show.
Lots of cool stuff coming up, so hang in there, make it great and don’t let the weasels get you down.
April 12th, 2007 at 5:18 am
Great strategy for turning around a customer service group with a bad rep. Did Phil mention how long that process took?
July 22nd, 2007 at 1:25 am
Hi Tony - it took about a year to turn things around, and every day I have to pay attention to it.