| CLIENT LECTURES |
 I Pledge Allegiance To My Company Scott Reeves Workplace covenants are a new twist on an old idea. They're a good way to boost office productivity—and morale. A covenant is a pledge or a binding agreement. It underscores the worker's commitment to the company and the company's commitment to the worker. The worker breaks the job into specific, measurable actions and behavior. In addition to the usual salary and benefits, the employer may pledge to offer the worker opportunities for professional development and advancement. “Workplace covenants help flatten organizations and distribute leadership responsibility evenly to help eradicate the bugs and bad behaviors that lead to lost performance, productivity and profits,” says Dr. John Hoover, author of The Art of Constructive Confrontation: How to Achieve More Accountability with Less Conflict. “Writing down what team leaders and members agree upon is essential to eliminate fuzzy or selective memory down the line.” Covenant is an archaic word and, for some, may conjure images of Moses descending from the executive suite with a stone tablet tucked under each arm. But workplace covenants aren't commandments from above and certainly don't boost the power of an idiot boss. (See: How to Work for an Idiot.) Hoover, who wrote The Art of Constructive Confrontation with Roger P. DiSilvestro, says covenants create an objective standard for measuring job performance. Without a written agreement that's consistently applied, job performance ratings can become highly subjective. In many cases, individual performance will be over inflated, even if the company takes a swan dive. At worst, a performance review without a covenant can become a petty grudge match used to settle scores or reward cronies. A well-written covenant can become a powerful management tool because:
Without the framework established by a covenant, there is no platform for discussion, and disagreements can quickly degenerate into unproductive finger-pointing sessions. Double standards stem from ambiguity. Uncertainty can squash enthusiasm and the drive to improve. “The response to our use of covenants has been very positive,” says Steve Edwards, Vice President for Hospital Operations at CoxHealth in Springfield, Mo. “We tend to be crisis-driven in health care and don't often get to sit down and imagine a better future or think beyond day-to-day events. A covenant allows us to think about where we want to go.” Edwards says covenants have been used among CoxHealth management for about a year, and it's unlikely they'll be extended to the nursing staff. The covenant is about two pages and contains elements of job philosophy, a pledge to improve and a bill of rights that sets up a framework to handle disagreements and an obligation to dissent if you strongly disagree with a policy. “I think covenants work best at a higher level,” Edwards says. “We drive responsibility through job assessment and skills tools that will have aspects of the covenant tied into the job description.” Some people avoid confrontation at all costs. If drafted properly, a covenant isn't an invitation to a bare knuckles fight—it's a framework for ongoing discussion. Frank discussion, or what some see as confrontation, can develop trust. Both manager and subordinate have to be on the same page—be sure to review the covenant, Bubba—and both have to share the same goal: constant improvement. “Without a covenant, it's easy for managers and employees to promise each other the moon. But without a framework that defines accountability and creates the mechanics for follow-up, performance—and profit—won't improve, says Hoover,” a corporate psychologist who holds a Ph.D. in organizational behavior. How to Work for an Idiot is the debris scraped off the wall after a management consultant's head exploded. For over a decade, Dr. John wrote books on leadership, creativity, and organizational performance. He traveled far and wide, extolling the virtues of flattened organizations, collaborative leadership, and shared responsibility in the workplace. His clients welcomed him and nodded approvingly as he taught the principles of teamwork and open communication. They even politely waited until he finished and left the building before ignoring his advice. Accepting personal powerlessness over his own cluelessness, Dr. John sketched a map that leads from the brink of suicide to idiot-free serenity. By studying the evolutionary hiccup that resulted in idiot bosses, Dr. John finally discovered why females in some species eat their young. Speaking of eating, Dr. John has consulted with numerous organizations over the years including: Boeing, Delta Air Lines, IBM, Hilton Hotels, Motorola, Printronix, Sanyo Fisher USA, and Xerox. 
John Hoover, Ph.D. is a recovering idiot who successfully made the transition from idiot boss to servant-leader using the self-cleaning techniques in this book. He is an organizational leadership consultant and co-founder of the CompsiTeam Leadership System with Dr. Angelo Valenti. Dr. John is a former publisher of books-on-tape, Entertainment Division manager at Disneyland, and divisional general manager with McGraw-Hill. Dr. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Marriage & Family Therapy in addition to Master of Arts and Doctorate degrees in Human & Organization Development. He is an adjunct faculty member at several colleges and universities, a member of numerous professional societies, and a Tennessee state supreme court-listed civil mediator. He is the author or co-author of eight other books from McGraw-Hill and Career Press, not all of them disasters.Legal Disclaimer: Do not engage in this or any recovery program without consulting last year's horoscope. Reading this book in a meeting when you are supposed to be paying attention is not recommended as laughing at your Idiot Boss is grounds for termination. Reading this book during church sermons, funerals, or weddings is also not recommended if you ever want your spouse or children to speak to you again. Use caution when reading this book on a commercial flight. Many pilots now carry weapons. With luck, you will merely be ushered off the aircraft by local authorities and placed on 72-hour observation at a psychiatric facility in your destination city. Do not leave How to Work for an Idiot lying around the office unless it's on your worst enemy's desk. If you have a complaint about this material, save your breath, the author has probably heard it before. Writing this book isn't the first mistake he's ever made. 
John Hoover and Roger P. DiSilvestro are co-authors of the newly-released leadership book The Art of Constructive Confrontation: How to Achieve More Accountability with Less Conflict from John Wiley and Sons. The Art of Constructive Confrontation is an effective three-step system for creating uniformly effective leadership across any organization.To learn how John and Roger can teach The Art of Constructive Confrontation to the people in your organization, visit www.constructiveconfrontation.com.
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