The Vibrant Workplace: Overcoming the Obstacles to Building a Culture of Appreciation

by Dr. Paul White, Gary Chapman (Foreword by)

Overview

It happens all the time: a leader reads a book or goes to a conference and learns great new ideas for their organization. But when they try to implement changes, nothing budges. Why?  Because work cultures are deeply rooted.  

Dr. Paul White wrote The Vibrant Workplace to give workplace leaders a thorough understanding of the most common obstacles to building a positive workplace. Not only will they learn the issues underlying those challenges, but they’ll gain the tools and strategies needed to overcome them.

Combining real-life examples with professional advice and research, Dr, White offers a guide to uprooting negativity and cultivating authentic appreciation and resiliency in the workplace. Readers will learn how to:

• Overcome resistance from non-interested managers and supervisors
• Assess how perceived “busyness” interferes with positive growth
• Address the deeper issues underlying pervasive negativity
• Communicate authentic appreciation even to “difficult-to-appreciate” colleagues
• Deal with performance challenges and communicate appreciation appropriately
• Bring out the best in their employees and teams
  And more

Any workplace can become more positive and grow towards health. It just takes knowledge of the core challenges and the skills to navigate them, which is exactly what this book provides. Readers will be equipped to successfully transform their workplace environment, infuse it with authentic appreciation, and deal with the real-life challenges faced in daily work settings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802415035
Publisher:	Moody Publishers
Publication date:	04/04/2017
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

PAUL WHITE, PHD, is a psychologist, author, and speaker who "makes work relationships work." He has consulted with a wide variety of organizations, including Microsoft, the US Air Force, the Million Dollar Round Table, and Princeton University. He and Gary Chapman coauthored The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.

Table of Contents

Foreword 7

Introduction 9

Section 1 How Management Can Create Obstacles

1 Your Leaders Aren't Interested 23

2 Two Big Questions Supervisors Ask 41

3 Why Recognition Programs Don't Work 59

Section 2 When Workplace Culture Stymies Growth

4 Negativity 77

5 Busyness 89

Section 3 The Challenge of Differences

6 Unique Settings 105

7 People Are Different-But We Treat Them the Same 131

8 Can Appreciation Cross Cultures? 153

Section 4 Employee Characteristics that Create Problems

9 Colleagues Who Are Hard to Appreciate 169

10 Performance Issues: Underachievers, Overachievers, and Everything in Between 187

Closing Comments 203

FAQs 205

Free eBook and Additional Resources 215

Notes 217

Acknowledgments 221

About the Author 223

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Sadly, we still need this book. Fifty-one percent of managers believe they are doing a good job of recognizing good work. Only 17 percent of their employees agree. That statistic from The Vibrant Workplace shows why we need Paul White’s splendid new book. He explains why our typical ways of showing appreciation—like recognition programs—rarely live up to the hype. But he doesn’t leave us hanging. He tells us how we can show appreciation in ways that actually matter to others at work. Consider buying two copies, one for yourself and one for your boss. 

Rick Maurer
Author, Beyond the Wall of Resistance

Misconceptions abound on what is needed to create a healthy, thriving, and engaged workforce. In The Vibrant Workplace, Dr. White shatters these misconceptions with research-based insight into how employees are motivated. Not stopping there, The Vibrant Workplace also provides practical steps on how to overcome the most common obstacles to employee engagement. 

Jack W. Bruce
Past President of SHRM-Atlanta

 

The Vibrant Workplace dispels the myth that employee engagement is a simple program you just purchase and require management to deliver. In this book, Dr. White furnishes best practices and practical tools to create a path to a healthy organization. He provides a deeper understanding on ways to connect with and empower your team to grow and create caring relationships.

Evan Wilson
Chief Experience
Meritrust Credit Union

 

The Vibrant Workplace is written just like we need it: practical, topical, and experiential. As a coach, understanding the obstacles to advancing a vibrant workplace culture is key to helping clients and their organizations.Dr. White delivers insights into dealing with a variety of distinct situations, environments, and attitudes. Readers are given what is needed to create specific, actionable steps and build their own vibrant workplace. The Vibrant Workplace is like having a coach-in-a-book!

Dan Agne
Owner and Principal Consultant
The Agne Group, LLC

 

I frequently recommend The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Gary Chapman and Paul White in seminars and workshops I teach because it’s an “aha” for many people. Paul White’s latest book, The Vibrant Workplace, is an invaluable companion to 5 Languages because it identifies the common obstacles to increasing appreciation in the workplace and shows you how to address them. Now I’ll be recommending both books.

Michael Lee Stallard
Speaker, workshop leader, and author of Fired Up or Burned Out and Connection Culture

 

Over the past ten years I’ve had a chance to work with several companies, and it would be extremely rare to find a company, or even a department, that could be described as “vibrant”—full of energy and enthusiasm. The good news is that in this book, Dr. Paul White shares with us a practical approach on how we can create vibrant workplaces through the languages of appreciation.

Dana McArthur
Founder, McArthur Creative

 

The Vibrant Workplace covers all the bases. Whether it’s an organization that has no structured appreciation or recognition program in place, or an organization with a flourishing appreciation culture, Dr. White offers practical insights and ideas for meeting the needs of today’s workforce to feel appreciated and valued for the contributions they make every day.

Lisa Holley
Corporate Learning and Development Consultant
Insperity, Inc.

If you want to revitalize your organization and enhance employee engagement, this book is a great resource. In The Vibrant Workplace, Dr. White provides tips and tools on how to overcome the practical challenges of implementing and sustaining a culture of appreciation in the workplace—by using personalized and effective ways of communicating authentic appreciation at work.

Jasmine Liew
Organization Development Director, Breakthrough Catalyst
Singapore

When we talk about workplaces, the typical adjectives are: task-oriented, stressful, high pressure. Yet I was delighted to read The Vibrant Workplace, which gives us an alternative—that our workplace can be people-centric, vibrant, and engaging! Based on solid research and his personal experience, Dr. White gives many practical tips and suggestions to build such a culture via personalized and culture-sensitive appreciation.

Andrew Ma
Chorev Consulting International Ltd. Hong Kong