Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work

Author: John Putzier
Copyright: 2001
Publisher: AMACOM
# of Pages: 188
Price: $17.95
ISBN-10: 0-814471-14-5
Date of Review: January, 2008

Cut through the theory! Skip the history lesson! Save the sales pitch and give me something new and practical that I can use, something that I can implement without spending a lot of money and getting tons of approvals. That's just what John Putzier does in Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work.  He presents creative and innovative, yet practical, ideas for transforming your organization into a high-performance workplace. Whether you are searching for recruitment and retention strategies or simply looking for ways to improve your organization's culture, Putzier's compilation of unusual yet theoretically-sound tips, tools and techniques offers today's managers out-of-the box practices for enhancing morale, creativity and productivity.

As Putzier points out, the current labor crisis and an increased demand for highly skilled workers has created a turning point in the field of human resource management and there is no turning back now. (Which, he notes, is a good thing!) It's a brave new world of work and employers are ready to try almost anything to attract, retain and motivate the best and the brightest. Putzier encourages us to take advantage of this talent crisis by turning it into an opportunity to revolutionize our human resources practices.

From out-of-the-cubicle recruitment strategies to novel retention strategies, Get Weird is chock full of techniques to make your workplace both fun and productive. Try Trinkets and Trash or Work Smells. Though some of the ideas may be a bit "far-out" for state government, many of them can be adapted to fit into even the stodgiest of bureaucracies. Idea #42, Lose the Legalese, advises management to lighten up the lingo. It's just one of the no-cost, win-win ideas for enhancing employee engagement and bringing a bit of style, humor and creativity to the office. Equally creative are Putzier's ideas for recognition and incentives (which he terms Perks, Pay, and Pats on the Back) and his weird ideas for training and development. He also includes a section on Enhancing Your Company Image, something most government agencies could stand to do a bit more of.

If you have ever been to a conference or seminar and thought, "If I can just get a couple of good ideas that I can take back to the office and use, the trip will have been worth it", John Putzier's Get Weird is the book for you. And when you consider the amount you have spent on such conferences, you will be absolutely delighted at the return on your investment in Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work.

This down-to-earth, fun read will inspire you to become a Wizard of Weirdness and will have you revolutionizing your workplace. Before you know it, you'll be tapping into your own weirdness and coming up with wacky and wonderful ideas. But remember, as Putzier points out in his introduction to Part I, there is a difference between creativity and innovation. Innovation requires implementation. So get out there and do something with your wacky, weird ideas.

Review by : Margaret Jordan