Official Review: The 30% Solution by Lewena Bayer

amybo82 · Post by **amybo82** » 12 Nov 2016, 23:38

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The 30% Solution" by Lewena Bayer.]

3 out of 4 stars

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The 30% Solution: How Civility at Work Increases Retention, Engagement, and Profitability by Lewena Bayer is a non-fiction business management and training book. It is focused on how employers can best implement civility training and promotion within the workplace to increase profits, outputs, employee motivation, and numerous other benefits. The author begins by presenting an argument for why businesses need to make changes. She moves into defining civility and presenting reasons that civility training should be required in the workplace. Bayer presents the “Civility Culture Compass,” a tool intended to help guide employers in determining where their business’s strengths and weaknesses lie when it comes to civility. She also offers tools for assessment, identifying competencies, and additional resources.

Civility is more than just having a policy or making employees attend a one-time workshop about being nice to customers or other employees. It includes learning to deal with situations, being prepared, preemptively addressing issues, and laying the foundation for continuous learning. Civility also applies to deeper, more meaningful relationships, including respect, disagreeing without it being personal, and considering how your own actions will affect others. Maintaining civility requires acknowledgement, awareness, and effort. It is important for the organization to define civility based on their own needs, goals, and directions.

This book is meant for managers and administrators who are interested in creating change in their organizations. It provides tools and details for assessing civility and its importance to the employees. It also guides the employer in ushering in a new way of thinking about civility. The Civility Competency Matrix presented in Chapter 7 lists specific competencies and criteria to assess civility. The two most important tools are the Competency Matrix and the Culture Compass. Both of these provide resources for employers to use as they begin their journey toward implementing a culture of civility.

There are two main issues I have with this book. First is the layout. It feels scattered and unfocused. For example, in the text, the Introduction is presented after the first chapter. The second issue is how the information is woven together. I had to search through the book to find what “The 30% Solution” actually was. Even then, it was unclear, and I had to utilize other resources, such as the author’s website, to put together why the author chose the book’s title. Basically, it means that a business can increase its revenue by 30% if employees have a culture of civility at work.

The disconnect with the title helps to exemplify that the book’s purpose and outline are not clearly defined. Even though each chapter has numerous subject headings, the content is not always directly related to the book’s main idea. For example, in Chapter 4, the author discusses change. First, she presents information about change and change management. Next, she briefly mentions how change works with civility, but she quickly moves on to talking about a handful of other ideas. These include stress, learning, social and economic trends that affect the workplace, and technology. Near the end of the chapter, she begins talking about civility again, but the connections are not clearly defined. The ideas would have been more clearly presented if the author offered a main point or argument at the beginning of each section and then focused on evidence, anecdotes, and support for the main argument in the text of the section.

Technically, there are a few issues with line spacing and changes in font size that interrupt the reading flow. However, the writing aspects of the book are all good. There are no blatant typos, and the grammar and spelling are well done. There are also items in the text that are hyperlinked to websites with more information. These are helpful for enhancing the reading experience.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. Despite being presented in a mixed-up fashion, the ideas in the book provide a strong foundation for employers interested in improving their workplace culture. Civility is a topic that does not get much focus, especially in business books, making this a unique book. If the work had a strong editor that could help create a more comprehensive flow of ideas, the work would be a 4-star book. I would recommend this book to managers looking to make improvements in their organizations.

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The 30% Solution
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[Note from author (January 16th, 2017): There was a glitch in how the publisher loaded the book to kindle and the introduction was placed after the first chapter which resulted in the comments about "issues with flow" and "confusing order of content" - this issue has now been remedied by the publisher and correct version posted on kindle.]

Kdonegan91 · Post by **Kdonegan91** » 26 Nov 2016, 13:17

Wow! You wrote such an insightful and informative review. Too bad the book did not flow well.

Guppy · Post by **Guppy** » 27 Nov 2016, 19:03

A great review! Sounds like an intriguing premise and something that would benefit most workplaces. Shame about the structure of the book though.

amybo82 · Post by **amybo82** » 27 Nov 2016, 19:42

K and Guppy--Thanks for your comments. I think people who work in businesses or large organizations could benefit from the book, despite its flaws. In fact, I think everyone could use a little more civility in their lives!

kimmyschemy06 · Post by **kimmyschemy06** » 11 Dec 2016, 08:31

Sounds like a helpful book. Too bad about the flaws, though. And you are so right, 'everyone could use a little more civility in their lives'

Eckhart Aurelius Hughes · Post by **Scott** » 16 Jan 2017, 20:19

Great review!

The author of this book sent me the following information:

There was a glitch in how the publisher loaded the book to kindle and the introduction was placed after the first chapter which resulted in the comments about "issues with flow" and "confusing order of content" - this issue has now been remedied by the publisher and correct version posted on kindle.

I made a note of that at the bottom of the original post as well.

Jessica LoRusso · Post by **Jessica LoRusso** » 17 Jan 2017, 11:35

I just love this book. The 30% Solution is my go to reference book for my business. By using some of the tools in this books helps to increase revenue by 30%. What business owner or anyone in leadership would not want to increase retention, engagement, and profit.The 30% solution is packed with rock solid information and tools to help your organization grow. A must for your library. No wonder the paperback version of the book got amazing reviews and 5 stars on Amazon. I give it 5 starts as well.

RHuppe · Post by **RHuppe** » 18 Jan 2017, 12:48

Happy to see that issues with content organization have been amended! I feel that anyone who has ever been a part of a workplace has experienced some aspect of incivility from their fellow co-workers or high ups. This should be required reading for anyone in a position of authority in a workplace! The tips and tools presented here are remarkable and a must in building a civil workplace community; it really highlights how all the factors that come in a modern workforce add and effect civility in, really all areas of life.

lamouriepr · Post by **lamouriepr** » 18 Jan 2017, 19:06

I really got a lot out of this book, I work with a lot of clients in various businesses, and have recommended this one to many. No matter what the industry, I think anyone in management will find things in here they can directly apply to their workplace and beyond!