archive: management

Are You Settling for a Pale Version of the Possible?

Monday, May 31st, 2010

“Settling for a pale version of the possible” is my favorite line in Tony Schwartz’ new book, The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working. It’s in essence the question that we so often avoid because it gets to the core of our most intimate desire to be the best that we can be. Those with the courage to ask and truthfully answer that question, will be the ones who end up operating at their full potential and helping others to do the same. Tony’s new book will help you find easy ways to ensure that your life is full of vibrant and endless possibilities.

I am often asked to review and blog about new business books coming to market, and only rarely do I oblige. When Tony asked me to review his new book, I said yes immediately. His ideas around managing energy as opposed to time resonated with me years ago after reading, The Power of Full Engagement and plays a big role in my own consulting practice. The energy management concept, if explored to its full potential, can do more to transform an organization than any other single component.

The great thing about Tony’s new book is that it is full of sound research that reinforces what Tony is teaching and helps us to really understand why we do the things we do, even when they are counter productive to our goals. More importantly, he provides practical advise on how to begin the process of change that will work for anyone in any stage of their career, or any organization at any level of health.

Not only will you find great information to help you become a better employee, leader, or manager, but you will also find that this book will help you become the person, spouse, parent, child, and sibling that your heart desires.

If any of the following statements resonate with you, then you should RUN, not walk, to the nearest bookstore and get a copy of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working.

I always feel like I am behind in my work and will never catch up
I want my team to be more productive
I desperately want to find balance between my work life and home life
I want my team to be more accountable and responsible
I struggle with the daily distractions of email, phone calls, and endless request for my time and can’t get any of my own work done
My company does a poor job of retaining employees

What I personally love the most about The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working is how it very easily connects to my own work around helping organization find competitive advantages that work in the 21^st Century. Tony reminds us that, “In a fiercely competitive and rapidly changing marketplace, creative and big picture thinking, curiosity, and openness to learning and empathy are a largely untapped source of potential competitive advantage.” Going from more, bigger, faster to richer, deeper, slower seems counter intuitive to most, but is in fact the best way to distinguish your company from its competitors.

I have asked Tony to give us his thoughts on a few more in-depth questions on this angle around competitive advantage.

1) Why do you think it is so hard for organizations to fully grasp that strengthening their connection with and investing in the well being of their employees can be a tremendous competitive advantage?

There’s an instinctive tendency in all of us to default to the easiest solutions. It’s easier to demand more of people than it is to consciously invest in them. It’s also part of the short-term preoccupation that characterizes so many organizations. If you view people as expendable and interchangeable, you don’t worry about investing in them because you believe they’re all replaceable. Leaders with a more long-term view recognize that when you invest in people they become more valuable over time.

We make that investment in ourselves in the years we spend in school. But many organization are too concerned with the next quarter’s revenues to think about investing in the future. But the best organizations do just that. Companies such as Apple and Google offer more to their employees than most other companies – not just in perks like the free meals Google provides or the fitness facilities Apple has, but also mentally, in terms of the environments of learning and growth they actively nurture; and spiritually, by giving employees the sense that they’re doing something that truly adds value to the world. It shouldn’t be a surprise, in turn, that these sorts of companies attract better employees and have great results.

2) In your work with a vast array of companies, do you see more of a correlation to the age of a company and the age of its executive team and their likelihood to fully embrace energy management in their culture, or is it more highly correlated to specific industries?

There’s no question that a certain kind of company is more readily drawn to our work. They tend to be more progressive, forward thinking and innovative than average. We’ve had our greatest successes with technology companies and with creative companies, but interestingly, we’ve also had significant success with more traditional financial institutions. I think that may be because the folks drawn to the world of finance are often fiercely competitive, and we’re offering a science-based way for them to improve personal performance.

Ultimately, though, we’ve been able to work in almost every kind of organization, because in the end it’s usually one or two senior leaders who make the decision about whether to bring us in. The trick, we’ve learned, is to introduce them to our work first at a personal level. When they see its impact in their own lives, they become evangelists for the practices we’re teaching, and the new way of working we’re advocating.

3) What is the one piece of information that you provide to clients that seems to resonate with them the most when it is difficult for them to see how proactively managing the 4 types of energy can have a profound impact on personal satisfaction and corporate success?

In an era of overwhelming demand, what resonates first is the science-based case we make for the fact that human beings aren’t meant to operate continuously for long hours. We all know, intuitively, that the way we’re working isn’t working, and that it’s actually depleting us. It’s thrilling for people to understand that intermittent renewal actually drives higher and more sustainable performance. Our work gives people permission to work in ways that serve them better – and make them feel better. And that ultimately serves their organizations better.

Posted in business, creativity, leadership, management, success | 1 Comment »

Have You Been Boss Stalked?

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

mean boss

Some years ago, after recently taking a new job, I experienced the creepiness, anger, and all together bad feeling of being Boss Stalked. As I sat outside with my kids watching them swim one Sunday afternoon, my cell phone rang, my blackberry buzzed with a new message, and my home phone rang, all within 3 minutes. Had it been a simple email asking me to call when I had a chance and apologizing for interrupting my Sunday, I probably would have gladly taken the time to call. But after reading the email and listening to the voicemails that demanded I call to discuss something that I knew could easily wait until Monday morning, I decided to ignore them all. Perhaps not a great decision, but I was angry. Angry that this person felt that he should have that kind of control over my life. It was bad enough that he clearly monitored the times at which I arrived and left the office every day, but now he was trying to control my weekends too. Back then I didn’t see my two little girls much during the week, so weekends were quite sacred to me.

Back at the office Monday morning, I received a harsh talking to from my boss letting me know that his expectation was that I respond to him within 5 minutes no matter what day or time he tries to get a hold of me. Wow, I thought, he really believes that is the best way to “make” me work harder and be more dedicated to my job. The reality is, that he could not be more wrong about what it takes to motivate me, and most people.

I knew that the issue at hand was not my work ethic. After all, the last job I had (for over 11 years) was full of examples of working long and hard hours. One Summer I even commuted to Germany when my youngest daughter was just 1 year old. I had spent many Thanksgivings working in foreign countries and many early mornings on the phone accommodating large time zone differences. I loved working hard and going the extra mile, as long as there was something worthwhile to do and great people to do it with.

So what was the difference? The difference was that at one job I was given my tasks and allowed to prioritize my work time as I saw fit. We all did, and we all supported each other when we needed to be somewhere else. Families were important to all of us, and we all did everything we could to maximize our home time while still giving 110% to our work. In the other job, someone was trying to control my every move, second-guessing every decision I made regarding my time, because they didn’t trust that I would not try to take advantage of the company. The result was that for the first firm I would have done absolutely anything no matter what was asked. They trusted me with a lot and they gave me the freedom to do things my way. The second firm, I was looking for any excuse to get out of there from the moment I arrived each morning. I wasn’t trying to get out of work, I just longed for a job where I wanted to work long and hard hours to create something meaningful. Because I believe in doing your best, even in the worst of circumstances, it took some very, very deep digging to muster up enough good feelings to convince myself that my boss was doing the best that he knew how to do, and my best bet was to be a good example. I don’t think he had ever experienced how good a working relationship could be. Often times I would pretend he was my old boss, just to get through the day!

I was always amazed that a boss could entrust an employee to make a $10 million decision one minute and then the next minute require that they ask permission before taking a few hours off to deal with an urgent personal item. I don’t think I am the only one that sees this as incongruent. I think it doesn’t make sense to a lot of us, and insults the intelligence of millions of people every day. Then, why do we put up with these types of relationships in the workplace year after year? Because that is the way it has been done for years and years and most people don’t consider changing it as even showing up on the list of possibilities.

My example was a bit extreme I know, and most managers don’t go to such lengths to control their employees, but I wanted to make a clear point. Any kind of controlling behavior, even if done with great respect for the employee, is going to cause some amount of resentment. Built up resentment is not going to motivate a person to work harder, smarter, or with more passion. In fact, it will have the opposite affect.

Take some time to look at your organization’s policies and ask yourself what kind of assumptions are being made and what kind of results are being created by policies that attempt to control the will of others. Most policies work under the assumption that if given the chance, most employees will try to get away with as little work as possible and will attempt to get more money for doing less work. In my 20-year career, I have met very few people that think that way. Most employees want to do a good job at work and are very unlikely to make decisions that would jeopardize their careers. If we insert that assumption into our policy manuals, we would likely come up with a lot fewer rules and regulations and find that productivity actually increases as constraints are removed.

Best Buy has received a lot of accolades for ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) implemented at their corporate offices. If you do your best work in the middle of the night from home and like to spend the mornings driving your kids to school and running errands, then you are encouraged to do just that. They no longer even have rules about vacation! As long as you get your work done, nobody really cares.

A bank in New Zealand also recently allowed their Branch Managers to decide what hours their banks would be open instead of conforming to the corporate policy. Because every community is different, the Bank Managers are now able to better serve their customers. Happy customers are generally loyal customers!

And do we have to keep using the term “BOSS”? It reminds me of being a kid and hearing “You are not the BOSS of me!” on the playground. As far as I know, there is no national law requiring use of that term. Can’t we all just be colleagues, no matter what our specific jobs entail?

Posted in management | 1 Comment »

Innovation From the Inside Out

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Innovation Mindset If your company is following suit in a growing trend and starting an Innovation campaign, beware of the pitfalls. Many companies assume they can create a few goals, advertise the idea, provide a bit of training, and expect that greatness will appear.

If it is unbridled success you are after, and you are trying to create a stark competitive advantage, it is critical to start by innovating your management strategy. Asking employees to be innovative and contribute to the next competitive advantage while employing a management strategy left over from the Industrial Revolution is like asking your 1960’s percolating coffee maker to give you a triple shot skinny vanilla latte with extra foam. You will be lucky to get a decent cup of joe and a monstrous mess. However, if you are willing to entertain at least some components of a 21^st century management strategy, you will likely be blown away by the creativity that in many cases lies dormant.

Many modern companies employ management strategies based on command and control techniques designed to encourage employees to do only what they are asked, which translates into turning off their creativity as they enter the building. Hierarchical organizations, not matter how progressive, generally promote a unidirectional flow of information. The clock watching tendencies of most managers and requirements to account for every minute of every day, do nothing to build a culture of trust. I know how it made me feel to be a grown woman (having put myself through graduate school, and learned how to do business in 6 different countries with little direction) forced to ask permission to take my child to the doctor and watching my “boss” decide whether or not it was convenient for him.

There is no shame, blame, or guilt intended here. We’ve all been doing as we were taught in business school when in comes to organizing and managing companies. The difference now is, we know there is a better way and with it comes higher productivity, greater enjoyment, and less turnover.

Without creativity, a collaborative flow of information in all directions, and trust, all attempts at suddenly becoming an innovative firm that is competitive in the ever-changing world of the 21^st century will likely fail. The essential ingredient for creating an innovative work environment is the courage of the folks at the top to change the rules of the game. With that one ingredient, everything else will come naturally. Not without hard work and dedication, but without friction. Your team will amaze you, inspire you, and keep you humble enough to savor every moment, even the ones that aren’t so great. It is possible to create an environment where failure is understood to be a key to success and support is as normal as gossip is today.

If you want employees to think creatively, design solutions to fix problems beyond the ones you know about, collaborate, and generally bring their A-game, you must be willing to give them the freedom to do those things in their own way and with their own style. People are only going to give you as much as you believe they can deliver and no more. If you believe your team is invincible and you tell them often, then that is what they will aspire to be.

Posted in Courage, leadership, management, strategy | 2 Comments »

No Lights, No Signs . . . No Deaths

Monday, October 26th, 2009

A Business Lesson from the Dutch

traffic1

The Dutch town of Drachten removed most of their traffic lights and traffic signs with remarkable results. Intersections previously adorn with traffic lights and directional signs have been replaced with round-abouts (traffic circles) and all signage removed. Deaths related to traffic accidents zero since the program started seven years ago. Residents claim that now it is much quicker and much easier to get around town. The stopping and starting at traffic lights no longer exists and drivers are now fully engaged and more aware.

I encountered a similar phenomenon in Bali last year while on vacation with my family. There are a few traffic signs and lanes painted on the roadways, but largely they are ignored. The roadways are littered with mopeds carrying anywhere from 1 to 5 passengers, creating up to 15 lanes at a time. Infants are carried in their mother’s laps as they sit sidesaddle behind their husband who is driving with another youngster in front of him. At first glance you would call it chaos and certainly dangerous. Not surprisingly, I immediately cancelled the car I was planning on renting as soon as the driver dropped us off from the airport. After a while, though, you realize that it is a very orchestrated dance, with motorists essentially creating their own rules of the road on the fly. Horns are used strictly in a positive sense to warn other drives that you are coming by. Not once did I see an angry, put all of your force behind the heel of your hand, make an ugly face and stick out your tongue horn blow. Nor, did I see an accident in the 2 weeks that I was there. Were the rules followed, it would be a lot less efficient.

Why do you suppose that traffic without mandated bureaucratic rules is so successful and apparently much safer? It is simple really, and it directly applies to business too. THE MORE RULES ENFORCED, THE LESS PEOPLE THINK. It’s an automatic response. When we are forced to follow someone else’s rules, there is no reason to think about the best way to get something done. It becomes easier to simply follow the rules. We’ve all had that boss who gave us an assignment and then proceeded to tell us each and every step to getting it done. And generally, the boss will get exactly what was requested, never anything more, and occasionally a little less. Never will they enjoy the full potential of their employees.

Now, consider that truth, and compare it to your workplace and its management strategy. Does your company ask for creativity, collaboration, and innovation while simultaneously providing a rule, process, or procedure for every conceivable scenario that could possibly occur? Most likely there is an alignment issue between the desired outcomes and the environment designed to promote those outcomes. This is the most common ailment for corporations today, and one that will largely determine their success in the future. The trouble is that it is difficult to self-diagnose. Not because those looking for ways to promote success are daft, but because the diagnosis and the cure fly in the face of everything we’ve ever been taught about organizing and managing a business. It won’t fit in any box, or even outside a box. Also, once acknowledged, the cure will bring a landslide of change that seems daunting, overwhelming, and downright scary. Therefore, it is easier to rationalize that the management strategy is fine, but more training in leadership and innovation is what is really needed. This is the very situation that many CLOs (Chief Learning Officers) are faced with today. I met many CLOs of Fortune 500 companies last week at a CLO Summit put on by Marcus Evans, and I have to say they are some of the brightest and most determined individuals I have ever met. Most are astute enough to know what the real issues are but are guided by leadership teams that do not. I commend them for their ability to persevere despite their circumstances. They all chuckled each time one of the presenters joked that, “The key to successful corporate learning is picking the right CEO”.

When considering such ideas, don’t forget to consider the consequences of choosing the status quo. Companies embracing this new perspective are enjoying phenomenal results. Companies like Patagonia report thousands of resumes for every job opening and ivy league MBA graduates applying for shipping jobs just to get a foot in the door with a company that believes in valuing their employees, customers, and the environment more than anything. Dutch Brothers Coffee is opening stores, while Starbucks is closing them, simply because they focus on relationships and it is shining through to their bottom line.

Over time, as more and more companies adopt a 21^st century management model that is aligned with desired outcomes, as well as employee and customer values, a shift of the best and the brightest employees will follow. As the next business cycle heats up, the effects of this shift will become more noticeable. If you are waiting for a clear sign that you are loosing your best talent because your management strategy is left over from the last century before making a change, it will be too late. Unfortunately, we are likely to see a few iconic companies get left behind.

Competitive advantages in the near future will come more from revolutionary changes in management strategy than they will from other more traditional sources such as efficiency and cost control, population growth, and increases in standard of living.

Posted in business, leadership, management, strategy | 1 Comment »

From Linear to Exponential: A Lesson from the World Business Forum

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Exponential_2

One of the most important lessons from this year’s World Business Forum in NY, is the need to update our business models for the 21^st century. Believe it or not, most of today’s business models are based on how the military and large industrial companies were managed over 100 years ago. Gary Hamel’s presentation, in my opinion, was brilliant in presenting why we need new models and what they might look like and how to get there. The best quote I jotted down was “How do we build an organization that can change as fast as change itself?”

Don’t worry; you don’t need a degree in calculus to get the jest of this post. But when you’ve finished reading it, you will understand the point. In the graph above, the red line is linear, the blue cubed, and the green exponential. Image the vertical axis is the rate of change, and the horizontal one time. The point being that as time progresses, the change we see in our lives, society, technology, etc is increasing at an increasing rate. A couple hundred years ago, change was very linear and much slower. Now we are in a time of exponential change, where many of the new technologies and new insights allow things to change on the fly. In other words, the reality of rapid change is already built in. Think about the iPhone, even if you purchased the first model, you still get many of the great upgrades because they put new features in the software instead of the hardware. The question then becomes, are today’s business models equipped for such a world. My answer is a resounding NO! The good news is, we can get there fairly quickly.

Even the military recognized the need for a new model. Commander’s Intent, or Miliary 2.0 Thinking involves the realization that there is great value in today’s soldiers’ ability to see and thus communicate things that their leaders cannot. Thus today’s soldiers often operate under the Commander’s Intent as a guiding concept rather than absolute orders.¹

The primary goal of large-scale manufacturing companies during the industrial revolution was to get people to do the same job day in and day out without complaining while paying the least amount possible in wages. The great production innovations created millions of un-fulfilling jobs. In 1913, the year of the first moving assembly, large groups of workers at Ford began to leave with turnover peaking at 380%. Ford finally ended up offering workers $5 per day (twice the minimum wage) and reduced the workday from 9 to 8 hours. Thus the traditional relationship between employer and employee was born, dictating that employees would do as they were told by their superiors in return for more money and time off.² It was a trade most were willing to make because they desperately wanted a better quality of life. It solved the issue it was aiming to resolve, but I would argue that it masked the root cause of an unfulfilling job. This foundation still today, underlies many modern companies . . . and we wonder why so many workers, and even executives, are unhappy and dispassionate about their jobs.

The issues today’s companies face are quite different. For starters, they want people to think, and collaborate, and innovate especially as we come out of this recession. However, most companies are not aligned with any of those outcomes. They are aligned with rule followers, and people who are afraid to even consider revolutionizing anything. Sure, there are some industries, or departments, or companies that have figured out how to promote creativity and passion in the workplace, but most have not. Command and control methods of management won’t work in a world where people want to feel valued, care if the company they work for is a good steward of the earth, and want to be challenged and grow as human beings. Fifty years ago, very few believed that kind of job was possible. Today, most people know that they do exist and there are more examples every year of companies with enough courageous to challenge the status quo. That courage will pay off and provide the first movers with a tremendous competitive advantage.

The rate of change that occurs today in society, technology, infrastructure, and knowledge is far greater than it was 200, 100, or even 50 years ago. Traditional business models are very linear in nature, which generally worked in the past because for a long time the rate of change was relatively low. You could decide on a business plan and it would work quite well for a decent amount of time. When a crisis hit, it was time to try something new. Today’s business models need to handle change occurring at an exponential rate. The 21^st century requires a business model that is fed by change. Where crisis will hit if you stop changing, updating, and improving, not when it’s too late. This is where competitive advantages will be born in the near future. Is your firm ready?

It is imperative to start challenging long held beliefs about how businesses can and should be managed. It starts with a commitment to change and a willingness to be brutally honest with yourself and your team about what works and what doesn’t. If you have those two things, you will be amazed at what you can create, and you will be even more amazed by what your team can create once you give them the freedom to succeed.

This is a tremendously exciting time in business, and the ones that are more creative, have the courage to challenge old beliefs, and want to have a bit of fun along the way will WIN.

1 Smartsourcing by Tom Koulopoulos

2 The Support Economy by Shoshana Zuboff and James Maxmin

Posted in business, economy, global, management, strategy | 2 Comments »