1)      That warm fuzzy “we’re a family” feeling can easily become dysfunctional in a heartbeat no matter how big you are.  As the leader of your company – you do not want to be poised as the mother/father with the siblings fighting for your approval/attention.  And avoid at all costs of thinking of your employees as children – it’s debilitating and demeaning to them and an entrapping  train wreck for you.

2)      At the core of that small company warm feeling of goodness are aspects that with consistent intention and attention can be replicated in a larger company:

• Everyone plays an important role that’s critical to the success of the company
• And thus everyone is accountable for their piece
• You have each other’s backs and support one another in times of pressure
• You’re all in alignment – clear on the vision being achieved and the path to get there
• Everyone shares in the successes and the failures
• Appreciation is spoken often
• There are often opportunities to improve, innovate, be challenged and stretched
• Employees’ opinions, input and expertise are sought out when considering new options
• Excitement for what’s being created is in the air

3)      Often it’s “policies and procedures” that feel like the tipping point.  Yet this doesn’t make a larger company cold.  Rather they are the guiding principles and boundaries that create clarity and efficiency, allowing a company to focus on what’s important instead of trying to manage one-off situations.  When done thoughtfully, these policies and procedures and their language can reflect a warm, close culture.

4)      One thing a small company has that most large companies struggle to match culture-wise is flexibility and nimbleness.  Yet large companies have the advantage of a more stable, consistent culture (hopefully one they love) that if someone comes in and they are not a fit, they will either adapt to the culture that’s in place or leave.  The company is unlikely to accommodate the individual – and that can be a good thing.  Do you remember as a smaller organization how you would try and mold yourself to accommodate the *one* – THE employee who was supposed to take your company to the next level, but whose attitude and way of being simply did not match your culture? Lesson learned.  Choose your culture and choose individuals that generate it.

5)      So the assumption is off – it’s not that it’s more difficult to have a great company culture when you’re a larger company, it’s that if you have a culture that needs adjusting it just requires a bit more time and energy to turn a freightliner than a small boat.

When to use it:

• To find a solution to address an ongoing challenging issue
• To consider the pros and cons of moving forward on an opportunity
• Beginning of a project – scope, roles, SMART goals, general timeline, desired results
• When you need agreement, buy-in and support to have success on moving forward
• When you really want input, ideas, suggestions and feedback on a topic that’s central to the viability/improvement of the company
• Big picture thinking, consideration of major changes to the company – identity, service/product mix, significant growth, merger, acquisition

When not to use it:

• To garner agreement or approval on a decision that’s already been made
• Issues around safety
• Issues around ethics – just do the right thing, period.  No discussion needed.
• Decisions that require urgent action
• Financial issues that are critical to the viability of the company
• Detailed or logistics intensive planning (instead have one person propose a plan of action and garner input on the viability of the plan)
• Small decisions

What doesn’t make sense is to shackle them to keep them in your company.

And I’m not saying it doesn’t work – I’m sure there’s many a talented person that stayed at an organization longer than they wanted to because of benefits, phantom stock, an earn out or something of similar ilk.

It’s like consensual blackmail.  The consensual sounds nice, the golden part sounds good too, it’s the blackmail and handcuffs that somehow kill the pleasant ring.

Do you want to be a company where people work there because they feel like they have to?

Or because they want to?

Employees who show up because they want to usually care about the company, their colleagues  and themselves. They believe in working in a workplace that’s good for them – good for their spirit and good for their sense of pride.

If you’re a company that’s implemented golden handcuffs – chances are you put these in place out of fear of losing someone and because you simply didn’t know any other way.  Perhaps you yourself feel shackled to your business and feel like you have to offer “incentives” to encourage others to stay.

Don’t shackle your people to secure that they show up.  Instead inspire them to choose to show up with their spirit and self-respect intact.

How do you do that?  You do that by creating an extraordinary company culture where most days people look forward to coming to work (yes, it’s possible!)  There’s a reason why that one company down the street that’s known for being a great place to work has a line of applicants out the door – many of whom are willing to get paid a little bit less than the competition because it’s worth it.  It’s worth feeding their soul and maintaining their dignity.

• #1 – Hire for your culture (if you like your culture!); hire for your values
• Can teach skills, can’t teach attitude
• Take reference checks seriously
• Consider the team they will be working with – good fit?  Should the team interview them too?
• Hire slowly, fire quickly
• Don’t hire someone you don’t like – regardless of the qualifications – in the same vein, if your intuition says no or there are ANY red flags, don’t hire
• Past behavior and action often dictates future behavior and actions
• Leave open ended questions open – meaning a little silence is okay (in fact it may mean that s/he is thoughtful in his/her response!), don’t fill up the space with the answer you would like to hear
• Ask questions the first half of the interview, then spend time telling them about your company and what you’re committed to, then ask them what questions they have – the questions they choose to ask will tell you A LOT, listen closely – often this is what their concerns are, this is what’s important to them.  If they ask good questions about the business/culture/position this bodes well!
• Read their body language – 90% of communication is non-verbal; also what is your body language telling you about how you feel when talking to this person
• When looking to hire look: 1) someone you’ve worked with who could fill this job who’s really good, 2) widen the net to people who you trust, 3) try to find somebody you know and trust who knows the person you’re thinking of hiring

Questions are meant to find out (so listen for):

• Sense of Humor – Do they have a sense of humor
• Candid and Honest – Are they candid with you and honest about themselves; can they admit to their mistakes
• Ethical and Integrity – Passionate about doing the right thing
• Value Based Life Outlook – Not-selfish or egocentric, passionate about something bigger than themselves
• Collaborative – gets along well with others, team attitude – refer to “we” or only “I”
• Energy–Givers – Are they energy-givers, optimistic, cheerleader
• Common Sense and Good Judgment
• Ability to Adapt – How they handle change
• Curious, Innovative, Problem Solver
• Learner – Are they interested in improving themselves; can they learn from their mistakes

Top 10 Interview Questions*

1. Tell me what you think this job is all about.
2. Tell me about your life. Start wherever you want to, from the beginning or the end, but talk to me about you, what you’ve done, and then walk me through what you’ve done with your career and where you want to go.
3. Why are you choosing us?  What can you do for the company and why do you think it would be a place where you could be successful?
4. What are your priorities?  What makes you tick?
5. What’s something you’ve done that you’re really proud of? OR Give me an instance where you really believed in something and you were able to make a difference.
6. What would say was one of your most significant mistakes and what did you do to correct it?  What did you learn from it? How would you do it differently?
7. If you had to name something, what would you say is the biggest misperception people have of you?
8. What makes you really angry?
9. What do you do in your free time? If we were going to hang out, what would we do together? What would you show me?
10. Tell me about a time when you felt the company you worked for needed to do something differently or go in a different direction: How did you handle that? How did you approach it and how did you resolve it? If you had a do-over, what would it be? Tell me about your results.

*Many of these are adopted/adapted/culled from the weekly New York Sunday Times Corner Office interviews of successful CEOs and the question – What questions do you ask when you’re hiring?

There’s a misperception out there that in order to have happy employees you have to throw extraordinary pay and fabulous perks at them.

First, let’s look at perks – while I’ll be the first to admit that a massage would be nice or a retreat in Hawaii, the value is temporary. Think about it – if you come back from your relaxing lunch massage to sit down next to your vampire co-worker, the one you sit next to every day, 8 hours a day, the massage might be just enough to keep you sane, forget happy.   Or if you return from Hawaii, proud of your tan and pictures of coconuts, to toxic drama where none of your innovative ideas can see the light of day, the glow of the tan wears off, quickly.

Second, let’s look at pay.  Remember a time you had an all-star player that you gave consistent substantial increases to, the one who may have even said they were happy, and who then gave you their notice and went elsewhere (maybe even to the competition.)  Well sorry to say, they weren’t happy and they didn’t feel safe to tell you that they weren’t.  In some cases you find out that they even took a pay cut.  That’s because (and I hate to do the cliché) money isn’t everything.  In fact it’s not even in the Top 8 Critical Factors to having employees feel good about coming to work.  I will tell you that employees want to feel that they are being paid “fairly.” Especially in relationship to their co-workers – because yes, they will talk about it, company policy or not.

Third, know that there are many many ways you can create and keep happy employees that don’t cost a dime.

Fourth, I would suggest you can’t afford NOT to have happy employees – take a couple of minutes to consider the ROI of happy employees:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtA67Xvz2bI.

And there’s a reason why it sounds sexy – because the assumption is that it helps create another of the latest “it” words, trust.  We’ve got nothing to hide.  All our cards are on the table.  What you see is what you get.  No deception here.

And while transparency is great – companies being straight, clear and honest about what they’re up to and how they’re doing, there’s something missing.

You know the one way window/ one way mirror – as seen in the movies when FBI are interrogating potential criminals – in some ways with “transparency” we’ve just flipped the window/mirror.  Instead of employers watching/micromanaging employees, in transparent companies, employees can watch their employers.  Which while great, is still half of what needs to be accomplished.

The issue that remains – can employees be transparent with their employers?  Can they feel safe saying what opportunities and challenges they really see? Can they be candid (and constructive) and not canned?

Now if you had two way transparency – a clear window that opens, then there really could be huge understanding, communication, innovation and forward motion.

How many leadership teams are still interrogatively watching their employees?  How many leadership teams have done the “right thing” and are sharing the financials, sharing the information and yet wonder why looking at a mirror reflecting the same faces and ideas on a daily basis isn’t resulting in significant improvements?

There’s another way, a crystal clear way.

When looking at the potential upside, have you asked yourself what kind of culture would I be inheriting?

Let me give you a simple analogy -

When you inherit an extraordinary culture, you have a state of the art plane, and a runway with the immediate potential to fly to great heights.

When you inherit a toxic culture, the plane is still sitting in pieces, never mind a runway.

How much of a price reduction should you negotiate if it’s toxic?  What’s going to be the cost (financial and emotional) and time frame to turn the culture around?

How much more should you consider offering if it’s a fabulous culture?  What’s it worth to you to be ready to take off on day one?

Now how do you know if the culture is fabulous or toxic?  Ask the seller and chances are “it’s great!”  But how do you really know?

This is where Choose People can help – we measure employee happiness, we measure “do the employees at this company feel good about coming to work.”  Do they want to be there?  Are they excited to be there? Or are they simply warm bodies? Or even worse, are they full of resentment and disgruntled?

Lastly, if it’s an incredible culture we can tell you why so that as you takeover you keep in place those facets that are working.  And if it’s toxic, we can give you a roadmap as well as timeline for turning it around.

Remember the movie “Money Pit?” – a house can look beautiful on the outside and be a disaster waiting to happen on the inside.

Do your cultural due diligence.

In some workplaces, appreciation is so rare that people wonder if anyone sees/cares about their hard work.  On the other end of the spectrum, you have managers who say thank you so often that it can becomes meaningless or appears inauthentic.

Meaningful appreciation and recognition includes the following characteristics:

1. Informal – doesn’t need to be written or part of the “employee of the month”
2. Timely – as soon as possible after the help has been received
3. Unexpected – super powerful when people don’t expect to hear from you
4. Personalized – what did they specifically contribute) that was helpful?
5. Genuine – feel/convey the gratitude when you express your appreciation – don’t just say it to say it
6. Verbal is ideal, as well as face to face (tone and body language speaks volumes) – though timely is more important, so if you can’t see the person within 24 hours of the impact of their help, then use another mode of communication
7. And lastly and most importantly Say What it Meant to you – so often we simply say “Thank you!” or via text (when it’s apparently not even worth spelling out) “Thx!”  I too am guilty of this with friends and family.  But when it comes to work relationships where bonds may not be as strong or intent not as clear, it’s important to take the time to say what it meant to you (or the company) to have their help.  Express the impact of their contribution.  Here are some examples…Thank you:

• • You made my whole day
  • Because you dealt with that issue, it made it possible for me to have uninterrupted time to finish a critical project that’s been on my plate
  • Because you went above and beyond to meet the deadline early, the client was thrilled and referred us another one which means we’ll meet our sales goals for the week
  • Because you stayed late, it meant I could go see my daughter’s soccer game, she was so happy to see me in the stands
  • Your leadership and integrity in this situation has meant that we won’t lose such a key account
  • Because you figured out this problem we’re able to truly move forward on the new product line that will give our company an incredible strategic advantage

So right now, take off of your “to do” list that thank you note you’ve been meaning to write, walk over to who you want to acknowledge, with gratitude in your heart look them in the eye, thank them and express the impact of their help.

And no, it doesn’t need to be accompanied by a gift card (this can sometimes even cheapen the contribution made by the individual.)

Real deal appreciation trumps a gift card every time.

OUR PURPOSE

We need to provide for ourselves and those we love. That’s the very basic premise that brings us to work each day. But beyond the obvious economics of work, we believe that our endeavors should have meaning.

It’s our belief that a comfortable home and good design are an enhancement to people’s lives. Building relationships with our customers and helping them create homes they love, gives us great satisfaction.  When we can share this passion with individuals with whom we enjoy working, there is nothing better!

SETTING THE STAGE

Your past work experiences may have been quite different from what you’ll experience at Room & Board. We do things differently. We challenge you to think in new ways; about how your role is defined, the relationships that you build, and your connection to the business and the outcomes that you achieve.

OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Respect and Relationships

Respect is foundational to our work environment. Everyone is expected to build relationships based upon mutual respect and collaboration; with one another as peers, as well as with our customers and vendor partners.

Our work doesn’t happen within the structure of an organizational chart. Real work happens within relationships. That’s why it is so important to understand how you affect others, including your peers. You should be comfortable providing consistent and meaningful feedback to everyone in the organization and openly receive insights shared with you.

Our vendor partners play a significant role in our success. We should treat them as true partners, respect their point of view and hold them to high standards. Our shared goal is mutual long-term success.

We share this one world and whenever possible, we expect each of us to make deliberate and responsible decisions to protect it.

Individual Accountability

Use good judgment when making decisions and apply principles, not rules to each situation.

Each of us should have a passion for our work and a commitment to our career. Engage with curiosity and lead with questions each and every day. You actions, not your title, will define your success.

We trust one another to work hard to keep our work commitments. Each staff member must remain accountable to the needs of the business while at the same time being afforded the flexibility to balance his or her personal obligations.

We push to innovate. With such a progressive mindset we understand that mistakes will be made. If they’re not, we probably aren’t trying hard enough. When you make a mistake accept it, communicate the reality of the situation and, with those you have effected, collaboratively decide how best to move forward.

We seek many voices when making decisions. Be open and honest when sharing your voice and expressing a different point of view. We expect differences of opinion and those challenges strengthen the outcome. And once a decision is made we must all engage fully to make it work.

Engaging in the Business

We share financial information because to be successful, each of us needs to be proactive in our understanding of how our actions affect the financial health of the organization.

The more you seek to understand how your role is related to our business objectives and tied to the broader success of the company, the more rewarding, enjoyable and challenging the effort.

Attaining a base level of sales growth and profit is necessary for our long-term health. It allows us to reinvest in the business, which in turn gives us the opportunity to continue to grow successfully.

As Room & Board grows, it is critical that we keep it simple. Each of us should care enough to get involved in the smallest of detail. When we focus on the basics, the rest will follow.

Room & Board’s annual business planning process is meant to be fluid to allow for the changing realities of our world. Our measures are often ranges supported by a well thought-out plan. This process avoids the game playing of trying to hit absolute numbers. Once our business plan is set we’re each accountable for the things that we control to achieve the plan.

IN CONCLUSION

Defining our Guiding Principles in this way is meant to encourage meaningful conversations that help you understand our uniqueness and support your success. We strongly believe these principles create a rewarding and deeply satisfying work experience. Embracing our Guiding Principles is an expectation we have of every Room & Board staff member.

Thank you Room & Board for sharing such an extraordinary and thoughtful document!

“It’s not that important, but I heard…”

“I know you’re really busy, so I don’t want to take up too much time, but I wanted to share…”

“Uh, do you have a minute?  I can come back – I’m sure you’re really busy.  No really, I can come back later – it’s neither here nor there.”

This, ladies and gentlemen, is courageous communication.

This is your employee trying to tell you about an elephant in the room.  And the bigger the elephant, the smaller the crumb.

They won’t come carrying a big red flag nor a fire extinguisher or a sign that says “run for your life, the sky is falling.”  There will be no signs on their face of the absolute angst, concern and fear they’re feeling.

They think you’re blissful in your corner office – clueless to the chaos just outside your door.  People tell you want you want to hear.  They smile when you walk by, maybe even give you a thumbs up.  You’re the boss after all.

Maybe it’s someone on your executive team that’s driving everyone crazy.  Maybe it’s a project in which everyone knows the deadline is going to be missed.  Maybe it’s a huge mistake with a client or with an order.

They will only give you one bread crumb and they will wait to see how you react.   If you fail to only see the crumb and not the trail to the elephant, the employee will not give you the next crumb to follow.

When given a crumb listen very very closely.  If they say it’s not important, it is.  Then ask the questions you don’t want the answers to.  Because those are the answers you need to hear.  And whatever you do – don’t kill the messenger – THANK the courageous employee for taking the time to tell you.

The Executive Team as a grand brilliant plan for 2012 filled with strategies and goals.  And they are ready to lead the charge!!!! (Heads held high, looking into the horizon with looks of determination and excitement backed by multiple exclamation points!!!! of importance)

And everyone else, well they’re a little lost.

They’re glad someone’s excited, they’re just not sure how they fit in – how they fit into “The Vision for 2012!!!!”

First before answering how they fit in, answer why would they want to fit in/buy in?   Inspire and motivate the rest of the team that didn’t participate in the decision making process of the new direction of the company by including them.  Include them by informing them and answer the following:

• What were our 2011 successes?  Our weaknesses? Our learnings?
• What were the possible strategies considered for 2012?
• Why were the ones that were ultimately chosen chosen?
• How were the goals determined?
• Is there a priority to the goals, or are they all equally important?
• If we achieve the goals or don’t achieve the goals, what does that mean for the company?  for my department? for me?
• How do I fit in?  What do I need to do starting today to help the company achieve it’s goals?

Second align their everyday work.  How are they supposed to tangibly help achieve this grand vision?  There is a powerful free tool that makes it crystal clear for employees to see the vision AND see their individual role in it.   It’s called the Gazelle’s One Page Business Plan.  And if thoughtfully and thoroughly created, it creates tremendous clarity, alignment and accountability.  You can download it and the instructions for free:

One Page Business Plan: http://www.gazelles.com/gazellesGrowthTools.html – select strategy and then choose the second option – Updated: Strategy: One Page Strategic Plan

Instructions:  http://www.gazelles.com/download/documents/one-page_how-to.pdf

You’ll see it’s actually two pages.  And it powerfully marries big picture strategy on one page with company and individual implementation on the other.  It funnels from Core Values/Purpose all the way down to each individuals’ KPIs and priorities for the quarter.  It makes the master plan succinct and digestible for every employee in the company.

So if you wonder why everyone isn’t getting on board (it’s January 3rd already people!), or why their excitement doesn’t match yours, first inform and second align with tangible action.

Now you can lead the charge! (with only one exclamation point, because now everyone has their own to add – so much more authentic, rewarding and feasible)

Wishing everyone an extraordinary 2012

And that’s pretty much a no brainer when you think about it.  But it can seem kind of abstract.

Here is a true tangible tale  I was told the other day for the next time you’re wondering, what does employee inefficiency really look like?

Well it looks like this:

Eight guys work in the service department of their company.  The company sells high end residential lighting.

Most of these guys have been with the company for some time.  They would say they’re even considered some of the best and most reliable workers within their company.

They haven’t had layoffs.

And yet this team is concerned about job security.  Why?

Recently their company went through the Six Sigma process – a business management strategy that prides itself on creating efficiencies within a company.  Unfortunately the way it was implemented in this company resulted in disenfranchised employees.

Now they don’t trust the company they work for.

Now when a customer calls in and has an issue with their lighting the service team sometimes chooses to make simple fixes sound complicated so that the customer has to request that a member of the service team come to their home to fix the problem.  Job security achieved.  Efficiency not achieved.

Often the customer’s home can be a full day’s drive from the shop.  The company can be paying up to two full days’ worth of an employee’s time, plus at least a full tank of gas, plus wear and tear on the service truck.

$400 gone.

That’s what “unhappy employees are less efficient” looks like.

Insidious theft justified by hurt feelings and resulting fear.

Grab a pen and paper and find out.

Calculate how much each of these is worth to you on an annual basis:

1. Doing work that contributes to the success of your company (knowing what you do makes a difference)
2. Working for a company that helps society through its product/service/contributions
3. Enjoying the people you work with
4. Being genuinely appreciated for your hard work
5. Working in a workplace where you trust the people you work with and know that you are trusted
6. Working in a workplace where you respect the people you work with and know you are respected
7. Being “in the know” of what’s going on within your company
8. Knowing that if you need to occasionally take care of a loved one who’s sick you can without repercussions or sideways glances
9. Having a manager or supervisor you respect, can count on and who’s fair
10. Knowing you have control over how to get your work done
11. Working where there’s truly transparency, open communication and where feedback is not only heard, but taken seriously

Now add it up.  How much?

How does that compare to your financial compensation and your benefits package?  As much?  More? Less?

Can you add the entire amount to your financial compensation in the company where you work?  (If so, go thank your CEO, supervisor and co-workers)

Do you need to subtract some in the company where you work?

Are you now in the negative?

Something to think about.

*For those readers who e-mail us at info@choosepeople.com the amount their Psychic Compensation is worth to them overall for a year (not at your current company), and the breakdown amounts for 1-11, Choose People will send you a fabulous surprise package – make sure to include your address!

To your employees

To your supervisor

To your boss

These are the folks we spend an enormous amount of our waking hours with.  At this time of year we often think of our family and friends.  And perhaps your company thanks clients for their business.  And maybe even vendors for their support.

But stop, right now, and look around you.  These are the individuals who on a daily, weekly, monthly basis are part of your daily experience – who make it possible for you to have a successful company and/or who make it possible for you to work where you do.

They make it possible for you to feed your family.

Take a moment now and thank them.  It can be as simple as “In light of this holiday, I really want you to know I appreciate that I get to work with you.”  Specifics are great, but not necessary.  This isn’t a moment of feedback or kudos.  Just genuine gratitude.

So set aside your roaming thoughts of a delicious Thanksgiving meal, and reach out to 3 people you work with and give them thanks.

And I appreciate each and every company and the individuals in those companies that are working on creating and/or maintaining an extraordinary employee culture.  Thank you for your time, your energy and your commitment.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Enjoy

Why let them fail?  If you let them fail, then you gave them what’s equally important –  an opportunity to succeed,  innovate and contribute in a meaningful way.

And they will succeed.  Though often after they fail, after they learn, after they see you support their efforts.

You may wince a bit. You may even look through the slat in your fingers as you cover your eyes.  It’s not always pretty.  And at times it can be down right ugly.  But it’s absolutely critical to employee happiness – especially happiness of those who are innovators.  That engaged brilliant talent that we all so desperately want to harness.  Those who can see how your company can be better are going to want a chance to implement what they envision.  And you have to give them the room to try.

To create the room, do the following three:

1)       Give them the critical “do not cross” boundaries (try to keep it to 3)

2)      Timeline

3)      Co-create clear expectations – an idea of the ideal outcome of the project

You will be amazed at what they come up with – both in how they fail and in what they learn and how those learnings lead to new innovations and success within your company.

Avinger, a fast growing successful company out of the bay area got this one right – one of their 5 briefly worded core values is “Fail Fast.”  Fail.  Learn.  Apply new knowledge.  Repeat.

As Samuel Beckett said, “Go on failing. Go on. Only next time, try to fail better.”

This hand belonged to a store manager at REI and she graciously shared with me (and said I could share with you!) their process for a formal employee recognition program that is truly honoring, meaningful and inspiring.

This employee recognition program is called the Anderson Award which is named after the Founders of REI, Lloyd and Mary Anderson.

In my mind’s eye these are the 5 Key Aspects that make this award successful:

1. It is a peer to peer award – employees nominate other employees
2. It takes place annually
3. About 1 in 100 employees receives this award – so it’s truly a special and unique honor
4. It recognizes team members whose contributions exemplify REI’s Core Values and support their Mission
5. Everyone except for Managers, Directors and VPs are eligible to receive this award

Here are the 5 Key Logistics of this recognition program:

1. Anyone can submit a nomination form (that then goes to the store/unit manager)
2. The manager then selects a peer committee to evaluate the nominations and select a recipient (a manager does NOT sit on this committee). The committee chair is often last year’s recipient.
3. This committee not only makes the final selection, they also decide how to announce each nominee to make it unique and innovative every year
4. The final announcement of the recipient, as well as the honoring of nominees, occurs at the holiday store meeting
5. The recipient goes to REI Headquarters for three days to interact with other recipients, all divisions and leaders of the organization AND a stone, engraved with their name, is added to the walkway at headquarters that is made up of prior Anderson Award recipients’ stones.  They become a permanent physical part of the history of the company – talk about a sense of ownership and leaving a legacy!!

A bit of local flair:

1. In the store where this store manager manages, the photos of those who are nominated are posted on a bulletin board in the entry to the break room. Of her store’s 51 employees, 20 nominations were received for 13 employees.
2. A physical, useful, engraved with “Anderson Award” will be given to the recipient at her store (don’t want to spoil it!) and the nominees also receive a physical, creative, useful award (meaning not something that’s bland and sitting on a shelf).

What can your company learn from/apply from this program?

Rule #1:  Do not talk about compensation – separate the raise conversation from the duo-review.  The employee should know ahead of time that compensation will not be part of the conversation.  When a review includes compensation 1) you have the Charlie Brown teacher effect in which the employee doesn’t truly hear a word that you’ve said until you get to the part about compensation 2) an employee will never challenge your constructive feedback when a raise is on the line, hence it’s not really an open, honest conversation.

Rule #2:  Do not wait until a review to address ugly issues.  These issues should be dealt with as soon as possible.  There should be no ugly surprises in a duo-review.

Rule #3:  Conduct reviews when you say you will conduct them.  Basic integrity to the process is critical for setting the stage.  Schedule them and keep them sacred.  We recommend every 6 months.

FYI:  The Duo-Review assumes you have another process for developing quarterly SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) goals.

Creating the Space:  Create a space of equal vulnerability where a candid conversation can take place.  The intention should be clear:  to learn from one another what you appreciate and what you can improve upon in order to create a better relationship and more success in the workplace.  (Setting aside rainbows and unicorns, it will never truly be equal vulnerability simply because one has the power to hire and fire while the other does not.  However the intention of the manager to be truly open to hear constructive feedback is critical.) 

Where to hold the Duo-Review:  Hold the duo-review in a neutral space – so not in your office, perhaps in a conference room or go for a walk, or grab lunch or coffee outside of the office.  If you have a particularly sticky topic to address consider staying in a private setting. 

Preparation for the Duo-Review:

For the Manager:

1. What I appreciate about working with you is…
2. You could be a better employee (could replace with title) by… (no more than 3)
3. Be prepared to ask “How can I be a better manager?”
4. Be prepared to say something along the lines of  “I heard what you said and trust your intentions, thank you J”

For the Employee:

1. What I appreciate about working with you is…
2. You could be a better manager by… (no more than 3)
3. Be prepared to ask “How can I be a better employee (title)?”
4. Be prepared to say something along the lines of “I heard what you said and trust your intentions, thank you J”

How the conversation should go:  with manager starting each section and the employee finishing…

1. What you appreciate about one another
2. Ask how you can be a better manager/employee
3. Telling one another what you heard the other one say they appreciated and could see for improvement, (if true) that you trust their intentions and thanking them for their candor
4. Ask clarifying questions and find out what help, support or guidance may be needed
5. Say what each is committed to doing in the next 6 months to keep in alignment with what’s working and improve in the areas suggested

1)      It can easily be put on the back burner and then become a source of resentment and loss of trust in management

2)      If you do follow-through on a regular basis, it can become stale and lose its intended effectiveness

3)      It creates an us vs. them within your employee base instead of a team atmosphere (VIPs vs. non-VIPs)(those who are teacher’s pet vs. those who aren’t) – in the worst cases I’ve actually seen high achievers become lower achievers because they don’t want to be singled out from their friends/co-workers and seen as “better than”

4)      There will always be those who wonder why you recognized that person vs. themselves or someone else

5)      Taking someone out of the High Achievers Program will not be a motivator

6)      If everyone gets to be in the club it’s no longer special

7)     By creating “winners,” you also create “losers”

You know the old adage that the road to hell is paved with good intentions…this is one of those roads.

And if you focus on what’s different, this statement is true.

However if you look at what motivates most of us, not so much.

• We all want to contribute.
• We all want to be included and feel connected.
• We all want to be part of something that’s meaningful and bigger than ourselves.
• We all want to be able to support ourselves and/or our families.
• We all want to do work we’re proud of.
• We all want to work in a place that we’re proud of.
• We all want to be valued and respected.
• We all want to be acknowledged and appreciated for a job well done.
• We all want to be better people tomorrow than we are today.
• We all want to be challenged to learn something new.
• We all want to know what’s going on.
• We all want the best for those we care about – including our co-workers.

And the list goes on.  I don’t care how big or how diverse your company is – there is one solution to your employee culture woes that can create a visible significant impact and meaningful change.  A solution that speaks to ALL of your employees on a basic human level.

 It doesn’t have to be so hard.

So why so wishy washy?  Most people would immediately say – yes!  But of course.  If your employees stay with you, they must be happy.

So yes – if your long-time employees are fabulous contributors who not only drink the Koolaid, but serve the Koolaid and truly believe in the company, then yes, tenure is a good measure.

If you have employees who have been with you forever – that you should have let go a long time ago, then no, tenure is not a good measure.

 Interestingly the same person who asked this question told me of something they do at their company called “Where we at?”  This is when they let everyone know the revenue for the day, week and month.  Recently one of his best employees left to pursue a dream.  Just today the owner received a text from this now ex-employee asking “Where we at?”  The ex-employee still wanted to know how “his” company was doing. 

 Now that’s what I call a real barometer of employee happiness.

I was asked here recently, “Kris, what do you mean by happy when you talk about happy employees?”  Which was followed by -  ”Our philosophy is that at the end of the day we’re all responsible for our own sense of happiness.  That in essence, no one can ‘make’ us happy.”  I agree.  So how is it that Choose People purports to support companies in creating happy employee cultures?

What we truly mean by happy and what we actually measure is “do you feel good about coming to work?” 

Unfortunately this phrase does not acronym well – FGACTW, and is long and tedious and not nearly acceptable for marketing purposes.  Happy is.  And there’s a happiness movement of which we’re thrilled to be a part of.  Happy is visceral – you know what it feels like to be happy. 

With this explanation, the person who asked me the philosophical question said “I totally get this.  I used to have a job at a company that was so miserable that I’d rather get in an accident on the way to work than actually get there.”  Yowsers.

So yes, we do believe that at the end of the day we are all responsible for our own state of being – we can’t and don’t “make” people happy.  However we do help companies create collaborative cultures that foster joy.  We do support companies in having cultures where employees FGACTW :)

So what do you do?

Here’s some common options and then I’ll give you mine:

1) Write them up and put it in their file – yippee.  Waste of paper and time from a change perspective.

2) Beg and plead or yell  that they show up on time, telling them how important it is to be responsible and be there for the team, and then be terribly disappointed that this doesn’t make a difference

3) Make them an example and fire them and potentially lose an employee who’s fabulous in every other aspect

4) Tell them about how when they want a raise, if they simply worked that extra 10 minutes a day (if paid hourly) they’d be making more money – surprisingly this doesn’t tend to work either

5) Reward employees who do show up on time (similar to concept of if police were to give good drivers rewards instead of bad drivers tickets would the roads be safer?) - crazy annoying because this should just be part of the basic agreement between an employee and employer

Suggestion numero 6 – my personal favorite in play by play fashion:

6) Look them in the eye and tell them how it makes you feel when they’re late.  Yes, I’m saying make it personal.  Because it is.  It personally impacts you, your other employees and your business.

• You feel disrespected, like they’ve just spit in your face (pause for emphasis – this image is CRITICAL for the whole thing to work, because chances are the employee considers themselves good people and would never intend to do anything so awful) 
• And that they could give a damn about the impact it has on you, their coworkers and the customers.  DESCRIBE the negative impact in detail.   
• Then ask them how they would feel if you were consistently a day or two late with their paycheck, that you simply “just hadn’t gotten around to doing it” or “your car broke down” or “your alarm didn’t go off.”  You understand how important it is for them to get their paycheck on time to pay the rent, to pay bills and to feed their family.  You expect the same basic level of respect in return. 
• And then ask them, “You can count on me for basic respect and a timely paycheck, can I count on you to arrive on time?”
• If they hem and haw, then they will not arrive on time in the future and you will need to make a decision as to their real value to your team.
• If they say yes, you’re golden.

And while this was painful, what was more painful is he couldn’t hire the person who he interviewed and  knew would be a fabulous fit and could take the department to new heights. 

Why? 

Because someone who already works in his organization was already “covering” the job (albeit not very well) and was assumed by everyone to be the person who left’s replacement.  

Why would everyone assume this?

Because that’s their culture.  Seniority trumps ability.   

For some, this appears “fair.”  You’ve done your time, you’re next in line, you should get to move up the ladder.  Through seniority you’ve shown loyalty, commitment and dedication.  And you know the workings of the place inside and out.  I get it.  And you want a culture that appreciates seniority.

However you don’t want one that promotes, hires and fires because of it.

While it may seem fair, it’s not what’s best for the health of the company, nor for the employees impacted by the performance of this position.  (Anyone have the pleasure of being managed by someone who was promoted not because of their management skills but because they were next in the pecking order?)

What’s best is to hire the person who’s the best fit. 

It’s commendable to first hire from within your ranks when that internal person is truly the best fit for the position.  However always post the job both internally and externally and interview all applicants.  There should be no assumed hires or replacements.  One interesting twist that this will also help you avoid - the person who’s been assumedly promoted who didn’t want to be (yes it does happen.)

You want a culture where employees want what’s best for their community of co-workers, not just themselves.  Where what’s best is what’s fair.

They’re growth and success over the past few years has been tremendous, and they know that a key ingredient to their success has been their employees and the culture that surrounds them.  Alexa’s Angels designs and creates giftable, meaningful, inspirational jewelry than can be purchased directly from their website or through stores across the country – www.alexas-angels.com.

If you’re a small business, pay close attention.  A lot of small businesses either don’t know to take the time and energy to focus on employee culture or simply believe they don’t have the time and energy to focus for employee culture – that strategic employee stuff is only for big companies right?  Wrong. 

A strong employee culture that can grow with the company is one of the most competitive advantages a small business can have.  When you’re small, you’re nimble.  You can make changes within your organization quicker and easier than a large company that has inertia to overcome.  And when you’re small, each employee is full on the face of your company.  You want those faces to be smiling

Choose People works with companies that have 10 or more employees.  We can grow with you from 10-10,000+ employees!

1. Do you offer up innovative, creative, doable and financially feasible solutions for improvement?    (Or are you simply a yes person, disgruntled and steaming beneath the surface?)
2. Do you give 110% every day because that’s simply who you are?  (Or do you do just enough to make sure you “look good” or better than the person next to you?)
3. Do you take responsibility and action when mistakes occur?  (Or do you point fingers and desperately look for someone to blame?)
4. Are you happily willing do what needs to be done even if it’s not “yours” to do?
5. When you have a problem, issue or concern, do you take it to someone who can do something about it? (Or whine to anyone who will listen?)
6. Do you gossip with co-workers?  A close second, do you create drama or division in the office?
7. Are you committed to having the company you work for be better and make a bigger positive impact because of your work there?
8. Are you thoughtful in how and what you add to the discussion in meetings? (Or do you checkout or perhaps worse, talk to hear yourself talk?)
9. Do you bring value to your company and your co-workers every day?  How do you know?
10. Do you own your attitude?

 What other questions do you think should be on this list?

I didn’t want to give them too much.  I didn’t want to overwhelm them.  I didn’t want them to be stressed or frustrated.

Zzzzzzz.

Yep.  That’s right – they were so comfortable they were bored.  Unexcited.  And not terribly motivated.  Why would they be?

Employees want to be challenged.  They want to stretch, to learn, to accomplish, to achieve. 

That doesn’t mean they want to be overworked. 

And don’t demand.  Challenge.

Set the bar a bit higher than they think is possible.    Give the tools, give the guidance, give the encouragement and answer the questions.  And see what’s possible.

Lastly, don’t forget to appreciate the mistakes that come with the effort to step outside of the comfort zone.

 They have 50 employees, are based out of Ft. Collins, CO, and provide residential and commercial moves locally, nationally and internationally. 

It’s a word we often say when we’re young, and not as often when we’re old.  “But that’s not fair” – the younger brother whines about the older sister’s self served bigger bowl of ice cream.  And the parents often respond with the old adage “well life’s not fair.”

To say it when we’re adults is considered silly, childish, even näive.  

Since fair is seen as foolish and idealistic we use euphemisms in the business world such as “reasonable” or “appropriate.”  But these are not the same.  They’re not laden with a sense of mores or ethics like the word fair is.  Unreasonable can also mean stubborn whereas unfair carries with it injustice – that someone on the side of the equation is being selfish.  Ouch.

Fair is hard.  So we discount it.  Deeming it impossible.  Waving a hand of dismissal that “fairness is based on each person’s perspective” and hence irreconcilable.  (Think of conversations with both sides of a couple going through a divorce.)

However the reality is we don’t trust, like or want to work for people or companies we think are unfair.  And for that matter, we don’t want to purchase from them either.  We want a “fair” price.

A friend of mine had the pleasure of working with Gore (known to many for their product Gore-Tex®, and to others for being on Fortune’s “Top 100 Companies to Work For” 14 years in a row.)  And there he said, they looked fair straight in the eye.  They talked about what was fair all the time.  

He said one of the backbones of their culture was the concept of being Fair to All – to the Individual, the Work Group, and the Company.  And when tough issues arose they ran the issue through this matrix which provided tremendous clarity.  Not to mention it was everyone’s responsibility to practice and implement fairness – as a team member you worked hard because if you didn’t it wasn’t fair to your co-workers to carry your burden and it wasn’t fair for the company to lose money because you didn’t do your job.  Of course this buy-in is successful because this backbone is consistently reflected throughout the organization.

Taking on fairness requires courage.  And contrary to what we’ve been taught, to dismiss and ignore fairness is foolish.

“We greet them all with the same basic recipe for success: high standards, stiff challenges, a chance to develop unexplored talents, and a message many of them haven’t heard before – that no matter how difficult the circumstances of their lives may be, no matter how many bad assumptions they’ve made about their chances in life, no matter how well they’ve been taught to rein in their dreams and narrow their aspirations, they have the right, and the potential, to expect to live rich and satisfying lives.” Whether your employees come from difficult backgrounds or not, we all want to be believed in.  We all want someone to believe we can be better than who we are.  We want to achieve.  We want to contribute.  We want to be extraordinary. 

 How do you welcome employees into your four walls?

You tip toe around them.  You bend over backwards for them.  You walk on eggshells for them.

You swear your company can’t live without them, that you simply won’t be as successful because they’re THAT good.  They bring in THAT much revenue.  They’ve been around THAT long.  They know THAT much.  They’re THAT talented.  Or THAT connected. 

And yet they’re crazy toxic to your employee culture.  They cause internal drama and frustration on a regular basis.  They treat their fellow co-workers rudely, knowing they can get away with it.  They’re entitled prima donnas.  No one can stand them, and yet everyone accommodates them, because you do. 

You set the example of what’s acceptable, what’s valued, what’s rewarded.

I know this, because I’ve been there.  I’ve been the CEO who feels she has “untouchable” employees.  Employees she thinks she can’t live without.  And my entire company suffered for my lack of vision, my lack of spine, my lack of putting the whole team first before the superstar.  I lost the respect of my team. 

Until I saw it. 

I saw that no single employee has the power to make my company successful.  I saw the brutal emotional and financial impact of all the negativity this employee brought into my organization – that I allowed them to bring into my company.

At the end of day, if you truly want a rockin’ employee culture which pays dividends every moment of every day, you simply cannot have toxic rockstars or rainmakers no matter how valuable they seem. 

You will be amazed once they are no longer there the tremendous improvement in the “energy” of your company – and I’m not talking woo woo – but that feeling you get when you walk into your workplace will be so much lighter and brighter.  You will also be surprised to hear of all the horror stories that employees now feel safe to tell because the bully is gone.  And you will see and appreciate fully all of the other employees that helped to make that individual appear successful. 

I promise that the cost of a toxic rockstar or rainmaker to your company is at least ten times the value you think they bring to the table.

However here’s a laundry list of some symptoms of unhappy employees:

• Gossip
• Bickering
• Moping
• Pointing fingers – blame game
• Abuse of resources
• Hoarding of resources
• Not helpful outside of the “box”
• Lack of concern for the company, coworkers and customers
• Regularly arrive late, leave early, and take extra long breaks
• Clock watching
• Multiple customer complaints
• Passive aggressive e-mails
• Unexpectedly quitting (duh) – if they’re angry they’ll leave you in a lurch
• Apathy – could care less, whatever, just doing my job, that’s just what they told me to do
• Gregarious person becomes quiet, introverted
• Rolled eyes
• Complain about changes
• Couched “soft landing” and/or coded communication
• Evasive
• Inconsistent work – rockstars one week, unproductive the next
• Lack of input when ideas/feedback is requested
• Undermining
• Always say yes with a smile and “flat” eyes
• Always has something better to do than attend the company meeting
• Snide remarks and then say “just kidding”

Employees and managers – what else would you add to the list?

So while the questions are important – so is the space that is created before you ask the questions.  Let them know why you are asking the questions and what you will do with their answers.  They need to know that the time they spend with you is important to you (not just an HR check list to do) and that the information they reveal to you will be used to improve the company and the conditions for the co-workers they leave behind.  Let them know that in no way will their honest responses impact how you would choose to refer them in the future.  (Ideally any reference letters have already been provided.)  The person conducting the interview should be someone the person leaving trusts and will open up to – this may or may not be their immediate supervisor.

Now that you’re clear on why you want to conduct an exit interview and have created a healthy safe space for the conversation, here are the top 9 questions to ask:

1. What did you absolutely love about working here?
2. When did you feel most appreciated and valued at our company?
3. What fond memories do you have of working here?  (company culture stories that you don’t want to lose)
4. Who here at this company is going to be the most impacted by you leaving? (look at both the emotional and workload aspects of this question)
5. What were some of your biggest frustrations about working here?
6. If you were the owner of our company, how would you do things differently?
7. What should we truly know that you never felt like you could tell us while you were working here?
8. When you leave here, and talk to your friends and family about our company, what will you say?  How will you describe your experience here, no holds barred?
9. What else do you think we should know that we didn’t ask?

Of course thank them for their candor and thank them for their contribution to the company (specifics are ideal.)  Also make sure to give them another way to reach you once they leave should they think of anything else you should know.

We knew from the moment we first spoke with Co-Founder John Folkestad that there was something unique about these organizations.

He said, “We don’t just want our employees to be happy, we want them to be giddy!”

And giddy they are – one even said “I can think of no other place I would rather work.”  When it comes to employee happiness, it really doesn’t get much better than that.

Another employee talked a little bit about why SALO/ Oberon/NumberWorks has created such an incredible culture – “This is a very special organization. It’s commitment to being the best shows through in everything that the firm does. The firm is extremely professional and leadership cares about the employees. My direct supervisor does a very good job of communicating the critical and important aspects of the firm in a clear and concise manner. I am very excited to be a part of this company now and in the future. Our new mission and vision will help us continue to grow!”

With a culture like this, we have no doubt they will grow and experience lots of joy in the process!

Please learn more about these companies by checking out the various links on:  www.choosepeople.com/SALO-Oberon-Numberworks.

The place where a new relationship between an employee and a manager began.

I trust you. 

Innocent until proven guilty.  Trustable until proven not-trustworthy.

As no surprise, often if I trust you, you trust me.  We find each other worthy from the get go.

SO much more can be accomplished, because we’re not wading through all of the innuendos that come with distrust.

SO much easier to work together, share ideas, collaborate, be creative, invent, problem solve, evaluate mistakes and find solutions. 

Because we’re not afraid. 

We’re not afraid that the other is looking to undermine us, not afraid that our actions are under a microscope, not afraid that the other is looking to throw us under a bus. 

Be not afraid, and give wholeheartedly your trust to those you work with from the get go.

He started a new job a few months ago at a new health care/fitness facility for a hospital.  He’s in on time.  And he leaves on time so he can take care of his new child while his wife goes to her yoga practice.  On his one hour lunch break he eats a quick lunch that he’s brought and goes for a run. 

Since working there, he has not received acknowledgement for his:

• work ethic
• quick learning curve
• results he has already created in the little time he’s been there
• personal dedication to health
• efforts to create a healthy work/life balance

Instead the main communication he has received from his manager is the following:

1)      I don’t think you should be going for a run on your lunch break.

• What to know:  The irony is thick as this is a HEALTH facility.  An employee’s time when they are “off the clock” is theirs to do with as they wish – hopefully a no brainer within your organization.  And for goodness sakes, if they’re doing something healthy or learning something new or helping a family member, acknowledge and support what they’re up to in the world.

2)      I want you to check in with me every day when you come in, when you go to lunch, when you come back from lunch and when you leave.

• What to know: Micromanagement never creates trust.  If you don’t trust employees, you shouldn’t be a manager.  If you don’t trust one employee, then you need to really evaluate why this is the case.  And if you have an employee who’s not trustworthy then likely they should not be your employee.

3)     I don’t want you to leave until your work is done.

• What to know:  This manager hasn’t defined what this means since his job duties consist of ongoing work that’s never really ‘done.’ Communicate clear expectations.  Everyone wants to succeed.  In order to be successful, we need to know the rules – both the written and unwritten.  We need to understand what success looks like for the company as well as for our individual roles.  Are there results or relationships that need to be created or achieved?  Projects to complete?  In what time frame?

Note that the manager in this situation is not a complete brutish jerk.  It really doesn’t take much to damage a relationship with an employee, but as you can see from the suggestions above it doesn’t take that much to avoid these pitfalls. 

This manager sounds insecure of their ability to lead.  And unfortunately their insecurity will cost this company incredible talent as well as significant $$.  Let’s just say, my friend’s husband is not thinking this is the place he wants to grow old, let alone give his best to in the short term.

And yes, perhaps they ask because they’ve learned a new skill and are contributing now more than ever.

And yes, perhaps they ask because someone left (or was let go) and they’re doing the job of two.

But more often than not, they’re asking because they want you to make it worth it.

Worth it?

• Worth it to put up with the insane inefficiencies and lack of communication.
• Worth it to put up with the rude comment said by a supervisor.
• Worth it to put up with the crazy co-worker who everyone knows should have been fired a loooong time ago.
• Worth it to put up with irate customers to whom company promises have been broken.
• Worth it to put up with missing their daughter’s soccer game.
• Worth it to not be a part of something meaningful.
• Worth it to put up with feeling dispensable.

And at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how much you pay – it won’t be worth it.  It won’t be enough.  And it will become obvious as you watch one of your most valuable employees walk out the door even after you gave them the raise they asked for.

Be a workplace that’s worth working for.  That’s worth a life’s work.

And give a big round of applause to The Neenan Company for being our first Choose People Certified Company!

To find out more about Neenan’s employee culture check out www.choosepeople.com/neenan.   But before you do, hear about Paulette Hansen’s personal experience as the Director of Career Development at Neenan:

“‘Whoever said a small group of concerned, committed people could not change the world?  In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”  This quote by Margaret Mead was on the conference room wall on my first day at The Neenan Company.  That belief landed solidly with me.  Could I have really joined a company that had character, determination, and commitment to something larger than making money? 

Three months later I found myself at a weekend seminar led by David Neenan, surrounded by people who believed in making the world a better place, one person at a time.  As the seminar evolved, I became a believer in authenticity and standing up for responsibility.  I was ecstatic at having become part of this larger community. 

Twelve years later, I remain eternally grateful for the many experiences I have had through my partnership with The Neenan Company.  Contributing to the success of a company whose people care about not only each other, but also their client’s success, is vital for my long term satisfaction.  At The Neenan Company, we don’t just design and build buildings; we create spaces that enable others to realize their potential.  It’s not just words in a brochure for me, that is who we are.”

Part of creating a true blue Lovemark – not just a “brand” is to have your employees say “I love coming to work here.”  And here’s what’s interesting – it’s as important, if not MORE important that your employees love your company in order to truly create a Lovemark.

Why?

Because the employee experience feeds the customer experience.  The internal culture is reflected externally all the time.  Employees are the ones who take care of your customers.  If employees are not taken care of, how well do you think they’ll take care of customers? 

I’m always amazed at the manager who treats direct reports disrespectfully while demanding that employees treat customers with the utmost respect.  Crazy making.

At the Ritz Carlton, they get it.  There are so many great stories about the Ritz – well here’s one more to add to the list.  When they do employee training, they let employees know that at the Ritz it’s about “Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen.”  This simple phrase says so much:

• Employees come first. 
• Employees are the critical linchpin to the success as the generators of action.
• Employees are seen with respect, a respect on par with the respect of wealthy guests.
• Our employees are ladies and gentlemen and there are expectations that go along with standing in that space.

At the Ritz they are known for surprising their guests with exceptional attention to personal preferences.  They do the same for their employees.  From how they are treated, employees not only love where they work – they also learn how to treat guests in a similar manner, and having personally felt the experience they understand the joy, the impact, they create for guests.

Your employees’ experience will be your customers’ experience.  If you truly want to create a Lovemark, start with the “love” within your organization.  What experience could you create for your employees where they would say, “I love coming to work here!”?

What do you mean, not so much?

zzzzzzzzzz (the painful squeak of air seeping out of the balloon)

But we the management team have been thinking of this for months, mulling it over, tweaking it, being very considerate and thoughtful – thinking of the impact, thinking of the vision.   How do you not see what we see?  We are shocked (and some of us dismayed) that you don’t immediately see the brilliance and all that can come from this new opportunity.  We try so hard to do the right thing and you just don’t support us.  You always hate change.  We’ll never be able to move any initiatives forward.  We give up.

Of course this scenario is a bit extreme, and yet not so much.  There’s two pieces missing to this change initiative effort.  One is obvious, the other isn’t.

The obvious one, and I’ve talked about this before – it’s critical to keep employees “in the know.”  Communicate the steps.  Communicate the thought process.  Communicate the whys and why nots.   Include them in the process – ask them their thoughts, suggestions, ideas.    (Hopefully you already have the open cultural space that values and encourages input and feedback that is honored and considered.)  Let them participate in the planning, allowing them to own and champion the results, the outcomes, the change initiative.

The not so obvious one, the ritual of closure.

Often when we start something new, there is the end of something old.  The loss of something old.  Old, comfortable, clear, steady, known.  In the old, I understand my part, my role and what I’m in charge of.  In the new, it’s all unknown.  I may be attached to that which is old.  I may have helped create it, improve it.  Old has history and memories of “remember when.” 

In order for the New to come in, the Old needs closure which includes acknowledgement of past contributions and successes.

Just the other day a friend who used to work for HP told me that a few years ago they had a funeral for a technology they were discontinuing.  They passed around a box where everyone included memories around their work on the technology.  They brought in a mariachi band and served Mexican food. 

All the teams and individuals that were connected to this technology were moving on to new areas of work, and new teams.   They needed closure in a couple of ways:

• acknowledgement of their contribution to this technology – they needed to know that their efforts and energies that went into this technology were not forgotten – overshadowed by whatever “new” technology was coming down the pike. 
• chance to say celebrate their hard work and say goodbye to their daily co-workers -  while they would still see these folks on a regular basis, it wouldn’t be “the same.” 

Next time you’re looking to create significant change within your organization ask yourself:

1. How can I include my employees in the creation/decision making process?
2. What have we typically done in the past that will be lost in this transition?
3. How do we want to create a ritual of closure that honors the old and allows our employees to transition to the new?

Blah.

Yes, I don’t have a new sexy saucy way to say what is simply one of the cornerstones of trust between people.  What I can tell you is that a company who is perceived as having a really positive employee culture still struggles with this basic tenant.  It’s basic, it’s obvious, and it’s hard. 

In this company their values include “keeping their commitments.”  Which includes being on time to meetings.  And just recently a manager arrived late to a meeting (again) with all of his direct reports sitting there when he was asked, “Why do all of the C-level execs get to be late?”  Translated – why do you think you’re more important than the rest of us? 

And these small actions create huge ripples in the area of trust and camaraderie.  And such a small shift as a commitment to “walk the talk” can allow for critical change in an employee culture that’s been eroded over time by small poignant infractions.  Keep in mind, if you are in a position of leadership, when your rcok rolls down hill, it takes with it a bunch of stones below it.  Your self-permission to “blow off” a company agreement will reflect itself in the actions of people all around you.

Interestingly, Arkadi Kuhlmann, the CEO of ING was interviewed for the New York Times “Corner Office” and spoke the words “walk the talk” multiple times in his interview.  And yet he takes it to a whole new level.  He takes accountability for his actions to a whole new level:

“I’ve been the C.E.O. for 10 years. In December, I’m asking the employees again, would you vote for me to serve with you another year? And all my colleagues think I’m nuts, and the board thinks I’m nuts. But I don’t want to serve here unless I’ve got the commitment of people genuinely wanting me to serve.”

“The difficulty is getting people to interpret why I do this vote. I want people to get two things from this. One is that I don’t take the job for granted. And, No. 2, that I’m willing to be accountable to them, not because I work for them in a broader sense, but I’ve got to walk the talk, right? So if I keep walking around saying all the time that our associates are so important, then why don’t they have a say in terms of whether or not I’m leading?”

Awwww yeah.

If you were truly committed to “walking the talk” in all areas of your company, where would you need to step it up?  Take a look at the “values” your company (says it) adheres to – where are there breakdowns, cracks?  Obviously you wouldn’t still be in business if you were completely out of integrity – but where does it “show up” that you say or want from others one thing, and do another?

And FYI – we’re all human.  Wonderfully human.  With our warts and all.  So when you fall out of integrity, just simply communicate/acknowledge your flawed moment, apologize and get back on track.

And he said, “I know just how to do it.  I know just how to turn the employee culture around.” He said, “I’ve done it before with a large sales team [the hardest group of employees in his mind's eye] and it was simple and easy because all I did was one thing.”

As you can imagine I was listening with baited breath.

He paused. 

“There was lots of infighting, bickering and competing.  Never mind the gossip.  Oh and they barely sold a thing – some of them even stayed home!  I’ve never seen such a mess.  So this is what I did, everytime someone made a sale, I sent a voicemail to the whole sales team congratulating the sales person and encouraging the rest of the team to call the sales person and congratulate them.   And what was crazy is that they all called each other – even the ones who didn’t like one another, because no one wanted to be “the jerk” that didn’t call!  And soon the salespeople who weren’t making sales wanted to start receiving calls from their peers too.  The mood of the entire team completely flipped.”

So how could peer support (instead of typical peer pressure) work in your company to boost morale, and perhaps consequently productivity?

A couple of weeks ago I was speaking at an event when an audience member asked, “What about those companies who do layoffs to increase their EPS [earnings per share]?”

What about those public companies? (knit eyebrows, frown and finger wagging)

Investors get excited when a company does layoffs.  Because they’re thinking when a company does layoffs and decreases their expenses their earnings per share will soon go up.  During the recession it is known that many companies who had no internal financial need to do layoffs did so anyway to appear financially responsible to their investors during this economic downturn and insure their investors that all was well with their stock. (jump below for the irony.)

So the real question is, what about those investors? (don’t look to close in the mirror)

What about all of us who participate in the stock market through mutual funds, a 401K program, or an IRA or how many of us simply trade individual stocks online?  Do we care more about the increase in our investments than the well-being of our fellow citizens?  It would appear we do. 

Though I don’t think we do, I just don’t think we haven’t made the connection.

And the connection is that if we reward companies for doing unnecessary, ruthless layoffs then we are the enabler that hands the knife to the backstabber.  If our investments, our purchasing power, our vote was for those companies who care more about their employees than their EPS then this is the behavior that would be sought.

Now for clarity’s sake, I’m not talking about letting go of employees who are inefficient or ineffective.  I’m talking about people who have poured their heart and souls into a company who receive a pink slip simply to improve the EPS.  And don’t forget you and I are “people.”  Are loved ones are “people.”  So the next time you have an automatic withdrawal that goes to pay for your investments, ask yourself, do I care more about my money increasing or do I care more about (insert loved one’s name) ability to provide for his/her family?

The irony to all this is that companies who care about their employees are much more likely to have happy employees (duh.) And companies who have happy employees are significantly more profitable than companies who don’t.  So if you invest in companies who have happy employees, your personal bottomline grows.  Not to mention when there are more happy employees we will need less social services and when we need less social services we need fewer taxes which again comes back to money in our pocket.  Companies win.  Investors win.  And Society wins.

So why on earth do we keep this ridiculous, socially painful practice in place?

On Monday I included a very perceptive quote from Howard Schultz of Starbucks: “People have come to me over the years and said to me:  “I admire the culture of Starbucks.  Can you come give a speech and help us turn our culture around?”  I wish it were that easy.  Turning around a culture is very difficult to do because it’s based on a series of many, many decisions.”

Very true.  And not terribly helpful if you’re in dire straits.  There is no easy, quick fix.  However there is a huge positive initial shift that can be created quickly – ONLY if there is a genuine desire for REAL change to occur.  (Keeping in mind that change is often difficult, painful and takes time.)  And here’s what it looks like, straight from the mouth of the CEO/owner/executive director/principal:

“I’m sorry.  We are where we are because I’ve lead us here.  I know I’ve lost a lot of respect from you all because of XYZ (lay the cards on the table – they look like the long avoided cloaked elephants in the room).  And I’m truly sorry for all of the insanity/disunity/drama/frustration/difficulty/pain/apathy (nail accurate real deal words that apply) that I’ve created/allowed.  And I need your help to turn us around.  I would like to have a company where people truly feel good about coming to work at X organization.  I know we’re a long ways from there – but really, I want us all to be happy.  And I can’t do it alone.  We’re all crew on this ship, and while I’ve led us astray, I’d like to create a new map together on how to move forward in a way that honors and respects everyone who works here.  And no, I’m not talking about giving everyone raises – I’m talking about creating a place where we all feel good about coming to work.  A place where we feel positively challenged to do and give our best, where we grow personally and professionally, and where we can count on one another and look to one another to be an extraordinary XYZ. So I hope you will forgive my transgressions and mistakes and help me learn from the ones I’ve made.  If you’re willing to give this a go, please raise your hand.  Thank you.  Thank you so much.  Over the next few weeks I will be looking to gain input from each and every one of you on the next steps we should take to turn our culture around.  And while it may not be easy, I simply ask that you say what needs to be said.  Be as constructive as possible, and doable suggestions for improvement are warmly welcomed.”

Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.  And if you don’t mean it, be prepared to have the same brutal employee culture that eats at your heart and your bottomline for years to come.

And if you mean it, say it.  And be prepared that you impact your culture day by day, decision by decision, word by word, action by action.  You are the example.  Be the change you want to see in your company.

• “It was my experience growing up in Brooklyn, where my dreams were beyond my station in life, and I wanted build a different kind of company that perhaps my father never got a chance to work for.  It came from seeing firsthand that if you were not a highly educated or a very successful person – that perhaps as a blue-collar work or lower-middle-class person, as my parents were – that the work environment didn’t treat you with a level of respect.”
• “People have come to me over the years and said to me:  ‘I admire the culture of Starbucks.  Can you come give a speech and help us turn our culture around?”  I wish it were that easy.  Turning around a culture is very difficult to do because it’s based on a series of many, many decisions.’”
• “The discipline that I believe so strongly in is H.R. and it’s typically the last discipline that gets funded…more often than not, the head of H.R. does not have a seat at the table.  Big mistake.”

Howard gets it.  He gets that everyone should have the opportunity to work in a place where they’re respected.  He understands that a culture is built over time, day to day, through interactions and choices.  And he appreciates H.R. , he values the critical contribution that they bring to the table – the ever important people piece.

She noticed about a week in after having given notice that her vacation hours had been reduced from 52 hours to 26 hours without any explanation.  Somewhat shocked and very concerned that there was no communication around this reduction in hours, she approached her boss.  These were vacation hours she had legitimately accumulated per the vacation policy of the company.

Her boss was a bit sheepish and tried to explain some funny math.  But in the end, there really was no explaining, as there was nothing to explain.  This was an outright attempt to take back something that was given and earned.  My friend went home angered and hurt.  She went from being a loyal advocate for this company who brought many customers in the front door through her connections, to one who would never again recommend their services, and perhaps actively discourage patronizing this business.  She couldn’t believe that she was willing to go above and beyond for this company, as she had many times in the past, only to feel slapped in the face as she walked out the door.

The next day my friend confronted her boss with labor laws.  Her boss said that she simply could not afford to pay all of the vacation hours in one lump sum.  My friend gave her boss the option to pay over a period of time, and her boss still shirked, saying she wanted to make everything right, but wasn’t willing to sign a payment agreement.  Now my friend doesn’t make hundreds of dollars an hour, more like 15, so we’re talking 26 hours of discrepancy, or $390 plus payroll taxes etc.

Needless to say, my friend chose not to train the new hire, and the boss doesn’t know the program at the center of the administrative portion of her company.

For $390 this boss lost:

• good karma and the valuable trust of a loyal employee and advocate
• many referrals as my friend is well connected in the community where she lives, had brought in much business and will continue to be in an affiliate industry
• transfer of important company knowledge (which she can now pay $25/hour for technical support from the company who provides the program)
• delayed A/R as this program was connected to billing
• the mind space and guilt of having ruined a good working relationship over a small sum of money

And chances are this boss will have to pay $390 + lawyer fees anyway as the labor laws do require her to pay earned vacation.

Sometimes cash flow can be crazy scary in a business, and at the end of the day you still have to have integrity – not only with your clients and vendors, but also and perhaps foremost, with your employees.

Most of us in management feel that in order for employees to feel challenged, engaged, we need to create some kind of competition or game with an external entity – whether that be with a competitor, another department, or another team.  And there is a winner and a loser.

Consider the consequences for this team that lost in their company – “Employees were paddled with rival companies’ yard signs as part of a contest that pitted sales teams against one another. The winners poked fun at the losers, throwing pies at them, feeding them baby food, making them wear diapers and swatting their buttocks.”

Now consider the consequences for this company due to the lawsuit that ensued – “because the company has since gone into bankruptcy and its insurance was exhausted battling Orlando’s claim and settling with three other co-workers, there may be little left to recover.”

This is an extreme example and yet an important one to really emphasize that competition to motivate employees that has them pitted against someone else is often on some level degrading.  Simply the idea that people will not give their best unless manipulated to be against another entity really feeds off of the base nature of humans.  Not a pretty place to come from.

Internal competition is downright foolish.  You can forget a culture of camaraderie.  You can forget a culture where people really feel like their working together for a greater good.  Because instead their working toward beating their fellow employees.  And if they win they boast.  And if they lose they sulk.  Not exactly a recipe for company-wide teamwork.

And what about the value of competing against external competitors?  A company that truly seeks to be the best it can be doesn’t need an outside competitor to motivate it.  A company of excellence would be excellent regardless of whether there was competition.  A company of excellence is always striving to be a better company and asks the same of the individuals within it, to always strive to be a better person.  This taps into our higher human nature, one worthy of the people in your organization.

Article quotes taken from:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22709141/

We usually don’t talk about real deal communication when we’re talking about the warm fuzzy stuff.  We’re happy to communicate that all day long. 

It’s the bold truth, the hard truth and sometimes the painful truth that we want to know.  We want to trust who we work with and the only way to get there is to know that you’re in the know – of the good, the bad and the ugly. 

But confrontation to get to the “truth”, especially at work, is hard.  Why?  Think about the impact to the employee when the “truth” comes out – discipline, reprimand, written warnings which can be humiliating, embarrassing and worst case, degrading.  We do not seek to be “open” in our communication for fear of “punishment.”  And more often than not, we do not get the truth through punishment, but rather more lies to try to cover up the incidents that lie at the heart of the “crime” to avoid said punishment.  Oh the tangled webs we weave.

So how do we get to the painful truth in a way that will help the company learn, improve and move forward?

Consider the Confessional Gong.

Yes, you heard right.  This past Monday I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Eric Larsen who works at Neenan, a progressive archistruction (their word J) company (www.neenan.com) in Ft. Collins, CO.  In the room where I met Eric was a big gong.  I asked him if this was used to celebrate successes in meetings and he said no, actually quite the opposite. 

During a company meeting, if someone has caused a large mistake within the company – cost the company money, caused conflict on a team, jeopardized a project opportunity – they self select (with some serious courage) to go up in front of the room and tell everyone what they did, apologize and then hit the gong.  The resounding sound of the gong is a healing energy release for the guilty and the entire team.  The individual who goes up to the front is essentially saying I recognized that I messed up, I’m sorry that I messed up, I’ve learned from my mistake and I hope you all have just learned from my mistake.  Employees often receive praise and admiration for having what it takes to go up in front of the team and admit their mistakes.  Eric said that at a recent meeting there was at least 10-15 minutes of gonging – meaning a lot of people were getting up in front of the room.  He said it was a serious practice. 

I asked Eric if these public work confessions have ever come back to “haunt” an employee in a review, a raise consideration etc. and he said never.  Management knows the tremendous benefit of this practice and knows not to jeopardize the incredible foundation of trust, honesty and openness that has been created. 

In fact, Eric said, it’s not unusual for the CEO to go to the front of the room and hit the gong himself.

Now be realistic.  Don’t expect to bring a gong into your next company meeting and have employees run to the front of the room with wild abandon.  You have to have the culture and values (alive and well) that support this practice.  And you have to be absolutely committed to not have the confessions ever cause harm to the confessors.

If you had a confessional gong, and a truly safe space to say the unsaid, what would you say?

So how do you have the answers to these two questions oftentimes be the same?  How do you get a group of individuals to move from being self-motivated to thoughtful about the needs of the whole? 

Here’s one way to go about it…

I met with a company last week and I asked the question I often do, “Tell me about your culture.” 

And with no hesitation, the response I received was the following:  ”Our culture is purpose driven and values supported.” 

Bam!!  He nailed it.  In the past 20 months this company has overhauled their culture and they now actively live it and breathe it.  When I asked him what their culture looked like in daily interactions he again didn’t hesitate.  Story upon story of how their culture is purpose driven and values supported flowed.  And they were recent stories.

He also knew the challenges to their culture.  He talked about how some employees who came from the old culture would try to manipulate the values for personal gain, essentially spin it for self motivation.  He said he managed these instances by always bringing it back to the purpose to create common understanding and common sense. 

The purpose of their company is group focused, group supported and beneficial for everyone – employees, customers, community and shareholders.  With this as the stronghold, the only way to move forward as an individual in this company is to be a part of the purpose, to look out for what’s best for the group.

If this is an issue you seriously would like to resolve in your company, consider reading Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King and Halle Fischer-Wright.  This is an excellent resource for providing step by step ways to move your culture from “me” focused to “we” focused.

I’ve now heard this more times than I’d like to admit. 

And you know what, they’re right. 

They don’t have the time.  And they don’t have the time because they would have the time if they took the time.

Time and money.  We always want to simultaneously save both and make both.

And yet when a company doesn’t take the time to have happy employees, they waste HUGE amounts of  time and money through drama, gossip, anger, frustration, mistakes, turnover, disengagement, unhappy customers who were not served well, computer games, undermining, arguments, back watching, clock watching , avoidance, fear, apathy, cluelessness, mistake hiding, sabotaging, lawsuits…

So yes, they don’t have time.  Do you want time?  Do you want a bigger better bottomline?  Do YOU want to feel good about coming to work?  Happy employees.  Really.  They are THE key to your company’s happiness.

Check out this Inc. magazine article Lessons From a Blue-Collar Millionaire where Nick Sarillo, owner of the impressively successful Nick’s Pizza and Pub, shares his 10 lessons for success:  http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100201/lessons-from-a-blue-collar-millionaire.html

Note ,7 out of the 10 lessons are employee focused.  I’m not surprised.  Are you?

We love stories.  It’s one of the best ways we can possibly communicate.  It delves back into our ancestry, our roots.  It’s what we remember from sitting around a campfire as kids.  It’s what good presenters do.  It’s what business and marketing books beg us to do.  It’s become a valued public art form at the Moth where they do story slams (www.themoth.org.)

Why stories?  Because they make it real.   Whatever it is – stories bring it to life, giving it dimension, painting the picture, drawing us in, creating memories.  Stories never get old and can be told over and over again.  Using our current age verbiage, stories have always been ”socially viral” and powerful.

So why would I write about stories on the Choose People blog?

1) If you haven’t read in the business books, or perhaps could use a simple reminder, know and tell the stories of your company to anyone who wants to listen.  Stories take your company message from Charlie Brown teacher “wha wha wha what” banal to brilliant.  You know your company is on track when your employees can tell the same stories verbatim, and you’re really rockin’ the kazbah when your employees are the origin of stories that make you proud.

2) Choose People helps companies tell their story to clients and clients tell stories about companies.  When your client sees the Choose People seal of approval, they know you have happy employees.  The idea of happy employees creates images and gives dimension to the story of your company.  (Take a moment – what do you think of when you think of happy employees at your local grocer?…….)  And for current and past clients it conjures up memories of their experience with you, with your happy employees, and they say, “Yeah, they really are a Choose People company – I remember when…” 

We here at Choose People want to tell your happy employee stories to everyone.  We want everyone to know that you can have a successful business and have happy employees.  And that in fact, happy employees are the critical core of a successful business.  Why do we want everyone to know this?  Because YOU are the example that we want everyone to follow.  We want the world to be full of successful businesses with happy employees. 

At the end of the day, we want the world to be full of happy people.  And YOU are the critical catalyst.  The match to light the bonfire

That was the expense account that a company my friend worked for looked at to see how the troops were doing.  If the expenses for office supplies increased significantly, they knew they had something to be concerned about.

When employees start pillaging office supplies, you know you’re in trouble.  When a weird sense of entitlement around office supplies shows up, you know the end is dangerously within sight.  Why?  Because if the office culture has gotten so petty, oppressive and passive aggressive that the only way employees can rebel (cry out in anguish) is through office supplies than “open, honest communication” is but a distant memory. An empty echo reverberating down the office halls – soon to be vacant when the economy turns around.

What’s your key indicator for employee happiness? 

Is it a measure of something negative:  Errors?  Absenteeism? Project delays?  Long bathroom breaks?  (FYI – if you are measuring this last one, you’ve already hit the bottom of the barrel because trust is SO low within the organization that you’re actually physically spending your time “watching” your employees – uh oh. )

Is it a measure of something positive:  Unsolicited customer thank yous? Above and beyond the call of duty appreciations?  Co-worker recognition? 

Within your key performance indicators for your company that you track daily/weekly – make sure you have an accurate indicator for your employee happiness.  At Choose People, on Friday’s we ask, on a scale of 1-10 how was your work week?  Anything less than a 9 and we want to know what could have made it better. 

Have a wonderful long fun filled relaxing perfect Labor Day Weekend everyone!

One day he witnessed a group of students on school grounds almost run over an older woman with their skateboards.

He immediately called them into his office and told them that their thoughtless behavior was completely unacceptable.  He could have said – “That’s it.  No more skateboarding on school grounds.”

Instead he asked – What are you all going to do about this?

He didn’t tell them what to do.  He asked them what they’re going to do.

They told him.  And then he said, you sit in my chair.  You all are the principal.  What do you think of what you’ve just proposed?  They acknowledged that from that perspective their response had many failings.  He said he wanted a thoughtful plan by tomorrow.

The next morning the group of skateboarders showed up with a full fledged plan of action.  They were proud of the plan.  It was a thoughtful plan that the prinicipal approved.

But even better than the plan – was it’s implementation.  Because they created the solution, the skateboarders had “bought in” and valued and followed their own rules.  They even enforced these rules with their fellow skateboarders and defended the prinicipal.

Imagine if the next time an employee makes a mistake, instead of telling them what to do, you asked them  – what are you going to do about it?

Imagine if you asked them to sit in your chair, take on your responsibilities for a moment, is what they’ve suggested sufficient?

No scolding.  No disciplining.  No top down finger wagging.  No soft “we all make mistakes, just don’t do it again.”

Instead real deal solutions created, bought into and implemented by your employees.

Old school, meet new school

The podcast I highly recommend you take the time to listen to is 1 hour.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/403/nummi

This is the fascinating story as told by This American Life of NUMMI - the car manufacturing plant founded between General Motors and Toyota.  Listen and you will find many valuable best practices around employee happiness and garnering bottom-line benefits and efficiencies.

Enjoy

Schulze required that all guest complaints from all of his many locations come directly to his desk.  If he received the same complaint twice, he would investigate.

In London, he received the same complaint twice.  From two separate elderly women.  On two separate occasions. 

They were not happy with the temperature of the water for high tea.  Too cold.  And mind you, this is London – the place for high tea, where elderly women can tell you the temperature of the tea within a degree simply by using their tongue.

So Schulze did what he thought was reasonable.  He got on a plane to London and gathered together all of the employees at the hotel – every last one of them.  He then read the complaint cards and asked, Does anyone here know why the water for the tea is not the right temperature?

After a few minutes, a man in the back raised his hand.  And he said, I know exactly why the water is too cold.  A few months ago we moved the cups from this section of the kitchen to this area.  In the new area whenever the refrigerater is open the cool air flows over the cups, and makes them cold so that even if the water is the right temperature it becomes too cold as soon as it is poured into the cups.

Schulze asked everyone to grab some cups and move them back to where they used to be stacked.

Surprisingly simple.  Customer complaint resolved.  Employees included and empowered.  Company saves an inordinate amount of money and time by not guessing and implementing wrong solutions.

Your employees knowledge base is a tremendous resource.  Treat it as such and you will be surprised

Here are just a few of the numbers from the research to chew on:

1) The productivity loss of 100 employees who are unhappy is $7,500 per week or $390,000 per year. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090203142512.htm

2) Research has found that happy workers are 12% more productive while unhappy workers are 10% less productive than average.  –Andrew Oswald, a professor of economics at Warwick Business School ;  http://www.guardian.co .uk/science/2010/jul/11/happy-workers-are-more-productive

3) A one-unit increase in employee satisfaction led to a 0.31-unit increase in customer satisfaction. In turn, a one-unit increase in customer satisfaction created a 0.28-unit improvement in financial performance. http://www.allbusiness.com/services/business-services-advertising/4214536-1.html

4) Happy workers are absent 28.4 percent (or 12.3 days) less for an estimated annual value of $619 per happy employee.–Kathryn Rost, PhD, of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/24/health/webmd/main657624.shtml

How much are your unhappy employees costing you?  Put another way, how much is your culture that may be creating unhappy employees costing you?

Here’s perhaps an even bigger cost than the ones above, try to answer this question:  

How much does it cost you, when as the leader of your company when you are distracted by one unhappy, disgruntled, scowling, frustrated employee?  (Never mind the enormous cost of the brain drain on the rest of your employees discussing the “situation.”)

But how does this work for retail folks who have to be in the store for the hours that are open to the public.  Same with restaurant staff.  Hotel staff has to be coordinated as well so that there aren’t 10 people working one shift and no one working the next.  Also, as in my friend’s dry-walling business, the how of the work is often specific due to regulatory constraints.  Even when you look at literal -in manufacturing who stand at a conveyor belt – the when, where and how are very specific, and has to be.

I’ve been asking around and here’s a couple of ideas that have been passed along:

1) While some workers may not have control over the how, when and where of their work  because of the nature of the work, they can have some control over their work environment.  In one company, they have created a forum where employees’ suggestions and ideas on how to improve the work and/or the work environment are taken seriously, discussed and considered.  And then the ideas are either acted upon, altered and acted upon or employees are given a legitimate reason why the idea may not be a good fit.

2) I e-mailed ROWE about my husband and I’s moving company asking how to provide flexibility to employees that have to be at a specific house at a specific time.  Even worse, our movers don’t know if, when and how long they work the following day until the night before.  Talk about a personal scheduling nightmare (I’m a hard core planner at heart – just ask my spontaneous husband.)  Michael Barata kindly responded with some excellent questions, “Do your crews have the freedom and support to schedule how they meet the needs of the customers? Are your crews involved with how jobs get scheduled and how crews are assigned to the jobs? As for answering customer calls, would your employees be interested in call forwarding, so they would not necessarily need to be in an office, but still be available to the customer? Essentially, ask the employees their thoughts on meeting customer needs and what that may look like to them? The results = meeting customer needs.” 

I know our moving crews love their autonomy on the job – a crew goes to a customer’s home to move them and essentially they are their own boss.  They decide how to get the job done and work together to make it happen.  They have no one micromanaging them and they can completely own their results.  Granted there are specific ways to do a move, to prepare furniture etc. but they have control over the experience of the customer.

Flexibility is not autonomy.  And if I had to guess, autonomy is king.  Flexibility in schedule and location is appreciated and valued.  But autonomy gets to the guts of our sense of worth, of ownership and hence value around what we participate in, create and offer to those around us.

What do your employees have control over?  What is their impact at the end of the day?  How does who they are and what they do affect the company, co-workers and customers?  And go beyond the obvious.  Get to the heart and soul of what matters to your company and to your employees.  Flexibility – great.  Real deal “I make a difference” – gold.

1) Along the lines of ROWE – the Results Only Work Environment – where employees can work where they want, when they want and how they want as long as they achieve the results.  Absolute flexibility to create your schedule and accomplish your work.

2) Along the lines of the Zappos culture where camaraderie is king.  An incredible community within your company where the family “spirit” is created every day and people support one another and value each other on a level deeper than simply what they contribute to the company.

In both environments employees can have autonomy over how they get their work done.

In both environments employees can achieve results.

However ROWE offers flexibility in one’s schedule while Camaraderie facilitates a strong sense of community with others.

So two interesting questions pop up:

1) Would employees rather have flexibility in their schedule or a “real deal” community of coworkers that they feel connected with?

2) Can you have both?  And if so, how?

Would love to hear your thoughts and opinions!

“Me” is also another one to avoid.  You don’t need an opera singer.  You need a chorus that sounds good together.  So yes, that means avoid the superstars who always want the limelight on them, no matter how good their voice is, no matter how much experience they have.  They’re hard to resist.  They’re shiny and everything.  I know.   I’ve hired one before and regretted it, so did the rest of my team since they’re the ones who suffered.

We is the word you want to hear in the halls of your organization.  Togetherness.  Camaraderie.  Identification with the greater group.  Teamwork.  United.  If all you hear is “they” in the cooler conversations then you’ve got separation anxiety.  And chances are “I” is on the other side of that conversation.  Who are the “I”s in your organization?  Are they interested in becoming part of “We?”  If not, your organization will always be out of tune, the music won’t flow and your rhythm will be off.  And you know what that means – bad dancing.  Bad performance.

Think of a stunning a cappella group like this one:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2NEU6Xf7lM where all the individuals magically come together to create a thing of beauty, of joy, of success.

Having been on the other side, I could see why they were all stuck.

There was an accident.

Oh and then there were the people who compounded the loss of time, the increase in frustration by driving by slowly, craning their necks to see the carnage.

Why would I write about this?

All sorts of “accidents” occur in a company simply because it’s part of being in business and working with people.  Customer accidents.  Management accidents.  Cash Flow accidents.  Product or service accidents.  Vendor accidents.  And the all-encompassing crash pile up of people issue accidents. 

How quickly do you address these accidents?  How many people are craning their necks trying to see why the company’s not moving forward?  How many are looking at going an alternative route?  How many are distracted by the drama?  How many hours of employee brilliance and efficiency go wasted on a pile up?  You’re very lucky if it’s only half an hour for each employee.

Of course we try to do all we can to avoid these accidents, and to make sure we learn from them, but regardless there will always be a few unknown crashes waiting in the wings for the right circumstances. 

Accidents are a given.  How quickly you communicate them, address them and resolve them is not.

Yeah, I’ve seen those office fridges.  Dare I say, way back in the day when I was young and reckless, I even contributed to those fridges.

And I’ve seen the clean tidy ones.

The office cultural value that seems to stand out the most on this one is simple respect for ones co-workers (and company resources.)  But mind you, you can have a clean office fridge and if there’s always the complaint that someone’s “coveted brought from home beverage of choice” has gone missing, you still have the issue of respect, and perhaps a klepto in your mist.   Then there’s the guy who takes up a whole shelf, all by himself.  Office fridge manners speak more to one’s innate character than you would think.

And I get it, not all of us are clean freaks.  But I bet we all want respect and our brown paper bag not to stick to the shelf.

It’s a small thing.  A detail really in the scheme of an entire office.  But it says a lot.  Is the fridge treated as a shared space for all to benefit from where everyone who uses it does their part (think baseline teamwork and consideration here.)  Or is it an abused space that simply fills a need (says – I’m here for the paycheck) and where leftovers go unchecked for far too long.

And for those of you who have janitorial service who throws out anything that’s left in on Fridays and wipes the weekly goo off the shelves, I must ask, are you missing out on a key indicator of your employee culture?

Oh and don’t get me started on dirty dishes in the office sink…

As we know there are far too many families that we would not want to emulate.

And yet when we talk about wanting a family atmosphere – we’re going for warmth and connection, not dysfunction and codependency.  No moms.  No dads.  More like your cool cousins.

Some companies avoid that “family” feeling for fear that they won’t be objective enough when making hard decisions about non-performing employees.  There is a sense that difficult conversations will be that much more difficult if you have a close relationship because now it feels personal for both sides.

And really what do we want at the end of the day but warm, close relationships with people with whom we feel a real deal connection.   People we trust.  People we count on.

So imagine if all day at work the relationships are cold and distant.  Sanitized.  “Safe” from feelings and emotions and closeness.  Most of your waking life spent in a sterilized environment.  And maybe it’s not that bleak, maybe there’s just a bit of chill in the air.  But you can still feel it and you still wish you had a sweater (knitted by your cousin).

I spoke to a company the other day whose main growth pain is decline in the feeling like a family.  As they implement policies and systems they feel like they’ve lost some of that “lovin’ feeling” and gone more “cold corporate.”  But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In fact in Tony Hsieh’s book, Delivering Happiness, he talks about how with hundreds of employees at Zappos they were still able to keep a sense of family.  In fact one of their living values “Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit” states “We are more than just a team, though – we are family.  We watch out for each other, care for each other, and go above and beyond for each other because we believe in each other and we trust each other.”

So go for it, get connected to your coworkers and to your employees.  Care about them.   And yes it will be messy at times, but at least it will be real.  And at the end of the day you will create what really matters.

Imagine your coworkers saying this.  Your family members.  Your employees.

We really can love work.  In fact, we often do.

If you haven’t already read Daniel Pink’s book, Drive.  You really should consider it.  Yes his TED talk is fabulous (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/dan_pink_on_motivation.html) and gives you the short version, but the book is truly worth the additional attention span and time.

In his book, one of the many things Pink talks about is the surprising findings in research done by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi over 30 years ago.  Csikszentmihalyi discovered that optimal moments in our life (he termed “flow”) are much more likely to be attained at work than in leisure.

Pink quotes Csikszentmihalyi, “There is no reason to believe any longer that only irrelevant ‘play’ can be enjoyed, while the serious business of life must be borne as a burdensome cross.  Once we realize that the boundaries between work and play are artificial, we can take matters in hand and begin the difficult task of making life more livable.”

Pink’s whole book looks at how we can make life more livable through work.  And it does it in such a way that the individual employee can take action upon reading this book as well as business owners. 

Drive and Pink’s compilation of incredible research and ideas on how to apply the stunning findings is truly a gem not to be missed.

Whether the company is a start-up, fighting for survival or trying to expand to handle tremendous growth – employees will rise to the challenge and the culture will often be better for it.  Back to the old adage of what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.  Employees will gladly go the extra mile, “take one for the team” and go outside of their comfort zone when there is a compelling reason.  Everyone wants to be a hero, and everyone wants to be on a winning team.

Satisfaction arises from doing something well.  Engagement arises from contributing to something meaningful.  Happiness comes from feeling good about doing something well that contributes to something meaningful.

When employees sacrifice together for something bigger and greater than themselves (the company and the vision it reflects) and succeed a tremendous sense of camaraderie and bonding is created.  Trust, respect and appreciation is enhanced throughout the organization as each individual recognizes both the importance of their individual contribution as well as that of their colleagues.

However there are 5 pieces that are critical to make this work well:

1) Everyone within the organization needs to make a sacrifice.  If there is even a hint that one person on the team is coddled or free from the “shared suffering,” sacrifices will create resentment.

2) The Company vision must be both inspiring and compelling.  We’re in it to win it for the greater good.  Not for the bottom-line, unless the bottom-line feeds into how we create greater good.  Talk about the greater good that will be achieved through the sacrifice.  Remember numbers are cold when people are putting their sweat and tears on the line to help your company succeed.

3) Tell the story well and often of why and how.  Employees really need to understand why the company needs them to make a sacrifice.  How did the company get into the situation it’s in?   And how will their individual and collective sacrifice truly make the difference?  What will the company gain if they make their sacrifice?

4) Can’t be too long term.  We’ll all take one for the team.  However will we take two, three, four?  And by five, it’s no longer taking one for the team, it’s a chronic company problem that begins to weigh everyone down like an anvil.

5) Success as a result of the sacrifice.  The sacrifice has to have made a visible difference.  In order for it to go down into the positive history of the company in a story that is shared with excitement with new hires, the sweat and tears must be the sustenance that allowed the company to succeed.

To ask your employees to sacrifice is no small thing.  Just make sure when you do that you take the steps to arrive at a stronger company culture rather than to the depths of resentment and frustration.

If anyone got employee culture right it’s Tony Hsieh.  In the second half of his new book Delivering Happiness, A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose you will find tons of valuable examples and doable as well as applicable ideas of how Zappos created an invigorating employee culture that led to a powerful brand and a wildly successful company.  The first half of the book is a wonderful insight into Tony as a person and entrepreneur. 

He shares in detail the LIVE core values of Zappos.  And probably one of the most powerful aspects of their values is that they are meant to be applied outside of the office as well – “without a separation of work and life.”  As one of their employees (Christa F.) stated, “I think when people say they dread going into work on Monday morning, it’s because they know they are leaving a piece of themselves at home.”  At Zappos employees were strongly encouraged to bring their whole selves to work.

He shares and outlines the unique Zappos culture book, the face game, and “ask anything.”

Their orientation process is impressive too.  Do you let new employees know the reasons they might get fired? (And how do you convey that in an upbeat way?)  Ever considered paying someone $2000 within the first four weeks to quit?

Perhaps my favorite quote in the entire book is by another Zappos employee, Jenn, who when describing how to create a company culture book said “Make it a true voice of what your culture represents and it’ll sing like it’s in the shower.”

A true voice.  Imagine if your culture was one where everyone’s true voice – their voice of truth - was spoken, honored and animated.  Your brand would simply be genuine, authentic and transparent.  Honest and trustworthy as well.

Really?  Do you believe it?  How do you know? 

Are you just saying that?  Because it sounds good.  Really good.  And on some level we know it’s true.  Really true.  You know that without your employees, you couldn’t be in business.  And without excellent employees you can’t be an excellent business.

So then why do we spend more time talking about numbers than we do people?

Numbers are clean.  Numbers are safe.  They’re specific.  They’re not subjective.  They don’t lie.  We can trust numbers.

And yet numbers by themselves are hollow results.   They don’t tell you why they are the way they are.  How you got to them is unknowable until you go back to – people – employees, vendors, customers.  The numbers come after the relationships.  The numbers are a result of the relationships.  So why wouldn’t you focus and talk about the relationships way more often than you talk about the numbers?

Because it may be uncomfortable?  Because it may get messy?  Because it may get mushy?  Even go so far as include feelings…whoa..in business?  Business is personal.  All the time, every day.  It feeds our lives on so many levels. 

Your people are your biggest asset.  Your relationships with them are your most important asset. 

Get messy.  Get mushy.  Connect in a meaningful deep way and watch the numbers reflect the relationshjips.

When I ask HR folks if they feel the employees at their company are happy, I often don’t get a direct answer.

And the answer I get is this – Well there’s always that one employee who will never be happy no matter what you do.

And then there’s a chuckle.  And if I’m with a group of HR folks there is the nod of agreement, understanding and compassion.  And then that’s it.  The conversation moves on. 

How is this possible?  How is it that the people who are most in charge of employee satisfaction and employee engagement run for cover under the umbrella of the one “never-can-be happy” employee.

Perhaps they are asked to focus on that ONE unsatisfied employee.  “Fix” that employee.  “Solve” that employee problem.  “Make” that employee happy.  A task that feels impossible.  And very well may be. 

Perhaps as people people it kills them to have one of their flock not be happy.  That it reflects badly on them and that no matter how hard they try, they will never have true success because of this ONE employee.  Kind of like the fly in your soup.

So imagine removing the fly from the soup.  Or focusing on everyone else – all those employees who are capable of being happy.  Who want to be happy.  Who perhaps are happy if you would just move your beeline focus from the “never-can-be happy” one.

No more excuses.  Move on and focus your energies where they can and do make a difference. 

And next time I ask the question of “Do you think your employees feel good about coming to work?”  I want a direct answer. 

They’re at the dinner table or perhaps a church picnic or their daughter’s softball game.

“So Keith, how do you like your job?”

“So Janis, how do you like where you work?”

What would your employees really say?  And would they tell you the same thing?

This word of mouth is powerful.  Powerfully positive or powerfully negative.  Because it’s their truth, their experience in a nutshell, no holds barred. 

Have their answer be something you would be proud to hear.

$16 from Amazon or $30 to support your local book store – you’ll want one for each of your employees.

Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton

Why one for each of your employees?  Because at the back of the book is a code where your employee can go online and take their personal strengths assessment.  In about 30 minutes they will find out their top 5 strengths – and so will you! 

(In addition to the $15/$30 you will also have the cost of your employees 30 minutes of time taking the assessment and then another 30 discussing the results – however I would suggest this is time and money very well spent.)

In a nutshell, the book describes

• why you should consider hiring and managing based on strengths (lots of evidence to back this up)
• each of the different strengths they’ve identified in detail
• how to manage people based on each of the different strengths (fabulous takeaway!) 

I also find it valuable for coworkers to know each other’s strengths – it helps everyone value one another in a different light and have a sense of who’s the “go to” person on different issues or opportunities.  In addition, most everyone likes to learn about themselves through an empowering venue.

I highly recommend this small investment as it provides big value.

Or perhaps you’re an owner of a company.

Imagine for a moment the significance of employees as co-creators of their companies. Their companies.  Not just the companies they work for, but the ones they help create through their work.

We talk about employees feeling ownership.  We talk about empowering our employees.  But the reality is employees are already empowered through their co-creation and have ownership and responsibility for what they’re helping to create. 

Every single individual within a company creates it every single day.  Improving it, maintaining the status quo or making it worse.  Every day.  Every employee.  Every co-creator.

A company is not created by one person.   And the responsibility for its accomplishments and problems, its success or demise, does not belong to one person.  When you’re in a company, you’re all in it together, creating it together.

As an employee, how do you co-create your company?  What do you  do every day to make it better, the same or worse?

As an owner, do you recognize the co-creation power of your employees to move your company forward? backward?   Do you acknowledge your employees as co-creators of your company?

I hate Mondays.

The weekend went by too fast.

Sarcastically, “Another day in paradise.”

I find it crazy that there is an inherent societal norm that bonds us together – to dislike or even hate work.  Pick out anybody, anywhere and you can say something disparaging about work, and they will nod in agreement and you have bonded over a common cause – over common suffering.

You’re supposed to dislike work.  We’re all supposed to agree that overall work sucks.  And that we’re all in this for a paycheck to enjoy our weekends and put food on the table for our families.  We suffer.  We are martyrs.  We are slaves to the system.

If you like your work, even dare I say, enjoy your work, you don’t get to play.  You’re not included in the “in-crowd,” the “normal” crowd of folks who dislike work.

Why do we do this?  Why do we choose to intentionally dislike what we spend most of our waking hours doing?  This is nuts.  Why do we trivially bond and connect over something so important in such a negative way?

Really, I don’t know why.  Do you?

David Firth would challenge us in his book From Making a Living to Creating a Life: How to be Happy and Successful by Utterly Transforming your Work to view work in the following way:

• “a playground or a laboratory for finding out what we are capable of when we combine our talents with others
• a mirror that empowers us to learn about ourselves
• an ongoing journey of adventure where change is an opportunity rather than a barrier or danger
• a channel for serving our families, our societies and the world
• a means of generating both material wealth and physical, psychological and spiritual growth and well being”

Enjoy the rest of your working day, and enjoy your weekend too.

Then years later, you pick up that book and reread some of your underlined passages and BAM – there’s the golden nugget you didn’t need as much then, but you could sure use now.

Rediscovered Golden Nugget of the Month:  “Create heroes in every role.  Make every role, performed at excellence, a respected profession.”  Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman in their fabulous management book written in 1999 “First, Break All the Rules.”  Consider rereading pages 184-192. 

There you will find the answer of how to handle the employee that is STUNNING in their position and deserves appreciation, deserves accolades, deserves company respect – who deserves in essence a promotion.  To show our appreciation and loyalty to employees who knock our socks off we promote them.   Employees are promoted to new positions with new responsibilities because of how well they do in their current position.  Seems to make sense.  This is where we falter.

I’m guilty of it.  I’ve promoted someone out of a position they loved and were wonderfully successful into a position that simply didn’t fit their talents and where they floundered.  They went from rockstar to rock bottom in a matter of weeks.  Luckily they were happy to go back to their previous position – but what would I have done if they were not happy to let go of their new found clout?  Painful lesson learned, what makes a stunning technician, does not make a stunning manager of the technicians.

 If someone is a rockstar at what they do – often because they like what they do because it fits their innate talents, if they have success in their position, they are happy.  Yes they want to be recognized.  Yes they want to be appreciated.  And yes, based on societal norms they want to be promoted.  So what to do?

“If a company wants some employees in every role to approach worldclass performance, it must find ways to encourage them to stay focused on developing their expertise.  Defining graded levels of achievement for every role, is an extremely effective way of doing just that.”  Buckingham and Coffman then give examples of graded levels of achievement  in law firms (junior associate, associate, senior associate, junior partner, partner, senior partner), professional sports (rookie, second string, starter to all-star), music (junior third chair to concert master 1st chair), medicine (intern to chief doctor – and think about it – a urologist doesn’t get promoted to a brain surgeon.)

Perhaps my favorite line from this chapter is this, “Great managers envision…a company where the best secretaries carry a vice president title, where the best housekeepers earn twice as much as their supervisors, and where anyone performing at excellence is recognized publicly.”

*Of course, there are rockstar employees that should absolutely be promoted and can absolutely handle and excel at the next set of responsibilities.  I cncourage promoting from within whenever possible to those who have demonstrated excellence AND when the new responsibilities fit the talents of the employee where they are likely to find continued joy and success in their new position.

• “How can we improve?”
• “How can we be better?”
• “What can we do to be better?”
• “What’s wrong?”

And while these are valid and often valuable questions, there is a question that should be asked prior:

What are we doing right?  What’s going well?

So many times companies look at what’s wrong, or try to figure out what’s “broken”  in their efforts to make positive change.  And when they come to the “answer” or program or policy or incentive or process that they think will make a difference they end up undoing what’s been working well.

Because “what’s been working well” becomes invisible.  It’s taken for granted.

Sometimes all you need to do to improve your employee happiness is to simply enhance or expand something that is already going well.

Ask your employees one simple question – What do you appreciate about working here – big and small?

This simple question can also bring to employees’ minds why they do like working for your organization.  It’s a good mental exercise to have them focus on the positive.

The feedback you will receive will be invaluable.  You might be surprised that the soft toilet paper in the bathroom is a bigger perk than you thought, and that the small cost savings to cheap sandpaper would cause an expensive effect on morale.  You might also find that nobody really calls out the new groovy expensive incentive you all recently put in place.

What is your company doing well?

Yes this was my downfall.  About 6 years ago, at the beginning of my tenure as CEO of Exodus Moving & Storage, during the holiday season our moving company was having some serious cash flow concerns (winter is typically the slow season for moving companies.)  We didn’t have enough cash to give bonuses, but we wanted to do something to show our appreciation.  So we threw a holiday party low key style - really good  food, nice location but not fancy.  But that didn’t feel like enough, we wanted them to be able to take home something. 

And there I was with a budget of $25/employee when brainstorming with another employee who said, my dad sells this really amazing beef jerky.  And I’m thinking, as a general, moving guys love beef jerky.  Sold.

I will never live the beef jerky down – ever.  So we’re having our lovely simple holiday dinner with the movers and their families and they already know there are no bonuses to be had.  And I say I wanted to offer up a simple token of our appreciation, and I hand out beef jerky to everyone.

You’d think I had handed them a dead moldy cat.  It was bad.

And why was it so bad?  Because it was insulting.  Yes it was a gift.  But they felt like it was a gift of placation, that they weren’t getting what they really wanted and needed:  cash, and that I somehow thought this would “make up for it” or cut the mustard.  And let’s just say it cut a whole lot more than mustard.  Morale for sure and my reputation as a leader as well.

So what would I do if I had to do it over again?  Just say no to the beef jerky and any other “token” of appreciation at a time of expectation (holidays!!)  I would just have the holiday dinner, a comment of thanks and nothing else.   In general people don’t want “tokens.”  They want something meaningful.  Beef jerky is not meaningful.

Sometimes nothing is better than something.

One caveat – when you surprise your employees with something – say a $25 gift card at a time when everyone is working their tails off, or a half day on Friday, they love it.  We all love good unexpected surprises.

Yes, I said no donuts.  We all know that donuts are bad for us – high fat, high sugar – you get the idea.  What does it tell your employees when you offer them something you know is bad for them?  It’s like feeding your dog that you love chocolate.  Don’t feed your people poison. 

They may roll their eyes when you break out the fruit, oatmeal bars or small bags of pretzels, but the message is clear, you want health for your employees.  And make the fruit good fruit – go for the chopped up melon, berries and pineapple as well as apples and bananas.  Vegetable trays with hummus are another good option too   Raw almonds too (known to increase brain sharpness.) 

Also try to come up with an alternative for birthdays besides traditional cake – even angel food cake with fresh strawberries is a better option.  In large companies it can feel like there’s either cake or donuts every Friday.  Also let your vendors know who like to deliver donuts as a thank you to bring a fruit bouquet or vegetable round instead.

It shows the love.  Really – way more than greasy donuts.  

Never mind donuts are NOT productive for work – sticky fingers on keyboards, sugar high and CRASH, distracting thoughts of guilt by all the dieters (been there), and sickness due to unhealthy eating.

Love your employees – give them something healthy to nosh on.

They named 3. 

There were 10. 

And when I said well what about this one, and what about that one, they said – OOOOOO yeah. Granted some of these perks/benefits were small, and some were larger, but they were all benefits.  And they all walked away from the meeting feeling like they were getting more for their hard work.

And when I walked away from the meeting I wondered – do they not value or care about the other 7 perks?  Is it not worth the money to keep providing these benefits?

And while this may be the case with 1 or 2, it certainly wasn’t the case for all of the unnamed 7.  So what WAS the deal?  WHY didn’t they name them?

Because I hadn’t consistently marketed to my own employees the benefits they receive when working for my company. 

Here I was marketing to customers all day long about the benefits of using our company – but I forgot internally to make sure everyone knew the value of working at Exodus.  Granted in orientation we went over the benefits.   But for many of my long time employees, that was years ago.   And if there was a new perk, we did a big shabang so everyone would know about it, but then that would be about it.

We all forget from time to time the everyday basic, inherent good things.  We just come to count on them, depend on them.  (If I asked you what benefits did you get out of life today?  Would you say a shower?  pillow?) The same thing happens for employees with perks.

(And if you REALLY think about it, the same thing happens for companies with employees.)

Shine the light on your benefits, and most likely many of your employees will see some hidden gems of working for your company that they forgot.

And yet there are those times in all of our lives where we simply screw up.  In our personal lives, we know what to do – we apologize.  And yet, in the workplace – in the world of work – we try to hide our failures, our messes, cover them up. 

Why? 

With employees, as the manager or decision maker you’re supposed to be the one who knows the answers, who has the most experience, who has the hierarchical power because you’re supposed to be better in some one or another.  To admit failure would jeopardize the underlying reason for the inequality of power.  To admit failure would be to admit that you don’t really deserve to be in that position…

With customers, because we are being paid money for our services and products the exchange of currency denotes that everything provided by the company should be perfect.  There’s the fear that admitting you were wrong would point out the imperfections of your product/service (as if the customer doesn’t already experience it!), create bad publicity and that you would lose market share.

And yet both of these are simply not true. 

What does admitting you’re wrong get you? (with of course the follow-up of cleaning up the mess and putting in place the processes or attitudes so as not to repeat the mistake)

Trust.  Respect.  Admiration.  Appreciation. Connection.  It is in are darkest moments that we show our true selves, and have the opportunity to prove our honesty and integrity.  It is here where we demonstrate ourselves as true leaders of our employees and of our communities.

To own up to your mistakes and seek to correct them is at the heart of Corporate Social Responsibility. 

To really witness the value of admitting when you’re wrong – consider this incredible “what BP should have said” press release as written by Joe Ippolito for GOOD magazine:  http://www.good.is/post/what-bp-should-have-said/.

And yet we do it SO often.  Especially when things aren’t going ideal or are getting downright ugly.  We assume we know why John or Carla did what they did and how they did it.  Instead of getting down and dirty and learning the core reason why things are going awry it is easier and quicker for us to assume motives and assign blame.  Of course in the long run this is very very expensive – both dollarwise, timewise and culturewise. 

Next time you have some concerns about an employee’s performance, start asking questions instead of making assumptions – seek to understand what is actually happening.  (And not leading questions…open, “I really want to understand what’s going on” questions.) 

Here is a conversation process that ideally creates a safe and honest space to collaboratively create solutions to a problem: 

1. Let the employee know you have some concerns (wait to name) about XYZ project/process/client/ attitude (be specific)
2. Ask the employee if they’ve noticed anything concerning about XYZ – it’s likely they will and it may or may not match up to your concerns
3. LISTEN openly and attentively
4. Let the employee know the specific concerns (ABC) you have without highlighting their individual involvement – timeliness/client satisfaction/cost/group dynamics/project success etc.
5. Ask the employee if they know why ABC is occurring
6. LISTEN very closely (keeping your brain’s assumptions at bay)
7. Then ask yourself (silently ) -  do they have legitimate reasons that you haven’t considered or investigated?  Are they owning up to their role in the issue?  Are they blaming others?
8. Ask the employee if/what they could do to keep ABC from continuing to occur and/or if they were in your shoes, what would they do to keep ABC from continuing to occur?   You may also need to ask how you can support them in keeping ABC from occuring – what resources do they need?

But easy and efficient doesn’t get you employee engagement in this case and oftentimes doesn’t get you effective communication.

E-mail has often led to confusion – the opposite of effective communication.  And it can be confusion of content or confusion of intention – both are frustrating and the second can be downright damaging.

A good rule of thumb is to use e-mail to inform, FYI, gain simple answers, or set dates/times.  Have Face to Face to conversations to discuss, ask questions, create and relate.

A quick face to face conversation – 5 minutes – maybe 10 - is all it takes to have a real deal meaningful exchange of ideas.

Making eye contact is powerful.  Body language is super informing.  And so much more is conveyed.

And you get to connect.  You get to engage in a personable way, creating a relationship through conversation.

So take the time to have face to face conversations – it will save you what matters in the long run – your people.

As in stuck in a drawer and maybe, if you’re lucky, your overachiever can remember two out of six.

At Premier Employment Screening Services they have a really wonderful remedy.

Employees can nominate other employees for exhibiting company values.  They do this via a full sheet of paper that states “Today I’m recognizing that you made a difference!  We believe that our values contribute to our success and growth and are reflected in everything we say and do.  Today (name of coworker) exhibited the following Premier Core Value” – then their 6 values are listed with check boxes next to them.  Then there is an area where they write specifically what their coworker did to exhibit that value.  Then the nominator puts their name and the date.  That month, all of the nominations are placed where everyone can see them.  Then once a month, the CEO selects the one nomination that best represents the values of the company.  Both the nominator and the nominee receive a $25 gift certificate. 

But here’s the clincher…when rolling out this program, the CEO talked genuinely about the importance of the values and the value of the employees.  He talked about how sometimes you see someone working really hard and all you really know about him/her is their outer shell.  And the whole time he’s holding this rock and referring to it throughout the course of his presentation.  Then he turns the rock around and on the inside is this beautiful display of majesty – of crystals.  And he tells them how they can look beyond the outer shell and see the inner beauty, the inner humanity, of their coworkers. 

And of course everyone is moved by now – because this is real. 

It’s not cheesy. 

And it’s not cheesy, because his sentiments are real.

And the nominee that is chosen for the month receives the rock as a reminder that someone on their team saw the beauty of their contribution – of their work.  Of them.

That’s what I call real values that create real value.

Nobody likes it.  Obviously not the person being fired.  Nor the manager who has to do the dirty work.  But don’t forget all the remaining employees – those who worked with the individual day in and day out for who knows how long.  And then even the employees who may have not known the individual but feel a sense of sadness nonetheless to lose a team member and know that someone just lost their job – their livelihood.

It just feels bad.  No two ways about it.

So how do you deal with the aftermath?

First and foremost, gather together all the employees who knew this individual for a 5 minute touch-base IMMEDIATELY after the fired employee leaves the building. 

This does several things -

• If you wait, the gossip will grow at an alarming rate.  (Is the company in trouble financially?  Who’s next?  Oh I think it’s John.  Really? I’m thinking probably Joan because she…) And if you even pause to calculate the cost of a 5 minute meeting times 50 employees – think of the cost of many hours spent in the gossip Bermuda triangle.  
• Also you want ALL the employees who knew the individual so that everyone hears the same message.
• And lastly – you want to do this face to face, not via e-mail.  It shows that you are compassionate and understand and have empathy for the impact on this individual and those employees who knew him/her.

Second, communicate simply, quickly and compassionately. 

Let the remaining employees know that the individual was either (if there for a short time) not a good fit or (if there for a long time) didn’t carry their weight which was unfair to everyone else within the organization.  

Employees know when someone is not a good fit or not doing their job well.  This will come as no surprise.  And overall employees appreciate when the company removes an employee who doesn’t contribute.  They feel for the individual, and yet they know that this is what’s best for the company.

Hogwash.

If you have time to see a client, you have time to see your employees – employees are as critical as your clients.  If you keep clear that your employees are your most important resource and biggest asset (and do not view them as a ‘cost’ and ‘liability’) then you know that investment in your employees, is an investment in your company.

So how to create the time?

The best power lunch you can have is the one with your employees.

Depending on the size of your organization, consider having a round table of employees to lunch, at least once/month.  If you invited 12 for 12 months – you will have connected with, and learned from, 144 employees that perhaps normally you wouldn’t run into or get a chance to talk to.  Even if you only have 12 employees – take three to lunch every month.

Few things to keep in mind:

1. Choose employees from all levels of the organization – oftentimes the gold is where you can’t see it.
2. Ideally mix it up – meaning do not have all the folks from one department come at the same time, you can help the entire company gel by having folks from different departments meet one another outside the office.
3. Make sure everyone has a voice, has a chance to offer up their input.  Going round the table with a conversation/question usually helps facilitate this one.  Or you can simply let them know you would like to hear from all of them.
4. Know the basics about each individual before the lunch – their position, who they report to, how long they’ve been with the company, their family and how they daily contribute to the vision. 
5. Ask good questions and be prepared for all different kinds of feedback – the good and the bad.  And remember to simply say “thank you” on the bad (no defensiveness.)
6. Some good questions to consider:

• What makes you get up in the morning?  What are you passionate about?  What makes you tick?
• How do you think we could be a better company? 
• What do you love about working at our organization? 
• What do you wish you/we could change?

      7.  Share yourself.  Answer some of these questions – let them get to know you.

      8.  Lastly, set aside at least two hours, and don’t be rushed.  Enjoy the company you keep.

Why? 

Because Choose People just launched.  We don’t have a whole long list of companies who are Certified Choose People companies – YET. 

So the audience of Lifetime – Chief Household Officers, as described by the coordinator, do not have an immediate way to buy goods and services from Choose People Certified Companies.

However they do have two other ways they can make a difference – right NOW.

1)  Pledge to be a Choose People Person – meaning commit that all things being equal, as a consumer, you would choose a Choose People Company made product/service over a non-Choose People Company product/service.  This you can do simply by going to www.choosepeople.com/pledge.  This tells companies that YOU care how employees are treated – that people feel good about coming to work.  Because you know that how employees show up at work, speaks volumes about how they are going to show up at home as spouses, parents, and citizens.  Happiness is contagious. 

2) Nominate a company you think has happy employees – www.choosepeople.com/nominate. These are the companies that need to receive Choose People recognition so they have the support of consumer dollars, and can thus hire more happy employees!  Let’s support companies who are doing the right thing – thus creating more of them!

Socially conscientious purchase power has the ability to form and guide our economy and all the lives it touches.  Come be part of the Choose People consumer revolution!

Choose People Certified Companies coming to a community near you

Here are several quotes in Senge’s book from Bill O’Brien, former president of Hanover Insurance:

“We believe there is no fundamental tradeoff between higher virtues in life and economic success.  We believe we can have both.  In fact, we believe that, over the long term, the more we practice the higher virtues of life, the more economic success we will have.”

“Another and equally important reason why we encourage our people in this quest is the impact which full personal development can have on individual happiness.  To seek personal fulfillment only outside of work and to ignore the significant portion of our lives which we spend working, would be to limit our opportunities to be happy and complete human beings.”

“In the type of organization we seek to build, the fullest development of people is on an equal plane with financial success.”

Managers’ fundamental task, according to O’Brien, is “providing the enabling conditions for people to lead the most enriching lives they can.”

Kuzuo Inamori, founder and president of Kyocera until 1995, stated “Our employees agreed to live in a community in which they would not exploit each other, but rather help each other so that we may each live our life fully.”

However the most insightful quote of all comes from Senge himself -  “To see people’s development as a means toward the organization’s ends subtly devalues the relationship that can exist between individuals and organization.”

I would suggest it’s not subtle.

So I ask you – when you consider the personal development of your employees – what is your intention?  Is it from a place of genuine caring – a desire to see that individual reach their higher potential? or simply to benefit the company? Or both?

Either way it’s written all over your face.  Intention is silently loud, and critically important to employee relationships.

For example, it doesn’t matter how many times a company promotes a written “open door” policy if every time someone opens the door, it comes slamming back in their face.  Employees learn quickly that the policy doesn’t mean squat and that if they want to keep their jobs and be promoted, silence is the best option.  Unwritten rules can be positive as well.  If everyone knows that a priority for the owner is family time (as seen in his/her actions), than employees feel more comfortable asking for time off to attend family events.

However the biggest concern are the detrimental unwritten rules that unspoken (and almost invisible) go unchecked and unquestioned.  Welcome to the dark underground of your organization.

Here are a few questions to get at the heart of your company’s unwritten rules:

1. Does your company promote based on seniority or productivity?
2. Are people appreciated for bringing up tough questions or is this frowned upon?
3. Is gossip an acceptable way to “get in”  and “get up” within the organization?
4. Are you recognized for the work you accomplish or the hours you work?
5. Why do people get promoted?  (LOTS of unwritten rules around this one)
6. Who does the boss or executive team favor and why?
7. What are the power dynamics in your organization?
8. What are employees verbally appreciated for?
9. Are employees measured on activities or results?
10. Are new ideas from employees taken seriously by management?
11. Who seems “unfireable” and why?
12. What are the top 3 factors the boss says are important?  What are the top 3 factors the boss shows are important? (As you can imagine, alignment is both ideal and critical for the company to walk it’s talk.)
13. Who benefits from the unwritten rules? 
14. Why do you think they’re unwritten?
15. Do YOU benefit from any of these rules?

Of the list of unwritten rules that you came up with – which serve your organization positively? negatively?

Knowing what you know now (knowledge is power) – What are you going to do about it? 

Silence?  (Danger Will Robinson)

• I work at X company.
• I do X task.  (I fix computers.  I make the burritos.  I make flower arrangements.  I grade papers.)
• I am X.  (I am a police officer.  I am a teacher.  I am a sales representative.)

What if you talked about your work in terms of the IMPACT you make.

Burrito maker:  I fill hungry bellies full of nutritional yummy burritos.

Mover:  I help people who are at a difficult time of transition have less stress. 

Teacher:  I’m in charge of  educating the next generation of our country.

Admin Assistant:  I create critical time, space and organization for my boss so our company’s leadership can be on her/his game.  (Thus allowing for a successful business that employs many and helps support many families.)

Cleaning Person:  I create a space that feels good to be in, allowing for the clear thinking and focus of the people who occupy it.

Notice how these answers are so much more interesting, and so much more fulfilling.

What IMPACT do you make in the world?

So what exactly do I mean by launching?  I mean, Choose People is officially “open” for business.   

• We are ready to certify all those fabulous companies out there who are ready to let the world know that they have happy employees!  
• We are ready to provide valuable knowledge to companies who want to have happy employees but aren’t quite sure how to get there. 
• We are ready to be the catalyst for a consumer revolution – empowering consumers with knowledge so they can support companies who are “doing the right thing” by their employees.
• And we are ready to help create millions of happier employees all across the United States by supporting companies to be better employers!

Choose People is READY to roll!

1. What is the first question we ask when someone wins the lottery?  – Will you quit your job? (underlying assumption is that surely you gain no pleasure from work, hence why would you stay if you have all the money you need.)
2. Examples of work on two very successful TV shows – The Office and The Simpsons.
3. Since biblical times we have been told that work is punishment.  When having bitten the forbidden apple, Eve was given the pain of childbirth (known interestingly as labor!) and Adam was sent off to “toil all thy days” in the field – work.

David stated we have been taught that “Work is a curse for not being born rich.”

So the next time you are tempted to say, TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday!),  imagine if you changed your thinking to TGIM – Thank God It’s Monday!  Heck, wish someone a “Happy Monday!”  Because part of our happiness as employees simply lies in our appreciation of work.  In the appreciation to have the opportunity to contribute to something bigger than ourselves. 

Hopefully your company thought about and communicated the value they contribute to society and your specific role.  But if they haven’t – maybe you can. 

Imagine if you bucked the societal peer pressure of being miserable at work.  Ever noticed how some of your friends or family members love to commiserate over how much their job/company/boss stinks.  Step away from the poisonous water cooler. 

What if you loved your work?  What if you put love/passion/energy into your work?  Imagine if you loved coming to work?  Wow.  Next thing you know your standard of living sky rockets (most of us will spend over 80,000 hours of our lives working.)

And if you truly hate your work for good solid reasons – get out.  And find work worth giving your life to.

Happy Thursday everyone

What does dignity get us? 

When you look up the word dignity in the dictionary several phrases show up:

• The quality or state of being worthy of esteem or respect
• Inherent nobility and worth
• Self-respect

Someone’s dignity is their sense of self-worth.

So how do we make sure to maintain dignity in the workplace?

Hannah follows his statement with “Always praise in public and criticize in private. You might be tempted, for example, when you’re letting someone go, to say something that would diminish the value of their work. Don’t ever do that.”

Here are a few more to add to the list:

1. Make mean character attacking gossip an unacceptable practice in your company.
2. Make sure the term “respect” isn’t just part of a dead values statement.  Have the conversation – what does respect look like in our company?
3. Value each and every position in your company as a genuine career choice - especially those positions that socially receive less respect.
4. Separate between someone’s way of being versus who they actually are.  When dealing with an issue, address behavior and actions.  Do not attack the person.
5. And for a mind check – a pause in the heat of the moment – remember no matter how tempted you are to tear someone down, this is a real deal person (as real as your closest family member), not just a cog in the wheel of the machine.

This question goes out to both employees and business leaders – because managers serve both sides of this coin, often not an easy proposition. 

Consider some of the challenges they are tasked with:

• They have to play good cop and bad cop and at the end of the day still be respected.
• They have to implement policies they didn’t create.
• They have to have a good day, even when they’re not having a good day because they’re the example.
• They have to find creative ways to work around an employee’s weaknesses.
• They are the suggestion box – often cloaked complaints.
• They have to find ways to challenge and fulfill employees in jobs that are repetitive.
• They have to deal with the drama.
• They have to fire people they care about.

So go ahead.  Go to their office.  Not with a complaint or a request, but simply with a thank you.

The next time one of your employees comes to you and asks you to make a decision – simply ask them, What do YOU think?  And as often as possible, say “That’s a great idea, run with it.”

You’ll be surprised how many innovative ideas your employees will come up with if given the chance.

Oh and PLEASE don’t say – “Oh, that’s what I was thinking too.” – Let them take the credit.  Let them take the ownership.  Let them have the pride.

And don’t say – “Yeah, BUT” – Instead try – “Great idea, AND have you thought about XYZ.”  I know this is old school knowledge, and this is so critical in these interactions.

Now if you simply can’t agree with their idea, you can still say – “That’s definitely a perspective I haven’t thought of – good point, my concerns are….”

One of things as leaders that we often aren’t aware of is that we go around stealing people’s thunder on a regular basis.  Instead you want to step up your employee voltage and excitement – create the culture that encourages them to get  involved and to watch their innovative ideas bear fruit.

• you are my landlord you receive X number of dollars for rent
• you are my CPA you receive X
• you are my utilities you receive X
• you are my employee payroll and benefits you receive X
• etc. until all the dollars are handed out except for profit

X of course being equal to the % that expense reflects in your Profit and Loss statement.

Then show them how much profit is left.  And explain that the profit has to be used to pay off debt as well as to be reinvested in the company for it to grow.

This visual is extraordinarily powerful to help your employees understand that the boss doesn’t go home with all the money from customers minus the employee salaries.  It also helps employees be more compassionate when the company cannot afford what would seem like a painless expense.

Here’s the rub though – THEY ARE IN YOUR SPHERE OF WORK.  Where you spend many waking hours.  Where you potentially spend many valuable life potential waking minutes complaining about such said individual.  (Now who’s clueless…I’ve been there too.)  You’ve already given up on them.  You’ve relegated them to the world of “placeholder” at best.

Now imagine if you took a moment wipe away all preconceived notions and to ask them -  What’s really important to you?  What legacy do you hope to leave? 

The answer will surprise you.  And you may find yourself inspired.  It may be simple and down to earth.  It may be complex and grand.  Regardless, you have just realized that this person is a real deal person, not a placeholder.

And if you’re really brave and willing to raise the bar for both you and them, ask – As your colleague, how can I help you achieve your goal? 

Imagine being a small part in making someone’s life dream a reality.   (That in and of itself is a legacy to be proud of.) 

By having such a simple conversation, you have helped someone you thought had little worth live into the amazing potential of who they want to become.

And you have gone from complaining to creating valuable life potential.  All by asking 3 simple questions.  No clueless morons here.

Employees know when the company’s primary focus is money and not people, they need to take care of themselves.  They need to watch their back and look out for #1.  This of course creates a “what’s in it for me” culture and oftentimes a culture of distrust.  And when employees follow this type of company culture and focus on the almighty $ dollar, they are constantly looking for ways to make more of it – via a raise, promotion, benefit etc.  

Notice the irony? 

Company focuses on bigger bottomline=distrust=higher employee expenses=smaller bottomline.

So how do you start creating a culture where employees ask “what’s best for the company?”  This can only start to happen once employees identify as part of the company.  They know that what’s best for the company is also what’s best for them. 

In order to identify with the company, employees need to both trust and believe in the leaders desire to also do what’s best for everyone involved. 

On how to create this type of culture begin by checking out our blog post:  How to Build a Culture of Trust: Transparency.

Your coworkers in the department at the other branch are real deal people.

The folks who make the goods and services you buy are real deal people.

They are certainly somebody’s kid.

They may be somebody’s parent.

They’ve experienced heartbreak. 

They’ve laughed until they’ve cried. 

They’ve experienced life altering moments.

And yet often employees are called “human capital” or “assets” or “cost.”

Employees are your family.

Employees are your friends.

Employees are your neighbors.

Treat fellow employees as the people they are, as the people you are:  as a breathing, feeling, complex, life experiencing and creating individual.

If you are an employer, a boss, or a manager, if you keep this simple concept at the forefront, you will be respectful of those you lead.  And you will treat the people who work for you, the way you would want your favorite family member (PAUSE take a moment:  see their face, say their name) to be treated by their company.

And for all of you who work for someone, who have a supervisor, simply keep in mind – they’re real deal people too.

“In the early 20^th century a reformer named Florence Kelley spearheaded an effort to give ‘white labels’ both to companies that treated their employees well and to products that were safe and sanitary.  Kelley was a leader in efforts to improve women’s employment, in particular, because women were hard to unionize and had very little collective bargaining power.

Kelley’s organization, the National Consumers’ Union, became a powerful force for reform. Kelley also led efforts to establish ‘protective labor legislation’ for women, limiting their hours of work and setting minimum wages. This element of Kelley’s efforts was controversial, as the rationale for this legislation was that women needed special protection as mothers and prospective mothers. Still, the legislation was not entirely without merit and it helped set the stage for minimum wage and maximum hours laws for all workers at the federal level.

I know you’re interested in fostering positive work cultures, rather than in legislation, and Kelley would probably have said that work culture was very important, but that too many employers just didn’t care because they relied heavily on unskilled labor and could replace people without any difficulty. The long and short of it is that you’re in excellent company, and building on a long-standing and really interesting foundation.”

Thank goodness for Florence Kelley and brilliant thoughtful neighbors

Dreaded because there’s 1) an uncomfortable power dynamic of judgment and 2) a hoped for expectation of increased compensation.

The dreaded ones usually go something like this: 

1. You’re great. 
2. BUT improve on this. 
3. Oh don’t forget we think you’re great. 
4. Oh and about your raise….

Mostly the manager talks and the employee listens.  And really the employee doesn’t listen, because they simply hear BUT and $$,  or lack of $$ and BUT.  Either way, they don’t tend to leave a review clicking their heels with excitement.

If you don’t already do this – first separate raise reviews from performance reviews.  Only here can an employee really participate in the conversation. 

The manager is charged with what would seem the simple task of giving positive feedback and providing ways an employee can improve their performance/contribution.

To have a review welcomed by both managers and employees – consider this…

Marshall Goldsmith talks about one of the scariest, most valuable questions you can ask those who you care about.  “How can I be a better ….?” (insert parent, spouse, kid, boss, employee)

So what if a review included these questions:

Manager to Employee:  How can I be a better manager?

Employee to Manager:  How can I be a better employee?

The beauty of this format, is that both parties are equally vulnerable and both have an equal opportunity to learn something important and improve in a meaningful way.  They also have an equal desire to be kind yet constructive since they are both on the “hot” seat.  And nobody has to come out feeling slimed. 

Oh – and the key, according to Marshall Goldsmith, is upon receiving the suggestions from the other person, simply say “thank you.”  That’s it.  Thank you.  Because it is a gift of honesty.

Then consider talking about constructive innovative ideas on how to make those improvements.  “So how do you see me improving on X in the future.”  Avoid past examples – which often carry baggage such as stories and defensive remarks. Instead talk about what would it look like in the future.  Why you did X in the past, doesn’t really matter.  What matters is how it landed.

Then talk about what you feel each is doing “right.”  What should we both keep on doing/being since it works well?

This is a genuine good note to end on.

It failed miserably. 

It failed for two reasons 1) We didn’t make the goal of the thermometer and employees didn’t receive a nice bonus and 2) They felt like they had no real control over the success marked on the thermometer – the measurement being company profit.  So they were never really engaged in the first place.

 I learned an important lesson from a friend of mine who lost 50 lbs. and has kept it off for two years.  She would reward herself based on her actions – exercise, eating well, not eating that piece of chocolate cake etc.  She did NOT reward herself based on how many pounds she lost.  She knew that her actions of exercising more and taking in fewer calories would result in weight loss AND that if she always looked to the scale for affirmation of her efforts she would be disappointed on occasion and her morale would plummet.

The thermometer was the scale.  And morale did plummet whenever we missed a monthly goal.  The value of employees was unfairly being measured on results they couldn’t completely control.

So #6 is Reward/Incentivize/Appreciate employees based on the actions they can control. 

Appreciate your financial person for getting A/R in quicker.  Thank your sales rep for making the 50 sales calls she said she would make.  Thank your customer service employees  for high customer satisfaction ratings. 

Consistent correct actions by your employees will result in more revenue and better profit.  Each individual within your company needs to know the answers to the following:

1) What is my daily critical  action that helps the company?

2) How is it measured?

3) What are my low, medium and high goals?

Yes that infamous semi-new business buzz word that has all the world a flitter with how to simply convey “what you see is what you get.”  We are who we say we are.  Open kimono.  No holds bar.  The real deal.  Nothing shady.  Nothing scary and certainly for sure and absolutely – nothing dishonest.

The driving force behind business’ new desire to be transparent, is the new need to prove that they are trustworthy.

And so while businesses are very concerned about their transparency to their shareholders, clients and customers – they sometimes forget that they need to start inside their four walls, with their employees.  The ones that need to trust them more than anyone else. 

So how do you be transparent?  How do you gain the trust of your employees? 

Here’s 4 simple tips:

1)  Be who you say you are by having integrity with your word and your actions

2)  Share the bad news, all the ugly cards on the table and no sugar coating

3) Share the financials in an accessible way

4) Authentically take the blame and apologize when you’ve messed up

There should be no surprises (unless you as the leader are surprised.)  Trust is based on security, on knowing. 

Keep your employees “in the know” and you will gain their trust. 

Transparency = Knowing = Trust

We recently did an informal consumer poll to find out who has the Happiest Employees in America.  Here is the list of all the companies that were voted for!*  Congratulations to all of these companies who have earned a reputation for having happy employees!

1-800-flowers

Abound Solar

Ace Hardware

Adventure Treks

Albertson’s

American Red Cross

Apple

A-Train Marketing

AXA Advisors

Birkenstock USA

BSI

Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railroad

Care2

Chico’s

Children’s Hospital

Clean Air Lawn Care

Cohere

The Container Store

Craig Hospital

CSU

The Cupboard

DataSplice

Dazbog

Dr. Takemoto and Dr. Bishop (Dentists)

Edward Jones

Exodus Moving & Storage

Frontier Airlines

Google

Gore Industries

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

Green Ride Colorado

The Group Inc. Real Estate

HAS

HighCraft Builders

Hilton Garden Inn

Holland America Cruise Lines

Home State Bank

Huntsville Public Library

IBMC

IMA, Inc.

Interweave Press

Kaladi Coffee

Larimer County Sheriff’s Office

Loveland Coffee Company

Markley Motors

Meals on Wheels

Melaleuca

Mountainside Medical

Neenan

New Belgium Brewery

New Life in Christ Interdenominational Church

Odell’s Brewery

Office Specialists

Otter Box

Paladin Press

Paragon Space Development Corporation

Poudre Valley Health Systems

Project Self Sufficiency

RCI

Readers Cove

REI

Research Triangle Institute

The Rio

Rocket Jones Interactive

SA Robotics, Inc

Thompson Valley School District

Sonnenalp Hotel Vail

Southwest Airlines

St. Anthony Central Hospital

Staples

Starbucks

SuccessFactors

Sweetheart Quilt Shop

Trader Joes

UJA – Federation of New York

Valleylab/Covidien

Vern’s Toffee

Vestas

Video Station

Virgin Atlantic

Wahoo’s Fish Tacos

Walt Disney

Whole Foods Market

Zappos

*Please note that at this time these are not Choose People Certified Companies

Sounds like a sales call?  Crazy that we don’t do this with our employees.  We’re always trying to improve our customer service – how about always improving the work world of our employees (your most important advocates)? 

“Hey Bob, on a scale of 1-10 how are you feeling about working here?”  Anything less than a 10 can be followed up with “Knowing what you know, how could we make it a 10?”  You can even simply ask – “How can I help make your work world better?” 

Don’t be scared.  If you’ve been transperent with your employees  they know the limits of the company.  And if you ask sincerely, they will answer sincerely.  Then promptly follow-up on what you can and let them know they’ve been heard on those things that need to wait.

Nobody likes to fire anybody.  Firing is one of THE most brutal jobs of leadership.  I know. 

And yet it is critical to the positive atmosphere of your company that when someone doesn’t cut the mustard either work-wise or personality-wise that they are let go – ASAP.  The longer you wait, the more miserable your team is and the less they believe in you as a leader. 

When you fire someone who doesn’t cut it, it reinforces a message of respect for those who remain.  You respect what they bring to the table, hence why they get to stay on the team.  You don’t allow sub standard folks to play, only rockstars. 

(YES, some folks deserve a second chance and an opportunity to improve – I’m not heartless. BUT really ask – is redemption truly possible in this situation?) 

So how does a cash strapped company create happy employees when they can’t “buy” them? 

Super duper tip #1) - You can’t buy happiness.  Know that throwing $$ into a dark hole of unhappiness, is throwing $$ into a dark hole  of unhappiness- I know, brilliant. 

#2) Hire fabulous people who will ADD to the good vibe of your team.  You don’t want someone who will simply “get along” with others.  You want someone who will fit your culture and create synergies.  Often when you are hiring, you are thinking about how much YOU like the candidate – you must also think of your team dynamics and personalities.   Remember many people enjoy coming to work (and stay there) because of the relationships they have with their coworkers.  Do everything you can to keep these relationships positive.

OH and bonus tip on this one – Never ever hire someone who raises a red flag in the interview process.  No matter how good the resume, no matter how good they look, if your gut gives you a red flag, walk away.  Step away from the shiny suit and twinkle teeth.

#3 inexpensive way to keep your happy employees happy coming Monday

If you’re a business owner that has leaned heavily on your health benefits to keep employees, I recommend a different strategy.  Golden handcuffs as a general rule are fairly manipulative.  And no one wants to be a prisoner – even in a golden cell. 

The best strategy is simply one in which employees stay at their jobs because they value their workplace.   Their workplace is valuable to them.  As employers, we place a monetary value on employees – Joe contributes X and receives $.  Employees are doing the same thing – the question is, as a workplace what do you contribute to your employees that is valuable to them?  Yes, a paycheck.  And yes benefits.

But what about personal pride? meaningfulness? opportunity? laughter? fun? learning? growing? camaraderie? community? appreciation? personal validation? beauty? interesting challenges?  This is the true value that a company can contribute to their employees.  One that leads to the opposite of handcuffs – self-realization, warm fuzzies and an overall sense of good feeling – happiness.  And time and time again, employees have shown that they will choose this value over $.

New Strategy:  provide your employees a valuable workplace and avoid all prison references.

Take the poll now.

This is an odd post, but one that I truly believe to be an important one.  As an employee you cannot truly know the agony that goes through a business owner’s mind at the thought of having to layoff good employees that they care about, that they know don’t “deserve” to lose their job.  Many sleepless nights have been spent by those who have had to lay-off employees during this recession.  You must also know that there is often a strong sense of self-failure and guilt felt by the leadership of a company when layoffs enter the conversation. 

I know one business owner who is so loyal to his employees, he told me he thought that any company that would lay-off employees was a company that was out of integrity.  He said he would rather see his company fold than to lay off an employee.

I don’t agree.

And I’m an employee advocate!  But I’m also a business owner advocate.  And a business advocate overall.  And a business that folds, has no jobs to offer, to anybody.  And instead of 10 people losing their job, 100 jobs would be lost. 

How does leadership choose the 10?  Very painstakingly.  Thoughtfully.  I can guarantee that while yes, they are figuring out how the company will cut costs, how the company will financially survive, they are thinking of all the individual contributions each employee has given as well as the impact on each employee’s life and family.

So the next time you hear of layoffs and simply think the business owner is a money hungry, blood thirsty scoundrel, think again.  Because that would be a very rare case.  Have some compassion and know they are going through their own personal hell and simultaneously balancing a lot of plates that feed those remaining.

And if you don’t have a job lead – give them my absolute best tip for the unemployed:

You have one thing that all of the employed people don’t have  – TIME.

Lots of valuable, incredible, time.  Hours of it in fact.  And while these hours may seem ruthless as you wait for the phone to ring or for your e-mail to ping – they are a golden opportunity to do the very thing that CEOs and managers wish they had time to do – read.  That’s right read – they wish they had time to read all of the latest and greatest business books, articles, blogs, magazines and information on their industry.

And why do they want to read?  Because they want to learn.

And what do they want to learn?  How to make their company better.

How can you shine like a lighthouse in the sea of applications?  With your brilliance!  Your brilliance gained from all that you have read and learned.

So here’s the clincher to do step: Weekly send an e-mail or a note to the CEO/owner of the companies you would like to work for telling him/her about the valuable A-HA or gleaning that you found in such and such article/book/magazine that you thought they would appreciate.  Chances are they will appreciate it – and they will remember you as the innovative individual who brought that great idea to them – definitely hiring material.

Give to give.  Give to help.

It will come back, it always does.

However it was his quoting of a quote on page 86 that had me standing still with my mouth open in amazement:

“I remembered a passage from John Ruskin’s The Crown of Wild Olive, written in 1866…

‘Of all wastes, the greatest waste that you can commit is the waste of labour.  If you went down in the morning into your dairy, and you found that your youngest child and the cat were at play together, and that the boy had poured out all the cream on the floor for the cat to lap up, you would scold the child, and be sorry the milk was wasted.  But if, instead of wooden bowls with milk in them, there are golden bowls with human life in them, and instead of leaving that golden bowl to be broken by God at the fountain, you break it in the dust yourself, and pour the human blood out on the ground for the fiend to lick up – that is not waste!  What! you perhaps think, “to waste the labour of men is not to kill them.”  Is it not?  I should like to know how you could kill them more utterly.’

I don’t know that it could be said better.

Then there was the dilemma around seniority vs. capability vs. quality of work – who gets the goods?  the benefits? the bigger bonuses?  the kudos?

Seniority is easiest because it is deemed fair by everyone, and achievable by everyone who doesn’t get fired.  However it’s also a cop-out, especially when you know that Joanie who’s only been with the company 2 years does a significantly better job than Barb who’s been there 8.  But we also want to reward loyalty as well as value institutional knowledge. 

**Important side note and reminder:  The underlying critical premise being that Barb valuably contributes to the company – or she wouldn’t have been there this long.  Employees who are under performing and over paid because of seniority are a significant burden to the entire company – especially in the demoralization and gossip of the employees around them that feel the “unfairness” of the situation.  (Not to mention the negative hit on the leadership’s reputation.)  While you may be attached to those who have been with you through the good and the bad of growing the company, you need to guide these employees to contribute valuably.  Help them get out of the unchallenging , unsatisfying rut.

So when it comes to rewards and acknowledgements what’s a company to do?  Reward based on quality or seniority?  Benefits are safe in the land of seniority.  This we already know.  Informal praise and appreciation are safe in the land of capability and quality of work. 

 It’s formal praise that can be more tricky – raises, bonuses, rewards etc.  In reality these should reflect the contribution of the employee to the company and the effort and effectiveness of that employee to improve their piece of the puzzle.  This sends a clear message of what you reward directly and hence value the most - excellence.  Keep in mind that senority is already indirectly rewarded by more vacation, more investment in the 401K etc.  

But how can you make formal work-quality praise more meaningful? 

Make the employee feel special, because they are 

Find out what makes EACH of your employees tick.  What motivates them?

When you do this, not only will they know you care about them, you will also help them be the best employees they can be by supporting their passions!  Ask the following and keep it close at hand when you are managing and rewarding them:

1. What facets do they really like about their job? (organizing? creating? improving?)
2. What do they personally like about the company?  (charitable giving?  family flex time?  opportunities to learn?)
3. Why do they come to work? (paycheck to go fishing?, get self-esteem from work?, community of coworkers?)
4. And have them fill out a “favorites” list as suggested by Chip Conley in his book “Peak:  How Great Companies get their Mojo from Maslow.”  What are their favorite restaurants, stores, foods, sports/teams, hobbies?  Then when you do want to reward an employee formally you can give them a meaningful gift of tuba lessons, or tickets to the local softball team, or funds for a babysitter - the reward is personally and individually meaningful.

Now go out there, make some employee appointments and spread the love!

This last week’s edition was especially interesting because of the contrast between the interviewed CEO Vineet Nayar of HCL Technologies and the first quote on the same page in “The Chatter” section by CEO George Cloutier, chief executive of American Management Services. 

Nayar talks about their “Employees First” philosophy and his humility and desire to be seen as ‘just one of the employees.’  He says “The other thing we did was make sure everybody understands that the CEO is the most incompetent person to answer questions, and I say this to all my employees very openly” and he learned “how to communicate to employees to not look up to me, but to look within, to communicate that I’m one of you, to destroy that hierarchy.”

Cloutier is quoted as saying “Fear is the best motivator.”  I would hope that Cloutier was not referring to motivating his employees, because while fear may be the most effective motivator (hopefully what he meant by ‘best’), it is a horrible unethical one.  And this quote is out of context so there’s no way to know without researching further, but the context provided after the quote says that George is the author of ‘Profits Aren’t Everything, They’re the Only Thing’ – which is a fairly cut throat, non warm-fuzzy, book title.  And goes on to state that Cloutier “says he does not believe in coddling employees.” 

The Choose People philosophy says that not only to put employees first because it’s simply the right thing to do, but   also because it’s the financially brilliant because happy employees are the path to profits. 

Cloutier is correct that employees do not need to be coddled.  They are peers, not children.  And as respected peers, they need to know you care – and not just about profits.  They also need to be challenged and supported in new endeavors and efforts to improve the company. 

Nayar says that he destroys the hierarchy.  As long as a company has someone who is paid more than another, and someone has the right to hire and fire when someone else does not, for better or worse, a hierarchy undeniable exists.  I appreciate Nayar’s efforts to humanize himself to his employees, but at the end of the day he is still the “boss.”  Having been the “boss” and hating that word because it felt so oppressive (think Dilbert),  I understand Nayar’s desire to get out from under it.  But at the end of the day, many employees will tell you they want a dynamic leader (aka – boss) who is decisive and effective, as well as compassionate and ethical. 

Many employees are ”okay” with the work hierarchy, as long as the hierarchy is competent and caring.   The happy management middle between Nayar’s employees first concept, and what would appear to be Cloutier’s heavy handedness, can best be summed up by one manager’s mantra of being “Firm, Fair & Fun.” 

Bonus:  *As a side note, one of my interpretations of Nayar’s golden nuggets is to teach employees to trust themselves to be valuable resources who can contribute on a strategic level as well as on a ”make the donuts” level.

In large companies, especially in service industries, there is often the brutal reality of the large gap between the dream of the CEO to create a successful company and the nightmare of the implementations to achieve that end – at any cost,  often at any employee cost.  A company who abuses their employees cannot ethically self-identify as a successful company.  We all know that money sought without ethics and morals is simply greed.

The obvious lesson learned is in order to get to the truth, get in the trenches.  Not only will you earn your employees’ respect, you will understand them on a whole new level.  It is very likely that your compassion and gratitude will deepen for them.  And one thing is for sure, taking time to experience hands-on the basic skills/activities that make the donuts for your company, will lead to better decisions.   As well as to employee respect, satisfaction and loyalty. 

Most entrepreneurs who have built their businesses have done every job in their business and know what to expect, as well as what is realistic for employees to achieve.  However there are many leaders who run a businesses they did not build and hence do not know the down and dirty difficulties of the ground floor. 

I’m a perfect example of this.

When I was the CEO Exodus Moving & Storage, I didn’t have moving experience on my resume.  I’d never moved a piano, gun safe or hot tub, just my belongings from my parents’ house to a college dorm to an apartment and later to my own home.  Many of these first moves were in the hatchback of my Suburu.  I struggled to gain the full respect of my movers because I didn’t “KNOW” how it felt to be a mover.  It was just a concept for me.

Looking back, I wish I had spent time in the trenches getting to experience and understand on a gut level (not an office intellectual level) the difficulties that my employees faced on a day to day basis.

So don’t look back and wish, take the opportunity now, put it in your calendar to take a whole day – if not two or three, within the next month and get on the ground floor. 

Walk in your employees’ shoes.  See through your employees’ eyes. 

Guaranteed you will be a better leader for your new found awareness.

Two employees at each other’s throats is all it takes to wreak havoc in the work place where the focus is no longer the work at hand.  If employees are not terribly distracted by the lack of efficiency caused by their co-workers, then they are waiting to hear the latest gossip in the drama.  In-fighting causes an enormous disruption to an organization.  In some cases, businesses are plagued by whole departments who are ready to battle one another.  Next thing you know, the evil term “politics” has reared its ugly head.

To truly get the ramifications of the nastiness and all-pervasiveness of in-fighting – imagine that ALL the nit picky, finger pointing, gossip mongering is gross green brown sludge that every time it gets spoken is literally spewed across the office, leaving dripping sticky slimy residue on paperclips, pens, paper and people.

And don’t think your customers don’t feel the pain – if they don’t hear it in the strained voices of your sludged employees, then they experience it in the excuse of “miscommunication” that they could care less about as to why Mary didn’t give Joe the information he needed to do his job, (though everyone knows it’s because he did the same thing to her last week).  I’m telling you – it’s an evil, ugly cycle.

So what is management to do when two employees who have historically been valuable assets to the organization are now the biggest liabilities? 

Usually management does one of several things when faced with in-fighting:

• They deal with it “head on” in a “conversation” that consists of a stern talking to with knit eyebrows and shaking fingers.  In my own experience, this addresses the issue, but not effectively – both individuals leave degraded and more angry than when they started.  Not ideal if the intention is retention.
• A good intentioned, wimpy memo goes out to the entire company “reminding” everyone of proper positive attitudes (gag) – as if the employees don’t know who the message is intended for.
• Prayers that eventually the issue will simply “go away” – causing a horrible example for the rest of the employees not to mention management loses credibility with the employees (which also happens in #2 by the way) and an opportunity for the fighting to reach an all-memorable, tell the story for years to come, blow-out.
•  In a fit of frustration, rashly fires both employees, and feels the long lasting lash from the  remaining employees compassionate to the plight of either one of them.

Since none of these options is ideal – what else is out there?

Here’s my suggestion.  You have to have a conversation – but not one in quotes.  A real one.  And not about all the nit-picky pointing fingers crud that’s been spewing and been thrown back and forth for however long it took to get to this point.  No one can win this one.  Trust me – I’ve tried.  Instead try a conversation that goes something like this:

1)      Have them describe what makes them tick.  Asks them both Why do you come to work each day?  Their answer may be that their passionate about the company’s success (if they drank the KoolAid), it may be about the education of children if they’re a teacher, or innovation and discovery if they’re a tech person.  For some it’s simply the bonus or the paycheck that lets them go fishing or follow their love of travel.  Whatever it is – let them talk about it, extensively.  Really have them paint the picture of why they do the work they do – what motivates them.

2)      Validate each of them.  Let them each know that the other person’s passion is as valid and important to them as their passion is to him/her. Duh – I know – but it helps to make this clear.

3)      Show them their impact.  Let them know that their in-fighting is not just hurting the individual they’re fighting against, they’re hurting all of the employees around them, the customers and the company reputation.   And ultimately they’re hurting themselves, because they could lose their jobs and the sustenance to their families or to the passion that drives them.  If they’re passionate about children, they’re hurting them.  If they’re passionate about innovation, they’re hindering it.  If they’re passionate about travel, they’re jeopardizing the income that feeds it.

4)      Point out their co-dependency.  Explain – Oh and guess what, the fulfillment of your passion through this company is dependent upon getting along with the person you despise.  Make it clear – This isn’t your adversary – this is your partner in crime in achieving your passion.

5)      Totally turn the situation on its head.  Ask them – So what would it look like if they were making sure the other person had the most successful day possible?  What would it look like if they helped the other person?  Really have them name the actions they would take. 

6)      Ask THE Question. Ask them if they’re willing to let go of the nasty crud and start fresh – yes with rainbows and butterflies – how else are they going to get there!  If the answer is no, then they need to move on.  If they are truly dedicated to fulfilling their passion through your business, then they should see the value in moving onward and upward.

No doubt, this is a tough one.  Not easily solved.  Just know that the sooner it’s addressed the better – nip it in the bud!

And here’s why.  You can have all the perks and incentive programs in the world and if employees think there is something going on behind the scenes that they don’t know about – they’re not working, they’re gossiping.  And understandably so – they’re trying to figure out what on earth is going on in their world that might affect them!  Reasonable enough. 

So instead of letting false morale damaging rumors fly, give ‘em the goods.

What are the opportunities that the company is considering?  What are the concerns – financial or competitor-wise that the company is trying to resolve?  And then even better – how can each and every employee help or contribute to the opportunity or challenge? 

Once you get them “in the know,” you can then get their buy-in, their support and watch your bottomline get better. 

Employees are the ones making the donuts.  If they don’t know the donut machine is broken and are guessing that the CEO is talking about the donut dough consistency behind closed doors – I can tell you one thing, the donuts aren’t getting made.   AND the employees can’t help fix the machine, and are probably trying to fix the perfectly good dough and wasting time and resources – or worse, creating a new problem of inconsistent dough.

Help your employees be focused and help them help you be the best company you can be.  The only way to do this is to share what’s going on – the good, the bad and the ugly.  They will respect you for it.  Because you respect them enough to share the inner workings, struggles and opportunities that you are challenged with.  You will be amazed at how they will rally behind you!  You can even start the conversation off with “I need your help.”

Leaders lead people who help them achieve the dream.

Having participated in a campaign in Colorado called “Pathways Past Poverty” it was painfully and insanely clear that many full time employees were working hard and not able to make basic ends meet. 

One of the beautiful things about living wage is that it is a concept that wins applause on both sides of the political spectrum for supporting true self-sufficiency.  While seemingly backwards, some companies actually have programs that solely exist to provide their employees with access to government subsidies to supplement their pay so they can survive.  Yet part of this goes back to the issue that in many cases at the register consumers do not pay for the TRUE cost of the goods or services produced, they are subsidized either by the government, the environment or the social issues that arise from poverty and/or ill treatment.

It would truly be a better world if employers were able to pay all of their employees at least a living wage.  AND even better would be if consumers would demand it, even knowing that they would need to invest more in the product purchased or service rendered, but they could do so with a clean conscience. 

Imagine the powerful competitive edge of being able to tell customers that “our company is the only company in our industry, or is 1 in X, that pays a living wage to ALL of our employees.”  Now that’s what I call Corporate Social Responsibility.

To find out the living wage for your area, check out http://www.livingwage.geog.psu.edu/. 

How does your company measure up?

Most business owners would tell you that they lose sleep over one thing more than any other – “How am I going to cover payroll?”  All the while knowing that they are responsible for their employees being able to feed their families and pay for their rent and mortgages.  If they’re not worried about payroll, then chances are they are concerned about the non-performer they care about as a person and trying to figure out how to let them go in a dignified way.  And hoping that individual has reserves or family to lean on. 

When leadership is focused on lack of cash flow or personnel problems they’re often not Painting the Picture of Meaningfulness, or worse, they are using an awful lot of gooky gray paint.  And ironically, this is the very picture that is key to resolving cash flow issues and addressing personnel problems.  One of leadership’s biggest responsibilities ever is to create meaningfulness of work for their employees.  Regardless of the work, leaders need to show how their employees contribute, how they make a difference, and not only within the company, but to society as a whole.  Providing this picture for the deeper fulfillment of employees is essential. 

When employees are motivated by the deeper meaning of their work – they gladly work harder because they know they make a difference.  They also are more likely to have compassion for the struggles of the company and will band together to provide the help needed.  Reasons for hiring and firing become clearer and easier to address simply because individuals either add to the painting, or detract from it.  They believe in the vision and want to contribute to it, or they don’t and should find a vision that truly speaks to them.

When Painting the Picture of Meaningfulness, be descriptive and clear.  Tell stories that are memorable and moving.  These stories will often come from your customers – the ones who know you make a difference. They will also come from inside the company experience.  Ask your most effective employees what inspires them about your company.  Listen and relay.

Your canvas is ready and waiting.

Unfortunately neither of these terms truly captures the essence of what we think we really want – Engaged AND Satisfied employees.  Because it is very possible to have an unsatisfied engaged employee (a somewhat dangerous prospect) or an unengaged satisfied employee (an expensive prospect.)

And yet is this what we really want?

Let me ask you, who wants to simply be “satisfied?”  Do you want your customers to be “satisfied?”  No, you want them to be thrilled! delighted! enchanted! with your product or service.  So why are we willing to settle for “satisfied” employees – yuck.  Even the word “engaged” is a little dubious.  What about thrilled! delighted! enchanted! employees?  Imagine how their “engagement” would look – they wouldn’t just be “engaged” – they would be involved, collaborative, and creative.  Heck, they’d even be excited.  Imagine that – if we wanted to acheive EXCITED employees!

Choose People measures “Do your employees feel good about coming to work?”  So yes, we didn’t go for EXCITED.  We wanted to, but that will probably be the Web 5.0 version.  First we need to get everyone up to speed to at least “feel good” – which is definitely better than “satisfied” which sounds like that horrible response to “How are you doing?”  – (flatliner) “Fine.” 

EXCITED here we come!

Corporate Social Responsibility is a mix of all of these.  A company wants to do the right thing – and they’d like the public to know about it.  Seems reasonable enough. 

And yet Corporate Social Responsibility is kind of like “integrity” – it should be a no brainer in the business world.  But oftentimes it isn’t.  And so IT IS a big deal to commend those companies who go the extra mile, take the extra step, and oftentimes spend the extra money to do the right thing.  They deserve the kudos and recognition whether they’re doing the right thing for the environment, for their employees, and/or for their community. 

Because it’s not the norm – yet.  And that’s the goal.  Eventually “CSR” will fall by the wayside of business promises like “quality” and “integrity” - those attributes that are requirements just to play the game of business.

But until then, we need to recognize real deal socially responsible companies and then support them with our consumer dollars.  Because it’s not easy these days to be the CSR company – why?  Because their competitors aren’t doing it – so the good news is that they have a competitive edge; the bad news is their competitor’s product /service costs less because they’re not playing by the same rules. 

What will you buy?  The cheap one?  Or the right one?

Why the RIGHT one?  Because that’s the one that allows us all to look good, feel good and do good

“Well in this economy, they should be happy, at least they have a job.” 

ARGH.  Who wants to be the employee at the company where that’s the leadership mantra?  Yuck. 

When the leadership says “We should be happy to have such excellent employees,” then you’ve got a company that’s truly on to something – success.  Why?  Because they understand that their employees are their greatest asset and that they should VALUE them, appreciate them, “show them the love.”  And guess what these companies get in return? Loyal, extraordinary employees taking excellent care of the customers.  AND they won’t have a huge exodus of trained knowledgeable employees when the economy turns around.

Remember that other great diddy – “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.”  What does it mean to YOU? 

Leaders always need to find out what this buzz word truly means to each of their employees.  Here’s just four of many different ways that employees view respect:

• For some it means to respect their “space” – give them a project, leave them alone and trust them to do their job well. 
• For others it means to respect their family – when their child has an afternoon game, play etc., you make it possible for them to attend. 
• For almost all employees, it’s who you hire - do you hire good teammates for them to work with?  Or the heroic superstar who won’t share the credit? 
• Oh, and one never to forget, do not “waste” their time and contribution to the company with unneeded meetings.  I learned this one the hard way at Exodus Moving & Storage. 

How do you find out what makes your employees tick? What respect means to them? 

Drumroll please…..

Ask them. 

Individually. 

Yep, that simple. 

And they’ll love you for it – especially if you listen.

Closely.

Ideally we want the company and the employees to be singing “I’m walking on sunshine , wooah, I’m walking on sunshine, woooah, I’m walking on sunshine, woooah and don’t it feel good!!”

May the sun shine on every business that has employees who feel good about coming to work!

But in many ways, we simply “consume” too much – and many of us (myself included!) simply have too much stuff.  I don’t want to be a “consumer.”  I want to be a giver, a creator, not a taker and user.

Recently at the Green Business Conference there were some other terms that were suggested:

• Co-Producer
• Citizen Partner
• Citizen Eaters
• Maker
• Buycotters
• Co-Creators
• Voters

And while a good effort, none of these quite fit either. 

If I had my druthers, I would call us Choosers.  (“Choosy Moms Choose Jif”)  I think this descriptor would simply remind us that every time we go to spend our money, it is truly a choice.  A choice to support the product and/or establishment where we are spending our money.  A choice to support the company, its practices and impacts that are behind the desired product or service. 

In the meantime, I will use the term “consumers” with the word concientious in front of it, while the illiteration is nice, it’s really all about the awareness of our purchasing power to support that which we truly believe in.

While some would say that  the hardest part about being a concientious consumer is that often “concientious” products are more expensive, I think that’s somewhat of an easy cop-out for most Americans.  Because if I bought less, I could afford fewer, better products/services.  (I think of ALL the clothes I don’t wear in my closet.)  I would say the hardest part is changing habits and taking the time to find out what’s behind my peanut butter, my washing machine, my purse, my favorite restaurant, my dog food, my computer. 

Is it warm fuzzies, rainbows and stars?  Or is it sludge, drudge and sadness? 

If given timely information, (say a Choose People Seal of Approval on a product/service ) what Choosers wouldn’t choose warm fuzzies?

Drum roll please….

No.

No?  Is often the response I receive.  No.  And there are several reasons why health care benefits are NOT a requirement for becoming a Choose People company.

My personal belief is that everyone should have access to universal healthcare AND it is unreasonable to have businesses be the bearers of this cost.  Choose People is pro-employees and pro-business as they truly go hand and hand. 

As the business owner of Exodus Moving & Storage I researched health care a multitude of times for my employees, and found it to be out of our reach.  It killed me not to be able to provide health insurance.  (The average profit margin for a moving company our size is 2.2% – without health insurance as an expense.)

Here’s the irony.  I could find relatively reasonable plans for $250/month per employee as most of my employees are young, smoking males.  In order to afford this insurance, my employees would have had to pay half of the cost which was not something they were excited about.  The irony was that they could get the EXACT SAME coverage as individuals for $100/month.  So instead of providing health care insurance, we increased most of the wages by $1/hour.  And the choice would remain in the hands of the employees.

The most difficult part as a business owner is that I knew that if I chose to bring on health insurance as a benefit, that the following year, my rates would increase, significantly.  And each year after that.  Health care insurance is known for bringing you on at a decent rate and then dramatically increasing rates each year – this happens to individuals as well.  And nothing is worse for employee morale than giving a benefit and then taking it away.

There are many companies who do not offer health care insurance who are worthy of the Choose People certification which measures if their employees feel good about coming to work.  Now if employees are NOT happy about coming to work BECAUSE they do not have health insurance, the certification process will measure this concern and it will affect the participating company’s outcome.

I would rather there be jobs available at companies where people feel good about coming to work, then a lack of jobs at good companies who went out of business due in part to their healthcare insurance expenses simply being too high.

And while I don’t believe that companies should bear this burden, I truly commend those companies who have been able to and have chosen to make sure that their employees have access to health care.

(I should preface this blog to say that I have deep gratitude for those businesses who take the green challenge on – especially after my difficult experience as a business owner of converting our moving company trucks to use used veggie oil.)

Triple bottom line has been the buzz word these days - People, Planet and Profit.  Green companies whose mission is to provide environmentally friendly services and products have their success grounded in Planet and Profit.  How do they acheive the People piece?

I understand that part of the People piece is simply acheived by making the air we breathe cleaner, the landfills less full and the continued beauty around us possible.  Green business has the potential to positively impact the community at large tremendously.   And in this way you could say the People aspect of the triple bottom line is acheived.

However, I still wonder, if the internal People – the employees - at green focused companies are any more happy than employees working at non-green focused companies.   Or if the average is about the same.  

I want green companies to have happy employees, heck I want ALL companies to have happy employees – because I see a movement in our country where we all get smarter as businesses and businesses thrive.  In order to thrive we have to have happier employees and not just because we are throwing money and benefits at them.  Not to mention, it’s simply the right thing to do – because when you make work better, you make the world better.

So now to find out…. green businesses get Planet, but do they also get employees?  And for those that do, what are their nuggets of wisdom?

 Well isn’t that the truth.  When are we most likely to go out and make an unexpected purchase?  When our friend or family has convinced us that they have found THE thing, person or service that we have GOT to get because their experience was so incredible they didn’t know how they lived without XYZ in the first place. 

Happy employees often equal happy customers. 

Think about restaurants for a moment.  How often have we heard the disgusting and gross horror stories of the disgruntled cook or waitperson who put some “added” goodness in someone’s dish.  I hate to go there.  But really, it’s important.  How an employee feels in the workplace makes a measurable impact on customer service or production, and hence on the success of a company. 

In many ways it’s a no brainer.  As a consumer, chances are the service you receive from a company where employees feel good about coming to work will be a positive one – because they are in a positive place.  The product you buy from a similar company, will be one of quality because a company whose employees feel good about coming to work, will often carry that goodness throughout everything they do – including their product.

So when you purchase a product or service from a Choose People company, not only will you be supporting employee satisfaction, but you will most likely be getting a better product or service! 

Down with the recession, up with the employee!

Argh.  This is SO not good.  And happens way too often.  There are many companies who know how to jump through the PR hoops to get the HR awards to look good.  And unfortunately many of those awards measure HR practices, processes and systems (hiring, reviews, safety).  They do NOT measure the results, the actual perfomance of these efforts.  And this is where things can get goofy.

Misleading HR awards pull the wool over the eyes of the very people who need to see – HR & the business leaders!  I believe most business leaders have  the best of intentions, and would like their people to feel good about coming to work .  It’s simply not fair for them to receive the mixed message that they’re on target and simultaneously see painful and expensive tension/grumpiness/apathy amongst their ranks.

This is why Choose People is adamant about measuring the results of company culture and HR efforts.  There needs to be real feedback, so companies and HR staff can truly know where they stand.  Then they can either celebrate in a way that’s authentic and meaningful for the entire company, or figure out the real next steps for moving forward.

As the CEO of Exodus Moving & Storage, I was clear that taking care of employees = taking care of customers = taking care of the company.  I understood that at the end of the day a customer didn’t care how many accolades Exodus had if their move didn’t go well.  And it wasn’t the executive team that took the piano up the switch back stair case, it was my moving crew guys. My employees created the customer experience.  I knew that when a company chooses their people as a primary focus, their customers win and the company is successful.  This wasn’t a terribly new and innovative business concept. 

However the idea of making it possible for customers to discern at the moment of purchase which companies were making their people a priority was new.  Similar to the environmental movement where folks interested in supporting  “green” can choose Energy Star products, I wanted to create a certification that would empower consumers who cared about employee treatment to support those companies whose employees feel good about coming to work.  I also wanted to acknowledge those companies who were doing the right thing by their employees and garner consumer support for them.

Employee treatment has always been a big deal to me – not just as a CEO, but also as a member of the human community.  Because employees are our neighbors, friends, family.  And when people feel good about coming to work, the potential for the way they can show up in the world as citizens, spouses and parents is tremendously powerful. It really comes down to what’s more important – price or people? And I’ve always asked what’s the real societal cost of disgruntled employees?  Employee treatment impacts our entire social fabric.

Now, almost two years later, the Choose People website is launched.  This really is a dream come true.