This blog is about the relationship between organizations and the people who work for them. And, it’s dedicated to the millions of people around the world who go to work every day wanting to do a great job.
Creating meaning
The best invest in their people! Really?
Tony Schwartz recently shared his thoughts on “how the best companies are investing in their people”. He believes all human beings have four sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental/cognitive, and spiritual. So, companies who want to the best performance need to make sure employees’ needs on all four sources are adequately met as a business priority. Makes sense. Sadly, when asked, Tony couldn’t name one company, not even his client Google, who is currently doing this.
Still, I think there’s something here worth giving thought to here. As a starting point for thinking about what institutions are doing or not doing to create better places to work…
Physical – All of us need to be adequately nourished, rested and fit to perform well. What is/should/could your institution doing to ensure that employees are?
In my experience only one company, Nike, even came close on this one. Makes sense since this is the business they are in. Their cafeteria looked out on a beautiful ‘lake’ and redwood forest in Oregon. The food that was prepared and presented was healthy and nutritious and not “granola”. There were a range of culinary delights on offer and even a selection of wines and beers. The portion calorie count was clearly listed even then almost 8 years ago. There was a track, a cross-country trail and a gym on the property. Though I’m sure there was an elevator, everyone I saw walked up and down the three story court floor stairs. People worked intensely but they also seemed to know when to break. You got the sense that employees treated their business life as they would their athletic training.
At Google, according to Tony they are very aware of this source of energy and do many things to actively support employee health including covering the cost of employee meals and making nap pods available.
Emotional - We need to feel our work is valued and appreciated. When and how do the people in your institution thank and recognize each others work [and really mean it]?
I’ve seen this done well and badly and often in the same organization. So much depends on the skill of the manager. We all know when our work is really appreciated and when we’re being manipulated. This is not about the usual employee award programs. It is about getting real and timely recognition from your colleagues, your clients and your boss. Leading outside the lines is a great resource for beginning to thinking about this from an institutional point of view. Managerial moment of truth takes the idea further. It’s not about what one of my clients called ‘cumbaia’. It is about setting conditions for a fair game.
Mental and cognitive – We need to be adequately focused. How does your organization keep the work focused and prioritized?
Most organizations I know are currently suffering from 24/7/52 syndrome. Thanks in part to technology and cultures that are hyped on “bigger, better, faster” there are no breaks insight. The pace of work looks manic from the outside, and feels overwhelming on the inside. Days are full of meetings. The work gets done outside of that. There’s little or no time to think. Tony suggests that even Google fails on this one. I think in addition, this is the place where we need to think about the impact our work space itself has on our ability to do a good job.
Spiritual – We need to see that we are contributing to something that is based on deeply held values and a clear sense of purpose; something that we find meaningful. How does your institution make sure that employees feel the organization is doing something meaningful to them and aligned with their values?
I think employee recruitment and selection is key on this one. If you’ll never get over the fact that if you work for Rio Tinto Alcan that 10% of the world’s energy every day is used in the production of aluminium then you will never be a match for this business. If you believe that aluminium makes lives better because it is the only fully recyclable product in the world and used in millions of applications and that’s what you care about then you’ll be a match for the business. If you join the company before knowing these facts, that’s a problem. This spiritual element is either a match or it isn’t. As an institution you can make the reality more evident for employees but you can’t fake it.
So, maybe, just maybe, it’s really all about recruiting and selecting the right people and then setting the conditions for people to do great work and supporting them in ways that they find helpful. Now there’s an idea.
Random Posts:
The [r]evolution of storytelling.
Unbelievably, yesterday was TED’s 5th anniversary. The TED talks have enriched our lives and learning over the past few years. For those of us who find it hard to break free of our bubbles – personal and professional – TED is an amazing gift and window on other worlds and other thinking.
Thanks to a good friend and a link on FaceBook, I celebrated this milestone in a special way. This collage and animation of TED sound bites inspired in less than 2 minutes! So put your brand marketing, human resources, and/or communications professionals hats on, and think about this:
Are you part of the [r]evolution? If not now, when?
Random Posts:
Let there be light!
Over the past couple of years I’ve had this niggling feeling that just won’t go away. Communicators and human resource professionals are working in the dark. Demands are changing. Resources low. Pressure increasing. Time? Well there isn’t enough. Result, we’re running from one event, crisis, deliverable to the next. Not only are we not thinking beyond the next week, month, quarter, but we’re working in the dark.
This came home to me again in the past couple of days. Rachel Miller had tweeted a request for help for a masters student, Sonsoles Lumbreras. Sonsoles is doing research for a dissertation that will focus on the use of social media in the context of organizational change.
Given the topic and the cause, I offered to help. And, what an interesting project that turned into. Amazing to find in my very little sample [9 executive contacts, all at major international companies] that companies either don’t have a group level internal communications person or don’t have a social media strategy so don’t have anything to say or my contacts don’t know the Communications people… What? Don’t know the Communications people?
How can we help our organizations develop strong and sustainable relationships when institutionally we aren’t doing that ourselves? How can we understand, and I mean really understand, the impact of what we’re doing if we aren’t widely and deeply networked. We have to get out more my friends! It’s not an option.
By the way, Sonsoles wants to speak to people in international businesses with operations in the UK. If you’d like to help her e-mail is: sonlumbreras@yahoo.com.
Random Posts:
Scale & proportion in communications
"The Fisherman," Saul Steinberg, from The Labyrinth
I think internal communications design at its best is compositional. So, that takes me to the arts to see if there are things I can learn there.
Scale and proportion are two important considerations for the artist or architect. Should they be considerations for those of us who design communications plans? Scale refers to the size of the work. Proportion refers to how we see elements within the work in relationship to each other.
It’s easy in the heat of the moment or the “big” announcement to lose sight of what really matters to our colleagues in different functions and at different levels across our organizations. Not all decisions and announcements are created equal from the point of view of those we’re trying to reach and engage. Not everything is as big to “them” as it is to us.
Designing a communication approach that is the right proportion and scale for the news we’re sharing is as important as any other aspect of communication plan we’re building. Overdoing something that isn’t all that relevant to employees or failing to communicate something that is will lead to equally bad outcomes: Confusion and erosion of trust.
Thinking about the scale and proportion of the communication from the receiver’s point of view helps.
- Scale – the number and variety of communication channels, the frequency and duration of the communication, the effort level to engage people in a conversation
- Proportion – how evident we want to make the communication in context of everything else that is going on organizationally at any point in time and over time, and within the communication itself what is most relevant/important for different employees to ‘get’.
Next time you’re about to communicate a ‘big’ new corporate decision, business strategy, human resources policy, technology change, acquisition, or quarterly financial results, think about what this news really means for the people you’re communicating it to. What impact – direct or indirect – will it have on them? What do you want them to know, feel or do as a result of your communicating with them?
And once you have the answers to these questions, think a little bit more like an artist, design a communication that is right in terms of scale and proportion.
Random Posts:
Great idea # 3: Building pride – The Hudson Bay Company story
An occasional post on a really great idea for employee communications
– simple and high impact.
For those of you who don’t know, The Bay was incorporated “…by British royal charter in 1670 as The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson’s Bay” making it “… the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world.” [source] I grew up knowing it as The Hudson Bay Company. Somewhere along the line it became HBC and The Bay.
And somewhere along the line the adventure was over. The Bay had become a tired and dowdy department store owned by venture capitalists. You couldn’t even find a Hudson Bay Company Point Blanket anywhere in the store.
And somewhere along the line over 70,000 employees and millions of customers had lost the spirit. Products were uninteresting. And the service was nonexistent or surly.
Enter Bonnie Brooks, Chief Adventurer (aka President and CEO), The Bay, Hudson’s Bay Company. The store, here in Montreal, looks the same from the outside. But inside there’s a lot going on and it’s all good.
In the two years since she was named, Bonnie Brooks has managed to transform this dying department store. And she’s done it by going back to basics: Building pride in the founding spirit of adventure and discovery. The things that connect the business to this incredible 400 year history that had been lost. And, she’s managed to take mostly hourly minimum-wage employees with her by building their pride – in the institution, in leadership and in the work they do for customers every day. Genius.
She’s “invited employees on a mission”. A mission to engage with the business and their customers. And they are. Their pride in the company and what they are doing is palpable.
She’s managed in a very short time to reignite pride in the institution and the heritage and tradition of the past. She’s changed the employee experience. And in doing so she’s changed the customer experience.
A simple idea. Incredibly well executed. Good for employees. Good for customers. And good for The Bay.
Congratulations Bonnie!
PS: The iconic blanket stripes are now trademark protected and you can now find the Hudson Bay Company Point blankets, pillows and other gift items that reflect the traditional bay colours and spirit in their in-store boutiques.
Random Posts:
What’s with “strategic pillars”?
Well, it’s that time of year again. It’s the time of year when institutions of all kinds check-in on their progress against their current strategies and/or announce new ones. It’s the time of year when thoughts will turn inevitably to the 3, 5, or 12 strategic pillars. [Just Google “strategic pillars” and you’ll see what I mean. I got 3,340,000 results.]
Why pillars? They are static and heavy. They hold something up, but can be knocked down. Remember Samson? So why do we insist on using this tired cliché to describe something that we want to motivate employees and engage them in action?
Isn’t it time we gave a little thought to how we’re communicating organizational strategies?
Random Posts:
Learning from Indian royalty
I just saw an amazing exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario – Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts. The role of the royal procession in Indian culture is a key element of the exhibit. It is at least as rich and opulent as you would imagine. Stunning.
In the first room a Maharaja talks about the power of the royal procession. I admit that I expected him to talk about how the procession is designed to position the Maharaja as a powerful god-like being. Whether the turbaned and bejewelled Maharaja is riding in a gold and silver ‘howda’ on the back of an elephant dressed in highly embroidered ornaments or in a silver and enamel landau carriage [yes silver!] or in a aluminum on saffron and Phantom II Rolls Royce, the royal procession is a spectacle. And, it’s designed to be spectacular [start at 3 minutes on this video].
But, what the Maharaja said made me stop. He said that the real power of the procession isn’t the spectacle. Instead, it’s a profound reminder of his responsibility to the people in his kingdom.
Now, I know your CEO is no Maharaja. And our organizations are not feudal kingdoms. But, are there any events or moments in organizational life that connect senior executives to employees in a way that gives them a powerful and direct understanding of their responsibility? If so, what are they? And if not, should we be thinking about how we can better make that connection?
For those of you interested in what it took to dress an elephant for such a procession [no irony intended]:
Random Posts:
Something’s in the air
There’s something in the air and it’s not just that crisp smell of a Canadian fall. I’m noticing more than the usual reflection on what’s not working in organizations and how to fix it. And, there’s not just more reflection, it seems deeper and maybe even profound.
Many of the themes are very familiar for those of you who follow this blog and/or my friends at CommScrum:
- Think and act from the inside-out.
- Take a system rather than a functional or professional view
- Stop thinking that communications is about crafting and pushing messages
- Get out of your cubicle, off the executive floor and learn from employees and others outside your function/profession
- Empathize. Bring a deep human understanding to your profession.
Have I missed any?
Today I followed a talk that brings many of these ideas together and takes us someplace new. Standby.
Random Posts:
A dirty little secret
I watched a talk by Diane E. Ragsdale, who was then at the Andrew Mellon Foundation. She was talking about Surviving Culture Change in the Arts. Somewhere about half way through this great talk she referred to the ‘depth of loyalty and the quality of engagement’. Now she was talking about external stakeholders. But it got me thinking.
It’s an interesting thing, but we don’t hear very much about employee loyalty. We hear about building trust, employee engagement. And very occasionally about encouraging employee pride: pride in their work and their organizations.
When it comes to loyalty, the focus tends to be on customers. Why is that? Is it because we think that since we pay the employee that they are loyal? Or that since the job market is tight employees are loyal.
I find it a funny thing. Loyalty is something so tied to trust and pride and engagement and it’s virtually absent from the general discussion.
I think it may reveal something that makes me pretty uncomfortable. And that is that even with all the talk of humanizing organizations and the workplace there’s a dirty little secret. Underneath all this nice talk about building relationships there’s an assumption about employees. And that is that it’s really all about the transaction. We can buy loyalty. Or we get “loyalty” because employees have limited choices.
Is your organization’s employee experience “cultivating true fans” and advocates? Is designed to build employee loyalty? And, if it’s not, is it because after all they get a pay cheque. Are all our good intentions built on this assumption: in the end the employee ‘relationship’ is ‘short-term’ and contractual? Not a relationship at all.
Random Posts:
If it wasn’t there would you miss it?
A month or so ago, a tree in Westmount Park [another gem of Frederick Olmsted’s here in Montreal] was hit by lightening. Anyone who lives in downtown Montreal knows ‘that’ tree: A beautiful gnarly hundred year old weeping willow.
It had been tipping over and held up with a metal brace for the 30+ years we’ve lived in Montreal. And, many of us felt a real sadness to hear this news. I couldn’t explain my reaction. Someone I met on the street near there recently told me she still hasn’t taken her dog back to the park since it fell so great is her sorrow. Rumours have it that the City of Westmount cut it down in the middle of the night to reduce the emotional impact. Huge pieces remain and will be made into benches for the park.
For those of you who’ve visited my home, you know that I live on the 3rd and 4th floor of a condo where “the tree” is a major feature. It’s there in different guises through our four seasons. It’s like a moving piece of art. As it has grown from a sapling to a full-fledged tree, our place has grown into a “tree-house”. And I know how bereaved I would be if anything happened to it. My emotional reaction to the City’s “trimming” it a few years ago was out of proportion to the reality.
On the weekend CBC ran a brief segment – so brief I can’t find it for you – with someone talking about our emotional connection to trees.
All of this has made me think. We can have strong emotional connections to inanimate things like trees. When we care, we care. And, sometimes it’s rational, but lots of times it just isn’t. Is there anything in your workplace that you care this much about? Are there ‘trees’ in your work life? If so what are they?
Sign up for mailing list
Recent Posts
- Grey zones are costing your organization big time
- Saying goodbye to jargon
- Don’t leave them laughing
- A master class with Ed Sullivan
- Innovation & collaboration: Strategic priorities or not?
- The truth about the number 1 fear
- Want to know the secret to writing a great speech?
- Connecting for big business benefits
Authors
Recent posts
- Grey zones are costing your organization big time
- Saying goodbye to jargon
- Don’t leave them laughing
- A master class with Ed Sullivan
- Innovation & collaboration: Strategic priorities or not?
- The truth about the number 1 fear
- Want to know the secret to writing a great speech?
- Connecting for big business benefits
- Staying in touch with reality
- “Just hire a Dalek”
Categories
Archives
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010