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.
Work
“Just hire a Dalek”
Last week I checked out a Kevin Rose interview with Chris Sacca thanks to a referral from Mitch Joel’s blog. For those of you who are like me and not part of the geek tech world, Kevin is the founder of Digg and serial start-up guy and Chris is a tech investor whose investments include things like Twitter. The interview is, as Mitch promised, an interesting look at this world.
Near the end, Chris describes the kinds of people he likes to work with and that he would hire or invest in. As you might expect, they aren’t your usual Corporate criteria. I thought his take was pretty interesting and worth repeating here.
To start with, you need to be the kind of person that Chris would like to hang out with. I think we can assume that you need to be smart. But you’ve also:
- Done at least one tough job – you’ve gotten your hands dirty doing real work
- Lived and worked in a foreign country – it’s humbling living somewhere where you don’t speak the language or understand the culture
- Played sports – you’re more likely to be balanced about the boundaries between work and life
Though not essential but good to have: you’ve gone to and excelled at college. He particularly likes a liberal arts education. You learn how to think.
Otherwise, according to Chris he can “Just hire a Dalek”. Just a bit harsh… But what do you think? Is there anything we as leaders can learn from Chris’s criteria?
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Rest, renewal & the global situation
When you drive a big rig, the time you drive and rest is regulated for safety reasons.
When you fly a plane, the time you fly and rest is regulated for safety reasons.
When you’re a senior leader making decisions that affect 1,000s, maybe 100,000s, of people – employees and customers and communities – you can, and likely do, work many more hours than the 40 hour, 5 day standard work week [at least that's what it is here in Quebec, Canada].
I recently read a post - ”How to accomplish more by doing less” - that brought the implications of this to my mind again. Here Tony Shwartz talks about the absence of regular rest and renewal during the day and a good night sleep on individual performance. And, that made me wonder about the impact it’s having on the quality of thinking and decisions that are being taken by leaders who are are working 60+ hour weeks. Not getting breaks or lunches away from their desks. Working evenings and weekends because they are in meetings from 8 to 6 or later each and every day. Not taking vacations.
Could inadequate rest and renewal have led to our current global economic and political situation?
How can we help our organizations focus and prioritize?
Do less [but more of the right things]. Do it well. And maybe we can change the world!
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“How easy is it for me to do great work?”
I’ve been a fan of Bill Jensen‘s work since I read his first book, Simplicity. But, the book that really made me sit-up and take notice was “Work 2.0: Rewriting the contract“. In it he asks leaders to think about how their employees would answer this question – “How easy is it for me to do great work?”
“Work 2.0 is not for the faint of heart… it is for those who are not afraid to stretch their thinking about work and the new contract every employer must make to keep their talent.”
Jane Harper, Director , IBM Extreme Blue
In the 10 years since it was first published the pressure to find and keep the right talent has increased. The employer – employee relationship has changed. But, organizations have not. Or not well or fast enough.
Enter “Hacking Work“, Bill’s most recent project. The idea is simple. As employees we have a choice. We can sit and wait for our organizations to make it easy for us to do great work or we can take action on our own behalf, something Bill calls benevolent hacks, and make it easier for us to do great work.
As a leader ask yourself what you’re doing to make it easier for employees to do great work.
As an employee, don’t wait for your organization to catch up to your needs on the job.
Ask: What can you do to make it easy for you to do great work?
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Back to school. Back to work.
Rene Magritte’s famous painting Golconde. Work as a formalized dreary rainy man’s world.
This image, seems so right and so wrong. Today, after the official end of summer holidays here in North America and in much of the western world, we are returning to our work routines.
The good news. The opportunity for change is perhaps as great as at any time of the year as plans will be submitted for final approval for 2012 [and in some cases beyond].
Time to think about the institution’s real values. Time to think about the culture that will best suit your institutional objectives given those values. Time to make the business case for investing in the capacity to make it happen.
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Where’s our pride?
The Gay Pride parade today got me thinking about pride and parades.
Montreal is a city of festivals. And, it seems that every festival has a parade celebrating the pride people have in their community – Carafete- celebrates the Carribean community, Comedy Fest – funny people and things, Canada Day – being Canadian, St Jean Baptiste – the historic roots of French Quebec and of course Gay Pride – celebrates the gay, lesbian and transgender community.
So, where is the parade that celebrates workers and the pride they have in the work they do?
Of course, labour day began as a celebration of “the economic and social achievements of workers“. At its centre was a big parade as this photo of Labour Day celebrations in 1900 clearly shows.
By the time I was born Labour Day parades were a thing of the distant past in my part of the world. In fact, Labour Day had long since morphed into a celebration of the last weekend of the summer. Labour had little to do with it.
The closest thing to a pride in work parade I ever saw was the London Harness Horse Parade on an Easter weekend years ago. The London Harness Horse Parade’s roots go back to the end of the 19th century.
The parade’s objective is “to improve the general condition and treatment of London’s working cart or heavy horses and to encourage drivers to take a humane interest in the welfare of their animals.” And, yet, as the men and women [sometimes many generations] and the symbols of their work – their horses, their carriages, their tools wearing the costumes or uniforms of their trade – walked by us for hours. Pride in their work and in the symbols of their work was palpable. It was beautiful. And, I hate to admit it, but there were moments that brought tears to my eyes.
Where’s our pride? Can you imagine a parade devoted to celebrating workers/managers and their work in your community? A parade that would give them a chance to show the pride they have in the work they do? If so, what would it look like? And, can I come?
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Go for the gold!
Over the weekend we attended our first triathlon. Before you get too excited, Michael and I were just there to cheer Michael’s brother Stephen on. The top ranked competitors [including I'm proud to say - my brother-in-law] take it very seriously and are very good. They swam 1.5 km, rode 40 km and ran 10 km on a still, hot day [30C+ without humidex] when Michael and I could barely stand the heat as we stood in the full sun [no where to go] and rang cow bells to encourage Stephen as he flew by.
There was a moment when two competitors were running within inches [maybe millimeters] of each other, when the lead just lost “it”. It was obvious. His face changed, his stride changed, everything changed. Less than a second later he’d fallen lengths behind with only a few meters to go to the finish line. And it was at that moment that I started to think about what it really takes to bring home the gold. And to think about what we can learn from top ranked athletes and how they train.
The difference between being a good athlete and being a great one can be pretty small as anyone who’s watched the Olympics knows. These athletes don’t just know how to do their sport. They bring their body, mind and spirit to what they do in a very focused and intentional way.
Last week I asked what our organizations are doing to support employees doing their best. Today, I’m asking what we as employees and professionals are doing to be our best.
Are we clearly articulating what success looks like for ourselves in our work life? When do we want to realize that vision? Does that vision inspire us? If not we need to start over.
Are we clear about where we are in relationship to our inspirational end state? Do we know what key actions we need to take, and what skills and capacity we need to build to get there? Are we taking action every day to get there? Are we eating properly, exercising and getting enough rest to do what we want to do over time? Are we developing the mental skills to handle our current situation and get us to the next level? Are we mentally prepared? Have we made time to meditate and develop our focusing and visualization skills? Are we consolidating what we’re learning and adjusting our plans?
If we’re not as present in our work life as top performing athletes our chances of achieving the highest levels we aspire to are significantly less likely to happen. We can rely on chance, or go for the gold!
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If labour was a machine…
The nature of work for “white collar” workers in the Western world has changed radically in the past generation. Gone are the visors and adding machines. It’s hard to believe, but when I first started my consulting career in the 80s my client Canada Post had a finance department that was spread over at least a few full floors. And 100s of people were seriously working like this.
Linear, predictable and boring work has mostly been commoditized. Today workers need to be able to think. They need to be able to respond quickly changes in customer demand, the competition and other market conditions.
But, are we still treating employees as if they are factors of production? Look around.
Gone. 9 to 5. Here. 24/7/52.
Gone. Just doing your job. Here. You better be fully engaged.
Gone. Untethered evenings, weekends, vacations. I even have one client that starts conference calls regularly at 7 any day of 7.
Gone. “Squeezing the lemon.” Here. “Sweating the assets.”
Gone. Breaks and lunches away from your work. Here. More work.
Heh, wait a minute! I don’t think we’d treat the other factors of production – land and capital – this badly. If labour was a machine I’m pretty sure we’d be treating it better. What’s going on?
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“Sometimes you just have to go rogue”
“Much more important than working hard is knowing how to find the right thing to work on. Paying attention to what is going on in the world. Seeing patterns. Seeing things as they are rather than how you want them to be. Being able to read what people want. Putting yourself in the right place where information is flowing freely and interesting new juxtapositions can be seen. But you can save yourself a lot of time by working on the right thing.” [Caterina Fake at Happiness Hack]
There’s nothing fake about Caterina Fake’s take on the role of management. She’s co-founder of Hunch and Flickr. And thanks to Hackingwork you can hear how she, as “a management 2.0 leader thinks about [her] role and best practices for being a disruptive hero”. [really gets going at 4 minutes]
Yep. “Sometimes you just have to go rogue.”
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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.
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Recent Posts
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- Saying goodbye to jargon
- Don’t leave them laughing
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Recent posts
- Decisions based on compromise
- 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
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