Good article by Margaret Heffernan in Fast Company called Ten Habits of Incompetent Managers. The details are in the article, but in short, she named

• Bias against action
• Secrecy
• Over-sensitivity
• Love of procedure
• Preference for weak candidates
• Focus on small tasks
• Allergy to deadlines
• Inability to hire former employees
• Addiction to consultants
• Long hours

They’re good things to check for when talking to references.

But it’s even better to design a culture that rejects these actions and then use it during the interviews to screen out trouble before it starts.

Last week I again focused on the culture underwritten by Brad Anderson’s MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy)™. In the comments Diane asked, “What can be done to open the minds of managers?”

Unfortunately, there is really nothing you can do to force a person to change the way they think, but there is much you can do to encourage it. I honestly believe that the fastest way, as well as the most potent force, to encourage change is VSI.

I used to believe that people had to perceive the need for change before they could change, but based on experience I’ve found that if they see benefits to themselves from doing things differently they will start moving in that direction.

The results of this can be almost surreal. One manager with whom I worked was known for making his people come to him constantly to get the information necessary to do the work they were assigned. His attitude/actions resulted in higher-than-normal turnover in his group, but he insisted that he wasn’t doing anything and people could get the information at any time, so there was no correlation.

His boss and I worked out a two-prong approach to change his behavior.

• 20% of his annual bonus was tied to reducing his group’s turnover by 30% (which would bring it in line with the company as a whole); and
• his boss started doing to him as he did to his group by forcing him to come and ask and then dribbling out the information he needed to meet his targets.

Part of the manager’s reaction was straightforward—he grumbled a bit about the retention bonus. But the surreal part was in his reaction to the information plug—nothing, not a word or an action to acknowledge what was going on.

But he did know, because within days of it starting he was giving more complete information to his people. Not all at once and not very graciously, but he did do it and as he loosened his hold on the flow, so did his boss. If he backtracked his boss tightened up and the manager learned that to get he had to give.

At first, his people were cautious, not really trusting the new openness, but after about a month the results started and after six weeks they took off like a rocket—productivity and retention zoomed north, while grumbling and discontent headed south and on into oblivion.

But to this day, the manager claims that nothing has changed, in spite of his people commenting publicly on how differently he was handling assignments, meetings, etc., and certainly not him.

Another editor-inspired Theme day here at the b5 business Channel and it’s traditions—not a topic for which I have much liking.

Generally, traditions are the result of doing something the same way year after year and in a few instances I suppose that’s OK, but most of the time it translates as “because we’ve always done it that way and we’re not about to change.” Given this translation, traditional traditions in business are not only bad, but support various pieces of bureaucracy.

Bureaucracy shouldn’t be confused with process. Process is good—it helps get things done smoothly and efficiently; bureaucracy is bad—it’s process calcified, convoluted, politically corrupted, or just plain unnecessary and it feeds on people’s fear of change.

So, how about some UNtraditional traditions such as

• willingness to change,
• open communications, and
• never killing the messenger

that will provide your people real reasons for giving thanks.

As Nike says, JUST DO IT.

Walk this talk and you’ll never be mistaken for a turkey (vulture)!

Yesterday both Bob Turek and Kathy commented on the politician-as-entertainment. Apparently, they’re not the only ones who feel this way as shown in the November 15 Born Loser© NEA, Inc.

It’s a valid observation proven in multiple elections over the years where the candidates’ hairstyle and dress got as much, if not more, press and discussion than any issue. We drool over paparazzi-style reporting and roll in any mud thrown—as long as it’s not at our candidate—not just at the actual candidates, but also at their families and associates.

Those who claim to follow only the issues and considered intellectual snobs, while they consider the other side empty airheads.

So what do we get after millions of dollars and miles of digital and analog coverage and commentary?

An ideologue who’s first and foremost interest is getting reelected with bringing home as much pork as possible a close second—which is about what we deserve.

If you’re looking for a role model when forming your corporate culture check out Brad Anderson, CEO of Best Buy.

While Anderson’s external focus is customer experience, for a sample just walk into any store, internally he’s enabled a culture that allows ideas to move from the bottom up, as opposed to top down. And not just little ideas, but giant ones, such as eliminating required work hours for the entire company—can’t get much bigger than that!

The program is called ROWE (results-only work environment) and was conceived of, and developed by, HR mangers Jody Thompson and Cali Ressler, who recognized that the main thing that “presence” and “productivity” have in common is that they both start with a “p.”

Since the idea of telecommuting surfaced, nearly 25 years ago, there has always been tremendous resistance by managers, based in fear, to the idea that people can be productive outside of the boss’ sight. This is well summed up by the attitude of the general manager of BestBuy.com, senior vice-president J. T. Thompson, “who was privately terrified about the loss of control” when he first heard about ROWE. The difference is that Thompson dealt with his fear, took the risk, and is reaping the reward.

How big a reward?

“Best Buy notes that productivity is up an average 35% in departments that have switched to ROWE. Employee engagement, which measures employee satisfaction and is often a barometer for retention, is way up too, according to the Gallup Organization, which audits corporate cultures.”

In fact, ROWE is a subculture, possible only because of the overall culture fostered by Anderson, who encourages “bottom-up, stealth innovation.” He and his team believes in ROWE so much that “they have formed a subsidiary called CultureRx, to help other companies go clockless.”

In a response to the question, “Where do you find new business ideas?” Anderson shows just how well listening to workers can pay off.

I believe that some of our best ideas have come from the people who are furthest removed from the CEO’s office – those line-level employees who interact with our customers each and every day. We’ve got a wonderful team of eccentric people working in our Manhattan store on 44th Street and Fifth Avenue. Now, there’s a large Brazilian community near the store, and the manager said, “Hey, we don’t do anything to cater to them.” So he hired folks who spoke the language in the store. They wound up discovering that there are cruise ships of Brazilians that come to New York City, so they contacted the travel company and found that the store was a desirable stop for them. So all of a sudden we have buses of tour groups pulling up on Sundays. If we waited for someone in Minnesota to come up with that idea, we’d still be waiting.

But it goes much further than that. While other companies talk about their multicultural hiring, Best Buy turns theirs into a competitive advantage. Few people think of retail sales jobs as career moves, but they can be.

When a delegation from China recently toured Vancouver-area Future Shop stores, Kevin Layden [chief operating officer of Best Buy International] was the only one in the group who needed an interpreter.

In every store they entered, Chinese partners of the retail chain met Future Shop employees who not only talked the same technical language – they were all in the electronics retailing field – but spoke Mandarin as well.

Among the Canadian hosts to the Chinese delegation was Yingming Gao, manager of a Future Shop store in Surrey, B.C., and a 12-year veteran of the company.

Mr. Layden says the key to managing diversity, and to understanding different cultures, is to listen, learn and adopt the best ideas from a variety of sources, rather than imposing one corporate viewpoint.

Mr. Gao, who is expected to take on a management role in the Nanjing store, understands the differences in business philosophy, as well as the cultural differences. He aims to help Best Buy and Five Star bridge differences without disrupting Five Star’s relationship with customers.

The greatest cultures aren’t pronouncements, they are enablers that incite creative thinking at all levels, listen to the results, act on them and give credit where it’s due.

I read David Zinger’s 37 Unhabits of Highly Successful Managers right after I posted my leadership question.

My first thought was “what a great list” followed closely by how well it describes many of today’s political leaders—unfortunately they don’t seem to have noticed the ‘un’ and are treating it as a to-do list.

So I’ll pose another challenge to you along with the leadership request below.

Cast your comment for the political leader(s) that best embody the habits David describes, preferably with relevant example(s).

I’m not a lover of political rhetoric I freely admit that I don’t follow politics in depth, especially in the early stages, but from what I do follow I see few signs of real leadership.

And although Rich over at Copywrite Ink said this in the context of social media, it perfectly addresses my question.

…I was not advocating for leaders as they defined the term as much as I was advocating leadership. The two are vastly different.

Leadership is not defined by power, privilege, rank, title, position, or authority. Leadership is a quality of action, one that rarely requires force of law, threat, manipulation, control, or the attempted shutdown of dissent. On the contrary, leaders welcome all parties, all views, and then effectively match those to organizational goals and not necessarily their opinions or preferences.

So I’m asking you readers to weigh in here with the information and post real-life examples of good political leadership, whether national or local, guided by Rich’s description and focused on DOing sans ideology and talk.

There is nothing better than culture watching, especially one that does so many things so well, such as Best Buy. And now they’ve done it again.

While there’s been much talk about the importance of hiring a diverse workforce and how to manage it, Best Buy has taken the idea to a totally different level by utilizing its multicultural workforce to achieve their business goals.

It’s still relatively uncommon, however, for organizations to try to turn that diversity into a competitive advantage, as Best Buy is doing in tapping its Chinese-Canadian employees for hands-on help in its expansion strategy for China.

You want to do business in a certain place or with a certain segment of society, so you tap inside your company who speak the language and know the culture—sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it.

Instead, it’s a radical idea, especially reaching way past typical management ranks to tap your frontline workers.

But it’s ideas such as this along with eliminating hours in favor of work done that makes Best Buy a culture to watch!

Steady readers know that I’m a big fan of “leaders in the instance” and I found confirmation of the idea in a comment by Michele Goins, chief information officer for Hewlett-Packard’s Imaging and Printing Group.

“Leadership opportunities are presented to everyone, what makes the difference between being a leader or not is how you respond in the moment.”

Call it instant vision—the ability to see what needs to be done and then spearhead the effort to do it.

Everybody has multiple opportunities to lead every day, a few large, but most are small; a few that will attract wide notice, but most will not.

Some people pick and choose—expending effort only when they believe it will pay off; DOing only when they’re sure their actions will be noticed by the powers-that-be. What they don’t seem to realize is that all those small efforts add up, often bringing more value than the big, splashy ones.

Choosing when to lead often indicates a narrower, self-focused MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy)^™ that doesn’t bode well for the team or for accomplishing the company’s goals.

Sure, everybody’s interested in “what’s in it or me,” but when that mindset becomes the filter through which all decisions are run the individual’s value to the organization plummets.

The more you practice leading in the moment the more value you bring to the table. Eventually it will be noticed and rewarded—and if your own bosses aren’t smart enough to see it, be assured that others will.

Leaders, whether in business, politics, religion or community, fall broadly within two categories—those who KNOW and those who THINK they know, Think of it as a line graph

Leaders with high KNOW ratings prefer people willing to follow blindly and agree without questioning.

Leaders with high THINK THEY KNOW ratings prefer followers with strong critical thinking, who challenge their ideas often forcing them to evolve, improve and even change them.

Both types are passionate and prefer passionate followers who are willing to evangelize their cause.

Which type of leader do you prefer?

Which type of follower do you choose to be?