Failure isn’t really failure unless nothing is learned.
Learning from it means that you need to look at it differently.
Few individuals or companies enjoy dwelling on what they consider failures; most pick themselves up and move forward; the strongest dissect what went wrong.
They take the time to decompose the thoughts and actions that didn’t work and document them in a ‘lessons learned’ report.
Good so far.
But what happens to the report? Is it neatly filed with the project information or under another heading?
Investing effort in lessons learned reports only to file them makes it more likely that the errors will be repeated again in the future.
And that is frequently the case.
Instead, if the goal is to learn, then learn to LAUD IT.
Look at what went wrong, not what worked;
Analyze what was done;
Understand why it was done;
Determine how to fix/improve both thoughts and actions.
IT refers to using technology to share the information, making it easily available to everyone and searchable.
Years ago when I was a headhunter I recruited “John,” an inarticulate hardware engineer who wore his hair like Willie Nelson, had a beard streaked with gray, no-fashion clothes and was a bit vague about the world.
But John was brilliant and a genius in his work. He could look at a circuit design and know that it wouldn’t work, although he couldn’t always explain why.
The vp he worked for at the time ignored him, dismissed his opinion, built the circuits anyway and was shocked when they wouldn’t work.
All that changed when I stole him for a client whose focus was content, not looks or delivery.
“Jim” had no belief in intuition, but a deep belief in what he called ‘unconscious pattern recognition’, which, he said, was why John knew a bad design when he saw it.
John told me years later that Jim was the only person in his whole career who seemed to appreciate and value his skills.
According to Jim, in many ways John was a pain to manage, but his value to the product development effort more than off-set the irritation factor. He said that if managing people was easy managers wouldn’t be paid a premium.
And that brings us to the point I want to make.
I’m really tired of hearing managers constantly complaining about
needing to hire ’self-starters’ so they can focus on building their leadership skills;
the amount of time they spend settling team member disputes;
how childish their people can be; and
how the time spent hiring take them away from their ‘real’ work.
If you choose to become a manager you need to understand that
no matter your level your people will always take precedence over everything else, because without people there is no company;
people do become childish when thwarted or upset and that one reason that you make more money is that it costs more to hire a trained, adult baby-sitter than a teenager;
few stars are born, rather they are the result of how they are managed; and
if you don’t like the above three points you shouldn’t be a manager.
Management isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, so how do you know if you are/will be good at it?
Look in the mirror and answer this question:
Would you be happy and engaged if you reported to yourself?
Three slightly odd, but very valuable, views of the business world today.
For a lot of managers it’s that time of year again, the time of mid-year reviews. A lots been written on reviews, but I found the interview with Will Wright, developer of The Sims, Spore, etc., brought out a very new point. Wright says, “The really important motivational stuff is more in their [employees] secret identity.” This isn’t just true about ‘creatives’, but about every employee.
I have a stack of books to read, many of them the result of a review I read. I usually hold off recommending them, but this one looks too good to put on hold. It’s Alain de Botton’s The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work and it looks like a great read—even vacation fare.
Quick. What sort of business would the entrepreneurial daughter of Ralph Lauren start? Something in fashion? A new publication? How about a candy company? Yup. Dylan Lauren sees “…a row of Polo Ralph Lauren cashmere sweaters or colored shirts…as food or candy.” Sweet.
Yes, it’s another post about my favorite company. Why do I write so much about Zappos?
Because, according to CEO Tony Hsieh, “Our No. 1 priority is the company culture. Our whole belief is that if we get the culture right, then everything else, including the customer service, will fall into place.”
Zappos embodies everything I believe about culture being the bedrock of corporate success.
Not bad for a dot com startup that was given exactly one week’s worth of additional funds in which to turn itself around or be shut down.
But heaping more kudos on CEO Tony Hsieh isn’t the purpose of this post. Rather, I’d like your opinion of why cultures such as this are so rare.
Hsieh is a Gen Xer running a truly multi-generational company (I confirmed this by calling and chatting with a customre support person, not HR or an official source, just a worker) that hires based on cultural fit and skills—they carry equal weight.
The focus on culture is one reason that Zappos doesn’t have the generational management problems besetting so many companies.
The Zappos culture is a long way from rocket science and Hsieh isn’t shy about explaining how to duplicate it, so you tell me.
“Customer loyalty is harder to measure. As we are in this recession, one way to measure this is that I believe when the recession ends, Men’s Wearhouse will have a higher market share than when the recession began. That will be because of our corporate culture, which will be the glue that holds the customer and the employee and the organization, the shareholder, holds it all together.”
Zimmer has infused the culture with trust and authenticity based on 3 principles
Listen carefully and wait at least one second after the other person’s last syllable before responding.
Elevate the other person’s respect – by focusing on the positive before something that needs to improve.
Always ask the subordinate how a problem might be solved.
The willingness to listen proved its value when a lower-level employee presented Zimmer with the idea that the company rent formal wear, now a significant revenue producer.
Beyond these three principles, the culture provides an environment in which employees aren’t afraid to mention problems or own up to a mistake and Zimmer constantly reinforces his desire for feedback and responds to each email.
“I tell people I like primary information, as opposed to information sifted by various levels of management, but I only get five a day on average.” (Many employees have little confidence in their writing skills.)
You hear a lot about trust and authenticity these days, but I’m willing to bet that George Zimmer didn’t think in those terms 30 years ago when he founded Men’s Wearhouse; no matter the words, he built something that followed his own moral compass.
“I consider anything to do with employees or the stores to be my priority. That’s one of the other things, I guess, when it comes back to trust and authenticity. That is my priority. I don’t say that, I don’t pay lip service to that. That is how I run this business and how I live my life. So, I think the people that work in our stores, know that.”
That’s what founders do.
Sadly, when their compass changes so does the culture—think Angelo Mozilo.
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Be sure to check out the great links at the June 7th, 2009 edition of the Leadership Development Carnival, including lots of great management expertise—in case you think that ‘leader’ doesn’t apply to you.
(I’ve finally gotten my act together to participate, which means I’ll know when they’re happening and that means I’ll have the link to share with you:)
I’ve written multiple times about Zappos and I’m not the only one. Any time the conversation turns to productivity, customer service, branding, leadership, staffing, etc., and chances are someone will point to Zappos.
I seriously doubt that Tony Hsieh can even spell imperial CEO, let alone act like one—his office is a cube in the middle of a lot of other cubes.
He has built Zappos around extreme customer service—only to him it’s not extreme, because he knows no other way to do business. And Zappos employees are as passionate about Zappos as Hsieh is.
During his keynote address at the CEO Summit he said that “Creating a happy workplace is crucial to building a successful company. … After looking at research on human behavior he found that happiness is about four things: perceived control, perceived progress, connectedness and vision, or in other words “being part of something bigger.””
Hsieh constantly presents Zappos anywhere possible to build his brand, not talking about shoes, but about Zappos’ culture, the customers’ experience and how happy employees mean happy customers.
Companies constantly talk about the need for a ‘great customer experience’, whereas Zappos provides one.
He’s writing Delivering Happiness due out March 2010. If I was rich I’d send it to every CEO whose company can be found by searching ‘XYZ sucks’ (for example, ‘Comcast sucks’ shows 22,300 results).
In Richard’s interview with Pat Lynch regarding the EFCA, she said that employers have a choice, either take care of their people or the unions will. Lynch identified four primary issues on which employees rate their job satisfaction:
Employee satisfaction with immediate supervisor
Employee voice – do employees feel safe in challenging the status quo, do employees believe their ideas will be considered
Employee perceptions of procedural fairness
Rewards and recognition – these go far beyond compensation, which is not a significant element of satisfaction. Recognition is extremely important.
Richard suggested to start with an online satisfaction survey to learn how employees perceive management and the company and then to act on the results.
He also said, “come back Thursday to hear Miki’s take on keeping employees happy,” which isn’t really fair since everything I write is about keeping them happy and I even have a post called that.
But I’m committed, so let’s do this again.
In today’s language, ‘happy’ means ‘engaged’, which isn’t a new topic—think buy-in, ownership, commitment, involvement, etc.
Although the terms keep changing the behavior has been consistently on management’s radar for decades. The funny part is that the way to achieve it is as old as humanity and ties directly to the Lynch’s four issues.
The big four of engagement are
respect;
encouragement;
support; and
rewards.
Although descriptions and phrasing may vary, when all is said and done it always comes down to these four basics.
It’s not as if this is secret management knowledge. There are thousands of books, hundreds of classes, dozens of blogs and forums all teaching variations on this theme. I read a good article on it last year, but it was the comments that had the real value.
The real question then is if it’s that simple, why isn’t it put into practice more often?
If you don’t really believe in the value or numbers 1 or 2, you can talk all day and your people will hear what you say as hollow, i.e., no authenticity.
Number 3, support, includes skills training and career development. Ingenuity. Not just yours, but your group’s. Your people aren’t dumb, they know when the company can’t/won’t fund training, but there are tons of ways work around that, such as sharing their own expertise with each other during organized brown bag lunch sessions.
Number 4 usually involves money, but public recognition often ranks higher on the scale. And when there’s an authentic, provable lack of funds to provide significant rewards, every company can find other ways to prove that they value their people’s contributions.
There’s a final component that needs to permeate all ranks of management, it’s what I call the believability factor, BF for short.
Believability is a two-edged sword. A strong BF draws people to you; it helps them hear what you have to say; see the vision that you present; and underscores their willingness to follow your lead. Without it, even the straightest shooters may be casually dismissed.
The flip side is definitely worse, because con people, crooks and even murderers often have BF in abundance.
“Is there a single devastating thing I may do unconsciously that messes my people up the most and, if so, what are the effects?”
I’ve heard variations of this question from many managers over the years.
The answer is yes, there sure is and if you aren’t doing it unconsciously then you’re one of the really bad guys and I can only hope that your turnover soars and your reputation spreads.
The action is inconsistency and the primary effect is fear. Secondary effects include intimidation and insecurity.
The end results in the business world are distrust, low productivity, less innovation, abysmal retention and, on a more personal level, poor reviews, fewer promotions and less opportunity.
It doesn’t matter that the inconsistency is unintentional, arbitrary or whimsical the results are the same.
It’s not knowing that really gets to people—even more than expected abuse.
Think about it. It’s one thing to have someone who constantly criticizes (unconstructively) or disparages you, because you can learn how to turn a deaf ear if, for some reason, you can’t get out of earshot. But when a zinger comes out of nowhere in what’s normally constructive, or at least neutral, feedback you’re caught unaware, thrown off balance and it really gets to you.
Actually, the more infrequent it is the worse it is when it does happen. And after it happens a few times people find themselves waiting for it, wondering when it’ll happen again and almost holding their breath to see if this is the time the other shoe will drop.
That fear grows exponentially once it takes root and distrust typically increases at the same rate.
Can you think of a worse scenario for people to labor under?
But when it’s unconscious, how do you know?
If you actually focus on the person with whom you’re talking, instead of checking your Blackberry or thinking about something else, you’ll see the zinger hit and you should be able to identify what it was. If you can’t, then ask! Acknowledge the reaction, state that you know it was something you said, but you’re not sure what. Be gentle if you expect the person to open up, but you stand a better chance if you ask immediately, while he’s still in shock.
But if you did it on purpose to enjoy the show and then get them to open up so you can twist the knife, I sincerely hope that all your teeth and hair fall out and Zeus’ thunderbolt strikes you where you stand and chars you into tiny little bits.
Do you watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition? I usually have it on Sunday evenings while I’m writing and last night was no exception. For those of you who don’t watch, all the makeovers this season were for ‘heroes’; people who ignored their own situation to give back.
Last night was a makeover for Bernard McFarland, a 37 year old single dad who has become a mentor to all the kids in his neighborhood. He’s a firm believer that ‘knowledge is power’ and that learning and books are the answer to everything. (You can watch it online.)
But what I really like is the slogan he teaches the kids and, obviously, believes himself.
I like it enough to add it to my Rules To Live By (it’s number 24).
Look at what went wrong, not what worked;
“Jim” had no belief in intuition, but a deep belief in what he called ‘unconscious pattern recognition’, which, he said, was why John knew a bad design when he saw it.
For a lot of managers it’s that time of year again, the time of mid-year reviews. A lots been written on reviews, but I found the 
and it looks like a great read—even vacation fare.
He also said, “come back Thursday to hear Miki’s take on keeping employees happy,” which isn’t really fair since everything I write is about keeping them happy and I even have a 
But if you did it on purpose to enjoy the show and then get them to open up so you can twist the knife, I sincerely hope that all your teeth and hair fall out and Zeus’ thunderbolt strikes you where you stand and chars you into tiny little bits.
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