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Ryan’s Journal: Can Culture Be Flow?

Thursday, June 29th, 2017

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sjdunphy/2369009987/

If you’re reading this I am making the assumption that you’re a knowledge worker. You may be in an office, a coffee shop, or perhaps some hillside retreat. Regardless of where you may be you have work to do and it needs to be done in a timely manner. When I am truly engrossed in something that has all my attention I get a hit of dopamine that channels my energy. Some call this flow.

Your brain is being fully maximized, distractions fade away and creativity takes place. When I am in this state it feels like work takes less effort. I am satisfied with the results and I feel accomplished. Truth be told I wish I could achieve this state more often and for longer periods of time.

As I was thinking about the concept of flow I was thinking how it could be applied to culture. If we are looking at flow in a way that reduces effort and gets faster results than perhaps we can apply that principle to culture as well.

I read a quote from Steve Jobs where he said, no one individual accomplishes something great, a team does. As I thought on that it occurred to me that the culture of Apple must be one where the team comes first, rather than the individual.

In my mind that is culture at work.

Any new hire would quickly see that belief in action, mimic it, and before they knew it they would assimilate without any conscious thought. That’s not a bad thing, since our brains have so many other things to worry about.

I think the same could be said of the military. You read stories of folks who did heroic things and their reasoning was that they didn’t want to let their team down.  As a former Marine myself I can assure you that peer pressure is real and the last thing you want to do is let your buddies down. As a result you see some extraordinary actions on the part of service member, first responders and others. In my mind that is flow at work.

As always, though, we need to figure out how to iterate and expand our culture to a point where flow is achieved and it seems effortless.

I have found that surrounding yourself with folks that have passion for life, push themselves past their comfort zone, and care for others is a terrific foundation to achieve success.

Image credit: ReflectedSerendipity

Entrepreneurs: The Stupidity of Blue Flames

Thursday, May 12th, 2016

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.5726760809_bf0bf0f558_m

As most of you know, I subscribe to CB Insights (you should, too). It’s written by co-founder Anand Sanwal — good info and he has a great sense of humor.

Yesterday, I learned that founders are sometimes described as “blue flame.” I’ve never heard this term since we founded CB Insights so it could be that (1) It’s not really a thing or (2) I’m not blue flame.

Basically, blue flame is defined as below:
It refers to young people, preferably in their 20s, with lots of energy and no kids.

A blue flame is a fire that is burning at its brightest. A blue flame founder is willing to do nothing but work, forgoing all else but the company.

Per Twitter, no VCs seem to have ever heard this phrase (or won’t admit it –Miki).

Hilariously, it also refers to people who are too old to invest in.  I wonder how they know the difference without seeing them.

While a founder may be “willing to do nothing but work, forgoing all else but the company” it is the height of either lunacy or stupidity for founders to expect their people to do the same.

Especially in light of recent comments from the likes of Mark Cuban.

“For employees and investors they are SOL [s— out of luck]. That is, unless these companies wise up and start going public … The VC attitude of not going public is crushing the dreams of tens of thousands of employees with options.”

It was different in the first boom, when it was investors who got the shaft.

“In ’01/’02 most of these companies were public, so it played out in the public market. You had companies that went public and then lost 90% of their value or went bankrupt. But in the interim, the employees got something out in the public markets. … Here, there’s no liquidity.” —Alfred Lin, Sequoia

It’s called liquidity and it’s what unicorns like Uber not only don’t offer, but can’t because the public markets won’t support their valuation — public markets have an old-fashioned focus on sustainable business models and profit. (For a detailed look read this from Mckinsey.)

All this just goes to show that whether you’re a six-figure knowledge worker or minimum wage slave, you are cannon fodder to your bosses and the money men.

Flickr image credit: s_p_a_c_e_m_a_n

mY generation: The Exhausted Whiner

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

See all mY generation posts here.

mY generation: Group Dynamics

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

See all mY generation posts here.

A few weeks ago Jim posted the first two parts of a four-part series and then got distracted with those minor details of life—such as graduation and job hunting—that are grist to his comic mill. Since the series was interrupted, Jim decided that he would include all four panels today.

So without further ado…

Barrett’s Briefing: Back To The Future

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

The world is changing. We are witnessing the de-industrialization of America. As a consequence, home and work life are blending together again and the means of production are moving back to the home. Sound like the medieval era? You bet.

The Industrial Revolution

The printing press, invented by Gutenberg circa 1440, helped to introduce the Renaissance and end the Medieval era. The printing press sped the transmission of knowledge, planting the seeds for the Industrial Revolution about three hundred years later.

But even though the printing press created a flood of knowledge, it did not affect the daily nature of work. Family life and work life occurred in the same place—the home. The loom occupied a central place in the home. For carpenters, potters, and other craftsmen, the home was also the workshop. Workers (back then they were peasants) lived with their personal means of production—knowledge, skill, and their own personal production tools.

Since the beginning of recorded history work and family were largely inseparable within the house—then came the Industrial Revolution.

With the advent of mechanical production equipment (ironically, some of the earliest were mechanical weaving looms) the Industrial Revolution (circa. 1750-1850) centralized the means of production around the production equipment, and later around the power source which drove the production equipment. Within a few years craftsmen and laborers began to commute to the local factory.

The factory lowered production costs and eventually improved living standards for everyone. But its immediate impact was putting some workers out of work and inflicting further indignities on others.

Centralized production dictated fragmentation of work. Just like the mechanical devices, laborers became cogs in the factory wheel, doing small, repetitive, de-humanizing tasks.

Mechanization intensified throughout the 1900’s, leading to the famous “lights out” factories in Japan, which could operate in the dark without any human intervention. Workers migrated away from factories and into offices.

The Information Revolution—De-Industrialization

Initially, the information revolution (circa. 1950) appeared to be an extension of the Industrial Revolution. Manufacturing jobs peaked (as a percent of all jobs) at 30% in the 1950’s. Then workers began to shift from factories to offices.

At first the new information work itself remained fragmented and repetitive, just like the old factory jobs. Computers and communications, the means of production for information work, were large, centralized, and expensive, just like the old factory equipment.

In the 1980’s the PC and the internet started to weaken the chains of office workers. The de-industrialization of America picked up steam.

Back to the Future – Working from Home

The peasants of the new century are knowledge workers. With an internet connection and a laptop computer they typically work from home. Some remain as employees, but an increasing percentage work as independent contractors paid by the job, just as medieval craftspeople did. Job satisfaction may be better, but job security has plummeted.

This information revolution is only now working through the economy.

The industrial revolution changed the face of America and the nature of work. The information revolution is changing us.

The Biggest Unknown—The Power of Human Creativity

As Mark Twain said, “history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” The Renaissance unleashed a tremendous wave of knowledge and human creativity that reshaped the world. However the Renaissance was only a small foretaste of the coming explosion of creativity and knowledge from the Information Revolution.

It will reshape everything, even our bodies and our minds. A little frightening perhaps, but what an exciting time to be alive.

6 steps to fair and flat compensation

Friday, April 25th, 2008

Image credit: asifthebes

Be sure to read yesterday’s post for background on ‘fair’.

When setting compensation, never forget that credentials are well known, promotions are public and salary news travels faster than naughty gossip, so secret is not an option.

Problems start when a person doing the same work and with a similar background as the person in the next cube gets X more dollars or a promotion for reasons that have nothing to do with skill, experience, attitude or actual work, but rather for charm, politics, or managerial whim.

This approach also works for companies with flat organizations, such as the one Phil Gerbyshak described over at Slacker Manager, where most people have the same title.

For convenience we’ll call them knowledge workers.

1. Department heads are responsible for establishing title categories, including the parameters for education, experience, skills, etc. The fineness is dependent on the size of your organization and the difference experience-wise between entry level and senior. For example,

  • Knowledge worker I
  • Knowledge worker ll
  • Knowledge workers lll
  • Senior knowledge worker
  • Principle
  • Fellow

2. Each category carries its own salary range, ideally a spread around $20K. Again, depending on your business it can be less, but rarely more.

3. Each category has different responsibilities with the actual work structured so your people enjoy solid challenges and opportunities to grow.

4. Working together, department heads and their managerial reports (if any) assign all current employees to the correct level.

5. The department head then meets with the entire department and explains the new system.

6. The department head and any other managers involved meet with their direct reports to explain to what category they’ve been assigned and why.

Here’s an example to help you visualize it.

Let’s say that you decide on a three-level structure in your department because the senior title is given only rarely.

You currently have two people who are Analyst l, range $40K-$60K,

  • Craig, who just graduated was hired at $48K; and
  • Julie at $55K, who has three years, two of them with you.

You have five people who are Analyst II, range $60K-$80K,

  • Trudy was recently promoted and is at $62K;
  • Jason, $68K, and Craig, $72K, both have been working for six years. Although Jim has an MBA, he started in sales, while Craig had three years’ experience in a specifically needed skill when he was hired;
  • Terry is making mid-seventies with five years of direct experience; and
  • Kim, at $80K and due for promotion to Analyst lll, has a Masters’ and 17 years of experience, 5 of them in directly in your field.

Along with keeping the structure transparent and honest, it’s imperative to be sure that every new hire clearly understands the structure and the career path it offers.

What compensation techniques do you use?

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