Now take a look at the perfect vacation

Your comments—priceless

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Image credit: maurice.heuts on flickr

Yesterday I described how managers can use ALUC (Ask / Listen / Use / Credit) to engage their teams, whether or not the approach is supported by the overall company culture.

But think how much better it would be to have ALUC embedded in your culture as a part of its infrastructure.

ALUC isn’t something that can be mandated, even by the CEO.

All the proclamations, recommendations and demands aren’t going to force managers to do it if they don’t see the value or their MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) isn’t synergistic with ALUC.

What you can do is instill its value in those managers who report to you; they, in turn, pass the belief to their direct reports and so on down the ladder.

But how do you embed ALUC up your culture?

As Nike says, ‘just do it’—don’t talk about it—and it will spread by osmosis.

ALUC is a major productivity and retention booster, the results will speak for themselves, the how-to will be questioned, copied and implemented.

ALUC should also be a ‘make or break’ for all new hires in management roles, confirmed not only during the interview, but also through reference checking of previous direct reports, not bosses.

Not rocket science; most of the best cultural practices are simple, ignored, but simple.

Your comments—priceless

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Image credit: ZedBee|Zoë Power on flickr

Every manager loves the folks who come to work champing at the bit, raring to go and bust their butt all day long. They love to talk about the high level of engagement their team has and brag about their productivity and innovative ideas.

If you want a group like this then make no mistake, It’s your responsibility to engender that attitude, i.e., engage them.

It’s not going to happen by accident and you can’t order your people be engaged.

Engagement happens because you, and hopefully your company are engaging.

This isn’t doubletalk or smoke, think about it. Think about what engages you.

• The guideline is the same thread that has run through every major philosophy and religion for thousands of years—treat your people s you want to be treated—whether your boss treats you that way or not.

• Authenticity is the current buzz word, but it translates simply to be honest, open and do what you say; never fudge, let alone lie, intentionally or otherwise.

• There are absolutely no circumstances that warrant or excuse the messenger being killed. None. Because if you do, there’s no going back—ever.

• If your company doesn’t have an engaging culture then you must be an umbrella for your people, because you can create one below you, even if you can’t change it above.

While managers may not be able to control overall corporate culture there are many things they can do within their own group’s culture to foster engagement.

The number one approach is to show your appreciation of your people. Study after study confirms employees’ desire to feel valued; to make a difference and be credited for it. But how, with budgets cut below bone level?

Here are four simple actions that you can implement at no financial cost and that don’t require approval from anyone.

• Ask everyone for input, ideas, suggestions and opinions—not just your so-called stars.

• Listen and really hear what is said, discuss it, think about it.

• Use what you get as often as possible, whether in whole or in part, or as the springboard that leads to something totally different.

• Credit the source(s), both up and down, publicly and privately, thank them, compliment them, congratulate them.

If you’re sincere, you can’t lay it on too thick; if you’re faking it, they’ll know.

And if you’re stupid enough to steal the credit for yourself in the mistaken name of job security you’ll have the fun of explaining to your boss the plummeting productivity and soaring turnover that accompanies the thefts.

Think ALUC; pin a note on your wall that says ALUC.

Ask!

Listen!

Use!

Credit!

ALUC will make you a winner.

Your comments—priceless

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Image credit: Street Sign Generator

Whether you laud Ted Kennedy or despise him you can’t deny that there are things he said that resonate with any person, in any country and any circumstances.

Here are some of my favorites.

“I recognize my own shortcomings — the faults in the conduct of my private life. I realize that I alone am responsible for them, and I am the one who must confront them. I believe that each of us as individuals must not only struggle to make a better world, but to make ourselves better, too.”

“There is no safety in hiding.”

“Yes, we are all Americans. This is what we do. We reach the moon. We scale the heights. I know it. I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. And we can do it again.”

“I have seen throughout my life how we as a people can rise to a challenge, embrace change and renew our destiny.”

“The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.”

“We have learned that it is important to take issues seriously, but never to take ourselves too seriously.”

Your comments—priceless

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow is the last day to share your favorite business OMG moments for the chance to win a copy of Jason Jenning’s Hit The Ground Running.

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Image credit: Wikipedia Commons

Hypocrisy has had a high profile on my blog this summer, especially as it relates to the emerging attitudes of young people.

One of the current hypocrisy poster boys is Senator John Ensign, who really drove home what is acceptable and not acceptable in the prevailing attitudes of those who claim the moral high ground.

The Senator, who roundly condemned then-President Clinton’s sexual peccadillo and subsequent lying to a grand jury, said, “I haven’t done anything legally wrong.” (My emphasis.)

Which mean that if Clinton had admitted screwing around with Monica Lewinsky it would have made it a “distraction” (Ensign’s term for what he did.) as opposed to the felony created by lying.

Ensign is prominent member of the Promise Keepers leadership, which lists seven basic tenets, the third being, “A Promise Keeper is committed to practicing spiritual, moral, ethical and sexual purity” and the fourth, “A Promise Keeper is committed to building strong marriages and families through love, protection and Biblical values.”

Ensign violated both and compounded the violations by having his parents pay off his mistress.

These don’t count, since Promise Keepers isn’t a legal entity and, obviously, lying to your followers and constituency isn’t illegal—just unethical and immoral.

What kids will absorb is that there are no real repercussions; Ensign still holds his Congressional seat, will probably win reelection, hasn’t changed his role in Promise Keepers, and is still cheered when he gives a speech. And if reporters dare to raise additional questions, his response is “I’ve said everything I was going to say about that.”

We may ring our hands and lament the lack of accountability of society in general and the Millennials in particular, but we don’t have to look very far to find the cause.

Your comments—priceless

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Image credit: philosophygeek on flickr

Click to see a guaranteed loss for all of us

Your comments—priceless

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Image credit: Red58bill on Wikipedia

Last Monday I said that leadership was another word for initiative and that meant it had to be spread like fertilizer to every level and person if the company wanted to thrive.

Tuesday I followed up saying that leadership fertilizer was better composted than taught.

That thinking made me realize that the best cultures are also composted.

Cultural development follows a Y-shaped path.

Initially, the raw ingredients from the top person’s MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) form the basic building blocks of the culture.

At that point the culture moves along one of two divergent routes—one akin to the controlled manufacturing approach of synthetic fertilizer and the other to composting.

Bosses who opt for the former build out the company’s (or their organization’s) culture with little-to-no input from others. They define it, shape it and present the whole as a set piece that is unlikely to change unless they do the changing.

Bosses who opt for the latter use the basic blocks to create a framework that encourages ideas from all levels and positions within the company. The framework acts as a composter with the ideas being processed by various people. One of the most prominent examples of a composting culture was the development of ROWE at Best Buy.

Manufactured cultures have little flexibility, are limited to their creator’s world-view and often defeat initiative and the spread of leadership; even those that are positive are slower, less empowering, and less welcoming to initiative.

Composted cultures are enabling; they encourage people to have initiative, take risks, step out of their comfort zone, grow, and, above all, think—all without worrying that they will be stomped for doing so.

Manufactured culture makes bosses feel safe; they are non-threatening and within their comfort zone.

Composted culture takes bosses out of their comfort zones, often challenges their world-view and shakes up their MAP—not for the faint-of-heart.

Are you a manufacturer or a composter?

Your comments—priceless

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Image credit: ZedBee|Zoë Power on flickr

Friday I quoted Henry Mintzberg, the man Tom Peters called the world’s premier management thinker. I hope you clicked and read the short opinion piece in Business Week.

Here is a link to an interview in the Wall Street Journal that will give you more substance on his new book, Managing.

Mintzberg says that, “Basically, managing is about influencing action. … One step removed, they manage people. Managers deal with people who take the action… And two steps removed from that, managers manage information to drive people to take action… too much managing through information—what I call “deeming,” and says his four year old daughter can do that.

“The alternative is to give more attention to the people plane and the action plane. Even when you’re managing information, you can manage in a much more nuanced way than just shooting a bunch of figures around.”

You can check out more about Managing at Amazon. I just ordered my copy (it’s available now, not September) and I recommend that you do the same.

I honestly believe that this will be one of the most valuable business books to be published in a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just one more week in which to share your favorite business OMG moments for the chance to win a copy of Jason Jenning’s Hit The Ground Running.

Your comments—priceless

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Image credit: Amazon

Millennials and those who study them love to position them as demanding different things from the workplace than their predecessors.

The latest is a list from LeaderTalk that describes Millennials’ Five Leadership Truths:

Truth #1 – Leadership development begins with self development; it’s about the individual; what is the first question most people want to ask a new leader?

Truth #2 – You can’t do it alone

Truth #3 – The foundation of Leadership is Credibility

Truth #4 – You either lead by example or you don’t lead at all.

Truth #5 – Being forward-looking most differentiates leaders.

Nearly two years ago Success Television listed Gen Y’s 10 main turnoffs…

1. Inflexibility.
2. Judgmental attitudes.
3. Close-mindedness.
4. Fear of and an unwillingness to use technology.
5. Unwillingness to listen to and respect Gen Y’s opinions, ideas and views.
6. Intimidation.
7. Being told they have to “pay their dues”.
8. Lack of professional and leadership development through the company.
9. Emphasis on traditional dress (coat or suit and tie are out).
10. Lack of intellectual horsepower. [By what yardstick? Miki]

Now I ask you, what on either of these lists is new? It seems to me that they are the same things that Boomers and Gen X (and previous generations) have been complaining about for years; the language changes, but the concepts aren’t new.

Sadly, I believe that the workforce will be complaining of the same types of things long after I’ve turned to dust.

Boomers and Gen X were just as much a disruptive force in the workplace-of-that-time as Millennials are today.

Granted the willingness to stick it out has shortened considerably, but even the willingness to walk if you’re not happy is based to no small degree on a healthy economy where the next job is easily available.

Add time and a few age-driven responsibilities—kids, mortgages, aging parents—to the mix and soon Millennials will be the establishment with another generation ranting about their unwillingness to change.

The demands of each generation are what forces change, both large and small, upon the workplace—always has and always will.

Hat tip to The Leadership Hub for pointing the LeaderTalk post.

Your comments—priceless

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Image credit: HowardLake on flickr

Continuing with more thoughts on yesterday’s post Leadership Is Fertilizer.

Fertilizer is produced in a lab with scientists controlling which chemicals in what amount are used and then mass produce that particular formula in a factory.

Anyone who gardens knows that there are a multitude of brands that produce different fertilizers, some considered “general purpose,” but most with specific formulas to accomplish specific goals, including forcing growth.

Experts say compost is a better choice.

Compost is natural, produced when multiple kinds of organic matter are brought together and left to decompose with the aid of a variety of organisms. The result is an incredibly rich material that produces sustainable results without damaging the environment.

Leadership is similar.

You have the kind that is produced in colleges and MBA programs, learned in a sterile environment, with ingredients that parallel the thinking of selected experts’ mindsets and attitudes. Thus, the student is indoctrinated in a set of specifics and is often prejudiced against anything that falls outside those boundaries.

Leadership learned through doing—taking the initiative and accepting the risk of failure—is different. It combines a variety of experiences, good, bad and indifferent and adds a variety of organisms in the form of the varied humans that populate the organization. The effect of those organisms on the experiences of individual initiative produces a deeper, richer, more flexible form of leadership.

Chemical fertilizer needs to be applied again and again as it wears out.

Compost mixes with and enriches the soil itself, so that the more you add the better the growth medium.

In which do you want to plant your people?

Your comments—priceless

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Image credit: ZedBee|Zoë Power on flickr