Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

You got MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™), I got MAP, all us humans got MAP. MAP reflects your values — whatever they may be — and culture is MAP in action.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

What does the boss really contribute to their organization?

The culture; it’s the boss’ MAP that forms and shapes the culture for their organization.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a mom and pop operation, startup or global giant; whether the company has two, two thousand or twenty thousand employees; whether the boss is called owner, founder, president, or CEO.

Cultural ideas can’t percolate up from the ranks without a top boss who enables the bottom-up culture in the first place, as well as providing the fertilizer that allows ideas to bloom.

It’s not enough to announce the cultural attributes in which you believe, such as no politics, and then ignore political actions because you believe that your senior staff are adults and won’t engage in behavior that goes unrewarded.

Even those who manage culture by benign neglect must see to it that there are repercussions for actions that flaunt the corporate culture just as there are for actions that violate legal issues such as harassment.

And all this is just as true for the individual subcultures that establish themselves around every manager in the company all the way down through team leader.

Creating and caring for the culture should be written into every manager’s job description at every level.

If that seems a bit extreme, keep in mind that study after study has proven that culture affects productivity, engagement, innovation and retention.

Image credit: Kumar Appaiah

Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

For all the promise of technology people are still people and they respond as such. Further, I doubt that’s going to change within the lifetime of anyone currently breathing.

(Note: Although the “Chat with Miki” box no longer exists, I typically reply to email within 24 hours.)

Read other Golden Oldies here.

“Clint” used the ‘Chat with Miki” box in the right-hand frame to ask me this question.

Have you ever heard this?  “People usually won’t change until the pain of NOT changing exceeds the pain of changing.”

Since this is a pretty common idea I thought I’d share my ideas with everybody.

I’ve heard this and many variations of it over the years, especially when applied to the workplace where it becomes a form of management by threat

For example, if your company or boss decides on a change and people’s jobs hinge on that change, they will change.

The problem is that they will also disengage at some level, maybe a little, but sometimes a lot. Not always obviously, but over time it will show in lower productivity, less creativity and, eventually, higher turnover.

Clint then asked if I thought that vested self-interest could be used instead of increasing the pain.

The answer is absolutely.

VSI is the perfect opposite to increased pain.

By rethinking a desired action, such as change, and presenting it in terms of its value to employees you can trip the VSI switch—but not if it’s a con.

As I’ve said a million times, people are not stupid; if the desired action is not really in their best interests there is nothing you can do that will convince them. VSI will still kick in, but the result will be resume polishing, lots of LinkedIn action and conversations with recruiters.

Clint decided that by using vested self-interest he could reduce the pain of changing. He plans to connect his organization’s goals to his people’s goals, which will effectively reduce the pain and increase the likelihood that they will do what he needs them to do—painlessly.

Handy little item my chat box. Try it, I’m usually here.

Image credit: nkzs on sxc.hu

Robert Sutton, Stanford management prof and the author of “The No Asshole Rule” and “The Asshole Survival Guide,” is a very smart guy.

His knowledge and understanding of the forces affecting the modern workplace, and what to do about them, are encompassing and engaging.

Here are three things Sutton believes are increasing rudeness and making things worse.

1. We make less eye contact nowadays — and therefore have less empathy
2. Income inequality is on the rise, leading to jealousy and scorn
3. We work in open offices, which exacerbate existing problems

Exacerbating the loss of empathy are tools, such as Slack, that further reduce eye contact, even when working right beside someone. In fact, as mentioned yesterday, physical proximity doesn’t matter when communications are screen based.

While bullying bosses are falling out of fashion, technology may encourage people to adopt harsher, less empathetic communication styles, said Liz Dolan, a former exec at Nike, OWN, and the National Geographic Channels. (…)  “It makes it really hard for people to understand what boundaries are when they don’t really get to know each other because all their communication is online,” Dolan said. “We all know that it’s true that there are things you would say in an email or a text message to someone that you would never in a million years say to their face.”

What’s worse, researchers at the University of Florida have found rudeness to be contagious. So just one heated email can have a truly toxic ripple effect throughout your team.

These factors play a mojor role in engagement — or the lack of it.

According to Gallup Daily tracking, 32% of employees in the U.S. are engaged — meaning they are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace.

The overall effect is summed up in one word: loneliness, according to former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.

… being physically close your colleagues doesn’t guarantee you’ll feed off their brainpower or work ethic. There must still be some aspect of social connection — be it joking around or thoughtful conversation — for health and productivity to improve.

“A more connected workforce is more likely to enjoy greater fulfillment, productivity, and engagement while being more protected against illness, disability, and burnout,”

In short, screen time -> less empathy -> more rudeness -> escalating disengagement -> increased loneliness = lower productivity and engagement.

This sequence of events has a very personal effect on you, too, in terms of poorer reviews, smaller raises, and fewer promotional opportunities.

Image credit: Joshua Smith

Customer loyalty is a top priority no matter what you are selling—especially in retail.

Just ask Tony Hsieh, whose focus on Zappos’ workforce created the platinum standard of customer service that yielded a storied (and envied) level of customer engagement and loyalty.

The most important component by far is customer engagement. “Retailers should ask themselves, ‘how do I create a partnership with the consumer?’ instead of pulling one over on them,” says Harvard Business School senior lecturer José Alvarez. Many customers see loyalty programs as a way of being ambushed by the retailer.

Many retailers see smartphones as a successful way of engaging customers—but are they?

I have to wonder if they are taking into account the real numbers.

50.4% of the US population uses smartphones

• Asian Americans 67.3%
• Hispanics 57.3%
• African Americans 54.4%
• Whites 44.7%

Now take a look how the money breaks down.

48.5% of all smartphone handsets are Android, while Apple is at 32%, yet I constantly see product and service offers that require an iPhone.

Stop & Shop recently rolled out Scan It! Mobile, an app that turns a customer’s iPhone into a mobile scanner and checkout.

Gender-wise, smartphone use is nearly identical, 50.9% women 50.1% men, but age is a different story, with two out of three 25-34 year-olds having smartphones.

Marketers consistently target the younger demographic, but do they really have the money or are “Millennials the most screwed generation?”

The median net worth of households headed by someone 65 or older is $170,494, 42 percent higher than in 1984, while the median net worth for younger-age households is $3,662, down 68 percent from a quarter century ago, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center.

I’m a long way from being any kind of expert, but it seems to me that basing a loyalty/customer engagement model on smartphones, let alone iPhones, doesn’t make much sense when viewed through the lens of actual usage and related income stats.

Did you ever think that having excellent strategic vision, confidence and communication skills can hurt your ability to create an inclusive culture, instead of guaranteeing it?

Great cultures require a high level of trust between employees and management. People who are highly competent and confident of their direction and actions can come over as arrogant and insensitive—not traits that encourage trust.

You don’t have to hide your vision, confidence and communication skills to alter negative perceptions; you just need to add some additional ones.

Here are three MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) actions that go a long way to making that great culture you want a reality.

• Good culture is engaging; accomplish this by involving all your people at all levels—the more involvement the better.

• Good culture is about listening—not talking.

• Good culture is about hearing—and being willing to change when appropriate.

Involve, listen, hear; do them now; do them constantly and watch your culture bloom.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/

How important is leadership (in its generally accepted definition) with regards to student results and where does/should it come from?

The Science Codex writes about a new study funded by The Wallace Foundation gives interesting, but not surprising, insight.

“The rubber hits the road in the classroom; that’s where the learning happens,” said Kyla Wahlstrom. “Leadership is important because it sets the conditions and the expectations in the school that there will be excellent instruction and there will be a culture of ongoing learning for the educators and for the students in the school.” …

The study demonstrates a strong, positive link between educational leaders — particularly principals — and student learning outcomes.

I’s not surprising because we all know that in the workplace most people live up—or down—to their boss’ expectations and it’s been shown that kids do, too.

If you don’t feel like reading the whole study, the Codex lists the main findings, among them

Higher-performing schools generally ask for more input and engagement from a wider variety of stakeholders.

In districts where levels of student learning are high, district leaders are more likely to emphasize goals and initiatives that reach beyond minimum state expectations for student performance.

The stark lack of district support for principals’ professional development and a lack of regular contact between most principals and their district office.

Input from all stakeholders…engagement…goals…initiatives…striving for excellence…professional development. This is what works, what motivates most humans and leads to positive results.

Not surprising that it would be applicable in education, but not happening, either.

Flickr image credit: The Wallace Foundation

Engaging your people is a priority these days, but to do it you must foster an environment of trust, where the messenger is never killed and people feel safe saying what they really think. It also helps if you have the kind of ego that doesn’t stand on its dignity.

Here is one approach.

Start with how many times you have said or heard people say ‘should have’, as in “We should have…” or “My boss should have…?”

What if you could harness the creativity behind those thoughts to improve performance in an organization (whether team, executives or somewhere in-between)—the company’s; the group’s; the individual’s; your own?

The idea is to take that “should have’ attitude and make it a constructive function to foster corporate/personal growth and motivation, since the more comprehensive the view of their job and company the more creative people will become.

Drawing in all your people, no matter their level, encourages them to see a larger picture, juices creativity, surfaces ideas from unlikely sources and enhances their sense of ownership, i.e., engagement.

Improvement happens because how they think is the basis for how they perform.

If your MAP makes you the type of manager to whom this appeals then encourage your people to ask

• “Why did she do that?”
• “What can I learn from his decision?”
• “What would I have done differently?”
• Later ask, “Would it have worked?”

Discuss the responses and implement the insights.

For more great stuff on engagement, click over to Becky Robinson’s LeaderTalk for a roundup of articles on engagement from some terrific bloggers.

Image credit: HikingArtist on flickr

“Clint” used the ‘Chat with Miki” box in the right-hand frame to ask me this question.

Have you ever heard this?  “People usually won’t change until the pain of NOT changing exceeds the pain of changing.”

Since this is a pretty common idea I thought I’d share my ideas with everybody.

I’ve heard this and many variations of it over the years, especially when applied to the workplace where it becomes a form of management by threat

For example, if your company or boss decides on a change and people’s jobs hinge on that change, they will change.

The problem is that they will also disengage at some level, maybe a little, but sometimes a lot. Not always obviously, but over time it will show in lower productivity, less creativity and, eventually, higher turnover.

Clint then asked if I thought that vested self-interest could be used instead of increasing the pain.

The answer is absolutely.

VSI is the perfect opposite to increased pain.

By rethinking a desired action, such as change, and presenting it in terms of its value to employees you can trip the VSI switch—but not if it’s a con.

As I’ve said a million times, people are not stupid; if the desired action is not really in their best interests there is nothing you can do that will convince them. VSI will still kick in, but the result will be resume polishing, lots of LinkedIn action and conversations with recruiters.

Clint decided that by using vested self-interest he could reduce the pain of changing. He plans to connect his organization’s goals to his people’s goals, which will effectively reduce the pain and increase the likelihood that they will do what he needs them to do—painlessly.

Handy little item my chat box. Try it, I’m usually here.

Image credit: nkzs on sxc.hu

Remember employee commitment? Buy-in? Ownership?

These days it’s called ‘engagement’ and smart managers are looking for ways to increase it. They want to incorporate practices and attitudes in their group’s MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) that will improve productivity and increase engagement.

Two such items are

• basic business knowledge and
• a large dose of pragmatism.

Business 101

Naiveté regarding business frequently leads to non-reality based ideas and attitudes. If people have a fuzzy or rose-colored view of what has to happen for the company to be successful, there’s no way they can contribute effectively.

Worse, this lack of knowledge can make them resistant to the procedural changes necessary to the company’s successful evolution as it grows, shrinks, or changes.

It’s not necessary, or even possible, to provide the in-depth business knowledge that comes from an MBA or 30 years as a successful CEO, but wise managers can provide basic understanding of the actual forces at work within the company, industry and even the economy in general at times such as this.

You want your people to understand

• the Business Mission Statement;
• customer desire as the driving force behind product development (why build it if they won’t buy it?);
• financial controls, what they are and why you need them;
• why/how to avoid blue sky approaches and impossible wish lists;
• the reasons for requiring excellent documentation;
• the importance of quality and manufacturability; and
• other business-specific subjects.

Teaching these should be active, not passive; merely posting the information on your intranet won’t get it done. Use brown bag lunches or company-wide webinars, followed by local discussions, to create a positive learning process.

Finally, be sure you encourage people to use what they’ve learned.

Pragmatism

Pragmatism should permeate your MAP, the groups and the company culture. It should be like stain as opposed to paint—not just covering the surface, but also sinking in.

By practicing pragmatism as well as preaching it, you encourage a reality-based culture where

• setbacks are easier to deal with because they are recognized and acted on quickly;
• employees speak up because they are assured that the messenger will not be shot;
• rose-colored glasses are obvious;
• growth and change of the culture without corrupting it is encouraged; and
• “not-invented-here” syndrome is veer batten.

Pragmatism works best as a part of a MAP that everybody is encouraged to embrace.

It helps to create a company in which not only can everybody see what the Emperor is wearing, but also have no compunction about discussing it.

Your comments—priceless

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

Image credit: ZedBee|Zoë Power on flickr

CEOs have the spotlight today—about them, from them and for them.

CEOs have never liked anything that comes between them and the compensation they believe they deserve—not independent directors, governance gurus, sensibility and certainly not TARP. Business Week offers an interesting overview of TARP’s effect on CEO engagement, but it’s the readers’ comments that make the story unique.

What exactly does a CEO contribute to the organization? In an excellent article from A.G. Lafley, Procter & Gamble’s CEO, talks about the most important things to focus on, wherever you are in the business cycle.

Now learn interesting lessons from a Bollywood dance class and a parent who asks “Can our leaders dance?”.

By now, everybody has heard of Susan Boyle; in this article from Harvard Business Publishing Peter Bregman discusses how to find the ‘Susan Boyles’, i.e., hidden talent, in your organization.

Your comments—priceless

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

Image credit: nono farahshila on flickr