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I do love culture, not pop culture, but the cultures that arise in companies, whether intentionally or not.

Last month I read an article on corporate culture with some surprising comments from John Chambers, Cisco CEO and Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle.

There have been many articles over the years about France’s 35 hour work week and the power of its unions. But all is not roses in the land of wine and baguettes. Read the real story of unhappy employees and a sky high suicide rate and you just may have something else to be thankful for next month.

Finally, follow through with these 4 actions described by Steve Roesler and I’ll guarantee you’ll change the culture of your group, boos productivity and have a much happier team. Just 4 things to wrap your MAP around; now that doesn’t seem too much to ask, does it?

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Here are 7 words that describe 2 management actions.

Embrace the words; let them guide your actions and watch your team’s productivity skyrocket and turnover plummet.

The actions are painless and they work.

PRAISE IN PUBLIC AND CRITICIZE IN PRIVATE

Isn’t that simple?

Now DO IT!

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Let’s skip all the guru talk and in vogue words and go straight to the crux of the matter.

You want a

• productive, creative, committed workforce; and
• loyal customers.

That pretty much covers it, but buying a bunch of new apps won’t really cut it (as yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday so elegantly pointed out).

Changing how you communicate isn’t quite as simple as throwing software at the problem, but it works better and is a lot cheaper.

Here is a simple way to start.

• Internally, develop a strong sensitivity to people, all people, not just stars and acknowledge that hiring all stars (even if it was possible) won’t guarantee your company’s success.
• Externally, treat all your customers the same as you would your favorite relative.

Steve Harrison, author of The Manager’s Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great Companies., says “…decent leaders all have one common trait: humility. Unlike star CEOs who seek the limelight, these low-key leaders are ambitious for their companies, not for themselves. They avoid executive pomposity like the plague. All that stuff about pretentious perks and rank having its privileges – for them, that’s not what leadership is about” and cites Colgate-Palmolive Co. chairman Reuben Mark; Nucor Corp.’s former CEO Kenneth Iverson (who died in 2002); Campbell Soup Co. president and CEO Douglas R. Conant; Southwest Airlines Co. chairman Herbert Kelleher; and Dial Corp.’s former president and CEO, Herbert Baum as executives who get it, but there are many more.

What better, simpler, cheaper approach can you find?

Think about it.

All you have to do is be considerate and respectful of others and practice the kind of manners and politeness that seem to be out of date.

In other words, learn to think them, them, them, instead of me, me, me.

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The New Yorker has a fantastic story on Zappos. I’ve written about Zappos several times previously and I have to say this is one of the best profiles I’ve seen.

“Tony Hsieh, has earned a zealous following by imposing an ethos of live human connection on the chilly, anonymous bazaar of the Internet. He talks about being the architect of a movement to spread happiness, or “Zappiness,” via three “C”s: clothing, customer service, and company culture.

“Eventually, we’ll figure out a way of spreading that knowledge to the world in general, and that has nothing to do with selling shoes online.”

There has been much talk about what will happen to the Zappos culture and its all important focus on happy since it was acquired by Amazon. The culture was even considered important enough that the issue was addressed in an SEC filing—”Amazon vowed to leave Zappos’s management structure intact.”

Hsieh was already rich when he joined Zappos after selling his first company to Microsoft; he had a simple focus…

“What kind of company can we create where we all want to be there, including me? How can we create such a great environment, where employees get so much out of it that they would do it for free?”

Anyone who has seen Hsieh knows he isn’t a fashion icon; everything he wears is no name, moreover he has no interest, “I much prefer experiences to stuff.”

And that is what Zappos really sells, the intimate experience of a leisurely conversation on the phone with a person who is happy to hear from you, doesn’t multitask while talking or rush you because she has to do something else (the current record-holding call went on for five hours, twenty-five minutes, and thirty-one seconds) and, by the way, you get a pair or more of shoes with it.

The article is a fascinating and intimate look at Hsieh and Zappos; I hope you’ll take time to read it.

Image credit: Zappos

Yesterday I said that creating a happy, i.e., productive, innovative, caring, workforce, was 80% MAP and 20% money-based employee support initiatives.

Everyone who writes or talks about management, or is interviewed as a role model, says the same thing in a variety of ways.

It boils down to what people want

• respect;
• honesty;
• shared commitment;
• clear communications as to where the company is going, how it’s going to get there, what’s expected of them and how it all fits together;
• an ethical culture; and
• authenticity throughout.

No details, they’re available in dozens of places, including this blog, along with plenty of how-to’s.

Now, let’s say that you’ve done your best to implement what you’ve learned (at whatever level you are), but you’re not getting the expected results. Productivity is still elusive, your people seem apathetic and you have more turnover than is healthy.

What’s wrong? What are you missing?

The answer is most likely deep within your MAP.

As you’ve read over and over, the key to all this is authenticity—translated that means you believe what you’re saying.

But having worked through this with hundreds of managers over the years I can say that frequently one or more of the “required” attitudes weren’t synergistic with their MAP.

They used the right words, even thought the right thoughts, but deep down they didn’t really believe—and their people knew it. Not ‘knew it’ as conscious thought, but knew it as a gut feeling; knew it because every time their manager said one particular thing they found themselves mentally squirming and didn’t know why.

What they did know was that it made them uncomfortable and worried them. The discomfort sat in the back of their mind nibbling away and their productivity went down, which made them still more uncomfortable and created fertile ground for any opportunity that came along.

The solution to this is simple, but very uncomfortable since it requires you to turn you eye inwards to find the offending MAP and then do what it takes to change it.

Now to the 20% that requires money.

Employee support usually falls in four categories.

Technology

When budgets are tight, new technology may be unavailable, but that’s just one piece of supporting your people and you can often work around at lest part of it. Brainstorm with your people and find solutions within the parameters with which you have to work.

Training

Training can be done if you get everybody involved. Here are four things to do within your organization that cost little to nothing.

• Build a useful library, both hard copy and online, that includes classic and current information and runs the gamut from traditional to controversial to off-the-wall. Encourage your people to read up on subjects that interest them, whether or not it directly applies to their expertise.
• Choose “topics of the month” based on both need and interest, and then encourage free-wheeling discussions on a regular basis.
• Adapt scheduling so people can start to use, and become proficient in, the new skills about which they are reading and talking.
• Support brown-bag classes (better yet, buy lunch if you can) in which they can teach their skills to others. Add cross-working assignments whenever possible to ensure cross-training.

Career opportunities

Providing career opportunities is easier than you think—and also more difficult. It requires you to do everything in your power to help your people acquire the skills necessary for them to take the next step in their chosen career path—that’s the easy part.

The difficult part is doing it even though you know that the person will leave, whether your group or the company, in order to take that step.

Rewards

The tighter the economy the more difficult it becomes to provide financial rewards—or so it seems. Overcoming this challenge goes back to authenticity and honesty.

You start by explaining clearly exactly what your financial constraints are, both yours as a manager and the company’s. Your people aren’t stupid, they’ll know if what you say is true. In the thousands of people I’ve talked with over my 25 years as a recruiter I never found one that didn’t have a pretty good idea of what was going on in their company.

Once that’s done, get creative. Ask your people for ideas and involve them in finding creative ways to provide incentives with what you do have to spend—just don’t do anything that isn’t synergistic with your MAP.

Doing all this is the best gift you can give your people—and yourself.

If you’d like to talk more about it feel free to call me at 866.265.7267—no charge, no joke.

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