Whenever culture is discussed it often is in terms of perks.
Google’s free meals, concierge services, etc.; when Apple was new and hot interviewees were told about the in-complex swimming pool and Friday beer blasts.
SAS, which is number one on Fortune’s Best Places to Work list for the second straight year, offers on-site healthcare, $400/month childcare, a beauty salon, 66,000-square-foot gym and more.
All are lauded for their cultures, but is it the perks or is something else going on?
“People stay at SAS in large part because they are happy, but to dig a little deeper, I would argue that people don’t leave SAS because they feel regarded — seen, attended to and cared for. I have stayed for that reason, and love what I do for that reason.”SAS manager
Sure, the perks are important, but they aren’t the basis of great culture.
Employees don’t leave companies, they leave managers… More than anything else, you want to create an environment where people are respected—and treated like they’ll make a difference…Jim Goodnight, founder and CEO.
Make a difference; that’s the key phrase and the key action.
That’s how talented managers in companies with mediocre perks or none at all build and motivate great teams. It’s also the reason why people who are stars at one company may not perform as well at another.
Popular wisdom agrees that people leave managers, not companies, and they leave them in spite of perks, benefits, stock and seniority.
Fabulous perks get lots of press and may attract candidates, but they can’t motivate or retain people if they feel used and unvalued.
Approval—something we all enjoy and sometimes chase, but isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be.
Self-approval is a good; something to strive for and actively work to achieve, but craving approval from others is a different matter as Chris Morris warns,“The pursuit of approval usually ends in disaster.”
Mark Twain believes that “A man cannot be uncomfortable without his own approval,” which is not only true, but the analog to Tehyi Hsieh’s words, “Lean too much on the approval of people, and it becomes a bed of thorns.”
Rachel Naomi Remen describes the pursuit of approval best, “To seek approval is to have no resting place, no sanctuary. Like all judgment, approval encourages a constant striving. It makes us uncertain of who we are and of our true value. Approval cannot be trusted. It can be withdrawn at any time no matter what our track record has been. It is as nourishing of real growth as cotton candy. Yet many of us spend our lives pursuing it.”
Pursuing approval from others also leads to a lonely life, because, as Maurice Chevalier says, Those whose approval you seek most give you the least.”
Self-approval may not come easily, but it comes fastest to those who follow Johannes Kepler’s approach, “I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.”
All this can become a moot point is common wisdom is followed early, “If a child lives with approval, he learns to live with himself.”
Please join me tomorrow for a true story about the quest for approval.
There is much talk about how empowering workers juices creativity and hikes productivity.
Some companies claim that the best empowerment comes from eliminating full-time employment completely so that workers can move freely from one company to another.
My own opinion is that while that may work for a small percentage, it will have the opposite effect on the great majority.
Google’s Eric Schmidt says, ”Employees have to feel empowered. That’s what makes people love what they do and where they work,” but if they don’t really work there why should they love it?
Before the turn of the century, Bill Gates said “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others,” but many leaders seem more interested in accumulating, holding and controlling power.
They don’t understand that doing so makes them smaller and weaker, whereas, as Barbara Colorose said, “The beauty of empowering others is that your own power is not diminished in the process.”
Scott Adams has another take on the subject. He says, “I’m slowly becoming a convert to the principle that you can’t motivate people to do things, you can only demotivate them. The primary job of the manager is not to empower but to remove obstacles.”
While I don’t agree about the motivation, I do agree about removing obstacles—and one way to do that is to empower people with enough authority to do their job.
I often do work around my house, fixing, redoing and maintaining stuff, as do most of us.
When I moved and bought this house in March 2003 I found that every time it rained water ran under the garage door. Typically, I’m a jerry-rigger, especially fixing stuff around my home, but I thought I would do it “right” this time.
Over the next few years I spent over a thousand dollars on drywells, barriers, etc., but was still getting water under the door.
Having run out of affordable do-it-right options, I went back to jerry-rigging and usd a clear, vinyl shower curtain, tape, and a few bricks—no water under the door since then and I just check the plastic each fall.
This got me thinking, how much is too much?
How “right” does a fix need to be?
How “fixed” does a challenge/problem need to be to count as solved?
Every day we all face a myriad of challenges, any number of which may upgrade (downgrade?) to the status of problem in the blink of an eye, so this isn’t a casual question.
What do you do?
Managers, like the rest of us, have their own routine for evaluating and deciding on solutions, corrections and fixes.
I’m not saying you should change yours, but I am suggesting that you give thought to what end results you really need in order to avoid overkill in your decisions.
In other words: Does it need to be “right” on some cosmic yardstick—or does it just need to work.
Honing “CEO skills” isn’t just for CEOs—it’s for every manager who wants to do a better job and every employee who wants to be promoted.
Sure, you may not know as much, or have access to, the same information as the boss, but don’t let that stop you.
It’s similar to managing a fantasy sports team, you know all the easy information and a little research usually gives you a lot more with which to work.
You can make it even more interesting and fun by recruiting colleagues to choose other companies to shadow and compete.
Whatever level you’re at, you may know a lot about your company already and a lot more is in the public domain.
What’s most important in running a company? Obviously, the list below isn’t everything, but it does offer ten of the most important things to get you started running the fantasy version of the company you choose.
You may not be a CFO, but you better know your numbers: where they come from, how they interact, and where they’re going. This includes knowing/learning to read financial statements, annual reports, etc.
No matter what your career path, know about your company’s market (no matter how cool and cutting-edge your service, product or e-concept is) so you can understand who buys it and why, what the competition offers and how your company products or services differ.
Every successful company must have a competitive edge, whether it’s unique products/services, pricing advantages, company culture (think Zappos), etc. Learn how to define your company’s competitive edge and understand how to communicate it clearly to the whole company so that everyone is focused on making it happen.
Clearly identify the goals of the company, then work to turn them into specifics. Assure buy-in by making sure employees understand the interaction among their goals, the company’s goals, and those of other people.
Hire the smartest people available and give them an environment that enables them to produce; then watch your company’s strengths increase in direct proportion to your people’s growth. Remember, people are most productive if they know, and help determine, their work and the range of their control.
Make sure that there’s an obvious and direct relationship between the rewards people receives—salary, stock, bonuses, medals, whatever—and the success of the company. The biggest rewards should go to those who understand the company’s goals and ethically do whatever it takes to achieve them.
Create a culture in which the messenger is never shot; that way you’ll always get the earliest possible warning of potential problems.
You set the tone of the organization. If you’re political, secretive, nitpicking, or querulous, then that’s how your organization will be, because, no matter what, employees will always do as you do, not as you say.
Never criticize an employee in the presence of others. Praise in public, criticize in private.
Companies are like tripods, with customers, investors, and employees each representing a leg. If you don’t pay equal attention to each the company will tip over.
Track your choices, decisions and actions against the reality. Give yourself a high five when your ideas pan out, and learn when they don’t.
You’ll be amazed at how fast the learning from your fantasy business pays off in your real work!
Yesterday marked my 1000th post here at MAPping Company Success—a milestone in the blogging world.
That milestone reminded me of an email I received asking me how I stayed motivated when I rarely receive comments.
It’s a valid question and one I ask myself occasionally, but I keep writing because I know from feedback I have gotten that there are people out there who find it useful.
They may not have time or desire to add/agree/argue with what I write, but if it occasionally helps solve a problem or overcome a challenge then the blog is doing what it’s meant to do.
I’m not good at playing the blogging game (I’ll comment on yours and you’ll comment on mine) primarily because I’m not really writing for others in my industry, although I know that some read me, just as I read them. And I’m not great at using the trendy words that Google loves, although I’m working on that.
My work and writing has always been geared to line managers at all levels who set and interpret culture and work daily to hire, motivate, and retain their people.
A good deal of what I write revolves around MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™), because all the great information available to you through blogs, books and seminars is unusable if it isn’t synergistic with your MAP.
In celebration of this milestone I’d like to reiterate an offer I made today to a new subscriber and that I’ve made before—feel free to suggest a specific subject you would like me to write about or a question you would like discussed.
You can leave a comment, email me or if you like to talk, call me at 866.265.7267.
When discussing or reading about leadership you hear a lot about EQ, AKA, emotional intelligence and SQ, AKA, social intelligence, but what do they really mean?
Social intelligence refers to your knowledge and understanding of other people’s MAP.
To learn more, watch this interview with Daniel Goleman, prolific author and renowned psychologist. Start learning how to use emotional and social intelligence to improve your team’s performance as well as your own, both professionally and professionally.
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.”
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
Whenever culture is discussed it often is in terms of perks.
Approval—something we all enjoy and sometimes chase, but isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be.
There is much talk about how empowering workers juices creativity and hikes productivity.
I often do work around my house, fixing, redoing and maintaining stuff, as do most of us.
Honing “CEO skills” isn’t just for CEOs—it’s for every manager who wants to do a better job and every employee who wants to be promoted.
Yesterday marked my 1000th post here at MAPping Company Success—a milestone in the blogging world.
Here are some of my favorites.
