Jumping Out Of Bed: Creating An Inspired Workplace
“Going to work is a chore. It’s just a job. A necessary evil. A prison sentence. Doing time. Collecting a paycheque. I hate it.” How often have you heard someone talk about his or her work in these terms? Perhaps you have spoken this way yourself on occasion. Perhaps you speak this way more often than you’d like.
While we all may feel this way at times, what if most of your life was spent hardly waiting to get to the office? What if your workplace inspired you rather than depleted you? What if you jumped out of bed to get to work because you were so excited about getting there?
My passion is to make this world a better place to work. Work is so vitally important to our well-being, and life is far too short to spend these hours in misery. We will all spend thousands of hours at work so why not have a great workplace culture?
So whose responsibility is it to make your workplace great? It is my notion that organizational culture starts with you, not your boss or your boss’s boss. While bosses set the tone, create the environment, and establish the culture, you are the one who actually creates the culture. Every employee is responsible for the culture within and around them. You make the difference.
And just how can you create a great culture in your workplace?
1. Be authentic. Engagement comes from being who you are. Bringing your values, your aspirations, your passion, and your unique talents to work lights a fire inside you. Work is a tool to create and express what matters most. When you have a purpose for coming to work and clear values with a commitment to serve others through your role at work,your energy will soar.
2. Build trust. Trust is the foundation of every relationship. Without trust, work will be a miserable place. And trust starts with you. Start by identifying your “Significant Seven,” the top people or groups of people you depend on or who depend on you, and make trust your number one priority with them.
3. Be accountable. Accountability is the ability to be counted on. Being dependable with others starts with being dependable to yourself. Do you keep commitments to yourself? Do you see yourself as a person who is accountable?
What is your way of ensuring that you jump out of bed in the morning to get to work? How do you create an inspiring workplace for yourself and others you work with?
Transforming An Organization Into A Community: A Leadership Vision
Leadership is about transforming your culture into a community. A community is a place where work is meaningful, not just menial, where you support people to be genuine contributors, not just “task doers,” where people are honestly valued, rather than used up, where you invite intentional conversations, not just superficial exchanges.
Communities are places where “units” are transformed into “neighborhoods”, where there is a sense of belonging, shared vision, pride, ownership, and a commitment to service; where “command performance” is replaced with a bone deep commitment to courageously seek participation.
Community is where paint-by-number management programs are replaced with a profound, yet simple respect for realness, honesty, and respect for the dignity of everyone, which in turn results in an authentic expression of the human spirit.
Fostering this kind of culture is akin to being a gardener. While results are paramount, culture can’t be legislated, controlled, motivated, or coerced. No plants ever grow better because you demand that they do so or because you threaten them. Plants grow only when they have the right conditions and are given proper care. Creating the space and providing the proper nourishment for plants – and people as well – is a matter of continual consideration and vigilance.
Three questions emerge from this vision for your consideration and reflection.
1. Who is responsible for creating this kind of culture in your workplace?
2. Who are the leaders in your organization?
3. How do you go about transforming the culture of an organization?
Where Does Commitment Come From? How To Inspire People
Leadership is about creating cultures that inspire people, build commitment, and harness energy. As I sit on the plane returning from San Francisco this weekend, I reflect on some of the critical factors I have found in creating an engaging culture. Having just finished re-reading James Kouzes and Barry Posner’s book, Encouraging The Heart, I got inspired to write this blog. After you’ve read this blog, I’d love to hear how you inspire others.
Values:
Years of consulting with organizations have taught me that clarity of values is the force that determines an individual’s commitment to an organization. Personal values matter most. To inspire people, you have to get to their core values. Living according to other people’s conditions virtually guarantees that we will not be giving our all.
How many executives go on a retreat, create a corporate values statement, print it on posters, publish it in the annual report, hold training classes to orient people to it, post it beautifully in the headquarters’ lobby, and then wonder why commitment isn’t skyrocketing?
These efforts are a huge waste of time unless there is an equally concerted endeavor to help individuals understand, through dialogue and discovery, their own values and examine the fit between their values and the organizations’. I’m not saying that organizational values are not important, but they are only one side of the commitment equation. Commitment is a matter of fit between the personal and the organizational values.
Personal Vision:
The vision of reaching the top of the mountain gives energy to the climber and makes the experience of climbing worthwhile. With no summit in mind, we are aimlessly wandering through rocks and trees, irritable and discontented. Vision keeps us on track. It helps us prioritize the demands, clarifies what we need to say “no” to, and gives us purposeful action. Vision gives us focus, energy, perspective, power, and significance, especially during moments of discouragement.
Alignment:
Human beings simply don’t put their hearts into something they don’t believe in. Energy, passion, commitment comes when there’s a fit, when there’s alignment between personal and organizational values. Employees are much more likely to be engaged when they know their positional leaders are committed to them. Loyalty begets loyalty. This can only be accomplished with careful and meaningful dialogue. Here are three useful questions to ask employees to help move you toward alignment:
- What matters most to you? Where does work fit into the broader context of your life?
- How does this organization ensure that you bring your values to work?
- What do you need from me as a leader to ensure that there is alignment between your values and ours?
Being A Force Of Nature: Leadership At Any Level
George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, philosopher, and a co-founder of the London School of Economics, said that, “This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”
You don’t need a title to be a “force of nature.” I’ve seen people with no title whatsoever who are changing the world. Here are my seven keys to being a force of nature.
1. A vision. What is your dream, your highest aspiration? What gets you up early? What inspires you to stay late, to learn the extra skills, to go the extra mile? This could be a higher purpose, a mental picture of a new reality for yourself and others that you are excited about.
2. Passion. “The history of mankind is the story of people selling themselves short,” wrote Abraham Maslow. You are more than you believe and passion is a key that unlocks the door to new possibilities. Influencing others starts on the inside. Passion begets passion.
3. A decision, a choice to do your part, however big or small that may be, to be a part of the solution, instead of a part of the problem. Decisions are what change lives. You can change the course of your very existence with a single decision.
4. A commitment to serve, to make the world better by your presence. There appears to be two kinds of people in the world: Those who help, and those who hinder; those who give and those who take; those who lift, and those who lean; those who contribute, and those who consume. Which will you be?
5. Love. Being a force of nature, at least a positive force, means that you are driven by love. If you are uncomfortable with the word “love,” call it caring, because impacting others means caring for people, not manipulating them.
6. Authenticity. Great leadership – influencing others with love – cannot be reduced to technique; great leadership comes from the identity and integrity of the leader.
7. Strong Character. There is no real excellence in this world that can be separated from right living. Character is the courage to face the demands of reality. It is integral to being a force of nature. Character means means standing on strong moral ground – uncompromising principles – and then being accountable – being a person who can be counted on.
What are your keys for being a force of nature? How are you a change agent by being a force of nature?
Ten Steps For Building An Aligned Culture
A lot of people ask about our process for building an aligned culture. Here, in abridged form, is our process. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and feedback.
Step 1. Define your culture.
Decide on the scope of the culture that you are committed to build – that lays within your sphere of influence. Is it your company, department, division, community association, team, family?
Step 2. Define your leadership team.
Identify your 5-6 key leaders – allies that you will depend on to build your culture. These will be people who have the positional power, capacity, and commitment to make it happen. Be sure you have a Chief Emotional Officer on your team: a person with the positional power as well as the passion (a monomaniac with a mission) to take accountability for the culture.
Step 3. Get alignment at the top.
Identify your core values that you, as a leadership team, are committed to living. Have an “offsite” leadership meeting to ensure that you are all committed to living the values, first with each other and then with your entire culture. If you are a “subculture” – a culture within a larger system, you will want to take the larger organizational cultural value statements and make them real for your culture.
Step 4. Develop a team “code of conduct” with your leadership team.
Once you have decided upon your core values, you will need to develop a process that outlines your promises to each other: how you will hold yourself and each other accountable for living these values. This is about turning values into specific expected behaviors.
Step 5. Assess Alignment – And Connect to Reality.
Decide on a process for assessing your current alignment between your “vision,” your “claim,” and your “reality” as an entire culture. In order to do this you will need to pay attention to the “visible” culture and the “real” culture – your current reality. You may need to take the time to get into the hallways, the coffee conversations, etc. to get to the grapevine and current reality.
Step 6. “Roll out” your values with your entire culture.
Once you are clear about the current alignment, meet with your entire culture. Have your leadership team at the front of the room and outline:
- Your vision as a leadership team for this culture
- Your core values
- Your assessment of the current reality in your culture and the degree of alignment you see between your vision, your claim, and your reality
- Your leadership code of conduct
- How you expect to be held accountable for living these values as positional leaders – your promised actions as a leadership team
- An outline of the remaining process for getting these values lived at every level of the culture
Step 7. Have each of your leadership team members define – and build – their own leadership teams.
Meet with each of the leaders on your leadership team and help them define their own leadership teams, and go through the same process with their respective teams. This will continue throughout the culture until, ideally, every person is eventually assigned to a “leadership team” or at least closely affiliated with a leadership team.
Step 8. Engage your employees – at every level.
Begin and sustain the process – and build trust – through the power of courageous conversations:
- Start – and continue – to create conversations around your core values, at every level.
- Turn every conversation about value statements into mutually agreed upon actions and promises.
- Tell the story. Schedule time in meetings, planning sessions, etc. to tell a story about where someone in the group recently lived one or more of your values.
- Shine the light. Acknowledge when and where individuals lived one or more of your values.
- Repeat the message. Find a way to get the message out there. Consider a cultural “kudos committee,” a group of committed people who find creative ways to capture the stories and get the message out there in organizational newsletters, bulletins, etc.
- Embrace the negative. Don’t be afraid of conversations that address misalignment between the claim and the reality.
- See mistakes as learning opportunities. Keep learning and growing together. Have high standards of yourself and others, and be patient with yourself. It’s about progress, not perfection. Keep reminding people that direction is more important than velocity.
- Stick with the winners. Put the majority of your time, energy, and resources into the people who are committed to living the values.
Step 9. Define how you will convey to stakeholders outside the culture how you will live your values.
- How will you convey your values to your customers?
- What needs to be written in your marketing materials/web site, etc.?
Step 10. Get your values into every system.
- Bring values into your hiring processes, your performance management system and HR practices.
- Only promote leaders who are living the values.
- Make it tough to not live the values.
Granting Grace – A Key To Building An Engaged Culture
What if we could ask for what we need and want from each other? What if we could talk openly, in the spirit of good will and respect, about what would make us happy and loyal in our workplace? What if we could then negotiate what we can and can’t do to meet these needs? What would happen to our workplaces, our communities, and our families if we all practiced being a little more honest and direct with each other in a respectful way?
We can all learn to be more direct with each other, and it takes continual practice, but there’s something more. Farm Credit Canada, an organization that practices good culture, has taught me a very important concept around building strong culture. One of the key principles in their cultural practices and one they work at relentlessly, is the concept of granting grace in their interactions with each other. They hold each other accountable for creating a safe environment where people can speak up without fear of repercussion.
No long ago I spent three days with an amazing team at Farm Credit, and “grace” was a central part of our conversations. They work hard at talking straight in a responsible manner. They are committed to the success of others and hold each other accountable to not engage in “conspiracies” against people. They strive for patience with themselves and others but also respectfully acknowledge when they operate outside the expectations of grace. They don’t get it perfect, but they get it right.
This kind of commitment lends itself to learning to be open and direct with each other. I love the idea of “granting grace.” I also know that it’s an area I need to continually work on. I’m certainly not as graceful in my work and in my life as I could be, especially when under pressure or in the midst of demands and deadlines.
What does “granting grace” mean to you? How do you operate with “grace” in your workplace? What effect does “grace” have on engagement, commitment, and productivity?
Culture and Kindness
This week I presented to an amazing group of education and health care leaders – an organization called Ever Active Schools (www.everactive.org): professionals who are committed to building programs in our schools that will get – and keep – kids healthy. I always get inspired when I am with a group of passionate visionaries who are truly shaping the future. And what wonderful values: kids and health. As I spent the day with this group, one conversation stood out. I asked one of the old-timers in the room what he did. “I get asked to do workshops for schools on bullying,” he replied. “But I don’t do workshops on bullying. I do workshops on kindness. Instead of bullying, we need to focus on being considerate of each other. Kindness will then dissolve bullying.”
Now that’s wisdom. For the past few days I have been reflecting on the application of this simple truth. Not only could we use more kindness in all of our cultures, we could all benefit from concentrating on the positive, instead of attacking our problems by focusing on the negative. Where have you turned problem into a solution by focusing on the positive side? I’d love to hear.
Corporate Culture
I’ve been observing and learning from some of the best companies in Canada these days. This week, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Sean Durfy, President and CEO of WestJet (“Durf,” they call him around WestJet). WestJet, one of Canada’s icon companies, has a vision that by 2016, they will be one of the five most successful international airlines in the world. Based on what I’ve seen in their culture, I have no doubt that they will achieve this. They are well on their way. Here’s just a few of the things that WestJet believes in and does to build – and sustain – the amazing culture they have:
“If you take care of your people, your people will take care of your guests, and your guests will take care of your profits.” ”It’s not rocket science,” says Durf. “You have to treat your employees the way you want your guests treated.”
“The culture, as it changes and grows, will change. What won’t change is our values.”
“We don’t focus too much on “employee satisfaction.” Instead, we are committed to employee loyalty.”
“To get loyal employees, you have to align the goals, aspirations and values of the company with the employees’ goals, aspirations, and values. But you also have to align the goals, aspirations, and values of the employees with those of WestJet.”
“Empowerment without accountability won’t hold up.”
WestJet spends more time in the hiring process than does Disney. You really do have to get the right people on the bus.
Everyone holds everyone accountable to live the values. For example, if Durf sees an employee acting disrespectfully in any way to a guest, rather than being disrespectful of the employee, here’s how he’ll handle it – respectfully and without punitive measures: “…why don’t you take an hour away from your desk to get a break and figure out what happened so this doesn’t happen again…”
While management holds their employees accountable for living the values of the culture, employees will also hold management accountable. For example, in between flights all employees on that flight are expected to stay after the guests leave to help clean the cabin for the next flight. Once Durf, while flying on a holiday with his family, did not stay after to help clean the flight. The next day he got a call at his cottage from the captain of the plane, expressing his concern that he didn’t stay and contribute to the clean-up.
This down-to-earth Newfoundlander who runs this company gets it: to build a great culture you have to be real, you have to be in touch with reality, and you have to know how to connect with people.
What are you doing in your culture to make it great? I’d love to hear from you.
Organizational Culture
I’ve had a lot of great feedback from my most recent e-newsletter, containing the article: FINDING THE TOUCH IN AN INTERNET WORLD:The Little Things Are The Big Things.
Here’s one example from a leader in a school, a superintendent for 27 years, and some of his personal practices:
“There is only one way to be present and that is to be present – weddings are optional but funerals are mandatory (Rudy Juliani)”
“I can always do the paperwork after the staff members have left for the day but I cannot speak to them when they have gone home”
“When our School Division was small enough, every employee received a personal birthday wish from me”
“Every month I likely sent out 200 personal notes to staff members (teachers, assistants, bus drivers, custodians, maintenance workers, etc.)”
Building a culture that values human interaction is very time-consuming but is worth every minute”
What are you doing to consciously build the culture you desire?