Meet The Ables

The Ables are not just a family from Oklahoma. They are the functions of what empowers talent in your organization. I was conducting a thorough organizational assessment for a large company recently. One of the organization's leaders explained to me that she did not have the luxury of examining every area of her organization. There is no luxury in Leadership! We have to find time for the things that matter and minimize the priority of those that do not. Every great organization has an engaged culture. Creating and developing an engaged culture is not a turnkey transaction. It takes investigative commitment!

At the very least, every organization needs to meet The Ables:
Are your action items, actionable?
Are your core values, valuable?
Is your culture, engagable?
Are your program initiatives, measurable?

A Meaningful Path to Success
Very often an organization creates an employee recognition program from the top down. A CEO voices his/her opinion of how people want to be rewarded and a program is announced. Employee eye brows might raise when you are telling them how you are going to incent them without gathering their input.

The key to producing successful individuals (and thus furthering organizational success) is creating organizational initiatives applicable to employee preference. Programs designed for employees by employees produce enhanced adoption, engagement, and collective success. Top down programs often only produce lapel pins in desk drawers.

Words on a Wall
Integrity is a word used as a core value of many companies. Decision making rooted in integrity is vital to the success of any individual (and the organization they represent). But, what does integrity really mean? If I tell someone they acted with integrity today, their chest will swell. Teaching someone to qualify decisions at every project milestone develops a tactical skill set.

Core Values are only valuable when we dispel their ominous grandiosity. Organizations need to design initiatives that develop employee skill not just pat them on the back. If strategic organizational harmony is at the core of all employee actions, collaborative success is inevitable.

Too Cool for School
Our employees don't care to be recognized. I have heard those very words from a Vice President. A couple of thoughts:
EVERY employee wants their effort recognized and rewarded ....
ESPECIALLY those who say they don't want to be recognized!

The above mentioned point does reveal that organizational standards created by Abraham Lincoln may not be applicable in today's workforce. Leadership does not have to be a one way street. Directives for success don't have to be created and promoted in top down fashion. Employees want to be part of something bigger than themselves...a collective they helped create. The best recognition company leaders can give their employees is to listen and take action accordingly.

The Danger in Quantifying Human Effort
Show me the ROI...we hear it every day. Executives want to know that if they invest in a program they are going to get their money back. As if to say, I don't care how much you like it, it needs to produce revenue. I want you to take people's lives, make them numbers, and put them in a proposal for me. This request creates a hurricane of salesmanship mired in inconclusive evidence.

Let's simplify the process....

My mom used to want me to eat broccoli and I consistently left it on my plate. Occasionally she would shove it down my throat (not literally) and my night would be ruined. Then one night my mom put the broccoli on the plate and pulled up a bowl of Bearnaise sauce. She told me to dip the broccoli in the sauce. I did, I ate it all, and we enjoyed the rest of the night as a family. Would it have been better to leave the broccoli on the plate and to watch TV in separate rooms as life passed us by?

Your employees can grow to love broccoli. You just have to allow them to choose some sauce to dip it in.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

 

Even Linebackers Need Recognition

Greg Williams and his former New Orleans Saints organizational mates are in deep trouble. It is alleged that Coach Williams took the process of inspiring his players a step too far. No one would advocate rewarding a professional football player for hurting one of his union mates....we are unsure if this was the intent of what has been labeled a "bounty program". Everyone, however, would applaud a leader for offering his/her employees incentives for improving their performance.

The intended consequences of the New Orleans Saints unconventional incentive program are yet to be fully realized. There are, however, 2 key lessons learned from this controversy applicable to Employee Recognition:
Everyone Wants to be Recognized
It's Not About the Reward

Romo's Thoughts
"...it wasn't about the money, it was about the recognition..." - Bill Romanowski

A sports scientist nor even Roger Goodell can explain the importance of a post game moment. That moment in Pop Warner Football when the coach gives you a sticker to put on your helmet. It has nothing to do with the hit you put on your classmate and you did not intend to hurt him. For the first time in your life you spent 5 hours of every summer day in the hot sun with pads on and YOU overcame your personal limitations. Your parents were nowhere to be found, it was not soccer, and your dad was not the coach. For the first time in your life you did something on your own, you tried your hardest, and after days of uncertainty...the Coach picked YOU as the top performer. This, dear readers, is the premise of greatness. It is a result of great parenting, faith in the right things, and your recognition of your own ability! There is simply nothing better!

On a recent broadcast of the Jim Rome Show, Bill Romanowski explained it in terms that related to that which was documented above. Football players in this day and age make 10 figure incomes. They also risk their life every day. Put it in perspective: you are walking into a gun fight....a knife won't do!

Houses, Cars, and Attractive Women are elements of fame. They cannot make up for that moment when the coach brings you in front of the team to recognize YOUR effort! It is humbling and gratifying all at once. It is the place we all strive to get back to regardless of our income or status.

There is not a person on Earth who would not be humbled and gratified by a coach calling him/her in front of their team to get a sticker to put on their helmet. The sticker goes on the helmet and the recognition of your personal ability is never forgotten. You cannot assign a fiscal value to trying your hardest and knowing it made a difference.

Coach Williams did not encourage grown men to hurt their union mates. He wanted them to remember what it was like to try, succeed, and to be validated.

Value Is Interpretive
I once won a sales contest and our Vice President gave me a gift card. I bought diapers for my kids. Only they gave a shit! It was amazingly easy for our VP to ask her assistant to send me the card in the mail. There was no human interaction...my life's dedication had become a commodity. As I sharpened up my resume, my boss called me into a room, all of my teammates were there. They applauded for me. I had no idea what I had done. Without my knowing, everyone on my team had nominated me for an award that was globally recognized. I was the only sales professional to be given the reward. I stayed with the company for an additional 5 years because I didn't want my team to have to live with our Vice President.

Lance Armstrong said it best, "it's not about the bike". His life's dedication was to beat cancer and to inspire other people to do the same. To look a death sentence in the eye and win is far more important than any professional achievement.

Think about it....the best gift you have ever received did not cost more than any other. Someone took enough time to get to know you, they took time to find something that meant more to you than money, and they presented it to you in a fashion that made you remember what LIFE is all about!

We all need a sticker for our helmet. None of us would injure another to get it.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

5 Questions for Dan Pink

I became aware of Dan Pink when a colleague of mine introduced me to his book, "A Whole New Mind". Having an appetite for business journalism, I was constantly seeking new professional motivation via the printed page. Mr. Pink's book provided a shocking reassurance. His description:
Lawyers, Accountants, Computer programmers. That's what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different type of person with a very different kind of mind.

He goes on to describe how right brain thinkers (me) will rule the world. He was right. Mom and Dad were wrong....that's all I needed to hear.

A lawyer by degree, Dan Pink has a knack for enticing healthy debate. This trait served him perfectly in his break through presentation at TED. In this presentation, Mr Pink introduced the concept of his latest book, Drive. Where "A Whole New Mind" challenged the relevance of formal education to one's professional motivation, "Drive" promotes education in the workplace. In debunking the carrot and stick process of motivation, Dan Pink frustrated the less inventive thinkers in the incentive industry and opened the door for a new breed of motivators...focused on the process of education as the greater goal to long term development.

Dan Pink afforded me a few minutes on the 4th of July 2011. He is an all-American guy who is willing to take time away from the parade for his admiring public.

1. I loved the concept of Symphony in "A Whole New Mind". Do you have a formula for bringing consistency to seemingly unrelated events?

No. I think it's less of a formula and more of a general attitude. Are you open to new ideas -- no matter where they come from? Are you reading in areas outside your own professional expertise? Are you talking to a wide range of people? When you put together a team, do you make sure there are diverse viewpoints? People who make this sort of behavior habitual generally do pretty well on Symphony.

2. In “Drive” you challenge the carrot and stick formula of prize for performance. How has this message been received by HR professionals?

So far, the response has been great. But I think HR professionals are more astute on these matters than many others in organizations -- because the very best among them spend their time and energy working on talent. They know that money does matter to talent -- but that it's not ultimately what gets them up in the morning. HR professionals can be hugely important ambassadors in bringing the science of motivation inside of organizations.

3. How important is Empathy in leadership?

It's hugely important. It's very hard to lead without being able to see the world through the eyes of those your leading. That's especially true for creative teams. And it's doubly true for the growing ranks of people who are leaders but who don't have much formal authority -- and therefore must rely on influence rather than command. There's also some recent research, led by Adam Galinsky at Northwestern University, that shows that as people accumulate power, they're less likely to see the world from another's perspective, which can often hamper their abilities to get others to go along with them. Leadership turns out to be a very delicate balance between action-orientation and perspective-taking. Too much of one rarely works.

4. Why have some companies simplified the process of education in the workplace down to product knowledge?

It's easier -- and they know how to do it. Plain and simple.

5. You are one of the most recognized business authors of our time yet you always make time to respond to your readers. How do you balance this?

Hmmm. I'll resist my lawyerly instinct to disagree with your premise and instead thank you for the overly generous assessment. On the matter of responding to readers, it's not all that complex. First, I like it. I learn a heckuva lot from readers and I always appreciate hearing from them. Second, it's the right thing to do. If someone spends 10 or 15 dollars and several hours of their time reading one of my books, the least I can do is spend zero dollars and five minutes of my time responding to their question. To me, what's weird is that everybody doesn't do this.

To find out more on all things Pink visit: http://www.danpink.com/

Don't Forget to Remember!

- Dave