Moving Out of Silos

I consider myself an enthusiast of people improvement. Motivational speeches, blogging, coaching, mentoring, and Employee Engagement consulting are my thing. It is a massively fulfilling cross-over of personal ambition and professional drive....a purpose driven passion. Life is good!

In my advocacy for people empowerment there is a prominent obstacle:
People are still working in silos

In my work with Human Resources groups, I have found consistent requests for:

• Feedback
• Better Management
• A Clearly Defined Path to Success

Let's do a survey...
It seems to be popular opinion that the way to gather employee feedback is by issuing a survey. There are a few reasons why these surveys might fail:
- They do not ask the right questions 
- They do not produce actionable data
- They come from a place of mistrust

Asking an employee for their feedback in private may only produce selective data. If an employee invests in the process of stating their mind, leadership action is necessary. Otherwise, a survey will work as a demotivator.

Protecting the flock
It has been said that people leave bosses, not companies. This is not always the fault of the boss! If transparency is a fear factor in your organizational, your culture will be broken!

Everyone loves social media....we facebook our faces off, we use twitter, and LinkedIn is our professional bible. So, if we know that our employees love social interaction, why are our processes for management still anti-social.

Performance reviews suck, one-on-one calls do not produce action planning for career development, and top down direction does not create a holistic approach to organizational development. There has to be a better way!

PATH
To the former point, your employees can use social media to build their personal brand. OR your company can utilize the social enterprise to enhance your employee's career path within your organizational culture.

If my career goals are confined to a talk with my manager, only he/she can guide (or discourage) my success. If my goals are not clearly defined, documented and/or actionable...all I can do is assume my effort will fulfill the company's expectations. Hardly motivating!

Let's Break Down The Silos

Why are we still protecting employee feedback?
Why is only our manager in control of our career development?
Why are we still coaching with the office door closed?

Too many organizations have employees who are fearful to interact. They believe anything they say can, and will be, held against them. There are employees who believe that if they ask for feedback, they are only inviting criticism. Managers are forced to micro-manage to keep employees on track instead of inspiring them to grow. All silos in a field with no crop circles of interaction.

Motivation 2.0
I have 3 simple suggestions in conclusion to the pain this post has revealed:
1. Discontinue performance reviews...now!
2. Promote socialized goal setting!
3. Solicit feedback from all angles as a means to career empowerment!

Lack of transparency only leads to mass exodus of talent!

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

Creating Culture

More often than not when people see my last name I get one of the following responses:
Where are you from?
What Nationality are you?
Is that Russian?

To which I respond: I'm from California, the nation I represent is America and I'm not Russian but I love Vodka (being that we're playing the stereotype game).

Frankly, I found my culture on La Pera circle in the early 80's. Karen Hunter, Gabe Rowland and the Walker Brothers were my countrymen. We started playing ball on our block and when we were old enough we ventured a few blocks over to challenge those kids in a game of touch football. We banned together, we looked out for one another, we took pride in our block and no one was f-ing with us. We didn't need a flag to fly or a discernible physical commonality; it was in the air. If you came on our block you had to get through the guard to play kick ball.

The culture I subscribed to was created by me and my friends and it meant more to me than the songs of my forefathers or the meals my Grandmother made. So, It stands to reason that in evolution from our names, skin colors or gender; there is a climate to our lives that focuses on now not then. In example, it can be said that the place you work is a culture in-and-of-itself.

A lot has been said about organizational culture of late and this is one HR trend that I believe in. Without question, if you can create an engaging environment between the four walls of any office, satisfaction is guaranteed.

So what do you need to do to create an Engaging Organizational Culture:
* Core Values
* Metrics for Success that Reflect the Population
* Action Oriented Leadership

How Do You Spell Integrity?
Recite your organization's core values...How many people can actually do it? My guess is not many and that is a shame. Take away departmental goals, rank, tenure & the Core Values of any organization are what level the playing field.

Core Values fail to engage for two reasons:
They are too broad
Middle Managers have failed to interpret them to in a meaningful way

I would bet that 80% of organizations have Integrity and/or Accountability as a core value. The extended definition is honesty, the most important professional characteristic any one can possess, why don't we understand that? If as a Manager you cannot explain to your team why honesty is important you are mis-cast. Traditionally, what you will hear from Middle Managers is, "its a core value, its important to our Chairman, know the definition". What a waste!

The definition of engagement is knowing the significance organizational core values have to YOUR role in the company.
* If you can differentiate the company mission to your own success you are guaranteed to find personal significance in every day....within the goals of the organization.

Know Your People
As a consultant people ask me, "as an expert, what would you recommend to improve our culture?". How should I know, it's YOUR company. If you don't know what the people who work for you want, how can I help you? If I offer industry best practices that are not applicable to the people who walk your halls, you are simply re-manufacturing more mediocrity...that's what got you into this mess in the first place:
- Don't worry about being safe
- Make it meaningful
- Make it fun

Detachment is not a Strategy
How often do our Leaders work from a 10,000 foot view? Of course, our CEO cannot be in Kansas every month to opinion poll the Transportation Supervisor. But, there are a few ways to get the real facts:
- Use your Open Door Policy as a means for improvement not to judge who is un-coachable
- Engage real conversation with people at all levels to get 'real' feedback
- Take the formality out of Organizational Input

Surveys are tough because I know that even though they are framed as 'confidential', someone above me will be looking at my feedback and judging me accordingly. This is not the fault of the CEO or the individual contributor but rather an affect of insecure Middle Managers. (see a trend developing here?)

You have to develop a culture of trust! To know that I can give you feedback and you can discern if I am bitching or actually interested in evolving organizational objectives. How can we do this?
- Look for hard facts to accompany the (sob) story
- Ask how the 'problem' effects the Organizational Mission
- Share feedback instead of burying it
- Help redirect instead of judging

In Summation (without assuming):
It doesn't matter what you look like, how you talk or what your life goals might be. If I can ask everyone to find the pot of gold on the same treasure map, our goals are laid out for us. Different teams may take different routes but in the end we all find the treasure.

Create a Mission and help each of us understand it's significance to our own lives. Stop asking for feedback if you are not going to use it to evolve organizational goals! Create team goals that reflect our input and strategize accordingly.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

In Security

Do you ever meet people who feel they have to frame everything they are about to say? Do you ever tell someone Thank You and detect that they wonder what you want in return? Have you met that person that is always on the defensive?

Our insecurities in the way we carry ourselves are a result of the culture in which we allow ourselves to exist. We become a product of our environment. So, if we are consistently disparaged by our boss, and are used to building a case for our actions, that tends to spill over into our social interactions.

Do you think by saying, 'don't take this the wrong way', that I am going to take it any way other than the wrong way?

Do you think that by complimenting me before you insult me I will be less insulted?

If you work in an environment where defending your work before you even perform it is a way of life you are going to project similar behavior as soon as you get a chance. So after I had my stones busted for 2 years, I get a promotion, and the first thing I do is find someone to insult.

If you are seasoned professional and you act in the aforementioned line of motivation you need to take a hard look in the mirror. One thing to consider is that one day you will die and to work back from there. In essence, there has to be an understanding of what is genuinely important...the ultimate truth, it's according actions and a line one allows not thyself to cross.

What if it is as simple as saying Thank You when someone assists you and accepting Thanks when it is given. If you compliment someone with the other hand extended, it probably doesn't have the intended effect. If someone tells you that you did a great job tell them they are welcome.

If you work hard and stick to your Genuine Intent you need not promote yourself otherwise. Pre and Post game interviews are not necessary...we saw the game. You need not read reviews of a movie, go see it and decide for yourself if you enjoyed it. Don't tell me I did a great job if I didn't. Don't look for compliments when you do a job well, know for yourself that you performed to YOUR expectations.

It is time to build a concise and strategic plan for personal development, to work hard and to own the results.

Do your fighting in the ring and save your breath for kissing the girl!

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave