I have certain tapes, CDs, podcasts, etc. that I must listen to periodically in order to stay on the right path strategically. I found a new one last week and it is rattling my cage. If you’re in this business to make a difference you have got to hear it. It’s not free. It’s $8.00. But I’m betting you’ll get way more than your money’s worth. You’ll find it right here.
Still operating with the same structure that framed your organization when it all began? Interesting to hear Andy Stanley talk about the ways that the structure of North Point has morphed to better serve their needs as they’ve grown. Stanley, who’s brilliant on systems, says that "every system within your organization has to flex with growth and changes in culture." Hmmmm…still doing it a way that worked in the 80s? How about the 1880s?
I know many of you already listen to the Catalyst Podcast. For those of you that don’t, or that need a reminder, don’t miss the most recent interview with Andy Stanley. You’ve got to hear what he has to say about their structure and organization. Very helpful. You can check it out right here.
One of the bloggers I check out regularly is David Armano over at Logic + Emotion. Often a really good way of looking at things, maybe a little unexpected, but definitely will make you think. Check out this diagram about the Stairway to Brand Heaven:
Interesting, don’t you think? This is all about the way things work from the standpoint of brand value (whether you’re talking corporate or personal). Want to build loyalty in your customer? Building loyalty takes a lot of work. Positive interactions are only the beginning. Consistency and credibility are important steps along the way. Authenticity and trust get you beyond credibility to the place where you’re actually building loyalty.
The truth? Compromise on consistency or waste credibility on a half-hearted effort…and you take a few steps down the stairway. Fudge a little on something or break trust even for an instant…and you may take a giant leap backwards and have to rebuild. Want to build brand loyalty? Where are you?
How much would someone have to pay you to quit your job? I guess it’s a question of whether you’re doing what you really dream of doing. After all…if you’re finally doing what you dream of doing, you WOULD have to paid to quit. Right? I think this would be a good thing to spend some time thinking about. If you could be paid to quit what you’re doing, you’re probably doing the wrong thing.
Another great post today over on the Mavericks at Work blog about Zappos, the web-based shoe company that actually offers new employees $1,000 to quit. Their thinking? If you take the money, "you don’t have the kind of commitment they’re looking for." Ohhhhhhh. That is a huge concept!
Back to you…and me. Are you in a job that you could be paid to quit? Am I? Great question, don’t you think? If we are in a job that we could be paid to quit, then it follows that we’re spending our one and only life on the wrong project. I guess the follow up questions are, "What is the project that you couldn’t be paid to quit?" And then, "Why aren’t you doing that?" (Before you get all worked up at me, this also applies to me!) I think I just stumbled onto a really important insight! What do you think?
How does it happen in your organization? When you’re in a strategy discussion do you start with assumptions? Preconceived notions? A script? Love this simple line from Tim Armstrong, Google’s President of Advertising and Commerce in North America:
People here don’t start with conclusions. They start with questions.
How many organizations does that describe? Does it describe your place? What would have to happen for it to become part of your corporate culture?
Ever read something that just makes your hair stand up? Like…as your eyes flicker across the page you realize in your gut that it’s true and you can’t help the goose-bump feeling. Might be a good kind of goose-bumps, might be a bad kind of goose-bumps.
Reading an interview that McKinsey did with Pixar’s Brad Bird, I had a moment like that. Talking about his first experience with Disney, in the time period when the veterans of the Walt Disney era were leaving. Here’s the section that gripped me:
The company’s thought process was not, “We have all this amazing
machinery—how do we use it to make exciting things? We could go to Mars
in this rocket ship!” It was, “We don’t understand Walt Disney at all.
We don’t understand what he did. Let’s not screw it up. Let’s just preserve this rocket ship; going somewhere new in it might damage it.”
Ever been part of an organization like that? If you have, those lines will prompt a visceral reaction. If you haven’t, you probably don’t even know what you have.
You never know what you’ll find in Fast Company. I loved last month’s article on the world’s most innovative companies. Full of great thoughts and ideas. Among the quotes I marked down was this one from Tim Armstrong, Google’s President of Advertising and Commerce in North America.
I tell new employees, ‘At Google, there are rocks and a stream. You either become a rock, and the stream goes around you, or you get in the stream and move things along and start adding value.’
Something in there for all of us…isn’t there.
You have goals. You have objectives. You even have a very detailed vision statement. But every time you turn around, you’re dropping what you’re doing to put out a fire. Another fire. The third fire in the last 10 days! It’s like you’re living in a high fire hazard severity zone. You may be getting pretty good at putting out fires…but at the end of the career that’s little consolation if you don’t get to where you’re trying to go.
Is there a solution? As Seth Godin says, maybe the start of a solution is "to make the long term items even more urgent than today’s emergencies. Break them into steps and give them deadlines. Measure your people on
what they did today in support of where you need to be next month."
Can you see that happening? Can your organization get to the place where the most important projects get priority…instead of the fires? I love Seth’s closing line: "If you work in an urgent-only culture, the only solution is to make the right things urgent." What’s urgent in your organization? Hopefully it’s beginning to be the right things.
Think you know what it takes to end up with really engaged employees? Very similar to the understandings of Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow, the research that forms the basis for Human Sigma has revealed that if you want engaged employees you must go beyond being clear about what they "get." In fact, helping each employee see what they have to "give" is the next step…but only the next step.
Can you see how clarity on this concept might form the basis of a really great employee engagement program?
