Comparing Influences

Teflon Coated Dreams. Fast Forward. Touch. Snafu. Exit 4. Virtual Dandelion. Left of Center. The Anne Deming Band. Nine Tall Booms. Voodoo Hodown.

What do all these names have in common? They are all names of bands I have been in over the years. In each case, before we picked up our instruments to make some sort of music, we talked about our influences.We discussed what other bands, musicians and music moved us, what had entered into our musical consciousness and could (ability permitting) be heard in the way express ourselves on our instruments.

It was a critical conversation, and one that had to happen before the creative process could begin. It allowed us to get to know each other as people and as players, and instantly created a strong bond or told us “this might not work”. Ultimately, it was about finding common ground.

I wondered the other day what would happen if we adopted some of this process when we hire employees (or even talk to them about their career goals)?

Now, with full disclosure, it will be no surprise to anyone reading this that this is by no means a fool proof system, as evidenced by how many bands break-up over creative differences versus how many actually stay together. However, it could be argued that perhaps the “influences” conversation didn’t initially go deep enough for the bands who didn’t make it, or, someone in the band got too big for their britches.

As part of the process of getting to know potential applicants or your current employees, what can be gained by asking them what, or who, has influenced them in the past?

• How they think: often you will hear about a situation that happened, and why it was good or bad. You may now have a better idea about how they will react to things in your workplace.
• What they value: what did they learn, or takeaway from the experience that shaped who they are? Do those values match yours, or those of your company?
• What moves (or motivates) them: did this situation or person move them to action in anyway, whether wanting to follow their lead or avoid their mistakes?

If you like the idea of having a better understanding of what your applicants/employees think, what they value and what motivates them, maybe it’s time to ask them about their influences.

Let me know how it goes!

Thanks for reading!

About the author: In case you were wondering, some of Matt’s musical influences include Rush, Marillion, Yes, Pink Floyd, & Living Colour.  If you are familiar with those artists, does that give you an idea of what he values, how he thinks, and what motivates him?

The Ceiling Fan Saga

The other day, my friend Vince told me a story that I like to call, “The Ceiling Fan Saga”.  To get you up to speed quickly, here is the Cliff’s Notes version:

Vince and his wife Brenda acquired a ceiling fan from a friend who was moving.  In the process of the taking the fan down, the glass around the lights broke.  After trips and calls and online ordering from Home Depot, Vince and Brenda still didn’t have the right piece of replacement glass for the fan.  Vince finally gets the name of someone who he thinks can help him.  He is told that “Anne” will call in a few days and all will be resolved.

A few days go by.  No call.  A few more, still no call.  Vince calls the person who told him that Anne would call (because they wouldn’t give him Anne’s number).  He said there had been no call from Anne, no messages, and not even a missed call recorded on the caller ID.

“Yeah”, Anne’s colleague said, “Anne doesn’t really like to leave messages.”

Seriously? Someone who has a job of communicating and helping people OVER THE PHONE won’t leave a message?  Interesting.

Unfortunately, this saga is still ongoing, so I don’t have a resolution for you, but I do have a question.

How many of your employees are good at most parts of their job, but not the entire job? And is their deficiency the most important part of their job?

I would say that Anne’s willingness to leave a message is a pretty critical part of her job.  It’s like when I hear leaders talking about their employees saying, “Well, they are a really good cashier, they balance and know the promotions, but they are not good at talking with the guests.”

Isn’t that as much a part of their job as everything else?  Maybe it is on paper, but that’s not what is being enforced.  We are allowing that employee to not be good (or even passable) at a critical part of the job because they are competent at one that is easier to measure.

How about this: an employee that is loyal, willing to work any time, will jump in to clean and do the dirty work, yet is borderline rude with the guests and says very inappropriate things that require immediate damage control (true story)?

Reading that, you would probably say “get rid of him”, yet those scenarios seem to happen all the time.  We stop short of expecting some of our employees to actually rise to ALL of the expectations we have.

So here is your challenge: The next time you start to utter the phrase, “They may not be good at X, but it’s okay because they are really good at Y”, think about the implications of that person not being good at X.  They could impacting customer service, employee morale and teamwork. Then identify what it would take to make them better at X, and help them get there.

You can also think about this way… if, as a leader, you are not helping your employees improve their skills, someone might say about you, “Well, they are really good with numbers but they can’t coach their employees.”

In that case you wouldn’t be doing all of your job, either.

Thanks for reading!

About the author:  Did you know that Matt is writing a book about employee burnout?  You can read more about it (including a sample chapter) by clicking here, or hear him talk about it on a recent appearance on Blog Talk Radio.

Join me on BlogTalk Radio

This Sunday, June 2, I am excited to be a guest on the Peter LaPorta Show, hosted by BlogTalk Radio.  Festivities begin at noon eastern!

I originally met Peter when we both worked at Universal, and now he is a successful and accomplished speaker, author and radio show host!  For more information on Peter, click here.

We’ll be talking about employee burnout (and my new book on the subject), and anything else we can fit into our 30 minutes on the air.  To tune in and/or call in, click the pic below for more details!

Thanks in advance for tuning in!

Are WE making our employees lazy?

I wrote in a previous post that I recently had the opportunity to go to Fiji. One of the concepts, besides BULA, that we all became very familiar with, was the concept of Fiji time.

To say things run at a slower pace in Fiji is an understatement. Because of this, if you allow yourself to be taken over by Fiji time, you can have a truly relaxing vacation. It took a few days to unwind, but once Fiji time set in, it was tough to argue against its merits.

As we toured around the island, we noticed some construction projects taking place… An addition to a hotel restaurant, replacing some directional signs in the resort area, and houses being built. From our observations, each of the workers were applying the Fiji time standard, which would drive most people in America crazy.

In fact, if these workers were working at this pace in America, some might say they were sandbagging, or working slowly to avoid extra work.

We joked that if some people put as much effort into looking busy as they do actually being busy, they would actually be productive.

I then thought, “what if this is our fault?”

What if we are actually encouraging someone to spend the energy to look busy rather than completing a task and proactively seeking out another?

“No way!”, you say? Way.

Think about it. How many times have you been assigned a task or project but were given limited or incomplete information, then made to feel as if you were bothering your boss if you asked questions? What did that make you do?

Think about your employees… Are they young, maybe with limited work experience? Are they self conscious, trying to fit in, and navigating their way through a new environment? How do you think they respond to something like this?

“Go do X. See John over at the shop and get Y. Meet up with Bob and he’ll help you. Let me know if you have any questions and come see me when you’re done.”

There are a truckload of variables and questions that could arise, and many chances for an “inexperienced” worker to stall, avoid embarrassing situations and drag their feet. When we call John at the shop about something else and find out that our employee never went there, we may think they are lazy, be no work ethic, or don’t understand simple instructions.

The reality? Maybe they didn’t know where in the shop John would be, or even who he was to look for him. So, they decided to try to figure things out on their own, rather than put them in a potentially embarrassing position. In fact, they probably wanted to do the right thing (just like when you were in that situation) but for whatever reason they were afraid, they didn’t know what to do or just felt unsupported and on there own.

I called them an “inexperienced” worker not because of their ability to do the job, but because of their lack of experience in terms of managing workplace relationships. This can have a huge impact on productivity, sometimes more than actual skill.

So, the next time you complain about lazy employees, consider your role in that scenario. Have you contributed to an environment where a perfectly capable employee is choosing to sandbag out of self preservation?

Thanks for reading!

Believe it or not, I’m walking on air, I never thought I could feel so free-ee-ee!

The Culture of BULA!

BULA!

BULA means ‘hello’ in Fijian. I had the great fortune of visiting Fiji recently, and not only did I learn how to say hello in their language, I also learned a thing or two about culture.

As we boarded the plane to Fiji, we were greeted with a very warm and welcoming, BULA! from the flight attendants. When we arrived in Fiji, the people who greeted us in the airport belted out a heart-felt BULA! When we got on the bus to the hotel… BULA! At the hotel… BULA! The gardener, housekeeper, and waitstaff… all greeted us warmly and enthusiastically with BULA! It wasn’t long before we started saying BULA as well. To our friends, to the staff, to strangers… it didn’t matter. When in Fiji, you say BULA!

After a day or so, we could quickly tell who had just arrived on the island. They hadn’t quite got the hang of BULA yet. They might greet you with a polite head nod or eyebrow raise when you passed them in the hall, and some looked a little scared when a non-Fijian said BULA.  Eventually they reciprocated with the appropriate BULA response.

If you have ever struggled to get your employees to greet your guests, you might read this and think the answer is to give them a fun phrase or word to say, like BULA. Unfortunately, if that’s all you do, they might say BULA once or twice, but it won’t last.

BULA is not just a word, it’s a way of life. It’s the Fijian’s way of saying hello, and welcoming you to their home. And by home, they don’t mean a building or structure. They mean Fiji, and Fiji is their family.

No one exemplified this more than Kit Kat, the humorous, knowledgeable and generous taxi driver we hired to take us around the island – to see the “real” Fiji.

It was amazing to see how many people he knew, and knew well.  At the local attractions, restaurants, in the villages, along the side of the road, Kit Kat seemed to know every inch of the island, and just about every person on the island.  A skeptic might say he has a specific route and that he only knows the people on that route.  But, once you see how genuine the people of Fiji are, you’d drop that skepticism in a New York minute and bask in the happiness and positivity around you.

Okay, so that was a little sappy, but it’s not an over-exaggeration.  Their welcoming and giving nature is a part of their daily life, their way of life… their culture.

If you are a Star Wars fan, it’s sort of like the Force.  “It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.”  In this case, the Fijian galaxy.

And this is why many companies efforts to change or redefine their culture takes so long or is unsuccessful – because they try to address and control the surface behaviors of their staff.  However, that’s not really where the culture is defined.  It’s much more about who you are than what you do.

And who you are, or your personal culture, doesn’t change overnight.  It doesn’t change when you start a new job or get a promotion.  Who you really are, what drives you, and what matters to you comes from your upbringing and family culture. If you find employees whose personal culture lines up with what you want your company culture to be, you are in luck.

This is certainly the case in Fiji.  Many Fijians are genuinely very nice people.  They are hired in hospitality roles to be nice people.  Win-win.

So if you are trying to change or alter your team or company culture, a lesson we can take from Fiji and BULA is that you get what you give.

• You give BULA first, you get BULA back.
• You give people a warm and inviting welcome, you get a warm and inviting response.
• You give people a reason to be loyal, and they will repay you with loyalty.
• You must do these things early, often, and consistently.

The Fijian people give in terms of their time, compassion and hospitality.  Don’t your employees deserve the same, especially if that is the type of culture you are trying to create?

Thanks for reading!

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Why did you say that?

I was out for a walk the other day when I saw an older dude jogging toward me. As he got closer, he said:

“in case you were wondering, I hate this.”

Well, I wasn’t wondering, but I am now.  Specifically, here is what I’d like to know:

If you really hate running, why are you doing it, and of you don’t hate running, why did you say it?

I would guess that he really doesn’t hate running, or at least he likes the health benefits of running, so he endures the process.  There are things we all do that we might not like doing, but we like or desire the result, so we do it. So I don’t think that’s it.

I am much more intrigued by why he said this. Why did he choose to tell me he hates running, rather than just saying hello or good morning, or nothing at all?

It reminded me of a leader I once worked with who told me in confidence that, “it sounds silly, but I love my job.”

Both of these statements are telling in their own right. I get the impression that my jogging buddy feels that running is a necessary evil and that complaining about it reaps more rewards and attention that being positive about it. My leader friend was in a similar boat. In his environment, it wasn’t cool to like your job, so even if you did, you would still complain about it because that’s what gives you positive attention.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “misery loves company”.  We’ve also heard that “smiles are contagious”. So, if people are conduits for both positivity and negativity, don’t we have a choice of which one we pass along to someone else?

Of course we do, but that doesn’t always make it easy.  Going along with the crowd and their negativity can actually be comforting.  You fit in, you belong.  As much as people want positive attention, they REALLY want to belong.

What’s more prevalent in your work areas?  Commiserating misery or contagious smiles? Don’t you, as a leader, have the power, opportunity, and responsibility to set the right course?

Which one are you choosing?

Thanks for reading!

Bonus quote for today’s post comes from Matt’s favorite band, Rush.  They wrote a song called Freewill, and part of the lyrics state: “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”  Thought that went nicely with our topic today. Kind of like the cherry on an ice cream sundae!

New promo video

Howdy friends!

Wanted to share a new promo video I recently added to my website.  If you like it, feel free to “like” it, link it, share it, or tweet it!

If you don’t like it, at least is was only 1 minute and 48 seconds!

Big thanks to Charlie with the North American Farm Direct Marketers Association for providing the footage!

Thanks for watching!

 

Learning How To Drive

As I was driving around town the other day, I noticed a car trying to make a left-hand turn across oncoming traffic. It struck me (the idea, not the car) that the driver had to develop good judgement in order to time the turn just right to avoid a collision.

Not sure where the synapse collision happened in my head, but it made me think of the judgement a leader must develop, and just how long it takes to develop “good judgement”.

Think about when you learned to drive… there was some classroom or online instruction, practical application behind the wheel, and probably more than one very stressful episode with a parent or older sibling trying to enlighten you on the finer points to vehicle manipulation.  You then took a test and got your license.  Even with this certification, it doesn’t mean that you learned everything there was to know about driving, or that you would consistently apply what you do know (turn signals, anyone?).

In many ways, the judgement you need to be successful as a leader is similar to that of driving a car – and it takes just as long (if not longer) to develop even a remedial level of “good judgement”.  You need to know the hazards, the capabilities of your resources, and what your overall role is in the process.

Also like driving, good judgement in leadership comes from experience.  And experience takes time.  No matter where you are on your leadership journey, it is your previous experiences that determine how you judge future situations.  When it comes to developing other leaders, we have to remember that teaching the tasks of what to do is only part of the equation… we also have to give them the opportunity to gain experience, make some mistakes, and develop good judgement.

Here are some lessons we can take from drivers ed…

• Vary the teaching method: give some theory, allow time for practical application, and provide feedback the progress
• Allow mistakes (to a point): In the special drivers ed car, the instructor has an emergency brake, but other than that the student is in control.  Allow your leaders to take the wheel, so-to-speak, but be there to assist if they really get into a jam.
• Give it time: drivers need to practice parallel parking, much like leaders need practice providing feedback to their teams.
• There will be tears: learning to drive and developing leadership skills are life-changing processes, both with their share of bumps along the way. Know that these will make you stronger.

Please lead, and drive, carefully.

Thanks for reading!

About the author: Matt’s first car was a 1977 Buick LaSabre.  Her name was “Bessie”.

The best service recovery is providing good service!

I had the pleasure of speaking with my good friend Sheryl Bindelglass recently, and we got to talking about customer service (big surprise!).  She was telling me about some horrible experiences she had lately and how they were eventually resolved.

The first was a multi-faceted airline mishap that compounded one bad experience upon another.  One flight was late, the next flight closed its door early, no one in the terminal seemed willing or able to help, and when it was all said and done (after Sheryl’s 24-hour cool down period), she called and was on hold for 2 hours and still was never connected to a person she could talk to.

So, she sent a tweet.  Within 22 minutes there was a response on Twitter, stating how sorry they were and inquiring if there was anything they could do.

Now, don’t get me wrong… I applaud the quick response and offer to assist.  I just wonder if so much effort would be needed on service recovery if their regular customer service… um… didn’t suck.

Along the same lines, Sheryl told me about an experience at a restaurant where the manager came over to remedy a situation and handed them his business card.  Not only was it his card, but it was also a $20 voucher for a future visit.  How much time, effort and energy went into the process of making that card that could have been spent fixing the service issues they had so the card wouldn’t be necessary?

We all know that people make mistakes and we won’t be able to eliminate ALL of the need for service recovery, but as leaders we can (and should) be looking at the situations that cause people to complain so we can try to eliminate THOSE.  As an example:

When hearing this story about the airline, I asked Sheryl why they would close the cabin door early?  She said that it states on your ticket that they reserve the right to do that.  Okay, but why?  Are they trying to make up time?  Especially when you have people that are not on board yet, wouldn’t you give them until the advertised time to get to the gate to board the plane?  Maybe there are legitimate reasons, but look at the cavalcade of frustration it causes.  This wasn’t a mistake by a well-intentioned employee, it was a willful act made possible by a policy.  Somewhere there has to be a leader in that organization that can connect the dots and see what sort of havoc this caused.

If you are worried about the rash of negative publicity that is possible on social media enough to have someone monitor those outlets 24/7, then you should also be worried about eliminating the conditions that created a need to complain in the first place.

Here’s the kicker… even with all of the shenanigans and bad service happening, if ANY of the employees that Sheryl interacted with (before the tweet) had simply said “I’m sorry”, that tweet would have never been sent and you wouldn’t be reading this post right now.

Sometimes the best defense IS a good offense.

Thanks for reading!

Prepare your teams to play great offense this year!  Give them the training, coaching and guidance that they need to succeed!

Employees Also Want Fairness

In response to my last post, What Employees Want From Their Leaders, my friend Judy Kolk from Kayben Farms shared with me some of the things that she has uncovered over the years about what people feel an employer “owes” their employees.  She graciously agreed that I could re-post them here for all of you.  It’s great insight.

“In interviews I always ask people what they think an employer “owes” their employees.  The most common answer is “fairness”, so I go on to ask them what that means to them.

The responses I get sound like this:

• A good place to work – this includes fun
• Training – they don’t want to be set up for failure because of improper training
• Communication – they feel like they can do better when they know what the expectations are
• Respect – so many of them are concerned about not being respected, both personally and for their skills
• Recognition – when they have done something exemplary, they want to be acknowledged
• A chance to shine – they may have a particular skill never get’s “discovered”, but would have been happy to use in a previous job.”

See any similarities to our last list?

What I find interesting is that they say things like being set up for success, having the tools and training to do their job well and being recognized for their talents and accomplishments. They are essentially giving us a blueprint for success in terms of keeping our employees happy.

It also means that they WANT to succeed, they WANT to do a good job, and they WANT to be able to show they can contribute.

That’s the good news.  Now we just have to follow the blueprint.

Thanks for reading!

Bonus Fun: Kayben Farms has a pretty cool employment page where they do a great job of setting the stage for the employee experience.  Check it out!