The 3 keys to positive impact in your organization

A while back I wrote about how Jim Schwartz of the Detroit Lions and James Franklin at Vanderbilt University had managed to change the culture and expectations of their respective football programs. Well, the Lions are still in the thick of the playoff race and Vanderbilt became bowl eligible for only the fifth time in the history of the program with a win on Saturday at Wake Forest.

It got me thinking about how aligned they were with the authors of the book I just finished reading, The Enemy of Engagement. The authors say that, “By successfully connecting three things – people, strategy, and culture – CEOs can improve their business results, enhance employee productivity, and increase the likelihood of achieving their business objectives.”

Isn’t that what Schwartz and Franklin have done? As CEOs of their football programs they have linked these three keys to create this new Detroit Lions and Vanderbilt Commodores. This stuff works, and it gets results.

To achieve the synergy between these, the authors insist that engagement and enablement MUST go hand in hand. Their postulation asserts that you can have engaged employees but if you don’t have people in the right jobs with the tools they need (that’s what they mean by enabling), their frustration can lead to disengagement and ultimately separation from the organization.

Let’s understand something critical to the success of making this happen: the employees (the players in the cases of Schwartz and Franklin) have to be willing to do their part too. It works the same way in organizations of all kinds. The employees can’t be baby birds waiting to be fed; they have to be active participants in working the plan and making it happen too. If you need something, ask for it. If you want to know more, ask questions.

When Vandy was preparing to play Tennessee a couple of weeks ago there was a story in the Tennessean in the days leading up to the game featuring an interview with sophomore defensive end Walker May. He was asked what it would mean to become bowl eligible and May said, “It would be real cool for these seniors. If it happens, it happens. But we’re just focused on this game. One game at a time.”

May was asked if Coach Franklin handed out scripts when his players were going to face the media, and he replied, “We’re just consistent with our message.” This second-year player (a fairly new employee, right?) understands the company mission and vision and knows how to articulate its application. Shouldn’t all employees be able to do that within their organizations? It’s a shared responsibility between employees and their managers at all levels.

Yes, managers can oftentimes do a better job of communicating. Too often there’s an assumption that “I know what’s going on, so everyone else does too.” Or it may be that they have been exposed to the message so much that they assume everyone else has too. Here’s the thing; if you’re not getting the information you need to understand where the company’s headed and how you fit in, ask for it.

Get involved, and do your part. Be an active participant in understanding the people, strategy, and culture of your company.

The path to productivity is paved with trust

I think sports provide some great lessons for life and the workplace. They can demonstrate not only the power of teamwork, but also how absurd selfishness can be. (It’s also possible that this is just the delusion of a weak mind trying to justify its love for baseball and football.)

There’s the guy who starts celebrating before he gets to the end zone only to be stopped short because he didn’t know an opposing player was right on his heels. (I’m thinking Leon Lett of the Cowboys being run down by Don Beebe of the Bills in Super Bowl XXVII – a classic display of selfishness being punished immediately.)

There are also demonstrations of selflessness in sports, like the guy who lays down a sacrifice bunt to move a base runner into scoring position. This happens all the time, and the guy who lays down the bunt, but gets thrown out at first base, is broadly congratulated when he gets to the dugout because he gave himself up for the good of the team.

Sports can also provide opportunities for lessons about the treatment of others, and respect for yourself – lessons that have application in the workplace as well as throughout life.

At any rate, here’s my case from sports this week:

This week’s lesson comes from the Tennessee Titans versus the Carolina Panthers game. On Sunday, the Titans – in the midst of a Jekyll & Hyde kind of season – beat the Panthers 30-3. That’s a pretty thorough beat-down, but the really incredible part of the win was how the Titans defense controlled rookie sensation Cam Newton.

Coming into the game, Newton and the Panthers had the NFL’s 5^th-best offense to match against the Titans 17th ranked defense – on paper that’s a pretty favorable matchup for Newton and the Panthers. His numbers have been good for any quarterback, but downright, off-the-charts amazing for a rookie.

But a funny thing happened: The Titans defense held the Panthers offense to only 279 total yards, and Newton to only 212 yards passing – well below the season averages of 415.1 and 285.5 respectively. You know what the Titans did? They used a “spy” to contain Newton – someone on defense who is responsible only for keeping track of Cam. It worked. Basically, they micromanaged him and his performance suffered because of it.

It got me thinking: How many of us do our best work when we’re being micromanaged? You know what I mean? It’s the kind of thing that can really put a damper on productivity and kill morale.

On the Harvard Business Review Blog Network, Ron Ashkenas wrote on Tuesday, November 16 about “Why People Micromanage” and drew a huge response – 117 comments already! And whether you agree with Ron or any of those who felt compelled to comment, you can’t mistake one thing for sure: Micromanaging is not a good thing.

In Dan Pink’s book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, one of the big ideas discussed is the R.O.W.E. (Results Only Work Environment). I’m not going to go into the particulars – you need to read the book – but suffice to say there is no need for micromanagers in a R.O.W.E. It’s a workplace built on trust.

I read something today that included this little tidbit: “Not trusting people will generate people you can’t trust.” Hmm, that makes sense. Kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

On Thursday, November 17 Gary Dinges of the Austin American-Statesman had this on www.statesman.com:

“Managers make or break workplaces,” says alex Charfen, CEO of the Austin-based Charfen Institute. “Talented leaders motivate, are approachable, offer opportunities for advancement and provide routine feedback. Not-so-skilled bosses often micromanage, rule by fear and spend most of the day locked in their offices, unavailable.”

I don’t know about you, but the R.O.W.E. – or any other workplace founded on trust – sounds a whole lot better than Cam Newton’s workplace last Sunday.

Inclusion wins in a landslide!

There are so many things to write about this week that have real application to the workplace, but the one I just can’t write about is the horrific events at Penn State. It’s stories like that that turned me away from a career in journalism in the first place. I know they have to be reported, but I just can’t be the one doing it.

Another topic that keeps rearing its ugly head is the continued research indicating workers will leave their current employer the first chance they get. I’ve lost count of the number of studies I’ve seen this year, but the latest comes from Mercer and the news ain’t good.

Randy McClain had a story about it in last Sunday’s (Nashville) Tennessean. He called it the “Era of Bad Feelings.” Basically it boils down to this: Employers have been treating employees so badly for so long in this economy that employees are ready to bolt the first chance they get. Yikes!

I’m not going to write about that this week either, but I’m certain I’ll get to it sooner or later.

And I’m not going to write about Rick Perry, although I can’t remember why.

Instead, I’m going to write about my youngest son’s 15U baseball team that played in the 21^st Annual Fall Desert Classic last week in Las Vegas. I guess it’s only fair that I write about one son the week after I wrote about the other. They probably see it more as coming under fire, but they both have experiences that teach excellent workplace lessons.

This team comes together for tournaments 4-5 times per year with kids from all over the U.S. – Illinois, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Colorado, New Jersey, California, and more that I can’t recall.

As you can probably imagine, it’s not easy for coaches and players to coordinate all that, and usually there are at least one or two new players at each tournament.

Here’s the cool part: In the three years my son’s been on the team, new players have always been embraced by the others immediately. The attitude of inclusion is downright amazing. It’s as though they’ve adopted the mind-set, “If you’re here, you must be one of us.” No dues paying, no initiation, nothing like that. If you’re here, you’re part of the team. You’re one of us. Period.

What’s so impressive to me about that is how grown up that attitude really is. What’s bewildering is how many grown-ups can’t seem to adopt that approach in the workplace. Occasionally it’s people with bad intentions (not a lot we can do with that here), but I’d say more often than not it’s a communication breakdown somewhere.

It would be great if communication flowed freely both vertically and horizontally throughout organizations, but the fact of the matter is that too often people assume everyone’s in the loop and that just isn’t true. Good communication – which flows up, down, sideways, back AND forth – doesn’t just happen. You have to work at it. Don’t let misunderstanding cause workplace friction.

Assume first that we’re all on the same team, working toward the same goals, not that there are nefarious intentions lurking around every corner. It's a WE thing.

As for that attitude of inclusion: Do your part. Treat people the way you want to be treated regardless of their tenure, but especially if they’re new to the team. It’s not rocket surgery (or brain science either); everyone performs better when they’re happy and being treated well.

And oh, by the way, my son’s baseball team? They win a lot. And it all starts with the right attitude and approach.

Lessons from an 18-year old

My oldest son turned 18 last week. Whoa! That was fast. It seems like just yesterday blah, blah, blah, but it’s true! They say, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Ain’t that the truth.

I looked forward to being a parent for many years before we had kids (two boys), and now they’re getting to the age when they’re going to leave home – REALLY not looking forward to that. The usual kid and parent clashes notwithstanding, my wife and I have a great relationship with both boys.

The 18-year old, of course, is thinking that now that he’s 18, he’s a man. And I guess by law he is, and I’m certain I was the same way. So naturally he felt compelled to express his new-found adulthood and independence with a few quick decisions to announce his arrival with authority: The ears are now pierced and sporting diamond studs, and the hair has gone from a dark brown to a goldish color (not blondish, goldish – like the color of the precious metal).

Because I write about workplace issues, and oftentimes how life can mimic that experience, this seminal life moment – his and ours! – got me thinking about how we transitions from one stage to the next in the workplace. Do we handle them like responsible adults, or like teenagers still learning to be responsible adults?

How many times have you had an initial reaction to a decision or situation that, with time, made you go, “huh, that wasn’t the end of the world after all.” As I’ve said before (and will probably say again), everyone has to take some of the responsibility for their workplace environment. When you have options – and we do most of the time, don’t we? – control the spin, put a happy face on and make the best of your situation. I know that’s easier said than done sometimes, but it beats the heck out of being miserable.

If you want better communication, make sure you’re communicating well and hold others accountable too. If you want more responsibility, be willing to stick your neck out a bit when you feel strongly about something. If you want more autonomy, take more initiative and prove you can handle autonomy. Sometimes a supervisor is afraid to delegate for fear things won’t get done. (Of course, sometimes there are micromanagers who won’t delegate – COMPLETELY different topic to address some other time.)

As for my son, the truth of the matter is that I don’t have a problem with guys and earrings (anyone who knows me well could tell you that). And the hair? Well, like my mom always used to say, “It grows.” Neither earrings nor hair coloring is a life-changing decision. And in the process he’s learning how to be a responsible adult.

How are you handling your transitions?