The Happy Burro

(originally published July 6, 2008)

How significant are you at work?

In his monthly Fortune magazine column titled, While You Were Out, the ubiquitous Stanley Bing writes about his addiction to the digital world while on a vacation. It all started with a phantom buzz of the BlackBerry in his coat pocket. He wasn’t wearing a coat. Why the urge to check in?

Stay Connected

The place cannot run without me. I have such an important job/project/title/image that when I’m out, nothing moves forward. Is that your job? What about the ‘hit by a bus’ theory, where if you were hit by a bus, what would actually happen at work? With few exceptions, most businesses would survive the loss of the newest employee, the CFO or CEO, even the entrepreneurial founder. So why do you have to keep thumbs to the BlackBerry or a Bluetooth glued to your ear while your family hits the beach without you?

Let It All Go

What if I took off a week, or two, and no one really noticed? Meetings are held, decisions made and key projects moved forward. Uh oh. Is my work that insignificant to the organization’s goals? Am I that insignificant at work?

Balance the Flow

Certain positions require you to provide input, even when you’re supposed to be away. Find the top three issues/challenges/project decisions that could arise while you’re planning to be away, figure out reasonable scenarios with your minion to determine a course of action, assign responsibility and vacate. Then, should these plagues rear their ugly heads, your organization/team/support staff have a pre-determined course of action from which to work on a solution.

____________

In the end, if you’re able to stabilize your work, delegate the decision-making process and disappear for a few days, you’ve succeeded where many have failed. Being able to disconnect isn’t easy. You are the first one that has to let go.

Find some time to spend away from work, completely away, and reconnect with family, friends, your dog. Then bring back your renewed self to your organization.  That is significant.

Joe Raasch :: Mar.06.2010 :: Employee Engagement, Innovation, Personal :: Add a Comment Here

(originally published July 20, 2008)

Does your organization have values? I mean written, published, communicated values. Ones that extend beyond the mission statement and goals. General Electric professes the values of: curious, passionate, resourceful, accountable, teamwork, committed, open, energizing. Each is linked to one of four actions: imagine, solve, build, lead.

If you’re in the business of making money for shareholders (public), carrying out the mission of the owners (private) or serving the agenda of elected officials (public service/government), why does the leader of your organization have to communicate values? After all, your goals, promotions, even incentive pay, are based on results, right?

Values As Marketing

“The Best Food In Town” , “We’re the dealer you can trust” , “Employees are our greatest asset”. If you have to use basic tenets of your industry or restate a simple customer expectation as a ‘value’, you’re way off track. Have you ever eaten at a restaurant because they their values include “serving a good meal”? Hmmm…no. Values such as Integrity, Trust and other platitudes are what you and your people should be showing up with every single day – and not rely solely on posters, wallet cards or inspiring leadership speeches.

Values As Camouflage

Enron’s values (2001) were:

Communication
We have an obligation to communicate. Here, we take the time to talk with one another… and to listen. We believe that information is meant to move and that information moves people.

Respect
We treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. We do not tolerate abusive or disrespectful treatment.

Integrity
We work with customers and prospects openly, honestly and sincerely. When we say we will do something, we will do it; when we say we cannot or will not do something, then we won’t do it.

Excellence
We are satisfied with nothing less than the very best in everything we do. We will continue to raise the bar for everyone. The great fun here will be for all of us to discover just how good we can really be.

I bet they had slick brochures, printed wallet-sized cards for every employee, and posters in every hallway. Visible on the outside. Did anyone internalize these values? Was this part of any performance management plan?

Values As DNA

“…a good mission statement and a good set of values are so real they smack you in the face with their concreteness.”

“Clarity around values and behaviors is not much good unless it is backed up. To make values really mean something, companies have to reward the people who exhibit them and “punish” those who don’t.”

- Winningby Jack and Suzy Welch

Communicate, communicate, communicate. Unless you want to have a bunch of faded posters on your office walls that are the butt of several jokes, make the values real. As a leader, model and exemplify them. As a member of your organization, talk about them every chance you get. Make the values part of how you hire, fire, promote, and reward employees. Instill it in every part of the organization and in every action. If people don’t follow the values, call them on it. If you as a leader let values slide, what do you expect your staff and the rest of the organization to do?

___________________

What are the values that guide your organization? Are they marketing, camouflage, or ‘DNA’?

Joe Raasch :: Feb.26.2010 :: Uncategorized :: Add a Comment Here

(originally published March 1, 2008 as part of the Issues Managers Face in the Workplace series)

Ever wonder if people in your organization or on your team are doing tasks just to keep busy? Does it appear that everyone nods their heads in agreement at an idea, then goes about working on that idea in so many different ways? Is all this busy work necessary? Valuable? What is the end in mind and the best path to get there? Rebecca Thorman, guest-writing about Social Media and Next Generation Leaders at Valeria Maltoni’s Conversation Agent blog, shared this story: 

 Sam Davidson tells a good fisherman story about a man that finds another man fishing and explains to him that if he catches many fish, well then he could eventually buy a boat. He could then catch many more fish, and could buy another boat, and another and another until he had a whole fleet of boats. And he would sure catch a lot of fish then, and with all of that he could then do whatever he wanted.

And the man replies, “You mean, fish?”

Occam’s Razor

The Franciscan friar William of Ockham is best know for his logic theory, “entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem” – Latin for ‘entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity’. He reasoned that one should not waste time on observations or ideas that held little or no relevance to the explanation of a hypothesis or theory. Have you ever experienced a project where people seemed locked into the analysis phase, not finding a way forward to make decisions and implement the idea? This is typically due not to a lack of intelligence, enthusiasm or ideas. The stall in decision making is more that managers don’t know how to separate ideas and focus them on what truly impacts the ‘end in mind.’

More here on Occam.

Simple is not Simplistic

Applying the heuristic maxim of Occam’s Razor does not mean choosing the easy path, process or project. The prevailing philosophy is to choose which path, process or project has the least assumptions and unmitigated complications. Paraphrasing, all things being equal, the simplest solution is best. Simple, as in best defined, tested, risks mitigated, etc. Not easiest. In fact, having a way forward that is defined, tested, risks mitigated: that is usually a harder road! Though not necessarily a more complicated one. Ever solve one problem only to cause another problem? That is what happens when processes, ideas and paths get simplistic instead of just simple.

The Critical Path

Do you have a budget that covers everything you want to do in your department or organization? Do you have enough resources, people, tools, to accomplish everything? Do you have enough time in the day, week, month, year, to do it all? Most of us don’t have enough budget, resources or time. Why would we waste ANY of these precious commodities on unnecessary complications to our projects? Next time you’re working on a project or process with your team, start with the end in mind. Then build back to the current day. You’ll have a plan that will be over budget, need too many resources, and take too much time. Now go back and find the critical path – the work that truly makes it right. This will allow you to compare alternatives without as much unnecessary complications – applying Occam’s Razor!

 _________________

Keep your team focused and your projects simple to get sustainable results versus getting lost in the process!

Joe Raasch :: Feb.17.2010 :: Change Management, Employee Engagement, Leadership, Performance Management :: Add a Comment Here