Culture to Engage

And the Winner Is......Culture!

The Harvard Management Update (1/2008) published a review of Bain & Company'ssurvey of 1900 global executives. The article, Creating and Sustaining a Winning Culture, focused on the relevance of a (strong) business culture to success.

I love finding information that supports what I believe.

Here are some excerpts. I invite you to download the report at my website.

• 91% of the 1,200 senior executives at global companies surveyed agreed that “culture is as important as strategy for business success.”

• In another recent Bain survey, 81% of executives agreed that a company without a winning culture was “doomed to mediocrity.”

• Companies with winning cultures are better able to execute on strategy; their employees maintain a healthy external focus on customers and competitors rather than on internal politics or turf. Employees think and act like owners—they take personal responsibility for overall business performance, not just their slice of it. They also exhibit a clear bias for action, with little patience for bureaucratic debate.

• Instilling a winning culture can be a tough challenge, as it requires changing how people think about the company and altering habitual behaviors. Crises that threaten a company’s very survival can be potent catalysts for cultural change. But any kind of marketplace threat—new competitors, new technologies, new regulations—can present an opportunity to break down old, unproductive habits and instill the elements of a high-performance culture.

I suggest that implicit to any "winning culture" are

1. Values and behaviors with which employees can readily identify,


2. Attitude and work environment that stimulate employees to engage in "living" the culture,


3. Continuous attention to the culture's validity and vitality to the business's current situation.

Feel free to visit Wright Results and download this informative document.

The (W)Art of Over Engagement

A manager is neither a babysitter nor a nurse. However, an eye to the well-being status of her employees enables the manager to ensure the most productive engagement...performance...results from those employees.

As much as we push for bigger and better Employee Engagement, the more we should recognize the risks of over engagement by our people. And by ourselves.

The Risks of Over Engagement

• Time becomes Machiavellian rather than a tool that is maximized.
• Energy seems an endangered species.
• Attention...say wha'?
• Productivity may stay high but at what (long-term) cost?

So how do we recognize these (and other) risks before it's too late? I've seen several signs of over engagement.

The Signs of Over Engagement

• Long hours when there's no demanding urgency.
• An increase in mistakes.
• More self-criticism than usual, thanks to that increase in mistakes.
• Hurried, "blurried" juggling of (too) many efforts

What other signs have you seen?

Engagement is good. More engagement is usually better. Maximum engagement can be great.

But we want to know the maximum level for our employees. We may not want to push past it.
.

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/emagic/56206100/

Back Pats Gratefully Accepted!

I woke up this morning grateful for a wonderful new kudo!

David Zinger, mentioned, quoted, and posted here several times in the past, writes Slacker Manager (blog) along with Phil Gerbyshak.

David has just paid me the supreme honor of inducting me into the Order of the Golden Slacker. And you can read about it ... here.

David says these are the attributes of a Golden Slacker...

1. infuse work with passion and purpose
2. focus on smarter not harder work
3. ensure that work is effective and efficient
4. leverage learning for results
5. commit to both personal and professional development
6. draw out the strengths of others and themselves
7. transform “me thinking” to “we thinking”  
8. weave results and relationships into good management
9. delegate for results and development
10. engage in lifelong learning in diverse and multiple ways
11. value giving and serving ahead of taking and being served
12. willingly admit when they don’t know something
13. use all available resources
14. laugh as leaders - taking work seriously and themselves lightly

and so I am truly honored.

But I wonder about the Golden part. Anything to do with being (almost) over 60?

Thanks, David!

To Ask Is To Answer Is To Ask

Let's go back to communication. That's what I will always believe is the most important employee engagement tool a manager utilizes.

I remember one of my favorite managers. I reported to Tom for a couple of my 20+ years in the telecom industry, long time ago but still clear in my memory.

Tom could never be blamed for not ensuring his employees were fully informed. He talked with us. He brought outside resources in to talk with us. Here's what I think he did the very best: he asked questions.

Tom asked us lots of all sorts of questions. But the one that jumped up in my memory this morning was this:

Do you have any questions for me today?

Maybe Tom did not ask that every day, but often enough that it kept our communication with him--and his communication with us--wide open.

And because Tom wove more specific questions in to his answers to our questions, two-way conversation was always guaranteed.

Any questions

Do You Dare?

 As Independence Day approaches, I wonder how much freedom we can stand and how much we can stand to allow our employees.

Within appropriate limits (your definition) what would be your 5 answers to this question:

To make your work more interesting and more enjoyable, what changes would you make?

1. .
2. .
3. .
4. .
5. .

Now, without any limits except that you fulfill expectations and time requirements, what 5 answers would you give the same question:

To make your work more interesting and more enjoyable, what changes would you make?

1. .
2. .
3. .
4. .
5. .

Those questions were meant just to warm you up. Here are the real thinkers:

• Would you offer those two questions to your reporting employees?

• Would you discuss and consider their first set of answers? Their second set of answers?

• What benefits might come from this activity and its discussion...for you, your employees, your team?

I hope you'll comment...and comment on the comments.