Following on from yesterdays blog, and using films to illustrate the key feeling organisations should seek to evoke in employees in order to create a high performance culture......here's number two of ten (the next will follow tomorrow). You might disagree with the ones I've chosen or know of other films that better illustrate it - let me know with a comment.
Number 2 - Hope / Belief
I planned today's entry to be 'Hope', a feeling that many employees in these troubled economic times are struggling to maintain when they're seeing declining profits, colleagues being made redundant and companies going out of business. The opposite of hope - hopelessness, is a debilitating feeling, it drains people of energy, prevents actions being taken and induces an acceptance of the current position. It disables progress and improvement. So hope is a good feeling to have, but is it strong enough?
Is hope perhaps too weak a word? Does it imply that there are two potential outcomes, a positive one and a negative one? And by giving attention to the negative one does it reduce the likelihood of the positive one occurring? That's the conclusion I've reached and so in a high performance culture a stronger feeling is more appropriate, a 'belief' in the future. A conviction that because of the efforts of everyone in the organisation, the future will be bright and successful. A faith in the future and trust that the positive outcome will occur. I think hope and belief are connected feelings, thery're on the same spectrum but belief is the stronger. So I've settled on belief as the second feeling to develop in your employees.
Incidentally, the importance of having belief in the organisation we work for has another important connotation. Employees won't believe in their employer if they see the organisation making decisions and taking actions which aren't ecological (in the widest sense of the word) and good for employees, good for customers, good for shareholders, good for society and for the world. It's going to become increasingly difficult for organisations to truly engage their employees if the things they do are clearly not ecological.
So what film have I chosen to illustrate belief? Well, I've been a little indecisive on this one, I want to use two films, hence leaving hope in the equation too. So for hope I'm using 'The Shawshank Redemption', a great film with a heart warming ending. Andy DuFresne, one of the two main characters is falsely imprisoned after being found guilty of murdering his wife and her lover and the majority of the film is set in Shawshank prison. There's a scene in it when Andy talks to his friend Red about hope and Red objects, saying that "hope is a dangerous thing." Ultimately hope triumphs, and Andy and Red meet again after Andy escapes and Red is released. The film trailer is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hB3S9bIaco
Despite the focus on hope, I still question whether Andy really meant hope or belief. In my view it was more than hope, it was an inner belief that he would leave prison. A belief that caused him to spend long, long hours digging to create an escape route with simply a small stone hammer......
In the second film belief comes across even more strongly. In 'Jerry Maguire', a young,
successful agent with a major sports management firm, has a troubling encounter with the son of an injured athlete he represents, has a crisis of conscience and realises there's something wrong with what he's doing. So in the middle of a sleepless night, Jerry writes a mission statement calling on himself and his colleagues to think less about money and more about the long-term relationship they have with their clients. Everyone applauds the sentiment but his superiors think it's bad for business and Jerry is fired. In an impassioned speech as he leaves the building Jerry calls for others to join him in starting a new business with the different ethics he's described but only one - Dorothy - joins him. The film charts his trials and tribulations building the business and his relationship with Dorothy, but ultimately of course both succeed.
What drives his business success, despite all the difficulties is his belief that the approach he articulated in the statement is the right thing to do, for the benefit of his clients. And finally his belief in his relationship with Dorothy makes that right too. Incidentally I love the title of his document: "The things we think but do not say", another powerful message in business. Employees have to feel able and passionate about speaking their mind - for the benefit of their business. Jerry tried, and whilst he failed to change minds he had the conviction, the belief to go and do it himself. I also love how he expresses how he feels having written the mission statement: "I was 35, I'd started my life!"
See a great scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSi4HHNOnd0
Number 3 tomorrow!
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
No comments:
Post a Comment