I heard the word 'ruthless' in two situations yesterday. And whilst sitting in a guge traffic jam driving home last night - it was one of the ones where people switch off their engines, get out of the car and walk around waiting for it to clear - I was thinking about it.
The first time it came up was yesterday morning when I was involved in one of those "did you watch that programme on TV last night" conversations. The programme in question was 'The Apprentice' with Lord Sugar. I can't remember exactly how we got on to the subject but I think one of the candidates may have described themselves as being ruthless and also my colleague described Lord Sugar as ruthless in the way in which he managed the relationships with the candidates, particularly in the boardroom.
Then it came up again during the evening when I was listening to the Radio 4 programme 'The Bottom Line'. The topic being discussed was being ruthless and the panel expressed some interesting views. Broadly, they agreed that whilst leaders are paid to make tough decisions it's really important to understand the human implications of them and to do so in a compassionate way. That definitely doesn't mean not taking difficult decisions but it does mean making the experience as good as it possibly can be for those people impacted by it. One of the contributors shared that the meaning of the word 'Ruth' is compassion, mercy or pity and therefore by implication being ruthless means behaving in a way that there is an absence of those things. She also expressed the view that no-one would be proud to descrive themselves as a ruthless mother (or father) so why would they be proud to describe themselves in that way at work? And yet, there are hundreds of books extolling the virtues of being ruthless in business. Strange....
I remember in the early part of my career that if a leader was described as being ruthless it was generally used in a positive context, as a character trait that was admirable. It seemed to be an accepted truth that in order to progress up the corporate ladder (and definitely to reach the top of it) leaders had to be ruthless.
I don't believe that's true any longer. I believe there's no place for ruthlessness in modern day organisations. In a world where it's accepted that the route to long term and sustainable business success is by engaging employees and creating a high performance organisational culture, I can't see how being ruthless can contribute. Maybe it's confused with being decisive and prepared to take difficult decisions? Whilst in the past not being ruthless was sometimes seen as a sign of weakness, should being ruth now be seen as a sign of strength?
By the way, if you'd like to listen to the Radio 4 Programme I refer to
above, it's here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01dvwcz
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: 0044 07906650019
Friday, 30 March 2012
Monday, 26 March 2012
The Problem with Change
In a world in which the pace of change is ever greater, and in an economy in which an inability to change can literally mean business failure, it's critical for businesses to be able to introduce and embed change rapidly and effectively. And yet, research has proven that most change activity fails to deliver the desired benefits. It doesn't seem to matter what the exact nature of the change is, change consistently fails:
• As many as 70% of mergers fail to deliver their intended benefits (CIPD, 2003)
• Re-engineering costs too much and takes too long and expected synergies aren’t achieved (Kotter, 1996)
• When poor integration occurs, leadership attrition soars by 47% within 3 years, productivity drops by 50% and employee satisfaction drops by 14% (Shuler and Jackson, 2001)
• The most common challenges cited are ‘soft’ issues; in particular ‘changing mindsets and the
existing corporate culture’ (IBM, 2008)
Considerable time and money has been spent trying to understand why, so that the process of change can be made more effective. But here's my view of the most important reason: when change is planned, the people elements are usually the last to be considered and have the least robust plans. Organisations rigorously plan plan the financials, the process, the operations etc. but few plan the people experience. Or at least few plan the people experience effectively.
And unsurprisingly this causes issues during implementation, which impact the effectiveness of the change:
• As many as 70% of mergers fail to deliver their intended benefits (CIPD, 2003)
• Re-engineering costs too much and takes too long and expected synergies aren’t achieved (Kotter, 1996)
• When poor integration occurs, leadership attrition soars by 47% within 3 years, productivity drops by 50% and employee satisfaction drops by 14% (Shuler and Jackson, 2001)
• The most common challenges cited are ‘soft’ issues; in particular ‘changing mindsets and the
existing corporate culture’ (IBM, 2008)
Considerable time and money has been spent trying to understand why, so that the process of change can be made more effective. But here's my view of the most important reason: when change is planned, the people elements are usually the last to be considered and have the least robust plans. Organisations rigorously plan plan the financials, the process, the operations etc. but few plan the people experience. Or at least few plan the people experience effectively.
And unsurprisingly this causes issues during implementation, which impact the effectiveness of the change:
- The process of delivering the change often disengages people emotionally, meaning they don’t support it
- The role managers play in the transformation is often disregarded , and they are critical in engaging people rationally and emotionally (both elements are critical for sustainable change)
- Communications are too mechanical and logical and fail to engage people emotionally
- Individuals' agendas are disregarded , and people are left unclear about “what this means for me”
- There is no method for gathering feedback from people throughout the change process, so it’s unclear whether people are ‘on-board’ until it’s too late
Don't put the people elements last. Put them right at the top of the agenda, prioritise the people experience through change, and the desired benefits will be realised and sustained more effectively.
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: 0044 07906650019
Saturday, 24 March 2012
The Racing Line and Employee Engagement
A couple of weeks ago in the lead up to the new F1 season, I heard an interview with ex-driver David Coulthard who is now a commentator on television. In it he used a phrase that I thought was interesting. He talked about 'The Racing Line'.
His comments set me thinking and so I did a bit of research on it afterwards. I learned that apparently in racing sports, the racing line is the optimum route for a vehicle to take in order to complete the course in the quickest possible time. When taking a corner for example, the racing line is the one that minimises the time spent in the corner and enables the fastest possible speed through it. The term is most commonly used in motorsport although others sports like cycling and skiing have similar concepts of an ideal line.
I thought about it again this week during a conversation with a client about their employee engagement plans. They are impatient to make progress and want to know the best and quickest way to engage their people. And they're no different to every other organisation I talk to, they all want to make progress quickly. That's no surprise, being agile and able to change is a key competency for every successful business. They are all seeking the racing line.
So is there one when it comes to employee engagement? Well yes, and no. Yes, there are principles that can and should be followed in every engagement programme. And yes, there are levers to pull in every business that will be most effective and have the greatest impact BUT no, they are not the same for every organisation. In the same way that the racing line is different at every circuit because the design of each one is different, so the most effective way of progressing engagement is different in every organisation because the culture of each one is different. Designing a standard approach and applying it for every organisation is like a racer using the same racing line for every track, it doesn't make sense. As the racer seeks the racing line specific to each track so an employee engagement practitioner needs to seek interventions specific to the organisation.
The role of the employee engagement practitioner is to:
His comments set me thinking and so I did a bit of research on it afterwards. I learned that apparently in racing sports, the racing line is the optimum route for a vehicle to take in order to complete the course in the quickest possible time. When taking a corner for example, the racing line is the one that minimises the time spent in the corner and enables the fastest possible speed through it. The term is most commonly used in motorsport although others sports like cycling and skiing have similar concepts of an ideal line.
I thought about it again this week during a conversation with a client about their employee engagement plans. They are impatient to make progress and want to know the best and quickest way to engage their people. And they're no different to every other organisation I talk to, they all want to make progress quickly. That's no surprise, being agile and able to change is a key competency for every successful business. They are all seeking the racing line.
So is there one when it comes to employee engagement? Well yes, and no. Yes, there are principles that can and should be followed in every engagement programme. And yes, there are levers to pull in every business that will be most effective and have the greatest impact BUT no, they are not the same for every organisation. In the same way that the racing line is different at every circuit because the design of each one is different, so the most effective way of progressing engagement is different in every organisation because the culture of each one is different. Designing a standard approach and applying it for every organisation is like a racer using the same racing line for every track, it doesn't make sense. As the racer seeks the racing line specific to each track so an employee engagement practitioner needs to seek interventions specific to the organisation.
The role of the employee engagement practitioner is to:
- Understand the desired future state
- Understand the current state
- And then design the most effective way of moving from current to future state
That's the employee engagement racing line...
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: 0044 07906650019
Thursday, 22 March 2012
A terrible customer experience (and the risk of giving third parties access to your customers)
I've just stumbled across a truly stunning example of a 'special' introductory offer positioned as beneficial to customers but in reality designed from the organisations perspective to take advantage of each customer who responded. There have been numerous examples in the past of companies encouraging you to take a 'free' service for a period and then making it difficult for the customer to exit the service if they choose to cancel it before it becomes permanent. Those arrangements are 'sharp' but not as bad as the one I'm about to share with you....
The business in question is Perform Media Services Ltd on behalf of Football League Interactive. The company provides a service to the majority of football league clubs which enable supporters to see video content and also receive live match commentaries for their team. Keen to grow their list of subscribers, they have been promoting a free two week trial of the service. In truth I don't know whether this has been a promotion through all football league clubs or to a selected number - the example I've come across refers to the experience of a fan at one club in particular.
The story is that he decided to take advantage of the offer. He was aware that after the initial 14 day period he would have to pay. The small-print said ""When your 14 day free access period ends, you will roll onto a 3.99 monthly subscription unless cancelled". He says that after the trial period he wasn't impressed and therefore decided to cancel. I suspect by the way that he intended to cancel from day 1 and was simply taking advantage of the free period, but I don't think that's the point - read on.
Upon cancelling he was notified that he must give 10 working days notice - meaning that the first monthly premium would be taken. In essence it also means that in order to avoid the monthly payment he (and anyone else) would need to have given notice immediately after subscribing to the trial.
I question the legality of what they're doing because the wording of the clause doesn't indicate when cancellation has to be done in order to avoid the payment, but leaving that aside, what a truly amazing example of a business taking advantage of and misleading its paying customers. Do the marketing team there think it's likely that this person will EVER come back to the service in the future. His trust in the organisation is so badly damaged that it's just not going to happen. The broader damage is potentially huge too - the message board he posted his experience on has thousands of visitors each day.
It's also an interesting example of how the relationship with your customers can be damaged by a third party supplier. There's nothing the club can do to put right this injustice apparently but it doesn't appear that he's clear on the distinction between the club and the provider.
If your organisation is collaborating with others to provide a service to your customers, are you sure they're representing your brand in the way you'd want?
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: 0044 07906650019
The business in question is Perform Media Services Ltd on behalf of Football League Interactive. The company provides a service to the majority of football league clubs which enable supporters to see video content and also receive live match commentaries for their team. Keen to grow their list of subscribers, they have been promoting a free two week trial of the service. In truth I don't know whether this has been a promotion through all football league clubs or to a selected number - the example I've come across refers to the experience of a fan at one club in particular.
The story is that he decided to take advantage of the offer. He was aware that after the initial 14 day period he would have to pay. The small-print said ""When your 14 day free access period ends, you will roll onto a 3.99 monthly subscription unless cancelled". He says that after the trial period he wasn't impressed and therefore decided to cancel. I suspect by the way that he intended to cancel from day 1 and was simply taking advantage of the free period, but I don't think that's the point - read on.
Upon cancelling he was notified that he must give 10 working days notice - meaning that the first monthly premium would be taken. In essence it also means that in order to avoid the monthly payment he (and anyone else) would need to have given notice immediately after subscribing to the trial.
I question the legality of what they're doing because the wording of the clause doesn't indicate when cancellation has to be done in order to avoid the payment, but leaving that aside, what a truly amazing example of a business taking advantage of and misleading its paying customers. Do the marketing team there think it's likely that this person will EVER come back to the service in the future. His trust in the organisation is so badly damaged that it's just not going to happen. The broader damage is potentially huge too - the message board he posted his experience on has thousands of visitors each day.
It's also an interesting example of how the relationship with your customers can be damaged by a third party supplier. There's nothing the club can do to put right this injustice apparently but it doesn't appear that he's clear on the distinction between the club and the provider.
If your organisation is collaborating with others to provide a service to your customers, are you sure they're representing your brand in the way you'd want?
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: 0044 07906650019
Monday, 19 March 2012
I can't not discriminate, and neither can you.
I had to talk to someone I find difficult yesterday. I like to think of myself as a good natured and amiable person, able to 'get on' with most people. There are very few people I just can't make a connection with - but this person is one of them.
Perhaps you know what I mean because there's someone you struggle with? If so, I'm sure you'll recognise the tell-tale signs in the relationship. Body language is incongruent, there's little eye contact, extreme care not to invade each other's space, stilted conversation. You possibly can't put your finger on exactly why, but you just know that you just don't feel positive about them and negative thoughts go through your mind whenever you think about or meet them. Perhaps you don't like yourself very much because of those thoughts, perhaps you feel guilty about it?
If so, perhaps it'll help you to know that it's involuntary, it's a result of the way in which the human mind works, and it means that each and every one of us discriminate, we're all prejudiced. Not in the way in which we've become conditioned to think of prejudice i.e. race, ethinicity, age, disability religion or sexual orientation but more broadly, dependent on whatever is important to us as an individual.
The thing is that we all filter the hundreds of experiences we have every day. Unconsciously we delete what's not important to us, we generalise to make comparisons with previous experiences we've had and we distort to make things fit with our model of the world. We create an internal re-presentation of each experience in our brain and it's formed based on our values, our beliefs and our memories of previous experiences. It's why we can witness the same event as someone else, and have a completely different view of it. It's because the way we process our experiences is different for every one of us.
On the face of it this might seem to be a bad thing. Far from it, the amount of data we're faced with every day is much too great for us to process. If you don't believe me look around right now and notice, really notice, every detail of everything you're seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling. It's overwhelming isn't it? Our brains have to decide what we pay attention to at any moment and it filters out everything it considers to be unimportant. If you still don't believe me than answer this question - "did you notice what your clothes felt like on your skin?" I suspect not, at least until you read this question?" It's because you filtered it out - your nerves received the data and information is constantly being transmitted to your brain but it wasn't important and only by specifically reading the question was your mind brought back to it.
So it's a good thing, but......it the implication is that in the process of deciding what to pay attention to and what to ignore, our brains are discriminating, they're making a distinction in favour of or against something, showing partiality to something rather than another. The bad thing is that we see our experience as reality and assume that our view is 'right', the only valid perspective.
I know I'm discriminating against that person I met yesterday and that it's having an impact on the relationship. Who are you discriminating against? And what's the impact - at work or at home?
Saturday, 17 March 2012
Don't you just hate clumsy cross-selling!
It's Mother's Day tomorrow - so I joined lots of other fathers out shopping this morning. Cards and chocolates bought, I also decided to get some stamps and buy a newspaper.
As I was in the town centre I went to the main Post Office for stamps. I haven't been in there for quite some time so was surprised (and impressed) with how it looked. It has been refurbished and looked much, much smarter. The screens separating customers from cashiers has been removed. The queueing rails have also gone, replaced by a ticketing system and there's comfortable seating if there's a delay being served. But that wasn't really what was noteworthy for me about th experience.
Whilst passing me the stamps I'd bought, the teller asked if I was intending to travel abroad anytime soon because if I was they sold travel insurance. A bit bemused about where that had come from I said no, took my stamps and left. A few minutes later I called into Spar to buy a newspaper. At the checkout the assistant asked if I'd like some hot-cross buns.
Now I don't mind attempts to cross-sell to me PROVIDING just two conditions are met:
As I was in the town centre I went to the main Post Office for stamps. I haven't been in there for quite some time so was surprised (and impressed) with how it looked. It has been refurbished and looked much, much smarter. The screens separating customers from cashiers has been removed. The queueing rails have also gone, replaced by a ticketing system and there's comfortable seating if there's a delay being served. But that wasn't really what was noteworthy for me about th experience.
Whilst passing me the stamps I'd bought, the teller asked if I was intending to travel abroad anytime soon because if I was they sold travel insurance. A bit bemused about where that had come from I said no, took my stamps and left. A few minutes later I called into Spar to buy a newspaper. At the checkout the assistant asked if I'd like some hot-cross buns.
Now I don't mind attempts to cross-sell to me PROVIDING just two conditions are met:
- The person doing it prepares the ground properly by making their interaction with me more than a simple transaction. They at least have to make the effort to engage me in conversation and develop some rapport. For me that's table stakes, it's them earning the right to even attempt to cross-sell.
- That I fell their intention is to help me and that it's genuinely in my best interests to know about the product they mention. It's of benefit for me, not for them and by implication their business.
And usually the product should build on or connect with the product being bought. Neither example today fitted these criteria. In Spar, packets of hot-cross buns were piled up next to the checkout and every customer was being asked the same question. I don't know whether that was also the case in the Post Office, but certainly the teller hadn't earned the right to cross-sell and the approach was motvated solely by his desire to achieve sales targets. I guess the approach is that if you ask enough customers sooner or later one will buy.
I understand that of course that in the current difficult economic conditions retailers need to work hard to maintain sales. And I've noticed that more and more are trying to cross-sell to do so. If it's done well and meets the conditions I descrive above I think it's a great strategy but unfortunately most are at best clumsy and at worst may actually be damaging the relationship with customers.
The really disappointing thing is that there's so little thought going into it. The Post Office sell greetings cards, Spar sell chocolates and flowers - and it's Mother's Day tomorrow. In both places it would have been easy and topical to ask if I'd remembered and got everything I needed. Build on the product being bought, talk about something topical, or don't bother and simply deliver the transaction effectively so that the customer comes back next time.
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: 0044 07906650019
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Hidden, in plain view...
Whilst waiting for an appointment this morning I caught the start of a TV programme about World War II. It opened by explaining that it was presented from the perspective of soldiers who were there, and that the content had been developed by interviewing old ex-servicemen. The narrator went on to explain that given the length of time that has now passed, the number surviving is reducing each year and that those who are still alive are "hidden in plain view". They are simply old men in an aging population, unless you talk to them and uncover the rich stories they have about what happened more than 65 years ago.
That phrase - 'hidden in plain view' - makes you think doesn't it? It makes me think anyway.
What are the things that are hidden in plain view in all our lives because we can't see them? What are we missing about the relationship we have at home, with partners, with children, with wider family? What are the things we miss about our relationship with friends?
At work, what do we miss about the relationship we have with work colleagues? What do we miss about the teams we lead or work in? What do we miss about customers? What do we miss about the culture of the organisations we're part of? All because of the unique way we view the world as individuals, the way we process our experiences, the way we think and the thoughts we have?
I think it's good sometimes to have our view of the world loosened a little, to have the pre-conceived ideas we have whenever we approach any situation shaken a little. In Dante's famous poem 'La Commedia Divina' (the Divine Comedy) there's a few lines which I think I once read are the most quoted in western literature and (depending on which translation you refer to) they read:
"In the middle of the road of my life
I awoke in a dark wood
Where the true way was wholly lost"
The poem is an allegorical vision of the afterlife so perhaps I'm taking this out of context a little but ....perhaps all of us in business would sometimes benefit from getting lost and not 'knowing' the answer, so that we can view things afresh? Perhaps it would enable us to see things which have previously been 'hidden in plain view' and thus to be better at what we do?
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: 0044 07906650019
That phrase - 'hidden in plain view' - makes you think doesn't it? It makes me think anyway.
What are the things that are hidden in plain view in all our lives because we can't see them? What are we missing about the relationship we have at home, with partners, with children, with wider family? What are the things we miss about our relationship with friends?
At work, what do we miss about the relationship we have with work colleagues? What do we miss about the teams we lead or work in? What do we miss about customers? What do we miss about the culture of the organisations we're part of? All because of the unique way we view the world as individuals, the way we process our experiences, the way we think and the thoughts we have?
I think it's good sometimes to have our view of the world loosened a little, to have the pre-conceived ideas we have whenever we approach any situation shaken a little. In Dante's famous poem 'La Commedia Divina' (the Divine Comedy) there's a few lines which I think I once read are the most quoted in western literature and (depending on which translation you refer to) they read:
"In the middle of the road of my life
I awoke in a dark wood
Where the true way was wholly lost"
The poem is an allegorical vision of the afterlife so perhaps I'm taking this out of context a little but ....perhaps all of us in business would sometimes benefit from getting lost and not 'knowing' the answer, so that we can view things afresh? Perhaps it would enable us to see things which have previously been 'hidden in plain view' and thus to be better at what we do?
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: 0044 07906650019
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Summary of the series of ten part series using films to illustrate desirable employee feelings
For the last ten days my blogs have been about what employees should feel if the organisation they work in has a high performance culture. The feelings I suggested they should have are:
1. Purpose
2. Hope / Belief
3. Commitment
4. Responsible
5. Valued
6. Challenged
7. Courage
8. Fulfilled
9. Peace of Mind
10. Pride
Expressing it in a different way, you could say that these are the feelings organisations should seek to create in their employees. It struck me yesterday as I was writing part ten that a summary would be helpful, so this is it. The first point I want to make is that these are the feelings that are appropriate in order to create a specific outcome i.e. that the organisation has
a culture of high performance. The outcome the organisation is seeking will of course influence the feelings it should seek to create. For example, if an organisation is wanting to create a culture wtih innovation at it's core then evoking a feeling of curiousity might be appropriate. Just as it's important that the culture of any organisation should support delivery of the business
strategy, so it's also important that what employees feel is also aligned. And the experience they have of working there must also be aligned. Put simply:
Strategy should drive the desired culture;
The desired culture should drive what employees feel;
What employees feel should be created by their experience;
And their experience should be designed and delivered deliberately.
That's the second point - that what you want employees to feel has to be deliberately and intentionally designed in. It doesn't just happen. Some companies would consider doing this 'touchy feely' nonsense. It's not. It makes sound business sense. The quality of our lives is determined by whether the feelings we have on a day to day basis are primarily positive or
negative. Positive feelings result in us feeling good and when that's the case we tend to perform better. It's common sense that feelings influence behaviour and results. So it's good business practice to consider employees feelings and to seek to make them 'the best that they can be'. I use that phrase intentionally because of course sometimes unpleasant decisions have to be taken
which are negative and produce negative feelings, but even when that's the case, the aim should be to make the people experience the best it can be in the circumstances.
One of the key reasons change programmes fail is that they are often designed and delivered very rationally. The project plan covers all the bases in terms of what's going to be done, by whom and when and this is all communicated out to the business - and yet it fails..... because there's no recognition of the emotional elements of change. People connect with change rationally AND
emotionally and both areas need to be designed intentionally if it's going to be embedded and sustained after the programme closes down.
The emotional elements are sometimes ignored because a) they're too difficult or b) they slow the project down or increase the cost. Neither are true - there are tools and techniques which can be used within a project to do this effectively and efficiently. It's also not true that time or cost are
impacted. It make take slightly longer to incorporate both in the planning phase but this is usually time saved during implementation. And doing it produces better results in terms of the quality of implementation and delivery of anticipated benefits.
Don't be persuaded that there's no point doing it - it's always worth the effort.
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
1. Purpose
2. Hope / Belief
3. Commitment
4. Responsible
5. Valued
6. Challenged
7. Courage
8. Fulfilled
9. Peace of Mind
10. Pride
Expressing it in a different way, you could say that these are the feelings organisations should seek to create in their employees. It struck me yesterday as I was writing part ten that a summary would be helpful, so this is it. The first point I want to make is that these are the feelings that are appropriate in order to create a specific outcome i.e. that the organisation has
a culture of high performance. The outcome the organisation is seeking will of course influence the feelings it should seek to create. For example, if an organisation is wanting to create a culture wtih innovation at it's core then evoking a feeling of curiousity might be appropriate. Just as it's important that the culture of any organisation should support delivery of the business
strategy, so it's also important that what employees feel is also aligned. And the experience they have of working there must also be aligned. Put simply:
Strategy should drive the desired culture;
The desired culture should drive what employees feel;
What employees feel should be created by their experience;
And their experience should be designed and delivered deliberately.
That's the second point - that what you want employees to feel has to be deliberately and intentionally designed in. It doesn't just happen. Some companies would consider doing this 'touchy feely' nonsense. It's not. It makes sound business sense. The quality of our lives is determined by whether the feelings we have on a day to day basis are primarily positive or
negative. Positive feelings result in us feeling good and when that's the case we tend to perform better. It's common sense that feelings influence behaviour and results. So it's good business practice to consider employees feelings and to seek to make them 'the best that they can be'. I use that phrase intentionally because of course sometimes unpleasant decisions have to be taken
which are negative and produce negative feelings, but even when that's the case, the aim should be to make the people experience the best it can be in the circumstances.
One of the key reasons change programmes fail is that they are often designed and delivered very rationally. The project plan covers all the bases in terms of what's going to be done, by whom and when and this is all communicated out to the business - and yet it fails..... because there's no recognition of the emotional elements of change. People connect with change rationally AND
emotionally and both areas need to be designed intentionally if it's going to be embedded and sustained after the programme closes down.
The emotional elements are sometimes ignored because a) they're too difficult or b) they slow the project down or increase the cost. Neither are true - there are tools and techniques which can be used within a project to do this effectively and efficiently. It's also not true that time or cost are
impacted. It make take slightly longer to incorporate both in the planning phase but this is usually time saved during implementation. And doing it produces better results in terms of the quality of implementation and delivery of anticipated benefits.
Don't be persuaded that there's no point doing it - it's always worth the effort.
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Ten Films to illustrate the essential elements of a high performance organisational culture (Part Ten)
Part Ten of this series of blogs using films to illustrate the feelings organisations should seek to evoke in employees if they want to create a high performance organisational culture.
Number 10 - Pride
According to the Cambridge dictionary pride is 'a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction that you get because you or people connected with you have done or got something good'. It's also possible
to take a pride in something and it defines that as 'to feel very pleased about something or someone you are closely connected with'. Pride is one of the key feelings organisations strive to develop within their employees. It's generally accepted that it's strongly associated with high levels of engagement and is also considered valuable because it's closely linked to advocacy. Organisations want their people to be advocates because they then become sales people for it, they recommend it's products and they recommend it as a place to work. Having employees who are proud of the organisation and advocate it to others is beneficial.
So how is is created? Well actually it's a feeling that is connected to and follows, the feelings covered in previous posts in this series. The outcome of evoking them is that they feel proud of the organisation. It's effectively a lagging indicator of the other feelings. Picture a hierarchy of employee feelings in a great organisation and this is at the top, a lagging indicator that the others are present. As such of course it's also an indicator of issues, a sign that the intensity of those feelings may be low. So the aim should be to create an employee experience which evokes the other feelings and then pride will follow.
The film I've chosen to illustrate pride is the relatively recent, and hugely successful 'The King's Speech'. It tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, King George ('Bertie') reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a bad stammer and considered by others,and himself, to be unfit to be king, Bertie seeks the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through some unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice. The film culminates in 1939 when he delivers a powerful speech, heard on the radio around the world, in which the UK declares war on Germany. He was subsequently seen as a strong figurehead for the British people throughout the war.
The 'stiff upper lip' that characterised those times is present throughout the film and yet underlying this is the tremendous emotion that Bertie, and those around him feel about his stammer. he is plagued by self doubt and struggles to reconcile his sense of duty to the nation with his low self esteem. At one point he says "the nation believe that when I speak, I speak for them - and I can't speak." But with the help of the man who became his friend he overcomes the problem to the extent that he is able to deliver the powerful speech declaring war. Two strong emotions emerge following that speech. The first is relief. His relief that he had got through it and the relief of those around him. The second is pride. It's clear he's proud of himself and whilst it wouldn't be the done thing to say it to the King, those closest to him share his pride. The acting (Colin Firth plays King George) is superb at this point and you see his self esteem grow as he stands taller and prepares to step onto the balcony at Buckingham Palace to greet the crowds outside.
That's another outcome of pride - levels of self esteem grow. Self esteem as a result of your own achievement or the level of esteem employees feel for their organisation.
The film trailer can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAm7gRXFiRo
This is the final part of this series of ten posts about the feelings to
strive to create amongst employees BUT I will post a summary and recommendations
on how to evoke them tomorrow.
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
Number 10 - Pride
According to the Cambridge dictionary pride is 'a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction that you get because you or people connected with you have done or got something good'. It's also possible
to take a pride in something and it defines that as 'to feel very pleased about something or someone you are closely connected with'. Pride is one of the key feelings organisations strive to develop within their employees. It's generally accepted that it's strongly associated with high levels of engagement and is also considered valuable because it's closely linked to advocacy. Organisations want their people to be advocates because they then become sales people for it, they recommend it's products and they recommend it as a place to work. Having employees who are proud of the organisation and advocate it to others is beneficial.
So how is is created? Well actually it's a feeling that is connected to and follows, the feelings covered in previous posts in this series. The outcome of evoking them is that they feel proud of the organisation. It's effectively a lagging indicator of the other feelings. Picture a hierarchy of employee feelings in a great organisation and this is at the top, a lagging indicator that the others are present. As such of course it's also an indicator of issues, a sign that the intensity of those feelings may be low. So the aim should be to create an employee experience which evokes the other feelings and then pride will follow.
The film I've chosen to illustrate pride is the relatively recent, and hugely successful 'The King's Speech'. It tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, King George ('Bertie') reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a bad stammer and considered by others,and himself, to be unfit to be king, Bertie seeks the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through some unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice. The film culminates in 1939 when he delivers a powerful speech, heard on the radio around the world, in which the UK declares war on Germany. He was subsequently seen as a strong figurehead for the British people throughout the war.
The 'stiff upper lip' that characterised those times is present throughout the film and yet underlying this is the tremendous emotion that Bertie, and those around him feel about his stammer. he is plagued by self doubt and struggles to reconcile his sense of duty to the nation with his low self esteem. At one point he says "the nation believe that when I speak, I speak for them - and I can't speak." But with the help of the man who became his friend he overcomes the problem to the extent that he is able to deliver the powerful speech declaring war. Two strong emotions emerge following that speech. The first is relief. His relief that he had got through it and the relief of those around him. The second is pride. It's clear he's proud of himself and whilst it wouldn't be the done thing to say it to the King, those closest to him share his pride. The acting (Colin Firth plays King George) is superb at this point and you see his self esteem grow as he stands taller and prepares to step onto the balcony at Buckingham Palace to greet the crowds outside.
That's another outcome of pride - levels of self esteem grow. Self esteem as a result of your own achievement or the level of esteem employees feel for their organisation.
The film trailer can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAm7gRXFiRo
This is the final part of this series of ten posts about the feelings to
strive to create amongst employees BUT I will post a summary and recommendations
on how to evoke them tomorrow.
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Ten Films to illustrate the essential elements of a high performance organisational culture (Part Nine)
This is Part Nine of ten blogs in which I'm using films to illustrate the feelings organisations should seek to evoke in employees if they want to create a high performance organisational culture.
Number 9 - Peace of Mind
Just what does 'peace of mind' mean to you? For me it's a feeling of calm, an absence of worry. It's a feeling that a person might have as a result of something they've done e.g. "I've prepared really well for my exams so I don't feel at all worried", or it might be a feeling someone has as a result of their relationship with someone else e.g. "I trust you completely so I have no worries
about it". And it's a feeling that organisations should seek to foster in the relationship with employees.
One of the benefits of someone having peace of mind about their employer relationship is that it assumes a high degree of trust. I can't think of any circumstances in which an employee would say that they feel peace of mind at work and yet they don't trust their employer. The two things go hand-in-hand. Trust is critically important in the relationship, if an employee doesn't trust
their employer one of the foundations of a healthy relationship is missing. Think about any of your relationships - would you be able to say that you have a great relationship with any individual or organisation and yet you don't trust them? No, thought not.
So how do companies generate trust and create peace of mind? I suggest it's about being open and honest, communicating things that it's right and proper for employees to be aware of, being transparent and not hiding things and above all .........being fair. Too many organisations operate with hidden agendas, keeping things from staff and making decisions with no explanation and
in a way that they find difficult to understand. Sometimes it's done with the best of intentions, I was talking to an HR Manager just last week about pending redundancies in his organisation. It became clear in the conversation that because they didn't want to worry people they haven't communicated anything - all the work is being done in the background so that they can
communicate with those affected on a specific date. Under further questionning he said that he thought it would probably come as a big shock to people because there hasn't really been any communication suggesting that the business is struggling and needs to cut costs. I understand the logic and I'm sure it comes from a place of positive intent, but the impact will be damaging and it will take a long time to repair. Everyone in the business, irrespective of whether they are directly affected, will wonder for a long time whether there are things they're not being told. Trust will break down and it could be even worse if the process followed to select people for redundancy isn't seen to be transparent and fair. Doing it in a way which maintains trust, creates a feeling the the organisation is doing all it can to do things in the right way, and as a result enables employees to feel peace of mind isn't difficult, but it does mean thinking designing how you want employees to feel into the process at the outset. And by the way, doing it this way doesn't mean it costs more or takes longer to undertake people change. It's not a case of having to do extra things, it's just doing things differently. And the results are always better
as a result.
So .....I suggest designing activity which has a people impact specifically so that it creates trust and peace of mind.
The film I've chosen to illustrate peace of mind today is one of my personal favourites - 'Lost in Translation'. It's about the accidental realtionship that develops between bob (played by Bill Murray) and Charlotte )Scarlett Johansson) whilst they are both in Tokyo. Bob, an internationally recognised actor whose career is declining, is on location filiming a series of
adverts for a brand of whisky. Charlotte who is much younger and more recently married is accompanying her photgrapher husband on a business trip and is left in Tokyo whilst he is in other parts of Japan. Bob and Charlotte initially meet casually, in the lift and the bar of the hotel but gradually they start to seek out one another and a relationship develops. They eventually spend nearly every waking hour together and a deep bond develops, albeit one that they both
know will end when it is time for each of them to leave.
The thing I like best about it is that their relationship remains platonic, despite strong sexual undercurrents. They spend time in each others bedroom, they lie on the bed together talking but both seem to intuitively know that taking it further would be something that would damage the relationship and they'd later regret. And so their relationship is one of deep friendship, in which each trusts the other implicitly and has peace of mind because they both know they are under no pressure to have sex. And their relationship is all the more beautiful and sublime as a result. As the film closes they say goodbye publicly and somewhat formally in the hotel lobby before Bob gets in a taxi to go to the airport. The final scene, in which Bob sees Charlotte in a crowd of
shopppers and then stops the taxi to go to her and say goodbye again, is simply a masterpiece!
Do they love each other - yes I think they probably do. Do they realise that once they leave Tokyo the relationship could never work - I'm sure they do. Will they treasure the relationship for the rest of their lives - yes, I'm sure they will. And will they feel any sense of regret about it - not in the slightest because they didn't betray their partner. And as a result, in addition to the peace of mind which exists between them, each can feel peace of mind about their role in the relationship.
You can see the film trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU0oZsqeG_s
I'll post the tenth (and final) part of this series tomorrow.
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
Number 9 - Peace of Mind
Just what does 'peace of mind' mean to you? For me it's a feeling of calm, an absence of worry. It's a feeling that a person might have as a result of something they've done e.g. "I've prepared really well for my exams so I don't feel at all worried", or it might be a feeling someone has as a result of their relationship with someone else e.g. "I trust you completely so I have no worries
about it". And it's a feeling that organisations should seek to foster in the relationship with employees.
One of the benefits of someone having peace of mind about their employer relationship is that it assumes a high degree of trust. I can't think of any circumstances in which an employee would say that they feel peace of mind at work and yet they don't trust their employer. The two things go hand-in-hand. Trust is critically important in the relationship, if an employee doesn't trust
their employer one of the foundations of a healthy relationship is missing. Think about any of your relationships - would you be able to say that you have a great relationship with any individual or organisation and yet you don't trust them? No, thought not.
So how do companies generate trust and create peace of mind? I suggest it's about being open and honest, communicating things that it's right and proper for employees to be aware of, being transparent and not hiding things and above all .........being fair. Too many organisations operate with hidden agendas, keeping things from staff and making decisions with no explanation and
in a way that they find difficult to understand. Sometimes it's done with the best of intentions, I was talking to an HR Manager just last week about pending redundancies in his organisation. It became clear in the conversation that because they didn't want to worry people they haven't communicated anything - all the work is being done in the background so that they can
communicate with those affected on a specific date. Under further questionning he said that he thought it would probably come as a big shock to people because there hasn't really been any communication suggesting that the business is struggling and needs to cut costs. I understand the logic and I'm sure it comes from a place of positive intent, but the impact will be damaging and it will take a long time to repair. Everyone in the business, irrespective of whether they are directly affected, will wonder for a long time whether there are things they're not being told. Trust will break down and it could be even worse if the process followed to select people for redundancy isn't seen to be transparent and fair. Doing it in a way which maintains trust, creates a feeling the the organisation is doing all it can to do things in the right way, and as a result enables employees to feel peace of mind isn't difficult, but it does mean thinking designing how you want employees to feel into the process at the outset. And by the way, doing it this way doesn't mean it costs more or takes longer to undertake people change. It's not a case of having to do extra things, it's just doing things differently. And the results are always better
as a result.
So .....I suggest designing activity which has a people impact specifically so that it creates trust and peace of mind.
The film I've chosen to illustrate peace of mind today is one of my personal favourites - 'Lost in Translation'. It's about the accidental realtionship that develops between bob (played by Bill Murray) and Charlotte )Scarlett Johansson) whilst they are both in Tokyo. Bob, an internationally recognised actor whose career is declining, is on location filiming a series of
adverts for a brand of whisky. Charlotte who is much younger and more recently married is accompanying her photgrapher husband on a business trip and is left in Tokyo whilst he is in other parts of Japan. Bob and Charlotte initially meet casually, in the lift and the bar of the hotel but gradually they start to seek out one another and a relationship develops. They eventually spend nearly every waking hour together and a deep bond develops, albeit one that they both
know will end when it is time for each of them to leave.
The thing I like best about it is that their relationship remains platonic, despite strong sexual undercurrents. They spend time in each others bedroom, they lie on the bed together talking but both seem to intuitively know that taking it further would be something that would damage the relationship and they'd later regret. And so their relationship is one of deep friendship, in which each trusts the other implicitly and has peace of mind because they both know they are under no pressure to have sex. And their relationship is all the more beautiful and sublime as a result. As the film closes they say goodbye publicly and somewhat formally in the hotel lobby before Bob gets in a taxi to go to the airport. The final scene, in which Bob sees Charlotte in a crowd of
shopppers and then stops the taxi to go to her and say goodbye again, is simply a masterpiece!
Do they love each other - yes I think they probably do. Do they realise that once they leave Tokyo the relationship could never work - I'm sure they do. Will they treasure the relationship for the rest of their lives - yes, I'm sure they will. And will they feel any sense of regret about it - not in the slightest because they didn't betray their partner. And as a result, in addition to the peace of mind which exists between them, each can feel peace of mind about their role in the relationship.
You can see the film trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU0oZsqeG_s
I'll post the tenth (and final) part of this series tomorrow.
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
Sunday, 4 March 2012
Ten Films to illustrate the essential elements of a high performance organisational culture (Part Eight)
Part Eight of ten blogs using films to illustrate the feelings organisations should try to evoke in employees in order to create a high performance organisational culture.
Number 8 - Fulfilled
The dictionary defines fulfilment as 'bringing something into effect'. It also explains that it's 'a feeling of satisfaction at having achieved something you've desired'. So in an organisational context it can be described as employees feeling good about delivering their objectives. That's personal fulfilment. But leaders in organisations should hope that in addition to the personal satisfaction, they also feel good about the contribution they are making to the success of the organisation as a whole. Because caring about the wider organisation is an illustration that they care about it and are connected to it.
The dictionary defines fulfilment as 'bringing something into effect'. It also explains that it's 'a feeling of satisfaction at having achieved something you've desired'. So in an organisational context it can be described as employees feeling good about delivering their objectives. That's personal fulfilment. But leaders in organisations should hope that in addition to the personal satisfaction, they also feel good about the contribution they are making to the success of the organisation as a whole. Because caring about the wider organisation is an illustration that they care about it and are connected to it.
I'm going to focus on two of the things which must be in place to create an environment in which employees feel both these things. Firstly, employees must have clarity about what successful delivery of their objectives means. Objectives must be clear and concise, with clear measures of success. They should understand in advance what successful delivery of them means. If it's not clear, don't be surprised if motivation to achieve seems low. I sometimes think managers word artfully vague objectives intentionally so that they have the power of determining whether their employee has succeeded or not. Another common cause of low motivation is to set the objective so high that the employee feels there's no point trying to achieve it because it's just not achieveable. Either way, the organisation suffers because of low levels of motivation.
Secondly, individuals should understand how their objectives align with and contribute to business objectives. They should know that achieving their objective contributes to the success of organisational objectives. If they have an objective which can't be linked to a wider business objective then it does beg the question why they're doing it at all! This line of sight between individual and organisational objectives is a key part of connecting individual employees with the organisation in a meaningful and value added way.
These are the key things to get right to create a environment in which people feel fulfilled. That's not to say that other things aren't important. Leadership behaviours and reward and recognition are just two examples of other influences - but objectives are a good place to start.
And the film I've chosen to illustrate fulfilment is 'Field of Dreams'. The film features Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner), a poor farmer, struggling to make ends meet, who hears a voice telling him to build a baseball diamond in his corn field in Iowa. He argues with his wife, his friends and his bank manager over his irrational decision to build it, always believing that it's the right thing to do despite not really knowing why. He just feels he has to. As the film progresses ghosts of former baseball players, including his own long-dead father appear to play a game on the diamond Ray has built. The film ends with Ray finding fulfilment, meeting his long-dead father, and helping others involved in the game to resolve outstanding issues. And at the same time he resolves hisown financial problems when baseball fans come from far and wide and pay to see the game. It's a very implausible plot - but a very entertaining film!
There are two key links for me between the film and todays topic. The first actually argues against my previous comments about objectives. Ray has no idea why he's building the diamond. He perhaps has a broad idea of what success means for him, and he develops it further as the film progresses, but certainly has no idea of how it fits with the bigger picture until very late in the film. On the other hand, when this becomes clear to him his hapiness, satisfaction and sense of fulfilment is totally clear. Perhaps there's a lesson there also about sometimes trusting our intuition?
I also like the strapline - "Sometimes, when you believe the impossible, the incredible comes true."
See the film trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le-J-9IPlT4
I'll post part nine tomorrow.
Ten Films to illustrate the essential elements of a high performance organisational culture (Part Seven)
Part Seven of ten blogs using films to illustrate what you'd want employees
to feel in a high performance organisational culture.....
Number 7 - Courage
One dictionary definition of courage is: “the power or quality of dealing with or facing danger, fear, pain etc". It comes from the old French word ‘corage’, which is derived from ‘cuer’ or heart. Possessing courage is having the ability to overcome the fear you have about something and because fear is a feeling it’s about being able to subdue the feeling such that it doesn’t prevent you from taking action. It isn’t a word that’s used often nowadays and tends to be thought of as being more relevant to past times, when being courageous usually meant physically facing your foes. Nevertheless, I believe it’s a quality that is vital for the success of any business in the present day.
It's essential for two reasons. Firstly, organisations have to be able to adapt quickly to changing market conditions, to take advantage raipdly of opportunities and react just as rapidly to emerging risks. This is only possible if the people who work in the organisation can adapt quickly - they are the organisation. But change of any sort can be scary, the culture of the
organisation has to support it (this goes back to yesterday's post about Challenge), and employees have to be courageous enough to change, often without knowing exactly what the outcome will be.
Secondly, courageous employees are critical to prevent mistakes. In tough economic times the cost of mistakes could be disastrous, the difference between success and failure. It’s become much more important to prevent them. By the way, I don’t intend to suggest that making mistakes is a bad thing. It’s only human and I think legendary basketball coach John Wooden, was absolutely correct when he said “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing
anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.” My point is that it’s not a good thing to make mistakes when they could have been prevented. And the best people to do that are the people who work in the organisation. In the aftermath of a big mistake, when the analysis of what went wrong is taking place, it’s common to hear that someone disagreed with the decision, they ‘knew’ it wasn’t right – but said nothing. They chose to stay silent because of fear – they were
worried they’d look silly, they didn’t want to be the only one disagreeing, or they didn’t want to ‘rock the boat’ because it might damage their career. And at the moment they chose to say nothing, the chance to prevent the problem was lost. It takes courage to speak up. Every organisation should be doing all they can to 'encourage courage'.
The film I've chosen to illustrate courage is 'A Knight's Tale'. Inspired by 'The Canterbury Tales', the film takes the familiar elements of knighthood tales of adventure and gives them some modern day twists. It's amusing to see that the crowd at the first jousting tournament is
clapping and singing along to Queen's hit 'We Will Rock You'. And you can't help but compare the event to modern day football matches. Indeed humour is a theme throughout the film. The central character is William (played by the late Heath Ledger), a poverty stricken son of a thatcher, who dreams of one day becoming a knight. Class barriers make the all but impossible, bu tthanks to a little help from his friends, William gets a chance to "change his stars," as his father enouraged him to do. His fellow squires help him to train and transform into the role of a
nobleman and he assumes the name Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland.
But every dreamer must of course overcome struggles before their dreams are realised. William faces three: his main adversary at tournaments - Count Adhemar, the difficulties he has with his relationship with the woman he loves - Jocelyn, and having his real identity discovered, with potentially huge consequences. The scene when those around him encourage him to flee to avoid punishment after his true identity has emerged is the one in which his courage shines through when he explains to them that as a knight he cannot. The moment when his pretence is
uncovered and he is farthest away from his dream is also the moment when through his behaviour he truly assumes the identity of the person he yearns to become. Its message is that we can all be who we want to be, by facing our fears, daring to take risks in pursuit of our goal and accepting help from others. And if we do, we can 'change our stars'.
If you're looking for something which is a serious reflection of life at the time this film is not for you - but if you want a laugh whilst watching an adventure, it's great. See the film trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH6U5y086hw
I'll post part eight tomorrow.
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
to feel in a high performance organisational culture.....
Number 7 - Courage
One dictionary definition of courage is: “the power or quality of dealing with or facing danger, fear, pain etc". It comes from the old French word ‘corage’, which is derived from ‘cuer’ or heart. Possessing courage is having the ability to overcome the fear you have about something and because fear is a feeling it’s about being able to subdue the feeling such that it doesn’t prevent you from taking action. It isn’t a word that’s used often nowadays and tends to be thought of as being more relevant to past times, when being courageous usually meant physically facing your foes. Nevertheless, I believe it’s a quality that is vital for the success of any business in the present day.
It's essential for two reasons. Firstly, organisations have to be able to adapt quickly to changing market conditions, to take advantage raipdly of opportunities and react just as rapidly to emerging risks. This is only possible if the people who work in the organisation can adapt quickly - they are the organisation. But change of any sort can be scary, the culture of the
organisation has to support it (this goes back to yesterday's post about Challenge), and employees have to be courageous enough to change, often without knowing exactly what the outcome will be.
Secondly, courageous employees are critical to prevent mistakes. In tough economic times the cost of mistakes could be disastrous, the difference between success and failure. It’s become much more important to prevent them. By the way, I don’t intend to suggest that making mistakes is a bad thing. It’s only human and I think legendary basketball coach John Wooden, was absolutely correct when he said “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing
anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.” My point is that it’s not a good thing to make mistakes when they could have been prevented. And the best people to do that are the people who work in the organisation. In the aftermath of a big mistake, when the analysis of what went wrong is taking place, it’s common to hear that someone disagreed with the decision, they ‘knew’ it wasn’t right – but said nothing. They chose to stay silent because of fear – they were
worried they’d look silly, they didn’t want to be the only one disagreeing, or they didn’t want to ‘rock the boat’ because it might damage their career. And at the moment they chose to say nothing, the chance to prevent the problem was lost. It takes courage to speak up. Every organisation should be doing all they can to 'encourage courage'.
The film I've chosen to illustrate courage is 'A Knight's Tale'. Inspired by 'The Canterbury Tales', the film takes the familiar elements of knighthood tales of adventure and gives them some modern day twists. It's amusing to see that the crowd at the first jousting tournament is
clapping and singing along to Queen's hit 'We Will Rock You'. And you can't help but compare the event to modern day football matches. Indeed humour is a theme throughout the film. The central character is William (played by the late Heath Ledger), a poverty stricken son of a thatcher, who dreams of one day becoming a knight. Class barriers make the all but impossible, bu tthanks to a little help from his friends, William gets a chance to "change his stars," as his father enouraged him to do. His fellow squires help him to train and transform into the role of a
nobleman and he assumes the name Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland.
But every dreamer must of course overcome struggles before their dreams are realised. William faces three: his main adversary at tournaments - Count Adhemar, the difficulties he has with his relationship with the woman he loves - Jocelyn, and having his real identity discovered, with potentially huge consequences. The scene when those around him encourage him to flee to avoid punishment after his true identity has emerged is the one in which his courage shines through when he explains to them that as a knight he cannot. The moment when his pretence is
uncovered and he is farthest away from his dream is also the moment when through his behaviour he truly assumes the identity of the person he yearns to become. Its message is that we can all be who we want to be, by facing our fears, daring to take risks in pursuit of our goal and accepting help from others. And if we do, we can 'change our stars'.
If you're looking for something which is a serious reflection of life at the time this film is not for you - but if you want a laugh whilst watching an adventure, it's great. See the film trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH6U5y086hw
I'll post part eight tomorrow.
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Ten Films to illustrate the essential elements of a high performance organisational culture (Part Six)
Part Six of ten blogs using films to illustrate what you'd want employees to
feel in a high performance organisational culture.....
Number 6 - Challenged
A mistake some organisations make is to pursue an employee engagement programme to produce 'happy' employees. Of course it's a good thing to have happy employees but there's a real risk that without focus a programme like this could produce a 'nice' place to work - in which performance is poor. Organisations that don't challenge people to perform at their best risk creating a culture of mediocrity. If a high performance culture is the desired outcome - actions are required to ensure that high performance becomes an expectation, and poor
performance is challenged and managed.
It's also important to provide challenge to motivate high performers, to provide them with work with stretches them and provides wth a sense of achievement. They want to be stretched by difficult objectives because they develop as a result of the experience they go through in succeeding.
Of course, it's also true that some extreme organisations are too full of challenge and they can become places in which people are fearful of failure and as a result are unwilling to step forward and try things. It's just too much of a risk to step forward because of the damage to the individuals reputation if they fail. So it's very important to balance challenge with support to remove the fear and enable failure without dire consequences for that failure.
Leaders of course play a pivotal role in getting the balance right between challenge and support. Whether the organisation creates the right balance and thereby the right culture is in large part down to the way in which they lead and manage people on a day to day basis.....
The film I've chosen to illustrate challenge (and support) is 'Coach Carter'. Another true story, this time of Ken Carter, a successful sports shop owner who, in 1999, accepted a job as basketball coach at his old high school. Challenge is a theme throughout the film. Dismayed by their poor attitude and performance, he set out to improve his players performance on and off the court. He immediately imposed a strict regime in written contracts that included stipulations for respectful behaviour, a dress code and good grades as a pre-requisite to being on the team. Results immediately turned round and the team was undefeated on it's way to the 1999
State Championship. However, when he received the news of poor grades for a number of players Coach Carter locked the gym and stopped the team from playing. It was a decision that received national attention - and much criticism. And yet ultimately, whilst the team lost the state final, he was vindicated when individually, members of the team grew in stature and several went on to to unexpectedly attend university.
See the film trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GScWr8-wEhY
Part seven tomorrow.
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
feel in a high performance organisational culture.....
Number 6 - Challenged
A mistake some organisations make is to pursue an employee engagement programme to produce 'happy' employees. Of course it's a good thing to have happy employees but there's a real risk that without focus a programme like this could produce a 'nice' place to work - in which performance is poor. Organisations that don't challenge people to perform at their best risk creating a culture of mediocrity. If a high performance culture is the desired outcome - actions are required to ensure that high performance becomes an expectation, and poor
performance is challenged and managed.
It's also important to provide challenge to motivate high performers, to provide them with work with stretches them and provides wth a sense of achievement. They want to be stretched by difficult objectives because they develop as a result of the experience they go through in succeeding.
Of course, it's also true that some extreme organisations are too full of challenge and they can become places in which people are fearful of failure and as a result are unwilling to step forward and try things. It's just too much of a risk to step forward because of the damage to the individuals reputation if they fail. So it's very important to balance challenge with support to remove the fear and enable failure without dire consequences for that failure.
Leaders of course play a pivotal role in getting the balance right between challenge and support. Whether the organisation creates the right balance and thereby the right culture is in large part down to the way in which they lead and manage people on a day to day basis.....
The film I've chosen to illustrate challenge (and support) is 'Coach Carter'. Another true story, this time of Ken Carter, a successful sports shop owner who, in 1999, accepted a job as basketball coach at his old high school. Challenge is a theme throughout the film. Dismayed by their poor attitude and performance, he set out to improve his players performance on and off the court. He immediately imposed a strict regime in written contracts that included stipulations for respectful behaviour, a dress code and good grades as a pre-requisite to being on the team. Results immediately turned round and the team was undefeated on it's way to the 1999
State Championship. However, when he received the news of poor grades for a number of players Coach Carter locked the gym and stopped the team from playing. It was a decision that received national attention - and much criticism. And yet ultimately, whilst the team lost the state final, he was vindicated when individually, members of the team grew in stature and several went on to to unexpectedly attend university.
See the film trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GScWr8-wEhY
Part seven tomorrow.
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Ten Films to illustrate the essential elements of a high performance organisational culture (Part 5)
Part five of my series of ten blogs using films to illustrate the feelings organisations should seek to evoke in employees to create a high performance culture....
Number 5 - Valued
People want to know that they are valued, in every element of their life. They want to know that people value their relationship with them. At home they want to know they are loved by their partner and members of their family. Socially they want to know that they are respected by friends and acquantainces. As a customer, they want to feel that their supplier doesn't take them for granted. And at work they want to know that their employer considers them to be important - for the contribution they make to the organisation and for who they are as an individual.
When the organisation recognises and rewards them people feel valued and appreciated. They feel respected and their levels of confidence and self esteem are higher. And as Abraham Maslow suggested, they move up the hierarchy of needs. As they receive respect from others their self respect and self esteem grows too and they move towards self actualisation where they can realise their full potential, for the benefit of the organisation. They become willing to give more effort and commit themselves more fully to its purpose, providing of course it's one they consider ecological (see Part 2 of this series for an explanation). The problem is that it's hard to know what to do to ensure people feel valued, but it is what the best managers do to get the best from their people. They know that their investment in making people feel valued pays dividends in terms of its return.
The film I've chosen to illustrate the benefits that come from feeling valued is "The Blind Side", the story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American boy from a broken home who is taken in the Tuohys, a well-off white family. They put a roof over his head, and so much more. They provide him with love and support and as a result of feeling valued by them, he values himself. As an American football player and as a student, he works hard and with the help and support of those around him becomes an All-American left tackle for the Baltimore Ravens. It's a true story and in interviews that I've seen with the 'real' Tuohys, they also talk about how much they benefited from Michael's presence in their lives too.
The film really illustrates the power of being loved and feeling valued. See the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ3kwMq18-8
Part 6 tomorrow!
Ten Films to illustrate the essential elements of a high performance organisational culture (Part 4)
Part four of the series of ten blogs focusing on the feelings you'd want employees to have in a high performance organisational culture. Hope you agree with the film I've chosen today - let me know if there's a better one!
Number 4 - Responsibility
We sometimes talk about having responsibility for something. And often it's expressed negatively, as though the 'something' is onerous. I'm placing a different interpretation on it, feeling responsible as something that's positive because it's something we care about, something we feel we have the power to influence and steer, something we're responsible for. And in this context it's surely something every organisation would want its people to feel. Because feeling responsible for the organisation implies being informed about it and the market in which it operates, being proactive, taking ownership, seeing beyond personal interests and instead seeking to do what's best for the business as a whole, striving to find better and more efficient ways of doing things and perhaps most importantly of all, each person being responsible for their own behaviour. Because enough of the right behaviours from people mean success, in whatever way it's defined. If behaviour is aligned with the desired outcomes results will follow.
The film I've chosen to illustrate feeling responsible is 'The Pursuit of Happyness' and with due recognition to Stan Williams who blogged about the film way back in 2006, I think there's a number of points worth making about it. Incidentally, the film is based on the true story of Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith), a bright and talented salesman who has unfortunately invested his money in a product that he's unable to sell. Struggling to make ends meet, Gardner's wife leaves him and he finds himself and his five-year-old son evicted from their apartment. When he lands an internship at a prestigious stock brokerage firm, he and his son have to endure many hardships in pursuit of his dream of a better life for the two of them.
Back to the key points about it....
Under huge pressure and despite all the difficulties he encounters Chris is totally dedicated to and responsible for his young son. On face value the film could be interpreted as being about the pursuit of money, but it's much more than that, the reason he wants the money is to provide for his son. He could perhaps have done that by seeking a lower paid but more reliable job but he also recognises the responsibility he has to nurture and achieve his dream of becoming a stock broker. He ensures that the two things co-exist and delivers against both.
There are three specific things that reasonate with me:
1. As the title suggests, pursuit is important. Chris had to pursue the role as a stock broker in order to provide for his son as he wanted to, and to be happy himself. As the saying goes "if it's worth having it's worth fighting for". Chris fought to pursue it.
2. It initially grated with me that 'happyness' was spelt wrong. But isn't that the point? The miss-spelling makes us look again at the word and wonder what's wrong with it. It makes us realise what the real word - 'happiness' truly means. But think deeper and there's another connotation, that just as good spelling has to be pursued and corrected, so does fatherhood. And to extend it still further in the context of my blog, so does organisational culture and employee engagement. These things don't just happen, but they are worth pursuing.
3. Probably the most well known quote from the film is "Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something ....You gotta dream, you gotta protect it ....If you want something, go get it. Period." I love that quote!
See the trailer for the film here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xcZTtlGweQ
Part 5 tomorrow!
By the way, the blog I refer to by Stan Williams is here is you want to read it: http://moralpremise.blogspot.com/2006/12/pursuit-of-happyness.html
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
Number 4 - Responsibility
We sometimes talk about having responsibility for something. And often it's expressed negatively, as though the 'something' is onerous. I'm placing a different interpretation on it, feeling responsible as something that's positive because it's something we care about, something we feel we have the power to influence and steer, something we're responsible for. And in this context it's surely something every organisation would want its people to feel. Because feeling responsible for the organisation implies being informed about it and the market in which it operates, being proactive, taking ownership, seeing beyond personal interests and instead seeking to do what's best for the business as a whole, striving to find better and more efficient ways of doing things and perhaps most importantly of all, each person being responsible for their own behaviour. Because enough of the right behaviours from people mean success, in whatever way it's defined. If behaviour is aligned with the desired outcomes results will follow.
The film I've chosen to illustrate feeling responsible is 'The Pursuit of Happyness' and with due recognition to Stan Williams who blogged about the film way back in 2006, I think there's a number of points worth making about it. Incidentally, the film is based on the true story of Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith), a bright and talented salesman who has unfortunately invested his money in a product that he's unable to sell. Struggling to make ends meet, Gardner's wife leaves him and he finds himself and his five-year-old son evicted from their apartment. When he lands an internship at a prestigious stock brokerage firm, he and his son have to endure many hardships in pursuit of his dream of a better life for the two of them.
Back to the key points about it....
Under huge pressure and despite all the difficulties he encounters Chris is totally dedicated to and responsible for his young son. On face value the film could be interpreted as being about the pursuit of money, but it's much more than that, the reason he wants the money is to provide for his son. He could perhaps have done that by seeking a lower paid but more reliable job but he also recognises the responsibility he has to nurture and achieve his dream of becoming a stock broker. He ensures that the two things co-exist and delivers against both.
There are three specific things that reasonate with me:
1. As the title suggests, pursuit is important. Chris had to pursue the role as a stock broker in order to provide for his son as he wanted to, and to be happy himself. As the saying goes "if it's worth having it's worth fighting for". Chris fought to pursue it.
2. It initially grated with me that 'happyness' was spelt wrong. But isn't that the point? The miss-spelling makes us look again at the word and wonder what's wrong with it. It makes us realise what the real word - 'happiness' truly means. But think deeper and there's another connotation, that just as good spelling has to be pursued and corrected, so does fatherhood. And to extend it still further in the context of my blog, so does organisational culture and employee engagement. These things don't just happen, but they are worth pursuing.
3. Probably the most well known quote from the film is "Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something ....You gotta dream, you gotta protect it ....If you want something, go get it. Period." I love that quote!
See the trailer for the film here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xcZTtlGweQ
Part 5 tomorrow!
By the way, the blog I refer to by Stan Williams is here is you want to read it: http://moralpremise.blogspot.com/2006/12/pursuit-of-happyness.html
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: (0044) 07906 650019
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