Here is a link to the article I wrote about Starbucks. The article is entitled “Have a Heart.”  It was published in Outlook Business for Decision Makers, a leading business magazine in India. In addition, below are links to three segments of a radio interview I did yesterday morning with Jim Blasingame, host of the nationally syndicated Small Business Advocate program.

A leader I know and much admire is Howard Behar, the former president of Starbucks North America and Starbucks International. Howard tells about the time 14 years ago this month when he received a call in the middle of the night at his home in Seattle alerting him that three Starbucks employees at the Georgetown store in Washington, D.C. had been shot and killed, including an 18-year who had just recently begun at Starbucks, his first job.   Behar immediately called Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ CEO, who was in New York on vacation at the time.

What Schultz didn’t do, says a lot about his character.  He didn’t call Starbucks’ public relations people or lawyers.  Instead, Schultz chartered a plane and headed straight to Washington, D.C.  When he arrived, he spoke with the police then proceeded to the store to get the addresses of the three murdered Starbucks employees. He went to each of their homes, told their families he was sorry and shared in their tears.

Howard Schultz’s heart was broken.   He showed courage by expressing the grief he felt. Doing so contributed to helping the victims’ families, friends and colleagues. As awful as grieving the loss of a loved one or friend is, it’s far worse to grieve alone.

Howard Schultz’s empathy and compassion spoke loudly to Howard Behar, a leader who has a huge heart.  Behar left his former employer and joined Starbucks in part because the previous CEO he worked for advised him he “shouldn’t wear his heart on his sleeve.”   Schultz was the type of leader Behar wanted to work for, a leader he could respect and admire because of his courageous and compassionate heart,  a leader he wanted to give his best efforts to serve.

Howard Behar became part of the group of three leaders at the top of Starbucks who were referred to as “H²0” (i.e. Howard Schultz, Howard Behar and Orin Smith).  Behar had an enormous impact on Starbucks North America as its president then went on to become the first president of Starbucks International where he led it to spectacular growth.  After Behar retired, he continued to serve on Starbucks’ board of directors.  Behar was loved and respected throughout Starbucks for his heart and passion as well as his work ethic, open-mindedness and judgment about the retail business.  He became a Starbucks employee for the rest of his career, in no small part because his boss, Howard Schultz, had a heart.

One of the great privileges of my work is that I get to meet, observe and know leaders at a wide variety of organizations including businesses, government organizations, churches, universities and hospitals.  I’ve met quite a few who exercise frequently to keep their hearts and bodies fit for the long hours and no small number of them are also motivated by the desire to impress others with their physical presence, energy and competitiveness.   Regular physical exercise is certainly of value.  What many leaders miss, however, is the need to develop their hearts in ways beyond exercise that are even more important:  ways that produce the character strengths of love, kindness, compassion, gentleness and empathy.  A leader whose character is missing these strengths may have power over others but will never lead from influence that moves people to give their best efforts and align their behavior with the leader’s goals.  This truth is expressed in sayings such as you have to “earn the right to be heard” and “people don’t care what you know until they know that you care.”

Research has shown that 75 percent of employees in most American organizations today are not engaged at work.  They show up for the paycheck but don’t give their best efforts.  Part of this is because they don’t feel connected to their leaders. From where they sit, their leaders appear heartless and could care less about them.  That’s why developing the hearts of leaders is especially important to getting America back on the right track.

To develop heart, we must care about and serve others, including the people we lead: our colleagues at work; our spouses, children and parents; our friends; and the less fortunate in our midst who have nothing to give back to us.

As you serve, take the time to ask questions of others such as “where did you grow up?,” “how are you doing these days?,”  “what’s going on in your life?,” and “what do you enjoy in life?”  Slow down and listen closely.  Find out about the career aspirations of the people who report to you and help them learn and grow in ways that advance their careers. If you’re a leader, you can develop the heart of the people you lead by scheduling a teambuilding event where together you volunteer to serve at a local charitable organization and take time to connect with the people you meet.

Care about and serve the people in your life and in your community, and you will develop the strength of heart that helps you connect.

To learn more about leaders who have developed heart and who inspired the people they led, read the article we wrote for the Leader to Leader Journal entitled “To Boost Performance, Connect with the Core.”  It’s about Bono of the rock band U2 and Admiral Vern Clark, the second-longest serving chief of the United States Navy.    I also recommend Howard Behar’s book It’s Not About the Coffee and the book Carolyn Dewing-Hommes, Jason Pankau and I wrote on great leaders who connect entitled Fired Up or Burned Out.  In the coming months Jason Pankau and I will be speaking and teaching workshops on this topic at the the NASA Johnson Space Center, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Scotiabank, Texas Christian University, the Young Presidents Organization, and on September 13, I’ll be speaking with Admiral Vern Clark in Washington, D.C. at breakfast and lunch events sponsored by the Wharton Club of D.C.

Employee Engagement and Connection from David Zinger on Vimeo.

Yesterday David Zinger and I held a webinar on Employee Engagement and Connection.  You can see a recording of the webinar above and here is a link to the slides used during the webinar.

The webinar was hosted by the Employee Engagement Network, a 3,500 member online community founded by David.  It was my good fortune to be the first speaker for the Employee Engagement Network’s inaugural webinar! If you are not a member of the Employee Engagement network already, I want to encourage you to join.  David will be the host for future webinars on employee engagement-related topics that you will not want to miss.

The New York Times has had a number of great articles related to connection and how it leads to success at work and in life.  In an article about what Google discovered from Project Oxygen, a rigorous study of its successful managers, Laszlo Bock, the leader of the study stated:

“In the Google context, we’d always believed that to be a manager, particularly on the engineering side, you need to be as deep or deeper a technical expert than the people who work for you…It turns out that that’s absolutely the least important thing. It’s important, but pales in comparison. Much more important is just making that connection and being accessible.” (italics mine)

This is exactly the point I made when I spoke about Connection Cultures described in my book Fired Up or Burned Out at Google in late 2009 as part of the Leading@Google series (you can see the video of my presentation at this link and read the article here.)

An article about Starbuck’s CEO Howard Schultz describes him as humbler and listening more as well as considering the opinions and ideas of his colleagues.  This reflects the character strength of humility and the element of Voice in a Connection Culture that our research shows builds emotional and rational connections with employees.  Read the article at this link.

Finally, The New York Times columnist David Brooks’ new book The Social Animal is reviewed.  In the book Brooks argues that the ability to develop social connections is under-appreciated and extremely important to our success in life.  You can read the review at this link.

Connection is a muscle that must be continuously exercised.  The more you connect with others, the better you become at connecting.  Here are three ways to connect that are common practices of outstanding connectors:

1. KNOW THEIR STORY – Invest the time to learn the life stories of the people in your life at home, in your community and at work. Take them out for coffee or a meal and ask them “so you were born and then what happened?”  Listen and ask questions.

2. ASK QUESTIONS UNRELATED TO WORK – Ask the people in your life what their interests are outside of work, what’s their favorite movie, musician or place of vacation.

3. FIND A WAY TO SERVE THEM – Look for ways that you can serve someone you want to connect with.  Perhaps they need to hear an encouraging word.  You might also consider offering to bring them a coffee or soft drink.  If they like gifts and they’ve been facing a difficult time in life, send them a gift they would like. You might consider sending one of my favorites: Ben and Jerry’s ice cream from www.icecreamsource.com.

]]> http://www.michaelleestallard.com/at-google-starbucks-and-life-outside-of-work-success-connection/feed 2 http://www.michaelleestallard.com/video-interview-employee-engagement-connections http://www.michaelleestallard.com/video-interview-employee-engagement-connections#comments Sat, 26 Feb 2011 02:40:18 +0000 Michael Lee Stallard http://www.michaelleestallard.com/?p=4380

Click here to view the embedded video.



Here is a video from YouTube of a conversation I had about leadership, employee engagement, productivity and innovation with Dr. Homer Erekson, Dean of TCU’s Neeley School of Business.  Our conversation occurred as part of the Tandy Executive Speakers Series.

At the heart of building community is developing a bond of connection among the members of a group. In other words, when the members of a group feel positive emotions related to being understood, respected, appreciated, and included by their group’s leaders and fellow members, it forms a bond that strengthens cooperation and commitment among group members.

Emotions are important to organizational effectiveness. Research by the Corporate Executive Board has shown that emotional factors are four times as effective as rational factors when it comes to the amount of effort employees put in their work. Emotional factors include how an employee feels about his organization’s identity and the people he works with whereas rational factors include what an employee thinks about his compensation.

Typically, an organization’s managers and stars feel emotionally connected while three-quarters of all employees do not. What happens to those who don’t feel connected? They stop caring. They stop giving their best efforts. They stop fully communicating and, as a result, decision-makers don’t get the information they need to make optimal decisions. This disconnection results in a gradual spiraling down of performance that may eventually threaten an organization’s survival.

Connection is grounded in human needs. I’ve found that two of these needs, recognition and belonging, can be partially met through participation in online communities. The need for recognition is in our DNA. It’s almost as if we have a “recognition battery” that needs to be charged regularly but the curious aspect of this battery is that its plug-in is located at a spot on our back that we can’t quite reach. As such, we rely on the people around us to charge our recognition battery. If it’s charged, we are energized; if not, we become drained and lose energy.

In addition to recognition, we have a need to feel that we belong to a group — to be in a place where “everyone knows your name,” as the popular theme song of the old comedy television show Cheers stated. Positive interactions on a regular basis with members of a group bring about this feeling of belonging.

There are a number of online capabilities that organizations can put place to help meet the needs for recognition and belonging, and bring about feelings of connection.

Online Personal Profiles that allow people to express their personal identities through posting photographs, hobbies and interests outside of work provide recognition. When co-workers inevitably comment on these personal expressions of identity, it provides recognition and a sense of belonging that makes people feel more connected. Giving employees a place to express who they really are helps them avoid feelings of isolation that occur when they begin to feel like cogs in a machine. Also related to personal identity are affinity groups such as book clubs and alumni groups. These groups can be encouraged and supported with online intranet websites and social media that increase connection among people with shared interests outside of work.

Social Media can be used to inform employees and invite them into conversations about corporate issues. Leaders who mine the resulting body of content for good ideas, implement them, and give credit where credit is due will discover that this helps employees feel more connected. This practice will also improve decision-making and innovation as decision makers gain access to new information and participants to identify new business opportunities, process improvements and product possibilities.

Podcasts and Webcasts are helpful tools to facilitate connection by reaching employees who have visual and auditory learning styles. They can also be used to increase awareness of thought leaders and experts in an organization. For example, Polly Pearson, former Vice President of Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement at EMC, interviewed thought leaders and experts on an internal webcast entitled “Culture Talk.” Polly helped several EMC employees to become internal bloggers and eventually to blog externally. As a result, EMC developed more than 40 bloggers.

These are but a few of the online means that can be utilized to foster connection among the members of an organization. By helping everyone to feel connected, organizations will increase the employee engagement, strategic alignment, productivity, innovation and overall performance.

Recently I was delighted to see two great case studies written by good friends of mine appeared on Gary Hamel’s MIX.  Both case studies reflect elements of the Connection Culture that I wrote about in Fired Up or Burned Out.  The first case study written by Deborah Mills-Scofield is entitled “The 160-year old Startup.” The second case study written by Drew Williams is entitled “Restoring Faith in the Institution: How Mission Shaped Communities Revitalized St. Andrews.”  I encourage you to check them out!

At the Technical Academy Awards ceremonies held in Hollywood, the Associated Press reported that it wasn’t the host, actress Jessica Biel, who attracted the most attention. Instead, it was an understated, bespectacled, computer engineer named Ed Catmull. When Catmull’s name was announced to receive an Oscar for his lifetime of work in computer animation, the crowd went wild, whistling and whooping. And rightly so. The impact Catmull and his collaborators have had on Hollywood may last for decades to come.

Ed Catmull is the president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios. He has rejected the traditional Hollywood star system and its often toxic work environment and replaced it with an environment that emphasizes community and long-term relationships. Catmull described it this way in a Harvard Business Review article he wrote: “[Pixar has] an environment that nurtures trusting and respectful relationships and unleashes everyone’s creativity…the result is a vibrant community where talented people are loyal to one another and their collective work, everyone feels that they are part of something extraordinary, and their passion and accomplishments make the community a magnet for talented people…”

What is it about Pixar’s environment that attracts talented employees and helps them produce outstanding movies such as the blockbuster hits Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and WALL-E that have made Pixar the envy of Hollywood?

I believe the element that sets Pixar’s environment apart from others is its Connection Culture that makes everyone feel included and part of the team. In most organizations only 25 percent of employees – the managers and the stars — feel included. At Pixar, the percentage of employees who feel included is certainly much, much higher than the norm.

I once met with John Walker at Pixar’s headquarters in Emeryville, California. Listening to Walker it was clear to see that he embodies the values of connection. He has the sort of bridge-building personality that helps people amicably resolve conflict and keep them feeling like a part of the community. During the course of our conversation, Walker told me how he insisted on gathering the entire team of more than 200 people who worked together on a movie at least once a week so that the extroverted artists and their more introverted technical counterparts came together as a community. In the meetings, Brad Bird, Walker and others would keep team members informed about the film’s progress and get them thinking about how to solve the present set of issues facing the team.

So long as Pixar’s leadership preserves its environment, I would expect it to continue leaving the rest of Hollywood in its wake. In time, Catmull and Lasseter will return the magic to Disney Animation too.

Sadly, research shows that approximately 75 percent of employees in most organizations are not engaged in their jobs, which clearly indicates that the importance of the work environment and inclusiveness in particular are not on the radar screens of most leaders. That’s tragic. Work environments need to be healthy today, perhaps more than ever. In the current economic downturn and shakeout that will result, leaders will need the best environments in order to survive. Pixar’s example has awakened Hollywood’s leaders from their slumber. It should be a wake up call to leaders in other industries too.

What are you doing to nurture an environment that will make all of your employees feel like valued members of your organizational community?

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Learn more about Connection Cultures by reading Fired up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team’s Passion, Creativity and Productivity. You can download a free digital copy by signing up for our email newsletter at this link.

Jason Pankau and I spoke on a webinar for Linkage about maximizing employee engagement and alignment.  You can see the 60-minute webinar at this link.  You may also be interested in other free webinars offered by Linkage at this link.