What makes you indispensable to a client? So indispensable that she treats you as a valued partner and pays you well for a sustained period of time? The obvious answer is to have clearly demonstrable expertise in areas she values. This alone will open doors and close deals for you. It won’t ensure long-term loyalty, however.
Strengthen Employee Brand, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention and Strategic Alignment
When organizational cultures value people, they achieve higher rates of employee engagement and retention. They also benefit from stronger employer brand (as the word spreads that they value people) and tighter strategic alignment (when employees who feel valued want to advance the organization’s interests). I just wrote a post about this topic for the Human Capital Institute’s blog. In the post, I tell the story of how Admiral Vern Clark, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) for the U.S. Navy, increased the element of Human Value in the Navy’s culture and the effect it had on first term reenlistment rates. You can read more about it at this link or below.
Community Celebrations
Connection and community are strengthened by celebrations. Yesterday, I attended a community celebration of sorts, the Fiesta Bowl Parade in Phoenix, where my daughter Sarah (third from the left in the above picture) participated as a cheerleader for TCU. Arizona Republic reporter Connie Sexton and I spoke about the importance of community celebrations, which she mentioned in her article entitled “Fiesta Bowl Parade Lifts Spirits.”
Groundbreaking Identity Survey Report
Have you ever witnessed an employee whose personal identity is closely connected to the identity of his or her organization? I’ve written about Nick the doorman at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City and how fired up he is greeting cancer patients and their families. Nick actually begins making eye contact with patients when they are within eyesight walking toward MSKCC’s entrance (in Midtown Manhattan where no one makes eye contact). One reason why Nick is so fired up is that he is a cancer survivor who attributes his survival to the care he received at MSKCC.
One of the leading thinkers on identity is Larry Ackerman, founder of The Identity Circle. He wrote an excllent book entitled Identity is Destiny that effected the way I think about corporate identity and its impact on performance. Larry has come out with a new report entitled The Identity Effect. The report is based on a survey of 2,000 individuals across five industries. I wrote in the Connection Culture Manifesto and Fired Up or Burned Out, an organization’s identity has an impact on employee engagement and organizational performance if it inspires employees. Larry’s research supports that view and sheds some additional insights on the power of identity. I encourage you to read it.
Knowledge Traps Haunt U.S. Intelligence
In Fired Up or Burned Out I wrote about how Knowledge Traps have sabotaged the American intelligence community’s performance. A former intelligence professional sent me a link to recent discoveries by the press that makes it clear this continues to be a problem. Consider the following:
- According to CBS News, as early as August of 2009 the Central Intelligence Agency was picking up information on a person of interest dubbed “The Nigerian,” suspected of meeting with “terrorist elements” in Yemen.
- According to the Wall Street Journal, the father of Mr. Abdulmutallab warned the CIA of his son’s likely radicalization at the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria. That led to a broader gathering of agencies the next day, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Department, in which the information was shared.
- According to CNN, information on Abdulmutallab, including his passport number and possible connection to extremists, had been sent to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, but it sat there for five weeks and was not disseminated.
- Also according to the Wall Street Journal, the National Security Agency who had been monitoring former Guantanamo detainees in Yemen had communications intercepts suggesting a Nigerian was being prepped for a terror strike by al Qaeda operatives in that country.
- And the Washington Post reports that not only did the British government reject an Abdulmutallab visa application this May, but that British Home Secretary Alan Johnson said that U.S. officials should have been told about the rejection and that he believes they were.
Unless the Director of National Intelligence (DCI) Admiral Dennis Blair is intentional about establishing a culture in the overall intelligence community that understands what Knowledge Traps are and how to create the Knowledge Flow necessary to remove them, it is likely that we will continue to experience less than optimal performance in intelligence. Several high-ranking individuals in the intelligence and defense communities have been advocates of our work in this area and we hope to spend more time helping them this coming year.
Knowledge Traps Sabotage Performance
A recent New York Times article entitled “For American Workers in China, a Culture Clash” described how American and Chinese cultural differences impact the workplace. Cultural misunderstandings can be one form of Knowledge Trap that impedes the flow of knowledge in an organization. Other Knowledge Traps include leaders/decision-makers who don’t seek diverse points of view, personal rivalries, departmental silos and isolationist organizations. When decision-makers don’t have access to the best knowledge, there is an increased probability that they will make suboptimal decisions. In addition, Knowledge Traps have a negative impact on the marketplace of ideas that fuels innovation.
To improve decision-making and innovation, leaders need to be intentional about removing Knowledge Traps. One of the best ways to do this is to educate people so they can be on guard against Knowledge Traps and understand how to avoid them. Rewarding people who contribute to Knowledge Flow and the marketplace of ideas with compensation and promotions also sends the right message.
Nations Need Inspiring Identities Too
I’ve written about the need for organizations to have inspiring identities as one means to unite, engage and align members. Identity is the narrative that describes mission, values and reputation. An identity become inspiring when it connects with the personal identities of the organization’s members. Nick, the door man at the 53rd Street location of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in NYC is fired up, in part, because of MSKCC’s inspiring identity. Nick believes in MSKCC’s mission to provide “The Best Cancer Care, Anywhere,” he embraces MSKCC’s values of caring about people and being the best in providing cancer treatment (i.e. the value of excellence), and he is proud of MSKCC’s reputation as one of the leading cancer centers in the world.
Nations need inspiring identities too. America has benefitted from its identity as the “land of the free and home of the brave,” with values of liberty, equality of opportunity and justice for all. According to historian Gordon Wood, by the early 1800’s, America’s reputation had been transformed from being viewed as on the fringe of the civilized world to being at the vanguard. An inspiring identity contributed to America’s success.
One region in today’s world that needs to find an inspiring identity is Central Asia.
Culture, Not Who Pays, Is Real Problem in Healthcare
The New York Times columnist David Brooks just came out with his Sidney Awards for the best magazine essays in 2009. I always read them because Brooks is among the very best writers/thinkers in journalism today. One of the award winners is “The Cost Conundrum” by Atul Gwande, the surgeon, author and MacArthur genius award recipient. Brooks describes Gwande’s essay as the most influential essay written this year. I highly recommend that you take the time to read it.
What I found especially interesting in Gwande’s essay is that he concludes that culture — or more specifically, the values of doctors — is at the heart of America’s heathcare cost crisis rather than who pays the costs. Gwande takes us to McAllen, Texas where in 2006, Medicare spent nearly $15,000 per enrollee, twice the national average, but achieved no better than average quality of care. Like a good investigative reporter he roots out the truth by conducting qualitative interviews and looking into quantitative data. He discovers that the average doctor in McAllen orders more procedures than the average doctor in America. Upon further investigation he learns that in towns like McAllen it’s a handful of doctors who drive up the cost per patient by ordering unnecessary procedures. He explains how these doctors benefit financially from ordering unnecessary procedures. The financial benefits come in the form kickbacks to admit patients to hospitals and revenue to partnerships of physicians who own diagnostic equipment such as MRI and CT-scans. He sums it up this way:
“When you look across the spectrum from Grand Junction to McAllen–and the almost threefold difference in the cost of care–you come to realize that we are witnessing a battle for the soul of American medicine. Somewhere in the United States at this moment, a patient with chest pain, or a tumor, or a cough is seeing a doctor. And the damning question we have to ask is whether the doctor is set up to meet the needs of the patient, first and foremost, or to maximize revenue.”
In some ways, this is a matter of identity.
Message of “Christmas Carol,” “Wonderful Life” Critical Today
The 1951 movie “A Christmas Carol” is based on Charles Dickens’ classic novel. It’s the fictional story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a business owner who idolizes wealth and mocks charity. Scrooge’s values, and the behavior emanating from them, isolate him from family and friends and make him miserable. Scrooge gets a wakeup call in the form of a nightmarish visit from the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.
“A Christmas Carol” highlights how certain character vices lead to relational isolation which results in dysfunction and death. This is in contrast to virtuous character that leads to human connection, thriving and life. Charles Dickens understood just how powerful human connection is and that it comes from the character strengths of compassion, empathy, generosity, kindness and magnanimity. These are character strengths and virtues we celebrate during the holiday season (and hopefully live year round).
The same themes of connection and character are explored in the 1946 holiday classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
NY, NJ & CT Last in Happiness, Why?
The New York Times reported that a recent research study rated the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut) dead last of the 50 states when it came to the self-reported happiness of state residents. The survey points out there is a high correlation between self-reported happiness and objective measures of happiness such as congestion, time spent commuting, housing prices, air quality, etc. No doubt there is some truth to this. I have another theory, however.
The tri-state area is the achieve-aholic capital of America. Remember Frank Sinatra’s ode to New York: “if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.” New York attracts the ambitious and often, ambition is about status. People with a burning desire for status come to New York to prove themselves as media stars, bankers and traders on Wall Street, performers on Broadway, etc., etc., etc. The problem is that chasing status is a never ending game. There’s always someone above you and the achieve-aholic can’t get enough. Personal wealth is the primary measure of status on Wall Street. Many Wall Streeters have a number — referred to as the “F— You number” — they want to reach so they can tell their firms “I’m outta here.” Research has shown that the FU number is always going up because they need more houses, more art in their collection, more money for philanthropy to build their legacy. Of course they don’t really need these things but a sense of continuous status anxiety makes them feel the never ending need to boost their status relative to others. Once again it comes back to status and having more than the next guy.
Psychology research has shown that extrinsic motivators — doing something to impress someone else such as status-chasing — fail to provide happiness. Only intrinsic motivators such as meaningful work that contributes to society and meaningful relationships (i.e. connection) produce happiness. With so many people in the tri-state area working such long hours and commuting to and from work, it’s no wonder that they’re not so happy. The wise perspective is one of balance. The good life includes meaningful work and meaningful relationships. At times there will be imbalance among the two needs. If imbalance becomes chronic, however, it’s a recipe for disaster. This applies to individuals and organizations.
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Michael Lee Stallard speaks, teaches and writes about leadership, employee engagement, productivity and innovation at leading organizations including Google, GE, NASA, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. Most recently, Michael and his colleague Jason Pankau filmed a 90-minute program for Linkage’s Thought Leaders Series that will be released in January of 2010. Michael wrote the guest editorial for Talent Management magazine’s January 2010 edition and last month his article on how the force of connection boosts productivity and innovation was featured as the lead article in the UK’s Developing HR Strategy Journal. Click on these links to learn more about Michael and Jason in the media and their speaking engagements.