Today, The Economic Times in India published an article I wrote about Jim Goodnight and SAS Institute. The article is based on an interview I conducted with Goodnight at Giant Impact’s Leadercast conference in Atlanta. You can read my article at The Economic Times‘ website or below.
Tag Archives: team building
Creative Conversations: Boosting Creativity in Meetings
How do you boost creativity in meetings? The key here is to tap the “corporate mind.”
The root work of “corporation” is the Latin word “corpus.” It means “body.” The definition of “corporation” is “a body of people acting as a single entity and authorized as such under the law.” To maximize creativity requires getting a group of people together who in a sense represent the corporate body then helping them feel safe so that they will share their ideas and opinions.
Because individuals have diverse thinking styles, experiences and temperaments, they will naturally have different perspectives and come up with different ideas that contribute to constructing a creative new solution, product, process or new business opportunity. As such, it is ideal to have a group that is large enough to generate diverse ideas but not so large that it becomes unwieldy. Eight to ten individuals should be sufficient for most issues. With issues that are more complex, and/or require broader support and implementation, you may want to have broad participation (an issue I will write about in a later post).
Here are few ways to structure a meeting and create a safe environment so that creativity will be maximized:
Leaders of the New Century
On June 23, I’ll be filming a few video segments for the Leader to Leader Institute’s “Leaders of the New Century” project that includes Allan Mulally of Ford, Sir Richard Branson and Tony Hseih of Zappos. Next week the Summer edition of the Leader to Leader Journal comes out. It includes an article that Jason Pankau and I wrote entitled “To Boost Productivity and Innovation, Connect with the Core.” The article is about how great leaders don’t just focus on star performers, they are intentional about connecting with employees at large. Examples in the article include Ret. U.S. Chief of Navy Operations Admiral Vern Clark and Bono, the lead singer for the rock band U2.
Employee Engagement Podcast with StategyDriven
I recently recorded a podcast interview on the topic of employee engagement and how it affects strategic alignment, productivity and innovation with Nathan Ives of StrategyDriven, a terrific group out of Atlanta that provides resources to help business leaders. You can hear the podcast and learn more about StrategyDriven at this link.
When Truth is Victim of “Nice”
Take a look at this article about Ursula Burns, the new CEO of Xerox, and her efforts to alter Xerox’s culture. Anne Mulachy, the former CEO did a remarkable job pulling the Xerox family together to save the company when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Mulcahy is a tough act to follow but I’m pulling for Ms. Burns to take Xerox to the next level. One way to look at Ms. Burns challenge is that she needs to frame Xerox’s success as being rooted in achieving both task excellence and relationship excellence. When a culture sacrifices truth to being nice (or more accurately to avoiding conflict) a company’s performance eventually suffer. Ms. Burns is performing a delicate dance. If she comes off too strong, people wil ear to spaek he truth. If she does nothing, it seems that the desire to avoid constructive conflict may eventually sabotage the companies performance.
If I were advising Ms. Burns, I would say “make it clear to your Xerox colleagues that we must be intentional about achieving BOTH task excellence AND relationship excellence in order to thrive. Sacrifice either and we will risk managerial failure for reasons I’ve written about in Fired Up or Burned Out.
Is Your Corporate Identity Inspiring?
Jason Pankau and I recently spoke at Vistakon, Johnson & Johnson’s Vision Care group. J&J has an inspiring identity that is expressed in its Credo. Our definition of an inspiring identity is that it exists when everyone in the organization is motivated by the mission, united by the values and proud of the reputation.
Take a look at the J&J Credo by clicking here. As you study the J&J Credo ask yourself if its mission and values are inspiring. After you study the J&J Credo, turn your attention to your organization’s mission and values and ask the following questions:
- Are your mission and values clearly expressed and widely communicated?
- Do you have a portfolio of stories that help people understand your organization’s mission and values?
- Do people in your organization periodically take time to consider their decisions and practices in light of consistency with your organization’s values?
- Does your organization’s reputation reflect it’s values?
- Does your organization’s employer brand benefit from its inspiring identity?
J&J does a marvelous job on the Credo section of its website. Take a look at it by clicking here. In preparation for a book I’m writing, I’ll be interviewing Kathleen Fitzpatrick, J&J’s Director of Credo and Workplace Engagement, and posting portions of the interview on this blog.
Have you seen expressions of corporate identities (mission, values, supporting stories or practices) that have inspired you? If so, please post them here or email me at mstallard [at] epluribuspartners [dot] com.
Human Value Boosts Employee Engagement
Amy Wrzesniewski, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior Yale School of Management, recently sent me a paper she co-authored with Jane Dutton (University of Michigan) and Gelaye Debebe (George Washington University) entitled “Caring in Constrained Contexts.” Reading it made me realize that for workers in low status positions the indifference and incivility they experience is in part why 90 percent of employees today are either disengaged or not aligning with organizational goals. Reading the comments of workers provides a technicolor view of their day-today experiences. Here are a few excerpts:
- “The doctors have a tendency to look at us like we’re not even there, like, you know, we’ll be working in the hallways, and you know, no recognition of what you are doing whatsoever.”
- “A typical day with the nurses down here would be I come in at about 4:30. I set my cart up in my area. … they do a lot of staring and gawking. I don’t know the purpose of this. It’s a very uncomfortable feeling for me.”
- “I was called as a favor to my supervisor to come up …and clean a room because the patient’s family was complaining that the room was filthy. It was supposed to be cleaned by the day shift and evidently the day shift has skipped over that particular room…And you have these people shouting, ‘This room is filthy,’ and this, that, and the other, and ‘I want this room cleaned now.’”
- “Doctors will do things like, you know, they’ll do an exam, take off their gloves and drop them on the floor. You know, just things like that…they don’t even think, you know, they expect housekeeping to do everything…I think there’s a difference between housekeeping and maid service and they get confused”
- “Some of them [the doctors] feel like they’re next to God. There’s a lot of doctors who feel that way too…Just in their tone and their body language. Every now and then some might, they don’t want to say it, but you know they just feel it. Say, like this. For instance I am cleaning their room or waxing. A doctor will walk right through it. Even if it is not an emergency. You can tell them. Everyone else will go around. You know, I’m saying, he will walk right through here. Now, do you think that’s kind of a sense? Just because he’s a doctor. Nurses will go around housekeepers. So that’s why you get this feeling. Who he just thinks he is….”
Having Lost Connection to Work, Nick Sarillo Found Purpose in Pizza
Nick Sarillo lost the feeling of connection to his work when the home construction employer he worked for over 12 years shifted focus from quality and craftsmanship to speed and mediocrity. So Nick did what every self-respecting man of action does. He quit and started his own business where every employee would feel connected to his or her work. Today, Nick’s Pizza & Pub is the 4th busiest independent pizza company in America and it’s the cover story in this month’s Inc magazine. The story is entitled “Lessons from A Blue-Collar Millionaire,” written by Bo Burlingham, one of my favorite writers.
Nick’s Pizza & Pub is a prime example of a business that thrives because its leader is focused on achieving both task excellence and relationship excellence. Just read its purpose and values below:
Nick’s Pizza & Pub
“Pizza on Purpose”®
Our Purpose: “The Nicks Experience”
Our dedicated family provides this community an unforgettable place; to connect with your family and friends, to have fun and to feel at home!
Nick’s Pizza and Pub Values
- We treat everyone with dignity and respect.
- We are dedicated to the learning, teaching and ongoing development of each other.
- We have fun while at work!
- We provide a clean and safe environment for our guests and team.
- We honor individual passions and creativity at work and at home.
- We communicate openly, clearly and honestly.
- We honor the relationships that connect our team, our guests and community.
- We take pride in our commitment to provide a quality service and a quality product.
- We celebrate and reward accomplishments and “A+” players.
- We support balance between home and work.
- Health: We are a profitable and fiscally responsible company. We support the physical and emotional well-being of our guests and team members.
- Our team works through support and cooperation.
I met Nick and his business partner Chris Adams at The Great Game of Business Conference and Nick attended a presentation Jason Pankau and I gave last Fall at Northwestern University’s Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement.
Your Corporation: Corpus or Corpse?
The root word of corporation is “corpus,” a Latin word meaning body. Does your corporation act like a healthy body where members support one another and recognize that harm to one is damaging to all. If not, perhaps your corporation is diseased with members harming one another through incivility or indifference. If so, your corporation is on its way to becoming a corpse (and its culture may be killing individual members, too).
Most corporations today are diseased. Corporate Executive Board research shows that 90 percent of employees today are either not engaged and giving their best efforts or they are not aligned with organizational goals. In this article that appeared this week in Hearst Newspapers entitled “Extinguising Employee Burnout” I spoke with reporter Scott Gargan about leadership, employee engagement, productivity and how to combat the growing problem of employee burnout that is literally draining the life out of individuals and organizations.
The Science of Employee Engagement
For this month’s edition of Talent Management magazine, I was invited to contribute a guest editorial. The piece I wrote is entitled “The Science of Engagement.” You can read it at this link to Talent Management’s digital magazine or below.