December 15, 2010

This practical guide reviews the basic tenets for creating a learning organization, and much more:

Trust can be lost in many ways, and it is often accidental.  Think of the last time you rushed through a job, meeting or project.  The results were less than excellent, and likely contributed to your coworkers, team members, clients or employees losing trust in you. 

 

Rebuilding Trust in the Workplaceby Dennis & Michelle Reina (Berret-Koehler, 2010) guides the reader through the many ways we compromise trust in the workplace, and how it has likely damaged our relationships and performance.  This simple, easy-to- read book provides important insights and gives readers a new way of considering the important role that trust plays in the workplace. 

 

At Employee Development Systems, Inc. we are keenly aware of how important your time is to you, and we are grateful that you regularly spend some of it with us.

 

Please accept this Personal Effectiveness Skillbuilder, compliments of Employee Development Systems, Inc. as a thank you gift. 

 

During the holidays, employees are often distracted by their own plans and all of the year-end job wrap-up activities.  At the same time, you likely have your eye on the bottom line.  Here are some ways to make the holidays run smoothly for your employees and your organization.

 

Limit overtime hours. Even though we all want to close out the year on a strong note, excessive overtime hours and working on paid holidays lowers employee morale, and may backfire in the long run.  

 

Schedule short, fun events. Short deadlines for important projects and pressure to reach end-of-year-goals can add to obligations. Instead of a large party, provide a few short, fun holiday events so people can chat, grab some sweets and get back to their work.  This takes away the stress employees feel when they are obligated to participate in gift exchanges and potlucks and also gives them the time they need to finish year-end projects.

 

For example, at Techsmith Corporation, schedule conflicts kept large numbers of employees from attending the annual holiday party. So, the planners changed the concept. The annual company holiday event is now the company birthday party in February.

 

Moreover, according to a recent survey of human resources professionals, 51 percent of companies schedule holiday events during normal business hours, taking time pressure off of their employees.  This results in short-term productivity loss (a couple hours), but a net gain in overall morale.

 

Here are some more ideas for spreading holiday cheer at the office:

 

Offer flexible schedules. If you give people the time when they need it for their holiday preparations and celebrations, you’ll be paid back in increased focus during work time. Many companies have found that employee time spent gift shopping on the internet increases as the holidays approach.  Do your employees and your company a favor by giving them the time they need to take care of their preparations, so they can concentrate on work commitments while they are at the office.

 

Provide gifts and bonuses in “spendable” formats. Try grocery store gift cards or gift certificates.  This is something that directly supports their holiday celebrations and family time. 

 

Make the official holidays “floating” days. Give people the flexibility to honor their religious and cultural traditions with paid time off.  (Think of Ramadan, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and more).  The offer itself will go a long way in spreading good feelings among people of differing faiths and cultural backgrounds.

 

The culture of your organization determines communication styles, how priorities are set, and how things get done. In the words of Ed Schein, cultural management expert, “Culture is much more than just the way we do things around here." 

 

The particular ways that people think and perform in a setting are a result of the mythology or history of an organization. If we don’t understand the organization’s culture, we can’t step in and be effective, since culture asserts its influence without our even realizing it.

 

Many successful (or previously successful) companies aren’t open to examining their culture, since what they have done in the past worked for them.  What these leaders fail to realize is that other organizations also have developed cultures that have led them to success. The leader who is successful, has particular habits, and only hires those who work the same way as himself is well served by looking at what other organizations are doing.

 

Take General Foods as an example.  It is a brand that was built on the technology of taste.  The General Foods leadership was told that food should be nutritious, so they tried to make their foods nutritious in order to add to their product appeal, but the culture was a “taste good” company versus a nutrition company. Ultimately, General Foods made a conscious decision to stick with their culture, eschewing a large market for what they did best.

 

In order for new leaders to get a read on the culture, they need to get a firm understanding of the cultural artifacts and values of an organization.

 

Cultural Artifacts are visible and observable. These are the behavioral rules of how things get done in an office; how the office space is laid out, and the work processes.

 

Values are expressed in work habits and rituals.  At first, one typically learns the “espoused values” of an organization.  For example, if a corporate boss is asked why he runs a weekly meeting, he may answer “Because we’re a teamwork company” when in reality, all job evaluations are based on individual achievement.   Now the new manager knows that he is in an organization that espouses two competing values.

 

 

There have been a couple of connections.  In my last position, I was starting new banks and brokerages for a holding company, and was being recruited for a bank CEO position.  During that time, I read the book, Power of Purpose (by Richard Leider, Berrett-Kohler Publishers, 2005).

 

That book helped me decide to turn down the job offer, leave my current position, and start to talk about companies that want to have profound breakthroughs and be top performers.   At the time, there were no banks that were getting the message—being passionate about what they do. 

 

In my first engagement, I essentially worked with all employees and managers to talk about how they treat customers and each other.  It is amazing.  When you define behaviors such as no gossip, no whining, call each other on low performance, changes happen quickly.  We have the participants actually create and sign an agreement that outlines how they want to perform, and what they expect of each other. 

 

Do you believe people can make serious change, or are their attitudes basically static, either by experience or personality?   

 

Can people shift?  Yes.  I want to get everybody back to their first day of work feeling.  We are up against this:  Every day of our life, we are being socialized to be takers.  Every commercial we see, all of the advertisements all tell us to treat ourselves. 

 

It is incumbent upon business managers and owners to help employees see that power and fulfillment that comes from being of service.  If people are coming from the right place, where they really want to help, they can make mistakes, but you would still try to work with them, because they are committed to service.

 

The Manager's Pocket Guide to Corporate Culture Change provides the essential methods for mobilizing people behind these shared values. It teaches the skills to empower people within defined parameters, the type of support they require for success, and the best ways to recognize individual and team contributions.

 

It also reviews the basic tenets for developing people, creating a learning organization, and provides practical methods for aligning the culture behind the business strategy in order to manage the change.