I recently met a young entrepreneur who had opened his business about a year ago and was very pleased with the momentum his business was showing. His revenue growth was exceeding his projections, he was making inroads into new customers who held great potential for future sales, and he had moved into new office space that would accommodate significant planned future growth.
Yet, as we talked I could not help but notice the underlying tone of concern in his voice. The concern didn’t seem to match everything else I was hearing about his business. Digging deeper with my questions, his concern finally rose to the surface. It seemed that he was very concerned about the culture of his new company. He had a very specific culture in mind but was very unclear about how to integrate his desired culture into his growing organization.
What kind of culture did he want?
He wanted a culture where people worked hard and where they were very clear about their responsibilities and the responsibilities of the other members of the team. He wanted his team to work together efficiently to resolve issues with customers and vendors without having to rely on his personal intervention. He wanted skilled and competent people in his organization that would require minimum direction from him on a daily basis. But most of all, he wanted people who would not be friends with each other.
He went on to explain, “I’ve seen these companies where people do things together. They go out after work and have a drink. They socialize outside the office with a bowling or softball team. They have birthday parties in the office for different staff members, go to lunch together, have summer picnics and cookouts, and then there is the annual holiday party. I don’t want that. I don’t want any of that. I just want them to work together quickly, efficiently, and in a business-like manner. Can I create a culture like that?”
I won’t go into depth about his reasoning for creating this type of culture. I’ll just say that he is a very private person and draws a clear separation between his personal and professional lives. And he wanted his team to be the same way. A huge personal fear for him was that his team would become too social in the office and want to include him in their activities. He didn’t want to socialize with his team members inside the office or outside the office. And he knew that the more people he hired, the more challenging this would become for him.
“How can I make sure that I get the kind of culture in the office that I really want?” he asked.
The good news is that you can create any type of culture that you want in your organization. And an office of highly efficient, dedicated people who leave their personal lives at the door is really not unheard of. But the key to making sure that you have the culture you really want in your company is to clearly define your needs and expectations from the beginning.
“Define exactly the kind of culture you want in your office,” I told him. “Be clear and specific about your expectations with potential employees before you hire them. Let them know what you expect from them and what they should expect at work. Then hire the people whose expectations are in line with yours. But, here is the key. You MUST define the culture yourself right up front. If you don’t define the culture yourself, your employees will define it for you. And you might not like the culture they bring to your team.”
Now, here is the question for the readers:
Would you want to work in an organization that was clear and specific about NOT wanting social activities among team members inside or outside of the office?
I’ll gather the responses and post them in a few weeks. I expect the results may surprise a few people.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time.....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
It’s Not That Simple
I was catching up with an old friend recently and he brought up a couple of challenges in his life that were holding him back. Being a coach, this is a pretty common occurrence for me and I have to be careful to stay in “friend” mode and not go into “coach” mode. As I was listening, I thought to myself: “This just doesn’t seem like that big a deal. I wonder why this is holding him back?”
Eventually I spoke up and offered him a suggestion.
“Well,” he replied, “it’s not that simple.”
At that moment, I began to flash back to early in my career as a manager and leader. I was pretty new at being a leader, but I had a great rapport with my boss and could ask him anything I wanted. There were a number of things that we were doing as a company that I didn’t understand. Sometimes when I asked about these things I would get excellent answers that really helped me learn and grow. But sometimes my questions would be met with, “Well, it’s not that simple.” Whenever I heard that reply I knew my lessons were over because my boss never explained what wasn’t simple.
Eventually, that boss left the company and I found myself working for someone new. And, while our relationship was not as strong, that didn’t stop me from asking questions. Sure enough, a couple of the same topics came up that had met with such resistance from my first boss. But this boss wasn’t reluctant to talk about the reasons that things “weren’t that simple.” The more he talked, the more I learned. And the more I learned, the more I understood. And several of the problems were indeed quite complex; dealing with a lot of different issues and often involving a variety of personalities. I could clearly see why “it’s not that simple” could apply.
But there were other times that the explanations were convoluted, but not complex. And while navigating through these challenges could remind one of a maze, in some cases it seemed like it was a “kiddie maze” and not really all that hard. Of course, I didn’t challenge these statements from my boss. I wasn’t totally comfortable with our relationship. So I just accepted his explanations at face value.
As I progressed as a leader, I continued to hear, “it’s not that simple” on a variety of topics. And clearly, the person making the statement was correct. It really wasn’t that simple. But more and more I began to recognize that this phrase was being used by executives as a way to avoid addressing some issues. It was like an “executive code phrase” that was intended to shut down discussion on a particular topic. But as I became more experienced, I was also less tolerant of issue avoidance and I began to press for details.
It turns out that “it’s not that simple” really means, “For whatever reason, I’m not comfortable with this issue.” In other words, it really WAS that simple, except for some personal baggage being carried around by the executive.
Getting back to my friend, I asked permission to step into the role of coach for just a few minutes. With his permission I began to dig down into his fear. It didn’t take long to uncover his real issue, expose it as a FEAR (False Expectation Appearing Real) and help him realize that his problem really WAS that simple. With his new found knowledge, he was able to quickly eliminate this issue from his life.
Now back to executives; or maybe just back to human beings as a whole. How often are we using the phrase “it’s not that simple” to shield ourselves from confronting a fear (real or imagined) that should be addressed? The next time you find yourself saying, “it’s not that simple,” ask yourself what you are really afraid of.
Maybe it really is just that simple.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time.....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Eventually I spoke up and offered him a suggestion.
“Well,” he replied, “it’s not that simple.”
At that moment, I began to flash back to early in my career as a manager and leader. I was pretty new at being a leader, but I had a great rapport with my boss and could ask him anything I wanted. There were a number of things that we were doing as a company that I didn’t understand. Sometimes when I asked about these things I would get excellent answers that really helped me learn and grow. But sometimes my questions would be met with, “Well, it’s not that simple.” Whenever I heard that reply I knew my lessons were over because my boss never explained what wasn’t simple.
Eventually, that boss left the company and I found myself working for someone new. And, while our relationship was not as strong, that didn’t stop me from asking questions. Sure enough, a couple of the same topics came up that had met with such resistance from my first boss. But this boss wasn’t reluctant to talk about the reasons that things “weren’t that simple.” The more he talked, the more I learned. And the more I learned, the more I understood. And several of the problems were indeed quite complex; dealing with a lot of different issues and often involving a variety of personalities. I could clearly see why “it’s not that simple” could apply.
But there were other times that the explanations were convoluted, but not complex. And while navigating through these challenges could remind one of a maze, in some cases it seemed like it was a “kiddie maze” and not really all that hard. Of course, I didn’t challenge these statements from my boss. I wasn’t totally comfortable with our relationship. So I just accepted his explanations at face value.
As I progressed as a leader, I continued to hear, “it’s not that simple” on a variety of topics. And clearly, the person making the statement was correct. It really wasn’t that simple. But more and more I began to recognize that this phrase was being used by executives as a way to avoid addressing some issues. It was like an “executive code phrase” that was intended to shut down discussion on a particular topic. But as I became more experienced, I was also less tolerant of issue avoidance and I began to press for details.
It turns out that “it’s not that simple” really means, “For whatever reason, I’m not comfortable with this issue.” In other words, it really WAS that simple, except for some personal baggage being carried around by the executive.
Getting back to my friend, I asked permission to step into the role of coach for just a few minutes. With his permission I began to dig down into his fear. It didn’t take long to uncover his real issue, expose it as a FEAR (False Expectation Appearing Real) and help him realize that his problem really WAS that simple. With his new found knowledge, he was able to quickly eliminate this issue from his life.
Now back to executives; or maybe just back to human beings as a whole. How often are we using the phrase “it’s not that simple” to shield ourselves from confronting a fear (real or imagined) that should be addressed? The next time you find yourself saying, “it’s not that simple,” ask yourself what you are really afraid of.
Maybe it really is just that simple.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time.....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Do You Know How Talented Your Employees Are?
Contrary to popular belief, employees are human beings too.
That’s the message that I often share with managers and executives as we discuss creating energy in an organization. We believe that positive, productive energy is created through the intersection of a company’s culture, its leadership style, and the employees’ expectations. In general, we find that companies think a lot about leadership and how they as individuals can improve their leadership techniques. They talk a lot about the company culture, but don’t do anything to really identify what culture they want or even what culture really exists in the organization. But, when it comes to employee expectations, there is neither a lot of thought, nor a lot of talking.
In fact, when it comes to employee expectations, there is a whole lot of nothing.
Even companies that are “employee friendly” have a tendency to focus on making their environment open and accessible, but forget that, as human beings, employees have needs that must be met. Or said another way, employees have needs that, when met, can have a very positive affect on the bottom line.
What kinds of things do employees want?
Well there are a lot of things. And what they actually want can certainly vary from employee to employee. But one thing that all employees want is to be able to display and use their talents on the job.
Think about this. There are some things in life that you are really good at and that you really like doing. The more you can do of the things that you like and are good at, the better your results will be and the happier you will be.
The same is true of all of your employees. They have things that they are really good at, really talented at, and they want to do those things every day in their job.
Now, before I go any further, let’s pause and get real. If you are managing software development and one of your key employees is a talented sculptor, this does not mean that you should try and find a way to have them sculpt on the job. It does mean that every person has multiple talents and you should try and match their most relevant talents with the things you need to get done.
The only way to really tell what employees like to do and are talented at is to ask them. When you do this for the first time –actually sit down with an employee and ask them what they are really good at and like doing that could be applied to the job – you will truly be amazed at the results. It will likely start with a deep sense of mistrust or disbelief, especially if you’ve never shown any interest in your employees before. But you will soon uncover a plethora of talents and skills that you never new existed in your organization. And, you might well find yourself reassigning responsibilities based on the talents that you never knew existed.
Identify the talents of the people who work for you and find a way to put those talents to work in your organization and you will not only make your employees happier, but you will get a better quality result and improve your profitability.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time.....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
That’s the message that I often share with managers and executives as we discuss creating energy in an organization. We believe that positive, productive energy is created through the intersection of a company’s culture, its leadership style, and the employees’ expectations. In general, we find that companies think a lot about leadership and how they as individuals can improve their leadership techniques. They talk a lot about the company culture, but don’t do anything to really identify what culture they want or even what culture really exists in the organization. But, when it comes to employee expectations, there is neither a lot of thought, nor a lot of talking.
In fact, when it comes to employee expectations, there is a whole lot of nothing.
Even companies that are “employee friendly” have a tendency to focus on making their environment open and accessible, but forget that, as human beings, employees have needs that must be met. Or said another way, employees have needs that, when met, can have a very positive affect on the bottom line.
What kinds of things do employees want?
Well there are a lot of things. And what they actually want can certainly vary from employee to employee. But one thing that all employees want is to be able to display and use their talents on the job.
Think about this. There are some things in life that you are really good at and that you really like doing. The more you can do of the things that you like and are good at, the better your results will be and the happier you will be.
The same is true of all of your employees. They have things that they are really good at, really talented at, and they want to do those things every day in their job.
Now, before I go any further, let’s pause and get real. If you are managing software development and one of your key employees is a talented sculptor, this does not mean that you should try and find a way to have them sculpt on the job. It does mean that every person has multiple talents and you should try and match their most relevant talents with the things you need to get done.
The only way to really tell what employees like to do and are talented at is to ask them. When you do this for the first time –actually sit down with an employee and ask them what they are really good at and like doing that could be applied to the job – you will truly be amazed at the results. It will likely start with a deep sense of mistrust or disbelief, especially if you’ve never shown any interest in your employees before. But you will soon uncover a plethora of talents and skills that you never new existed in your organization. And, you might well find yourself reassigning responsibilities based on the talents that you never knew existed.
Identify the talents of the people who work for you and find a way to put those talents to work in your organization and you will not only make your employees happier, but you will get a better quality result and improve your profitability.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time.....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Should You Do What You Love?
I recently had an interesting discussion with a friend around the idea of “doing what you love.” As many of you know, I’ve long been an advocate of doing what you love as a way to create a satisfying life for yourself and making money at the same time. Confucius is quoted as saying, “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” My friend took a different approach to this topic and one that I thought was quite interesting.
Her perspective was that it is ridiculous to get paid for what we love to do because we are going to do those things anyway. She believed that career decisions are about the kind of lifestyle that you want to create, not about what you love doing. In other words, you take a job based on the kind of life you want to create for yourself, not on the things that you like to do.
As I listened to her argument, I couldn’t help but think of the people I know who are unhappy with their lives; people who are making good money, have big houses and nice cars but are grouchy, stressed, and constantly depressed. I thought of myself 10 years ago with a high paying job that I literally hated going to every day. I had achieved “success” and was miserable as a result.
But this was a smart woman, and I was not about to just discard her argument as incorrect. I pressed on with my questions. She was an accountant, did she love doing accounting? This question really seemed to hit a nerve.
“I like accounting,” she said. “I don’t LOVE it.”
“Are you good at it?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m very good at it. But I don’t LOVE it. I don’t work at the things I love. I work to pay the bills. I work to create a life for myself. Then I can do the things I love.”
She didn’t sound happy to me. In fact, she has seldom sounded happy to me, which seemed to make my point. But she was adamant that loving something and doing it as a career were unrelated.
“I love cooking. I love baking. But I’m not doing those things for a living.”
She had a point there. I’ve tasted some of her cooking. And while she loves it, this would not have been a good career choice for her.
Another key point is that I love more than one thing. Like most people, I have a variety of interests that are not all related. For example, I love helping people develop. I also love baseball. If I took a job in baseball and no longer was able to develop people, would I really be happy?
I found myself rethinking the quote from Confucius. “Choose a job you love….” Hmm. That was a little different than “doing what you love.” After all, I love to sing. But I only do it when I’m alone…with the windows closed… and no one else is at home. Because I know that while I might love it, I’m really not very good at it. But, if I choose a job that I love versus one that I don’t love, is that really the key to happiness.
I’d be interested in your thoughts on this topic. Should I accept a job because it affords me the lifestyle that I want, even though I may not like it, or be very good at it? Or should I look for a job that allows me to do what I love and utilize some of my skills?
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time.....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
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