There was nothing worse in junior high than being “called to The Office.” Nothing good ever happened in The Office. The best case was having to stay after school; the worst case was…well, use your imagination.
Back in the mid-80s, The Office in our Nashville plant was at the end of a long, dark mahogany row. Even walking down the hall was intimidating. It was a throwback to junior high. Who knew what was going on behind all those closed doors? Most employees called to The Office believed that Dante got it right when he wrote, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.” Walking that long dark hall to The Office was like going to hell.
In 1985, we were blessed with a new leader who did three things to help change The Office culture:
Sadly, in too many organizations today, being called to The Office revives those junior-high fears. Leaders—who are actually bosses using fear as a leadership tool—sit behind their closed doors waiting to dispense Don Vito Corleone style discipline (check out The Godfather) to terrified employees. And then they wonder why the best and brightest don’t stay around long, why morale is so low, why productivity is so low, and why nobody ever tells them the truth about anything.
If your organization has a The Office culture, do something about it today! Open the doors and turn on the lights. Better yet, get out of The Office and walk the floors. Be visible, accessible, and personable. Fear is a lousy, ineffective leadership tool. If you use it, it is hurting you and your organization. And, it will continue to hurt until you do something to change it—starting with changing yourself.
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© Copyright 2013 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
After 25 years, the traditional recognition award is a watch—recognition for long service (I got one). It says, well, “you have been here a long time.” Most employees would rather have received a rubber chicken about 20 years earlier.
That’s what they do at Yum Brands. CEO David Novak gives out rubber chickens as recognition for exemplary performance. Everyone wants a rubber chicken. It is proof that the company knows who is “bringing it” every day, or “saved the bacon” during an emergency. It is proof of being known and appreciated. Every employee wants to be known and appreciated—personally, not just as part of a group or team.
Now, rubber chicken awards may seem silly to you, but at YUM (KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell), they are a central part of a culture that says The Only Way To Make BIG Things Happen (the sub-title of Novak’s book) is by Taking People With You (the title of Novak’s book). Does it work? Oh, yeah. YUM has outperformed the S&P 500 by an average 12% per year since 1997. That means $1000 invested in the S&P 500 in 1997 would be worth about $1850 today; $1000 invested in YUM would be worth about $6500 today.
There is more to employee—or volunteer—morale and engagement than recognition alone, but it is a good starting place. What have you done lately to personally recognize employees (or volunteers) who “bring it” everyday, or have “saved the bacon” recently? It could be a personal note, a gift card for a car wash or lunch, a cup of coffee in your office, or a ______________________________. (You fill in the blank and let me know what has worked for you by sending a comment.)
If you are the leader, get started today. Right now, get up, go tell someone how much you appreciate her contribution to the organization. Better yet, give him a rubber chicken or _______________. Pick someone else and do it again tomorrow, and the day after, and….
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© Copyright 2013 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
We have had an unusually cool August—highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s. On one recent night I decided to sleep with the door to our screened porch open, looking forward to some cool fresh air as I had sweet dreams. About midnight or so, a passing skunk decided to turn my sweet dreams into a smelly nightmare. After closing up the house, it was back to bed, but the foul odor lingered through the night, spoiling my cool fresh air and sweet dreams.
Per Wikipedia, four-legged skunks stink up the place by squirting a liquid from “two glands, one on each side of the anus. These glands produce a mixture of sulfur-containing chemicals such as thiols, traditionally called mercaptans, which have a highly offensive smell.” I think I have seen two-legged skunks do the same thing in conference rooms and offices.
Gossip really stinks. That is why the Dave Ramsey organization has a rigid “no gossip” rule.
Arriving late to meetings really stinks. It is rude, sending a message that your time is more important than my time.
Talking too much really stinks. It is arrogant, sending a message that your opinion is more important than my opinion. (I was guilty of this in a Friday morning meeting.)
Laziness really stinks. If you don’t do your job, someone else will have to.
Self-focus really stinks. Your kids are cute, but they are not the cutest kids on the whole planet (my grandsons are), and not many people really want to hear a minute-by-minute account of your weekend.
__________________ really stinks. Fill in the blank and send it to me in a comment.
If you are the leader, it is your job to keep “mercaptans” out of your workplace. Skunks aren’t easy to reform, so you may have to get rid of them.
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© Copyright 2013 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company.
Have you ever been dissatisfied with the service you are receiving and asked to “speak to the owner”? Why? You expect to get better service from the owner than from an employee. It doesn’t always work, but often it does. Why? The owner has more at stake than the employee. Your future business is at stake. An owner has more to gain and more to lose than an employee, so an owner will look at every situation differently than an employee.
The truth of “think like an owner” inspired a leadership fad a few years back to “transform your company by getting your employees to think like owners.” The think-like-owners consultants made a lot of money trying to sell and implement this concept. By and large—like most fads—it has been a failure. Why?
In other words, only an owner can truly think like an owner.
However, there are some companies—Publix for example—where it works. Why? The company actually gives an ownership stake to all employees. From Forbes (August 12, 2013), The Wal-Mart Slayer by Brian Solomon: “All staffers who have put in 1000 work hours and a year of employment receive an additional 8.5% of their total pay in the form of Publix stock.” Now, that’s a real way to incentivize employees to think like owners. The result? Publix is more profitable by a wide margin than Wal-Mart, Kroger or Whole Foods.
The think-like-an-owner mantra is especially important at Publix because their highest priority is customer service (followed by quality, then price). They don’t even try to compete with Wal-Mart or Kroger on price. At Publix, it is all about serving the customer, so they fill the store with owners, not employees. It works.
There is more than one way to incentivize employees to provide good service, but don’t try think like an owner unless you plan to actually make them owners.
I would like to hear your ideas about incentivizing employees to provide great service. What have you seen work?
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© Copyright 2013 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
The military ranked first. Lawyers ranked last. Business executives were ranked only one notch above lawyers. The question was: How much do you think __________ contribute to the well-being of our society? The choices were:
The results of the Pew Research Center survey (4006 adults, April-May 2013) were:
You may be wondering, What about the politicians? Well, since many of them are lawyers….
I don’t want to argue with the results, but let me suggest that business execs (of which I have been one) deserve this rating because of highly public self-inflicted wounds. Every day, the WSJ and other business news outlets are reporting on business executive misbehavior:
I am saddened by the constant attack on capitalism in America today. But there is an easy way to stop it—operate businesses with integrity, values, a purpose greater than profit, and for the well-being of all stakeholders (owners, customers, employees and community), not just a few at the top. In other words, get out of the headlines!
I am not sure that business executives can ever rank higher than the military or doctors or clergy. But surely by conducting our affairs in an honest and balanced way, we could move up the list. If you are a business leader, it’s up to you. No one else is going to do it.
I would love to hear your comments about this subject.
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© Copyright 2013 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
I love Auntie Anne’s soft pretzels (upper level at Cool Springs Mall, and in airports everywhere). You can get them plain, with salt, with cinnamon, dipped in mustard and so on. My favorite: plain (those of you who know me well are not surprised).
Auntie Anne’s founder was Anne Beiler. Her husband’s parents loaned her $6000 in 1988 to buy a pizza/ice cream/pretzel store in a Downingtown, PA, indoor farmers market. The first store opened in February and the second came only five months later. After deciding to specialize on pretzels, the first year sales were $100,000—not too bad for a $6000 investment. The rest is history. Today, Auntie Anne’s (now owned by Focus Brands) has more than 1200 locations worldwide.
As the story is told by Dinah Eng in her article, Soft Pretzels out of Hard Times (Fortune, July 22, 2013), The Anne Beiler’s success formula was p1+p2+p3=P:
Actually, according to Beiler, there is an important F in the formula (p1+p2+p3+F=P) because one of her foundational values is her faith in God.
Is your enterprise foundering a bit? Why don’t you try the p1+p2+p3+F formula? Focus on the three little p’s—augmented with some F—instead of worrying about the big P. Not only will you enjoy leading more, you’ll also be more effective and the big P will come if you get the little p’s—and the F—right.
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© Copyright 2013 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
People are hired to do a job—get results. When they don’t, the easy and lazy course for leaders is a simple “get better or get out.” Actually that is not leading, it is bossing.
The truth is, unsatisfactory performance usually has a backstory—some facts bearing on the case. Effective leaders try to understand what it is, not to make excuses, but to make corrections if possible. After all, raising the performance level of a current employee (or volunteer) is often a lot easier than starting over with a new one.
Is the employee adequately trained?
Have we provided the tools needed to do the job in the time and to the level expected?
Are the performance expectations realistic and clear?
Does the employee have the intellectual and emotional capacity to do the job?
Is morale affecting the performance and if so, what is the cause of the morale problem?
Is the employee lazy? (Yes, some are.)
Are personal issues at home or here at the workplace distracting the employee?
Does this employee fit our culture and share our values?
Have we promoted the employee beyond his or her ability to perform?
Is this a job fit issue: the employee was great in her prior job, but not performing now?
And so on….
Now let me make it clear, getting results is mandatory. The purpose in digging out the backstory is not to find reasons for ignoring unsatisfactory performance. It is to find ways of fixing unsatisfactory performance. But if you can’t…well, you know what you need to do.
One final thought. Every performance appraisal is also an appraisal of self. If employee performance is unsatisfactory, it may be because your leadership is unsatisfactory. Sorry, but you needed to hear that.
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© Copyright 2013 by Dick Wells, The Hard lessons Company
The headline in the July 4th Tennessean was: “Vanderbilt University Medical Center Cuts Jobs.” The number of employees affected was unspecified, but later reports hinted it was about 300±. A VUMC spokesman clarified that the cuts were “not layoffs,” but were “focused on employees who scored below a certain threshold in performance evaluations.”
Of course, VUMC is being trashed by some for being heartless and interested only in money. Hmmm…I wonder about that since they provide over $200M (yes, $200M!) of free healthcare per year to uninsured and poor patients.
To put this in perspective, 300 people are only 2% of VUMC’s workforce of 16,000. I guarantee you that more than 2% are under-performing. In most large organizations (including ones I have led), upwards of 5-10% of employees aren’t really performing at the level needed and that they are paid for. So I say, “Bravo, Vanderbilt!” But I do have a few thoughts (learned the hard way) that might help VUMC—or your organization—keep out of the headlines when taking on the next 2%.
#1 Rather than doing all performance appraisals at the same time, spread them throughout the year. Every PA is important and deserves thoughtful, special attention, which is difficult when they are all due next week.
#2 Under-performers should be released when remedies have failed. (VUMC could have avoided the headlines by taking action one at a time instead of en masse.)
#3 Nothing said or written in a PA should ever be a surprise. The purpose of a PA is not to ambush an employee. Performance feedback—especially when negative—should be given when it occurs.
#4 Don’t use numerical ratings. Numbered systems put the employee’s focus solely on the rating instead of the actual performance. Whatever needs to be said, can be said without assigning a number to it.
#5 Minimize the use of adjectives to describe performance. Whether good or bad, try to express performance in terms of outcomes/results/etc.
#6 If overall performance is unsatisfactory, don’t expect the employee to agree with you. There are few people who will acknowledge they aren’t getting the job done. If they do agree, they will believe it is someone else’s fault. Don’t expect to hear “You’re right, I should be fired.”
#7 Working hard is not the same thing as getting results. Most people believe they should be rewarded for working hard and doing their best even if the results are unsatisfactory. After all, isn’t that what we teach our children? And by the way, almost all employees believe they are working hard. Don’t expect to hear “I’m lazy and deserve to be fired.”
#8 Underperforming employees will rarely fix themselves. It is your job as the leader to help them raise their performance. [I’ll discuss some of the reasons for underperformance in my next post.] However, if their performance can’t be raised, you need to do what VUMC did.
In Straight From The Gut, Jack Welch says, “Removing people will always be the hardest decision a leader faces. Anyone who enjoys doing it shouldn’t be on the payroll, and neither should anyone who can’t do it.”
Most leaders have a tendency to postpone the “hardest decisions” that affect people; I have certainly been guilty. In the long run, it never pays to tolerate underperformance in your organization. When you do, it can become the “norm.” Is that what you want?
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© Copyright 2013 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
It wasn’t long ago that HP (Hewlett-Packard) was out of favor with investors, employees, customers, and the always-quick-to-pile-on business press; the stock was in free-fall and the previous CEO had been fired after only eleven months on the job. Meg Whitman was named CEO in September 2011, but after about a year on the job, The Guardian (UK) headlined an article with Hewlett-Packard’s Meg Whitman Is Facing An Unwinnable Fight.
However, only seven months later, Forbes (in its June 10, 2013 issue) described Whitman as The Reluctant Savior Of Hewlett-Packard (by George Anders). The stock price has recovered, employee morale is recovering, customers are returning, and the Board is happy: “She’s the best CEO the company has had since its founders.”
Reading the Forbes article is worth your time: http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2013/05/22/meg-whitman-jolts-hp-as-its-reluctant-savior/. Two things about Whitman’s leadership that really resonated with me are:
#1 She “…knows that turnarounds call for repairing hundreds of small things rather than betting everything on a miracle cure that might be a mirage.”
#2 She purged the company of CEO Disease: executive parking lot—gone; CEO office—gone (she works from a cubicle); five star hotel bills—gone (she stays at Marriott Courtyards when possible).
What a difference a year makes! Ever heard that before? Well, it’s not always true. A year only makes a difference if that year is different in a positive way from the years that came before. If nothing changes, nothing will change. Meg Whitman is making sure that things change—things that ought to change.
How about you? Do you want things to be different a year from now in your personal life or at your company/church/home? It hinges on what YOU will do differently, starting now. Quit waiting on a miracle or someone else. You are the key to change—to the turnaround. Get started today.
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© Copyright 2013 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
There aren’t many jobs less fun than slopping hogs. But it has to be done. If someone doesn’t slop the hogs, then calamity will strike: NO BACON. What could be worse than that?
My friend, Leon Drennan, grew up on a 160 acre Kentucky farm. They raised hogs, cattle, and a few small crops (including tobacco). Leon’s first job on the farm was hog slopping. One step up from hog slopping was feeding the calves. It was a big day when his father trusted him enough to move from the pig pen to the calf pen. He had earned that trust by doing a great job at slopping hogs. And that is the same way any of us get out of the pig pen—we earn our way out.
If you or someone you know is stuck in the pig pen, the way out is:
Quit complaining. Be grateful you have a job.
Be the best hog slopper on the farm. Be so good that they can’t help but notice.
Prepare for the calf pen. Learn as much as you can about the care and feeding of calves.
Volunteer to feed the calves when the regular calf-feeder is out sick.
When the opportunity comes, grab it.
Escaping the pig pen happens at the intersection of opportunity and preparation. When opportunity knocks, be prepared! Leon was ready to feed the calves when the opportunity came. Much later, he was ready to lead a major division of HCA when the opportunity came.
If you are a mediocre hog slopper, why should anyone give you a chance at something else?
Never forget: the most important job you’ll ever have is the job you have now.
[For more on this subject, order 16 Stones at 16stonesbook.com or online.]
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© Copyright 2013 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
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