importance of executive buy-in Archive

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How to Turn Employees into Owners

Recognize This! – Understanding the meaning and value of our works turns us all into owners.

I’m writing this post as I wait in Dallas/Fort Worth airport for a flight to Europe, where I will transfer again before I finally arrive home in Dublin. And this is my second airport today. (I started out in New Orleans.) Because my travel for work tends to be long trips across many time zones (and usually with convoluted connections), my friends and family often ask if me if the travel wears on me. The answer, in the end, is “No.”

Of course, I’ve endured my fair share of travel headaches – missed connections, lost luggage, infuriating plane neighbors – but all in all, it’s more than worth it to me. Why? Because when I travel for work, I’m not traveling to “do my job.” I’m traveling somewhere, to meet with someone, to help them create a culture of appreciation. I’m helping to turn around organization cultures into ones in which employees can thrive, ones in which “thank you” is the norm.

And that is why I am an owner of Globoforce. I own this. I do what I do because I love what I do, yes, but also because I know what a dramatic difference it makes.

Take a look at this quote on the topic from Manufacturing Pulse:

“’People want to make a difference, to know that what they do from day to day is important,’ according to Loren Rodgers, executive director for the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO).Rodgers noted the importance of keeping employees informed about their own progress and about the company’s performance, adding that individual and team recognition also contribute to involvement. Working Better, published by NCEO, offers counsel by the organization’s founder Corey Rosen about developing a sense of ownership throughout an organization.”

Our CEO intentionally and very transparently updates all employees every quarter on how the company is doing financially, and by every department – major accomplishments, goals, targets for improvement. At the highest level, these updates give us all context for the meaning and value of our work. This cascades down to all employees through our recognition program, Globostars, as the primary method of daily connection and acknowledgement of individual and team successes and achievements.

We are all owners. We own this.

Are you an owner in your organization?

(For more on the importance of meaningful work, check out my post today on Compensation Café: Finding Meaning at Work (and Why Compensation Doesn’t Help).)

Case Study: Culture Fixes a Troubled Company

Recognize This! – A powerful, positive, appreciative culture is critical to a company’s recover.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal published a quite interesting article case study of Dynegy, Inc., in the article “Can a New Culture Fix Troubled Companies?” As the article points out:

“Increasingly, leaders of troubled businesses try to fix the company’s culture along with its bottom line. Since the financial crisis struck in 2008, CEOs have sought to improve collaboration and decision making, recognizing that a strong culture is ‘a critical component of their long-term success,’ says Nick Neuhausel, a partner at consulting firm Senn Delaney, which advised Dynegy.”

Throughout the article, using Dynegy as the example, I see three key components of how to change your culture while keeping a focus on strategy guidance.

1) Rebuild Trust through Honest Conversations (and start at the top)

Dynegy CEO Bob Flexon began his culture overhaul by rebuilding trust within and among his senior leadership team:

“In June, the company’s 37 highest-ranking executives participated in a two-day offsite meeting led by Senn Delaney, which included trust-building exercises. In one drill, a pair of managers spent one minute expressing appreciation for each other’s work, then spent the next giving constructive criticism.”

Think about how you receive information such as this from others. Do you tend to push off praise or do you accept the positive feedback as emphasis of what you do well and where you excel? With constructive criticism, do you accept it in the spirit it is given or do you see it as an attack? Both versions of feedback are critical to honest conversations and healthy rebuilding of a company culture built on trust and recognition.

2) Base Performance Reviews on Your Cultural Hallmarks (Core Values)

Dynegy first focused their energy around specific core values and then looked for ways to bring those values to life for employees:

“Then, executives tried to carry out their pledges. Employees got performance reviews for the first time in two years, with bosses judging their subordinates in part on whether they embraced the core values.”

Building your core values into the performance review process is a key step in carrying your values throughout the work. However, an opportunity remains for Dynegy to do better in this area by not limiting this feedback to once a year from one person, but expanding the opportunity for all to contribute positive feedback on everyone else who lives the values throughout the year. (This is the essence of the crowdsourced performance review.)

3) Establish Culture Champions

Let me be clear. Every employee owns your company culture. All are equally responsible for contributing to the culture. That said, establishing culture champions is a smart move. Empower these champions to reinforce your culture and your goals. Here’s an example from Dynegy:

“Meanwhile, 15 specially trained ‘culture champions’ are attempting to reinforce the message. At meetings, one such champion, Chief Administrative Officer Carolyn J. Burke, says she sometimes chastens a colleague for tapping on his BlackBerry by declaring, ‘Hey Joe, be here now.’”

Has your organization undergone a culture revolution? What steps were taken and how was the new culture implemented?

Culture Drives Employee Engagement, Not the Other Way Around

Recognize This! – Executives are still missing the mark on understanding what employees need if they’re going to choose to engage fully in their work and achieving the organization’s objectives.

I greatly enjoyed the summary of Deloitte’s Core Beliefs and Culture survey in ChiefExecutive.net. The importance of company culture and it’s foundation – the core values and beliefs – are indisputably important to employees and their ability to engage in the organization and their work. Yet executives are still missing the mark on several points.

Thankfully, executives (94%) and employees (88%) alike agree company culture is important to business success. But there are big misses on several fronts, too.

Employees Say Strategy Is Nothing without Culture

I’ve written several posts on this point. Without culture, strategy cannot be fully effective. Employees agree, yet executives are still missing the point a bit.

“However, there’s more work to be done to close the gaps on other business priorities. The study indicates executives tend to prioritize a clearly defined business strategy (76%) above clearly defined and communicated core values and beliefs (62%), whereas employees value them equally (57% and 55%, respectively). Also, 70% of employees who agreed that their companies had performed well financially said their boss speaks to them often about culture. But only 19% of executives and 15% of employees believe strongly that their organization’s culture is widely upheld.”

Unless all employees – at every level – are committed to living the culture by demonstrating the core values in their daily work (and are reinforced, praised and recognized for doing so), then that last point above will remain lackluster.

What Employees Need to Be Engaged Is Different than Executive Expectations

In nearly every survey that even comes close to this topic, executives, leaders and managers always rank money in some form as most important to employee engagement, yet employees always rank better management (communication, recognition, opportunities to grow and learn, etc.) as what they really need if you want them to engage.

“The Core Beliefs and Culture survey found a consensus (83% of executives and 84% of employees) that having engaged and motivated employees is a top factor substantially contributing to company success. However, executives ranked tangible elements such as financial performance (65%) and competitive compensation (62%) most highly as drivers of employee engagement, while employees rated more highly the intangible elements of regular and candid communications (50%) and access to management/leadership (49%).”

Someday, the cumulative weight of all these surveys will have to sink in for executives. It’s part of my mission to speed that process along.

Executives Don’t Do as Well as They Think at Living the Core Values

Your employees are watching, closely. Are you really living the core values? They are following your lead, so be sure you as a manager as setting the right example.

“Deloitte’s survey indicated a significant gap between executive belief and employee perception, often punctuated by executive overstatement. For instance, 84% of executives believe senior leadership regularly communicates their company’s core values and beliefs. Only 67% of employees feel that is true. In terms of “practicing what one preaches,” 81% of executives compared to 69% of employees believe senior leadership acts in accordance with the company’s core values and beliefs.”

Please chime in in comments, but tell me if you’re in management or are an individual contributor – what do you value most? What do you most need to be engaged in your organization?

The Negative Side of Leadership Influence on Company Culture

Recognize This! – Leaders must promote, encourage and demonstrate themselves an attitude of appreciation and support to create a positive, engaging culture of recognition.

Senior executives have the most influence over culture. Yes, all employees contribute to the culture, but we all look to senior leaders and follow their example.

In most cases, this is a good thing, especially when executives promote, support and actively demonstrate their commitment to a culture of recognition and appreciation. But this is not always the case. When executives promote the opposite – an attitude of arrogance, unhealthy competition and incivility – employees (and the culture) will follow

In SmartBlog on Leadership, Chris Edmonds points out:

“Recent research from Weber Shandwick indicates that more than 4 in 10 Americans have experienced workplace incivility, and 38% of Americans believe that the workplace is becoming more uncivil and disrespectful than a few years ago…

“Who is to blame for the lack of workplace civility? In the Weber Shandwick study, 65% of respondents put the responsibility on the shoulders of workplace leaders. That’s in line with my assessment; I believe leaders condemn or condone behavior in the workplace, by proactive action or intentional disregard or something in between.”

Note in particular Chris’ last point – leader inaction is just as strong in promoting a negative culture. Leaders, by nature of being called leaders, have a responsibility to encourage and demonstrate themselves the behaviors and actions they want to see from all employees. Ideally, this will be in line with the organization’s core values, but again, this is not always the case.

Research presented in Harvard Business Review tells the story:

“In our current HBR article, we present research findings that about one in four people are rude because their bosses are rude. Employees notice what seems to be working then they follow that lead, for better or worse. Some of you wrote to us that your bosses were rude as a way of creating distance — a way to show who’s boss, to set themselves apart. Others reported that managers had encouraged them to be rude.

“We heard, for instance: ‘[B]eing respectful of others is a part of our culture [but] I have been told by my C-level management to step up and be a b**** and an a******. They even asked me to repeat it after them in the meaning. I actually had a manager advise me to … make my employees feel more uncomfortable around me.’”

It doesn’t matter one whit what you say your culture is if everyone –from leadership on down – does not live that culture. “Integrity” was part of Enron’s culture, and all know how that ended up when leadership actively promoted unethical behaviors.

Do your leaders promote a healthy, positive culture through their own actions, or an unhealthy, negative culture?

Barclays CEO on Company Values – Live Them or Leave

Recognize This! – Your core values, the foundation of your company culture, cannot be points of negotiation in the daily work. Your CEO must lead and reinforce that message.

Over the weekend, I was thrilled to see a stark and riveting example of a CEO fearlessly leading culture change in his organization – Antony Jenkins, CEO of Barclays Bank.

Osney Media pointed out research from CIPD and Edelman showing the dramatic dip in employee “trust” in their senior leaders. The article then goes on to share the dramatic step Mr. Jenkins took to change that perception at Barclays:

“Last year the UK’s CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) warned that corporate and executive scandals were eroding employee trust in their employers. Their 2012 Employee Outlook survey, which questioned more than 2,000 employees, revealed that only 36% felt a level of trust in their senior leaders. It said lack of trust was having a ‘damaging’ impact on employee engagement with their work…

“The 2013 edition of the annual Edelman Trust Barometer, released ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week, explores rising and falling levels of trust across 26 markets and 35,000 people and found ‘a very significant crisis of leadership’. Heads of financial institutions did particularly poorly…

“In a bid to win back the trust of their customers and employees alike, it was announced last week that the CEO of Barclays Bank, Antony Jenkins, had told 140,000 staff worldwide they would be expected to adopt a new set of values, or leave the company. In a memo to all staff Jenkins said: ‘We must never again be in a position of rewarding people for making the bank money in a way which is unethical or inconsistent with our values. Unless we operate to the highest standards and our stakeholders trust us to behave with integrity, no business – and certainly no financial institution – can continue to be successful.’

“Barclays employees have been told to adopt five key values: respect, integrity, service, excellence and stewardship. Jenkins warned: ‘There might be some who don’t feel they can fully buy in to an approach which so squarely links performance to the upholding of our values. ‘My message to those people is simple: Barclays is not the place for you. The rules have changed. You won’t feel comfortable at Barclays and, to be frank, we won’t feel comfortable with you as colleagues.’”

Would that all CEOs lead so firmly and clearly on their culture. That’s fairly straightforward – “Live and work by our values, or leave.”

This statement from the CEO is all well and good, but how do you make those values stick? This was the central question featured in a Financial Times article on much the same topic:

“It is a strong start to reforming the bank’s culture but, as Barclays’ recent history shows, the problem with values statements is making them stick. For, even as some employees were fiddling the London interbank offered rate and selling customers interest rate swaps and unnecessary payment protection insurance, the bank already had an apparently robust code of conduct…

“Bob Diamond [former Barclays CEO] said in a radio lecture in late 2011: ‘Culture is difficult to define. I think it’s even more difficult to mandate. But, for me, the evidence of culture is how people behave when no one is watching.’”

But what if everyone is watching? What if you were to empower every employee in the organization as cultural ambassadors, responsible for noticing and appreciating the good work happening around them every day – especially when that effort is in line with the core values?

You’re not encouraging people to be spies and report negatively on their colleagues, but instead to recognize and praise each other regularly, frequently and specifically for living the core values as they get the work done. With that kind of big data now available to you in real-time, quick-view infographic reporting through a strategic, social recognition program, you can easily see which employees (or entire divisions) are not being recognized for certain values. Now you know where you need to intervene, retrain, or take other action.

Do you trust your executive leaders? Do most employees? How strongly does your CEO promote a culture based on your values?

How Fiefdoms Destroy Company Culture (and What You Can Do about It)

Recognize This! – Allowing local leaders to create fiefdoms for their own advancement seriously impacts organizational culture strength and validity.

This morning I had breakfast with a friend, Martha. As friends do over coffee and pastry, we filled each other in on the latest happenings in our work and personal lives. I was particularly concerned about Martha’s work experiences as her company has gone through some “right sizing” in recent months. As part of the restructuring, the groups in her building have officially divided into two formal divisions within the larger organization.

The outcome, while beneficial in some ways, was detrimental in others. One division, I’ll call them Alpha, in particular believes they deserve to be entirely separate and have no need to participate with the Bravo people (the other division) at all. Keep in mind, these divisions share the same building and facilities.

Why is this so bad? Here’s just one example. Martha heads up the employee recognition team for the Bravo division. She coordinates pizza lunches, bagel breakfasts, holiday events and the like. (While I will argue this isn’t real recognition, the example still highlights the dysfunction.) She was informed last week that the Alpha group doesn’t want to participate in the “thing” Bravo does and will create their own. Of course, this generated ill will, not the least of which is a result of Alpha not stepping up to create their own recognition solution.

The problems run much more deeply, however. Martha’s company offers a glimpse into why multiple disparate recognition programs cause problems.

Fiefdoms Destroy Culture

The senior leader of the Alpha group was a driving force behind the decision to split the group into two formal divisions. There’s a reason team members call him “Napoleon.” Indeed, Napoleon has effectively built himself his own little fiefdom within the larger company. He runs things his way, without concern for the larger needs or desires of the entire organization. (A fiefdom is very different from an organizational division or business unit. Business units exist for valid business-based reasons. Fiefdoms exist for the glorification of the local leader.)

The company itself has a strong culture. These fiefdoms are rapidly eroding that culture. Employees within Alpha do not feel part of the larger group, many see themselves as distinctly different and separately entitled. Are Alpha employees as committed to the overall company goals and mission? I wonder.

Localized Employee Recognition & Satisfaction Programs Prop Up Fiefdoms

By choosing to “go their own way” with employee recognition, Alpha further distances themselves from the rest of the organization. This is why we strongly advocate as best practice a single strategic, social recognition program for the entire organization as this is the most efficient, positive (and cost effective) way to create one culture across the entire organization. When done right, strategic recognition reinforces the company’s overall core values and strategic objectives, uniting all employees in a common vision and mission.

Executives Must Take Control of the Culture (and Recognition)

Executives must stop propping up fiefdoms in their organization. They must take control of their culture, which is most easily done through strategic recognition. Again, when done right, strategic, social recognition generates the big data necessary to see your culture in action, everywhere, in all divisions, across all employees. That’s simply not possible when fiefdoms are allowed to create their own approaches.

If a company decides to pursue one culture of appreciation through a single, universal (or global) strategic recognition program for all employees, then executives must step up and clearly, firmly inform divisional leaders (especially fiefdom lords) that local recognition programs will no longer be funded or encouraged. The expectation is for all units to join into a One Company culture and engage with each other through the single recognition solution.

Does your company have fiefdoms? How do they affect your overall culture?

3 Reasons Why CEOs Must Lead Company Culture

Recognize This! – Companies are only as good as the people in it. Be sure your leadership team reflects your CEO’s goals, vision and values.

On a fairly regular basis, I blog about CEO wisdom I’ve read in the New York Times “Corner Office column. Victoria Ransom, chief executive of Wildfire, was featured in Sunday’s column. Her entire interview is chock-full of excellent insight and advice around core values, company culture and talent management practices. I’ve spotlighted three below.

Your Leaders Reflect You – Choose Wisely

As a company grows, the CEO cannot be everywhere at the same time. Leaders must carry the CEO’s message and passion deep into the organization. Leaders who don’t hurt your culture.

“You’re only as good as the leaders you have underneath you… You might think that because you’re projecting our values, then the rest of the company is experiencing the values. What you realize is that the direct supervisors become the most important influence on people in the company. Therefore, a big part of leading becomes your ability to pick and guide the right people…

“I think the best way to undermine a company’s values is to put people in leadership positions who are not adhering to the values. Then it completely starts to fall flat until you take action and move those people out, and then everyone gets faith in the values again. It can be restored so quickly. You just see that people are happier.”

Be Deliberate – Don’t Count on Culture by Osmosis

Your values displayed on a plaque on the wall do nothing to help your employees understand what those values mean in their everyday work. Determine your values, then make them real by encouraging all employees to notice and appreciate their colleagues for demonstrating those values.

“As we got bigger, we were expecting a lot of our people — that they could somehow just come in as new hires and through osmosis figure out what our values were. Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them? The values are here already, but let’s make it clear what they are, particularly because you want the new people who are also hiring to really know the values… Some companies’ values are really about what the company stands for. We took more of the approach of what we look for in our people.”

Evaluate, Hire and Fire Based on Your Values

Your values should guide positive actions such as recognition as much as negative actions such as removing those employees who consistently demonstrate they cannot live by your core values. These employees rapidly become toxic to the organization and just one can destroy a culture.

“Another reason was that we had to fire a few people because they didn’t live up to the values. If we’re going to be doing that, it’s really important to be clear about what the values are. I think that some of the biggest ways we showed that we lived up to our values were when we made tough decisions about people, especially when it was a high performer who somehow really violated our values, and we took action. I think it made employees feel like, ‘Yeah, this company actually puts its money where its mouth is.’ … We also wanted to put in more of a formal procedure for reviews, and if we’re going to review people, let’s be clear about the criteria when we consider whether they are living up to the company culture.”

How central are your values to your organization? Do your leaders reflect your CEO’s priorities?

Wisdom from Leaders: Globoforce

Recognize This! – We often don’t need to look far afield to learn important lessons from leaders. Don’t forget to look to your own CEO.

In keeping with my blog theme this week of wisdom from CEOs, I’d like to share the wisdom I learned from my CEO just this week.

Right now I’m at my company’s annual kickoff meeting, which we call Ignite. A tradition since the beginning, Ignite is a tremendous opportunity to network with colleagues from around the world, learn the latest exciting news, and – most importantly – hear the strategic direction set by our CEO, Eric Mosley.

The key piece of wisdom shared by Eric is the importance of focus. We must keep our focus as we continue to grow by helping our clients achieve their ambitions and success goals through new cultures of recognition. But what must we focus on?

What we do – We must not ever become confused about what we do. We must maintain laser-like focus on our reason for being as a company – to deliver the world’s most innovative social, strategic employee recognition programs that change a company’s culture into one in which employees want to engage.
How we succeed – We are not successful unless our clients are successful – every one. That is our definition of success. When our clients achieve and surpass their own goals, and we help them envision and then achieve even greater success in the future, then Globoforce is a success as well.
Where we lead – We do not follow. We do not imitate. We innovate, create and push the boundaries of the power of social, strategic recognition ever forward. We are always ahead of the market, delivering new solutions to solve problems many don’t even realize could be solved through the big data available in a truly strategic recognition program.

Focus is critical in any organization for success. The challenge, however, often lies in communicating to employees not only what they must focus on (that’s the easy part), but how – in their individual roles every day – they can deliver the results and demonstrate the behaviors required for that focus.

What does your CEO focus on? How do you, in your role, contribute to achieving your CEO’s goals?

Lessons from Leaders: ZL Technologies

Recognize This! – Be willing to frustrate employees if doing so helps them develop into leaders themselves.

This week, I’m focusing on leadership lessons from top executives. Today’s insight comes from Kon Leong, co-founder, president and chief executive of ZL Technologies, in an interview in The New York Times “Corner Office” column.

Since my last couple of posts were rather long, I’ll keep today’s short. When asked what it’s like to work for him, Mr. Leong responded:

“Certain aspects of my management style are extremely frustrating. There are many, many questions posed to me, many decisions asked of me. I try not to make them. I respond with more questions, because I want them to find the answer. It can be very frustrating to my employees, but I’m trying to get others to scale up and learn. They understand and accept my approach, but many still feel frustrated because they just want the answer.”

From this one paragraph, I see three clear leadership lessons:

1) Avoid the easy path.

It’s often more expedient and easier to simply make decisions for others. Indeed, many would describe that as the job of the senior executive – to make the hard decisions. But wise senior leaders know others will never develop into true leaders themselves unless they learn the process for finding the answers themselves. Yes, you should coach people in how to find the answer, but don’t make the decisions for them. (In fact, it can be quite harmful to do so as making too many decisions leads to decision fatigue and ultimate poorer outcomes.)

2) Create opportunities for others to grow and develop.

Most organizations have clearly defined career paths and learning and development programs. And these are good and valuable. However, also be sure to take advantage of opportunities in the course of the daily work to help others grow and develop. As mentioned above, let them (or, rather, insist on them) making key business decisions, even as you mentor through the process.

3) Be willing to frustrate people to help them grow.

Understand that this management approach won’t always make you popular and may make employees who “just want to get it done” think you’re delaying progress. Be willing to play that role in order to create the opportunities to grow the next generation of leaders in your company.

What management style frustrates you? Can you see ways in which that style could actually be to your benefit?

Wisdom from “Best Companies” Leaders: Southwest Airlines

Recognize This! – Regardless of the size of your organization, pay attention to your people. They are your business.

Continuing this week’s series of lessons learned from top executives are brilliant insights from Herb Kelleher, founder and chairman emeritus of Southwest Airlines (featured in this Fortune cover story).

The Foundation of Leadership – Get Out of Their Way

Trust your employees. You hired them for their skills, knowledge and talents. Unless they need you, get out of their way and let them do what they do best.

“Be there when [employees are] having problems, and stay out of their way when things are going well.”

Pay Attention to Your People – And Never Stop

Companies of any size can put their people first. This dynamic shouldn’t change as the organization grows. It may require more commitment, but it can be done. And, just like working on employee engagement, you’re never done.

“The concept is simple, but the execution takes a lot of work and a lot of attention. If you’re going to pay personal attention to each of your people, for instance, and every grief and every joy that they suffer in their lives, you really have to have a tremendous network for gathering information.

“We want to show them they’re important to us as who they are, as people… It’s not formulaic. The way I describe it is this huge mosaic that you’re always adding little pieces to make it work. And it’s not a job that you do for six months and then you just say, ‘Well, that’s behind us.’ It’s something you do every day.”

Culture Trumps Strategy

It doesn’t matter what your strategy is if you’re people cannot, will not, or don’t know how to accomplish that strategy.

“Some people will say, ‘Well, this is not a strategy,’ because they like the word ‘strategy.’ You know, it sounds important, like the Strategic Air Command. And I’d say, ‘Well, here’s how I differentiate.’ I think it was Tolstoy, if I remember correctly, who said, ‘How does Napoleon march onto a balcony in France and get a whole bunch of French troops to march into Russia to their death?’ And I said, ‘Well, the strategy involved was his imperial ambitions, right? But what made the troops march? The culture.’ And I said, ‘It’s the troops marching that defines the culture.’”

Core Values Drive Business Expediency & Efficiency

Business in the 21^st century is driven by speed and efficiency – the ability to react quickly to rapid change in the marketplace and in the world. Having a clear, concise set of core values helps you make those necessary decisions more quickly.

“I’ve always thought that having a simple set of values for a company was also a very efficient and expedient way to go. And I’ll tell you why. Because if somebody makes a proposal and it infringes on those values, you don’t study it for two years. You just say, ‘No, we don’t do that.’ And you go on quickly. So I think that contributes to efficiency.”

What are the driving factors in your organization? Your people? Your values? Your culture? What moves your business forward?

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

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