by CHRC | Oct 7, 2020 | Corporate Culture, Creativity at Work, Fail Forward, Innovation, Leadership, Pivoting, Strategy
The Larch
No—but a laugh. And some humor. And why should that be so completely different at work?
A recent article in The Economist focused on the importance of humor in the office. Your first response:
What is funny right now?
and
No one is IN the office!
But it took me back to an article that must be well over 30 years old. It was an interview with John Cleese about management. John Cleese, who I associate with Monty Python and providing the serious segues between silly segments, made two points that have stayed with me three decades later:
- Don’t create a culture where people are so scared to make a mistake, that when you ask them what time it is, they will say between 1:00 and 2:00 rather than tell you it is 1:10 for fear it might really be 1:15. He asked: one is a right answer, one is a wrong answer, but which answer is of more use to you?
- Humor is a useful tool because when people laugh, you know that they understand.
Humor is essential if you are going to build a creative environment, because for that sort of environment to thrive, people have to take chances and yes—make mistakes. When mistakes are made, chuckles, not chastising, are required.
As we begin whatever phase we are entering in this Autumn of Covid, creativity will be required. Again. Just when everyone feels like they have used up every ounce of the creative juices they have, taking chances, making mistakes, improvising … is all going to be required of everyone. The best leaders are going to have to know how to foster it, sustain it, and reward it.
Yes, Zooming makes office humor a bit more complicated. Nuance and timing are definitely more challenging. But you can find ways to send reminders of past office hilarity—be it a physical gift or a meme that summarizes something unique about your workplace, or what you enjoy about working with your colleagues.
These unpredictable times call for out of the box solutions and the ability to improvise. It calls for wrong answers and exercising new muscles. Have you set up your organization to do any of this? Or laughed at yourself when you get it wrong.
by CHRC | Sep 16, 2020 | Covid-19, Leadership, Performance Management, Strategy, Work From Home
It’s mid-September, when people should be getting:
- Back from vacations
- Back to school
- Back to work
Except
- Vacations? Very few people took those, certainly not the ones they had anticipated
- The whole school thing—depends
- Back to work … or back to Zoom?
Yet, there is a sense that people feel like they should be getting back into a routine, like there should be some sense of normal to return to … that normal most of us left in mid-March.
We have been collecting articles and prophecies on the post-Covid world, especially the post-Covid workplace since April. Yet we are nowhere near that. Standing in line for an elevator the other day, I was speculating that perhaps printers of large, durable floor stickers are the winners in this Covid-economy.
So how do those at the helm of businesses, be they large or small, attempt to strategize for this new world? You need to have a monocle on one eye and a telescope on the other. Even to survive in the medium term will require innovation, and that requires your best people.
Right now, all your folks are stretched and stressed, so assume your best folks are as well. Your best folks might be the most stressed and stretched because they are probably conscientious at everything they do. So, value those capable of driving the innovation, and be aware of what will make them productive right now. You might never know about the immuno-suppressed partner or parent that prevents that healthy looking employee from coming to work each day. Your employee may have successfully hidden an auto-immune issue for years and does not want to disclose it now. Innovate your management style and develop new management skills in order to retain your key talent.
Really think through who must return to your physical office despite the September instinct we all have. Would you rather Zoom with a trusted, vital resource, or have to start recruiting for their replacement? Read More Here
by CHRC | Sep 2, 2020 | Corporate Culture, Leadership, Strategy
A deflated basketball sat on Coach’s desk to remind every player that basketball glory could be fleeting; they were one injury away from having to pivot from the sport. If they had nothing else, then what?
When I started college, I couldn’t have imagined that one of the greatest teachers would be a professor I never had, nor a subject I never studied. It is easy to forget that in 1982, college basketball was still a local sport. No ESPN, no CBS Sports. All I knew was that Georgetown had a basketball team, and I heard that they had a strong coach.
No talented young man was going to go play for Big John unless they were willing to play by his rules. They were going to be a student-athlete, emphasis on the student. They sat in the front row in class; not always convenient for the rest of us. They didn’t miss class; not unless they wanted a 5:00 am practice the next day! Study hall and tutors were not optional. The discipline he expected off the court could be summed up by why he never wanted his Freshman talking to the press: “[these are] dumb college kids.” Not pejorative, but realistic. In the early to mid-1980s, many outside of the Georgetown community were skeptical of Thompson’s tactics, but Coach Thompson had a longer-term strategy; he was building a culture.
“I don’t coach their team,” Mr. Thompson famously declared, “They play on my team.”
After a sports injury, I saw this culture first-hand in the training rooms of Georgetown Athletics. I observed many examples of how Coach’s expectations of his players meant that they treated others with dignity and respect. One example especially stands out: One day postseason, I witnessed a 7 foot player cower when the 5’ 7” female trainer told him he wasn’t working hard enough. He respected her authority and expertise–and got back to work.
In 1994, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras wrote a book called Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. One aspect that the authors highlighted was that organizations with strong corporate cultures had higher returns. I have seen this time and time again in business, and one of the first places I had seen it work well was with John Thompson’s Hoyas. The management term for this is self-selection. When you create, build, and sustain a strong culture, you typically only attract those that want to be a part of that culture. In turn, they succeed in that culture; and therefore, continue to sustain it.
Coach Thompson built that culture and success followed. Georgetown won an NCAA championship under Big John. While some players made it to the NBA, others went on to successful non-sports related careers and lives. That’s because Coach understood that playing basketball was part of the journey, not always the destination. His job was to accompany the young men along this journey and create success not just on the court, but for the rest of their lives.
In college, I never imagined a career path in Management or Human Resources. I had no idea that these players and coaches I watched would become powerful examples of good leadership. This week, I have been stunned by all the articles and commentary about Coach; it is amazing to see how far and wide his influence stretched. While others continue to herald all that John Thompson, Jr. did for the game, the players, and the hearts (and heart attacks!) of fans, I will personally always hold the coach in high esteem for the management lessons he was teaching me—without me even realizing it.
After all, I was just a dumb college kid, what did I know? Read More Here
by CHRC | Aug 26, 2020 | Competencies, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Human Capital, Productivity, Skilled Labor, Work Place
Everyone predicted it back in the spring. We even addressed some of the childcare issues that concerned people back in May on our blog.
But, we’re still here. Summer is ending, some schools have started (even if only virtually), and the picture isn’t any prettier. Are you willing to lose one of your best workers over two hours a day? Have you ever had someone resign when their mother died? Well, get ready…
An executive was stunned by the number of times that female employees resigned when their mother died. He couldn’t figure it out. Fortunately, other females connected the dots for him: their mothers had provided essential childcare; without mom/grandma, they could no longer work. This executive then connected other dots too. Leaving children at home, with no way to get to and from school, or no way to get to after school activities, was worth losing income and childcare.
And all of this was Pre-Covid.
This article from HR Executive provides some ways to start thinking differently, so that you and your company might be able to be as prepared as possible, and put all those agile thinking skills to use when your star performer comes in ready to quit. Read More Here
by CHRC | Aug 19, 2020 | Compensation, Corporate Culture, Skilled Labor, Work Place
Back in May when we first warned of the quicksand that awaited employers flirting with basing pay on where people lived, we approached it from a technical compensation perspective. When I came across this article last night, I knew we had to revisit the topic from the right point of view—corporate strategy.
I had never heard of this CEO or company before, but looked up both after reading this article. Ian White has many quote-worthy quips in this article, but up front he reminds ALL employers that:
Companies have a responsibility to pay their employees fairly and on time, but that’s where their control ends. The manager who chooses to move into an expensive high-rise downtown doesn’t deserve to make more money than their peers who choose to buy a modest home in the suburbs or live with their parents to save on rent.
He echoes many of the sentiments we made back in May, but most importantly he reminds all of something that we often stress—don’t copy a practice that another company is doing if it doesn’t fit with your culture. Read More Here
