Ford Business Consulting
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
May 09, 2008
Leadership - a renewable resource
Hooray – in just a week, I’m leaving for vacation! I’m exited to have some time off, explore new places, meet new people, and just generally unwind. It’s been about two years since I took more than just a long weekend so I’m feeling somewhat overdue for a break.
The break is important to me personally but it’s also a key part of keeping my creativity and my energy high for my work. It recharges my brain and gets me refreshed for the next project. Basically, it’s good for my productivity and therefore my bottom line.
How about you? When is the last time you took at least two weeks off work? So long you can't remember? If so, you might consider taking a real vacation soon.
I can imagine that many of you are thinking, "Yeah, yeah - when I have the time I'll think about it." Perhaps it seems like your own renewal is a luxury, an indulgence you'll consider when all your work is done. I want to encourage you to view it more as an investment in your organization's success.
Answer these three questions:
1. Does your performance level significantly affect the results your organization achieves?
2. Is your performance level affected by your mental state, whether you are tired or alert, energized or burned out, satisfied or frustrated?
3. Are you currently feeling a bit fried from working too hard and too long?
If you answered "yes" to even two of these questions, you know where I'm going with this. YOU are a key asset to your organization. That asset should be managed in a way that increases its value. That means that your personal renewal is vital to your organization's success. So go ahead, take a break. You deserve it and so does your organization.
I'll talk to you again in June, when I'm refreshed and renewed.
--MORE--The break is important to me personally but it’s also a key part of keeping my creativity and my energy high for my work. It recharges my brain and gets me refreshed for the next project. Basically, it’s good for my productivity and therefore my bottom line.
How about you? When is the last time you took at least two weeks off work? So long you can't remember? If so, you might consider taking a real vacation soon.
I can imagine that many of you are thinking, "Yeah, yeah - when I have the time I'll think about it." Perhaps it seems like your own renewal is a luxury, an indulgence you'll consider when all your work is done. I want to encourage you to view it more as an investment in your organization's success.
Answer these three questions:
1. Does your performance level significantly affect the results your organization achieves?
2. Is your performance level affected by your mental state, whether you are tired or alert, energized or burned out, satisfied or frustrated?
3. Are you currently feeling a bit fried from working too hard and too long?
If you answered "yes" to even two of these questions, you know where I'm going with this. YOU are a key asset to your organization. That asset should be managed in a way that increases its value. That means that your personal renewal is vital to your organization's success. So go ahead, take a break. You deserve it and so does your organization.
I'll talk to you again in June, when I'm refreshed and renewed.
Labels: leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
January 15, 2008
Authentic leadership
I recently had a chance to catch up with Julie Puentes, one of the graduates of the MSOLE (Masters of Science in Organizational Leadership and Ethics) program at St. Edward's. She's integrated a lifelong love of horses with a passion for authentic leadership to create some amazing development opportunities for leaders. Here are some snippets from our conversation. You can read more about Julie's work at www.LeadershipBridges.com.
I love your work with the horses as a vehicle for developing leadership. I know you love horses but why horses for leadership development?
Horses provide a safe and fun environment to practice and experiment with your emotions, actions, and intuition. They act as feedback agents for us, reacting to our most subtle changes in thoughts, emotions, intention, and focus. The horses are not judgmental in their reactions to us, but they do react in very clear and immediate ways in response to our behavior and feelings, so we cannot help but to become aware of the effect we are having on them and others. It enables people to take a cerebral idea and then bring into an actual experience that can easily be translated back to the workplace and interactions with people. It is also accurate because horses react authentically all the time. It can be much easier to know where you stand with a horse than with people sometimes!
The awareness leaders gain in the exercises with the horses goes a long way in helping them act and communicate from a place of authenticity. Authenticity is important when you talk about leadership effectiveness because it creates resonance among individuals and teams. Resonance means that a leader has struck an emotional chord with others by tapping into their emotions and is thus able to move them in a positive direction.
So getting unfiltered feedback is important to our self-awareness?
Yes, horses help us look at ourselves honestly and give us an accurate portrayal about which of our behaviors work and which ones don’t. They help us utilize our intuition, effectively direct our intention, and give us immediate positive feedback when we are being authentic. So, a leader gets a crash course in building his or her emotional intelligence, develops awareness and the ability to be authentic and create resonance.
Good stuff, Julie. How does that help the leader be more successful?
These skills translate into improving a leader’s ability to run his business because he will be better able to:
• Develop teams that are, congruent and engaged which increases productivity.
• Drive a business culture that fosters open two-way communication and dialogue in which people feel comfortable delivering bad news as well as good news so that everyone has the information they need, including the leader himself.
This open and honest environment promotes better decision-making from the leader and his employees.
No question that this has a huge impact on the bottom-line of the business. This is truly just the tip of the iceberg of what can be achieved with more authenticity in the workplace. The horses are a wonderful, fun, incredibly effective, experiential way to explore this and enhance leadership.
Thanks for sharing these ideas with my blog readers, Julie!
PS. For those of you in Central Texas, Julie is leading an open enrollment workshop at the Crossings, March 31-April 3. Great opportunity to learn more about this wonderful work!
For more information about Julie or her workshops and coaching: www.leadershipbridges.com or jpuentes@leadershipbridges.com.
--MORE--I love your work with the horses as a vehicle for developing leadership. I know you love horses but why horses for leadership development?
Horses provide a safe and fun environment to practice and experiment with your emotions, actions, and intuition. They act as feedback agents for us, reacting to our most subtle changes in thoughts, emotions, intention, and focus. The horses are not judgmental in their reactions to us, but they do react in very clear and immediate ways in response to our behavior and feelings, so we cannot help but to become aware of the effect we are having on them and others. It enables people to take a cerebral idea and then bring into an actual experience that can easily be translated back to the workplace and interactions with people. It is also accurate because horses react authentically all the time. It can be much easier to know where you stand with a horse than with people sometimes!
The awareness leaders gain in the exercises with the horses goes a long way in helping them act and communicate from a place of authenticity. Authenticity is important when you talk about leadership effectiveness because it creates resonance among individuals and teams. Resonance means that a leader has struck an emotional chord with others by tapping into their emotions and is thus able to move them in a positive direction.
So getting unfiltered feedback is important to our self-awareness?
Yes, horses help us look at ourselves honestly and give us an accurate portrayal about which of our behaviors work and which ones don’t. They help us utilize our intuition, effectively direct our intention, and give us immediate positive feedback when we are being authentic. So, a leader gets a crash course in building his or her emotional intelligence, develops awareness and the ability to be authentic and create resonance.
Good stuff, Julie. How does that help the leader be more successful?
These skills translate into improving a leader’s ability to run his business because he will be better able to:
• Develop teams that are, congruent and engaged which increases productivity.
• Drive a business culture that fosters open two-way communication and dialogue in which people feel comfortable delivering bad news as well as good news so that everyone has the information they need, including the leader himself.
This open and honest environment promotes better decision-making from the leader and his employees.
No question that this has a huge impact on the bottom-line of the business. This is truly just the tip of the iceberg of what can be achieved with more authenticity in the workplace. The horses are a wonderful, fun, incredibly effective, experiential way to explore this and enhance leadership.
Thanks for sharing these ideas with my blog readers, Julie!
PS. For those of you in Central Texas, Julie is leading an open enrollment workshop at the Crossings, March 31-April 3. Great opportunity to learn more about this wonderful work!
For more information about Julie or her workshops and coaching: www.leadershipbridges.com or jpuentes@leadershipbridges.com.
Labels: interviews, leadership, learning
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
January 08, 2008
Can Schultz put the buzz back in Starbucks coffee?
It's happening again – another founder returning to the helm when things aren't going well. Can Schultz do for Starbucks what Jobs has done for Apple?
Today's Wall Street Journal (January 8, 2008) notes that Schultz plans to improve the customer experience and streamline management. His objectives include "re-igniting the emotional attachment with customers." Sure sounds like culture to me.
One of the most common challenges with the transition from the founding CEO to his replacement is that the culture has developed around the CEO's personality, style, and values. Some of that may be conscious and explicit but much of it "just happens." The organization often isn't aware of the specific assets and liabilities of the culture until well into the transition to the new CEO.
In the case of Starbucks, some of the internal practices (aka culture) that made Starbucks a huge success slowly drifted away under new leadership. Like Jobs at Apple, Schultz has a distinct style, his mojo, that helped make the organization successful. Can he reignite the organization with that style? My bet would be yes, he can. And that's a solid start to getting the numbers back on track.
How is your personal leadership style reflected in the way your organization does business? If you had a "culture balance sheet," what would your assets and liabilities be?
Linda Ford, PhD
--MORE--Today's Wall Street Journal (January 8, 2008) notes that Schultz plans to improve the customer experience and streamline management. His objectives include "re-igniting the emotional attachment with customers." Sure sounds like culture to me.
One of the most common challenges with the transition from the founding CEO to his replacement is that the culture has developed around the CEO's personality, style, and values. Some of that may be conscious and explicit but much of it "just happens." The organization often isn't aware of the specific assets and liabilities of the culture until well into the transition to the new CEO.
In the case of Starbucks, some of the internal practices (aka culture) that made Starbucks a huge success slowly drifted away under new leadership. Like Jobs at Apple, Schultz has a distinct style, his mojo, that helped make the organization successful. Can he reignite the organization with that style? My bet would be yes, he can. And that's a solid start to getting the numbers back on track.
How is your personal leadership style reflected in the way your organization does business? If you had a "culture balance sheet," what would your assets and liabilities be?
Linda Ford, PhD
Labels: change, corporate culture, leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
November 15, 2007
Why do we do it?
7:10pm on a Thursday evening. My brain says it's time to stop for the day. You know the feeling – it's harder to express yourself, maybe not so easy to hold three or four balls in the air at once. Studies have shown that after about 9 hours of work, software developers may be introducing more bugs into the code than they are adding value. All of us know what the equivalent feels like in our world.
And yet, we still succumb to the prevailing norm. Work more hours, take on more tasks, multitask more. In this week's Fortune, "Confessions of a CEO" tells the tale of Dominic Orr. Orr spent a couple of decades living as if work was the only thing that mattered. It destroyed his marriage and alienated his kids. Orr is now working on having a life.
Why do we do it? Here are a few possible answers. Post your own thoughts here and let's talk about it.
1. Because everyone else does.
The culture in "corporate America" can be pretty brutal. We feel pressure to answer our email at midnight because we're still getting email from our colleagues and clients at midnight.
2. Because we work in a global economy.
Since our colleagues and clients are often many time zones away, our ability to connect may depend on our willingness to take calls at all hours.
3. Because we don't really look at the cost.
We hear the old saying that nobody ever sat on his deathbed and said, "I wish I'd spent more time at the office." But we aren't on our deathbeds and we'd rather not consider what it's costing us to be so focused on work.
I don't have the answers to this puzzle. If I did, most likely I wouldn't be blogging right now; I'd be enjoying a glass of wine with my honey. But I do believe this is a puzzle worth looking at. For each of us individually, for your organization, for society.
Why do you think we do it?
And, if you'll excuse me, it's time for that glass of wine.
--MORE--And yet, we still succumb to the prevailing norm. Work more hours, take on more tasks, multitask more. In this week's Fortune, "Confessions of a CEO" tells the tale of Dominic Orr. Orr spent a couple of decades living as if work was the only thing that mattered. It destroyed his marriage and alienated his kids. Orr is now working on having a life.
Why do we do it? Here are a few possible answers. Post your own thoughts here and let's talk about it.
1. Because everyone else does.
The culture in "corporate America" can be pretty brutal. We feel pressure to answer our email at midnight because we're still getting email from our colleagues and clients at midnight.
2. Because we work in a global economy.
Since our colleagues and clients are often many time zones away, our ability to connect may depend on our willingness to take calls at all hours.
3. Because we don't really look at the cost.
We hear the old saying that nobody ever sat on his deathbed and said, "I wish I'd spent more time at the office." But we aren't on our deathbeds and we'd rather not consider what it's costing us to be so focused on work.
I don't have the answers to this puzzle. If I did, most likely I wouldn't be blogging right now; I'd be enjoying a glass of wine with my honey. But I do believe this is a puzzle worth looking at. For each of us individually, for your organization, for society.
Why do you think we do it?
And, if you'll excuse me, it's time for that glass of wine.
Labels: corporate culture, leadership, questions
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
October 31, 2007
The Fourth Factor is here!
I'm so excited to tell you that my new book, The Fourth Factor: Managing Corporate Culture, is here! It's available on Amazon and at other retailers. The celebration is Thursday, November 1. If you're in the Austin area and would like to come, just drop me a note (see the Contact page of the website) and I'll send you the details.
Now that the book is on Amazon, I'd love to have more reviews. The first 3 people to send me a link to their review of the paperback edition of the book before November 6 will get a free FlashDeck of the 800 pound Gorilla ($14.97 value – see http://www.fordbusinessconsulting.com/ecommerce/flashdeck.html for more details.) Just go to the Amazon book page, scroll down to "Customer Reviews" and and click on "write your own review."
Here's a short excerpt from the book that talks about the Gorilla's Guide and its impact on employee behavior. Download a sample chapter now!
EXCERPT
So much of culture is outside of our awareness. You and your employees often behave the way you do out of habit, in unconscious conformance with the culture. It takes repetition of the new behaviors over time to make a shift in the culture. Everyone needs to see evidence of the messages in action over and over.
It’s a little like watching a mystery movie. You’re not quite sure who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. Little snippets provide clues; then there is the scene where two people exchange a glance, and you understand what’s going on. Without the earlier clues, it wouldn’t have made sense; each glimpse seeded the idea. It’s all about consistency and repetition.
Events and stories work the same way in the Gorilla’s Guide. Each one builds on another as the pattern emerges. It’s essential that you develop consistency across both formal and informal systems so there is a preponderance of stories that support the directives. The mutually reinforcing interaction between the Gorilla’s Guide and behavior makes culture self-perpetuating. That’s why it’s so essential that your official and informal systems reflect the directives consistently.
Buy the book on Amazon today!
--MORE--Now that the book is on Amazon, I'd love to have more reviews. The first 3 people to send me a link to their review of the paperback edition of the book before November 6 will get a free FlashDeck of the 800 pound Gorilla ($14.97 value – see http://www.fordbusinessconsulting.com/ecommerce/flashdeck.html for more details.) Just go to the Amazon book page, scroll down to "Customer Reviews" and and click on "write your own review."
Here's a short excerpt from the book that talks about the Gorilla's Guide and its impact on employee behavior. Download a sample chapter now!
EXCERPT
So much of culture is outside of our awareness. You and your employees often behave the way you do out of habit, in unconscious conformance with the culture. It takes repetition of the new behaviors over time to make a shift in the culture. Everyone needs to see evidence of the messages in action over and over.
It’s a little like watching a mystery movie. You’re not quite sure who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. Little snippets provide clues; then there is the scene where two people exchange a glance, and you understand what’s going on. Without the earlier clues, it wouldn’t have made sense; each glimpse seeded the idea. It’s all about consistency and repetition.
Events and stories work the same way in the Gorilla’s Guide. Each one builds on another as the pattern emerges. It’s essential that you develop consistency across both formal and informal systems so there is a preponderance of stories that support the directives. The mutually reinforcing interaction between the Gorilla’s Guide and behavior makes culture self-perpetuating. That’s why it’s so essential that your official and informal systems reflect the directives consistently.
Buy the book on Amazon today!
Labels: corporate culture, leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
October 23, 2007
Leadership - it's not about the rules!
Today's Wall Street Journal (Oct. 23, 2007) has a short note about companies that forbid the use of email on certain days as a way of forcing employees to have work/life balance. Readers responded with both sides of the argument.
Here's a simpler and more flexible strategy. Use your leadership to set the tone.
If you send employees emails on weekends and evenings, there is an unspoken message that an after-hours response is required. Do that enough and pretty soon everyone knows that you've got to check your email day and night. So, unless your message is truly urgent, hold that email until the start of the workday. If you really need to handle your own email during non-work hours because of your schedule commitments, compose your messages but don’t' send them till work hours. (And do ask yourself if you really have to do email in the evenings or if you want to consider a little work/life balance improvement of your own.)
If you and other leaders in your organization hold off on non-work time emails consistently over time, employees will feel less pressured to handle business emails during evenings and weekends. That way, they can make their own choices about work/life balance.
What habits have developed in your organization that concern you? Drop me a note and I'll talk about the most interesting ones in future columns (without identifying you of course).
Linda Ford, PhD
--MORE--Here's a simpler and more flexible strategy. Use your leadership to set the tone.
If you send employees emails on weekends and evenings, there is an unspoken message that an after-hours response is required. Do that enough and pretty soon everyone knows that you've got to check your email day and night. So, unless your message is truly urgent, hold that email until the start of the workday. If you really need to handle your own email during non-work hours because of your schedule commitments, compose your messages but don’t' send them till work hours. (And do ask yourself if you really have to do email in the evenings or if you want to consider a little work/life balance improvement of your own.)
If you and other leaders in your organization hold off on non-work time emails consistently over time, employees will feel less pressured to handle business emails during evenings and weekends. That way, they can make their own choices about work/life balance.
What habits have developed in your organization that concern you? Drop me a note and I'll talk about the most interesting ones in future columns (without identifying you of course).
Linda Ford, PhD
Labels: corporate culture, leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
October 04, 2007
Performance Feedback - it's up to you!
OK, I've been traveling a lot these days. You know what that means --- I'm reading USA Today because that's the paper that shows up on my doorstep at the hotels.
Today I read that only 39% of companies provide formal performance feedback on a quarterly or biannual basis. The rest provide annual feedback or none at all. The good news is that's up from 29% five years ago. The bad news is that organizations are leaving a lot of potential on the table by passing up so many good opportunities to improve performance. Frequent and open dialogue about strengths and weaknesses is vital to your organization's success.
Regardless of the rhythm of your company's formal system, how often do you have a focused one-on-one dialogue with members of your team about their successes and their development opportunities?
I challenge you to find the time to have that conversation at least once a month and see what a difference it makes. Let me know how it goes.
--MORE--Today I read that only 39% of companies provide formal performance feedback on a quarterly or biannual basis. The rest provide annual feedback or none at all. The good news is that's up from 29% five years ago. The bad news is that organizations are leaving a lot of potential on the table by passing up so many good opportunities to improve performance. Frequent and open dialogue about strengths and weaknesses is vital to your organization's success.
Regardless of the rhythm of your company's formal system, how often do you have a focused one-on-one dialogue with members of your team about their successes and their development opportunities?
I challenge you to find the time to have that conversation at least once a month and see what a difference it makes. Let me know how it goes.
Labels: change, corporate culture, leadership, learning
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
September 08, 2007
Leadership and Inclusion - The Labyrinth
Alice Eagly and Linda Carli tell us that it's not a glass ceiling but a labyrinth that blocks women's rise up the corporate ladder (September, 2007, Harvard Business Review). This shift in metaphors is more than just an image issue. The authors give us a bird's eye view of a labyrinth with more subtly and nuance than the glass ceiling metaphor suggests.
Two things are missing from their approach, however.
(1) Learning from what works.
The article opens with some appalling statistics. For example, in Fortune 500 corporations, only 6% of C-level jobs are held by women and in the European Union countries, it's 11%. Hey, wait a minute! That's almost twice the Fortune 500 figure. Now I'm not saying that 11% is great, but when your own score stinks and "best in class" is 2X your success rate, you gotta figure you can learn a few things from the other guys.
European countries have had female heads of state for quite sometime while in the US we struggle with whether a woman is "electable" in the bid for the presidency. Let's do some serious exploration of what the EU companies seem to know about women in management that we in the US don't yet know.
(2) Taking personal action.
While the authors list what "management" can do about the issue (which I applaud), they seem to ignore what individual women can do for their own careers. For example, they identify women's lack of attention to building social capital as an issue. Yes, it is key. This is an area where each of us makes her own choices about priorities. By saying "yes" to too many requests, women leave themselves without time to build the relationships that will help them advance. We don't need to wait for management to act before we change that.
The practices that exclude women (as well as other minorities) from access to top roles in organizations are both subtle and overt. I applaud Eagly and Carli for broadening our view of this vital issue.
My new book, THE FOURTH FACTOR: Managing Corporate Culture, includes a chapter on creating a more inclusive workplace. Watch this blog for more information on the book release in October.
Linda Ford, PhD
--MORE--Two things are missing from their approach, however.
(1) Learning from what works.
The article opens with some appalling statistics. For example, in Fortune 500 corporations, only 6% of C-level jobs are held by women and in the European Union countries, it's 11%. Hey, wait a minute! That's almost twice the Fortune 500 figure. Now I'm not saying that 11% is great, but when your own score stinks and "best in class" is 2X your success rate, you gotta figure you can learn a few things from the other guys.
European countries have had female heads of state for quite sometime while in the US we struggle with whether a woman is "electable" in the bid for the presidency. Let's do some serious exploration of what the EU companies seem to know about women in management that we in the US don't yet know.
(2) Taking personal action.
While the authors list what "management" can do about the issue (which I applaud), they seem to ignore what individual women can do for their own careers. For example, they identify women's lack of attention to building social capital as an issue. Yes, it is key. This is an area where each of us makes her own choices about priorities. By saying "yes" to too many requests, women leave themselves without time to build the relationships that will help them advance. We don't need to wait for management to act before we change that.
The practices that exclude women (as well as other minorities) from access to top roles in organizations are both subtle and overt. I applaud Eagly and Carli for broadening our view of this vital issue.
My new book, THE FOURTH FACTOR: Managing Corporate Culture, includes a chapter on creating a more inclusive workplace. Watch this blog for more information on the book release in October.
Linda Ford, PhD
Labels: corporate culture, inclusion, leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
August 28, 2007
Friendly Skies? It's not in the culture.
Today's Wall Street Journal (Aug. 28, 2007) ran an interesting piece about Capt. Flanagan who "goes to bat for his harried passengers." I was struck by how ordinary his actions would be if he worked for Southwest Airlines. Why is his behavior front page news? Only because it's not the norm at United. The difference? Culture.
At Southwest, friendliness and creativity are just part of the job. Flight attendants, pilots, baggage handlers, gate agents. They all "get it" that these things matter. There is a box of "Fun-LUVing MINTality" mints sitting on my desk. I happened to be flying from Dallas to Austin on Friday over a holiday weekend and a Southwest employee was bouncing through the terminal, handing out these mints. It made me smile. Smiles matter at Southwest.
Capt. Flanagan is flying in the face of a different culture. He's decided that no matter what the norms are, he wants his job to be fun and his passengers to be happy. He cracks jokes and goes out of his way to meet his passengers' needs. He seems to have some nominal support from management. They pay for some of the goodies he gives away. The "Chief Customer Officer" commends his efforts. But when the WSJ article talks about what the CSO is doing to "boost customer service," the main item mentioned is technology improvements to give employees more information about delays and problems.
Nice idea but it won't change the culture. The 800 pound Gorilla at UAL knows that smiles don't matter. Until that changes, the technology won't help much. Leaders must truly value customer relations. When leaders at UAL (both formal and informal) are telling the stories of how great Capt. Flanagan is, bonuses and raises are based on customer satisfaction, senior executive meetings start with a discussion of customer relations, hiring is based on customer focus and people skills --- then UAL might get back to being the Friendly Skies.
Does your company have a Fun-LUVing Mintality? Or is there something else distinctively wonderful about your culture that provides a competitive edge? I'd love to hear what you're doing to maintain that.
Linda Ford
--MORE--At Southwest, friendliness and creativity are just part of the job. Flight attendants, pilots, baggage handlers, gate agents. They all "get it" that these things matter. There is a box of "Fun-LUVing MINTality" mints sitting on my desk. I happened to be flying from Dallas to Austin on Friday over a holiday weekend and a Southwest employee was bouncing through the terminal, handing out these mints. It made me smile. Smiles matter at Southwest.
Capt. Flanagan is flying in the face of a different culture. He's decided that no matter what the norms are, he wants his job to be fun and his passengers to be happy. He cracks jokes and goes out of his way to meet his passengers' needs. He seems to have some nominal support from management. They pay for some of the goodies he gives away. The "Chief Customer Officer" commends his efforts. But when the WSJ article talks about what the CSO is doing to "boost customer service," the main item mentioned is technology improvements to give employees more information about delays and problems.
Nice idea but it won't change the culture. The 800 pound Gorilla at UAL knows that smiles don't matter. Until that changes, the technology won't help much. Leaders must truly value customer relations. When leaders at UAL (both formal and informal) are telling the stories of how great Capt. Flanagan is, bonuses and raises are based on customer satisfaction, senior executive meetings start with a discussion of customer relations, hiring is based on customer focus and people skills --- then UAL might get back to being the Friendly Skies.
Does your company have a Fun-LUVing Mintality? Or is there something else distinctively wonderful about your culture that provides a competitive edge? I'd love to hear what you're doing to maintain that.
Linda Ford
Labels: change, corporate culture, leadership, strategy
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
August 06, 2007
Which leader would you follow?
Sunday's Austin, TX business news has two very different stories of leadership.
On the front page of the business section of the Statesman, you get Scott Harmon (Motive CEO till 2006) with a "zeal for pushing the limits." Sure, that can be a good thing. If fledgling technology companies never pushed the limits, would we have Google, YouTube, or even PC's? And yet, word is that Motive's culture was ruthlessly competitive, pushing the limits of ethics as often as the limits of technology. All of this pushing has resulted in accusations of improper accounting and questionable management practices. Yes, you can get short-term results this way, but can you build value for the long term?
Let's contrast that with Jeff Opdyke's "Love and Money" column Sunday. Opdyke shares the saga of a rash promise to his ten year old son, made in a moment of pressure and distraction. His son feels he lied; his wife says he disrupted the parental united front. Ultimately Opdyke has to come clean with his son. He shares with his son the vulnerable feeling of having made a mistake, having said something he can't follow through on. He listens to his son's point of view. And he makes amends.
Give me a peek into how a person handles the challenges of parenting and I can tell you a lot about his leadership. Both parenting and leading an organization can quickly turn into pressure cookers, testing your values and integrity. How do you handle those pressures?
I'll take Opdyke's flavor of leadership over Harmon's any day!
--MORE--On the front page of the business section of the Statesman, you get Scott Harmon (Motive CEO till 2006) with a "zeal for pushing the limits." Sure, that can be a good thing. If fledgling technology companies never pushed the limits, would we have Google, YouTube, or even PC's? And yet, word is that Motive's culture was ruthlessly competitive, pushing the limits of ethics as often as the limits of technology. All of this pushing has resulted in accusations of improper accounting and questionable management practices. Yes, you can get short-term results this way, but can you build value for the long term?
Let's contrast that with Jeff Opdyke's "Love and Money" column Sunday. Opdyke shares the saga of a rash promise to his ten year old son, made in a moment of pressure and distraction. His son feels he lied; his wife says he disrupted the parental united front. Ultimately Opdyke has to come clean with his son. He shares with his son the vulnerable feeling of having made a mistake, having said something he can't follow through on. He listens to his son's point of view. And he makes amends.
Give me a peek into how a person handles the challenges of parenting and I can tell you a lot about his leadership. Both parenting and leading an organization can quickly turn into pressure cookers, testing your values and integrity. How do you handle those pressures?
I'll take Opdyke's flavor of leadership over Harmon's any day!
Labels: corporate culture, leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
June 29, 2007
The Customer Experience and Culture
I often like to take care of an errand during my morning walk. It saves on gas and gives the walk a direction and purpose. This morning, I decided to walk over to the bank to close my account, having recently changed to a new bank. I looked on the web to see what time the branch opened - 7:30am. I arrived at the bank at 8:15 to find that only the drive-up opens at 7:30; the lobby opens at 9:00. Fine, I thought. The drive-up teller can probably close the account for me. Through a speaker that made it hard to hear with a video screen that showed only part of her face, the teller informed me that she couldn’t close the account. She didn’t apologize for my inconvenience; she just told me to come back when the lobby is open.
Part of why I am closing the account is that I’ve found this bank (like so many others) to be very inhuman. The people just don’t seem to care. My experience this morning validated that impression.
I’m just one customer and this is a large bank. I doubt I’ll be missed. But, how many of us are there, walking away from this bank because of the quality of our experience with the staff?
It’s all in the culture. This bank’s culture - that 800 Pound Gorilla that does whatever it wants to - tells employees that there is no need to bother with customer relationships. Their Gorilla cares more about the transaction than the relationship. This customer is taking her business elsewhere because of that Gorilla.
Is your Gorilla driving customers away or bringing them closer? Is your Gorilla costing you money or earning you higher profits?
For monthly tips on taming your 800 Pound Gorilla, subscribe to my free ezine.
--MORE--Part of why I am closing the account is that I’ve found this bank (like so many others) to be very inhuman. The people just don’t seem to care. My experience this morning validated that impression.
I’m just one customer and this is a large bank. I doubt I’ll be missed. But, how many of us are there, walking away from this bank because of the quality of our experience with the staff?
It’s all in the culture. This bank’s culture - that 800 Pound Gorilla that does whatever it wants to - tells employees that there is no need to bother with customer relationships. Their Gorilla cares more about the transaction than the relationship. This customer is taking her business elsewhere because of that Gorilla.
Is your Gorilla driving customers away or bringing them closer? Is your Gorilla costing you money or earning you higher profits?
For monthly tips on taming your 800 Pound Gorilla, subscribe to my free ezine.
Labels: corporate culture, leadership, stakeholders
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
June 21, 2007
A little less talk?
Raise your hand if you’d like to spend more time in meetings. Yeah, right…
How about spending more of your meeting time in vital and productive conversations about significant issues affecting your organization’s success instead of the usual suspects saying the usual things about the usual topics?
As a leader, you must anticipate threats and opportunities before they slap the organization in the face. To do this, you must take in confusing and conflicting data about the environment from multiple sources and discern the patterns in the data. In other words, your job is to make sense of the ambiguous and contradictory mess of data to anticipate changes. You’ll do this individually sometimes, sometimes with your team. To learn more about conversations that produce results, join Dr. Jan Elliott and me for the teleseminar on June 21.
To make your team sense-making conversations productive and prevent the “usual suspects” problem, you must practice two key principles.
(1) Question rigorously.
Keep the questions open rather than leaping to solutions and actions too soon. Slow the pace down to allow for thoughtful response instead of instant reaction. Ask open-ended questions to explore each others’ thinking.
(2) Include respectfully.
Ensure that each idea is considered on its own merits, rather than because of who said it. Notice the small habits that my exclude different voices and change them. If you tend to assume that a question has one right answer, challenge that assumption.
These two principles are explored in much more detail in my new book, The Fourth Factor: Managing Organizational Culture, due to be released in September. Watch for details next month!
By questioning rigorously and including respectfully, you can create conversations that help your organization make sense of the environment more quickly. These conversations are vital to your organization’s success.
Action Tip
Next time your team is discussing a business challenge, notice whether there is a thorough exploration of the problem and all its facets before the team jumps to solutions. If not, see if you can re-open the question.
Guaranteed Results
Interested in executive development with a 100% money-back guarantee? Call me at 512-707-1090 to learn about business-focused development for executive teams.
--MORE--How about spending more of your meeting time in vital and productive conversations about significant issues affecting your organization’s success instead of the usual suspects saying the usual things about the usual topics?
As a leader, you must anticipate threats and opportunities before they slap the organization in the face. To do this, you must take in confusing and conflicting data about the environment from multiple sources and discern the patterns in the data. In other words, your job is to make sense of the ambiguous and contradictory mess of data to anticipate changes. You’ll do this individually sometimes, sometimes with your team. To learn more about conversations that produce results, join Dr. Jan Elliott and me for the teleseminar on June 21.
To make your team sense-making conversations productive and prevent the “usual suspects” problem, you must practice two key principles.
(1) Question rigorously.
Keep the questions open rather than leaping to solutions and actions too soon. Slow the pace down to allow for thoughtful response instead of instant reaction. Ask open-ended questions to explore each others’ thinking.
(2) Include respectfully.
Ensure that each idea is considered on its own merits, rather than because of who said it. Notice the small habits that my exclude different voices and change them. If you tend to assume that a question has one right answer, challenge that assumption.
These two principles are explored in much more detail in my new book, The Fourth Factor: Managing Organizational Culture, due to be released in September. Watch for details next month!
By questioning rigorously and including respectfully, you can create conversations that help your organization make sense of the environment more quickly. These conversations are vital to your organization’s success.
Action Tip
Next time your team is discussing a business challenge, notice whether there is a thorough exploration of the problem and all its facets before the team jumps to solutions. If not, see if you can re-open the question.
Guaranteed Results
Interested in executive development with a 100% money-back guarantee? Call me at 512-707-1090 to learn about business-focused development for executive teams.
Labels: execution, leadership, learning
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
March 29, 2007
Circuit City - You call that leadership?
Yesterday, Circuit City announced that it plans to lay off over 8% of its in-store staff and replace them with lower paid employees. Seems their current staff were earning more than market rates.
Here is the question for Circuit City:
You are #2 in your market, behind Best Buy. Best Buy's leadership continues to invest in making their company a fun place to work and shop. Do you think you can pass them and be #1 in your market when your employees really don't want to be there and will leave for a better opportunity when they can?
My answer?
Not likely. Look at great companies like Southwest Airlines who understand that happy employees make for happy customer. Check out the growth of 1-800-Got-Junk?, with a key slogan of "It's all about people." Companies like these can create a market and then dominate it because the people are invested in the success of the company, not because they can hire cheaper labor than their competitors.
Circuit City's move is short-sighted. While I admire their honesty about the reasons, it's not likely to fuel their growth or help them be #1 in their market.
And, a footnote. You gotta wonder how those employees' salaries got out of line? I'm thinking there were some management decisions and processes involved there, right? Maybe instead of firing the people, Circuit City needs to fix the processes, leadership, and culture issues.
Many executives think they can succeed by managing finances, products, and customers. What they fail to see is that the fourth factor -- culture -- can undo their best efforts in managing the first three factors. Circuit City has just declared their willingness to fall into that abyss.
Linda Ford, PhD
--MORE--Here is the question for Circuit City:
You are #2 in your market, behind Best Buy. Best Buy's leadership continues to invest in making their company a fun place to work and shop. Do you think you can pass them and be #1 in your market when your employees really don't want to be there and will leave for a better opportunity when they can?
My answer?
Not likely. Look at great companies like Southwest Airlines who understand that happy employees make for happy customer. Check out the growth of 1-800-Got-Junk?, with a key slogan of "It's all about people." Companies like these can create a market and then dominate it because the people are invested in the success of the company, not because they can hire cheaper labor than their competitors.
Circuit City's move is short-sighted. While I admire their honesty about the reasons, it's not likely to fuel their growth or help them be #1 in their market.
And, a footnote. You gotta wonder how those employees' salaries got out of line? I'm thinking there were some management decisions and processes involved there, right? Maybe instead of firing the people, Circuit City needs to fix the processes, leadership, and culture issues.
Many executives think they can succeed by managing finances, products, and customers. What they fail to see is that the fourth factor -- culture -- can undo their best efforts in managing the first three factors. Circuit City has just declared their willingness to fall into that abyss.
Linda Ford, PhD
Labels: change, corporate culture, leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
February 19, 2007
Last Leadership Valentine
Here is your last leadership Valentine tip
(See this week's Austin Business Journal for "the rest of the story.")
Valentine #3 - Put development on your agenda
As a leader, others' growth and development should be one of your top priorities. Your organization can only grow if your employees are growing. Create opportunities for employees to have experiences that encourage them to stretch and learn. Support them in that learning. Make it OK to make mistakes in the service of learning. If you want your organization to grow, you've got to make helping others grow a priority.
This Valentine's Day (and all year long), give your business a little love. You might just get a little love back in the form of brand loyalty, employee productivity, creative problem solving, and market mindshare. As the Beatles said, "Love is all there is."
--MORE--(See this week's Austin Business Journal for "the rest of the story.")
Valentine #3 - Put development on your agenda
As a leader, others' growth and development should be one of your top priorities. Your organization can only grow if your employees are growing. Create opportunities for employees to have experiences that encourage them to stretch and learn. Support them in that learning. Make it OK to make mistakes in the service of learning. If you want your organization to grow, you've got to make helping others grow a priority.
This Valentine's Day (and all year long), give your business a little love. You might just get a little love back in the form of brand loyalty, employee productivity, creative problem solving, and market mindshare. As the Beatles said, "Love is all there is."
Labels: leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
February 16, 2007
A Leadership Valentine - Tip #2
Here is your second leadership Valentine tip - Happy Valentine's Day!
(See the Leadership Valentine posting for more on this idea.)
Valentine #2 - Share your knowledge and connections
Use what you know and who you know to help others. Mentor someone. Offer your knowledge to a colleague. Introduce someone to others who can help him. The more generously you share, the more collaboration and creativity you'll see in your organization. And the more you share your knowledge and connections, the more others in the organization will be inclined to do the same.
--MORE--(See the Leadership Valentine posting for more on this idea.)
Valentine #2 - Share your knowledge and connections
Use what you know and who you know to help others. Mentor someone. Offer your knowledge to a colleague. Introduce someone to others who can help him. The more generously you share, the more collaboration and creativity you'll see in your organization. And the more you share your knowledge and connections, the more others in the organization will be inclined to do the same.
Labels: leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
February 14, 2007
A Leadership Valentine - Tip #1
Here is your first leadership Valentine tip - Happy Valentine's Day!
(See the Leadership Valentine posting for more on this idea.)
Valentine #1 - Be generous with positive feedback
Look for opportunities to tell members of your organization that they've done something good. Not just a generic pat on the back for a job well done. Notice something specific. Acknowledge the action, tell them how it made a difference, then voice your personal appreciation. Doing this regularly will give your organization a productivity boost. Managers often feel that the best way to improve performance is to keep pointing out what is wrong. That just isn't so. I'm not saying you should ignore problems; but I am saying that since the behaviors we pay attention to are likely to increase, giving positive feedback does more than just improve morale.
--MORE--(See the Leadership Valentine posting for more on this idea.)
Valentine #1 - Be generous with positive feedback
Look for opportunities to tell members of your organization that they've done something good. Not just a generic pat on the back for a job well done. Notice something specific. Acknowledge the action, tell them how it made a difference, then voice your personal appreciation. Doing this regularly will give your organization a productivity boost. Managers often feel that the best way to improve performance is to keep pointing out what is wrong. That just isn't so. I'm not saying you should ignore problems; but I am saying that since the behaviors we pay attention to are likely to increase, giving positive feedback does more than just improve morale.
Labels: leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
February 13, 2007
A Leadership Valentine
Five years ago on Valentine's Day, Tim Sanders' book, "Love is the Killer App" was released. We were in the throes of the dot com bust and everyone was looking for the "killer app" that would drive the next wave. Sanders showed up, telling us that love is the most powerful force in business.
Not many people jumped on the bandwagon. With Boomers - the "me generation" - at the helm in many organizations, greed and the thirst for power seem to be on the rise. In the five years since the publication of Sander's book, we've continued to lose trust in our business leaders and elected officials. Our willingness to "give our all" in the workplace is very low and still on the decline. Gallup tells us that only 29% of employees are truly engaged at work. The rest are somewhere between checked out and acting out.
But Sanders was right. He defines love as sharing your knowledge, networks and compassion with your business partners. It's pretty easy to make the business case for sharing knowledge and networks. They are the essential raw ingredients of the knowledge economy. If you hoard your knowledge and networks, creativity will wither; share them and it can grow exponentially.
Compassion - that's the tough one. To share compassion with your partners, you've got to feel it. You've got to be in touch with your experience at work, know how you are feeling. Mostly we prefer not to do that and we tell ourselves that's how it should be lest our personal lives distract us from the task at hand. Actually, that's not how it works. Since the brain is more like a web than a file cabinet, attempting to shut out one aspect of our experience makes it harder for us to fully use our brains. And that degrades our performance at work.
This Valentine's Day, give your business a little love. You might just get a little love back in the form of brand loyalty, employee productivity, creative problem solving, and market mindshare. As the Beatles said, "Love is all there is."
For more specific ideas, read my blog regularly this week. I'll post a "leadership Valentine" idea each day.
By Linda Ford, PhD
--MORE--Not many people jumped on the bandwagon. With Boomers - the "me generation" - at the helm in many organizations, greed and the thirst for power seem to be on the rise. In the five years since the publication of Sander's book, we've continued to lose trust in our business leaders and elected officials. Our willingness to "give our all" in the workplace is very low and still on the decline. Gallup tells us that only 29% of employees are truly engaged at work. The rest are somewhere between checked out and acting out.
But Sanders was right. He defines love as sharing your knowledge, networks and compassion with your business partners. It's pretty easy to make the business case for sharing knowledge and networks. They are the essential raw ingredients of the knowledge economy. If you hoard your knowledge and networks, creativity will wither; share them and it can grow exponentially.
Compassion - that's the tough one. To share compassion with your partners, you've got to feel it. You've got to be in touch with your experience at work, know how you are feeling. Mostly we prefer not to do that and we tell ourselves that's how it should be lest our personal lives distract us from the task at hand. Actually, that's not how it works. Since the brain is more like a web than a file cabinet, attempting to shut out one aspect of our experience makes it harder for us to fully use our brains. And that degrades our performance at work.
This Valentine's Day, give your business a little love. You might just get a little love back in the form of brand loyalty, employee productivity, creative problem solving, and market mindshare. As the Beatles said, "Love is all there is."
For more specific ideas, read my blog regularly this week. I'll post a "leadership Valentine" idea each day.
By Linda Ford, PhD
Labels: leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
January 30, 2007
Culture and Branding
The kids at Cold Stone creamery sing when you put a tip in the jar. Have your birthday dinner at Macaroni Grill and you're likely to get a well-trained operatic "Happy Birthday" at your table. Board a Southwest Airlines flight and you might just get a singing rendition of the safety rules. How are these situations similar?
According to NPR's "Marketplace," the kids serving ice cream at the first ever Cold Stone Creamery started singing their thanks for tips. At that first store, it was spontaneous fun. Now it's been institutionalized; it's an official part of the culture. Cold Stone does what any organization that is serious about culture should do. They ensure a fit with the culture when they hire. Yes, if you want to scoop ice cream at Cold Stone, you'll have to audition. An area manager says the audition is necessary because "we expect you to belt one out." And if you can't? "You can't stay here," says the manager.
Maybe singing when customers tip is part of the brand, part of the essential identity of Cold Stone Creamery. You may be tempted to compare this to the quirky humor you get for free on your Southwest Airlines flight. For Southwest, fun is definitely part of the brand. There is a key difference, however, in the implementation. Southwest doesn't force any particular kind of fun. One flight attendant may, in fact, sing the safety warnings. Another may do it as a stand-up comedy routine. A third may just deliver the official message in the same bland voice other airlines use but when you board, she'll have a smile that makes you want to hug her.
The difference I see in these stories is the choice what to institutionalize. If fun is part of the brand, then that's what should be institutionalized, not a specific behavior. If Cold Stone wants to be branded as the ice cream shop that sings, their "audition" strategy is probably smart. However, if they are looking to make their ice cream shops fun and quirky, they've gone the wrong direction. They've made a particular form of fun mandatory. That just takes the fun right out of it.
Linda Ford, PhD
--MORE--According to NPR's "Marketplace," the kids serving ice cream at the first ever Cold Stone Creamery started singing their thanks for tips. At that first store, it was spontaneous fun. Now it's been institutionalized; it's an official part of the culture. Cold Stone does what any organization that is serious about culture should do. They ensure a fit with the culture when they hire. Yes, if you want to scoop ice cream at Cold Stone, you'll have to audition. An area manager says the audition is necessary because "we expect you to belt one out." And if you can't? "You can't stay here," says the manager.
Maybe singing when customers tip is part of the brand, part of the essential identity of Cold Stone Creamery. You may be tempted to compare this to the quirky humor you get for free on your Southwest Airlines flight. For Southwest, fun is definitely part of the brand. There is a key difference, however, in the implementation. Southwest doesn't force any particular kind of fun. One flight attendant may, in fact, sing the safety warnings. Another may do it as a stand-up comedy routine. A third may just deliver the official message in the same bland voice other airlines use but when you board, she'll have a smile that makes you want to hug her.
The difference I see in these stories is the choice what to institutionalize. If fun is part of the brand, then that's what should be institutionalized, not a specific behavior. If Cold Stone wants to be branded as the ice cream shop that sings, their "audition" strategy is probably smart. However, if they are looking to make their ice cream shops fun and quirky, they've gone the wrong direction. They've made a particular form of fun mandatory. That just takes the fun right out of it.
Linda Ford, PhD
Labels: corporate culture, leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
January 22, 2007
Management advice from the union boss
Today's Wall Street Journal had a special "Boss Talk" section in which half a dozen CEO's were interviewed and provided tips on management. One of those was Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Stern's tips for "how labor and management can work together better" are very applicable to managers in any organization, union shop or not.
Here they are, quoted directly from the article.
Tip 1 - Relationships are not a matter of chance, they are a matter of choice.
Tip 2 - Approach partnerships by making finding a solution a higher priority than placing blame.
Tip 3 - Learn to disagree without being disagreeable.
Tip 4 - Offer incentives that encourage others to take risks.
Tip 5 - Keep an open mind rather than an open mouth, be willing to change, and keep focused on shared goals.
What if your organization's culture (that 800 pound Gorilla) had all of these "tips" hardwired into the organization? Could be a pretty great place to work! This would be a culture where people matter. It would be an environment where "conflict" doesn't mean a shouting match. Flexibility would be built into the system. (Visit www.TameTheGorilla.com for free resources to improve your culture.)
Kudo's to Mr. Stern - if we could all work together this way, we'd get a whole lot more done with a whole lot less stress!
By Linda Ford, PhD
--MORE--Here they are, quoted directly from the article.
Tip 1 - Relationships are not a matter of chance, they are a matter of choice.
Tip 2 - Approach partnerships by making finding a solution a higher priority than placing blame.
Tip 3 - Learn to disagree without being disagreeable.
Tip 4 - Offer incentives that encourage others to take risks.
Tip 5 - Keep an open mind rather than an open mouth, be willing to change, and keep focused on shared goals.
What if your organization's culture (that 800 pound Gorilla) had all of these "tips" hardwired into the organization? Could be a pretty great place to work! This would be a culture where people matter. It would be an environment where "conflict" doesn't mean a shouting match. Flexibility would be built into the system. (Visit www.TameTheGorilla.com for free resources to improve your culture.)
Kudo's to Mr. Stern - if we could all work together this way, we'd get a whole lot more done with a whole lot less stress!
By Linda Ford, PhD
Labels: corporate culture, leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
January 15, 2007
Crossing the Cultural Divide - Apple & Cingular/AT&T?
Hip and edgy Apple has decided to dance with Cingular (as in, stodgy old AT&T). The revolutionary meets the regulated monopoly. Will this be like "Bambi meets Godzilla?" Not likely, but there are some significant challenges in the alliance.
If you want a visual image of the difference, check out the story on Inside Bay Area. In the accompanying photo, you can just feel the difference between Jobs and Sigman (Cingular CEO).
Here are a few elements of culture that could trouble this alliance.
Decision making
Apple has demonstrated its willingness to move quickly to be the market leader, sometimes at the cost of putting the wrong product out in the market. (Anyone remember the Apple II?) AT&T (Cingular's parent) is more known for the slow, lumbering moves appropriate to a giant.
Customer care
Early customers may very well get caught in the middle as the Cingular service reps declare the problem to be an iPhone technical issue while Apple declares it a Cingular phone service issue. Which set of policies and systems will prevail as the inevitable early glitches occur? Will the customers survive the battle?
Innovation
AT&T's enthusiasm for investments in technology may not keep pace with Apple's. Steve Jobs built Apple on his willingness to invest in leading edge (and sometimes bleeding edge) technology. With product life cycles measured in months in the cell phone industry, that mismatch could spell trouble for the collaboration.
Brand identity
Apple rarely co-brands its products. Cingular is returning to the AT&T brand. What does all of this mean to the iPhone? To say nothing of the Cisco lawsuit over the iPhone name! Trouble ahead on this front for sure. How will these two very different cultures tackle this tricky tangle?
Communication
I know - this is a communication device. But can the executives who have to hold the deal together make it work? The possibilities for miscommunication and misunderstood expectations are boundless. All of the things that are left unsaid in the course of normal business communication are possible sources for misunderstanding. Executives on each side of the deal will make their own assumptions about what was and wasn't said, likely without even realizing they are making assumptions.
This whole affair calls to mind cartoons from the 1950s showing a flustered telephone switchboard operator with wires all tangled and crossed. Can't you just picture the iPhone caught in that tangle of wires? However, all of that said, this is an exciting step in the media and communications world and it could be the start of some interesting developments.
By Linda Ford, PhD
--MORE--If you want a visual image of the difference, check out the story on Inside Bay Area. In the accompanying photo, you can just feel the difference between Jobs and Sigman (Cingular CEO).
Here are a few elements of culture that could trouble this alliance.
Decision making
Apple has demonstrated its willingness to move quickly to be the market leader, sometimes at the cost of putting the wrong product out in the market. (Anyone remember the Apple II?) AT&T (Cingular's parent) is more known for the slow, lumbering moves appropriate to a giant.
Customer care
Early customers may very well get caught in the middle as the Cingular service reps declare the problem to be an iPhone technical issue while Apple declares it a Cingular phone service issue. Which set of policies and systems will prevail as the inevitable early glitches occur? Will the customers survive the battle?
Innovation
AT&T's enthusiasm for investments in technology may not keep pace with Apple's. Steve Jobs built Apple on his willingness to invest in leading edge (and sometimes bleeding edge) technology. With product life cycles measured in months in the cell phone industry, that mismatch could spell trouble for the collaboration.
Brand identity
Apple rarely co-brands its products. Cingular is returning to the AT&T brand. What does all of this mean to the iPhone? To say nothing of the Cisco lawsuit over the iPhone name! Trouble ahead on this front for sure. How will these two very different cultures tackle this tricky tangle?
Communication
I know - this is a communication device. But can the executives who have to hold the deal together make it work? The possibilities for miscommunication and misunderstood expectations are boundless. All of the things that are left unsaid in the course of normal business communication are possible sources for misunderstanding. Executives on each side of the deal will make their own assumptions about what was and wasn't said, likely without even realizing they are making assumptions.
This whole affair calls to mind cartoons from the 1950s showing a flustered telephone switchboard operator with wires all tangled and crossed. Can't you just picture the iPhone caught in that tangle of wires? However, all of that said, this is an exciting step in the media and communications world and it could be the start of some interesting developments.
By Linda Ford, PhD
Labels: corporate culture, leadership, stakeholders
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
November 08, 2006
Trust, risk, and leadership
Wouldn't it be great if everyone in your organization trusted each other? You'd quickly get to the source of problems without wasting time on turf protection or CYA. Many mistakes could be avoided because people would easily ask for help and acknowledge the limits of their expertise.
But that's not the world most people work in. We are often wary, wanting others to trust us but unwilling to trust them first. So the 800 Pound Gorilla (your corporate culture) knows that trusting is too risky and it carries on with CYA and other low trust, counter-productive strategies.
That's why your leadership is important. Trust is a risk game and the leader must ante up first.
Recently an executive was discussing with me his challenges with one of his subordinates. The executive had met one-on-one with his subordinate and was hoping the conversation would help improve the relationship. "I could tell he didn't trust me enough to offer up much about his frustrations and challenges. So I decided to open up with him about my own challenges. It felt risky to put myself out there. But then he did begin to open up. I think we're on a path toward a better working relationship." The executive made a choice to take the risk of talking to his subordinate about the challenges that he felt vulnerable about. The result? Progress in a difficult relationship. Increased trust.
If you want a more trusting organization, be the leader. Ante up first.
By Linda Ford, PhD
New Gorilla E-book Available!
The second Gorilla e-book - "The Gorilla Hates Change: How to Align Culture with Strategy" - is now available.
--MORE--But that's not the world most people work in. We are often wary, wanting others to trust us but unwilling to trust them first. So the 800 Pound Gorilla (your corporate culture) knows that trusting is too risky and it carries on with CYA and other low trust, counter-productive strategies.
That's why your leadership is important. Trust is a risk game and the leader must ante up first.
Recently an executive was discussing with me his challenges with one of his subordinates. The executive had met one-on-one with his subordinate and was hoping the conversation would help improve the relationship. "I could tell he didn't trust me enough to offer up much about his frustrations and challenges. So I decided to open up with him about my own challenges. It felt risky to put myself out there. But then he did begin to open up. I think we're on a path toward a better working relationship." The executive made a choice to take the risk of talking to his subordinate about the challenges that he felt vulnerable about. The result? Progress in a difficult relationship. Increased trust.
If you want a more trusting organization, be the leader. Ante up first.
By Linda Ford, PhD
New Gorilla E-book Available!
The second Gorilla e-book - "The Gorilla Hates Change: How to Align Culture with Strategy" - is now available.
Labels: corporate culture, leadership, trust
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
June 28, 2006
Lead the way with mistakes
Are you as comfortable with questions as you are with answers? Do you relish opportunities to learn by making a mistaking or disproving your own assumptions? If you answered 'yes' to both of those questions, you’re fairly unusual among business people in Western cultures. And if you said 'no,' that may work to your detriment.
The June issue of Harvard Business Review tackles the topic of learning from mistakes in a new way. “The Wisdom of Deliberate Mistakes” (by Schoemaker and Gunther) lays out an approach to identifying and testing key business assumptions that is very counterintuitive for most people. And that means that most corporate cultures contain messages against this behavior.
In most organizations, the culture (our friendly 800 pound Gorilla) tells us that
(1) it’s safer to have answers than questions and
(2) it’s better to have predictable results than to test your business assumptions by violating them.
Schoemaker and Gunther propose a strategy for breakthrough thinking that will shake your Gorilla up if it has these messages. Take a look at their article and see if your Gorilla might learn a bit from this approach. Let me know what you think.
By Linda Ford, PhD
--MORE--The June issue of Harvard Business Review tackles the topic of learning from mistakes in a new way. “The Wisdom of Deliberate Mistakes” (by Schoemaker and Gunther) lays out an approach to identifying and testing key business assumptions that is very counterintuitive for most people. And that means that most corporate cultures contain messages against this behavior.
In most organizations, the culture (our friendly 800 pound Gorilla) tells us that
(1) it’s safer to have answers than questions and
(2) it’s better to have predictable results than to test your business assumptions by violating them.
Schoemaker and Gunther propose a strategy for breakthrough thinking that will shake your Gorilla up if it has these messages. Take a look at their article and see if your Gorilla might learn a bit from this approach. Let me know what you think.
By Linda Ford, PhD
Labels: corporate culture, leadership, learning
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
June 05, 2006
Leading Change - Gorillas Hate Change!
Corporate culture is like an 800 pound Gorilla – with some interesting characteristics. This gorilla is bigger than any of us, it hates change and it’s invisible. If you’re launching an initiative, get the Gorilla on your side.
Tips for making the Gorilla your ally:
1. Congruence – The Gorilla is watching to see if what you say and do is congruent. The old "walk the talk" thing still matters.
2. Communication – The Gorilla makes its own explanations of your actions unless you interpret them explicitly. And the may not be the explanations you’d like or expect!
3. Consistency – The Gorilla doesn’t like change but consistent signals will shift it. Use your behavior, the grapevine and both formal and informal systems to keep sending the same message over and over.
Don’t tangle with your Gorilla, tame it!
Linda Ford, PhD
--MORE--Tips for making the Gorilla your ally:
1. Congruence – The Gorilla is watching to see if what you say and do is congruent. The old "walk the talk" thing still matters.
2. Communication – The Gorilla makes its own explanations of your actions unless you interpret them explicitly. And the may not be the explanations you’d like or expect!
3. Consistency – The Gorilla doesn’t like change but consistent signals will shift it. Use your behavior, the grapevine and both formal and informal systems to keep sending the same message over and over.
Don’t tangle with your Gorilla, tame it!
Linda Ford, PhD
Labels: change, corporate culture, leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
May 21, 2006
CEO Pay and Other Board issues – What was Verizon’s mistake?
Which of the following statements do you believe?
1. My company's Board should be a strategic asset to the company.
2. Diversity of thought and background helps a Board approach problems more creatively.
3. The reason my Board looks pretty homogeneous (in terms of professional background, ethnicity, gender, age, etc) is that those are the folks who have the qualifications we need.
If you believe statements 1 and 2, you may have created a logic conundrum for yourself with regard it statement 3. Take a look at the article in the Wall Street Journal (“Verizon Tries to Mute Criticism of CEO Pay,” May 3, 2006). The article points out that, for a variety of reasons, “board members sympathize with management” even though they are supposed to look after shareholder interests.
Key reasons for the sympathy are cited as
- They are former CEO’s or senior executives
- They have served with the CEO on other boards
- They have worked at companies that had a business relationship with the company
These “chummy connections” (as WSJ refers to them) are often the very qualifications CEO’s cite when recruiting new directors. I’m not saying that the CEO wants to “stack the board” with his buddies, simply that he feels these connections can be assets to the company. However, the same CEO will then bemoan the lack of diversity in thought and experience on his board (if he’s paying attention).
Here’s what I think has happened. We’ve left these “chummy connections” as an unquestioned qualification for board membership, not realizing the ways in which they may make the board too homogeneous to be optimally effective. In spite of independent director requirements, boards are still full of “middle aged white guys” (as one CEO regretfully described his board).
What does this mean in the real world?
Let’s say you are the CEO of a semiconductor company. What if your board included someone with no connections to that industry and no CEO experience? Maybe at her first board meeting, she barely understood the barrage of acronyms that filled your presentation. Could she ask some unique questions, throw the discussion “off course” just enough to stimulate some creative thought? Maybe even raise issues about shareholder reactions to a CEO pay raise that the rest of the guys wouldn’t think about till it hit the papers? Or possibly see a market trend coming before all the “middle aged white guys” saw it because she looks at the world in a different way?
Don’t get me wrong – this is not a pitch for diversity for its own sake. It’s a warning that when boards are blind-sided, it may be because the board members are all part of the “same club”. Boards who truly want to connect to shareholders (and other stakeholders) need to reconsider the implications of their implicit recruiting criteria through this lens.
--MORE--1. My company's Board should be a strategic asset to the company.
2. Diversity of thought and background helps a Board approach problems more creatively.
3. The reason my Board looks pretty homogeneous (in terms of professional background, ethnicity, gender, age, etc) is that those are the folks who have the qualifications we need.
If you believe statements 1 and 2, you may have created a logic conundrum for yourself with regard it statement 3. Take a look at the article in the Wall Street Journal (“Verizon Tries to Mute Criticism of CEO Pay,” May 3, 2006). The article points out that, for a variety of reasons, “board members sympathize with management” even though they are supposed to look after shareholder interests.
Key reasons for the sympathy are cited as
- They are former CEO’s or senior executives
- They have served with the CEO on other boards
- They have worked at companies that had a business relationship with the company
These “chummy connections” (as WSJ refers to them) are often the very qualifications CEO’s cite when recruiting new directors. I’m not saying that the CEO wants to “stack the board” with his buddies, simply that he feels these connections can be assets to the company. However, the same CEO will then bemoan the lack of diversity in thought and experience on his board (if he’s paying attention).
Here’s what I think has happened. We’ve left these “chummy connections” as an unquestioned qualification for board membership, not realizing the ways in which they may make the board too homogeneous to be optimally effective. In spite of independent director requirements, boards are still full of “middle aged white guys” (as one CEO regretfully described his board).
What does this mean in the real world?
Let’s say you are the CEO of a semiconductor company. What if your board included someone with no connections to that industry and no CEO experience? Maybe at her first board meeting, she barely understood the barrage of acronyms that filled your presentation. Could she ask some unique questions, throw the discussion “off course” just enough to stimulate some creative thought? Maybe even raise issues about shareholder reactions to a CEO pay raise that the rest of the guys wouldn’t think about till it hit the papers? Or possibly see a market trend coming before all the “middle aged white guys” saw it because she looks at the world in a different way?
Don’t get me wrong – this is not a pitch for diversity for its own sake. It’s a warning that when boards are blind-sided, it may be because the board members are all part of the “same club”. Boards who truly want to connect to shareholders (and other stakeholders) need to reconsider the implications of their implicit recruiting criteria through this lens.
Labels: inclusion, leadership, stakeholders
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
April 19, 2006
Decker Marketing blog interview
Sam Decker posted a brief blog interview with me about culture and leadership this week. The introduction is below. For the full posting, click here.
Three Questions: Change Leadership & Culture with Linda Ford
The best consultants have been in the trenches and have talent to articulate their experience to practical application for others.
Such a consultant is Linda Ford, who shares a passion for culture and change leadership and has over 15 years of day-to-day management and training experience in Silicon Valley. The other day we had lunch and I asked her to answer three questions which you may find interesting.
--MORE--Three Questions: Change Leadership & Culture with Linda Ford
The best consultants have been in the trenches and have talent to articulate their experience to practical application for others.
Such a consultant is Linda Ford, who shares a passion for culture and change leadership and has over 15 years of day-to-day management and training experience in Silicon Valley. The other day we had lunch and I asked her to answer three questions which you may find interesting.
Labels: corporate culture, interviews, leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
April 07, 2006
What Does a Manager Do Anyway?
Each person on a team has a specific role. Generally, on the senior executive team each person is responsible for a particular function, geography or product. The same structure usually applies at other levels in the organization as well.
But what does the boss do?
One aspect that isn’t much talked about has to do what the CEO or manager pays attention to. The team members pay attention to the parts. It’s the job of the manager or CEO to pay attention to the connections and relationships among the parts. Since most Western thinking is focused on parts, this attention to connections is critical. Without it, the whole can never be more than the sum of its parts.
How has paying attention to relationships and connections vs. the parts played out on your team?
--MORE--But what does the boss do?
One aspect that isn’t much talked about has to do what the CEO or manager pays attention to. The team members pay attention to the parts. It’s the job of the manager or CEO to pay attention to the connections and relationships among the parts. Since most Western thinking is focused on parts, this attention to connections is critical. Without it, the whole can never be more than the sum of its parts.
How has paying attention to relationships and connections vs. the parts played out on your team?
Labels: leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
March 30, 2006
Leadership - Does authenticity count?
“When should a leader apologize?” That’s a good question. And the answer in an article by that title in the April, 2006 Harvard Business Review falls far short. The article’s logic focuses heavily on the pragmatic, strategic results of apologies. A leader’s “genuine remorse,” receives only passing mention, “ an apology is extended because it is the right thing to do.” To discuss mistakes and apologies for 9 pages with only this nod at a leader’s need to be authentic is something the authors should apologize for!
When a leader has made a mistake and knows it, not to apologize is to compromise that leader’s integrity and authenticity as a person.
An authentic leader is trusted, an inauthentic one is not. Being willing to own up to a mistake and apologize to those affected is an opportunity to be authentic, to truly lead. If the leader can’t take responsibility for mistakes, how can followers be expected to? Indeed, if the leader is unwilling to be authentic, how can he expect followers to follow???
While strategic apologies can be useful, the ability of a leader to lead fundamentally depends on trust. And trust fundamentally is grounded in authenticity.
--MORE--When a leader has made a mistake and knows it, not to apologize is to compromise that leader’s integrity and authenticity as a person.
An authentic leader is trusted, an inauthentic one is not. Being willing to own up to a mistake and apologize to those affected is an opportunity to be authentic, to truly lead. If the leader can’t take responsibility for mistakes, how can followers be expected to? Indeed, if the leader is unwilling to be authentic, how can he expect followers to follow???
While strategic apologies can be useful, the ability of a leader to lead fundamentally depends on trust. And trust fundamentally is grounded in authenticity.
Labels: leadership, trust
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
March 24, 2006
Management - The Illusion of control
“Command and control” just doesn’t work very well as a management approach. Perhaps it never did, but until the last couple of decades managers enjoyed the illusion of “command and control” in their organizations. I was reminded at a party last Saturday night of just how wide the gap is between what we know and what we do regarding control. I was talking with a manager who runs a help desk organization with several centers in the US and around the world. She told me that her manager expects her to be “in control” of all aspects of the operation.
She’s aware, however, that as attempts to control increase, performance declines – creative attempts to solve unusual problems are stifled, the flow of information and ideas among service agents is restricted, enthusiasm wanes.
Human systems aren’t mechanical systems that can be “controlled” like an automobile or lawnmower. They can be influenced, shifted, nudged – but not controlled. If you’ve raised kids, you know that! So why do managers still try to “control” things?
Based on my experience with hundreds of managers over the past 15 years, as well as managing organizations myself, I suspect that there is a disconnect between what we know (in our heads) and how we respond (from the gut). We often may not even be aware that we are trying to control. One way to build your awareness is to watch what you do when you feel frustrated or when you feel like the others on your team “don’t get it.” This will help you see if you are trying to control what you should be trying to influence.
As your awareness grows, play with the idea of “nudging” the system instead of attempting to control it. Imagine you are steering a car. Instead of grabbing the steering wheel with both hands and making a hard left, take one finger and gently move the wheel a little. This will be uncomfortable at first, but it’s likely to get better results!
--MORE--She’s aware, however, that as attempts to control increase, performance declines – creative attempts to solve unusual problems are stifled, the flow of information and ideas among service agents is restricted, enthusiasm wanes.
Human systems aren’t mechanical systems that can be “controlled” like an automobile or lawnmower. They can be influenced, shifted, nudged – but not controlled. If you’ve raised kids, you know that! So why do managers still try to “control” things?
Based on my experience with hundreds of managers over the past 15 years, as well as managing organizations myself, I suspect that there is a disconnect between what we know (in our heads) and how we respond (from the gut). We often may not even be aware that we are trying to control. One way to build your awareness is to watch what you do when you feel frustrated or when you feel like the others on your team “don’t get it.” This will help you see if you are trying to control what you should be trying to influence.
As your awareness grows, play with the idea of “nudging” the system instead of attempting to control it. Imagine you are steering a car. Instead of grabbing the steering wheel with both hands and making a hard left, take one finger and gently move the wheel a little. This will be uncomfortable at first, but it’s likely to get better results!
Labels: leadership
E-Zine
Free monthly ezine with practical solutions to problems leaders face every day. Sign up.Blogs on...
Leadership and Culture
Leadership and Culture
March 11, 2006
Shake things up
If you’re in a leadership role, you should regularly ask yourself if you are making a decision that someone else in your organization could make. Get the decisions close to the customer, close to the problem. When William Wrigley, Jr. took over the Wrigley empire from his father (who took over from his father who took over from his father), he was soon asked to decide about the color of the carpet on the 12th floor. He recalls thinking, “I don’t want to make this decision. And I don’t want anyone who reports to me to make this decision.” (Wall Street Journal, March 11-12, 2006, “Father, Son and Gum”) Had Wrigley not had that insight, he might not have been successful in pulling out of the slump the company was in.
Not long after that, he created shock waves by letting folks know that he was unaware of one of the company’s initiatives – heresy under the old regime. Wrigley sent an email to his workers that said, “If we never make mistakes, then we are most likely not being very innovative and not taking enough risks.”
Wrigley seems to have understood that decisions need to be close to the problem and risks are a vital ingredient for innovation. While neither of these is a startling revelation, neither is easy to implement in a culture that likes to do things “the way they’ve always been done.”
Take a look around your organization. What are you doing the same old way? Where do you need to shake things up a bit?
--MORE--Not long after that, he created shock waves by letting folks know that he was unaware of one of the company’s initiatives – heresy under the old regime. Wrigley sent an email to his workers that said, “If we never make mistakes, then we are most likely not being very innovative and not taking enough risks.”
Wrigley seems to have understood that decisions need to be close to the problem and risks are a vital ingredient for innovation. While neither of these is a startling revelation, neither is easy to implement in a culture that likes to do things “the way they’ve always been done.”
Take a look around your organization. What are you doing the same old way? Where do you need to shake things up a bit?
Labels: delegation, innovation, leadership
Yet, one simple "rule of business" remains constant. Your organization's ability to execute is the ultimate determinant of your success. And, when it comes to effective execution your potential roadblocks are many.
At Ford Business Consulting, our specialty is helping organizations overcome obstacles to superior execution by tuning the human system to support the business strategy.
The human system includes leadership, organizational structure, and corporate culture. Your corporate culture is like an 800 Pound Gorilla. It has a pervasive influence on your business. The 800 Pound Gorilla can be an asset or a liability in the execution of your strategy. You've heard the stories of failed mergers and fizzled strategies, and many of them are the Gorilla's fault.
It's time for you to tame your Gorilla before your strategy is yesterday's bad news. Click here to learn how.
- home |
- about us |
- approach |
- consulting |
- speaking |
- gorilla goods |
- clients |
- contact us
Copyright 2006-2007, Ford Business Consulting, Inc., All Rights Reserved