All the Way In
Everyone on the beach knew it was the first time my granddaughter had been in the ocean. Screams of terror filled the first 10 minutes. For the next hour, screams of delight drenched everyone within earshot as she fought the waves to hold on to her ‘My Little Pony’ boogie board. The whole world knew when she finally made it “all the way in “. Joyfully exhausted, we marched weak kneed back to our bright blue beach chair under our big umbrella to the applause of my lovely wife.
“Perfect” would be the word I had used to describe that Florida afternoon. Then I felt something in my right pocket and it was not moving…my iPhone. It was very dead.
Amazing Effort
My wife made a quick call on her phone to Apple. At 8:30 the next morning my new iPhone was delivered to our condo. That was amazing, but what happened next was even more amazing. As you might have guessed, the new phone would not work, but the problem was not the phone itself, it was my office system. Jason, my online Apple helper, tried for several hours to work around this IT system problem. He did his best, but had no success. I thanked Jason for his tenacity and said goodbye. Later that day this email appeared on my laptop:
“I would like to take full responsibility for your issue we were working on together today. To do this, I would like you to have a direct way to get a hold of me if any further follow up needs to occur with this case. You will find my contact information below. Please contact me right away if you need anything regarding this case and include the following case ID within any correspondence.”
Sincerely, J L Apple
You might be thinking “Wow! I wish could get some Jason’s on my team”, followed by “and get rid of the unmotivated people around here “. Have you ever thought that you may hire several Jason’s in the past but, after working with you, his or her natural desire to go “all the way in” faded away?
Three Types of Leaders
Leaders come from one of three dispositions:
- The first type believes that within every person there is the spirit of a healthy seven-year-old child with a burning desire to give his or her best and never give up. They actively nurture that view of people and all stakeholders win. Plus, they usually have more than their fair share of Jason’s. There are a lot more of these leaders than today’s critics want to admit, but a few more would only help.
- The second type of leader believes that people are basically lazy and only work for money or whatever they can get. They treat people as tools to be used. In this type of environment, everyone loses, usually sooner than later. The Jason spirits die quickly in this place of management by manipulation. This leader is rare and he/she will seldom change.
- The third type of leader is ambivalent. Sadly, they are all too common. The other two types, for good or for bad, are “all the way in” but this leader is only half the way in. This means their lips say that they support the purpose of the organization, but their heart has its own private agenda. Frustration, false starts and time wasting filibusters are thehallmarks of these leaders. Their organizations limp along, up and down, until the culture simply implodes or the leader lets go of their ego and exits. If they have the courage to then move on to a place where their heart leads them and follow their passion, they will more often than not become a shining example of our first type of leader.
When you follow your innate interest or calling, you and the people you touch become more alive, more autonomous, more productive and more likely to act and feel like … work is a beach.
Journal Entry:
What is the attitude of the individuals in your organization, on your team or at your home? What decision do you need to make to be “all the way in” with your leadership and life?
The last 1 percent most people keep in reserve is the extra percent champions have the courage to burn. – Chis Carmichael
Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him. – James Allen
It is those who concentrate on but one thing at a time who advance in this world. The great man or woman is the one who never steps outside his or her specialty or foolishly dissipates his or her individuality. – Og Mandino
Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better. – Bill Bradley
…Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 18:3 ( NIV)
I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it. – Groucho Marx
Retention – Who Will Go First?
Family Matters
A mid -size family business, run by a father and his two sons, was having trouble retaining their part-time employees. We met for a compression planning session to get a solution to this problem. As we began the session, a few questions came to mind. “What’s an example of a company that’s world-class at retaining part -time employees?” I asked.
They thought together for a bit and agreed that “Chik-fil-A” was a good example of a company great at employee retention. “Why do you think “Chik-fil-A” is so effective?” The two sons started rattling off reasons, “good pay, great benefits, flexible schedules–” Their father added, “They really care for their employees…in fact I think you could say that they love them.” Everyone nodded in agreement. The practical positives of pay, benefits, and scheduling were helpful, even essential in some cases…but not central.
I pinned a index card on my storyboard, labeled “Ways to show our employees that we care for them” , and asked for their ideas. They generated 10 ideas in just a few minutes. Then they selected their top three actionable ideas, balancing cost and importance, and created a plan around each of them. The family team was fired up and ready to roll out these simple strategies. “There is one step you need to take before you’ll get the results you want from your staff, ” I said. They listened eagerly. “For the next 90 days, you need to practice applying these three principles to each other.” They stared at me, then back at one another.
Too Many Keys
What is the key to retaining employees? Hundreds of surveys and books have attempted to answer this costly problem. In the end everyone winds up with the same top five or six keys: challenging work, appreciation from the boss, more money, life-work balance, healthy peer relationships and purposeful career paths. That seems like a fragile list of interdependent items as it is, but to complicate matters even more, is one more important than another? And for which generation? Gen X, Gen Y, Baby Boomers, etc? Sounds like a prime opportunity for a consultant to develop a retention matrix and solve this thing.
Relax, I don’t have a matrix, but I do have one more story. Between these two stories, it’s possible that we’ll find a central key to employee retention that spans all generations and methodology fads.
Turning Things Around
A few years ago I recognized a key retention principle. I was working with a newly hired commercial real estate executive. We’ll call the executive “Joe”. Joe was recruited from a competitor and was assigned to turn around a failing division. This division was entrenched in a classic “culture of fear” as described in Tom Demarco’s book, Slack – Getting Past Burnout, Busywork And the Myth of Total Efficiency:
Characteristics of a Culture of Fear
Motivation by fear never works in the long run, and it had been a very long run in a culture of fear for this struggling team that Joe had inherited. However, in just 9 months Joe orchestrated a 180-degree turn-around. The department improved to the point of having the lowest turnover and highest internal customer satisfaction rating in the company! This change endured. Two years later this division was listed as a key strength on the company’s strategic plan (instead of a glaring weakness) and still maintains one of the highest employee retention rates in the industry.
Vision and Appreciation
How did this happen? Little did Joe’s team members know that when he took over the department, his professional career and personal spirit was in the proverbial ditch, right alongside theirs. He had just resigned from a “Culture of Fear” organization himself. So, before he threw himself into creating innovative plans to fix his new team, he chose first to yield himself to healing and change. He renewed his life and career plan, which effectively restored his personal and professional vision. In the process, he grasped a guiding principle that served to support his leadership success in retaining and growing people forever: “it’s much easier to lead people up a new road if you have walked that road as well.”
To evaluate his progress, Joe requested some formal feedback from his all employees. He received a lengthy report from HR. As he began to go through the many pages of his report, he noted high marks on the objective scoring portion. He was pleased. Then he turned to the “Additional Comments” section. There it was. His unrealized strategy for retention in nine simple words: “Joe, thank you for giving us our lives back.”
Joe was humbled, overwhelmed and realized all the more clearly that his sincere care and visionary leadership (fueled by personal insight) had enabled this departmental change, and inspired those heartfelt words. The family business team of the first story had a similar opportunity to embrace these relational principles, as do you and I. It may be worth a try.
Working Journal Entry: Love or Fear – which will you choose to help you hold on to the people you value in your leadership and your life? Who will go first?