A New Year’s Letter to Employees: Be Better

January 2, 2012 -- 12:19 pm

With the start of a new year, I thought I would draft a letter to use with your employees – a way to challenge them to be better in all that they do in 2012. If you like it, please use it (or edit it as you wish). I find this is also a good message to share with family. Have a happy and successful New Year.

Dear Employees,

Your manager

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Fit Happens

October 29, 2011 -- 11:09 pm

Marie was hired into a customer service role for a large international distributor. Her responsibility, in addition to doing the daily service tasks, was to provide “consistently exceptional service.” Based on her robust resume of previous work experience, the company expected great results. Marie failed.

Marie consistently lost her temper with customers who did not know how to order, had questions or required a second explanation of a product solution. She did not accommodate any changes to how she provided service – no personal touch – all customers were dealt with in the same efficient, but impersonal, manner. As Marie openly said, “I don’t really like people – but I’ll deal with them to get the job done.” Quite a first impression for a customer.

Marie may have been a great person (I’m sure her parents love her), but she is a misfit for this role; the role needed certain consistent behaviors that were not part of her core abilities. Fit didn’t happen.

Time after time I see organizations relying on candidates’ past skills or experience as the exclusive method for hiring. And though there may be mandatory role skill requirements, it is critical to also assess a candidate’s “fit” for the role – what the talents, strengths and passions are to be successful in the role.

Regardless of what our parents may have told us, we are not great at everything. But we are great at some things. When we discover these personal areas of greatness, we then can assess our world – what roles need what we do best – and can find our fit. Fit happens.

I find there are two primary problems in recruiting today’s A-level talent:
1. The organization does not clearly define the core abilities needed to be successful in the role,
2. Job seekers do not know themselves well enough to know their unique talents, strengths and passions.

Hiring managers must better define the required attributes in each role, and state them in their sourcing process. They must also require job seekers to spend time discovering and articulating their unique abilities. Only then can the two sides meet in the middle for a meaningful process committed to finding the right person for the right job. Then, fit happens.

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Keep Learning Or You’re Behind

October 4, 2011 -- 5:16 am

So many employees are behind in the first moment of their workday. They are caught in workplaces that have cultures that do the same things over and over, regardless of how their environments change; they don’t commit to regularly challenging employees to constantly learn, rethink their jobs and value, and try new things. They are stuck living yesterday’s workday over and over.

In a period of exponential change, the most successful organizations are flexible and opportunity-focused; they empower their employees to constantly learn, involve them in new tasks/responsibilities and require them to try new things.

These organizations constantly gather new ideas, perspectives and opportunities – the key to developing a responsive and successful performance strategy. The more today’s managers help employees learn, grow and try new things, the more they encourage more robust employee thinking which is critical to sustainable company results.

I come from a large Italian family. Being both a large family, and Italian, we rarely went out for dinner (there were too many of us and besides, our food at home was terrific). However, I do remember one time when we went out to a smorgasbord – a buffet. My siblings and I descended on the amazing food tables and started to fill our plates. Dad called us back to our table, took our large plates away and gave us small plates instead. We were then instructed to follow him two times around the food tables – not taking anything – we were just to see what was available. The third time around we could help ourselves to small portions of things we had never tried before. He promised that if we did this, we would discover at least one new favorite food – we would change the way we think. He was right. I discovered artichoke hearts – and still love them today.

The point? Great managers constantly guide their employees to “walk around the company table” and let their employees explore and try things – through both formal learning and on-the-job learning. This expands not only what employees know, but it encourages broader and more strategic employee thinking – employees find areas of greater abilities, develop greater skills and bring stronger performance to the organization.

Additionally, an organization focused on constantly growing and educating its employees significantly influences employee loyalty. And the key to a powerful, high-performing organization is a stable, consistent and free-thinking workforce.

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Be ‘the’ Best vs. Be ‘your’ Best

August 21, 2011 -- 10:33 am

I remember back to when my kids played soccer in my town’s youth league. Though we all wanted our kids to play well and make a difference on the team, one parent was obsessed with their daughter being the “best.”

This parent moved her daughter to teams she thought would win, paid for personalized coaching, browbeat coaches to increase her daughter’s playing time – all the signs of a parent living her life through the life of her daughter. There is a great preoccupation of being THE best versus being YOUR best.

What made this particularly poignant is that most days on the way home from the games, this kid would have an emotional meltdown on the way to the car – for all of us to see. She just didn’t want to be the best – she just wanted to play and make a difference. What struck me most was that the daughter was wiser than the mom.

To me there is always more value in being our personal best than being “the best.” Maybe it’s because I’m not a real competitive person. Or maybe because, for me, the only thing in life that really matters is living to our own potential – of living who we really are – done in our best way possible. My standards for me should be in terms of my capabilities, not others’ criteria.

I believe we are each born with unique abilities – unique talents, strengths and passions. Our focus should be to use our life to identify which abilities we have and how to develop them to be happy, successful and impact our world. To be the best is not the same as to be our best.

My job (Chief Performance Officer) has me managing performance for a company – this includes hiring, developing and engaging employees. What stops most employees from achieving their personal best is their lack of understanding about what they have as talents and gifts; they are unaware of their capabilities and constantly look for others to define success for them. Though in a company we can create performance expectations to define performance success, what I really want most from my people is their commitment to achieve their personal best.

At our organization, we focus on hiring the right employees (their natural abilities match those needed to be successful in the job, and they like doing the job), then help them realize their full potential – to add value and make a difference. I want my employees to know what their capabilities are and maximize them.

The only trophy anyone should ever get is one that applauds them for reaching their potential. If we all strived to reach our potential, there would be more “winners” in life and less of a regard for “superstars.” After all, each of us has superstar abilities just waiting to be discovered and lived. And being “the” best doesn’t mean you achieved “your” best.

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In Today’s Workplace You Must Have A Change Strategy

August 14, 2011 -- 9:38 am

I am not sure why so many managers approach each day in the same way when the world just isn’t the same place. The result is organizations that have outdated or ineffective strategies to deal with today’s world, on today’s terms. They continue to do what they have always done, expecting better results. We all know the adage, “Insanity is doing the same thing, expecting different results.” If that is the case, then I have met an amazing number of insane managers.

In an economy that constantly changes a significant rate, all organizations must have a change strategy – a strategy for dealing with change to be successful and responsive. Many times we see organizations offering outdated “value” because the world has changed and they have not.

This process should not be limited to management. Employees have perspectives; they are also connected to networks. Today’s employees are now the eyes and ears of the organization. They are a critical component of a successful change strategy.

All employees should be regularly requested to share their perspectives of what they see and hear, and how it impacts the company. Creating a culture of constantly reviewing the world, the economy and workplace, to understand it and then to develop a powerful response, is now an urgent priority for management.

Here are a couple of things I suggest to the companies I work with to encourage them to clearly understand their world, their company, and how they fit with each other:
1. Identify any significant change going on in the world, economy, local environment or other area that could impact the business.
2. Assess the impact of the change. Gather input and ideas from everyone in the organization (there is no role too junior to be excluded from this process). All employees have ideas, input and connections.
3. Review your current strategy to determine if your strategy will respond to this change in a successful way; if not, brainstorm ideas for change.
4. Review all ideas for change; management then decides the right course of action (if any).
5. Share the change or response with the organization – be clear about how it impacts each employee’s work and the direction of the company.

Nothing stays the same. What makes it more urgent in today’s workplace is that the speed of information movement makes us all aware of the changes. Those who have a mechanism to assess change, related it to the organization, and quickly and nimbly respond, are those who will lead instead of follow. And to do this just takes a new attitude about how we welcome and use change.

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