Passion at work occurs most often when the right person, in the right job is supported through very intentional and strategic action by an organization. Where leadership is aligned with the mission, vision and values and employees are the ultimate extension of the brand.
I was having coffee with a colleague. She had worked with me for years. She was a big time player. Presidents Club producer. Rock Star with major account relationships. A catalyst for positive attitude, energy and enthusiasm on the team.
As we were catching up, she casually asked “do you still have the gold watch?” We received them as 10 year anniversary milestone gifts. I responded that I did, somewhere in a drawer, but had actually never worn the watch. She then provided an update on her company keepsake.
“Dude, I just sold mine last week…what do you think it was worth?”
I smiled and wanted to know more. You sold it? At a pawn shop?
She did. I guessed the value. Not a bad pawn I suppose.
As we were laughing and reminiscing about gold watches and days gone by we also discussed recognition. Was the gold watch meaningful? Did it matter? If it wasn’t watches what kind of recognition was important?
Recognition is a huge driver of employee engagement. The research is in. I’d also suggest to any leader, manager and organization considering recognition to think about the following:
-There is a difference between recognition and appreciation. Gifts are great. They don’t replace the authentic appreciation that a leader or manager can bestow on someone for a job well done.
-Recognition is a team sport. Any MVP worth his or her salt would trade that trophy in for the team championship. Crossing the finish line victorious is more fun when it’s done together.
-Recognition is personal. Do you know how your employees want to be recognized?
-Recognition can’t wait. Ten years or two days. There is sense of urgency around recognition for work well done.
Recognition is important. I think tremendous benefits can be realized in corporate recognition and incentive programs. It is also important to remember that recognition doesn’t replace the real relationships that make work matter (and in turn make recognition more meaningful).
Absent those real, meaningful relationships and memorable experiences the recognition can still be nice. Guess how much a decent gold watch is going for at the Pawn Shop?
The man behind the Virgin empire, Sir Richard Branson, opened the 2011 SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition (Going to be a great event…follow the action #shrm11) on Sunday afternoon in a Q&A session that covered the unconventional entrepreneur’s childhood lesson’s (he suffered from dyslexia and dropped out of High School to launch his fist business), appetite for risk, philosophy on culture, talent and his impetus to take you on a ride into outer space. He is an absolutely fearless entrepreneur!
While he acknowledged a bit of luck on the journey he also shared that the very core of building a successful business is to make a difference in the lives of others. “I am inquisitive. I love making a difference in other people’s lives. There is no point in starting a business if you aren’t going to make a difference.” In discussing his philosophy on business with the 14,000 attendees he talked about the opportunity for HR to “influence” the C suite, engagement, culture, talent and indicated how very essential the people strategy is to the success of the Virgin enterprise. Common sense but not always common practice.
He didn’t hold back on the importance of removing the wrong kind of people – “the kind that destroy the spirit of the company” – from the business or the awful approach American business has to workplace flexibility. Two clear opportunities for improvement that HR can most definitely “influence”.
Implied throughout much of the conversation was his appetite for adventure, passion pursuits and tolerance for risk. While it hasn’t always worked out perfectly (Virgin Cola) it most certainly has been a style that has proven essential to Virgin’s success. That is a message HR and just about everyone in business today can embrace during this time of unprecedented transformation and change. We all have the opportunity to have an impact. To make a difference.
The best part about his opening address? His check goes right to charity. Virgin Unite.
As we close out Q2 it is a good time to take inventory of the scoreboard on your way into the locker room. How are you doing?
I always loved the locker room. The game plan. The pre-game speech. The halftime rally cry. In business you could translate that to the off site. The huddle up. The strategy session. The boot camp. Sales summit. You get the idea. It’s where you go to prepare to win (you are preparing to win, right?).
There is something special about the locker room. The preparation. The camraderie.
The trust. The emotional commitment. The confidence. Gearing up. Getting reading to launch into the arena of competition together.
Halftime is important. Those few moments you have to come together. Adjust. Adapt. Innovate. Focus. Rest and ready yourself for Round 2. If you are in the game and the plan is tight it usually comes down to the little things. Hustle. Effort. Attention to detail and execution. Simply wanting it a little more. However, it is another matter entirely when you are getting pummeled. I have been there. It hurts.
When you are playing from behind you need to fine tune the strategy. Sometimes you simply need to play harder. Perform better. Sometimes you need to shift the game plane entirely. Improve the focus. Either way, everyone in that locker room should take the field entirely clear on their role. On the expectations around their individual contribution that will impact the whole. That is good coaching. Leadership.
Everyone in that locker room needs to emerge with total confidence. In leadership, the plan and each other. IN or OUT is a question that gets decided in every lock room…and if you want to belong you have to believe. When you have talent, confidence, leadership and the right game plan you can start to create momentum. When the momentum shows up it is time to attack…to press…to push. There is your opportunity.
For most of us our 2012 performance is decided in the next 90 days. Get too far behind and you won’t have enough time to catch up (salespeople know this formula quite well – unfortunately, too many through in the towel too early and don’t fight for the big comeback to the finish line). The clock matters more now. The good news is that for most of us the things we need to succeed are well within our grasp, we just have to compete…for every inch.
I’ll be in Las Vegas next week for The Big Show. Join us for a little Passion on Purpose Tuesday morning. I hope to share a little halftime strategy to help you emerge from the locker room ready for a great second half. I also know that I will walk away inspired considering this incredible keynote lineup!
For those unable to join us here is a little halftime inspiration courtesy of one of the all time greats, Al Pacino. So often, it really is just a game of inches…
I had the good fortune of attending the Lenny Kravitz & U2 show last weekend. Whatever your taste in music, this “experience” can’t be understated. From my perspective it is simply off the charts entertaining and they are the only touring act today that can pull it off on this scale.
A noticeable element of this “show”?
Preparation.
You want to engage an audience? Deliver a compelling client experience? Convince a community? Inspire a team? Close the sale? Earn that testimonial?
Prepare like a professional artist.
Put in the hours. Test. Tear it apart. Rebuild it. Start over. Add. Adjust. Adapt.
Rehearse.
You’ll know when it is ready. When you and the team have put in the time. When everyone knows their part.
When your confidence is Rock Star.
Success often doesn’t come down to the moment. It usually comes down to how prepared you are for the moment.
Preparation is a process. It requires discipline. It is always useful to consider your approach.
If you skip the choreography, rehearsal and sound check the people you want to impact will most assuredly notice the difference.
If you get it just right the impact can be extraordinary.
U2 prepared and delivered a surprise to the crowd at Quest Field, Seattle last Saturday night with a video message from Commander Mark E. Kelly.
Bono dedicated ‘Beautiful Day’ to Gabby Giffords, before asking, “Imagine a man looking down on us from 200 miles up. Looking down at our beautiful crowded planet… What would he say to us…? What is on your mind Commander Kelly?”
I am mid-flight from Minneapolis to Seattle. I am enjoying every minute of this flight. I travel a lot and today was fortunate to get the upgrade – 3A! Certainly makes the flight more enjoyable. Leg room. Hot coffee. Free Wi-Fi. Rock Star style en-route to Seattle! Thank you Delta!
To some degree my excitement for the upgrade was proportionate to my expectation. There was no expectation. If it happens, it happens. That is new.
There was a time in the not so distant past that I expected to be in first class.
Always.
I was entitled.
Not good.
My sense of entitlement made me a less effective leader. Less compassionate. A bit short sighted. Perhaps at times even a bit challenged to connect in a genuine, authentic and meaningful way.
Entitled Leadership is a very common syndrome. It is an occupational hazard. Blend a little talent, tenure, the corner office and country club life that comes with it and it is easy to enter the entitlement zone.
It isn’t really about first class or coach. It is really about the difference between entitlement and appreciation.
The margin of difference between appreciation and entitlement really comes down to awareness, attitude and approach.
Unfortunately, entitled leadership can significantly diminish employee engagement and the passionate connection to the organizational purpose that drives performance.
If you want to be a leader that others want to follow consider this approach:
Expect nothing. Earn everything. Every minute. Everyday.
When you demand that of yourself it is much easier to ask and expect it of others.
Earning ‘followership’ is the mark of leader.
You can’t earn it with tenure or title.
You can earn it through consistent, quality actions.
Appreciate.
3A is nice. It isn’t necessary or all that important.
The journey of discovery toward stopping speeding bullets and leaping tall buildings in a single bound can be rather extraordinary. We’ll see if we can pull it off in 45 minutes!
The journey of discovery toward any worthwhile pursuit is important.
Typically it involves a fair amount of introspection. Most Superhero’s don’t do it for fame and fortune. Typically, it is a higher calling. One filled with meaning and mastery. Passion and purpose.
Everyone has the Superhero inside them. Or is capable of discovering and delivering their very best.
Here are 10 key considerations to aid in tapping into our own passion, purpose and potential:
1. Decide What You Want (and why): This is the hard part. For a caped crusader or mere mortals. The act of decision is important. The best decisions usually include supporting rationale. Examine the what and the why. Once you decide write it down. Be specific. Be intentional. Have a deadline. Want to make President’s Club? Lose 10 lbs? Find a new job? Improve a relationship? Write it down. Give it a deadline. {Tip: make Bold Choices}.
2. Action Plan with Milestones: Build a plan to get what you want. Pay attention to the details. Big things are accomplished in the little moments. Plans helps you focus. Plans help you manage time. Plans help you feel the progress. Plans help you evaluate. Plans help others rally around you. Plans help you maintain the emotional engagement required for big results. Plans help you establish and maintain momentum.
3. Tell Other People: Involve other people you care about. Friends. Family. Have a team. Nobody becomes the best of who they are alone. You need support. You need people holding you accountable. You need allies to champion your cause. {Note: Had I skipped this step I wouldn’t be keynoting this event next week…or any other. The team held me accountable.}
4. Report/Record Activity Against the Action Plan: You need to monitor progress, performance indicators and benchmark against the desired outcome. Hitting the small milestones are signs of progress toward the big goal. Having a record of results helps you stay the course and maintain the emotional commitment among those supporting you.
5. Celebrate: Don’t wait. Celebrate incremental achievement. Progress toward the plan. The milestones matter. Recognize the effort that produces a desired outcome along the way. This is critical for the modern day leader. You’ll get more of what you inspect and recognize!
6. Modify the Plan: The world changes. Life changes. Plans change. Modify, update, adjust, adapt and evolve accordingly. Don’t use the accelerated pace of change as an excuse for not having a plan. For not writing things down and recording progress. For not moving through a process of discovery and decision. Plans change but process is still important.
7. Don’t Quit: Not at the first sign of resistance, setback, mistake, misstep and considerable concern that embarking on this adventure simply wasn’t a a good idea. The resistance is coming. Rejection. Failure. Fear. Doubt. Insecurity. Stress. Anticipate the hard parts. Work through them. {Tip: The Dip is an excellent resource for determining when to quit and when to stay the course. Many people give up on the cusp of a breakthrough).
8. Get Better: Mastery takes time. Hard work. Help. Practice. Most people don’t practice work (hard to do when you are busy working). This makes it hard to improve. The 10,000 Hour Rule in Outliers suggests that the key to extraordinary performance and success is a matter time and practice (20 hours a week for 10 years should just about do it) and doesn’t have as much to do with talent. The good news is we all have exactly the same amount of time and decide how to invest it. Even a little practice can accelerate breakthrough performance.
9. Help Others: The Superhero ethos. Help. It is amazing how much we can improve and evolve through service. It is often when we’ll experience the most profound growth. It is often a catalyst for elevating our own emotional engagement. I see it everyday. The best sellers. The best leaders. The best people I know give first.
10. Have Fun: Enjoy the ride. At the end of the day success = happiness!
I look forward to the event in the hometown next week! MSAE has done a fabulous job building momentum toward next week with a progressive pre-conference promotional initiative (my video prompt included). I may get inspired enough to break out the cape!
I live and love the iLife. In making the transition from Blackberry I became an AT&T customer by default.
I have experienced dropped calls and hit dead zones over the last two years. Just like I am sure everyone else on just about every other network has. It certainly wasn’t enough of a disruption that moved me to explore other service providers. However, had an alternative option been presented to me with incentive and ease of transition I certainly might have made the move. I represent the vast majority of customers (yes, likely your customers and employees). I was reasonably satisfied. Not loyal.
That changed for me last week. AT&T has captured my heart and moved my spirit. I am now part of the Rethink Possible Tribe.
Why? Simple. The human element. The essential, secret ingredient that can turn your customers into the most loyal, fanatical, brand evangelists on the planet. The essential, secret ingredient that can rock your workforce, elevate engagement, accelerate performance and turn culture into a competitive advantage.
It comes down to people and relationships. Particularly people that are engaged and intuitive enough to create a compelling experience.
I spent an evening with AT&T last week. I was hired to keynote a dinner event. The people I met were special. The way they treated me was extremely generous. They were all Brand Ambassadors. They were warm, welcoming, supportive, hospitable and extended themselves beyond measure to ensure I was able to succeed. It wasn’t necessary. It was simply AT&T.
I know them now. I like them now. They have my support. Any my business. I want to work with them again. Whether I do or don’t doesn’t really matter. This brand was humanized for me in a very positive and powerful way. That drives loyalty. It is that simple.
The people are the brand.
Often it isn’t what you do (plenty of other people/companies do what you do just as well as you do it and for just about the same price), but how you do it and who is doing it that makes the moment memorable enough to keep customers (and employees) coming back for more.
Put people first.
Performance and profitability are more likely to follow.
If your people strategy isn’t the #1 priority on the agenda today perhaps it is time to Rethink Possible?
I also did a pre-keynote interview with the gang from JobsInME.com:
When I talk about this topic I talk about my own experience set. I talk about My Generation.
The Millenials dominate this conversation. For good reason. They are about twice the size of my generation and coming of age in a time of accelerated transformation and technological change. They bring a whole new set of expectations about an evolved work experience that is simply going to require organizations to advance work style design.
That is part of the story. Ironically, my generation is incredibly suited to this new world of work. Ferociously independent, adaptive, creative and resourceful, we are prepared to lead through a time of disruptive change. We also like to invent and don’t expect anyone to take care of us. We realized quite some time ago that we would be responsible for our own career trajectory and wouldn’t be relying on a company to mange that for us.
A simple review of some recent leading Gen X business writing and thinking provides an interesting prompt for those clinging on to the traditional corporate structure and hierarchy. Have a look:
It will clearly prove more challenging for traditional companies to optimize and engage a generation of escape artists.
The generations do want many of the same things. But I can tell you both from my own experience set and from the research that we define them quite differently. I’ll shed some light on a few of those differences, the next generation drivers and what to do about them in my dinner keynote tonight at the AT&T Generations & Leadership event.
They asked me to keynote dinner. They asked me if I could be funny. This could be interesting.
“Hey Ryan…what are you up to? We are heading down to South America. Starting it out in Caracas, Venezuela man. Going to be a huge week. Meetings and dinners with some fantastic people. Thought of you and wanted to pull you into the conversation…calling with plenty of notice for you buddy…plane leaves in 48 hours!”
Incoming call.
“Hey Ryan…how are things? Planning to head over to Shanghai in a couple weeks for a 3 or 4 day writing sabbatical and to have a look around. Why don’t you join me? It would be a great time of year to get out, clear the decks and get some real creative energy going!”
I get these kind of phone calls. I have interesting friends with quite an adventurous spirit. This is how they work, build, create, push, evolve, improve. I haven’t always been one to embrace the adventure agenda. I am learning.
I rejected both of these invitations. Immediately. I was resistant. The notion of running off to some far away place to network and write made me uncomfortable. It just didn’t seem like the right way to do meaningful work. I wanted that desk by 7:45 a.m. That familiar place. The office. The place where real work gets done during regular business hours. I was conditioned early and ended up missing out.
A little structure and discipline are necessary for peak performance. So is a healthy dose of the adventurous spirit. The best ideas and breakthrough moments often remain elusive in the safety zone. Being open to experiencing those little stretch moments pushes you learn and grow. The great thing about work today is it doesn’t demand the traditional schedule and structure. We are more free than ever to determine how, when and where we do our very best work. The free agents figured that out and companies are starting to catch up.
Autonomy is a powerful driver for a several of the big time producers I know. These produces are masters at evolved work style design, efficiency and elevated output.
Those trips to Caracas and Shanghai proved to be the genesis for a successful new business venture and the writing of a book. Not bad output from the adventure tour. I was watching from the sidelines.
I will be heading to Caracas, Venezuela this fall for a speaking engagement. Following, I may stop in Peru to do some writing for a couple days. I am looking forward to that adventure.
This week my version of the adventure tour takes me to Eugene, Oregon for our Engage! event and then off to Dallas, Texas for an evening with AT&T .
The notion of intellectual curiosity came up during my keynote last week. In a brief exercise around culture and values a woman in the audience raised the notion of curiosity as a corporate value (she earned a quick $20 spot for her contribution).
Powerful.
We are living and working in a time of accelerating change. Discovery. Reinvention.
Intellectual curiosity and questioning the status quo should be embraced and required among progressive leadership in the approach to business strategy and performance planning.
I used to shudder when I would hear the words, “follow the formula” at work. It seemed so crystal clear to me this was the mantra of an ending era. This time around the previous history was no longer going to predict future performance. This time around there wasn’t a clear pattern. Trend line. Process map. Nope.
We have never been through this before.
We could analyze the previous thirty years of performance against any economic indicator we wanted. Only to draw the same clear and compelling conclusion: it doesn’t really matter.
What was good enough to get us here was clearly not going to get us where we needed to go.
Now we had to invent!
That notion is quite exciting to some. Rather painful to those trying to command and control a compromised position in the marketplace. The curious among us are required for this task. It is a brave new world at work.
Curiosity is a core value of mine. I am naturally drawn to those that question the existing order of things. I have always done a bit of that myself. I wanted to know why. Unfortunately, curiosity runs counter to our conditioning.
We are conditioned at an early age to follow the formula. Not to talk back. Read the instructions. Do what we’re told. Not ask so many questions. Hand in our homework (which lead to my 6 month boycott and subsequent F in Trigonometry class in High School – not my best moment as a Change Agent).
We show up at work and do the same. Don’t talk back. Wait for the instructions. Do what we are told. Don’t ask challenging questions. Hand in our homework.
Unfortunately that is exactly the kind of conditioning that runs counter to what is so necessary to thrive at work today – change, innovation, category disruption.
It also runs counter to the traditional command and control style of leadership.
Today, more open, collaborative, transparent, relational, risk tolerant, even tempered, experiment oriented, humble leaders are better positioned to stimulate the new ideas and disruptive thinking required to advance.
Are you curious?
The enclosed webinar, recorded last week (Engage. Inspire. Empower.) provides some specific ideas and areas of concentration for today’s progressive leader around employee engagement and work style design. In case you missed it.
