That fact notwithstanding, last weekend I decided to pressure wash our house. The all-white structure has a large expanse of siding at the back that faces due north, and is therefore hospitable territory to a gray-green coating of mold and algae. Although the heat index was in the triple digits, I was actually looking forward to the task. And I knew why.

It’s the same reason that I actually enjoy mowing the lawn, even though there’s a fully capable onsite teenager, who would do it more often if I’d let him. The reason I like these tasks so much, and eschew others, like laundry and disinfecting toilets? Instant gratification.

Every swipe of the pressure washing nozzle was like applying graffiti in reverse. Expend labor – see result. It was magnificent! And enough to keep me at it in less than ideal conditions until the job was done. At which point I stood at the back of the house gazing up and admiring my handiwork.

We all need at least a little instant gratification at work, too. A strong need to know that what we do makes a difference. Some jobs come with this feature onboard. With others, this feeling of accomplishment is more elusive.

If you lead others, and help manage and design their work, here’s an assignment:

• Pick one job you manage and assess it for instant gratification potential. Does it happen often, occasionally, rarely, or never?
• If the answer is rarely or never, change that. Build into the job at least the occasional opportunity to see the fruits of the labor that goes into it.
  • Give back office people some direct customer contact.
  • Balance sales professionals’ account portfolios of tough customers with a few easier sales.
  • If the task is an intermediate step in a process, let them at least see the finished product and have a clear understanding of the part they played in it.
  • Make sure no job is all frustration – no fulfillment.
• Once you’ve had a little immediate gratification with this experiment, do the same with the other jobs under your direction.

We all need to see the needle move from time to time. It’s part of what keeps us going.

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Richard Hadden is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results with a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. He and Bill Catlette are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and Contented Cows MOOve Faster, and the brand new book Rebooting Leadership, written with Meredith Kimbell. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

]]> http://contentedcows.com/2011/09/instant-gratification-the-ultimate-motivator/feed/ 0 http://contentedcows.com/2011/08/richard-and-bill-speak-to-leadership-audiences/ http://contentedcows.com/2011/08/richard-and-bill-speak-to-leadership-audiences/#comments Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:43:53 +0000 admin http://contentedcows.com/?p=4202

Peace of mind comes from working with professionals.
Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden have delivered hundreds of high-impact keynote presentations in more than 20 years of professional speaking. When you ask us to keynote your conference or convention, you can relax – at least when it comes to our part of your meeting – knowing that you’ve hired a professional to speak to your group.

To us, being professional means, among other things, doing your homework… each time, every time. We invest the time and energy to learn enough about your group or audience to make our presentation truly relevant to them. Most people seem to appreciate that. While you may be able to hire speakers with bigger names (and bigger fees), it’s doubtful you’ll hire anybody who is better prepared.

Our keynote presentations are:

Contented Cows Give Better Milk – Your People…Your Profits
Leadership, and the Bottom Line Value of Creating a Great Place to Work, based on the principles in Bill’s and Richard’s popular book, Contented Cows Give Better Milk.

Work is Contractual…Effort is Personal
Based on our 2007 book, Contented Cows MOOve Faster, this is all about Discretionary Effort, Employee Engagement, and what good leaders do to get people to put more OOMPH! into their work.

Leading Through the Storm
An inspirational, yet practical message for leaders in a tough economy. Learn at least six ways to keep your workforce focused and fired up in uncertain economic times, and prepare your workforce for the recovery to come.

The Journey Thus Far: Foundations for a Fabulous Future!
Delivered by Richard Hadden only. Highly entertaining, motivational keynote celebrating your people, your organization, and your successes.

Keynote presentations are up to 90 minutes in length.

Check Availability

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Signed copies of our books may be purchased for your entire group at a substantial discount, or may be made available for individual sale at your event.

If the momentum of a slow recovery pans out, with the attendant moderate uptick in hiring whose prediction was reported last week in USA Today, then a lot of employers will need to put on their shirts and straighten up the front room, because for the first time in years, company is sure enough comin’ through the HR office, the metaphorical “front room” of most organizations.

A December 1, 2010 article by Andrea Davis, in Employee Benefit News, reports that with hopes of at least a modest recovery, up to 60% of high-performing employees are eyeing plans to leave their organizations in 2011. That remains to be seen, of course, but what’s certain is that there’s lots of pent-up desire to seek greener pastures, and a more robust hiring picture will certainly open the gates for those who may feel abused and taken for granted during hard times.

If you’re planning to ramp up your hiring after a hiatus, it may be wise to do a checkup on your intake process, remembering that your reputation as an employer has everything to do with the caliber of your applicants. Some (no, lots of) organizations have become sloppy, cocky, and arrogant in how they treat potential new hires, reasoning that the labor supply/demand imbalance gives them the upper hand. They’ve apparently forgotten that every applicant represents a window, with a mouth, into the character of their organization.

If you know an organization like that (wink, wink, nod, nod), here’s a checklist you might want to send them anonymously:

• Do we have enough HR staff to handle an increased workload without botching the job or burning themselves out?
• Is the HR staff sufficiently trained in all aspects of their jobs, especially those who will be conducting interviews?
• Does the professionalism and consideration with which we treat job applicants accurately reflect the way we treat our employees?
• Do we treat every interviewee as we would a guest in our home?
• Who – or what – is making decisions to take applicants to the next step? Do real humans have input at every point? Or are we letting software determine who gets to play on the team?
• How well do we communicate with applicants? Do we let them know, in a timely and professional way, that they’re out of the running? Or do we assume they’ll figure it out by our inaction?
• Are we looking for the right qualities? Things that really matter? Or are we stuck on irrelevant “qualifiers” that leave the best talent to the competition?
• Do those we don’t hire feel at least about 80% as good about us as those we do?

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and Contented Cows MOOve Faster, and the brand new book Rebooting Leadership. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

First, the usual disclaimer whenever I blog something that could be seen as political: I’m not, repeat, not, making a political point here. The example I’ll use simply brings up an interesting leadership lesson. If I do what I intend, you won’t know any more about my political persuasion than you did before you started reading this.

Yesterday, Ohio Republican John Boehner (whom I don’t like) accepted the gavel as Speaker of the US House of Representatives from Democrat Nancy Pelosi (whom I don’t like). (How am I doing so far?) According to USA Today, Boehner promised, in his speech, that the minority party would be heard. Then, the first piece of business to come to the floor after the speech was fraught with disagreement between the R’s and D’s, and the R’s didn’t give in.

As a result, both Congressional Democrats and outside observers were quick to dismiss Boehner’s promise that Democrats’ views and input would be heard. This dismissal may ultimately be justified. Or not. But, at the moment, it’s premature.

OK – let’s move off the House floor, and into the place you work. As leaders, we have to listen. Really listen. And we have to be genuinely and honestly open to the input, views, ideas, opinions, plans, suggestions, and pleadings of those we lead. None of us is smart enough to lead well without doing this. But our openness and encouragement of others’ input does not create an obligation to always use it.

HOWEVER, comma… If we consistently ignore the stuff they give us, bang goes our credibility. And that has consequences. The kind we don’t want.

If you ask for your followers’ input, and never use it, they’ll learn not to bother offering it. Then you’re flying solo. While that’s not likely to happen in Congress, it’s the common response at work.

Just because the Republicans have verbally invited Democrats’ input, and then ignored it in this instance, tells us nothing about the sincerity of the invitation. A consistent pattern over the next few months, one way or the other, will.

Same goes for us at work.

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and Contented Cows MOOve Faster, and the brand new book Rebooting Leadership. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Popeye's in the Atlanta Airport - where they have a bit more OOMPH!

I lunched a few days ago at the Quizno’s sub shop in Concourse D of the Atlanta Airport. Actually, I lunched on the fast walk from the Quizno’s to my gate, but you get the pic. I like Quizno’s sandwiches, which is why I was willing to endure what I’m about to describe.

The people behind the counter (I hesitate to say working) had 2 speeds. Slow and stop. The longer I stood in line, the more I began to wonder if maybe the theoretical concept of absolute zero, the cessation of all molecular motion, were about to be realized.

To earn a profit in the quick service restaurant business (what fast food calls itself these days), things have to move fast; otherwise the numbers just don’t work. And I’d hate to be the Quizno’s manager who had to explain the numbers on this particular day. They simply couldn’t have gotten enough people through the line in the period of an hour to pay the fixed and variable costs they incurred. They don’t serve rice pilaf at Quizno’s, but there was plenty of customer peel-off as one hungry traveler after another changed destinations to competing outlets that afforded a greater chance of catching a bite before catching their flight.

I know what some of you are thinking – that the food service workforce in the Atlanta airport is made up largely of young people who haven’t had a lot of advantages in life, and they can’t really be expected to put a whole lot of oomph into making sandwiches. Bull! It’s not the workforce demographics that explain the lethargic performance in this shop. It’s the “management”, a representative of which could be seen in the back room of the shop talking on the phone while his employees were wandering aimlessly behind the counter and his profits were taking off for other destinations. You’ll see a demographic carbon copy of the Quizno’s crew in the Popeye’s Chicken in the same airport’s Concourse B.  There, a spirited shift manager gets those chickens moving so fast down that serving line that you’d swear they had wings. I love watching the energy there, as this bunch makes serving fried chicken and cajun rice and beans look downright fun.

We wrote a book a few years ago, entitled Contented Cows Moove Faster. And we see the truth of that statement borne out every day. So do you. Got any lethargy in your outfit? How much is it costing you?

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and Contented Cows MOOve Faster, and the brand new book Rebooting Leadership. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

At the end of the show, the audience showed its intense appreciation for the outstanding performance with thunderous and sustained applause. From a seated position. The cast took their bows. The audience kept clapping, and hooting, and whistling, and shouting. And sitting.

As a big fan of musical theatre, and the father of a musical theatre major, I’ve been to lots of shows. In my experience, in the United States, unless a performance is embarrassingly lousy, it gets a standing ovation, deserved or not. Once in a while, after a truly remarkable performance, the standing O is spontaneous, immediate, and unanimous. More often, it starts with a few enthusiastic supporters, then those who think “Yeah, that was really good. I guess I’ll stand like these other people,” and finally a more reluctant group who stand so they don’t look like soreheads.

I belong to a professional association whose annual conventions (the last 19 of which I have attended) feature some of the best professional speakers in the world. Many of them have deserved a standing ovation; virtually all of them have received one. More than once, I’ve asked a friend sitting – er, standing, nearby, “Did you really think that was all that great?” to be answered, “Not really, but I think we should be supportive of each other, so I always stand at the end.”

I respectfully, and supportively, disagree.

Standing ovations, like the top rating on a performance evaluation, should be reserved for those performances that are truly distinguished in their excellence. When everybody gets a “5”, “Outstanding”, or “Consistently Exceeds Expectations”, it cheapens the feedback meant to be imparted by an evaluation.

I’m all for positive feedback. But I’m even more in favor of accurate feedback. Become known as a straight shooter. When someone’s got room for improvement, let them know, then help them get the rest of the way. We’re doing no favors when we tell people they’ve reached the summit, when the summit is actually just a few yards away. Reserve the standing ovations for those performances that are truly in a singular place at the top.

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and the followup Contented Cows MOOve Faster. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

When:

What: Real Recognition Radio with Roy Saunderson and S. Max Brown will feature Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden, talking about how good leaders get people to put more OOMPH! into their work.

Roy Saunderson, founder of Recognition Management Institute and S. Max Brown host Real Recognition Radio Tuesdays at 10 Eastern.  These guys understand the value of recognition in getting the most, willingly, from people at work.

Tune in and listen to the show, on Tuesday, June 29, 2010, at 1:00pm Eastern Daylight Time, then bookmark their site, to listen each week.

And so on my recent trip to Lima, Peru, to speak for the Human Capital Forum, I was a little creeped out when I began to see the ubiquitous sign designating safe areas in case of “sismos”, Spanish for earthquakes. Now, Peruvians don’t play at earthquakes. Their most recent bad one, in 2007, killed more than 500 people. And the history of Lima, Peru’s capital, is more or less defined by any given event’s relation to the earthquake of this year or that year. And so I’m not sure I entirely believe the little green signs’ claim that the area around it happens to be safe, if the ground decides to yawn real big. Nevertheless, had the shaking started, I’d have been the first one to the green sign.

The sign, “Safe zone, in case of earthquakes” made me think, “Does the workplace have “safe zones”, someplace people can go, not when literal earthquakes strike, but when they feel the ground beneath their feet is wobbly, or that the walls around their lives are crumbling?”

Maslow, the Heirarchy of Needs guy, who knew more than he ever imagined about employee engagement, thought safety was pretty important. Right up there with basic survival needs. One thing that’s been reinforced in the economic earthquakes and tremors of the last couple of years is that fear paralyzes. Fear leads to preoccupation. And preoccupation and engagement are mutually exclusive.

In your outfit, where do people go when they don’t feel safe? From a workplace bully, or a boss that doesn’t quite “get” the zero tolerance thing on harrassment? Or harrassment notwithstanding, where can a person who respects the chain of command go when the next link up is the problem? Where’s the safe zone when you’re not sure your job’s going to be around, since nobody ever tells you anything about how the company’s doing?

Is there someone you can go to when you’ve lost the way on your career path? How about when things outside of work have gone haywire?

People need a safe zone. Whether it’s a human resources department doing what a human resources department should be doing, or a well-functioning employee assistance program and referral network, a good alternative dispute resolution process, or just someone who cares enough to listen, people need someone, someplace where they can “touch base” and know they’re going to be OK.

Looking for a way to get more out of your work experience? Create, or better yet, be, a safe zone.

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and the followup Contented Cows MOOve Faster. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Meanwhile, in the states, 88-year-old Betty White has suddenly become more popular than at any other time in her long career, thanks to a Snickers candy bar commercial that aired during the 2010 Super Bowl, and culminating (so far) in last Saturday’s much-hyped hosting of “Saturday Night Live”.

Whether or not you find either or both of these octogenarians entertaining is beside the point of this blog post. Here are some things I think are the point:

• Both women are clearly talented. And clearly old.
• They’ve each garnered tremendous support from people whose hearts have been lightened not only by their respective performances, but by their willingness to step into (or back into, in Betty’s case) the spotlight. Janey’s singing, and her comments afterward (if you can understand them – I can – I’m married to a Scot) have evoked both laughter and tears (tears of support) from many. I can only imagine the number of times the phrase “you go, girl” has been uttered in the last few weeks, on both sides of the Atlantic.
• These two have highlighted the important realization that, though they’re of mature years, they’re not, to quote Monty Python, “dead yet”.

If you’re in a position to hire, or lead, employees, you’re undoubtedly noticing that the over-60-set is not, in fact, moving out of the way like so many were predicting they would not so long ago. You’re getting more applications from them, and you’re being challenged to lead, manage, and motivate them to work with all their Discretionary Effort. Some thoughts:

• Don’t underestimate older workers. They’re a force to be  reckoned with. And led, and encouraged, and developed. Yes, I said developed. Just as they’re not dead yet, they’re also not done growing and learning.
• Don’t stick them all in the same box. There’s as much diversity among them as there is in any generational cohort.
• Capitalize on what they bring to the job, that younger workers don’t. Experience, perspective, institutional history, and much more.
• Keep performance standards high. To do otherwise perpetrates an injustice on everyone – the older workers, younger workers, your customers, and your shareholders. Janey Cutler and Betty White have shown us they can keep up with the best of ‘em.

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and the followup Contented Cows MOOve Faster. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Sure, it’s cute. The kids are really good. Adorable. And the creative team that put it together is brilliant. But what makes it work is that it’s anything but ordinary. Thomson passengers actually watch the thing, and I have to believe that retention of the material is off the charts compared to the forgettable safety videos on almost every other airline.

Anybody can do ordinary. As leaders, we’ve really got to do better than that.

Ordinary is having a need to meticulously account for every day, hour, and minute someone is “at work”, whatever “at work” means anymore. Extraordinary is what they do at Netflix. Check out what they call their “Freedom and Responsibility Culture“. No, it won’t work everywhere, but it sure seems to work for Netflix. And it sure isn’t ordinary.

Ordinary is treating everyone consistently. Extraordinary is being fair with everyone, but rewarding WOW work and commitment with WOW rewards.

Ordinary is giving everyone who does a good job a gold star, whether they happen to like gold stars or not. Extraordinary is learning what your workers’ dreams are, and finding a way to link their dreams to the success of your enterprise.

Ordinary is sympathizing with a team member when they’re going through a hard time. Extraordinary is parting with some of your own cold hard cash, or other resources, to help a worker out – someone who needs it, and who deserves it.

Ordinary is buying the corporate line that “we can’t afford any training right now until things, you know, get a little better.” Extraordinary is finding creative ways to support workers’ development needs.

Ordinary is playing it safe. Examples: you fail to give someone really difficult feedback because it’ll be really unpleasant for both of you; you keep someone on the payroll who has ceased to earn his or her place there, because, well, it’s just easier; you hire the acceptable candidate who’s going to be easy to get through HR, rather than the best one, whom you may have to do battle for. (Please – no nastygrams from my HR friends, of whom there are many. I’m just sayin’…).

While I’m castigating ordinary, I’m not advocating weird or bizarre. Or illegal, or unethical. But I am saying that if you, as a leader, or as an organization, want to get people really engaged, to stand out, get noticed, make a real difference, you gotta leave ordinary behind.

Kinda like Alice and company…

To be honest, they hit the nail on the proverbial head with much of their prognostication (with a few notable, and glaring exceptions). And yet, four years later, what hits me right between the eyes is the clear fact that the list was written with absolutely no foreknowledge of the economic cataclysm that was lurking just off the calendar, and that came ashore just two short years later.

Here’s the list:

1. Rising health care costs.

2. Increased use of outsourcing (offshoring) of jobs to other countries.

3. Threat of increased healthcare/medical costs on the economic competitiveness of the United States.

4. Increased demand for work/life balance.

5. Retirement of large numbers of baby boomers around the same time.

6. New attitudes toward aging and retirement as baby boomers reach retirement age.

7. Rise in the number of people without health insurance.

8. Increase in identity theft.

9. Work intensification as employers try to increase productivity with fewer employees.

10. Vulnerability.

OK – right off the bat, we’ve got 3 of the 10 trends dealing with healthcare. And they were right on target with all 3. The game changed last week. Whether for better or worse remains to be seen. But there’s no question that they were right on this one. That healthcare would become, to paraphrase Joe Biden, a “big deal”.

But look at all the stuff about retiring baby boomers. What retiring baby boomers? Of course, back in blissful ‘06, we didn’t know (though maybe we should have?) that our 401(k)’s were headed for shriveldom, and that the unemployment rate was gonna be up there where our 401(k) returns used to be…in the good old days.

I thought it interesting that the list included the two seemingly oxymoronic trends of work intensification and increased demand for work/life balance. The battle rages on, but work intensification is winning. The balance thing has taken a back seat to being lucky enough to have work in the first place. Sad, but true.

But in addition to the economic meltdown and complete flip-flop in the labor supply and demand relationship, here’s what else the ‘06 list missed, and in a big way:

• The disintegration (well-earned) of trust in leaders (at work and elsewhere).
• Continued and growing dis-connectedness between workers and the institutions they “appear” to be working for. People simply don’t identify with their “employer” to the degree they once did. Maybe with their profession, their career; but not their employer.
• Continued and growing need for connectedness to something, as manifested by the whole social media phenomenon.
• The coming (and now already here) dearth in leadership development efforts by employers, in large part due to the unforeseen recession.

These trends, and others, help form the basis for the new book we’re working on, along with our friend and colleague Meredith Kimbell, entitled Rebooting Leadership. Look for it this summer.

Meanwhile, what trends do you foresee in the workplace in the next, say, five years? Leave us a comment with at least two serious workplace trends that you see, or expect to see, and we’ll put you on a list to receive a free copy of Rebooting Leadership when it comes out.

Thanks!

In fact, Harvey’s so confident in this book he personally guarantees that if you buy this book, and do what it says, if you don’t have a job in six months he’ll give you your money back!

The book captures Harvey’s pragmatic, yet humorous style and shares easy to apply methods to:

· Rebuild personal confidence in the face of rejection

· Create a daily “recovery” program and job search plan

· Take advantage of the way firms and recruiters make hiring decisions

· Use state-of-the art networking strategies

· Learn the best questions to ask in interviews

A recent review by the prestigious Library Journal Review says:

“….this is a very useful book. The short chapters with descriptive titles make it easy to navigate, and Mackay offers tips—from changing your attitude to getting hired—both for those currently employed but wishing to position themselves better in their current companies and for those who are out of work. Highly recommended for job seekers and career changers at all experience levels.”

P.S. Go directly to www.harveymackay.com/jobsecrets or buy the book from a bookseller and visit the www.harveymackay.com/job secrets site with the book in hand.

Here’s where you can buy the book online (click on the link to go directly to Harvey’s book at the bookseller’s site):

Barnes and Noble

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We think you’ll personally enjoy it and hope you’ll pass this offer along to a friend who needs a dose of Harvey Mackay’s clever wisdom and secrets to jumpstart their career and the economy.

1. Workers have a diminished sense of meaningfulness in their jobs.
2. One word: micromanagement.

Here are 4 more reasons (with some suggested solutions), and a concluding thought:

Undifferentiated rewards: As companies have shrunk their merit budgets and bonuses, AND as the stock market is down for an entire DECADE (thus reducing the value of option grants), we have experienced tremendous reward destruction and compression in which the distinction between “stars” and “slugs” (Bill’s terms) has become negligible. Thus, we’ve experienced a drop in satisfaction that touches all, including our best performing people.

What to do: When you see good performance, reward it. Then and there. Start with “Thank You.” Then, find a way, and a big enough way to get the person’s attention. Rather than adding to fixed payroll expense, consider gifting an award trip, extra time off, or some other gift that really means something to the individual. Worry less about being consistent than sending a message that excellence is meaningfully rewarded.

Pocket pain: Specifically, health care. Concurrent with less-than-exciting (or nonexistent) pay increases, U.S. workers are paying more for health care, owing to a non-system that has seen costs more than double over the last decade. Employers who offer health care benefits have no choice but share the increasing cost. While currently proposed legislation solves some of the problems, it does little for the biggest problem – controlling costs. Take that, plus the increasing number of workers who have no health care benefits at work, and you’ve got a workforce paying higher premiums, higher out of pocket costs, no realistic solutions on the horizon, AND the increased worry that accompanies having no safety net. Yikes.

What to do: Turn off the TV! Get the facts. Read, starting with Regina Herzlinger’s Who Killed Healthcare?. Discuss the matter with your own physician. Consider establishing, along with like-minded neighboring employers, a private or co-op clinic, as organizations like SAS and the Pebble Beach Company have done. Heavily incent workers, using both positive and negative consequences, to better manage their health. Advocate forcefully for better public policy.

Diminished employment options: The recession, paired with the continued unbundling (and offshoring) of work have drastically reduced the number and scope of available jobs. Moreover, any stigmas or pangs of guilt on the part of management associated with reducing “heads” in the workplace have disappeared. Witness simultaneous announcements by United Parcel Service last month that the company was, 1) increasing earnings guidance due to favorable business conditions, and 2) Doing a restructuring that would eliminate nearly 2,000 jobs. People who once were assured that, even if they didn’t like their current job, could quickly find another now aren’t as comforted by their options.

What to do: Tune in. Let your people know where they stand and how the business is doing – truthfully and regularly. If you’re through making cuts, say so. Monitor and nurture your employment brand as carefully as you do your cash. That may also mean managing people out of the organization (with consideration and decency) who have unplugged and are merely hanging on because they don’t see any options.

The dumbing down of the workplace: The first shoe to drop whenever earnings take a hit, or the economy contracts, falls on the organization’s training budget. We are now in the 3rd year of greatly diminished funding, to include training for managers. To wit, people now find themselves in the unenviable position of working for (and with) less skilled managers. Not a happy thought.

What to do: Take this opportunity to get the jump on your competition. Begin selectively restarting your development activities, with a careful eye for the real priorities. If you can’t yet afford systemic efforts, fund development initiatives (i.e., executive coaching) for worthy staff. Incent workers (using time off or a skill acquisition bonus) to invest in their own development plans, rather than just “taking whatever comes from corporate”.

One last thought – and pardon what sounds like a negative tone here: Dissatisfaction isn’t confined to the workplace. The decade of the 00’s is one that most people in the U.S., if not elsewhere, were glad to put in the rear view mirror. We think it’s safe to say that many (if not most) of us feel less well off, less secure, and yes, less satisfied than at any time in our lives. To think that these feelings don’t make their way into the workplace is delusional.

That said, maybe it’s time to “reboot” this whole idea of leadership and motivation in the workplace. Not to throw it out, but to “reload the program”, under a new set of conditions, a new reality, for a new and better future. It is for that reason that together with our friend and colleague, Meredith Kimbell, we have been working for the better part of a year on a new book, Rebooting Leadership, due for publication in May of this year. Watch this space for more.

Meanwhile, buck up, and Godspeed!

Don’t worry. This is not (repeat, NOT) a post about politics. Nor is it a post about religion. But, have you noticed the degree to which people are disassociating from the major organizations in their lives – political parties, and yes, traditional churches? At the same time that fewer and fewer of us choose to associate with either donkeys or elephants, the same is happening with traditional, dogma-dominated churches, much to the delight of the Rick Warrens and Joel Osteens of the world.

But it doesn’t stop there. The third leg of the institutional stool in our lives, our employers, is likewise being swept into the corner of disregard. Not long ago, when you asked someone what they did for a living, they proudly replied that they were a nurse at Baptist Hospital, a welder at GM, or a pilot at American Airlines. Today, not so much. With almost no tip of the cap to the organization, we hear that they are a systems engineer, physical therapist, bartender, or SEO consultant, whatever that is. In a growing number of cases, the disengagement is more active and out in the open. Think late night comedy.

More so than any other factor, this institutional disengagement owes to a crisis of trust. Simply put, whether a government, political party, church, or corporation, we no longer trust the entity to behave in a manner consistent with its espoused purpose and principles.

I can’t speak for the politicians or preachers, but for those of us in the business world, the path is pretty clear. In the post-AIG world, it is pointless for us to ask or expect people to regain trust any time soon in our institutions. If and when it comes, it will be on the back of individual leaders who, one at a time, are doing the things necessary to regain the benefit of the doubt of their followers. More than just waiting and wishing them (us) luck, there are things we can do to support this effort:

1. For going on three years, our training budgets have been slashed to the bone as we’ve operated on the premise that we can work our way out of a bad economy by dumbing down the organization. It’s high time we resume funding development activity, most particularly for our young leaders who need it the most. If you can’t yet fund system wide training, invest in some coaching for your more promising folks.
2. On the premise that people would rather watch than hear a sermon, each of us must redouble our commitment to keeping our promises. If we would spend half as much time making our word our bond as we do wordsmithing and putting the right spin on our words, we would be miles ahead.
3. We need to do a much better job of recognizing and rewarding those leaders who consistently earn the benefit of the doubt, and, dealing with those who don’t.

The path is long and mostly uphill, but it’s not going to get any easier over time. Let’s get going.

Godspeed!

*****

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows

SAS is the real thing. It’s relatively easy to splash onto this list once or twice. But showing up for 13 years in a row takes more than luck.

Why They Keep Making It
Fortune’s annual article about the list always seems to focus on the perks and creature comforts of the best places to work. We think that misses the mark. Most of the companies that rise to the top echelons of the ranking deserve to be there – but more for their culture of leadership, trust, and excellence than for their gyms, childcare, and free food.

Thirteen years ago, the year SAS showed up on Fortune’s first “100 Best” list, I toured the SAS campus outside Raleigh, while researching Bill’s and my first book, Contented Cows Give Better Milk. Here’s an excerpt from the passage we wrote about SAS:

“Every floor of each of the eighteen buildings on its sprawling Cary, North Carolina, campus has a well-stocked break room with a veritable cornucopia of stuff to eat and drink, everything from crackers to M&M’s, all paid for by the company. Everyone is trusted to consume only what they want. There’s nothing to stop someone from shoving three boxes of Cracker Jacks in their bag and schlepping them home for those nights when they’ve got the munchies. Well, maybe there is. Perhaps it’s the fact that they’re trusted not to.”

Fortune’s online article about SAS and the list features a string of comments from readers, many of whom appear to be current and former employees. Almost all are in agreement with Fortune’s #1 assessment of the company. (One guy allowed, “dont like them [sic]“.

But another, styling himself Viktor Kunovski, put it best:

“The best companies in the 21 century will be the ones who understand that:

• Fact 1: Employee fulfilment drives customer satisfaction.
• Fact 2: Customer satisfaction drives shareholder value.
• Fact 3: Leadership development drives employee fulfilment. [sic]

Congratulations SAS, just show the way.”

Did someone say Contented Cows Give Better Milk?

Again, SAS’s remarkable perks are but a manifestation of the trust between the company and the people who work there. The fact that employees have unlimited sick days is great, but even greater is the fact that the company trusts people not to abuse the trust indicated by the policy. Those who do – get to look for other jobs…so that those who don’t – get to keep the privilege.

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and the followup Contented Cows MOOve Faster. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

USA Today quotes US Census Bureau Director Robert Groves (not to be confused with Defense Secy Robert Gates or Press Secy Robert Gibbs), as saying “The horrible recession has benefited us in an indirect way — our applicant pool contains a set of people with experience and background and training that is unprecedentedly rich”.

And so does yours… if you’re recruiting. And smart employers are ALWAYS recruiting, whether they’re hiring or not.

Here’s what those same smart employers know, are learning, or will learn from this:

• Just because there are more people in the pool doesn’t mean it’s easier to spot the best swimmers. In fact, in many cases, an oversupply of labor makes the job of hiring – and hiring well – even harder. Whenever you hear the words “inundated” and “applications” in the same sentence, you can be pretty sure of hearing the words “it was just a bad fit” being uttered not too far down the road.
• This is a case where hi-tech has to be paired with hi-touch. If you over-delegate this core leadership function to so-called smart selection systems, or to HR (whose job it is to help, not do it for you) – or if you don’t – you’ll get what you deserve.
• These days, making the right choice is as important as ever, because making the wrong choice shows up more than when the economy is on a firmer footing. Prosperity insulates against lots of bad decisions, including bad hires.
• Relying on (hoping for?) an “any port in a storm” mentality on the part of the unemployed workforce is a great way to miss the recovery. Pre-recovery is precisely the time you don’t want to foul the gene pool with “just anyone”. The best applicants will still discriminate with respect to employer reputation. Don’t let your competitors get the good ones – and they’re out there.

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and the followup Contented Cows MOOve Faster. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Not unlike my son, Will, who tends bar at the Savannah airport and has a following of regular customers (at an airport bar!), Ben has learned that it’s the little things, like remembering a guest’s name and their preferences that lead to  good outcomes. The very same thing holds true for those of us whose job is to lead others. Before we can expect people to follow us with any degree of fervor, we must first take an interest in them… their likes, dislikes, ambitions, apprehensions, etc.

In the age of the disposable worker, this type of care and attention seems counter-intuitive. Speaking of his new sales reps, one office products sales manager admitted to me that, “we don’t really even get to know their names, as most of them won’t be here very long.” I’m willing to bet that a lot of the good performers leave for precisely that reason. Not bothering to know someone’s name, or things that are important to them doesn’t make them feel very special.

Thankfully, this is something that is not constrained by economic forces. We don’t need a positive GDP growth rate to make people feel special. Nor does it require any particular talent. Every one of us can do it. We’ve just got to care enough to take an interest, listen, observe, and then act on what we’ve learned.

I think you’ll find that if you take that extra step, you’ll soon notice that you’ve got more people around you who are willing to go the extra mile.

Godspeed!

*****

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows

One of the most effective exercises we use in our leadership training seminars is one in which we ask leaders to write down, right then, what they believe to be their organization’s Top 3 Business Priorities. Then we ask them to go out and ask a handful of followers the same question. It’s always amazing (and at the same time, completely predictable) that organizations (companies, departments, teams) and individuals pursuing a tight and consistent set of priorities seem to perform better than those with as many priorities as Tiger Woods has things he wishes he could undo.

For example, if President Obama were to focus his considerable intellectual and political skills on 3 – just 3 – main priorities, rather than the myriad of serious issues he has screaming loudly for his attention, I’d bet that lots of people would be happier by the time we’re arguing over whether it’s two thousand eleven or twenty eleven, and that his approval ratings would be back up where they once were.

He hasn’t asked me, but if he were to do so, I’d suggest that those priorities be:

• The economy
• Terrorism
• Health care

…in no particular order, in fact, concurrently.

My Top 3 Business Priorities for Contented Cow Partners, for 2010 will be:

• Keynote speaking at state and national conferences and conventions,
• Conducting employee and customer satisfaction surveys,
• Leadership training in companies and other organizations…

…in no particular order, in fact, concurrently.

Assignment: What will be your Top 3 Business Priorities for 2010? Leave us a comment and let us know.

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/rehadden) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and the followup Contented Cows MOOve Faster. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Tomorrow (Tuesday December 15th) at 2:30pm EST (GMT -5), we’ll be doing a live webinar with many of the guests in the series including:

• Josh Bersin
• Kris Dunn
• David Creelman
• Lance Haun
• Ed Lawler
• Libby Sartain
• and me

You can register for the webinar here. Join us, and let’s stir things up a little!

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/rehadden) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the new book Contented Cows MOOve Faster, as well as the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Members of the U.S. Congress are beginning to bandy about the notion of imposing a “war tax” to pay for the war in Afghanistan. Though drilling yet another hole below the water line is about the last thing our economy needs at the moment, I’m not sure it’s such a bad idea. If every (repeat, every) taxpayer was invested in this gambit, either by virtue of military service or a surtax on their paycheck, I feel certain that our opinions would quickly become more reasoned (less partisan), and the prospect of holding politicians and military officers accountable would improve immensely. Moreover, there would be at least one thing that binds us together. Or, as former New York mayor, David Dinkins remarked upon Barack Obama’s election, we would all “be drinking out of the same water fountain.”  And, our children and grandchildren might breathe a little easier knowing that there was at least one tab their parents were actually paying themselves.

Regardless of the outcome of any proposed war tax, skin in the game is something that each of us as leaders should strive for on our own teams. We can do so by:

1. Lobbying for contracts and other arrangements that truly put pay at risk
2. Using spot cash awards (and fines) as a way of recognizing performance in real time
3. Being more thoughtful and broadminded in assigning responsibilities and tasks
4. Refusing to saddle your stars with the task of cleaning up messes made by others, and
5. Being quicker to remove people from the team when they have lost too much skin.

Your thoughts, as always, are welcome.

*****

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows