mlbennettconsulting.com

We also outlined  four key business strategies that can be supported by flexibility in the organization.  These are:  

1-Employee Attraction and Retention

2-Improved Productivity

3- Improved Customer Service and Satisfaction

4- Effective Operational Management

This third posting will cover the last two strategies.   Why are these strategies key to a business case for building a flexible work culture?…….or said another way…… How will flexible work cultures actually help to accomplish these business strategies?

Improved Customer Service & Satisfaction
Flexibility can improve client service in a variety of ways that include extended hours, deeper bench strength, improved employee engagement and improved back up service. When customers need extended hours of access to service providers this does not always mean that the hours need to be served by one person. Flexibility promotes stronger service by the team as a whole. Putting flexibility in place regarding work hours can be an improvement for customers and teams simultaneously.  This pertains to internal and external customers.  With a little planning and good communication, a flexible work culture can extend the amount of hours we are available to our customers and the quality of that response. For example, a team can agree that one individual desires to begin work very early in the morning and wrap up late afternoon while other team members prefer to begin work late morning and wrap up in the evening. With both of these team members covering customer communication- the customer is covered for a 14 or even 16 hour day on a regular basis while still matching the desired work hours of those on the team.  Multiple time zone issues are also impacted positively by these arrangements.  Flexibility creates a powerful productivity enhancer and barrier to exit within the team while simultaneously improving customer service and building stronger continuity and relationships. In addition, the team members share customer coverage and communication and develop stronger skills for future advancement. If there is turnover in the team at some point, the relationship with the client does not rest in the hands of one person. The team relationship protects the customer relationship and increases continuity which will directly improve customer retention which is a top concern of many organizations today.  Customer satisfaction and retention is a number one concern according to a 2009 PCPS survey. Serving current customers is much more profitable then acquiring and acclimating to new clients. Customer retention is a significant bottom line issue for all organizations and one that can be improved by well executed flexible work culture efforts. Employee engagement is improved when desirable career components such as flexibility are available. Flexibility fit is a powerful predictor of employee engagement for employees of all ages. Increased employee engagement has been proven in research to predict increased customer satisfaction.

Effective Management
A flexible work culture can positively impact the effective management of an organization which is most significantly a bottom line issue and important component of the business case. Flexibility improves organizational management by impacting the costs related to the peaks and valleys of work flow, both predictable fluctuations such as seasonal changes and unpredictable fluctuations such as timing issues, growing and shrinking practices or markets, sabbaticals and absence leaves. Consider the following scenario. An organization requires a 40% increase in hours to complete seasonal work each month for four months. Company #1 deals with the increase by requiring individuals to increase their hours to cover this gap in hours and may be required to pay overtime as a result.  Organization #2 hires additional resources  who work forty to fifty hours per week to cover these additional seasonal hours. Some of these individuals work part time during other seasonal flux periods, others are completely non active in the slower seasons which works with their family and/or personal life considerations. Other team members make themselves flexibly available in the slow period should any periodic project work arise that requires additional hours over and above those available with traditional staffing. In Company #1 most individuals are required to work significant overtime during the seasonal work period which limits the talent pool that is willing to work with Company #1 and increases turnover and burnout among those who do. The turnover, burnout and stress related ailments increase costs in recruitment, training, medical leave, and health insurance. In Company #2 those individuals with traditional full time schedules in the Firm are not required to work significant amounts of overtime unless they wish to do so. Moderate levels of overtime are compensated properly. Unsustainable levels of overtime are not encouraged as this creates poor role modeling and misconceptions about what is required to advance in the organization. In each individual case, compensation is adjusted accordingly to ensure company metrics are met.

Flexibility enables customized career and life integration design while simultaneously providing depth in staffing for planned and unplanned contingencies. Flexibility is a two way concept. Individuals who are able to access flexibility when desired are very often willing to respond when the organization requires flexibility of them to accomplish business needs and/or meet unusual or unpredictable customer needs. Decisions are not static and therefore morph as individuals move through different stages of their lives. This adjustable model increases the number of years of employee retention which decreases recruitment, and training costs. With a flexible work culture and deeper bench strength, changes in practice/market volume and other volatilities in business are more easily staffed at a lower cost with less negative impact to the customer such as delays or poor work due to stress and burnout.

Conclusions
Building a flexible work culture is a business tool that supports the accomplishment of other business strategies. The business case for flexibility is supported by a deep connection with many common business strategies in play today in most organizations. The business strategies include: top talent attraction and retention from almost all pools of workers, productivity gains, improved client service & satisfaction and improved business effectiveness. It is not difficult for any organization to create a strong business case for flexibility that is tied directly to its primary business objectives in a very specific manner. The organizations that begin to approach the building of a flexible work culture in a determined, systemic, and strategic manner will be building a strong competitive advantage.

mlbennettconsulting.com

We also outlined  four key business strategies that can be supported by flexibility in the organization.  These are:  

1-Employee Attraction and Retention

2-Improved Productivity

3- Improved Customer Service and Satisfaction

4- Effective Operational Management

This second posting will cover the first two strategies.   Why are these strategies key to a business case for building a flexible work culture?…….or said another way…… How will flexible work cultures actually help to accomplish these business strategies?

Employee Attraction & Retention

As stated above there are very few employees that go thru their entire career without the need for flexibility at some juncture.  In addition we know that there are many groups within our talent pools that require flexibility as part of a desired career package.   Dual income families are the first group that comes to mind.  [1]Eighty percent of all couples in the United States are dual income.  This means that both members of the household work in jobs outside of the home.  Many of us can remember a time when all those we worked with were from single income families.   Many of us may still be members of a single income family; however this is far from the norm.  Only 20% of the population have an adult at home full time managing household tasks .   This percentage is shrinking as we move forward.  Our organizations are still in many ways structured as if everyone has an adult family member at home managing the many things that must be done to run a household.  As a result we may not even be aware of all that it takes to keep a household chaos free.  Most individuals in the U.S. do not have this luxury.  Simple things such as car repairs or maintenance, doctor appointments, home maintenance, financial management, and last but not least child or elder care responsibilities require time to manage effectively.  Dual income families are under tremendous pressure not only to make ends meet but to stay organized and accomplish household and family related tasks in a timely and effective manner.  This pressure often causes significant stress.  In addition, we know from research that the reduction of this pressure can result in a powerful barrier to exit in employees.  For many of our employees, it is high on their list of priorities to establish flexibility that works well for their family unit.  Once this flexibility is in place, it is a very strong and low cost employee benefit and barrier to exit.  

Not only dual income family members are looking for flexibility.  Other groups that are demanding flexibility in their career package are generation x & y, those moving toward retirement, those with increasing outside interests such as hobbies or educational goals, and those serving in the military and working in reserve units.  There are more and more reasons why individuals require flexibility and our competitors are providing it.   The size of the talent pool that will periodically require flexibility in their career is growing rapidly.  The organization with a flexible work culture will be well prepared for the future.   Flexibility is a competitive advantage in today’s marketplace.

In addition to the competitive need to provide flexibility, the bottom line is best served by preparation for flexibility as well.   The loss and recruitment of replacement staff conservatively costs a Firm 150% to 200% of annual salary.  By contrast, a full one year parental leave, or elder care leave costs only 32% of annual salary.    Multiply the savings noted above by the number of employees likely to require flexibility in the future and bottom line impact is evident.                                                                                                                                  

 Increased Productivity

Flexibility, when well executed, will improve productivity within an organization in a variety of ways.   Well executed flexibility requires improved communication regarding roles and expectations.  Flexibility often reduces stress dramatically which can result in increased concentration, improved attendance, morale and improved performance.  Each of these elements is a building block to improved productivity.

A 2007 CCH Survey shows that 66% of absence from work is related to other than personal illness.   In addition, 35% of absence from work is related to stress and family needs with another 18% related to personal needs. [2]   Similar surveys have shown that individuals will often not actually take the day off, but will come into work with these distractions pulling them away from work during the day.  This lack of concentration directly impacts productivity because many individuals cannot use all of their vacation time for these needs yet the issues must still be dealt with using work hours to make calls, and keep appointments. Catalyst cites 76% of managers and 87% of employees reported that flexibility had a positive impact on productivity.

A recent study out of Cranfield School of Management suggests that workers given flexible hours by their employers tend to work more intensely than their counterparts who are keeping more rigid office hours.   The researchers suggest that the reason for this phenomenon is a “kind of payment” to the employer from the worker in exchange for the freedom to choose where and when to work. [3]

Flexibility is not always about personal needs, often flexibility is requested for business reasons that directly increase productivity.  Flexibility requests are increasingly about setting aside uninterrupted time to complete certain tasks , to accommodate urgent work requests and to address the business needs such as the following:

 - To be available to colleagues and customers in other time zones

  -To extend total hours of availability of a team

  -To match uneven and/or seasonal workflows with proper resources

 - To address needs put aside during periods of heavy workload

 - To avoid long commutes of unproductive time[4]

In companies working on building flexible work cultures  there are often questions about how to structure a pro-rata compensation and benefits package for those who have requested some type of flexibility.  The main concern is often the protection of accepted organizational metrics and fairness.  The mechanics of this effort are not the most challenging aspect of the implementation.   Organizational cultures and unwritten rules about what is “normal”often  increase the resistance to mainstream acceptance.   However,as stated previously, many flexibility arrangements do not even involve an overall reduction in hours but involve other types of flexibility that do not impact compensation.  However, complexities seem to remain when implementation is attempted.  The only solution is solid communication of the business benefits to the organization.

Organizations  should avoid removing individuals from advancement and promotion tracks as a result of flexibility.  First and foremost the number of individuals who desire flexibility is increasing and these numbers suggest it is prohibitive to exclude the significant number of individuals from maximizing their potential.  In addition, the lost of talent from reducing the growth of this talent pool is short sighted.  It is critical that outcomes, experience requirements, and role responsibilities are not confused directly with hours worked or departure from cultural norms .  There are positions that are very difficult to execute with less than a full time plus level of hours.  In reality,however, many of these roles can be split or shared if viewed in a new light.  In addition, as has been stated previously, many types of flexibility do not require a reduction of overall hours .   Therefore there is no impact preventing access to full time plus executive roles.   If the team perceives lack of advancement as a consequence of flexibility the competitive advantage and business case is lost.

Stay tuned for Part III in the series on The Business Case for Building Flexible Work Cultures

[2] CCH Absence Survey – 2007

[3] Discovery News, Feb 2010                 

[4] Building a Flexible Workplace, Catalyst July 2009

The majority of our employees require flexibility at some point in their careers. Research increasingly points to flexibility as one of the most important career considerations of staff, emerging leaders and even our seasoned leaders. If we do not offer this flexibility in our organizations we will lose productivity in our top talent pool and we may lose this top talent completely to our competitors. In addition to flexibility as a requirement for top talent, consider the possibility that flexibility can actually improve your organizational results.

There are many definitions of flexibility. For the purposes of this discussion we are talking about any type of flexibility that allows team members to depart from the standard schedule of an early morning start time to an early evening departure, with all hours served as face time, either at a client/customer site or at the office location. There are many articles and books written regarding the types of flexible work arrangements available.  This posting will not focus on the mechanics of the arrangements but the business case behind them.

Flexibility is not exclusively about part time work. Many types of flexibility involve no reduction in the amount of hours worked. In fact, many types of flexibility involve only one dimension of work structure, such as location, amount of travel or timeframe of the hours worked. There are many dimensions to work structure. Each of these dimensions can be considered when offering flexibility options to team members which in turn gives organizations many options.

The days of flexibility centered on “flex-time” programs and individual “accommodation” has past. Organizations that are making flexible work cultures a success are doing so by using flexibility and the building of a “flexible work culture” as a business strategy that supports business goals directly. Each organization will have a slightly different emphasis in their business case for flexibility. The business case should be directly tied to the strategic plan of the organization which will drive the prioritization of the flexibility business case components specific to each organization.

The list below includes many common business goals .  Flexibility can assist in the accomplishment of these business goals. These business goals should be prioritized based on applicability to the organization and customized with actual organizational data when formulating the business case for specific organizational flexibility.  The upcoming posts in this series will focus on each of these business goals and how flexibility can assist an organization accomplishing these goals.

Employee Attraction and Retention ; Improved Productivity; Improved Customer Service and Satisfaction; Effective Operational Management

Stay tuned for Part II of this series….

Mary L Bennett, mlbennettconsulting.com

I have had this conversation more times then I wish to remember when working with organizations on increasing gender diversity in the leadership ranks. The aspirations of women can be a very perplexing yet popular topic of conversation in the leadership ranks of organizations.

In coaching hundreds of women leaders I have seen women select themselves out of the senior leadership track many times. This causes the leadership of the organization, particularly if they are primarily male, to conclude that women simply do not share the same level of aspiration as their male counterparts. I do not believe this, but I do understand how this conclusion is reached. I believe that many women do not want to execute on the roles they see in the way they have seen them fufilled.  I also believe that women often have detailed and more complex criteria for career opportunity evaluation then their male counterparts.  Many women with deep leadership potential are looking for a different type of leadership experience in a different type of organization. A successful woman leader told me recently that her male counterparts talk about “the big game”.  They tell her that the career experience for them is a game and they always want to win the game.  They go on to say that sometimes,  however , you do lose the game.  It happens and if you do lose- you just move on to the next game.  It is just a game.  She was emotional when she told me this story.  She very strongly stated that her clients and her employees were not part of a game to her. She could never look at her experiences as a game. Her work had deep meaning for her and she could not work as hard as she did without that meaning.   I have the “meaning” conversation ten times more frequently in coaching conversations with female leaders then with male leaders. Women very often highly prioritize the need to derive meaning from their careers.   Women frequently talk about impact, making a difference, changing the world.  I am not suggesting that men do not derive meaning from their work, only that women are much much more focused on this aspect of career planning then their male counterparts.  Women have shared with me that they must have deep meaning from work because they have to make so many difficult choices about how they spend their time.  Given all the roles that they play, all the choices that they have , there must be deep meaning and engagement in their work or there is not enough reward for them to make the sacrifices they must make to succeed.

These differences in career perspectives impact the manner in which we work with women leaders and emerging women leaders in succession planning and career coaching. I have worked with organizations where the male leadership team wants to increase gender diversity but has failed to do so. When I arrive on site they talk about the women who have “declined” the track or self selected themselves out of the running for certain leadership roles. This is very confusing for the male leadership teams who , most understandably, look at the career path experience and motivation from their own experiences and perspective. It is very difficult for them to understand all of the criteria an emerging woman leader might have in her decision making tree regarding any given opportunity.  The good news is that we can understand this criteria and when we do it makes all the difference.  Women have deep, high level aspirations that rival their male counterparts.  We are able to tap into these and when we do we begin to see the changes we are striving for in our organizations begin to take shape. 

The good news is many many women will place themselves back on the track to the highest leadership ranks when they can envision the role differently.  I have seen this happen over and over again.  These successes can be achieved through organizational and individual coaching.  After all- if we are striving for gender diversity in the leadership ranks to increase organizational performance- we want true diversity in the manner in which the role is executed. This means women leaders must be encouraged and given  free rein to change the manner in which the roles are designed and fulfilled.  

mlbennettconsulting.com

First and foremost let me share that I do not believe in the term work/life balance.  Everything I have learned personally as a working mother and senior executive and have also learned from other women executives, managers and staff tells me that the phrase “work/life balance” may do us more harm then good.   Balance implies the image of the old scale that had a point of perfect balance when both sides of the scale had even amounts of weight placed upon them.   The work/life balance scale implies work on one side, life on the other and a very special point of perfect balance.  Most of us know that the “very special point of perfect balance” very rarely or never comes.   In working with women leaders I have found the term work/life integration to be much more realistic.   Work is part of our life and as such is one element to be integrated in according to our personal vision of the life we want to build.  Creating a personal customized vision of how we want to integrate the various elements of our lives, the roles we play, including work- is a success strategy of many women leaders I have coached.   So why is work/life integration the most talked about barrier?   Work/life conflict is traditionally understood and easy to see.

When organizations set out to work on the lack of advancement of women or uneven gender diversity in leadership – the assumption is often made that if the issue of “flexibility” can be dealt with the problem will be solved.  Why is this?  Because women have children and other roles and commitments outside of work that are still perceived ( and may actually be) more time consuming than their male counterparts.  In the posts on WOB, we have talked about barriers other then work/life conflicts that interfere with the advancement of women in organizations.  Lack of career/advocacy and visibility of successful female role models.  These two barriers are interwoven with the issues of work/life conflict.  Women need strong advocates that can conceive of different models of work /life integration other then those demonstrated by the male leaders that have come before.  Women also need female role models that represent multiple and diverse models of career/life integration.  Despite common misperception- not all women will choose to handle career and life integration in the same manner.  Personal values, support systems, experiences, role specifics and many other elements influence the best choice for any given woman leader. 

Women also tend to strengthen the myth that work/life conflicts are the primary element that cause women to derail from the leadership tracks or to leave organizations altogether.  When a woman has made the decision not to pursue a path within a particular organization it is much easier for her to reference work/life conflicts then to discuss a lack of career advoacacy and mentoring or to talk about the fact that women don’t appear to succeed in this organization as often as men.  At that point they are no longer vested in the organization and will tell the male leaders what they already believe to be the cause for the woman’s departure.  Many women had shared full scope reasons for leaving organizations with me as a coach but intend only to tell their supervisors that they need an “easier schedule” or a different environment to work in that will support working parents.   In some cases, women do not even realize how much of a difference an organization with leaders that understand how to support new models of career customization can make in retaining and ensuring women continue to advance.  It is difficult for women to envision how it may be done differently in the organization if it never has been done differently.  The first few women who succeed as pioneers need organizational support in paving the way.

There are many many role models and examples of women who have succeeded in building a life that integrates work with other priorities in a way that works well for them.  This is a barrier that can be dealt with.  It requires solid reflection by the women leader on her life and her aspirations for integrating all aspects of her life according to her personal life vision.  It also requires organizations to support early pioneers, new models of success, and to make visible as many diverse models of success as possible.

And, if you look down and there is a candy wrapper lying on the pavement, do you pick it up and throw it in a waste basket? Most likely you would take the moment to help clean up the area.

So, why do we walk past unpleasant situations, unpleasant people and just keep going? And, sadly, there are also times we add to the difficulties with our comments and critiques and more “junk” is left in the room.

It’s time to look emotional pollution in the eye and start a campaign against toxic patterned behavior spills.

Saying “no” to divisiveness, to gossip, to office politics is an important step to cleaning up this invisible environment that pollutes as much as leaving trash on the floor.

Think about it for a moment. When someone tells you a “juicy tidbit” about a colleague how do you respond? Do you simply say “uh huh” and walk on? Do you ask for details and add “I knew she couldn’t be trusted?” Do you go to another colleague and say “Wait till you here this?”

There is old conditioning that had to do with safety and survival, handed from generation to generation, that is the plus side of gossip. We all want to be in the know. Okay, now the big question is what do you do with the information?

Emotional pattern spills happen in every office all the time. They can cause poor morale and lessened productivity; cleaning them up takes work and determination.

Here is the best way I have found to stop the “gotcha games” at work. When sour sentences come your way, simply ask “What is your intention by telling me this?” And then you must be quiet to give the other person ample time to answer.

If still not satisfied, another question “What do you want as an outcome?”

Again wait. And then “What do you expect me to do with this information?”

This is the foundation of the program “OUCH: Handling Conflict at Work” and I have seen positive changes occur quickly and effectively.

By irresponsibility, by ignorance, by inconsideration, we all pollute. By communicating, by questioning, by caring, we can keep our environments clean. It’s about you, it’s about me, and it’s about time!

When you started your career what was front and center on your work agenda? I was armed with a master’s degree in psychology and I was going to make the world a happier place.

There was no idea of owning a business, no idea of leading others, no idea of public speaking, and no idea of writing a book. I was focused on learning the ins and outs of being a therapist, working with the invisible forces that make us do what we do.

Interestingly, forty years later the core of my career is the same. I still love to dig down into the hidden world of behavior patterns and how they impact us at home and at work. I also am amazed that instead of a small office with just the right therapeutic setting of chairs, tables and a couch I run a 450 acre retreat center that can sleep 60 people, with an organic vegetable garden, labyrinth, pond large enough for a paddle boat and outdoor dining pavilion.

I also have an office in San Francisco and consultants throughout the country to help with our PatternAware™ programs. So, when someone recently asked me what I am looking for as we hire new consultants and support staff I took time to trace back to the past and bring it into the present.

And I thought about key lessons I have learned. I hope they spark for you some memories and ideas about your own personal lessons. Let me know, I’d love to dialogue with you. Here is my list:

1. Trust the process: what looks awful in the middle of a trauma may just be the fertilizer needed for the next step in career and home.

2. Don’t sell out: even if you are unpopular and feel alone you will find the strength to get to the other side without regret. Pleasers are happier as truth tellers.

3. Give love anyway: even when it is not deserved, don’t push others away, they may well grow and learn also and the love can boomerang back when last expected.

4. Drama can become boring: this addicting pattern can get in the way of real deepening so learn to tell a story that has a purpose and use your dramatic inclination in a more productive way. (I must admit this was the hardest for me to change.)

5. Be committed to being connected: no matter how those who are splitters want to create dichotomies, help to build a bridge, or be a bridge. No one wins unless we all do is a powerful manta.

I am curious to see who comes our way to join our team and how they will take to our basic philosophy that is spelled out in “Don’t Bring It to Work“. Our company is committed to standing on the shoulders of the past rather than to merely repeat it.

I usually re-look at myself at the end of each year. However, with the winds of change blowing gently this is a super time to think about what really matters and welcome new colleagues into my world.

Todays post is about the second barrier- the lack of visible female role models.  This barrier is also not well understood and often very very underestimated in it’s power.  In all the work I have done in organizations that have undertaken an effort to understand and impact the gender diversity of it’s leadership ranks- the lack of visibility is a barrier and also an answer to acceleration of progress.   We , as humans, instinctively look for role models . We look for individuals we can observe, learn from and emulate. We look for those who’s path we might follow.  In the end we forge our own unique path but it is most often comprised of a mosaic of the experiences of others. 

In most organizations the leadership ranks are still very male.  Women do not imagine themselves in roles that have historically been male.  In addition, the organizational leaders have an image of ”the type of leader” that is “right” for this role.  Organizational leaders are often as subject to their unconscious bias and experience as the women observing the roles.  The roles and execution of the responsibility of the roles often have a masculine stamp of sorts.  Women often do not consider these roles on their potential list of ultimate aspirations.  Often they are not aware of the limitations they have set forth or why they have done so.  There are of course women who strive to be the first, to be the one that breaks the barrier and provides a new vision of how the role might be executed.  If we rely exclusively on these women to be the force that provides the diversity in leadership that our communities and organizations need, we will be on a very slow path.  A path that is much too slow for the impact needed.

I was reminded of the impact of self- selection in a personal situation I experienced.  I was nominated for the executive board of our organization. There had only been one other woman nominated in the history of the organization.  One of the more senior women leaders who had , prior to this, been skeptical of targeted efforts to increase the numbers of women in the leadership ranks, approached me.   She shared with me that she was very impacted by my name on the candidate roster.  She realized she had never considered a position on the board as a possibility and therefore it was not a goal.  Seeing my name caused her to think deeply about why she had never considered this.  She now believed that possibly one day , she might be a candidate.  The most stunning aspect of this encounter was the fact that she was not someone who would previously have believed she was impacted by the lack of women in leadership roles.  She had unconsciously selected herself off the candidate list and was not aware she had done so.

I have personally seen the ripple effect of visible female role models on the progress of women in an organization.  In organizations that do not have many role models, it is possible to connect the emerging female leaders with networks outside the organization to expose them to role models and possibilities of success not immediately apparent.  These efforts have a huge , exponential impact.  Women begin to believe, imagine, aspire to roles they have not considered in the past.  I have seen women who had convinced themselves they could not succeed in certain roles due to the manner in which the roles had been executed.  All of the role models were male and the emerging female leaders could not authentically execute the role in a similar manner.  In several cases I have seen dramatic change in aspirations in women who have access to one female leader in a role that had previously been held by all men.  Immediately they can envision a different , more authentic path for themselves that now includes a role they had previously written off.

Many senior women leaders do not wish to be role models .  This is a common issue and after spending time in many many organizations where this is the case, I understand the reasons behind this.  Watch for this discussion in a future post.  For today it is important we understand that as women leaders we do not get to choose our role model status.  We are role models by virtue of our presence and our success.  Because we are in positions of power and have accomplished some level of success, others are looking to us for clues to a successful style approach, career-life integration strategies, ability to handle politics , and more.  Most important we must understand that the impact of our presence is real and powerful.   Our visibility as female leaders creates real , tangible change in the organizations and communities we live in.  You make a difference by just by being who you are and the manner in which you live your roles.

Mary L Bennett ;  mlbennettconsulting.com

In an attempt to motivate and inspire the staff of 15, this firm holds a weekly, 1½ hour Monday morning rally/staff meeting. Each person is required to speak into a microphone and tell the rest of the staff what they did the week before and what the current week holds for them (sounds good so far, right). There is also often a 15-30 minute assigned book report delivered by an employee. Once a month a PowerPoint on the state of the company is presented by all the staff who stand and face the group to talk about what’s working and what isn’t in their department or area. Each person also must take a minute to speak about something positive that happened to them the past week and  they are required to state why it is positive to them. They close every Monday staff meeting, in the spirit of Sam Walton and Wal-Mart, with a company “cheer” that the employees must stand up and yell. The problem is, the employees aren’t willing participants. This has been mandated to do – with a smile. Now, the intentions on the part of management are good, but the result, unfortunately, is a staff that dreads the meeting, finds excuses to miss the meeting, takes vacation days on Monday’s, and moreover is fearful to admit this to company leaders for fear of having to lead the cheer the next week. 

So how do you create loyal, motivated employees if you can’t make them stand and cheer…

Leadership 101, the Hawthorne Effect (study by Harvard)*, and almost all research conducted on workforce development have suggested that the way you create a loyal and inspired workforce is through changing the way employees feel about the organization, not by requiring them do things that already loyal people would be inclined to do (manufacturing loyalty). Studies done over nearly the past 100 years have shown that it is the time and attention individually paid to employees and a valuation of their work through compensation and acknowledged appreciation that causes them to value the work they are doing, like their place of employment and who they are working for, and inspires them to give of themselves in a way that isn’t required.

In the case of Wal-Mart, the morning cheer was started as part of a culture of a store founded by enthusiastic “hog-calling” Arkansas Razorback fans that already liked going to work and had a passion for what they were doing. The key word is: already.