Last time we spoke I was talking about culture, the myths associated with it, and which components of the employee experience shape the culture. It isn't just the warm and fuzzy, the fun and outgoing. It is cold, hard business morality and ethics and that drive a culture. To recap quickly, these are the 5 areas we look at in defining the employee experience:
1. Interpersonal interactions (peer to peer)
2. Supervisor-employee interactions
3. Work load
4. Work ethic
5. Work environment
We went through the first two, so we'll pick back up on number three.
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| Mission Impossible |
3. Work load
The work that you expect of your team plays a role in the experience they have when they work with you. It sounds simple enough. Tell them what you want them to do, and they'll do it. How hard could it be? As we're seeing more and more, it can be very difficult to do this, and that creates a strain on the employee, and on you. If the parameters of a role are not clearly outlined at the time of selection, you put your employee in a sticky situation. What am I supposed to work on? What is time sensitive, and what is a "nice to have"? Do they really know what they expect of me? These are all the questions you get when your first stab at laying expectations goes sideways. Without clarity, the work load becomes frustrating, because your team doesn't know what the work load actually is. The work is important, but it can't be qualified by the manager, so how can he/she expect the employee to qualify it. I've heard from managers before the saying "just put something in front of me and I'll tell you if it's good". You get an employee working as hard as he/she can only to be told "this isn't what I wanted". That's crushing, demoralizing, and it's easier too. There's almost nothing worse than being blind in a fight and being expected to still win. We can all say what it doesn't look like, but can we say what it should look like? Give an employee the blueprint, and expect success. Send them in blind, and you create an experience of frustration and inadequacy... not exactly a culture builder
On the opposite side of this, sometimes the work is clearly defined, but it's just impossible to accomplish. Setting unrealistic expectations can be just as frustrating as unclear expectations. You can see some employees putting in 75-80 hour weeks, and still not getting the job done. Usually that's not a case of them not being intelligent, but rather the task is so daunting that the manager couldn't do it him/herself. Law firms get a bad rap for the hours they have their associates work in the first few years out of school. They have to hit a certain number of billable hours to know that they are contributing value to the firm. Some weeks it can be done, others it can't. But if you put an employee in a situation where the failure rate is higher than the success rate, expect them to fail, and expect them to leave. With workload, you need to strike the right balance in order to maximize your talent. Give expectations that are clear and attainable, but also will drive the business, and give your employee the keys. We have to say with conviction we've given our team every chance to succeed if we expect them to. Do your part, and it creates an experience and a culture of success, accomplishment, and accountability.
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| We all have one of these guys... |
4. Work Ethic
This is a simple one to talk about. Look at the work ethic of your team. Do you see them "burning the midnight oil"? How often? Are they efficient? Are they innovative? Are they 9-5er's every day, who always complain there aren't enough hours in the day, but take an hour lunch daily and vacation once a month? Usually, your results will give you the barometer on this topic. You don't want to promote slave labor, but you also don't want slouches either. Keep a close on eye on the team around you. Motivated individuals find ways to get the job done if they're set up for success. Sometimes they get it done in spite of your own ineptitude as a leader to set them up for success...just don't make the latter the status quo or they'll leave you for greener pastures.
How hard your employees work will tell you a lot about the experience they are having at the company. Motivated employees have some reason to be invested. Maybe it's your compelling vision, your core values, the work they're doing, or maybe it's who they are. In any case, their work ethic sets the bar for other employees and new selections, who will see quickly that this is the pace we work at, and you need to be with us or you won't last long. It helps you create culture of expectation, but one of personal accountability as well.
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| A glimpse into Google's headquarters...must be nice! |
5. Work environment
Remember, people are at work and with their work family more than they are at home these days. It's just a fact of life. That being said, the environment you create in the workplace is something that can keep people feeling satisfied, or one that can set them off on a tough day. The environment is all about the smell, feel, sight, and general appeal to your senses. You can affect this!
Think about the work spaces everyone has. Do you give them so many documents and folders and files that they need a full desk and file cabinets, but you only give them a cube? Do you flirt with breaking fire code after every new selection joins the team? Is there anywhere for them to relax in the office? Does the bathroom work? These sound like stupid questions, but you'd be surprised how many people consider some of these things minor details because they have a business to run. Be intentional about how you build in work spaces. Dreamworks did an amazing job with this. Here's the link below:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2012/08/07/steelcase-ceo-on-how-office-layout-impacts-corporate-culture/
Google is one of the smartest places when it comes to creating work life balance through a healthy work place. They provide on site entertainment, meals, nap spaces, etc. While I know that not all of us are working for 500 million dollar companies, we can take this vision and scale it back. At a place I worked, it was only a 1600-2000 sq ft suite, we had a break room that people used for all sorts of things: chatting in the morning, naps, meetings. We also did a grocery run every week. Our assistant would order within her allotted budget and get snacks everyone liked and could pick from. We used to count down to Monday's at 10am when Freshy D's would come through the door! It was a little perk, but it made working in a cube bearable, because the company showed in different ways it cared for us. Create an employee-centric culture with little perks to show you appreciate your team...it can go a long way in shaping their experience.
Culture, as you can hopefully see from our conversation, is a real thing. It is tangible, but only if you make it that way. The biggest challenge in any organization is making the things that can elevate you go from theory to practice. The difference between the Googles, Apples, and Zappos! of the world is merely that they invested in culture, and realized that the investment was just that...an investment. It would take time to reap dividends, but the dividends would be worth it in the fullness of time. As a society we have become so instant gratification oriented, and that's attributed to the economic climate and the age of technology we are in. We have allowed this to translate to business, and we are seeing negative results. Rome was not built in a day. Cultural change, as told to me by the Director of Training for the Ritz Carlton, can take 7-10 years to permeate every aspect of your company. That's not happening overnight! Be patient, stay the course, and keep the integrity of your systems and principles in tact. You will see the results, and your change will last.
One more holiday to go, and we're back full speed ahead. Blessed new year to all, and to all a good night!
Stay inspired, be developed, be the change!
~AI
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