Just a few words

Found this over at Presentation Zen - I just love it.

"HR? I know all about that" - CEO

A question posted over at Dear Workforce has reminded me of one of the most frustrating things experienced by HR professionals - the fact that everyone (and I mean everyone) has an opinion on all matters HR. This is not entirely a surprise as HR issues are often about people, however, this it really can be an issue if the person claiming to know it all is your CEO.

So why is this the case? Ulrich provides a partial explanation in the form of a question he asks of HR professionals:

What is the biggest challenge you face in your job today?

What often follows are challenges related to doing HR practices better (recruitment, training, leadership development etc), having a seat at the top table or the personal challenges of working in HR.

....when we say there answers are wrong. Silence ensues.

The answer to the question is actually - how will HR rise to the challenge of helping their organisation succeed.

So now put yourself in the shoes of the CEO. She has probably spent years listening to HR tell her how diversity policies and pension strategies add value. No wonder she eventually thinks she knows all the HR answers. If on the other hand perhaps if HR starts to focus on business goals it will increasingly be seen as an effective business partner.

Reference: HR Transformation - Dave Ulrich et al

Meaningful roles mean better business

I was asked the other day by a senior colleague of mine how we could improve morale in one of our client organisations. The answer was easy - make them happier. There is a very simple secret to long-term employee loyalty and retention which isn't money, perks, stock options or even expense accounts (unless you are a British MP that is). It's giving them meaningful roles.

This is no idealistic notion rather a basic condition of human behavior and psychology that many leaders often forget: people are driven as much or more by intrinsic meaning as they are by extrinsic rewards.
Look around your social circle and you will notice that some of your brightest friends are earning a fraction of what they could be earning in a different job. If you are a rant reader it is unlikely that your friends are just stupid rather they are in those roles because they provide fulfillment and a sense of meaning beyond the job. Another great example? Go to an Pret store for your lunch and just and talk to a member of staff. Now compare that to the average employee at 95 percent of other "fast food" establishments. Enough said. In life, people make the "love or money" trade-off all the time.

What can businesses do to minimize this trade-off? It comes down to balancing the intrinsic with the extrinsic rewards. The former is the heart and soul of an organization and a person's reason for working there. The latter is the practical mind and wallet. Here are four ideas (after Anthony Tjan) designed to unlock the secret of long-term employee loyalty:

Help create a meaningful roles. Ask in an interview what they would be doing if they had all the money they needed; explain and remind the employee why the role is critical and how it fits into the bigger picture. This is the foundation and most critical component of long-term retention;

Give feedback. Do so regularly, with both honesty and thoughtfulness;

Offer and deliver professional development. Keep their larger career path in mind; ask what they want most to learn. People want to know where they are heading and that you care in helping them get there;

Say thank you. This means both intrinsic and extrinsic recognition — that is, reaffirm your appreciation for their role (a simple hand-written note or verbal thanks from time to time goes a long way) and pay them fairly.

Whilst not the whole answer nor a particularly new concept recognising the importance of creating a positive workplace remains important. Striving to create a clear connection between the values and aspirations of both business and employee is as good a starting point as any in changing organisational performance for the better.

Source material and other reading: Making employees happier, Good Jobs for Good People (Pret) and The meaning of meaning (excellent article on the representation of experience)
Image: Delta 7

Values based strategy - P&G show the way

Rosabeth Moss Kanter writes on her Harvard blog that Procter & Gamble, the world's largest consumer products company, has announced a groundbreaking new business strategy to jump-start growth.


It begins in an almost counterintuitive (to some) way — with company values and sense of purpose. Invoke the heart and care about human needs, the strategy seems to say, and the money will follow. I can see droves of accountants clutching their chests as I type!

Kanter refers to CEO Bob McDonald promoting P&G's "purpose-inspired growth" strategy of "touching and improving more consumers' lives in more parts of the world... more completely." McDonald explained the financial implications of this focus. It's simple arithmetic. If 7 billion consumers currently spend an average of $14 a year on P&G products, then finding ways to meet their needs that would increase that spending over 5 years by $2 a year (an affordable target), would create a growth spurt for the business.

P&G invests heavily in innovation, outspends the competition in R&D, and targets emerging markets with growth potential. But to execute, P&G is redoubling emphasis on its culture and values.

McDonald calls P&G's purpose the most consistent factor in a 171-year history of growth. "We will provide branded products of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world's consumers, now and for generations to come. As a result, consumers will reward us with leadership sales, profit and value creations, allowing our people, our shareholders, and the communities in which we live and work to prosper."

For me, this is a great example of how not falling for the business delusion and actually thinking about creating meaning for customers (and employees) can improve business performance in a breakthrough way.

Kanter also suggests that any business can adopt a variation of this strategy if leaders understand the rising importance of values. Leading with values is important for the new generation of employees, for finding innovations in underserved markets, and for getting respect from the public and favorable treatment from government. Here are lessons for everyone:

Inspire employees to add their hearts to their heads. An executive at another large company who describes herself as a mercenary plunged into a project to build an energy-saving technology ready to focus on just the financials, but found herself a true believer when other team members talked about their desire to change the world. People cared more and worked harder because values were tapped.

Add a third P to performance measurement: potential for impact. Measure how well you're doing not just by the past (better or worse than last year) or by peers (ahead or behind competition), but by potential. Which audiences, customers, clients, recipients are not being reached? What are the unsolved problems and unmet needs? Seeing untapped potential raises aspirations.

If purpose-inspired opportunities and commercial considerations seem to conflict, find another way. P&G struggled with a profitable market for water purification powder but kept it alive by establishing a non-profit organization with government and NGO partners to take it on. The values were enhanced, not diluted.

Finally, to lead by values requires having them in the first place. So pay attention all you bankers! Kanter continues to be one of the best thinkers in this challenging area and I firmly believe that organisations should follow P&G's lead and progress in a values-focused way.

Just a Friday thought for ranters - My next life

Facebook Makes You Smarter, Twitter Makes You Dumber

Twitter and Facebook are very different beasts when it comes to improving your “working memory“, which relates to “the structures and processes used for temporarily storing and manipulating information in short-term memory.”

Scottish researchers have developed a working memory training programme for slow-learning children aged 11 to 14 and found out that Facebook did wonders for working memory, improving the kids’ IQ scores, while YouTube and Twitters steady stream of information was not healthy for working memory. Also, playing video games, especially those that involve planning and strategy, can also be beneficial

Mashable suggests that as with any such study, one needs to take the results with a grain of salt. Without going into the benefits of training working memory for improving your IQ results, it’s obvious that Facebook and Twitter are hard to compare. Facebook is extremely versatile: you can play games there, chat with your friends, view photos and videos; you can even take IQ tests.

Twitter is a much simpler, more streamlined service. Does that fact alone makes it detrimental to your working memory? The research claims: “On Twitter you receive an endless stream of information, but it’s also very succinct. You don’t have to process that information. Your attention span is being reduced and you’re not engaging your brain and improving nerve connections.”

This may well be the case, and while looking religiously at Twitter all day is probably bad for you, if you mix it up with other online activities – such as Facebook – I'm not so sure that there would be any negative effects

Further reading: The social brain

Don’t sack the manager…

Researchers suggest that Premier League clubs (English football) who have long-term managers are more successful than those who change their managers on a frequent basis

As a consequence of the rewards for success and the penalties for failure in the English premier league there is immense pressure on managers to succeed, with poor results typically resulting in a scapegoating reaction by sacking the manager. Scapegoating theory holds that changing managers will not affect performance and is simply a ritual to apportion blame.

The researchers suggest that ‘Vicious circle theory’ posits that changing managers can lead to a decline in performance, because change disrupts well-established processes and brings instabilities and tensions which can have a detrimental effect on results.
Key findings indicate ‘illusion effects’, where the illusion of a short-term reprieve — when results typically improve following an appointment of a new manager — makes managers and owners believe that things are improving at the club (which sounds like similar to what is commonly know as the Hawthorne effect) . However, underlying weaknesses and strategic problems, which have not typically been addressed, dictate that performance typically drops to previous standards until problems have been resolved.

The studies suggest that the ‘scapegoating approach’ of sacking managers early and replacing them in the hope of improved performance is a fallacy, claiming that manager change may take longer than one year to effect strategic change.

Managers should therefore be given time to improve the club, team and address underlying weaknesses, before any decision to sack them is made. Decisions to sack a manager should be based on their ability to correct weaknesses and thus improve long-term performance, rather than analysing the ratio of wins against results.

Clearly this research could point a way forward for the business world. It strikes me that this is the footballing equivalent of the halo effect often afforded to new members of staff. In such circumstances the new start can do no wrong and can seemingly gain support, and often funding, for their "revolutionary" ideas. 6 months later the halo is passed on to the latest new start.

Source: Don't sack the manager - The University of Nottingham and Loughborough University

Flying cats

I had a meeting with the CIO of one the the UK's largest airport groups yesterday. We had a great discussion about how we could help them become even more successful than they already are. However, what really struck me on the day was the airport cat. There it was curled up in its purpose build house snoozing as jets, buses and cars buzzed all around. Fantastic.


On entering the building I asked about the cat - smiles all round "oh yes Olivia is our pet cat she has been here for years we all love her to bits".

Who needs complex engagement strategies - morale problems in your business? Then get a cat!

Rant back in action

After a few weeks absence I'm back in blogging action. My absence has been due to security issues with my employer and the use of company laptops.

This has been really annoying but given some of the recent issues with information going missing from laptops and memory sticks I guess I get it. I am now the proud owner of a net book and boy do my fingers need to get typing.

Thanks for your continued support "Ranters", cheers Scott