Close your eyes and get a clear picture of your company, organization or agency in mind (no, this is not some new age spiritual thing, I promise) Think of your logo, the building in which you work, your office break room..whatever comes to mind when you think of your place of employment. Once you have a very clear picture of your company in mind, begin to formulate the image of a face to go with your company. Is it a mans or a womans face? Does the face have hard lines from frowning or soft laughter lines? Is your face smiling? or is your face etched with anger and intimidation? perhaps your face is smirking, like he’s harboring some secret joke. What is this person wearing? A stiff, formal suit? Perhaps a more casual business attire that speaks of a cool, calm leadership? Perhaps the face that comes to your mind is the face of a CEO, or other leader within your organization that embodies the Spirit of your Company.

Now that you have a clear idea of this persons face….ask yourself, would you want to be this persons friend? Is this person someone you would spend your free time with? Would you bring this person chicken noodle soup if they were sick? Or would you think “serves him right” and go on about business as usual? If this someone you would block from your Facebook account?

I’ve been thinking a lot about corporate culture lately. We’ve recently changed our comp structure within my team at work, in my boss’s words “to retain employees” and give us the “extra edge” on our competitors. Now, I’m a fan of more money just as much as the next guy (or gal in my case, you get my point) but….and here’s the part I’m afraid to bring up in our meetings…….culture is the ultimate key to employee retention. To me, a strong, robust positive corporate culture will do more to motivate, retain and inspire employees than a few extra G’s at the end of the year.

For those of you looking for more information on how to build a positive work environment (perhaps you’re a first line manager, and realized you hate the guts of the guy that came to mind when envisioning the physical representation of your company) I’ve read some really interesting articles lately, written by people much smarter than myself on this topic. The Harvard Business Review recently published four traits of culturally savvy workplaces, including:

They invest more in their employees. Rather than cutting back or eliminating programs, top-ranked companies are investing more in work-life programs, such as flex-time. Investing in programs that matter to your employees is key.

They’re upgrading….in programs that communicate brand mission and provide career development opportunities. The typical workplace employee of 2011 has different motivators than those of 1992. What matters to the people who work for you? ask them. take a survey. upgrade your benefits offerings to reflect what matters to your people.

They recognize that culture is critical to talent retention. ok, I already said this, but it’s nice that the HBR agrees with me.

They know their audience. Employees and senior leadership alike understand the company “brand”. This brand is special, valuable, and demonstrates the holistic view the company has of ‘doing business’ in the world.

On another note: If you care about Company Culture and you havent already done it, go out and buy a copy of Yvon Chouinard’s Classic book, “let my people go surfing.” (or get it on your kindle, iPad, or whatever mobile device you kids are using to read books on nowadays) Yvon is the founder and owner of Patagonia and applauded as of our nation’s most genuine, authentic and passionate business leaders. Patagonia is a true”values based” organization that not only stands as a leader in the industry, but is widely renowned every year as one of the top companies to work for. I love this book. My husband, who owns a small business (a brewery, as a matter of fact, for those of you who don’t know this) reads this book about twice a year and is building his company on the same values and principles as Yvon. Now there’s an exciting, motivating and inspiring place to work.

Along with Yvon’s book, there are some really good resources out there for understanding your culture, changing it (if need be) and further promoting the positive aspects of your unique brand and culture. I ran across a recent Gallup study on employee engagement and profitability that I found particularly interesting.

http://gmj.gallup.com/content/142733/Really-Drives-Financial-Success.aspx

I think of Gallup as a respected, trustworthy source. I bet both yours and my boss would agree. Take this trusted source that actually proves to us, through multiple studies and validated evidence, that an engaged employee will ultimately make your Company more profitable. It’s hard not to take Corporate Culture into consideration with that kind of evidence. Creating a positive Corporate Culture costs little money in comparison to turnover and associated risk. Among other perks, Gallup tells us that an engaged employee will:

• Show Up: mentally and physically
• Show Off: please customers. This, of course leads to improved customer relationships, deeper product experience and a better understanding of how customers use products.
• Put Out: produce higher quality products

Question: Do you have a best friend at work? What about someone who actually cares about you as a person or encourages your development?

Does your Corporate Culture promote employee engagement through a strong and recognizable brand and investing in programs important to employees?

Is your Corporate “face” someone you want to engage with?

So with these lingering, unanswered questions I will sign off and let you ponder these to yourself. The night is late and the alarm comes far too soon. I wish for you a prosperous new year, and I hope 2012 finds you in good company.

Meg

Here’s the catch though. I used to buy those .99 Red Delicious apples, when I was down on the cash flow, working for a very small, un-funded start-up (that nonsense story another time) They would sit in my fridge, uneaten, for weeks, until they became grossly dehydrated and looked like weathered old people hands and I threw them out. Granted, I only wasted about $5.00 by throwing them out, but…wait for it…..the bigger point: I threw them out. I NEVER ate them. I wasted the money, and I ALSO wasted the health benefits (which you can’t put a price tag on)  An apple a day, I’ve heard, keeps the doctor away. Unless you’re talking about the acupuncturist….that guy is legit.

These days, the green is flowing smoothly, and I delight in a trip to Whole Foods to pick out my weekly assortment of lovely, glowing, organic apples. And I eat every single one of them. They NEVER go to waste. I ate TWO just this afternoon. no joke.

WHY, you might ask, is this?

You see, I was just never all that excited about the dull, lifeless, starchy, no-taste cheap apples in my fridge. It had nothing to do with perceived value, it’s an apple for goodness sake. It had everything to do with taste. with juicinesss. with the way the fruit felt in my mouth, the way it crunched. The Whole Foods apples are laden with delicious, indulgent, almost ethereal, juicy, down-home honest-to-god apple goodness. The cheapies were just ok. They actually kind of sucked. I never got excited about them. I never was like “wow, I can’t wait to eat this apple!” and if you know me, you know I get excited about most food.  So I didn’t eat them. I ate the other food in my pantry that got me excited (probably chips or crackers at the time) These days, I eat at least an apple a day.  And I am for sure healthier and happier because of it.

But Meg, how is this going to help me hire the right people for my organization? Ahhhh……that’s right. Down to the point of the blog.

Don’t hire bad apples.

Don’t spend money on people you aren’t excited about, people who don’t feel right, who are cheap (not inexpensive, there’s a difference) Who don’t make you say “Wow, I can’t wait to work on that project with so-and-so” These aren’t just your resources who get the work done. These people are the foundation of your team, Your Agency, Our State. Just like the apples, if you hire “bad” people and then they sit around doing nothing for you, you’ve lost not only money, you’ve lost something much more important: the core building blocks who make your agency a place to get excited about. Those people and the environment you and them create contribute in such a positive way to the greater good of all Texans. That almost tangible feeling of excitement, of positive energy, of teamwork, of shared vision and passion – that feeling is out there and if you hire the right people you can and will create it.

Here’s a point: I don’t mind spending 150% more on an apple that I know will get eaten as soon as the next stomach grumble pops up (in my case, usually within the hour). The money isn’t even a passing thought, because I am getting so much more out of that apple than the $2.49 I spent on it.  Those damn expensive, juicy apples give me such a good feeling, such a spring day walk-in-the-park, hand in hand with the hubby and the dogs kind of feeling, I would probably spend $5.49 on them.  You can’t put a cost on that. The same should be true of your organization. Just like the apples, the people you hire can make your day a walk-in-the-park or a 100-mile foot race through Death Valley (people actually do that, but I’ve heard it kind of sucks and it’s really hard to train for) 

Here’s another point: It’s hard sometimes to judge good apples from bad. Sometimes those apples are just inexperienced. Sometimes they just need some coaching. That’s the art to the hiring process and, honestly, part of what makes my job so much fun. I love talking to people, sharing with them the cool team you have created, and figuring out if they’ve got what it takes now or in the future to contribute in a real positive, groovy way to your organization.  

Team up with a trusted staffing partner and together, let’s determine what are the core values that make your department and your agency special. Let’s develop a hiring plan and a people focus that creates something so good, something so special…..that we can patent the process and retire rich.  just kidding. Let’s just work to create an amazingly phenomenal organization and team of people who love what they do, create positive vibes wherever they go, and, who ultimately, make your life and your job, a walk-in-the-park.

Let’s get some great apples on your team.

In the meantime, while I’ve been stewing in my sweat from this morning’s workout, I’ve used the time to ponder the meaning of life. MY life that is, not yours. I don’t have time for that.

I honestly love connecting people and helping my clients find someone with the right combination of skill, experience, personality and (surprisingly so) availability. I’d like to use today’s post to share some interesting tips for those of you (my clients included) reading this so you can share in my joy.

My next post will most likely be about my daily antics as wife of a Craft Brewery owner, so take advantage (or ignore) the professional nature of this post if you so desire.

I recently read a survey that said up to 84 percent of people enjoy what they do, but not where they do it. Respondents cited those stupid company policies that inhibit creativity, rules and procedures that make no sense, and “entitlement-minded” executives. These are some of the big reasons people LEAVE their jobs. And leave you, their manager, stuck. Stuck finding a replacement quickly, doing their work until you find a replacement, and stressing out yourself (and your family) in the meantime.

Today’s thought is around what you are doing, as a manager of people (or manager of your own destiny, or manager of your laundry pile, whatever) to retain the talent you worked SO hard to find (and paid people like me good money for!)

Are you promoting creativity in the workplace? Are you rewarding behavior appropriately? Are you creating an environment where people can prosper, learn and become better (and obviously, happier) at what they do? These are a lot of questions. I don’t expect to cover them all today. Let’s focus on one. I’d like to learn more about creativity, so I’m going to be self-serving and delve further into this topic today, for my own personal and professional development.
It’s my blog, I can do that if I want to.

I often feel the good intentions of management to promote productivity, efficiency, and control often undermine the creative process. Expertise and motivation are essential for our creative natures to blossom. Management can truly make a difference in workplace creativity by boosting the motivation of their people. To manage for creativity and innovation in ways that keep all parties (employees, clients, partners) satisfied, I found these handy five suggestions….

1. Increase the challenge you dole out to your people, challenges always stimulate minds (this reminds me of my mom always telling me that one day I would appreciate not growing up with all the benefits my richer friends with dads at home had…that the struggles we had would make me more creative as an adult…I guess we’re both lucky I didn’t turn into a very creative criminal)

2. Please, for everyone’s benefit, grant more freedom around procedures and processes to minimize hassle.

3. How do you design work groups? Could you design them to tap into ideas across all ranks within your organization?

4. Do you reward creativity? Do you personally encourage and incentivize creative behavior?

5. What is the nature of your organizational support. Are you, Miss Manager, motivated yourself?

Ask yourself these questions, and please feel free to email me your responses or leave them here as comments on my blog. I love receiving comments. I’d love to help you learn more about how to retain your employees, or (when you’re growing so fast you need to add more) help you find more employees. You can reach me at mayers@mmcgrp.com

I enjoyed our time together today and look forward to our paths crossing again soon. For now, the sun is shining outside and the pooches needs to pee.

Meg Hare

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