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People
First!
Publisher: James Carter
http://www.EmployeeDevelopmentSolutions.com
Repario Ltd. 2004 - 2008
"The
only way I see to get more productivity is by getting
people involved and excited about their jobs. You
can't afford to have anyone walk through a gate of
a factory or into an office who is not giving 120%."
Jack Welch, CEO General Electric
IN
THIS ISSUE
1. Welcome to the NEW Website
2.
Recent News
3.
Organizational Culture Assessment Information
4.
My Issue For This Issue - Accountability,
It Starts With You!
5.
Books on the Subject of Accountability
People
First! is sent only to subscribers.
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1.
Welcome to the NEW Website
As
you may have noticed, we now have a new we address!
Our site has been revamped to be more user friendly
with a search function, some better graphics and more
user interaction.
Please
take a moment and see the changes we have made. Everyone
who has worked on it is very proud. I would like to
take this space and pass on two VERY good web people:
Greg Moxley Kempster of MoxleyMedia.com
Web Programmer Deluxe
Email Moxleymedia: greg@moxleymedia.com
Elise
Roberts of BeepDesign.com
Web Designer Extrordinaire
Email Beep Design: elise@beepdesign.com
Both
of these individuals have done a fabulous job of giving
me the exact help I needed and tried their very hardest
not to make me feel dumb. Not only that, they did
the quality of work they promised and got it done
when they said they would.
They
did not try to oversell me on items I did not need.
However, they did tell me small things that I could
either do myself or pay them a small amount to do.
Most of the recommendations I took.
If
you have work to be done, I highly recommend both
of them.
One
last personal bit and I will get into the grit. There
is one person who has contributed a great number of
unpaid hours to make this new website a success. This
person is Robert Rhu. He has worked incredibly hard
with nothing but pride and a job well done as their
reward. Thank you both very much.
Email
Robert Rhu: rrhu@repario.com
There
has been some question about the caps in the domain
name: EmployeeDevelopmentSolutions.com You do not
have to put in the caps to get to our website. Domain
names are not capital sensitive.
Thank
you everyone for your suggestions and support. I appreciate
all the feedback I received. If there is any further
feedback you wish to give, please feel free to email
me at mailto: James@EmployeeDevelopmentSolutions.com
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to Top
2.
Recent News
There
are literally hundreds of articles per month that
could be put into this section, but I only have so
much time. If there is an article that MUST be read
by everyone, please email me at:
James@EmployeeDevelopmentSolutions.com and I will
include it on the website and/or in the next Ezine.
a) Insular Culture Helped Yahoo! Grow, But Has
Now Hurt It in the Long Run
By
MYLENE MANGALINDAN and SUEIN L. HWANG
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
I am not sure if many of you caught the recent article
in the Wall Street Journal but it was a great one.
It talked about the role that many believe the corporate
culture played both in Yahoo!'s success and its
missed opportunities. A great cautionary tale for
what happens when you don't pay careful attention
to you company's culture.
Here's
what Holly Becker, an analyst at Lehman Brothers,
said about the company.
"Their
culture helped them build a superb site and a
really edgy brand, but it also held them back
from making forward-looking business decisions.
The culture that served them so incredibly well
until the middle of last year is now letting them
down."
No
one thinks that Yahoo! is down for the count by
any stretch of the imagination. But with the right
kind of culture, who knows how strong a company
Yahoo! could have been.
b)
Whistleblower Claims Harassment - Nevada Appeal,
March 11, 2001
I
was recently in Reno and Carson City and saw this
GREAT headline in the Nevada Appeal. I know some
of our subscribers are from Nevada so perhaps you
can give us some perspective.
The
gist of the article was that an employee has filed
a harassment suit for the preceding five years and
the organization (NV Dept. of Transportation) is
claiming that he has filed the suit to prevent disciplinary
action.
Is
this an organization in trouble or what?
The
possibility of five years of harassment before a
suit is filed is frightening. How long do people
put up with abuse? I am not sure what is going on
with this organization, but I highly doubt it is
a unique situation.
Full
Story: http://www.tahoe.com/appeal/stories.3.11.01/CARSON/1ndotbattl11Mar9584.html
c)
Peoplepalooza 2001 - Fast Company, January 2001
"Yes,
you'd better rethink the Web.
Sure, the stock market looks scary.
But the best leaders know where all great companies
start.
(It's the people, stupid!)"
This was a very interesting article.
Full
Story
d)
Rule #3 Leadership Is Confusing As Hell - Fast Company,
March 2001
This
is a very interesting article about leadership,
the way it has changed in the last five years and
how it will continue to change.
There are 50 'Rules' about leadership that make
for interesting reading.
Full
Story: http://www.fastcompany.com/online/44/rules.html
e)
Looking Back, Looking Ahead -- Smart Steps - Fast
Company, March 2001
This
is also a look at what has occurred and what might
take place for businesses over the next five years.
This is a collection of short articles by some business
executives, some of which I found very interesting.
These are some of the quotes that are the titles
for different articles:
"In
the end, a customer-centric culture sustains itself
during times of great change."
"Teach
your leaders that their main priority is to energize
and grow their team around themselves"
"Recruit
your people every day, even though your crew is
already on board."
"Ultimately,
promoting diversity is good for business."
My
favorite article in that section was:
"The most powerful force on earth is knowing
how to be yourself."
Pick
up this issue, it was a good one!
Full
story: http://www.fastcompany.com/online/44/one.html
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to Top
3.
Organization Assessment Information
I
have had several requests recently to talk about the
reasons to assess your organization. I thought that
the first newsletter for EmployeeDevelopmentSolutions.com
was an appropriate place to write it all down.
There
are many reasons that an organization should be assessed,
but there are a few that can be summarized easily:
A.
Everyone wants training to be the absolute best
it can be. There are VERY few people involved with
training, trainers or trainees that go into training
thinking, 'I hope this training is horrible.' After
an organization has been assessed, every trainer
can customize the material to the needs and wants
of the organization. For a good trainer, this is
invaluable information.
B.
People responsible for the money involved with the
training want to know that the money is being spent
wisely. If training is occurring within an organization,
at some point the question must be asked, 'Is the
training we are paying for actually 'sticking''?'
or 'Are we getting full value in our training?'
If
no infrastructure for cultural assessment is put
in place to ascertain what training is working and
what is not, then every single dollar spent in training
is a gamble. Can you afford the risk?
C.
Training can be used to reinforce an organization's
values and principles -- the culture.
Each
time you are training you have the opportunity to
recruit your own people again by practicing your
culture. Don't tell them what the values and principles
are -- show them. Employees appreciate good training.
It makes them feel valued. It builds loyalty to
the organization.
Training
reinforces your culture, but only if your culture
reinforces the training. The two work hand in hand.
If your culture does not support training, the training
is devalued.
D.
An organizational assessment will identify those
areas of your culture that may not support the training
being offered.
For
example, you have OSHA training at your business.
Pretty standard and required training. Let's assume
you have an atmosphere at work that teases people
for asking 'dumb' questions. Occasionally, people
get nicknames such Slow Joe, Sloppy Joe,
After
the training, the person who just attended the training
may not ask a 'dumb' question because they, too
may get stuck with a nickname.
The
OSHA training has just lost some of its value. This
small example is how accidents increase. If the
example is taken far enough, the employee will move
to another job, taking all the valuable training
dollars with them.
There
are many other reasons to assess your culture. As
you read through our website you will get a good feel
for the other reasons, but the list above is very
measurable and concrete. Almost irrefutable.
By
the way, it is important to understand that a 'fun'
culture is not necessarily a 'great' culture. There
are many cases in which a 'fun' place to work may
not have great culture, but that is discussion for
another time.
I
would love to have some discussion on this and hear
some other points of view. Please punch holes in what
I am saying. Email me at: James@employeedevelopmentsolutions.com
with your comments, arguments, or interesting stories
of your own.
Back
to Top
4.
My Issue For This Issue - Accountability, It Starts
With You!
Funny
thing, accountability. Ask almost anyone if they hold
themselves accountable and you will receive one of
several replies: 'Of course', 'Sure', 'I do, but no
one else seems to'.
And
then I read this statement in a book about accountability:
'Accountability
starts with you!'
I
could not stop laughing. Perhaps is struck me funny
because it was late in bed. My wife thought there
was something very wrong with me. Well, perhaps there
is, but my response was normal.
I
pictured Abraham Lincoln pointing a finger at me while
saying very loud and with feeling, 'Accountability
starts with you!'
Houston,
we have a problem.
Abe,
buddy, turn that finger around.
I
understand what the meaning was supposed to be. But
that is not what it says. Let's be correct and accurate
if we are talking about accountability. Accountability
starts with me. Let's say what we mean, people. Don't
let Abe or ourselves off the hook here. Let's hold
ourselves accountable for saying what we mean.
Nevertheless,
Abe is guilty of something we all do at some point.
We point fingers. We look to find some outside source
to blame for our circumstances. We rage, we yell.
·
'It was the xyz department.'
· 'It was the xyz department that forgot
to ________.'
· 'It wasn't my idea.'
· 'We could sell more if we had xyz.'
· 'My manager doesn't spend enough time with
me to train me right.'
· 'My manager interferes too much.'
· 'My employees just stand around every chance
they get.'
· 'It's Not My Fault!, and my personal favorite,
· 'It's not my job.'
Sound
familiar? I do this EVERY day. This is victim thinking.
What will any of those statements do to solve the
problem? Nothing.
How
often do we look inside and ask ourselves, 'What could
I have done to make that situation better?' The answer
to myself is, 'Not too often.'
Honestly,
I find I have to work very hard to not blame. It is
so much easier that trying to work out a solution.
I
am no pillar of strength. I fall into the same cycle
of victimization as everyone else. I blame, mostly
my wife. She is a handy target. But I will choose
anyone so that I don't feel responsible and accountable.
Accountable to myself. And I don't do this on purpose.
It is a habit, and not just a habit at home. I carry
it to work with me every morning.
How
do we stop this cycle of non-accountability, even
with ourselves? We already know the answer, the difficulty
is sticking to it.
When
is the subject of accountability brought up most?
When it is CYA time. Very few discussions about accountability
are held when things are going well. Why is that?
Wouldn't that be the best time for it? No one is in
trouble yet. Everyone is on the same moral high-ground
in the beginning. Establish the ground rules for accountability
from the start. However, in today's busy, fast-paced
business world, there is simply not time. That is
what I am told.
To
illustrate personal accountability in it's best form,
I have a short story to tell.
We
have recently been working with an employee of a particular
company. This person was unhappy with their current
work environment and was extremely concerned and frustrated.
This
person mistakenly signed up for our free organizational
assessment thinking that they would get an answer
about her culture in five minutes or so with some
great advice on some action they might be able to
take.
After
this person took the survey and asked where the report
was, I explained the survey is for an organization.
We needed more people for an analysis.
Most
people would simply have said, 'Thanks for nothing',
but this person made the decision to hold themselves
accountable and make something happen.
Email
was very difficult in their organization, so they
printed the survey, made copies, distributed them,
collected them and them inputted ALL the data from
each survey by hand. At last count they were up to
46 surveys with each survey having 51 multiple choice
answers and four open-ended questions. 46 surveys,
all by hand. She even typed in all of the comments
in the open-ended questions. Do you realize the work
involved with that?
This
person is the epitome of personal accountability and
the antithesis of apathy. At some point they made
the decision to be 'part of the solution' and has
put in huge amounts of work on their own time to help
improve the work environment for themselves, their
colleagues and their company. You know who you are
and I hope you are as proud of yourself as we are.
It
is the aware person who will recognize when personal
accountability is lacking in his or her own life.
The wise person who will listen to feedback openly.
And the brave person who will say "Okay, I'll
do what it takes to change and improve my own life."
Let's
challenge ourselves and try to be all three -- aware,
wise and brave. Accountability starts with me!
P.S.
In a recent update from the employee above who remained
anonymous to her company out of fear of retribution,
the company (large, multi-billion dollar international
service organization) has made a number of company-wide
changes recently that were directly related to many
of the comments and results from the organizational
assessment. Who ever said that one person does not
make a difference?
Want
to do your own organizational culture assessment in
your organization? See here: http://www.employeedevelopmentsolutions.com/cultureassess.htm
Back
to Top
5.
Books on the Subject of Accountability
The
Oz Principle - Organization and Individual Accountability
Roger Connors, Tom Smith, Craig Hickman
Personal
Accountability - and the QBQ (Question Behind
the Question)
John G. Connors
Both
are great books that I can recommend. Connors has
more application for our personal lives and personal
growth, but for many reasons, I preferred Oz better.
Perhaps it is because right now I am so interested
in organizational accountability.
Do
yourself a favor and buy your books from www.half.com.
Unbelievable prices.
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