I read this article a few months ago about Nick Sarillo’s “Trust and Track” culture which I think is a very healthy way of getting things done through other people - or delegation. This greatly impacted me and more recently I have been working on implementing many of the key points I learned in this Inc.com article in the training of new employees. For a small to midsize organization, it’s all about Culture if you want to get things done. In order to Ship, complete tasks, without leaving coworkers and customers hanging, I firmly believe one must make a checklist. Nick’s idea is brilliant, he describes, “I built a system to replace me. I put together a checklist of things that had to be done by 4 p.m., so we could handle the volume. It took about four weeks until it could work without me. Now we’re nailing it.” Nick’s “Trust and Track” culture involves educating employees about what it takes for the company to be successful, then trusting them to act accordingly - the people you hire should want to be successful on an individual basis. People who have what it takes, when educated properly, will shake it up and make positive things happen - even when the boss is gone. The alternative is command and control, wherein success is the boss’s responsibility and employees do exactly what the boss says (or else!). I’m not saying the “Genius with a Thousand Helpers” approach doesn’t work, both approaches can work, but they produce very different cultures and long-term outcomes. If managed correctly, trust and track can allow a company to be adroit, resilient, and prolific enough to function at the highest level through booming and even contracting economies.
 I've been enjoying my free copy of Seth Godin's recent manifesto, Stop Stealing Dreams. He shares the interesting origin of multiple-choice tests in Section 10, Frederick J. Kelly and your nightmares:In 1914, a professor in Kansas invented the multiple-choice test. Yes, it’s less than a hundred years old.
There was an emergency on. World War I was ramping up, hundreds of thousands of new immigrants needed to be processed and educated, and factories were hungry for workers. The government had just made two years of high school mandatory, and we needed a temporary, high-efficiency way to sort students and quickly assign them to appropriate slots.
In the words of Professor Kelly, “This is a test of lower order thinking for the lower orders.”
A few years later, as President of the University of Idaho, Kelly disowned the idea, pointing out that it was an appropriate method to test only a tiny portion of what is actually taught and should be abandoned. The industrialists and the mass educators revolted and he was fired.
The SAT, the single most important filtering device used to measure the effect of school on each individual, is based (almost without change) on Kelly’s lower-order thinking test. Still.
The reason is simple. Not because it works. No, we do it because it’s the easy and efficient way to keep the mass production of students moving forward.Memorizing information is pointless when you have a computer in your pocket with all the world's information just a touch away. Is the only thing we can teach these days is how to get a high test SAT score? I find it odd that teachers spend more time teaching youth to memorize trivial information (like "When was the war of 1812?") than they do teaching them to competently search and find it on the Internet. Oh, wait...is that because most teachers are technically illiterate? It's not their fault, I mean the administrators over at the school district won't "let" them stray from the curriculum. I often hear teachers complain about students attitudes and how flaky they are. Here's an idea, what if we taught youth to make commitments (and keep them), to overcome fear, to deal transparently, to initiate, and to plan a course? Can adults teach youth (or other adults) to desire lifelong learning, to express themselves, and to innovate? I believe it is possible. I believe it is more likely on an outdoor retreat, camp, or field trip than in a classroom via a boring power point presentation. REAL LEARNING is not done to you. Learning is something you choose to do. The world has changed and unfortunately the school system is exactly that, a industrialized "system," working on a massive scale, that has significant byproducts, including the destruction of many of the attitudes and emotions we’d like to build our culture around. In the early industrial economy of the 19th and 20th centuries the two biggest challenges were finding enough compliant workers and finding enough eager customers. School was invented to solve these problems, and it worked. The 21st century economy needs creative thinkers and problem solvers, not mindless cogs that are obedient, on-time, and work to make widgets cheaper and faster than the day before.
It’s a always a helpful reminder to make a list and check it twice. I recently read Atul Gawande's Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. I must agree with the author, tragic mistakes can be sharply reduced with just 3 things: - A piece of paper
- Hand-drawn boxes
- A pencil
I happen to use the iPhone Reminder App...and I use it daily. I learned from Gawande that, “The volume and complexity of what we know has exceeded our individual ability to deliver its benefits correctly, safely, and/or reliably.” It's hard to count on people. Can you relate? A select few I know I can always count on to follow through - they are the exception, not the rule. If you want to be a leader here's some advice: - Show up
- Make promises
- Keep promises
- Do what you say you're going to do
- Listen...really listen
- Trust (but verify)
- Care about the work (Administer)
- Care about the people (Minister)
- Talk to people (not at them)
- Show respect
If you can't do one of these things then find someone else to replace you. Don;t just quit. For so many years I have made To Do Lists, or simple Checklists, to keep myself on track so I don’t forget basic basic tasks that I meant to do, but for some reason just omitted. I write down No-Brainer tasks which are STUPID but CRITICAL. I’ve been criticized for listing such mundane tasks, but simply stated, “It really helps me to remember to get it right!” I can’t stand it when I don’t do something that is very easy, just because I had too much on my mind to remember to do it. The excuses are endless: “It takes too much time to make a list,” or “What’s the point? If I forget to do something, then it wasn’t worth remembering.” The truth is, checklists only take a few minutes to create and they have the potential to keep you on track for your entire workday. In addition, people (especially those who rely on you) really appreciate it when you do the things you say you will do (add your Ethos to the checklist while you’re at it). Here's a thought, if your To-Do List gets too long, consider a Not Right Now List. I figure if Pilots and Surgeons utilize checklists to get their jobs done, perhaps those of us serving in positions of leadership ought to follow suit.
This past week I shook a lot of hands. I attended several planning meetings, went to an economic summit for my county and last Saturday I weighed and tagged dozens of lambs and hogs for my 4H Livestock Program. I had the opportunity to meet so many nice people. But then I got sick and couldn't hold a thing down for 12 hours. I don't regret meeting new people because folks from Southern Utah are the salt of the Earth in my opinion. Nevertheless, I feel obligated to report on my day's accomplishments. It's rare when I actually get so sick that I'm stuck in bed, but I was able to spend my sick day becoming further enlightened by listening to TED Talks, one after the other all day long. If you're ever in a situation (like being ill) where you can't do much and you have Internet access, I highly reccomend listening to as many TED Talks as possible. Here are a several that I enjoyed: While I was listening to these talks, I still felt somewhat unproductive so I decided to crochet (yes I crochet, and I'm really freaking good at it too!) this cool beanie for my ski trip on Friday. It required 2688 stitches and took me about 6 hours.
You can't watch this video without being totally amazed by this kid. Not only is he an excellent public speaker, but he's literally a genius. Was he born this way? I think not, talent is overrated. People only get this way through 'deliberate practice.'
Viewing this video further motivated me in my 4-H work with technology. I really liked how he started an app club at his school where kids can get together and learn how to create mobile apps. It's what I'm currently working on so we have a community of kids like him in Southern Utah.
I wouldn't be surprised if his club is an actual 4-H club, that's what 4-H is all about - kids learning skills under the guidance of caring adults. It can be after school, at your house or any community center. Adults who have the time and want to share what they know with kids in their neighborhood are encouraged to get involved, consider this your invitation.
This is a great profile on Tony Hsieh and the Zappos recipe. While I like the idea of a strong culture, I don't like the idea of it becoming my "lifestyle." However, a deep and value-driven culture is critical to success in any organization - yet nearly impossible to quantify.
I think leaders within an organization should take notice and invest generously in culture, even if it's just in their own humble department or branch. Happy employees do work that impacts. Organizations are catching on and if you don't have culture, you'll see your people leaving for places like Zappos.
I went on a tour of Zappos while I was in Henderson, NV earlier this year. It was a very remarkable experience. At first, seeing their culture firsthand seemed sort of superficial, I think the media amplifies it to be greater than it really is, but Zappos believes in promoting progression - I believe that people who are learning and growing are happier, and thus do greater work. This is the only way such a terrible business model could not only succeed, but thrive.
This week a lot has come at me all at once. The looming question I always seem to have on my mind is, "What's the most important thing should I do next?"
Would you agree that this is not the most the most important decision of your day, but your career even?
I've learned that "What next?" used to be a question your boss or your clients would answer for you.
Today we have a multitude of opportunities, we also have so many constraints. Successfully deciding what to do next will be your moment of highest leverage. Would you agree that it deserves more time and attention than most people give it?
I really liked this thought by Seth Godin: If you're not willing to face the abyss of choice, you will almost certainly not spend enough time dancing with opportunity.
What am I going to do next? Well I'm going to do a lot of things, I'm starting my day organizing 2000 fourth graders so they can learn that their food comes from a farm, not a supermarket. I'm going to lead, serve and have fun doing it.
When making a decision about what to do next. Think about this:
Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
-William Faulkner
For me the most exciting thing to analyze in an organization is it's culture. I just love this sort of stuff, no matter what I hear about how successful (or unsuccessful) a non-profit or business is, I want to know what the culture is like. I want to know this because I truly believe there is a correlation between strong company culture and financial success. I really like how Zappos focuses on culture first and then lets the success follow organically. Here are the fruits of Zappos' fun and zany culture: - Outstanding and renown customer service
- Brand identity
- Less management
- Positive employee influence & friendships
- Great management & marketing ideas
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh explains that the company's culture starts with the hiring process. A company must be willing to hire and fire for "Culture Fit." I've come to agree that you can hire people with all the right qualifications and skill sets, but it has to be a culture fit. Culture fit is far more important than qualifications and skills. When it comes down to it, people can become qualified and develop the right skills to do a phenomenal work, but you can't teach someone to have the right attitude. Make no mistake, experience and skills are critical, but culture fit must be weighted equally. Sure there are many great companies out there, but they could be even greater if they did not compromise on culture fits and hire solely based on skills. The great contemporary organizations of the 21st century all have strong cultures and values. Does it matter what your values are? No, just have them and commit to them. One way to commit to them is to interview for the values independent of job experience and technical ability. If the person you hire shares in the values of your organization, then you have a culture fit.
The threat of wage and hour lawsuits is troubling employers more and more these days. I know first hand about this issue. In 2006, I was working for Costco in Utah and received a letter from an attorney’s office asking me to fill out a questionnaire regarding my overtime hours and mandatory breaks when I worked for the company at previous location in California over a several month period in 2004. I filled it out truthfully, I did work a lot of overtime and Costco paid me well for it, but I did miss out on quite a few mandatory breaks that I was entitled to. Several months later, after I had completely forgotten about the questionnaire, I got a check in the mail for about $1000. I though to myself, “Ouch! This really hurts for Costco.” I spoke to several other coworkers about the award and most of them made out a whole lot better than I did.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), scores of cooperative claims of employee misclassification as exempt or not exempt from overtime pay, like the one I was involved in, have spiked by an incredible 77 percent during 2000-05. What’s very interesting is that these figures have actually exceeded claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for equal employment opportunity. It’s critical for an employer to be aware that these FLSA claims are yielding verdicts in the hundreds of millions of dollars for employees who were owed overtime pay or misclassified as exempt.
According to the US Department of Labor, as many as 70 percent of employers are not in compliance with the FLSA in some way. Employers, like Costco, need to find out where they are making their biggest misclassification mistakes and how to fix them without getting sued. In my case, it would have helped Costco a great deal to have invested in competent front-line supervisors who allowed employees to take their legally mandated 15 minute breaks every two hours. Because Costco’s management got sloppy, supervisors seized the opportunity to oppress and it came back to hurt the company's bottom line.
It's important to understand the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition. Why? Go ahead and treat an expert like a novice and find out. People are different so they need to be treated differently: 1. Novice (wants to be given a manual, told what to do, with no decisions possible) - "rigid adherence to taught rules or plans"
- no exercise of "discretionary judgment"
2. Advanced beginner (needs a bit of freedom, but is unable to quickly describe a hierarchy of which parts are more important than others) - limited "situational perception"
- all aspects of work treated separately with equal importance
3. Competent (wants the ability to make plans, create routines and choose among activities) - "coping with crowdedness" (multiple activities, accumulation of information)
- some perception of actions in relation to goals
- deliberate planning
- formulates routines
4. Proficient (the more freedom you offer, the more you expect, the more you'll get) - holistic view of situation
- prioritizes importance of aspects
- "perceives deviations from the normal pattern"
- employs maxims for guidance, with meanings that adapt to the situation at hand
5. Expert (writes the manual, doesn't follow it )- transcends reliance on rules, guidelines, and maxims
- "intuitive grasp of situations based on deep, tacit understanding"
- has "vision of what is possible"
- uses "analytical approaches" in new situations or in case of problems
|
RSS Feed
