photo by pattyequalsawesome
Sometimes you run across derivatives of the same idea from multiple sources and it gets you to stop and listen.
Two recent examples have come from Netflix and Miles Davis.
Ultimately, it’s about how best to maintain a leadership position by enabling those around you to explore new boundaries. Leading and corralling rather than managing.
Netflix has posted a rather lengthy, but worthwhile slide show about their culture and how they work. They put it best by asking their managers to provide ‘context, not control’ (slides 76 - 84). In essence, describe where you want to go, not how you want to get there.
And The Miles Davis Story (as relayed by a friend) explored Miles’ proclivity to assemble talented musicians, set the mood for the evening and then walk around the stage as they do their thing. His job was to capture each individual’s wandering explorations and create something cohesive out of it. Sometimes it worked brilliantly. Often it didn’t. But his purpose was to create something that hadn’t been felt before. To do that you have to be willing to try things that don’t pan out.
It takes a unique type of person to be able to lead in this manner.
It’s no wonder that people who are at the top of their game are attracted by this environment. If you’re looking to set the direction for your industry then it’s a leadership style worth considering.
photo by mrpattersonsir
Work is draining. For many, rare are the days when we leave the office feeling energized.
As a manager you have to recognize that people are going through this. Chances are you are too. But change has to start somewhere.
Sure, technically your job is to make sure the ball is being advanced down the field. But if your team is too exhausted (or detached) to run the plays how far is the ball going to move?
Your real job is to make deposits into the emotional bank so that when the inevitable time comes when the team needs to hunker down and everything has gone sideways that people are present, engaged and have the persistence to get through the rough patches.
From the employees perspective, they have gone out of their way to make the relationship work. They started in their role excited and ready to roll up their sleeves and make a real difference. But every slight along the way has made a withdrawal on their emotional involvement with you, the team and with the company.
It all adds up and you may be responsible for making many of those emotional withdrawals. If you expect them to dig in then you need to exert the energy to refill that account.
Focus on your people. Feed them the projects that keep them energized. Recognize they’re all different and build those relationships accordingly. People do want to be treated differently. They’re not all the same and not universally motivated by the same things.
Start today. Hold one on ones that don’t focus on tasks but rather the individual. The work will still get done.
photo by becominggreenblog
Dan Pink’s recently posted TED talk makes a convincing argument for why extrinsic, if-then rewards are detrimental to our businesses. If you need an 18-minute break then you could spend your time in far worse ways.
If you don’t have 18-minutes then the gist is:
Extrinsic rewards / contingent motivators limit thinking and block creativity. Extrinsic rewards do work to narrow focus and work well when solution is known. But right brain, conceptual abilities are what are needed in our knowledge-based workplaces today and these are stunted by if-then rewards.
His evidence is partly a study in which people were given a box of tacks, matches and a candle and were asked to attach the candle to the wall so it did not drip on the table. The solution requires some literal ‘out of the box’ thinking. Two groups were given the challenge. One was told their time would help establish group norms and the other was given a monetary incentive to complete it in the fastest time possible.
The result? Those who were given the if-then incentive completed the problem three and a half minutes…slower.
The incentive narrowed their focus and limited their creativity.
Chances are the team you’re leading isn’t building widgets and being asked to push buttons and pull levers faster. Your team operates within a changing marketplace where the solutions to success are not always obvious.
If you want to look good yourself then you need the mental horsepower of your entire team to find the solution. Providing a bigger carrot isn’t going to help. Rather you need to figure out if your team members even like vegetables.
Intrinsic motivation, according to Pink, comes from three things. He only defines the first in his talk so I’ll go out on a limb and color between his lines on the latter two. Those three are:
I’d also like to throw in a fourth which may be a derivative of ‘purpose.’ I’ll call it ‘potential.’
Far too often we succumb to the ‘inherent truths’ that turn out to be just not true. Social science has a lot to offer us in the business world if we’re willing to challenge our beliefs and listen. Let us start here.
Turn your people loose with what matters to them, work hard to align company and individual goals, give them the support they need to fulfill the goals and help them reach their potential.
photo by jason lippa
RoundPegg held a roundtable on hiring this morning with some of Boulder’s most forward-thinking CEOs. Needless to say, it’s a topic where everyone has learned a lot from their failures and the conversation was a lively one.
While it was universally acknowledged that how one fits with the company’s culture is directly linked to success, how everyone got to the point of whether a candidate ‘fit’ or not was interesting.
Here are a few of the more intriguing approaches:
It was a fantastic hour of discussion that wandered down other paths on culture, managing people and the like. So I’m sure we missed a ton of great ideas. What specifically works for you?
photo by jspace3
Thanks to Lijit I can see what folks are searching for when they arrive. “What Employees Want From Their Jobs” has been hitting the top of the charts frequently lately so here goes:
It depends.
Horrible answer, but people are all working for different reasons. The best employers try to get to the bottom of what indviduals want rather than looking at their workforce as a single entity. I’d recommend you start by asking them. Ask them repeatedly and don’t accept their first few answers. Most people haven’t actually thought much about this. Press them. Then ask again.
So contrary to what I just said, I’m going to try drawing some broad generalities as a starting point.
A job is a lot more than a paycheck, a bowl of M&Ms and health insurance. Intrinsic rewards are far more meaningful and lasting. If you see your team as more than cogs in the wheel and want to build a sustainable business then focus on what those intrinsic rewards are for each individual.
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