Maximize Flow and Avoid Burnout at Work

The modern workplace has built in delays, interruptions and distractions that have a negative impact on productivity, engagement, and mental health. Companies can improve flow with leadership development and smarter work design. Here's how: https://youtu.be/FYYoBMgZKnQ

Are managers at higher risk of burnout?

 Employee experience is essential for business success, but a critical sub-group tends to get less attention than they require. Managers face unique challenges that put them at heightened risk of burnout. Left unattended, companies risk alienating this critical and expensive to replace talent segment.

You can learn more here in this short animated video I created using Animaker: https://youtu.be/2xxdvPrgUec

Find Your Flow and Avoid Burnout in the Post-Pandemic World of Work

Today's article is about the hidden costs of flow killers at work in terms of mental health and organisational performance, and how HR can lead the charge on minimizing distractions and improving flow across the business.

Flow is a mental state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed with a feeling of energized focus, full involvement and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In fact, when we talk about how engaged employees do their work, we’re basically talking about flow state.

Given the positive impact of flow on engagement and performance, why is the modern workplace plagued by so many avoidable flow busters?  Why do people spend 60% of their time on busy work, or work about work, instead of... well... actual work?

What do we mean by busy work?  It's stuff like replying to endless email threads, sitting in unnecessary meetings, chasing colleagues for input or suport, waiting for approvals, searching for information, or compiling information from different sources into new formats.

Interruptions and delays have a cumulative effect. First there’s the loss of focus, and the time (23 minutes) it takes to refocus. This can have a knock-on effect of creating more delays or unwanted downtime. The lost time has an opportunity cost that can be calculated.

 

Harder to calculate but still important is that it’s demotivating to be delayed or prevented from making progress, and constant interruptions are exhausting.  So, from a mental health perspective this is concerning, especially with so many people working remotely.

Technology has enabled organizations to digitalize and automate processes, but an average employee switches between job-critical applications as many as 1,100 times every day, or about every 36 seconds.  How much quality work  gets done in 36 seconds?

Technology has helped organisations digitalize but has also had the unintended consequence of turbocharging busy work.  And Corona - or more specifically, remote work - exacerbated this trend because organizations adopted more technology to meet and collaborate remotely.

On the one hand, remote work has a positive impact on productivity because it removes commuting (and in some cases, putting on pants) from the equation. But what about flow?  Here it gets a little muddy, because for many people there are various distractions at home, such as having your kindergarten close.

According to a recent study from MIT, knowledge workers spend more than 85% of their time in meetings, resulting in lower productivity and satisfaction, and less effective collaboration. 

Whereas removing 60% of meetings and replacing them with more targeted communication and project management tools increased cooperation by 55% and improved employees’ psychological, physical, and mental well-being.

One more thing to bear in mind is that meeting via conferencing tools can also lead to a state of online fatigue, which resembles an early stage of burnout.  The upshot is that remote work has many benefits but doesn't necessarily improve flow, and we have an opportunity to rethink culture, leadership, and how work gets done.

When remote work was new, most companies moved what they used to do online with new tools.  It worked well enough and got us over the hump, but people are tired and not necessarily able to do their best work because quality work requires focused attention. 

We can’t eliminate meetings, distractions, and interruptions but we can be smarter in our approach. We can, for example, control how much time we spend in meetings, on busy work, or switching between applications. We can take steps to limit interruptions and bake flow into our culture.

HR thinks critically about employee wellbeing, engagement and performance, and flow is a critical ingredient for all three.  HR can play a key role improving flow across the business by creating organizational awareness, developing leaders to minimize distractions, and partnering with key stakeholders to maximize flow in work design.

If you'd like to learn more about these areas of opportunity for HR to improve organizational flow check out this short talk about Flow at Work on YouTube.

 

https://youtu.be/iSRm7QE9yJ8

To conclude, there are enough distractions in the world and in the workplace and we can’t remove all of them, but we can be smarter and more intentional about how we work and how we use technology at work.

Resilient Organizations: Balancing Tech and Culture in the Digital Age

Looking into the not so distant future, how can organizations create a more resilient and human-centric workplace?

What is the role HR in selecting technology, and why do strategic HR and digital transformation go hand in hand?

Why do so many technology projects fail, and what should business leaders and HR professionals consider before deploying a new solution?

All this and more in this live presentation from the HR Digital Innovation Summit:

Breaking News: Meetings Make Us Miserable

In recent headlines, a large global tech company used data analytics to discover that people who get pulled into too many crowded meetings are miserable at work. 

My reaction to this can be summed up in a single word:

Duh!

I mean, the only surprising thing about this discovery is that it required analytics to figure it out.  Am I right?

Seriously, if there’s a bigger bummer than sitting in crowded meetings for 50-75% of your work week, it’s working for people who can’t figure that out for themselves without technology.

On the other hand, at least they took the problem seriously.  Too many companies either ignore the problem or fix the wrong thing.

They also used real data to correlate people's feelings (biased) with what was actually hapening in the business (unbiased), thus avoiding the tricky problem of getting people to tell the truth.  

Let's face it, even assuming there would be no repercussions for saying, 'You morons call way too many meetings!' people don't always know why they're miserable and can be quite expert at misdiagnosing their feelings.

So, I guess it’s a win, but I can't help thinking...

WHY DO PEOPLE NEED ANALYTICS TO TELL THEM STUFF LIKE THAT???

If you'd like to read more about why meetings are expensive and make people unahppy, check out htis article: Collaboration: $199/lb

And if you're interested in how to run happier and more collaborative meetings, read Games People Play: A Guide to Gamification for HR.

What HR is Paid to Do

Recently I’ve seen a lot of posts about freeing HR from administrative work so they can finally spend more time doing ‘what they’re paid to do.’  It would seem there are some different opinions about what HR is actually paid to do.  

The business expects HR to handle people admin, liability, reporting and skills development – so arguably, that’s what HR is paid to do, even if some folks disagree.

This may not be a popular viewpoint, but the HR Business Partner model proposed by David Ulrich was a bust in several key areas.  Don't get me wrong, the idea made sense (and he's doing some great new stuff now), but there were serious flaws in the execution that I don't think were intended or anticipated:

• Doing it right required an extra layer of highly skilled – not to mention expensive - people running around moderating, coaching, advising, witnessing, and generally strategizing about all things people. 
• Typically, HR business partners were (instead) sourced from a mostly business-as-usual HR talent pool, rather than hiring them from, say, the business. 
• In many cases the newly minted ‘business partners’ continued having to do admin work while test driving the new role.
• To create more time for strategic work, HR adopted technology to delegate administration and data entry to line managers and employees - shifting but not solving the admin problem. 
• Although there was some progress on strategic initiatives, local teams tended to be left out of the strategic 'inner circle’, creating a 2-tier system within HR.

Fast forward about fifteen years: Too many HR professionals lack the field experience and operational skills of a true business partner and lack real authority to shape company culture and policy.  Somewhat ironically, HR gets blamed by the workforce for unpopular business decisions while having to defend them publicly.

There are companies where HR plays an integral role in business strategy and is recognized for leading the charge on the people agenda.  However, in my experience this usually goes hand in hand with a passionate and charismatic CHRO rather than than any particular framework or model.

According to recent Fosway research, a third of surveyed organizations plan to reduce HR headcount, so it would seem the case for investing more in HR isn't obvious to everyone.  Meanwhile, HR continues to struggle to do more with less while trying to find the time - and be taken seriously enough - to be strategic.

It may sound like I’m criticizing HR but I’m not.  HR has a tremendously important job that creates a lot of value to the business.  It is thanks to HR that people are hired and fired legally, onboarded, paid on time, trained, periodically coached or promoted, somewhat protected from egregious conduct and blatant discrimination, and terminated with due process and consideration. 

This is what HR is paid to do, and it’s strategic to boot because it helps the business run smoothly while supporting the people who deliver the company’s products and services.  HR doesn't get nearly enough credit for these things, in part - I think - because they've been so focused on establishing the HR Business Partner role with the executive team they've distanced themselves from what they do best.

Even in organizations where HR has successfully established the HR business partner role within the C-suite, there's a huge opportunity to position strategic HR to everyone else in the business. Ask the average employee what an HR business partner does all day and you will likely get a blank look.  

(To be fair, most people probably don't have a clue what the CEO does all day, either.)

If that’s not the case at your company, feel free to ignore everything I just said.

If it is the case, let’s forget the HR business partner model for just a moment and take a fresh look at how HR can partner with employees to create a better work experience:

Help people connect – People look for community and a sense of belonging.  When selecting HR technologies, consider whether they help people find their tribe at work and create meaningful connections across the business.  Also think about how to enable and encourage talent mobility, as one’s tribe or passion may be in a different part of the company or even outside of it.

Help people contribute – Use storytelling and coaching to help people find their superpower and connect the dots between their work and their impact.  Instead of copying best practices, use design thinking to include people in creating their own employee experience.  Above all, show genuine appreciation to everyone who does their bit to help your company be successful.

Help people grow – Think critically about how to support people on their career journey by letting them try new things and providing learning opportunities.  Schools have career guides, why don’t companies?  Consider providing professional development, feedback and coaching tools, and reimagine the annual performance process with a professional growth lens.

If HR does these things well - plus all the unsexy stuff they don't take enough credit for - it’ll be a strategic partner to the business and the people who work there.  Employer brand, retention and bottom line results will improve and before you know it companies will be looking to grow the HR function rather than downsize it.

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Want to level up your employer brand? Think like a marketer!

We're seeing a convergence between HR and marketing.

See this funnel? Talent acquisition got it from marketing. In fact, HR increasingly uses marketing terms like ‘hiring funnel’ and ‘talent pipeline.’

Not that marketing minds, of course. They think it'd be awesome if HR would put on a marketing hat when it comes to attracting and engaging talent.

Since filling the funnel and building a robust pipeline is what marketing’s all about, I'll share a few trade secrets with you.

To fill your funnel, you need to get people’s attention. And that’s challenging because there are a LOT of people and companies out there competing for people’s attention.  That means you need to find a way to stand out from the crowd.

Getting attention starts with your employer brand. You may think branding is marketing’s job, but it’s HR’s job to create an employer brand that people want to work for and that attracts people you want to hire.

Marketing may be able help but since they aren’t typically paid to work on employer brand, don’t be surprised if they don’t feel the same urgency about this as you do.

Inbound marketing is about creating a space like a website where people can come and explore on their own and find information that interests them.

With inbound marketing you start creating relationships and brand awareness.

Stories are also a good way to build brand awareness. Marketers love stories, because they help create an emotional connection to your brand. Your company has an origin story, and your employees have stories about their journey with your company. These stories are an integral part of your brand.

Marketing uses personas to create the right messages for their target audience. Personas are hypothetical buyers you get to know in order to market to them effectively. HR can use personas to market more effectively to candidates and employees.

Content is how you tell your story. You can use videos, pictures, brochures, blog posts, job descriptions – it’s really wide open, the only caveat is it’s helpful to know your target audience and their preferences. This is where your persona research comes in.

Channels are how you get your content to your audience. Job boards, your corporate website and LinkedIn are examples of channels. How do you reach the people you want to hire? Again, you want to understand your personas and their content preferences rather than using the channel that you prefer.

Marketers know you don’t just hang your shingle and rake in the new business.

Similarly, you can’t expect a stuffy job description posted on your corporate website will bring in lots of top candidates.

 To build a strong pipeline you need to be persistent and try different channels where potential and future potential buyers or employees can get to know you.

Nurture is about moving people through the funnel. For example, a recruiter might promote general advice about career development, then follow up with people who engage with that content, either with more information or a call.

 Follow up’s important. Never leave a qualified lead or candidate hanging, especially after someone has taken the time to apply or request information.

Account-based marketing is personalized marketing (or so it should seem) to an audience of one. The goal is to build a relationship so you can be right there with the right solution or offer when they’re ready to make a change.

People are on a journey with your company. There’s a buyer journey, a customer journey, an employee journey and a candidate journey. Understanding and mapping out these journeys will help you create a more positive and engaging experience with your brand.

To create a positive brand experience, you have to ask what people want, need, and expect at each stage of their journey with your company. Then use that inforation to create moments that matter.

Engagement is a hot topic for HR and marketing. Marketing measures engagement by tracking what people click on, and it’s a pretty good indicator for candidates, too. That's why talent pipeline automation solutions like Candidate.ID track digital footprint.

Tracking digital footprint requires a certain amount of online stalking, which raises data privacy concerns. Marketing solves this by inviting people to ‘opt in’ and continue receiving valuable information or notifications, and this is an approach HR can follow as well.

What if instead of deleting qualified applicant data you invited people to stay in touch?

Marketers tell stories, but where possible they back it up with relevant business results and put a spin on it.  A metric like ‘time to hire’ is OK, but doesn’t have the same wow factor as ‘cost of empty seats.’

Similarly, a boring salary statement doesn’t have the same wow factor as a shiny ‘Total Benefits Statement.’

Marketing hates surprises so they practically live in their data, checking in on what works and doesn't work so they can change plans.

Customers are the best marketers and employees are the best evangelists for your employer brand.

Do you know who your most passionate employees are? You may want to cultivate them to help you define and evangelize your employer brand.

All of these marketing building blocks should be part of your employer brand strategy.

Having a strategy helps you focus and use your time doing the most impactful things to create a strong employer brand and create a robust talent pipeline.

So, instead of telling people about your company and your open roles - which is what everyone’s doing - try putting on your marketing pants and selling your company and roles as if they were solutions. After all, for someone they are.

Photo credits: Upslash.com

Designing Woman

Disclaimer: I found this unpublished blog post in my draft folder from my product manager days, which feels like a lifetime - and a few hairstyles - ago. Even though I no longer work as a product manager, it's still a pretty accurate description of how I work.

The software company I work for has a short release cycle, with only have eight weeks of development to put out a new version. Since my product is fairly in demand - or perhaps it would be more honest to say that enhancements are demanded - this means I'm pretty much always creating designs in addition to the other product management work I do.

Like project work, design work is subject to phases, which are magnified by the compressed release cycle. People who work on projects or design work may identify with some of the following phases:

Phase I: 'Out with the old, in with the new.' I just finished the designs for the current update and it's time to start thinking about the next update but I'm not quite ready yet. I hover between two updates and poke at a few things but it's hard to let go of the topics that have claimed my attention for the last eight weeks and get started. I tend to feel unconnected and out of sorts during this phase, maybe even a little bit burned out. Fortunately, this phase tends to be short because there's a deadline to meet.

Phase II: 'Ramping up.' I've started the designs for the next update but there are some questions from development and other groups around the current update so my attention is divided. I force myself to make steady progress but haven't really hit my stride yet. I don't yet have a stake in the current design beyond the obvious (and important) one that someone pays me to work on it. This is a restless, unfocused phase but reasonably productive.

Phase III: 'Can't. Talk. Must. Finish. Design.' Something clicks and suddenly the design owns me. Maybe it's something someone said, or maybe the design has just reached a critical mass, but the different design threads pull at me all the time, insisting that I resolve them into a cohesive pattern. There may be a number of false starts before I find the right balance of prioritizatation of requirements, easy configuration and use, and architectural fit. And I don't know how many people realize this about software design but expertise will only take you so far - a good designer also also needs empathy in order to anticipate mistakes people are likely to make and help them not make them. Empathy makes me grumpy and hungry so if you see me glaring at my computer with a cookie in my hand, you might want to save that question for later.

Phase IV: 'Bring it on home.' I'm 95-98% done. I've crossed some sort of design threshhold where the pattern has integrity and holds together but that last 2-5% still needs to be done. It's usually pretty boring but someone needs to do it. I look around for my minion but I don't have a minion so that leaves me. Around this time the current release is ready for testing and that's less exciting than the wide open field of design work, but not less important. Now it's time to start horse trading features with my colleagues in development, who invariably feel that I've given them too much work. And they're right about that, because I have surrounded the most important requirements with non-essential pawns that I'd like to see but may be sacrificed if necessary to protect the core design.

The cycle repeats. I start thinking on a high level about the next update and gradually easing back into Phase I for the next round... better hurry up and ask me that question.

Great leadership isn't about you

Photo credit: ionut-coman-photographer-459986-unsplash

There’s a lot of great – and not so great - leadership advice out there.  Unfortunately, most of it’s focused on the personality and behaviour of the leader, ignoring one of the most important jobs of a leader: building a great team.

This focus on the leader is due at least in part to a flawed belief that people leave managers, which is true to a point.  I mean, I’ve left a couple of bad managers myself, but like most easy answers it’s incomplete.  Here’s why:

Let’s say you have a crappy manager in a great company.  If the company’s so awesome except for your lousy manager, you would probably consider changing managers within the company before leaving entirely.  Oh, but wait – you probably wouldn’t have a crappy manager in a great company. 

See where I’m going with this?  It’s the company not the manager that ultimately drives you off.

Photo credit: daniel-cheung-129839-unsplash

Also, let’s not forget people also leave companies for bigger jobs or more money, things even a stellar manager may not be able to provide immediately for the asking.  Sometimes a better offer’s just a better offer.

So, more precisely, people leave bad managers, they leave companies that tolerate and reward bad managers, and they also leave good managers and companies for a better opportunity.

Back to mainstream leadership advice, which I will paraphrase here:

Leaders should be authentic, empathic, and humble; they should listen, encourage, and support the people on their team; they should invite ideas and experimentation; they should play well with others; they should communicate a clear vision; they should be available; they should be vulnerable (but not in a creepy way); they should be professional, results-oriented, and mentally flexible; and they should help people achieve their personal goals while working toward the strategic goals of the business.

Good stuff. But.

At the end of the day, no one succeeds in isolation and teamwork drives innovation, community and great culture.  That means that one of the most important things managers can do for their teams is cultivate a safe and inclusive place for everyone to contribute, so they bring their best selves to work.

That means more than having weekly team meetings and providing bonding opportunities like team events.  It means providing clear expectations about team behavior and recognition for collaborative achievements.  It means empowering people to work together, solve problems, and create an amazing team experience.  It also means tending the garden, i.e. hiring people who will work well with the team and promptly addressing toxic behaviours.

That doesn’t mean everything’s always perfect.  Sometimes it’s a process.  Sometimes there are growing pains.  Sometimes things take longer.  But the focus is always on making the team better.

Great leaders come in all shapes and sizes. They may be male or female, introverted or extroverted, tall or short, chic or shabby, suave or awkward, remote or onsite.  However, they’re easy to spot because they have one thing in common: They lead great teams.

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Stop telling employees they own company culture!!

Telling employees they own culture is a bit like telling HR to think like business people.

Let me explain that, because it's fair to expect HR professionals – especially those with business partner in their title - to approach problems with a business lens.  But here comes the ‘but.’  

The business people who say HR should think like business people tend to earn a lot more and have a much higher stake in the business than an HR partner.  So what, you ask?

Well, as a result, these ‘business people’ tend to be more focused on cost cutting measures to drive up share price and their own bonuses than investing in vague-sounding things like engagement.  Unless, of course, it drives up EPS and is cheap to implement.  Or better yet, free.* 

*OMG – I just realized telling employees they own culture is free. Well, that’s that explained, then.

We could even argue HR folks are the best business thinkers in the company because they understand the importance of things that are difficult to measure, but that's not the kind of 'business thinking' that's meant.

While it’s true HR needs a business lens, few businesses hire ‘business people’ as HR business partners.  Therefore, they shouldn’t be surprised most HR folks think and talk like… well, HR folks.  If you want your HR business partner to think, act and talk like your Chief Revenue Officer, you’ll need to recruit, reward and design this role differently.

Note that HR business partners with amazing networking, business acumen and storytelling skills quickly graduate to higher paying pastures. That should tell you something.

Same deal with employees and culture. Do employees own culture?  Certainly, everyone owns their own behaviour at work but let’s not forget the human tendency to observe others and imitate what works.  If people seem to get ahead by hoarding information, taking credit for teamwork, spending more time socializing than doing actual work, or shooting down ideas, guess what behaviours will end up becoming the norm? 

Whereas if toxic behaviour is promptly addressed, ideas are welcome, meaningful collaboration encouraged, teamwork rewarded, and helping others recognized a very different kind of culture will emerge.

I realize positive examples can inspire positive behaviours, even in a dark place, but bad behaviour tends to spread if unchecked.  Inevitably, others follow suit, which encourages others to do the same because it seems to be how things are done.

In a place where no one can be trusted, only a fool trusts or is trustworthy. 

So, who owns culture?  Everyone in the organization participates in and has some accountability for culture but the ‘owners’ are the leaders and decision makers - the choice architects - who set the behavioural example; design roles and incentives; decide who to hire and promote; and determine which behaviours to accept and encourage. 

Making employees responsible for culture isn’t great leadership, it’s lack of leadership.

Interested in learning more about how design thinking can be used to create a better company culture and work experience?  

Here are some resources to get started:

New Research: Employee Experience Design for HR Practitioners

Hey HR, Ready to Define the Future of Work?

Work Experience Design: Interview with Karen Jaw-Madson

Design Thinking for Leaders and Innovators

Work Experience Design: Interview with Karen Jaw-Madson

Soon after writing The HR Journey from Productivity to Purpose, I came across an article written by work experience design expert Karen Jaw-Madson and realized I'd discovered a kindred spirit.  Several emails and high energy conversations later, I'm very excited to publish a guest post with Karen.

With a fresh perspective on the hot topics of company culture and employee engagement, Karen combines deep insight with a pragmatic approach to creating meaningful work experiences.  Somewhat atypically within a corporate landscape that tends to view culture as something top down, she uses design thinking principles to ensure that employees play a key role in co-creating their own work culture.  

Read what she has to say in this exclusive interview.

1. Why does work experience design matter for HR?

We know from the study of the human mind that people’s memories are coded by way of experiences. It’s how we frame our thinking and remember things. Whether or not it is consciously acknowledged, experience design matters to HR because it matters to people.  Experience must be a cornerstone if we are to ensure the “human” in HR. Those that understand the importance of employee experience have an opportunity to differentiate themselves above others in the war for talent. That’s because intentionally designing experience aligned with company values and culture increases the chances of intended, positive outcomes. Check out an article I recently published in HR Professional magazine, “What HR Should Know About Employee Experience.”

2. Who owns / should own work experience design, if not HR? 

I’m chuckling because of how much we think alike. Over the summer I wrote an article for People + Strategy Journal, “It’s More Than a Job Title: The Role of HR When It Comes to Organizational Culture.” It won’t be released until November, but let me summarize and note that the same goes for work experience design: because culture and the outcomes of work experience design are shared, no one can realistically “own” them—they are communal. That being said, HR has several roles to play, as educator, evangelist, sponsor, and connector. Advisor is not on the list because that would support the misperception of ownership and creates an emotional distance from being an equal partner within the culture.  

3. Can you briefly explain your methodology and how you developed it?

Design of Work Experience (DOWE) percolated for years, but was catalyzed with the introduction of design and design thinking into its development. The other big influences on this work are appreciative inquiry, positive psychology, and values-based leadership. A concept, methodology, and framework rolled into one, DOWE “partners employees with their employers to co-create customized and meaningful work experiences that set the conditions for people and business to thrive.” The model is comprised of four main components: the combination of DESIGN and CHANGE processes enabled by leveraging and building CAPABILITY and ENGAGEMENT throughout.

The process is segmented into 5 phases: UNDERSTAND, CREATE & LEARN, DECIDE, PLAN, and IMPLEMENT. These in turn are organized as a series of iterative learning loops, each with its own specific set of activities that break down complex culture work into digestible, focused, exploration spaces.

Ultimately, the practice of DOWE yields an in-depth understanding of the current state, a design for the future state, and a roadmap with action plans for how to get there. This can be applied to a variety of opportunity spaces in organizations, from business strategy to the employment life cycle, to interactions, and capability development.

4. How did you end up writing and publishing a book on this topic?

The book was written as a humble contribution to the study of company culture, but born out of a frustration with how often culture is blamed for failures in companies after the fact. We know that many corporate scandals blamed on culture are quite preventable. There’s a lot of content out there around “best practices” and “how we did it,” but I wanted to offer a step-by-step “how to” for intentionally creating culture on the front end that is specific to the intended context—your organization.

5. Do you have any advice for people who want to develop expertise in this area?

In a word, learn. Learning is demonstrated by changed behavior and because of that, it is transformative. You should learn in all 3 ways: experientially, inwardly, and externally—continually and simultaneously. Building culture--particularly with Design of Work Experience (DOWE)--is best learned by doing. The first phase of the process, UNDERSTAND, will identify your organization’s highest priorities, develops an unprecedented level of organizational self-awareness, and requires practitioners to do a lot of self-learning and examination. The CREATE & LEARN phase has a learning loop dedicated to building knowledge and inspiration by hunting and gathering anything that could inform perspective. By seeking external stimulus, we are able to build our “knowledge banks” and incorporate them as new learning. Expertise isn’t built over night, but with persistence and an open mind.

6. What is next for you?

I try to follow the same I advice offer to those I coach. Rather than chasing plans (which sometimes adds rigidity, blinds us to other opportunities, and doesn’t always go our way) I’m aiming for aspirational outcomes: meaningfulness in work, a positive impact, a well-balanced life. If design thinking has taught me anything, it’s that one can always iterate and allow the possibilities to reveal themselves. I have a lot of different projects on the plate, potential partnerships with others, and am always seeking to learn new things. I look forward to discovering where all this leads me. 

  

Organizational expert Karen Jaw-Madson enjoyed success as a corporate executive before pursuing a ‘portfolio career’ comprised of research, writing, consulting, teaching/speaking, and creative pursuits. As a versatile leader across multiple industries, Karen developed, led, and implemented numerous organizational initiatives around the globe. Today, this East Coast transplant to Silicon Valley (via Ireland and the Midwest) is principal of Co.-Design of Work Experience, where she enables organizations with innovative approaches and customized solutions for intimidating challenges. Focus areas include culture, organizational change, and people strategies. Her book, Culture Your Culture: Innovating Experiences @Work (Emerald Group Publishing) was released in June, 2018. She has a BA in Ethnic and Cultural Studies from Bryn Mawr College and a MA in Social-Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. Visit her website at www.designofworkexperience.com.

Website: www.designofworkexperience.com

Twitter: @karenjaw

Facebook: /designofworkexperience

Instagram:co.designofworkexp

LinkedIn: /company/co--/

Diversity's the Secret Sauce of a Great Culture

My first boss Herman was a 2^nd generation Mexican American.  He ran a tight Jewish bakery counter and his brother Alex managed the kosher deli across the way.

My best boss ever – and I’ve only had a few over a long career I consider truly great – was French and female.  

(My worst boss was also female so please don’t take this as a general endorsement for female leadership, let’s just get better leaders, OK?)

I’ve had bosses from the US, France, India, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Mexico, and Germany.  They all had very different management styles.

One boss called me a ‘penetrante Kuh’ - which means annoying cow - but he was German, so I didn’t take it personally.  In fact, I considered printing it on my business card.

I’ve hired and managed people from Canada, South Africa, Japan, Poland, Singapore, Russia, Finland, Spain, Mexico, Ireland, France, and the US.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with Russians, Finns, Japanese, Italians, Canadians, Dutch, French, Irish, British, Spanish, Australians, Iranians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Belgians, Indians, Romanians, Swiss, Scandinavians, and 2^nd generation Americans from pretty much every part of the world.

Some were younger, some were older, some were male, some were female, some were fantastic to work with while others were difficult, but they all offered something unique to the mix.

It was the best part about working, to be honest. 

I didn’t like everybody, nor did everyone like me.  That’s not the point.  The point is that they all added colour and flavour to my work experience, as I hope working with me did for them.

Interacting with so many cultures and personalities upped my game and having such a rich mix of colleagues and experiences kept me longer in each role than I might have stayed otherwise.

Diversity matters in ways we can’t measure.  It makes us more resilient, curious, compassionate, and open to new cultures, ideas and experiences.  It tests us and forces us to adapt, compromise and question our assumptions.

If your customer base is diverse, it stands to reason your workforce – in particular, the people who design your solutions or interact with your customers - should be, too.  Also, just to be clear, hiring locals in your non-HQ subsideriaries isn't true diversity.

I don’t think too many people reading this are likely to disagree, since diversity is now accepted as part of a successful business strategy, but I leave you with this food for thought:

A few years back I blogged about a Cornell University study that found once diversity reaches a critical mass of 20-25% at the leadership level the company realizes higher performance.  However, below that level diversity has a negative impact, possibly because everyone regards it as a necessary evil rather than a driver of innovation and business performance.

With that in mind, maybe diversity should be part of your company DNA, rather than an isolated and/or HR-led initiative.  

Just sayin.

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*Picture courtesy of Managing Your Elders.

Leadership Lessons from Taekwondo

Since becoming a ‘solopreneuer‘, I’ve doubled down on my taekwondo practice.  In fact, I’ll be spending the next ten days in Italy at a training camp practicing 3-5 hours per day in the hot sun, followed by my green belt test.  My family is coming along and my kids, as you can imagine, are delighted to spend their summer vacation watching me break boards.

Breaking a board in one shot feels great but if you had to hit the board over and over without ever breaking it you’d probably give up, which you can compare to some workplace situations.  Patty Azzarello wrote a great article (here) about becoming one’s better self – with way better hair - when work doesn’t go your way.  She’s one of the best at navigating difficult workplace situations, but it’s also worth exploring why leaders have to expend so much energy navigating instead of leading. 

You could argue that’s part of what leaders get paid to do.  Given that businesses need to run profitably, some competition for attention, mindshare and resources is inevitable.  Besides, friction can be a positive creative force, up to a point.

However, past that point it’s just wasteful and erodes trust.  How do you know where that point is?  Oh, you'll know. 

After that ‘People don’t leave jobs, they leave bosses,’ meme went around for about the ten thousandth time, Christie Lindor resoundingly qualified that statement in a blog post that has received over 30K likes and more than 1000 comments, so I guess it struck a chord.  Here are the crib notes, but I recommend the entire article (and Patty’s):

Yes, people leave bad bosses but what they really leave is an entire organization.  Symptoms of the kind of culture people want to get away from include stagnant processes, increased toxicity in interactions, frustration with wasted time in meetings, lack of support from leadership during difficult times, gossip and bad mouthing, favouritism, and pockets of motivation being drowned in organizational inertia.

Wow, who knew?

Even a good boss in this kind of environment will lose people.  In fact, they may lose more than average because they are the ones coaching and developing people to be strong external candidates. In other words, if people are leaving in one part of the business, you may have a problem with a particular leader, but if people are leaving across the business, chances are you have a bigger problem. 

What can a healthy Taekwondo practice teach us about trust and motivation? Taekwondo is based on a martial arts discipline that is thousands of years old, when they never heard of new-fangled organizational models or open offices.  It’s strictly hierarchical and based on mutual respect between masters and students.  Advancement is merit-based but open to all.  New students are welcome and masters help and mentor beginners – it’s expected.  There are rules and forms and you follow them, period.  You work at your own pace but those who show up and work the hardest advance the fastest. 

And yet, although it’s very structured it’s also very creative.  You have to think and move fast, innovate by combining movements your muscles know by heart in new ways, and anticipate your opponent’s moves.  It’s a one stop shop for autonomy, progress, mastery, flow, and purpose.

There are real workplaces that follow a similar model.  My first job at one of the leading management consulting companies, for example.  The partners were responsive and generous with their time, project leads were expected to mentor, performance standards were applied fairly, and advancement was both merit and time-based.  In other words, there weren’t organizational limits on how many folks could advance so good people didn’t get stuck in career limbo, which creates unhealthy competition at many companies.  New hires were made to feel welcome with a proper orientation and a regular influx of new staff kept the organization fresh.  

I’m not going to say it was perfect - and believe me when I say the hours were long – but notice the similarities to a well-run martial arts practice. I’ve had many great jobs and work experiences since, but each time I break a board I wonder why more companies don’t put real effort into mentoring, recognizing contributions and creating opportunities for more individuals to grow professionally.  It costs money but it creates abundance.

Great leaders know you don’t engage people with surveys, performance evaluations or 2.3% merit increases.  You engage them by taking a genuine interest in their development; recognizing a job well done - or a board well broken; enabling them to master the moves; empowering them to try new moves; and helping them advance to the next level.

Here's me breaking a board.  As you can see, it's a team effort.

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