Recruiting, Acquiring and KEEPING upper echelon employees begins with…

Most companies are striving to get the best employees and keep them as they know this is integral to their success and growth. Competition is steep as the number of “A Players” seems to be dwindling by the day. The consolation? Not many have mastered this art, so making an effort goes a long way!

As usual, let’s start at the beginning…

How do you attract “A players” in the first place?

One of the most innovative and effective ways is by creating interesting and fun videos to tempt great employees and leaders to your company. I have seen this succefully done by companies like Zappos and MindVakkey, it has the top employees coming to them to apply and vy for positions!

But how do we accomplish this for our company when it isn’t young and hip or when we don’t have a fun business because  we sell widgets!

IF your perspective is open and willing, then you can accomplish the goal of painting a picture that is appealing for prospective employees. NOW, let me preface this with this admonition, IF your company only paints the picture as being a good, fair and fun company to work for but it is riddled with a different culture totally, then even if you are successful in recruiting top employees, they will shortly find out the reality and move on to a company that better suits them. SOOOO, this is only the first step to having an employee team of  upper echelon employees.

Alright, so now back tot he video idea…

ANY subject can be fun and interesting if you have the right perspective. You may not have this perspective, so you might want to hire someone to make this or even better, delegate it to some of your employees. Ah! Here’s an idea: Have a contest for different departments to make each a video for recruiting. They can talk about how it is to work there or about events that you hold, whatever. But, then you can have a viewing party and vote for the best video. Make a day out of it!

Don’t believe ANY subject can be funny? Would you think it is possible to be funny when delivering the “speech” all airlines must give before takeoff, “There are four exits…” etc.?

Thin again. Check out this video by Virgin Airlines. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo&NR=1

Have a recruiting video already? Post a link here, we would love to see it and learn from your example.

To your continued success,

C

 

 

Your Laziest Employees’ Impact on the Rest of the Employee Team… is WORSE Than You Think!

In a study of 158 students, a test was designed to see how conscientious and motivated they were, and then they were sorted into 33 teams.

Each team was given a case study to work on, and was told that each team member would receive the same grade based on how well they did.

Benjamin Walker, a PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales’ Australian School of Business, found that “the person who contributes the least has a huge impact. Even if the rest of the team is pulling their weight, they won’t be able to compensate for that member.”  That single lazy person ended up with the most responsibility for team failure or success.

What about irresponsible people? Do they have the same affect? No, Walker ran tests to see if recklessness affected team performance, but found that the group mentality overrode the few impulsive people–in a way that it couldn’t do with lazy folks.

So, will you allow a lazy person to erode everyone else’s potential success?

Or will you step forward to make a small change that could drastically affect the entire company’s success?

C

How to know how your employees REALY feel about you:

They WILL NOT tell you! Probably EVER! Even on exit interviews, people do not tell the truth as they generally are worried about getting a good referral from the company. Hence, the question is raised “How DO you know?”

Bnet has FOUR signs to read in order to find out:

How do you know what they really think? Very rarely will people tell you directly. So you have to be adept at reading their behavior–and your own. Here are four signs:

1. They often argue with you

This is a good sign. People do not argue if they don’t care. Workplace arguments are healthy because it means people are invested in outcomes.

If you haven’t had an underling push back in the last week, then you have staffers who are under-invested. They don’t care. You’ve ticked them off. They have decided that you aren’t worth their time.

The best thing you can do to remedy this situation is to show people you care about their opinion. How? By thanking them for their suggestions, admitting you’re wrong and changing your path. Do it now, before it’s too late and no one is ever willing to tell you you’re wrong.

2. You haven’t had to apologize in a while
If you don’t say you’re sorry once a week at work, then you’re not honest about your mistakes. And people are sick of it. You shouldn’t wait until some epic mistake–you’ve run over a child or poisoned a stray cat–until you apologize. Apologize for the for small, everyday mistakes as well. It’s a sign of respect and caring to say you’re sorry. Which is why you can be pretty sure your employees hate you if you don’t apologize regularly.

Start now to fix things. But remember that body language and tone matters. You can’t fake an apology and make it matter. A fake apology actually aggravates the situation.

So manage in your heart, first, to honestly believe you should have done better. And whatever you do, don’t say, “I’m sorry but–”  An apology doesn’t have a follow-up clause. It doesn’t have a summation.

The most powerful thing to say after “I’m sorry”? Nothing.

3. You’re good at the details

Guess what? Management is not about details; it’s about people. You have to love people to be a good manager and trust those people to be good with details because they are conscientious, capable people who care about their work. If you are caring about details more than people, then you are treating people as if they are not capable, and then, of course, they will perform that way.

It’s easy to be incompetent when that’s what the boss expects. But look out, because
people who perform poorly feel bad about their work. And if they feel bad about their work, they probably resent you for that.

So here’s a suggestion: Trust people. Put faith in them. Manage people in a way that allows them to take care of details. If you don’t like how they manage details, fire them. But it does no one good for you to do the details for the people you manage.

4. You think you can be a better manager

If you think you could improve, you’re probably right. If you think you’re doing just fine, you’re probably wrong.  This research comes from Tiziana Casciarofrom Rotman School of Management. Casciaro says that people who are focused on improving a given trait at work can almost always make good progress.

Also, if you think you can improve, you display the type of optimism that is contagious. Because optimism (and pessimism) are contagious and the manager sets the tone for the team. An optimistic team will like you even if you’re having a bad day – or month. A pessimistic team will think you stink, even if you’ve been putting in a decent performance as a manager for years. Perception of your team is what matters. But maybe you already know that.

If you do, you’re probably already a manager people like.

How to get your team (or anyone) to pay attention or care AT ALL! Seth Godin chimes in…

Want to talk to your team? Write a memo? Communicate a change? Want them to read your newsletter or blog?

Why not write NAKED. I have said this for years, communicate with clarity and with raw realness or don’t do it at all.

Seth Godin weighs in today too from his blog:

Writing Naked

Here are Orwell’s rules, edited:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. You don’t need cliches.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do. Avoid long words.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active. Write in the now.

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. When in doubt, say it clearly.

6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. Better to be interesting than to follow these rules.

The reason business writing is horrible is that people are afraid.

Afraid to say what they mean, because they might be criticized for it.

Afraid to be misunderstood, to be accused of saying what they didn’t mean, because they might be criticized for it.

Orwell was on the right track. Just say it. Say it clearly. Say it now. Say it without fear of being criticized and say it without being boring.

If the goal is no feedback, then say nothing. Don’t write the memo.

If the goal is to communicate, then say what you mean.

My best tip is this: buy a cheap digital recorder. Say what you want to say, as if the person you seek to persuade is standing there, listening. Then type that up. Simplify. Send.

So, how will this change what you write today?

C

Don’t know where to start in creating your core values or culture? Scott Ginsberg gives us some advice!

Although this post was written about business and the like, I think it is VERY applicable for us and Company Culture Creation. Hence, I want to share it with you. I find it very inspiring. Thank you Scott Ginsberg (the nametag guy)!

How to Trust the Process, Even If You Don’t Know What the… You’re Doing

To trust is to surrender.
To surrender is to open yourself.
To open yourself is to risk getting hurt.
To risk getting hurt is to increase the probability of success.

LESSON LEARNED: When you assemble the courage to trust the process, you access the power to transform the world.

Your world. Your partner’s world. Your customer’s world. Your employees’ world. Your organization’s world. Maybe even your dog’s world.

Today we’re going to explore eight daily practices for trusting the process, even when you have no idea what the… you’re doing:
1. Don’t be stopped by not knowing how. (Note from Christie: Don’t let “not knowing” how to start creating your core values or culture book, stop you from starting!)

How is overrated. How is the enemy of progress. How is the barrier to trusting the process. And I’m not saying it hurts to know what you’re doing once in a while. But if you always waited until you knew what you were doing, you’d never do anything.

You’re never really ready. Nobody is. Whether you’re starting a business, starting a relationship or starting a new career, trusting the process means traversing the periphery of your competence.

That’s exactly what I did when I started my publishing and consulting company right out of college… I didn’t know anything. I was twenty-two. But for some reason, I trusted the process anyway.

And here’s what I learned: Eventually, you’re just going to have to jump into the pool with your clothes on and trust that you’ll figure out how to swim before the water fills your lungs.

Let’s go. It’s time to put down that margarita and make a splash that matters. Remember: You don’t have to get good to get going; but you do need to get going to get good. Whose permission are you waiting for?

2. Restore the equilibrium. The reason it’s so hard to trust the process is because it’s a form of surrendering; and for most people, that’s a terrifying preposition. Human beings have an inherent need to preserve their sense of control. And any time they feel it being taken away from them, they freak out.

I’m reminded of the Arabian proverb, “Trust God, but tie up your camel.” That’s the real secret: To restore the equilibrium. To balance letting go with preserving control.

For example, when you enter into a new relationship, make a handshake agreement with your partner:

“Look, I know we’re both scared. I know we’re both skeptical. So, let’s agree that for every path we pave for our hearts to follow, we’re going to take regular rest stops for our brains to reflect. That’s where we’ll check in with honest, open and clear updates on the process.”

When you ease into that exchange slowly, you hold yourself over until you’re more comfortable tipping the scales. How can you balance control with surrender?

3. Bow to the door of next. Next is my favorite word in the dictionary. For many reasons: Next fortifies action. Next symbolizes progress. Next means complacency prevention. Next means continuous improvement.

Next is the monetizer of momentum. Next is the fervent architect of creative reinvention. Next is the critical trigger of entrepreneurial advancement. Next is the rocket fuel of your career.

Ultimately, the secret is not just to use the word next – but also to bow to the door of it. Bow meaning honor. Bow meaning respect. Bow meaning recognize. Remember: Without incremental progress, there is no incidental profit. Are you standing on a springboard or struggling in a straight jacket? (Note from Christie: Well, which is it? Which do you want it to be?)

4. Fall in love with why. When you infuse your process with deep purpose, it’s noticeably easier to trust it. That’s why rituals are so critical. They carve a pathway. They create a sacred container around what you’re about to engage in. And they prevent you from asking, “Why…  am I even doing this?”

This helps you fall in love with the process, not just what the process produces. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s defined this dichotomy in his book Creativity:

“Exotelic means you do something not because you enjoy it but to accomplish a later goal. But autotelic means there is no reason for doing something except to feel the experience it provides.”

Lesson learned: Trusting the process is a spiritual discipline. An investment in the stability of the universe. Why do you do what you do?

5. Don’t be so hard on yourself. In Leonard Cohen’s documentary, I’m Your Man, he shares his philosophy on the writing process: “You gotta go to work everyday, but know that you’re not going to get it everyday.”

Initially, that was a bitter pill for me to swallow. The idea of accepting a blank page as part of the process was devastating to my creative spirit. But over time, I learned to stop beating myself up when I didn’t get it.

That’s part of trusting the process: Knowing when you’ve got it, knowing when you’ve lost it, knowing when there’s no way… you’re going to get it, and knowing when you’re going to have to take measures to get it back.

My current strategy is: When I sit down to write every morning, I give myself an hour. That’s my cut off. And if the faucet never turns over to hot, and if I realize that I’m just not going to get it that day – I go back to bed. Simple as that. Then, an hour or two later when I wake up, I hit the page refreshed and renewed.

Works every time. What’s your strategy for returning to the work that matters? (Christie’s note: So, how can you reset your team? How can you clear the path for a renewal?)

6. Believe in the dividends. Every time I start working on a new idea, I constantly remind myself: “There will be more.” More details. More resources. More answers. More everything. (Christie’s note: THIS in itself is a FANTASTIC concept. So, when you lose you biggest client, the first thing your mind thinks is “Wow, this is really bad, what will I do without them?” However, there are always more clients, more options, more solutions, always!)

This affirmation builds my confidence, relaxes my brain and alerts the Muse that she can move at her own pace. And even if I only make minimal progress today, I believe in my heart that more art is on the way.

That’s the posture to practice when you trust the process: Easy does it. Keep it casual. Establish gentle flow. Soon enough, your rhythm will develop. And the dividends will come.

The cool part is, once you achieve a few victories with this strategy, your experience bank fills with success stories to dwell upon. That’s when trusting the process gets fun. All you have to do is roll the mental footage of the last time it paid off. How strong is your belief in the dividends of your process?

7. Don’t fight the contractions. Pregnancy is a process. And according to a 2004 study from University of Hawaii, it’s a process that’s happened approximately ninety-six billion times since the dawn of time. Not bad. Maybe those mothers are doing something right.

My guess is: Epidural.

Just kidding. The real secret to trusting the process is to honoring the natural rhythms. Easing your judgmental tendencies and embracing the contractions no matter how much they hurt. As Quaker author Eileen Flanagan writes in Listen With Your Heart:

“By speaking honestly, listening non-defensively and waiting patiently, we help create the space where love can reveal itself.”

The best part is: You don’t have to be pregnant to practice this. Take writing, for example. Readers often ask me, “How do you know what you’re going to write everyday?” And my answer is always the same: “I don’t. That’s not my job. Instead, I listen for what wants to be written.”

Stop fighting the contractions. The baby will come when it’s ready. Even if you’re stuck in that godforsaken hospital bed for the next forty-seven hours. What are you allowing yourself to give birth to? (Christie’s personal thoughts: Take it from me! The more you fight or stress during labor the WORSE, much WORSE you will be! Instead, keeping your stress down and focusing on the current priorities will get everyone through this in a faster and more productive manner.)

8. Don’t abandon the process just because it gets tough. Trusting the process doesn’t mean being passive. The secret is to understand the principle of threshold level.

That’s the moment in the process where you’re so close to completion, you can taste it.

The moment when the entire the world is doing everything they can to prevent you from finishing.

That’s when you hit it hard. That’s when you take every ounce of trust you have left and invest it in the process that brought you to the threshold.

Because in the end, trusting the process is about doing the footwork. Even if you don’t recognize the road before you. Even if it hurts like hell. Carry out the task to completion. And let growth unfold incrementally. The world will reimburse your efforts. Are you willing to hustle while you wait?

REMEMBER: This might be the perfect time to let go.

To achieve success and significance with your newest idea, project, initiative or relationship, you know what needs to be done.

Employ your faith.
Learn to trust the process.
Surrender to your primal self.
And allow it to do what it needs to do to lead you in the right direction.

You’ll be fine.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What will you have to let go of to become something different? (From Christie, of course So, what will it be?)

My absolute best,

C

Paddi Lund, Christie Scott and Michael Gerber do this. Do you?

Paddi Lund (www.PaddiLund.com) has some great advice today in his newsletter. He is a dentist gone entrepreneur, but is most known for changing his reality by firing D clients, only accepting new clients upon referral, and insisting that he receive a certain number of referrals from each client! Here are some payoffs he experienced when he first fired D clients:

Simply “firing” his D customers immediately freed up 30% or more of your time … time which then is used to focus more attention on A and B customers with an instant increase in sales results as a consequence. Fewer hassles, more money – all good, right!

This has had a dramatic effect that is virtually responsible for every great innovation that followed in Paddi’s business.

Here’s why. Here’s the secret: S P A C E !!!

You read that right. Space. Time. Freedom from pressures.

Quite often when we start out in business we struggle to find the model that pays off. That’s just business. It’s hard. Very few people jag it and produce massively profitable businesses right from the get go. But even for those people, a similar process occurs. We get so busy, so caught up in the frantic pace of getting everything working that we get completely lost in the day to day pressures of it all.

Bills to pay, customers to see, people to hire, people to train, people to fire (because we never got around to training them!), marketing to write, advertising to try to forget (because it’s not working and you don’t know why), family to please, fatigue to fight … in business it just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on …… and on and on and on and on!!!

Before you know it, you have absolutely no S P A C E to think, let alone work on the business.

But that’s exactly what Paddi found when he “fired” his D’s. He was making just as much money, or more, and now he had S P A C E to truly start thinking clearly about his business.

Michael Gerber, author of the famous E-Myth, later called this vital discovery “Working ON the business, not IN it.”

———— A Fundamental Difference ————

Now, this isn’t the same as having lots of time on your hands when you’re young and starting out and don’t have any customers yet. Not the same at all.

There’s a fundamental difference between the time that the ABCD’s buys you and the time you have on your hands when there’s not much business on.

1) Ongoing Cashflow gives you room to breath

Say no more. Free time alone just won’t get you fed.

2) Experience gives you lots of information to work with

If you’re to this point, you have tried lots of things and failed with most of them. This experience is invaluable in helping you hone in on what’s really most important. You’ve also probably learned a thing or two about managing people – there’s nothing like being pushed around by an employee or two to galvanize the skill of leading from the front!

3) The Pain of being trapped motivates you to use your time wisely

… It’s only when you learn how valuable and scarce that S P A C E is that you really begin to use it wisely when it appears. Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands to fill the available time.” Well not when you have the motivation of great PAIN focusing you on making the most of this very valuable resource!

The 2nd Major Hidden Benefit:

* Making S P A C E for Key Results Producing Activities.

So, how could this idea help you?

One client of mine is facing this right now! She is SO overwhelmed by the everyday, that she cannot “see” or focus, prioritize, or even  enjoy life.  She is BRILLIANT! Simply amazing, yet this is overshadowed and hidden by the murkiness. Has she changed? No, but when you are overwhelmed, you cannot create or orchestrate your best work! Plain and simple.

So, my recommendation? Find space.

For this client, a getaway is in order, a getaway from emails, phones, and any work or responsibility. This will enable her to clearly see what she needs to do, how to overcome obstacles and have fun.

You may have experienced this when trying to come up with a name or fix a problem. When I was trying to title my book, I struggled for months. Then, when daydreaming while driving a car, it came to me.

Or sometimes the more you try to determine a solution, the more convoluted your opinion becomes.

So, what do YOU need to do to create S P A C E for what will allow you to reach the next level?

C

Why employees don’t care what they need! Instead give them what they demand…

Seth Godin wrote a post today about how to sell and market what people demand and tells you NOT to try to sell what people need. I think it is applicable to managing employees:

Needs don’t always lead to demand

One of the accepted holy grails of building an organization is that you should fill a need. Fill people’s needs, they say, and the rest will take care of itself.

But… someone might know that they need to lose some weight, but what they demand is potato chips.

Someone might know that they need to be more concerned about the world, but what they demand is another fake reality show.

As my friend Tricia taught me, this is brought into sharp relief when doing social enterprise in the developing world. There are things that people vitally need… and yet providing it is no guarantee you’ll find demand.

Please don’t tell get confused by what the market needs. That’s something you decided, not them.

If you want to help people lose weight, you need to sell them something they demand, like belonging or convenience, not lecture them about what they need.

So, how can you apply this to managing employees?

You may as the employer feel you know what is good for the employees, you may find yourself saying as I heard someone say yesterday “This is not just a lecture, but you really need to hear this…”.

Now, if you think that this is helping your productivity or morale or end results, you are wrong. It is not.

Instead, imagine for a moment that Seth is right, that people don’t care what they need, they only care about what they demand.

So, what are you employees demanding? They may not be saying it out loud or to you, so this may take some effort on your part, so go find out.

If you do not give employees what they demand, they will either work for you forever in a half-butt style or quit.

Employees generally demand to be treated with respect and honesty. Now, now, you are probably thinking “I treat everyone with respect and honesty!” Which you probably do, however what about the managers and co-workers?

MOST COMPANIES have someone in them that is a bully or rampaging personality who is not respectful or honest. However, they are excellent manipulators of the bosses, and they are the last to find out what is going on!

But, employees demand much more, especially these days! With companies vying for “the best place to work”, and companies follow the Zappos way, the gems of employees will be firmly planted there, with more joining their ranks everyday. Those that are left will be those that were not ethically or morally firm enough to be hired by these cultural companies.

How will you compete?

C

So, does managing HAVE to be this much work? Is it the employees that are the problem?

Got publicity? Need to get the word out? Here are 10 ways from Dan Janal to get it out there!

Dan Janal gives us 10 tips on how to publicize our Press Release, article, or event. Give this to your marketing person or team. Let them know the priority level of each, so they know what you expect from them, then let them run with it.

REMEMBER my rule: Set up a check-in point to get a progress report. Determine successes and failures in the system and improve as possible, then implement again.

——-Dan’s list———–

Here are 10 ways to promote your publicity:

1.     Tweet a link to the article. I do this for my clients, when they tell me about their publicity via PR LEADS. I use a provocative title to get attention. Here’s an example: Need writing tips for a job application? @prleads client Diane L Samuels gets publicity on Monster.com http://ow.ly/2tGcI Notice how I use the keyword “publicity” so anyone looking for “publicity” on Twitter will see this. Use your own keywords as well so more people will find your links.

2.     Post the link on your Linked In profile.

3.     Post the link to relevant groups on Linked In.  Heavy emphasis on “relevant.” Don’t post it in places where people wouldn’t care. You’d be hurting yourself if you did that. Also, don’t say “I’m quoted here” and post the link. Tell people what they can learn by reading the article. Your focus should be on sharing information and not appearing self-promotional.

4.     Send the link and article to your prospects, clients and followers via email.

5.     Post the link and the article to your blog.

6.     Frame the article and hang it in your waiting room. Consider highlighting your quotes and name in yellow so it stands out from the rest of the article. The highlighting will focus a reader’s attention directly on your quote.

7.     Copy the article and print it in your sales or marketing kit. The media give you a form of credibility that is unmatched. Use it.

8.     Include the article in your book proposal. Book acquisition editors want to know that you can create publicity for the book. Show them here and you’re more likely to get a contract and more likely to get a larger advance.

9.     Create a list of headlines of articles in which you were quoted and post that to your website. Include live links to the articles. Reporters and prospects will be impressed that you have so many media hits.

10. Use the front page of your website to let the world know you have been quoted. To many clients get PR and hide it! Let the first impression people have of you be from the media.

That oughta keep your publicity team busy!

Want more info about Dan? Here’s his info:

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
http://www.PRLEADSPLUS.com

Let me know if these work for you.

My best,

C

You want the best employees? The real question is do “A” players want to work for YOU? Recruiting in the New Economy

Employees have changed? New generations coming into the workforce are simply… different. Why?

Generations feel differing values are important, hence they will be moved to make decision, choose where to live, what to buy and where to work… differently.

Management has to change to meet this demand or they will lose the “A” players in their teams.

Recruiters also will have to change the way they recruit. And that starts with the company and how it presents itself to prospects. There was a great presentation given by Vishan Lakhani where he talks about the entire initiative theri company has ongoing to recruit the BEST employees throughout the WORLD!

How do you compete?

Check out how Netflix does it! Click on the box at the bottom left. It’s a click through presentation.

Think about how recruits view your company and the opportunity your company presents. it can and always should be a priority to improve this area!

Love this, Dan Shapiro! Company Culture, the REAL deal!

So, All companies ACT like they have great work ethics and teamwork, blah, blah, but Dan Shapiro makes chump change of that. Instead he describes what REAL company culture is about! I have copied and pasted it here, for your enjoyment, but if you want to go straight to the source, his site is here.

In this envelope, I have your Company Culture.

We work hard, but value work/life balance.

We’re a team culture and we believe in individual empowerment.

We give back to the community, and have strong ethics.

We hire only the best people, support diversity, and promote growth and leadership in our employee ranks.

And more than anything we value our customers, our stockholders, and our employees.

That’s right – you’re GE! Or Wells Fargo.  Or Zillow…

Company Culture is a very serious matter, put together after much employee feedback and deliberation, and carefully designed to capture the key things that make your company great.  It’s also a load of well-mixed fertilizer.

The Rule of Company Culture: It’s what makes your company different, not what makes it great.

Hire the best, teamwork, ethics… all meaningless platitudes.  Real company cultures are made of four things:

1. Polarizing decisions
2. Excesses
3. Quirks
4. Dysfunctions

Polarizing decisions are what happens when a company decides not to compromise between two equally compelling but opposing imperatives.  Every company strikes a balance between work and play; that’s not company culture.  Company culture is investment banking’s mandatory 95 hour work weeks or Jackson Fish Market’s 12 weeks of vacation.  Every company has a balance of teamwork and individual contributorship – culture is ruthlessly pitting your people and teams against each other, or firing your best people because they’re not effective team members.  Other balances include great benefits versus lean operations, customers versus stockholders versus employees, and cheap products versus innovative quality products.  If you find yourself saying “we can do it all”, that’s great!  And you’re right, sort of.  Your attempts at balance are admirable and may be successful, but do not constitute a corporate culture.  That only comes from taking a stand on one end of the see-saw.

Excesses are aspects of culture that happen when companies take an indubitably good thing to its extreme.  For example, every company tries to hire great people.  But some will leave a position open for nine months, miss deadlines, and work its existing employees in to borderline revolt before hiring someone who’s even the tiniest compromise.  Every company should give back to the community, but there’s a line between a matching gifts program and Ben & Jerry’s that’s not easy to miss.  “Openness” is great – do the employees see the detailed company financials, and get notified when cash reserves are running low?  Corporate culture is what occurs in the margins when someone asks – “Well, I know that’s good, but isn’t it a bit much?”

Quirks are the safe, friendly, harmless, and most companies screw them up too.  A quirk is some point of weird distinction, neither wonderful nor terrible, that is distinct to the company and integral to the employee experience.  Casual Fridays are policy; Dress Like Raymond Day is a quirk. When the company picks up your nighttime MBA, that’s a great benefit – but when Teachstreet (a company that helps people find local and online classes) gets its employees together to learn how to build kites, now that’s a quirk.  It’s not to say that corporate mandates can’t make great quirks, although the best ones often arise spontaneously from the teams themselves.  But great quirks take their power from the team, their distinctiveness, and the culture itself.

There’s one more aspect of corporate culture that’s important if you’re measuring rather than designing: the Dysfunction.  A dysfunction is the mirror image of an excess – not enough of something that’s important.  Every company has problems, and most of the problems are present to some degree everywhere.  Those aren’t dysfunctions.  A dysfunction creeps in to the corporate culture when it’s distinctive and impactful – much like a positive culture trait.  Typical dysfunctions include management and employee antipathy, severe lack of ethics, and disregard for customers.  You know them when you see them. One thing that may not be obvious – sometimes a dysfunction is a direct causal result of the company culture.  Backstabbing and rumor-mongering may be the price you pay for rewarding individual initiative and achievement.  A general lack of spending discipline may be the unwanted side effect of generous benefits and an employee-first culture.

The great corporate cultures are a simple mix: a few polarizing decisions or excesses, with a handful of quirks mixed in.  Preferably quirks that reinforce the rest of the culture.

Ah, refreshing, ain’t it?

C