THE BUSINESS OF CHANGE, 1.09

Own your story across multiple media

The company that owns and controls its story – in all media – wins. Of course, there are now more media than we can count. To help people get a grasp of the modern story, the MIT Media Laboratory announced the Center for Future Storytelling.  The center intends to change how we tell our stories, from major motion pictures to peer-to-peer multimedia sharing through the application of technology that makes stories more interactive, improvisational, and social.  Another goal is to transform audiences into active participants and bridge the real and virtual worlds.

Recognition - an affordable strategy

A 2008 survey of 10,000 employees at the 1,000 largest U.S. companies indicated that "lack of recognition" was the key reason for leaving a job. With the economy stalling and people feeling both "lucky" and "trapped" by their jobs, one has to wonder how these same employees will perform.

Certainly, managers could approach their employees with the "Hey, we're all lucky to have jobs so shut up" approach. But that survey suggests if you really want your company to survive the tough times and be prepared to thrive, recognition can be fairly inexpensive way to make sure your workforce is engaged.

Sometimes all it takes is public recognition. Sometimes an accomplishment may deserve something more. During tough times, failing to celebrate could be an expensive mistake.

THE BUSINESS OF CHANGE, 11.08

Some things to prepare for with a new administration

A review of the pundits and prognosticators suggest that these three developments are likely to occur during the first year of an Obama-Democratic Congress administration. Have you begun scenario planning to determine how your company will respond to:

• A gradual doubling of the minimum wage?
• Health insurance changes, whatever plan is adopted?
• Windfall profit taxes on oil companies and incentives for “green” energy alternatives

Getting the best use of down time

As the auto industry’s downturn intensifies, the formerly Big Three companies are laying off workers.
    While Toyota is similarly hit by hard sales, the company is instead keeping workers at the plants. The employees spend their days in training sessions designed to sharpen their job skills and find better ways to assemble vehicles.
    “It would have been crazy for us to lose people for 90 days and then to rehire and retrain people and hope that we have a smooth ramp-up coming back in,” said Jim Lentz, president of Toyota’s U.S. unit.
    From the employee’s perspective: “Once you get out on the line, I don’t want to say we veer off, but we veer off. This has really brought everyone back to square one. One of the major things that everyone is grateful for is that they thought enough of us to keep us here.”

Do you know your company’s real culture?

Heard during Congressional testimony on the recent financial sector crisis:
    Two analysts at Standard & Poor’s speaking frankly through email about a deal they were being asked to examine:
    “Btw – that deal is ridiculous,” one wrote. “We should not be rating it.”
    “We rate every deal,” came the response. “It could be structured by cows and we would rate it.”
    Deven Sharma, S&P’s president, told a Congressional committee that the emails did not “reflect the core culture of the organization.”
    While it wasn't the culture Sharma promoted from the top down, subsequent testimony demonstrated that Sharma was not in tune with bottom up culture of his organization.
    Which culture had the biggest impact?

THE BUSINESS OF CHANGE, 10.08

Loyalty, part 1

Marshall Goldsmith writes that in this economy everyone is an entrepreneur. Everyone is a free agent. There is very little loyalty on the part of employees, especially younger employees. Some of the more obvious results of this trend:
•    More employees want to work from home (Hold me accountable for my results, not my hours)
•    More demands upfront. New hires are asking for the world because they think it is their one and only chance to influence their short time with an employer.
•    What seems to matter most in workplace surveys is whether a company is holding everyone accountable. The perception that someone is being held to a different standard is a quickly spreading virus.

Loyalty, part 2

Professional Golf is a sport for driven individuals. Which may be why the Americans have had such a hard time recently in the team-play Ryder Cup. Team USA had lost five of the last six matches against Europe going into last month's tournament.

“Working together for the common good is not normally a function for us out on the PGA Tour,” Team USA assistant captain Olin Browne told the Wall Street Journal.

USA Captain Paul Azinger took a new approach to create the surprising September victory, which saw a group of mostly rookies defeat a veteran European team. Azinger “deployed a novel, multifaceted team-building strategy,” the Journal said.

He divided his 12-man squad into three subgroups, with participants chosen based on their ability to support each others’ strengths. Azinger wanted “to create an environment where each player could succeed by being themselves. He had to understand the behavioral style of each player and know how to message him in the best way.” In other words, he grouped people by the values that motivated them. The teams developed a loyalty to each other because they shared values.