When I questioned further about achievements in the past year, the difference the individual made within the firm or the influence that asserted to help others achieve, I received some fairly unsatisfactory answers. It seems to me that their bonus was, in some cases, overly generous.

I ask myself, when will they understand that it is not enough to simply know stuff? It doesn’t matter how long you have been doing the job or that you have an MBA or even that you know lots of influential people. You get paid for what you do or induce others to do. Learn to move the needle for your firm and you will be handsomely rewarded.

After thinking about the Zuni saying, I realised that when you walk with your head down, staring at your feet, you look insecure. So why do I see so many people that walk staring at their feet? For a leader, this often equates into having a lack of vision for the future. If you are going to inspire those around you to reach forward, strive to meet goals and pursue the vision you need to make sure you have your eyes firmly fixed on the vision and that you lead by example in both words and deeds.

I know that leadership is about guiding and coaching your team to have the confidence to achieve and that this is all about looking forward but another American Indian saying comes to mind, this time from the Crow people: “We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.” So, in striving to attain the vision, make sure that you carry the team with you, head up and confident rather than leaving a trail of destruction behind you!

A few days ago I came across an old Chinese Proverb, one that, to the best of my recollection, my grandmother had never quoted. The proverb was:

“If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want ten years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want one hundred years of prosperity, grow people.”  

Of course, this is exactly what my grandmother was doing, growing people; growing her grandchildren.

I like to think that we have all, my brothers, sister and me, learnt from these lessons. We are, after all, healthy, well-balanced and settled in our family lives. The most important test, however, is to check that we are passing this on to those around us so that the seeds we plant in their minds help them to grow and flourish.

I see my children and their families flourishing  and I am privileged to lead a team of highly talented people at Axispoint. I see them every day helping and guiding each other. I see my values reflected in the team and the culture we have built. I am proud and I know that my grandmother would be proud because they were her values too.

He goes on to list a number of very significant questions that test a firm’s commitment to its values. I recommend you read the article in full. It can be found here.

However, I’d like to play devil’s advocate for a few minutes and maybe turn the whole idea on its head!

I believe that the natural order of things in a firm is for the owner/founder/CEO/Leader to hire in his own image. By that, I mean, you tend to surround yourself with people that have very similar beliefs and values. I agree that as a firm grows this may become more difficult and more fractionalised but in essence the principle is true.

With this in mind, is it likely that core beliefs and values are at risk? You might say that if the guy at the top is not consistent then the firm’s culture will not be consistent. In this case, I would argue that such inconsistency will lead the firm to failure so the leader is not a true leader.

In my firm, we have identified four key behavioural areas; Driving for Results, Working Together, Making Great Decisions and Doing it Right. When we interview potential new employees, we spend as much time as needed to understand the candidate’s attitudes and values in each behavioural area. We have developed a series of primary and secondary questions designed to solicit opinion and anecdote in each area. The primary reason for this approach is to ensure we continue to hire people that fit the culture.

My hypothesis is that by building structures that ensure you continue to hire to fit the culture and by simple consistency of message the firm’s culture will always be self-healing.

Our vision, our clear picture of the future, is still in its formative stages. After reading Full Steam Ahead by Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner, I threw out the old vision statement and have started the process of jointly developing a vision so that we can be “Full Steam Ahead”… but you need to read the book to fully understand that concept!

Wharton School’s Professor Sigal Barsade states that one of the most common threats to a company’s culture and morale is “emotional contagion.” He defines emotional contagion as co-workers catching other people’s emotions through subconscious mimicry to the point where they are convinced that the emotions are their own. If one colleague becomes worried about the organisation’s health or if he or she voices general fear, anger and anxiety about work, the mood can quickly spread.   Since mood can be a powerful influence on performance, leaders need to be particularly vigilant and take steps to ensure this negative emotional contagion is contained.

It is important that leaders address the problem head-on. Usually employees often do not realise how negatively they are being perceived, or how this affects the people around them.

Barsdale indicates that the best insurance against emotional contagion is to create an environment in which positive emotions are encouraged. A strong emotional culture will make it clear that destructive, negative emotions are unacceptable and provide employees the power to self-regulate.

Do you have experience of culture and morale being destroyed or severely impacted because of emotional contagion? What other, non-obvious, factors have detrimentally affected your organisation’s culture and morale? How did you address these issues?

So, when I read Lisa Petrilli’s excellent Visionary Leadership blog this week entitled “A CEO’s Unintended Consequence of Joining LinkedIn,” I couldn’t help but smile. The blog post speaks to the effect on a CEO’s staff of his apparently sudden interest in LinkedIn. The real purpose of joining was to allow the CEO to network privately with a few of his peers. The employees all thought he was looking for another job and were therefore fearful for the health of the company and their own jobs.

We have all made similar mistakes. It is often the small actions that have unforeseen consequences. Earlier I spoke of the care we take to envision the desired outcome in a number of situations. Interestingly, my examples were of large decision points. I honestly cannot think of a small action where I have applied such rigor.

Thanks Lisa for causing me to stop and think!

I have watched the video a few times and postulated on how we might use it within Axispoint. However, as I think more deeply about the message, I am drawn to the possibilities of using process to drive excellence in leadership. I read many books and blog articles on leadership; I focus this blog on my passion for excellent leadership and I generally bore the pants of anyone that wants to listen to my thoughts on how the value in my business is derived from its people and how leadership is key to maintaining the strength of the team. So why am I not using my process centric approach to solving my clients problems to achieve continuous improvement in my leadership style?

A good example might be derived from a hugely relevant book I read last week entitled Full Steam Ahead by Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner. If you are interested I reviewed the book here. The book essentially describes a process of developing a meaningful vision for a firm. The key here is the word “process.” It doesn’t take much effort to map the process so carefully and thoughtfully described in the book into a repeatable scalable process. Once the process is mapped we have a clear, consistent, reusable leadership tool. I can’t believe that I haven’t seen this linkage before!

You might ask why a meaningful vision is so important for the firm. I would normally answer that in my experience if your team are aligned with the vision and values then they will all be driving towards the same goal. Dr. Peter Drucker once said “The purpose of a business is to create a customer” and Henry Ford also said “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.” So if your team are aligned to your vision and your vision is aligned to serving your customer’s needs you are assured of success. However, having read Full Steam Ahead, I now answer… ”Go buy a copy of the book and read it… you will not regret the investment!”

I have learnt that consistency and reliability is a key trait. I have learnt that it is important to focus and opine on a small range of subjects rather than tweeting and blogging for the sake of it. I choose to focus on a subject that is close to my heart, Leadership.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that documenting the minutiae of your life is important to some people but not to me. Frankly I’d rather those people directed that stuff to Facebook so that I don’t keep getting their FourSquare “I’m at” tweets and their “I’m having a cheese sandwich for lunch” tweets.  Unfortunately, in amongst all that dross is often some real nuggets of useful and meaningful information… otherwise I would quickly un-follow said individuals.

Yesterday, I had a LinkedIn request from one of my “light-touch” contacts asking me to make a quick connection. I looked at the request and thought, “he wants me to bridge a connection to a fairly powerful guy in my network so that he can get an answer to a question by tomorrow… that’s not going to happen.” After all, why would I jeopardise a good relationship for someone that I don’t know particularly well just because he couldn’t plan a little better and give me more time?

Almost immediately after I received the LinkedIn request, I saw a LinkedIn posting from Alina Tugend at SecondAct entitled “Forget Networking. How to be a Connector” that discusses the importance of making connections. A few minutes reflection after reading the posting and I realised that I had forgotten one of the basic rules of leadership engagement…

The request came from a friend in need. OK, the friend in need isn’t a close friend, I don’t see him very often, but nevertheless, he is a friend and he needs help. I put myself in his shoes. He wouldn’t have asked unless it was important to him. Making the connection wasn’t difficult; I just had to position it carefully.

So, I picked up the phone, had a brief chat and hopefully, connection made and problem solved.

I guess I have now learnt a new lesson… Bridging connections can be very powerful. It is certainly very satisfying and supports the basic rule of networking… Give without expectation and you will truly receive in abundance.

The model opines that employees have four drivers that affect their motivation:

1. The drive to Acquire
2. The drive to Bond
3. The drive to Comprehend
4. The drive to Defend

Over the years the Lantern Group have developed the theory further and, since employee retention is at the forefront of my mind, I feel that it is time to revisit the theory and look for practical strategies for deployment.

The Lantern Group developed the theory by expanding the descriptors for each drive:

1. The drive to Acquire & Achieve – Typically, this drive is focussed through a firm’s pay, bonus, incentives and recognition systems. Good systems provide feedback and differentiation so that employees understand the linkage between performance against goals and reward.
2. The drive to Bond & Belong – Firms that create a culture that encourages friendships; provide opportunities for teamwork (sporting, social or community based) and implement team building programmes directly contribute to the drive to bond and belong.
3. The drive to Challenge & Comprehend – Everyone wants to be challenged and learn. Firms that ensure variety; provide opportunities for continuing education, training, self-research and personal development understand the need to challenge and comprehend. Firms that seek employee input into strategic and operational decisions have reached a level of maturity with the drive to challenge and comprehend.
4. The drive to Define & Defend – The drive to define is the need to create and believe in something. The drive to defend is our response to protect what we have created. Firms that ensure employees have a positive image of the organisation, developed through creating a culture that is focused on meeting the needs of the individuals, will strengthen the drive to define and defend.

How do we move from theoretical to practical? What strategies can we adopt to address each of these drivers?

Acquire & Achieve

One would think that providing the best salary and benefits package in the market is the best way to address this driver. However, I think this misses the point. The key is to ensure a linkage between excellent performance and excellent reward and to ensure everyone knows that poor work is unacceptable. In order to address this driver I need to:

1. Add a variable component to our employee salary package to provide the ability to match reward to performance
2. Ensure our salary structures are seen as above competitive benchmarks.
3. Build a light-weight appraisal process to enable more regular opportunity for feedback. This needs to be both time driven (e.g. at least once per qtr.) and event driven (e.g. at the end of every project). It’s light-weight so it’s not onerous.
4. Put in place a system so that outstanding performance is noticed and recognised by all.
5. Wherever possible, ensure we promote from within.

Bond & Belong

Bonding and belonging is a cultural issue. In our firm, we embrace teamwork and encourage the development of friendships. Employees are always willing to help each other and value the contribution. Our culture is built around four key behaviours:

1. Driving for results
2. Working together
3. Making great decisions and
4. Doing it right

All four behaviours drive towards the synergies that are created through working as a team. I feel that as a firm we have a strong drive to bond and belong. We could, however, develop the drive further by:

1. Creating a team to define and implement a Corporate Social Responsibility programme.
2. Implement quarterly off-site team building programmes.

Challenge & Comprehend

The key to this driver is providing variety in day to day work while also providing opportunity to learn new skills and cultivate new experiences. Since the firm makes its money by selling employee’s time and expertise it is easy to ignore this particular driver in favour of increasing our utilisation (the time allocated to a client project) and realisation (the amount of billable time on a project) ratios. However, last week, I chatted to a friend. My friend now works for Google and, from the conversation, is immensely happy with them as an employer. I was told that all Google employees are allowed to spend 20% of their time working on their own projects. Fascinated, I asked “How many hours a week do you work on Google related projects vs. your own?” After a few seconds though, my friend smiled and said “I work at least 60 hours a week on Google projects!” Seems to me that Google have their cake and are eating it!

My strategies for addressing the drive to challenge and comprehend are:

1. Build a scheme where employees with good ideas can bid for time and funds to work on them.
2. Allow time and funds to be allocated for structured, relevant learning to be implemented as appropriate.
3. As part of our regular staffing and project planning process ensure we are providing variety to each employee.

Define and Defend

Recently, I read a great book by Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner called Full Steam Ahead. See Big Rocks for my review. The book drives to building a Vision for your firm by having clarity around your purpose; a clear picture of the future and aligning the team’s values. In order to address the drive to define and defend, I am resolved to jointly building a strong and enduring vision with the entire firm.

Call to Action

What are your experiences with motivating, retaining and growing highly skilled, specialised teams? What has worked for you? Looking at my strategies outlined above, what causes you concern? I am looking to draw on your experiences so that I get it right first time! I am looking to adapt and adopt best in class practice. Your thoughts, ideas and comments are most welcome.

Thank you.

While reading the article, I was struck by the changes that have happened in recent years to move project planning from the early waterfall approach to the current Agile approach. The agile framework for software development promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development and delivery, a time-boxed iterative approach, and encourages rapid and flexible response to change. In his article, Art suggests that “the best outcome of the front end of any strategy process is one or more ideas…hypotheses, that can quickly be turned into and managed as experiments.” Art goes on to describe the implementation, or as he prefers to label it, experimentation phase as “Doing, Measuring, Learning and Refining (DMLR).” It is difficult not to draw a parallel with agile development sprints.

Taking my thought process one step further, I am reminded of the way we approach our client engagements where we start by understanding a client’s business and their key processes. Once our research is complete we then use LEAN to drive out waste and build a cycle of process improvement. Finally we use Business Process Managment tools to orchestrate the processes so that they are repeatable and scalable before cycling back to begin the next iteration.

The five principles of LEAN are:

1. Specify value from the standpoint of the end customer by product family.
2. Identify all the steps in the value stream for each product family, eliminating whenever possible those steps that do not create value.
3. Make the value-creating steps occur in tight sequence so the product will flow smoothly toward the customer.
4. As flow is introduced, let customers pull value from the next upstream activity.
5. As value is specified, value streams are identified, wasted steps are removed, and flow and pull are introduced, begin the process again and continue it until a state of perfection is reached in which perfect value is created with no waste.

I suspect we could apply these principles to Art’s approach to strategic planning so that we can:

1. Deliver a working plan
2. Maximise value to our stakeholders
3. Deliver a strategy that meets the firm’s goals.
4. Enable the team to succeed.
5. Manage the inevitable change and complexity as the firm grows and the market changes.