It's The People!

“People join and support a culture not a system. Long term success will only be achieved and sustained when employees believe that embracing a culture is in their best interests and the interests of their customer. Changing systems without changing culture will not sustain long term success.”
Mark F. Herbert March 2008


Everybody that knows me knows that I essentially see myself as being in the people business.
The art and science of identifying the right people whose values are aligned with your organizational culture and values; and ensuring that over time they don’t lose that alignment.

Over the last 30 years I have learned a very important fact. Hiring the "right" people is a way better strategy than trying to teach them to be "right".

Over the last several months I have written volumes about engagement, the “phenomena” of perfecting that alignment in your organization and nurturing it beginning with your employees and then building on that base with your customers, suppliers, and community.
Years ago I quoted an article that indicated 40% of new managers fail within their first 18 months because of their inability to build and sustain relationships. I don’t think we have improved our track record much. We still use leadership and management as interchangeable concepts and skill sets; they aren’t and never will be.

I read a comment recently on LinkedIn, a very popular business/social networking site, that he felt the U.S economy would never regain its international leadership position again because of the “limited” productivity of American workers. He mentioned that companies were off shoring to take advantage of lower wages, better technically educated workers, and less restrictive environments. I think he is very wrong. The American worker hasn’t failed, our leadership model has failed! We have become increasingly reluctant to examine and deal with root cause issues.

I have previously written a lot about culture change and creating a culture of commitment and engagement and the critical elements for making that happen. I would like to think some of you are familiar with a few of them:
· Hire the right people
· Incorporate the elements of commitment rather than compliance.
· Be flexible about process and ruthless about principle.
· Build on a foundation of trust.
· Remember it is all about relationships.

Your employees are adults. One of my cornerstones of building commitment based relationships is respect. Respect is based on honesty. Treating employees like children is neither respectful nor honest. By being honest and forthright you also build the foundation for collaboration. Remember my set of questions? It is interesting if you ask them and give them an opportunity to participate how employees can provide excellent ideas as to how to cut costs, increase productivity, and even come up with alternatives to reducing staff or minimizing the reduction. You have to have a relationship. You have to ask and listen.

Ask for Help
I believe great leadership is about building teams, trusting my staff, and recognizing that it is about collaboration not genius. I have never seen micro management as a successful management model. I have never met anybody that had all the answers.
It is always interesting to me when leaders are unwilling to engage their employees in problem solving and decision making. It causes me to ask some questions:
· Do we hire stupid people?
· Do we “train” them to be stupid once they get here?
· If they were or became stupid (I can’t trust them or rely on their judgment) why do keep them?
· Do I really believe I or my executive team is smarter than everybody else collectively?
· If I don’t give them an opportunity to participate in the decisions how can they contribute or learn?

I can't guarentee you that if you follow the advice I have provided here it will make you successful, but I truly believe hat a group of people aligned in purpose with the right talents and abilities is one of the most important forces in the universe. At the end of the day it comes down to people, the right people!