Goals of KPIs? Why Your Culture Needs Both

I think this may be my most anticipated book of the year so far. Culture Works: How to

Create Happiness in the Workplace, by Kris Boesch, is for every CEO and HR Director out there. You CANNOT have ultimate success without a great culture. I know. I've worked at places that don't have it. I'm sure you have also. Kris gives you concepts, tools, and real examples to put into motion, a culture that help your employees and business grow. All of the usual barriers, and more, are discussed and planned out. Even one of the most missed opportunities - continued learning - is addressed. So if you want to take it a step further, there's a workbook and book club available also. This book launches today, and is available on her website, but will be available on Amazon on May 15th. I suggest you pre-order. To wet your whistle a bit, Kris Boesch is my guest blogger today. Enjoy.

Goals or KPIs? Why Your Culture Needs Both.

I’ve seen many organizations make the cultural mistake of either collapsing goals and key performance indicators (KPIs), or focusing on just one.

You need both.  If you just have goals, you’re missing daily motivating momentum and focus.  If you have only key performance indicators, you’re missing inspiring strategic progress. Goals are aspirational, strategically taking on inspiring opportunities or problem solving breakout challenges.  KPIs measure the health and success of each position through weekly, and in same cases daily, metrics.

• For example, in a bakery goals could include:
• Purchase a new oven by March 31st
• Add cinnamon raisin bread to our line by October 1st
• Open a new location by July 4, 2018

While KPIs could include:

•          Ratio of number of loaves baked to number sold
•           Scrap ratio – number of loaves burned or rejected
•           Batch cycle time

Hopefully you’re well on your way to making progress on your second quarter 2017 goals – having funneled clarity from big picture organizational goals to team goals to individual goals. If you’re not well on your way, don’t despair, make a goal to get it done!

This culture tip focuses on developing KPIs for each position in your organization.  KPIs are one of the many tools that support an extraordinary workplace culture.  Think about it–as an employee it’s incredibly empowering to know both where to focus my efforts and where I stand in relationship to expectations.  Similar to goals, KPIs should funnel from the organization to the team to each position.

How to Create Meaningful KPIs:

•          Should answer – how do we know this position (vs person) is accomplishing the mission critical work and is being successful?
•          Set weekly measurable expectations for each performance indicator. What reasonable number or range would indicate success and healthy on pace progress?  Sometimes the KPI is measured by a simple yes or no.
•          Employees have to have (almost) complete control over the number being measured – in some cases you may need to focus on LEAD indicators (actions, efforts, number of calls) rather than LAG indicators (results).
•          The KPI has to be KEY. There should be no more than three KPIs for each position.  When you find yourself wanting to create four, ask which of these is truly the END measurement?

Have employees self-report their numbers each week in a shared spreadsheet. This simple dashboard should quickly reflect the health of the organization.  You may even want to color code measurements red/yellow/green.  High-five greens.  Seek to understand and address the challenges behind yellow or red.  It’s not enough to measure, you have to witness and care about what you measure and then align next steps.

This is an ongoing process. If you find your dashboard is primarily green, but the organization is struggling, reevaluate what you’re measuring.  Uncover more pertinent key indicators and replace the prior ones.

***

Kris Boesch is the CEO and founder of Choose People, a company that transforms company cultures, increases employee happiness and boosts the bottom line. Her new book, Culture Works, and accompanying workbook are available now on her website and will be available on Amazon around May 15.

Why Have Good Character?

Few parents REALLY know how to prepare their children for work life.  Even fewer take the

time. Joanie B. Connell’s new book, Flying Without a Helicopter, will give them a needed boost towards their child’s journey of self-awareness to prepare them for success, not requiring them to take years to figure it out.

This book is broken down into Problems, Solutions, and Exercises, making it easy to follow and to understand.  Whether you’re a parent, a young adult, or even a manager or business owner, you’re going to read this book and end up with some much needed insight into the TRUE meaning of work and life skills.

My guest blogger today just happens to be Joanie Connell. Think about your own character. Is it appropriate for teaching your children?

Why Have Good Character?

By Joanie Connell

One evening several years back, my husband, daughter and I were sitting around the kitchen table after dinner. My husband got up and went into the pantry and shut the door behind him. I heard a bunch of rustling noises, like plastic bags being handled. I couldn’t for the life of me think of why my husband would go into the pantry and shut the door, and what he could possibly be doing in there. Then all of a sudden I remembered that I had hidden all of the Halloween candy in there! He was eating it! What do you think I did? I covered for him in front of my daughter then I took a turn!

Yes, I still do feel guilty about it, 8 years later. It just doesn’t seem right to tell my daughter that she can’t eat candy but I can. But how many of us do this? How many parents hold their children to different standards than they hold themselves? It occurs in various forms.

• The children should get all A’s, even though the parents didn’t.
• The children should cross at the crosswalk, even though the parents don’t.
• The children should never lie, even though the parents do.
• The children should not drink alcohol before the legal age, even though the parents did.
• The children should perform community service, but the parents don’t.

Children learn character from their parents. They catch us in a lie. They ask why it is okay to tell Grandma that her cake was delicious even though we threw it away. They hear us yelling at other drivers from the car. They see whether we return the shopping cart, whether we come to a full stop at the intersection, whether we download music from iTunes or someone else’s computer.

But we shouldn’t just have good character for our kids. We should have it for ourselves first and foremost. And if we don’t have good character for ourselves or our kids, we should have it because society needs people of character for it to succeed. If we all let ourselves go, looking out for no one but ourselves, cheating the rules, and ignoring requests, we will all lose. Humans are social beings; we need each other to survive. Why not treat each other well in the process?

Joanie B. Connell, Ph.D., is a talent management expert and career coach for people across job levels, ages, and industries. She works with companies to attract, develop, and retain top talent and she works with individuals to improve their success and happiness in their careers. Learn more about Joanie and her new book, Flying without a Helicopter online at flyingwithout.com. 

Value Stream Mapping

In a nutshell, value stream mapping is a lean-management method for analyzing the current state and designing a future state for the series of events that take a product or service from its beginning through to the customer.  Now I'm not typically too big on theories, statistics, mapping, etc.  But when I read Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for Organizational Transformation, I had to rethink a bit as I started to compare it to storyboarding - which I DO like.

Karen Martin and Mike Osterling have taken the confusion out of value stream mapping (VSM) and show how to utilize it in an easy and effective way.  They show us that VSM can not only be used with manufacturing, but also in logistics, supply chain, service oriented industries, healthcare, software development, product development, and even administrative and office processes.  Have you ever thought of using VSM as an effective means to orient new hires?  It can also "provide a clear line of sight to the external customer from every function and work area involved in the value stream".  How can that possibly not be good?

Hey, here's a novel idea from Karen and Mike - go the Gemba.  I love that term/idea.  Gemba, as they describe it, is a Japanese word for "the real place, where the work is actually done".  A critical step in VSM is physically walking the value stream.  I believe that's where most organizations fail right off the bat.  You must be willing to walk the talk.

You don't need to be a big statistics geek to understand what Karen and Mike are talking about here.  The book is well written and easily understood which will help you to quickly understand the basics of VSM all the way through the execution steps.  The historical problem with VSM is that people just don't understand it.  Well after reading this book, that will no longer be a valid excuse.

Recognition Linked to Performance

Bob Nelson, author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, completed a study a few years back on how employee recognition impacts performance and in turn assists managers in creating a productive team.

In his study, he found of managers that:
90% said recognizing employees helps them to motivate them.
84% said recognizing employees provides them with practical feedback.
80% said recognizing employees for good work makes it easier to get the work done.
78% said recognizing employees helps them to be more productive.

73% of managers said that they received the results they expected when they used employee recognition.
99% said that if they didn't get immediate results, they would eventually obtain the desired results.

Take another look at those statements.  Who's point-of-view are we looking at?  Not the employees - the managers'.  Yes, the employees desire and need recognition for their own good, but look at the production side and see that it's just plain good for you and your organization.

Find Your Platform

Last week I reviewed a new book by my friend Michael Hyatt, one of the top bloggers in the world and Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers. I don't usually publish multiple posts about products, but this is a book that I believe has great potential to really change some lives.

Michael has just released - today - an amazing new book for anyone with something to say or sell. It’s called Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

John C. Maxwell said about Michael - "I have watched Michael Hyatt build his own platform from the ground up to become one of the largest in the world. And he has done so with the strategies and tips he outlines in this very practical book. Any author, speaker, or business owner who wants a blueprint for getting the attention and visibility they want, needs to read this book."

To be successful in the market today, you must possess two strategic assets:

• a compelling product and
• a meaningful platform.

It's never been easier, less expensive, or more possible than right now to build your platform and Michael Hyatt will show you how.

Platform offers a step-by-step guide with proven strategies, practical tips and easy-to-replicate formulas. Whether you're an author, pastor, public speaker, entrepreneur, musician, or small business owner… developing your platform is critical for your success.

CHECK OUT THIS BONUS OFFER: To celebrate the launch of the book - this week ONLY, Michael is giving away $375.98 worth of FREE bonus content for those who purchase the book between May 21 and May 25. Complete details are available at http://michaelhyatt.com/platform.

Bonuses include:

• Platform Video Jumpstart Program (six sessions),
• How to Write a Winning Book Proposal (two e-books and two audio sessions),
• Why NOW is the Best Time Ever to Be an Author (hour-long video),
• Digital Versions of Platform (audio and eBook),
• and more!

Seriously - get this book today - take advantage of Michael’s bonus content and start building or expanding YOUR platform - now!

What Does It Take?

What does it take to recognize employee's? Not much.

Michael LeBoeuf, author of The Greatest Management Principle in the World said, "Everybody works smarter when there's something in it for them." For you managers that have been around for "awhile" that may be a lot of hoo-hah. For you leaders that work in "the now" it makes a lot of sense.

Reward programs are extremely important today, and contrary to common thought, it does NOT have to be expensive. What's expensive is not having a reward program.

Here are a few examples:

pay for a trade magazine subscription
off-site training seminar
lunch with the CEO
day off with pay
certificate
traveling trophy
pay for a professional membership
"thank you" and a handshake (wow, what a concept)
tickets to a game
restaurant gift card
make your own taco party
visit to headquarters
free car washes
spa day
bowling party
off work 1 hour early
Entertainment book
lottery tickets (hope there's not a $20million in it)

All of these things are either inexpensive or basically free to you. Add a little fun to your recognition program and watch employee's get more involved and stick around longer.

Dare to Expect

What we usually get from people is what we expect to get. If we expect greatness, we'll get greatness. If we expect mediocrity, we'll get mediocrity.

Good leaders expect the BEST from themselves and their staff. Your expectations play a huge role in your own success and they also have a profound effect on the people around you.

ATTITUDE - What you expect from your staff determines your attitude toward them. And those around you reflect your attitudes right back to you - whether those expectations and attitudes are positive or negative. Attitude out=attitude back.

How many have ever worked for, or known, someone who thinks all staff are there just for a job. They have no motivation and will take advantage of any situation that comes along? Wow - that does sound familiar. If that's what the leader believes - that's what the leader will expect - that's how their staff WILL act.

In ALL relationships with others, develop a positive outlook. One that recognizes that they have the very best of intentions - with no ulterior motives.

Hey! Here's another good reason to be positive and expect the best. According to The Longevity Quotient, by Edward L. Schneider, M.D., "researchers interviewed 800 Minnesota residents to assess and rate their optimism levels, then tracked them for 35 years to see how long they lived." And the results? "Regardless of age or sex, the optimists lived longer. The pessimists died prematurely. In fact, for every 10 percent increase in the pessimism index, there were 20 percent more early deaths." That sounds like a pretty decent reason to think positively.

Communicate your expectations! Let your team know you have faith in them, while they might not yet have enough faith on their own. Knowing your expectations of working toward their best and being a positive influence will carry everyone to higher successes.

Suck Em In

I looooove Chinese buffet's. I could eat there about every day. General Tsao's Chicken? . . . The bomb. Anyway. Earlier this year we had found a buffet pretty close by. What a find, right? Wrong. It was close but the price was $10.99 for a buffet that was the size worth MAYBE 2/3 of that price. And not all that tasty. Of course we never returned.

So, last week we happened to be doing some Christmas shopping at the strip mall where this buffet is and I noticed a sign on the door that said $6.99 all day on Tuesday's during December. BINGO. So guess where we ate last night? A Mexican restaurant . . . just kidding. We went to the Chinese buffet.

Well holy cow. They had, at least, doubled the size of the buffet and added a made-to-order sushi counter. It was fantastic . . . and now worth the $10.99.

But on the way out we spotted another price sign that says beginning January 1st, the everyday price would increase to $11.99! Ahhhhh, the hook.

This restaurant implemented a few great marketing strategies. They:
- lowered their price for December to bring in more customers that have less expendable cash due to buying Christmas presents,
- lowered their price to bring in more customers to learn about their great strides in improvements, and
- informed their customers of the price increase following their great meal - in which they devoured more food than they normally would in two days - making $11.99 seem more justifiable.

This seemed to me like a well thought out marketing plan. Many times these types of establishments (buffet's, etc) just throw things at you - $6.99 one day, $11.99 the next - with no warning or justification. My hats off to New China.

I Won, I Won

A lot of supervisors think that what motivates them also motivates everyone else. That's simply not true. Everyone is different. You didn't hire clones. If you're going to hold a public presentation of an award for one of your staff, you may just be DE-motivating them. If they don't like public attention, they may just fall back and punt, not wanting it to happen again.

As far as awards and motivation goes, take a queue from The Walt Disney Company. They do something that more organizations should think about doing (one of many). When a new castmember (employee) is hired they're given a survey which asks them how they like, and don't like, to be rewarded and what motivates them. By doing this, their supervisor can tailor, to that particular castmember, the way they're rewarded. You need to know this information because some people just don't like to get up in front of a crowd to receive awards - but then again, some people thrive on it. Again - too much public recognition can be DEEEEE-motivating.

It's commonly believed that money is the biggest motivator for employee's. Nope. A number of research papers over the last few years have proven this wrong. Sure people like money, but they also like recognition, education, career development, and influence.

Two of the most important types of recognition programs you can have are peer and customer. It's very easy and cheap to start a peer recognition program where co-workers can nominate others for going above and beyond. A certificate and maybe a gift card is all you'd need. It goes a long way.

Customer recognition is another biggie. If you have ANY means of receiving customer feedback in which employee's or teams are named, SHARE IT with them. They can then see that what they do really matters to someone other than the boss.

Whatever you end up doing, make sure that your motivation techniques and rewards always revolve around organizational goals. Employee's often attribute their success to how they're able to contribute to the organization.

Linked To LinkedIn

In case you haven’t gotten out much lately, LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, has been taking on greater importance on how people conduct business, learn, and network.

Information you include, or exclude, in your profile could affect your overall identity on the Internet as well as future job opportunities. The downfall of a poorly constructed LinkedIn profile, or utilizing bad etiquette, can alienate your connections or even turn away potential employers or customers interested in hiring you. You can’t afford that these days, so listen up.

A couple of important pieces of information to look closely at are your LinkedIn Summary and Biography.

Many magazine and website articles don't get read without a good headline. This is where a good Summary comes in. You need to be very concise and engaging in your Summary. If the Summary doesn't draw people in, all the great accomplishments you've had over the years may be looked right over. Then you’re just wasting your time.

The Summary is where you want to express your personal brand. Show us who you are, what you do, and why you’re unique.

A problem a lot of people have is not being quite so honest on their resume - tsk, tsk, tsk. I mean, who do you know that’s going to see it, right? LinkedIn encourages honesty in your resume since your profile may be viewed by any of your colleagues and customers – and bosses. So keep your experiences on the up and up.

While you want to include your past accomplishments, emphasize your strengths and highlights while providing background on your job responsibilities. You’ll need to shorten it up in order to be suitable for a few different areas of your industry. This isn’t the place for full on resume. Keep that for the recruiters.

In addition to a good Summary and Bio, here a couple of other quick tips to help you stand out.
- Most LinkedIn profiles URLs (web address, for you non-techs) will have a slash and then your name (/andyuskavitch). Some names (other than mine) can be common. You can change your URL to whatever you want – just make sure it’s professional and recognizable – no /studmuffin.
- Remember that you don't matter on the Web if Google can’t see you. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is public and includes keywords that people might search for.

Don’t just set up a profile and let it go. Use LinkedIn. Search to see who else you know. Post something AT LEAST a few times a week and get involved with some groups. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn and who you can meet.

Pimp My Energy

Cash? Raise? Bonus? They may help a bit, but none of them will make an energizing impact on employees these days like they have in the past. The ole standby of threats and intimidation may have worked in days gone by, but now only serve to decrease morale and build up resentment. Employees today want their supervisors to hold their best interests at heart and to SHOW IT each day. They want more meaning and responsibility in their work.

According to Bob Nelson, author of 1001 Ways to Energize Employees, “trust, respect, and consideration from managers are the foundation of an energized organization.” Executives at the Cigna Group, “personally push coffee around the office, serving drinks and refreshments to their front-line partners.” This serves two purposes. First, the employees feel appreciated by the gesture made by top management. And second, they have the opportunity to raise concerns and resolve issues all at the same time – on the front line.

One of the best ways to involve employees in an organization, and to energize them in the process, is by asking for employee ideas. The City of Phoenix openly receives employee suggestions and then notifies each one “in writing about the final disposition of their suggestions within 60 days of the date the suggestion was received.” When someone’s suggestion is rejected, they’re also sent a letter giving a full explanation of why the idea wasn't accepted. How many organizations do you know of that do that? Actually, how many do you know of that have a SERIOUS suggestion program? Most talk, but don’t walk.

Who knows best what motivates your team better than they do? Get them involved with the process. That added bit of energy can come from the most “unorthodox” places. To challenge normal tech thinking, and to spur energy and creativity, Honda Motors (obviously not Toyota) places individuals who know nothing about technology on the company's design teams. Huuh? This is classic thinking outside of the box. Great ideas and discussions can come from the questions that arise from the person who knows nothing about the system. Things the people closest to the system would never have thought about.

Workplace boredom is a major cause of turnover. Energizing the job shouldn’t be a tricky task (if it is, maybe YOU’re in the wrong job). It just requires you to stay alert to opportunities to encourage people and to suggest ways for them to energize their own jobs.

How Weird Are You?

That’s an odd question, isn’t it? Not if you’re applying for a job at Zappos.

I just read an interview in the NY Times with Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh on Zappos’ company culture. I wanna work there. They’ve formally defined their culture into 10 Core Values with which they use to hire and fire. What a neat concept. Most organizations talk about their culture in orientation (you know, that week long sleep-fest) and that’s about the last time you “experience” it.

Zappos holds two sets of interviews for prospective employee’s – one with the hiring manager and team to determine knowledge and team fit. The other is with HR to determine culture fit. Cool.

One of their values is, “Create fun and a little weirdness.” So for this HR asks, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how weird are you?”. One means you’re probably too straight-laced for them and 10 means you may be too psychotic. This is good stuff.

Because “everyone is a little weird”, Hsieh says, they want to “celebrate each person’s individuality, and want their true personalities to shine in the workplace environment, whether it’s with co-workers or when talking with customers”. Wouldn’t it be great to work at a place where you can actually just be yourself, quirks and all?

Now check this out - each year they create a "culture book" in which all employee's are asked to write about what the Zappos culture means to them. The unedited employee reviews of the company are then "freely available to visitors and anybody who asks for a copy." If you've ever looked up employee company reviews on www.glassdoor.com (Zappos reviews rated no less than 4 on a 5 scale) you'd know that most companies would never make such books available.

Where most organizations let the culture happen, Zappos has taken the lead in defining it. Employee's need to FIT INTO the culture, not transform it.

To read the whole fascinating interview with Tony Hsieh on nytimes.com, click on the title of this blog.

Developmental Training

Walt Disney once said, "The growth and development of the Walt Disney Company is directly related to the growth and development of its human resources - our cast". This is true in ANY organization. Think about it. Where would you be without your employees?

Just to put someone through orientation (one of my sore spots) and train them on their job is not enough. In order for them to perform at their best, training must be functional, complete, and on-going. Developmental training needs to be given top billing. It's an essential investment in your employee's future. Without it, how do you expect them to get better? How do they become leaders, or better leaders?

You can't sit on the bubble for years saying, 'we should be doing developmental training'. By the time you finally get around to it, it's usually to late - at least for the employee's you currently have. Habits have set in. When I first joined the Navy, it was near the beginning of the "kindler, gentler Navy". The "in your face" days were on the downswing and being replaced by 'would you do this' and 'please' - and even providing explanations (gasp). ALOT of the old-timers resisted and I even know some that ended up retiring just because they couldn't stand it anymore.

To many organizations developmental training means sculpting for leadership. If you subscribe to this type of belief then you're wasting a valuable resource - your front-line. Everyone must be included. There is a plethora of training out there. Google "soft skill training" and you'll find numerous places that will give corporate discounts for groups of online courses. Everything from customer service to computer skills to communication and time-management. But remember, just providing this type of training isn't quite enough. You need to set up some type of recognition for completing courses. This provides motivation to go even farther.

With development training investment, you'll see improved retention because it shows employees that you're taking an interest in their future, cost savings (caused by retention), higher quality output and even strengthened customer service. Learning causes positive habits which benefits both the individual and the organization.

Now don't you think it's time for you to recognize this win-win program? You won't be sorry.

MBWA Revisited

Since I first got into TQM while stationed at Naval Hospital Orlando back in the early 90's, I've been a great proponent of Tom Peters' Management by Walking Around (MBWA). The whole idea revolves around getting out of your office, cube farm, etc and walking amongst your staff. There is no better way to get a real picture of what's actually going on in the "trenches". By getting a first hand look at the atmosphere you can actually head off potential problems before they happen, or get the opportunity to reward someone as they do something good.

Most employees won't go to their managers with problems - they just go to other employees. This is in no way a productive, motivating way of business. In MBWA the supervisor is "around" so employees don't have to go out of their way to find them. Talk to employees and find out their feelings and ideas. Let them know that their input is encouraged and appreciated. This is not a spying mission.

A lot of supervisors just don't like to get out among the troops, but the benefits of just walking around strongly outweigh the "inconvenience" of it. The thing that you, as the supervisor, must expect is - da-da-da - honest feedback. But if you make MBWA a routine part of your day - every day - you'll find that suspicions will go away and productive honesty will increase.

Check out Tom Peters. He's been around awhile but his ideas are still highly relevant http://www.tompeters.com/. Mr. Peters' books In Search of Excellence and The Pursuit of WOW! are still on my best-read list.

It Begins

Welcome to the first blog in which I hope to share some personal ideas, and reviews of things I've read, heard and experienced. My focus will be on supervisory and managerial techniques as they relate to the motivation of staff. Working mainly in training & development for the past 20 years, you'll see quite a bit of that also. It really all goes hand-in-hand.

This is a place for all to share experiences and ideas - for me to learn as much as for you. I'll be posting at least a couple times a week.

Things have been changing over the last few years - definitely for the better - in the way that companies are treating employees. They're looking past the traditional benefits and providing more "perks". I'm sure you've all heard of Google and the way they've re-drawn the office setting. But yet there are the ever present "cube farms". Not too conducive to quality work. Don't even get me started there (although I'm sure I will).