culture | It's Worth Noting

Leadership

How to create a recruiting pipeline

February 1, 2013

Last week I wrote about the importance of creating a recruiting pipeline with the same urgency and intentionality applied to sales pipelines. If you are intrigued or persuaded, but looking for some practical how to’s, this post is for you! The problems to be solved: Over the long-term, you want to flip from having to chase mediocre talent to being sought out by the best of the them. When you have an opening, you want to be able to immediately schedule interviews from a list of candidates you have previously screened and cultivated a relationship with. You are tired of wasting time interviewing candidates that are a bad match for your company, let alone the job description. In addition to wasting time, it dilutes the pool and you are concerned that you may be hiring the best of the worst. You are losing the talent war to companies with more…

Leadership Podcast

Donavon Roberson interview – “We believe in people and their dreams”

March 13, 2013

How would your employees respond if you told them you were going to help them achieve their personal dreams? How would you respond if fulfilling a dream pulled a good employee away from your organization? In this podcast interview with Donavon Roberson, Dream Manager at Infusionsoft (a CRM provider for small businesses), we discuss what it looks like to get behind employees’ dreams and the impact on employees, customers and the bottom-line. During the interview, Donavon references a couple of books and resources, all of which are linked to below for your convenience. Enjoy! Resources: The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelley Peak by Chip Conley Dream Manager training by Floyd Consulting Listen below or on other podcast players.

Leadership

Why transparency in the workplace is so threatening

November 26, 2012

We have a natural aversion to being naked. We love to wear clothing fashioned from our many strengths, accomplishments and victories. We shy away from exposing our weaknesses and explaining the real reasons we behave like we do. Being transparent gives other people leverage. They can exploit us. They have seen us naked. So how do you overcome the threat and fear? Mutually assured destruction. Organizations that want to enjoy the benefits of a transparent environment, one in which team members extend trust, collaborate around strengths and interact based on reality, must be transparent from the top down. Leaders must be transparent first and ask their teams to follow. Once leaders prove their commitment to transparency, those who fear it have all the assurance they need to know that transparency will not be used as leverage or to exploit or embarrass them. Doing so would expose the leaders to the same. If…

Leadership

The ripple effect of company culture

November 1, 2011

Are you struggling with your team consistently delivering the right sales or service experience to your customers? How do you feel about how your vendors are treated and what they would say about your company or people if you weren’t paying them? If these are challenges in your organization and the solution has been more training, rules, policies, monitoring, etc., you’re solving the wrong problem. The first Jurassic Park has a classic scene where a few people in a jeep feel the dreaded trimmers of a T-Rex fast approaching. On the dash, a glass of water begins to ripple. While trying to film that scene, the special effects department was tasked with making the water ripple from the bottom up, no small feat without CGI. The team searched long and hard for a solution. One day they tried flipping a guitar over and plucking a few strings. To their delight,…

Leadership

Pursue talent like you pursue customers

October 24, 2012

Pursuing customers is common sense for any business. Without profitable customers, a business cannot exist, but customers cannot be acquired overnight. Everyone knows it takes a lot of time and effort to advertise, market and cultivate relationships to turn prospects into customers. So why do so many businesses assume acquiring talent is completely different? Too many business only worry about finding good candidates when they have a job opening. Remember, these are the people who produce the products, services and experiences for all those hard earned customers. Customers are too important to your business to only go looking for them when you need more revenue. If you start then, it is probably too late. In the same way, good employees are too important to your business to only go looking for them when you have an empty chair. How much better would your team become if you began to pursue…

Leadership

A quick gauge on relational strength

August 25, 2011

Wondering how strong a significant relationship at home or work really is? Here’s a quick gauge: How comfortable are you saying difficult things? If you shy or run away from difficult conversations, it’s probably because intuitively you know the relationship cannot weather the turbulence. Significant relationships that cannot withstand the turbulence caused by honest and transparent communication are weak. If you find yourself in this situation, how you can invest in the relationship so the thought of saying the hard things doesn’t make you queasy?

Leadership

Leaders need a hairpin trigger for resolving conflict

February 22, 2011

What happens when conflict emerges around you? Do you avoid or ignore it or do you lean in? Regardless of the source or catalyst, the most effective leaders know that healthy acknowledgement and resolution of conflict is critical for them and their team to keep moving forward. When conflict emerges around you, have a hairpin trigger for acknowledgement and resolution. Lean in to understand the issues and seek to restore genuine peace. Do not let conflict fester or spread. Dealing with it may cost you some time and emotional energy, but both are less costly on the front end than the back.

Leadership

It’s My Pleasure

June 6, 2011

Anyone who has been to Chick-Fil-A and muttered a “thank you” has heard an employee reply, “It’s my pleasure.” Sure, they train and require everyone to say it, but it is a reflection of the company’s heart and soul. The company really believes they are serving you, the customer, and that the thanks is all theirs. This perspective is not uncommon in the restaurant or hospitality industry, though few execute it as genuinely or consistently as Chick-Fil-A. What happens though when you evaluate other industries and companies? Are they known for communicating genuine gratitude after every interaction with their customers? Rack your brain and try to come up with a list. I bet you cannot name five companies outside of the restaurant or hospitality industries. Would your customers put your company on their list? Although there are probably a variety of reasons why so few companies consistently and genuinely communicate gratitude, I…

Leadership

Operating at the speed of trust

May 14, 2011

There is a great book written by Stephen M.R. Covey, son of famed productivity author Stephen Covey, entitled The Speed of Trust. Covey argues that the lack of trust in business is extremely costly. All the due diligence, exhaustive contracts, monitoring and the like slows business down and increases costs. Alternatively, what if you trusted the person on the other side of the table? How much quicker and more easily could you do business? I wholeheartedly agree with Covey’s thesis. I do not suggest being naive, but I do advocate and practice aligning with customers, vendors and employees one can trust and stepping away from those one cannot. My strong conviction wasn’t birthed out of the book though. For me, the seed was planted many years ago when I was a young boy attentively observing my father conduct business. My father manages ranches raising registered cattle. He’s what people have…

Leadership Podcast

Lawrence “SugarBear” Reyes interview – How Can I Help?

November 22, 2013

Lawrence Reyes serves as the Ambassador of Culture and Global Onboarding Manager at Rackspace, a leading cloud server and hosted services company based in San Antonio, Texas. As employee #14, Lawrence has seen firsthand how the company evolved from a 90’s start-up into a global enterprise known for its innovative offerings, fanatical support and unique culture. SugarBear, as he’s known to fellow “Rackers” inside in the company, loves inspiring other companies and new employees with the vision of what can happen when everyone is focused on how they can help. I think you’ll find his journey and experience with Rackspace inspiring and applicable. Resources: Culture at Rackspace Listen below or on other podcast players.