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Lessons from Virtual Conferences

If you have been asked to create a multi-day, online event, you may want it to be everything a live event should be. But you could also be wondering: should it try to mimic a face-to-face experience? And what does success even look like in this environment?

In the past two years, (but starting just before COVID), we added the ability to conduct online conferences to our company’s repertoire. After speaking and apprenticing at several virtual gatherings, we decided to offer our own…with some trepidation. Since then, 4,000 people have registered in four events.

What have we discovered that can be transferred to any business with a virtual audience?

  1. Quality Attention Counts

We have learned that our objective should be to create a unique online experience. While there is some overlap with live events, we don’t try to emulate them. Instead, we follow best practices from the finest virtual gatherings we can find from every corner of the world.

In that context, we compete for our audience’s attention against anyone who offers education, engagement or entertainment. Examples include webinars, Facebook and Netflix. Our job is to create a compelling alternative that keeps people’s focus whether they are in the office or working from home.

This definition has kept us on the edge of our seats, because the world is constantly changing. Internet providers of education, engagement and entertainment are highly sophisticated, with deep pockets. We consider them all to be unwelcome, but possible substitutes for our event: “competitors”. Even distractions are included.

As such, if you aren’t studying Facebook and Instagram to see what they are doing to capture attention, then you may not be in the know. Why? Your customers have become accustomed to attractive online experiences at a world-class level. They expect you to provide the same. Fail to do so and you’ll fall behind.

  1. Grow a Pipeline

Many companies aren’t interested in prospects until they are on the verge of making a purchase. The evidence lies in their processes. They blast advertisements to customers, driving them to interact directly with a salesperson, or sales page.

In the virtual world, this approach doesn’t work. Common sense tells us that a buyer’s interest should be fostered over time. Companies which nurture prospects from the initial show of concern can bring them all the way to the point of purchase. The entire cycle may take minutes, or years, but the principle remains the same.

The magic of online conferences allows us to track people’s behavior from their very first click to actions taken even beyond the close of the event…at a minimal cost. In the face-to-face world, this is difficult to do. But the data is easy to gather for ecommerce. All you need to do is set up the right virtual infrastructure.

As such, if your company is still writing prospects’ names in a big, hardcover book, you may want to consider an upgrade.

The fact is, the customer relationship software used to manage a database of thousands of prospects costs relatively little. Unfortunately, the skills required to run it are in desperately short supply, but the sooner you make the investment, the better.

  1. Invest in Analytics

Even after you gain the attention and put in place the necessary software, your journey has just begun. Fortunately, even entry-level applications allow you to collect metrics.

Use them to predict the flow of your prospects from one phase to the next, the effectiveness of your messaging and the precise impact of the final results you produce. This knowledge means that you can make tweaks that have a positive effect.

While your company may have reached its current position without these capabilities, I assert that it has no future unless it masters them. Why? We live in a world in which every organization can be out-analyzed by a substitute or competitor.

Perhaps you think this to be an exaggeration, but as you read these words, consider the medium you are reading: paper or digital?

As you probably know, there is a major transformation underway in the newspaper industry. As a reader of this column, you’re involved. In fact, the Gleaner’s future depends on understanding your behaviors. Using the data it can gather from paper and digital customers, new strategies are being implemented. There simply is no choice.

The transitions taking place in the conference industry are also unavoidable. As new tools become available, the online versions have the means to get better, faster. This gives them a great advantage over traditional counterparts. It’s just an example of yet another business being disrupted by analytic technology.

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Are you a Tit-for-Tat Manager?

As a company leader, you are probably interested in employees doing their best work. But most new staff members quickly lose the inspiration they had on their first day. How can you intervene so that precious employee motivation doesn’t get lost so soon?

An old man woke up one morning to the sound of stones hitting his zinc roof. He ran out to see a bunch of kids running away, laughing as he shook his fist and shouted at them to leave him alone. After several episodes in a row, he drew them into a conversation, from a distance: “Come stone my roof tomorrow and I’ll give you each some money.”

The following morning, they each received J$100 for their antics. But he apologized. He could only afford J$50 to repeat their performance. Deciding it was still a bargain, they returned the next day and collected their payment from the obviously senile senior citizen.

Shaking his head, he said: “There’s so many of you…I can only pay you J$1 tomorrow.”

“That’s all? Cheapskate…Forget it!” they complained as they stalked away for good.

While the old man was a master manipulator, there are managers who unwittingly produce the same result. Their employees start out being “transcendent”, but end up stuck in a “tit-for-tat”. The only difference is that everyone is unhappy with the outcome. Here’s why this happens.

  1. A Transcendent Beginning

Most employees are naturally motivated at the outset of a new job. When asked to give discretionary time and effort, they are often quite willing to do so. They are inspired.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t last, but it’s not because of the circumstances. The transcendent state they initially enjoyed is one they can’t manage for very long. In other words, they are unable to explain why they feel the way they do. Also, they don’t identify the drivers of their positivity, fail to intervene when it slips away, and sometimes even regret that initial burst of motivation.

And most company cultures are unhelpful.

They don’t foster transcendent ways of being, let alone act to keep them alive. Toxic employees attack them with open cynicism. Those who are “too happy” have obviously “drank the Kool-Ade” – a snide reference to the suicidal Jim Jones cult.

In other words, companies allow this precious resource to fritter away as if it weren’t important. However, it’s actually critical.

In fact, most organizations do a good job of promoting staff to the executive suite, where transcendence is the norm.

Unfortunately, top leaders take their own motivation for granted. They also don’t realize that as they rose in the corporate ranks, they left the de-motivated behind. They no longer had to contend with the most embittered. Their amnesia leaves them unaware of the battle new employees face, made worse by a lack of help from their direct managers.

2. Why Most Leaders Become Tit-for-Tat Managers

Even though leaders may be transcendent, few have the ability to inspire their troops to extraordinary actions. Instead, the average manager devolves into a Tit-for-Tat: “No-one does anything if they aren’t being paid”.

While there’s abundant evidence this thinking is flawed, they cling to this explanation. It’s the ultimate escape from responsibility because there isn’t a single organization on earth with enough Tit (i.e. cash) to induce a meaningful Tat (i.e. a transcendent culture.) Why? Research shows that apart from short, physical activities, more pay does not produce motivated behavior.

In other words, ineffective managers surrender, then blame their staff. But is there an alternative? Yes – the fact is that transcendent cultures do exist.

  1. Prevent the Slip into Tit-for-Tat Relationships

The best interventions take place before the slip begins. Organizations can train employees to work with their habits of thought that often turn a dip into a landslide.

Eastern philosophies teach that joy is inside all of us. Unfortunately, its presence fades as we pick up defects in our thinking patterns.

However, mystics also argue that transcendence is merely a transformation away. If taught, we can learn how to become like the old man in the story: someone who coaxes a change with the right dialogue. In other words, we can pick up the kind of self-talk which transforms and returns us to a transcendent experience at will.

There are a number of effective methods to try, including affirmations, meditation, and journaling. More advanced approaches require fresh mental models picked up from coaches, books and therapists. (For more than a decade, I have used The Work of Byron Katie.)

The startling realization is that most organizations offer nothing at all. If they were to start, they would probably see that the high motivation present in the probationary stages never goes away completely. They just need to invest in helping staff remove the obstacles.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To search prior columns on productivity, strategy, engagement and business processes, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com.

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Triaging new workplace ideas

An engaged staff full of bright ideas? This is clearly an aspiration for most leaders. But what happens when employees, armed with a dose of courage, create more noise than anything else? What should organizations do when people pick up the habit of simply speaking what’s on their mind, with little commitment behind their words?

In times past, managers did the thinking and workers did the doing. Thankfully, those days are long gone and staff expect their input to be taken seriously. Their engagement is critical.

However, executives with open-door policies can spend all day at the mercy of those who think they have good ideas. Indulge too often, and they fall into inefficiency, even with the best of intentions. While their openness is a fine start, it’s not enough.

According to Michael Stelzner from the Social Media Marketing Show, you must learn to follow three counter-intuitive steps when you sell your suggestions.

  1. The What

The higher up you go in an organization, the greater the need to begin any proposal with the headline or solution – “the What”. Why? Leaders are time and attention constrained. Their people are required to get to the point.

Journalists have a name for it: “burying the lead.” It refers to a British-inspired tradition of using polite banter before getting to the bottom-line. Unfortunately, it’s a deadly communication sin in today’s world of ongoing distractions.

As such, reporters are taught to unlearn this practice because it loses the reader’s attention. The lead (i.e. the main point) comes first, and the explanatory details after.

However, in everyday life, this takes courage. Most of us prefer the safe approach. We’d rather beat around the bush and leave the punchline for the end, delaying any rejection for as long as possible.

In the corporate world, it pays to train yourself and others to summarize the idea at the start. Everyone benefits, even if the suggestion is ultimately discarded. You’ll save precious time and can move on to other topics of discussion.

  1. The Why

If your audience seems receptive to “The What”, shift gears to explain the reasons your idea is important.

You may describe the past, present and future of the problem. Why has it not been cleared up? Why is this the ideal moment to make a public commitment to deal with the issue? What is the cost to the organization if the obstacle is allowed to continue? What if the challenge is never addressed at all?

One way to answer these questions is in the form of a story in which the members of your audience take the role of protagonists. Their tale begins with the normal, everyday situation where everything is working as it should. Then, it’s interrupted by a failure of some kind that introduces pain. Finally, the saga ends with your suggestion for taking action.

In this finishing step, your solution addresses a range of functional, emotional and social gaps which the breakdown has produced. They amplify the impact of the breach in order to generate real-time attention and commitment.

  1. The Who

If the heads are nodding at this point, you’re ready for the element that most employees fail to address. Who exactly will implement the initiative?

The answer to this question separates the talkers from the implementers. The fact is, most leaders don’t want to entertain solutions which lack this critical piece. Why? No project succeeds when there is no-one willing to be accountable.

Therefore, think through the staffing of your proposed solution before offering it openly. Even if you do not have a definitive answer, show that you have given it enough thought to make an informed suggestion. Your attempt will be appreciated as you help your audience grapple with this dimension and the trade-offs it demands.

Finally, resist the temptation to get caught up in the question of “How should this be implemented?” Usually, this moment is neither the time nor the place to delve into that level of detail. Why? The subject-matter experts are probably not in attendance, accountable individuals have not been assigned and a decision to proceed hangs in the balance.

Instead, trust the project team to figure out “The How” after careful study, once they have consulted appropriate stakeholders.

In other words, don’t allow uninformed (but well-meaning) leaders to indulge in commitment-free, speculative conversations. While they are comfortable and even enjoyable, they are out of place and waste everyone’s time.

In summary, follow the What, Why and Who script, and delay the How discussion. If you discipline yourself as an organization to stick to this formula, you’ll see better ideas bubbling up to the right places from your staff.

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Why “We’re Number One!” Goals Have Become Useless

In times past it was fashionable for corporate leaders to craft vision statements with commitments to be “number one” and “world class”. Lately, these have become less popular, with good reason. They are a sign of lackluster thinking which signals a lack of detailed planning.

Corporate leaders tend to fit a particular profile. They show strong Type A tendencies: energetic over-achievers who are time-sensitive and impatient. They drive themselves hard to accomplish great things, often bringing others behind them for the ride, ready or not.

However, if you have this trait, there may be an added one which gets you in trouble: your tendency to be competitive. If you get a lot of juice from beating other people, this approach works when goals are simple. It stirs up lots of extra effort and leads to reliable, continuous improvements.

Most CEO’s use this characteristic to grab the corner office ahead of others, at which point they often shift their focus to defeating other companies. This compulsion to be the captain of a winning team creates three kinds of problems.

Challenge #1 – CEO’s Play Games Employees Find Irrelevant

Part of being an effective executive involves learning the language of the C-Suite. Over time, this new lingo separates leaders from lower-level employees.

But the big problem is that what excites you, a Type A executive, is unlikely to inspire others. While staff knows there is a connection between EBITDA and their job security, it’s all a theory. Certainly, they feel no emotional bond.

As such, when you conduct a town hall you’re likely to speak glowingly of achievements in words that don’t resonate. You staffs’ needs are far more human, and it’s easy to lose track of them.

To build engagement, you’ll need to uncover employees’ actual aspirations, in order to satisfy them. For example, if getting their kids a decent education and making ends meet is a major part of their lives, you must start there.

Challenge #2 – CEO’s Craft Imaginary Competitions

The world is changing so rapidly that the old ways of thinking about competitors have become stale. In the past it was easier: ultra-competitive CEOs would find similar companies to compare themselves against. Then, they’d choose metrics such as profitability, stock price or revenue to be their yard-stick of accomplishment.

However, in a fast-changing landscape, your “competitors” are actually imaginary: made up. As industries and circumstances evolve, it becomes impossible to find other companies which are just like yours. There may be some overlap, but no perfect fit. Your orange ends up racing to a make-believe finish line against their apple.

As such, your claims to be (or plans to become) “Number One” are increasingly empty. They are a simplistic way to motivate yourself that may suit you, as a Type A executive, but no-one else.

Even aspirations to claim a “World-Class” standard look silly in today’s world. Anyone who cares can achieve this goal by defining a narrow standard. But even then, customers don’t care about such claims.

Challenge #3 – CEO’s Forsake Customers

While most MBA programmes are built around competition, that approach is becoming a distraction…at best a sideshow. It’s far better to develop a sharper focus on meeting customer’s unmet needs.

But this is no solid target. Customers’ needs are evolving due to new technologies so it’s become harder than ever to discover a customer’s “Job-to-be-Done”. (The term refers to the actions a customer takes to meet their unmet needs.)

The pandemic has led to shifts in many customers’ Jobs-to-be-Done, as they adopted new behavior patterns. Many companies unwittingly fell out of touch, and haven’t re-established a unique understanding. They run the risk of missing the mark.

Just observe the way Uber and AirBnB disrupted their respective industries before the pandemic. They used modern technology to tap into idle, low-cost resources (i.e. people’s cars and rooms). Now, they are shifting their processes to accommodate the new customer need for sanitized environments.

In short, they have been adjusting their companies’ business models, in concert with changes in their customers’ needs.

There are other ways your company can meet unmet needs, but when it happens, don’t be confused by your success. Definitely don’t claim it as proof of being “Number One” or “World Class” to start a new round of chest-beating.

Instead, use it as fuel to fire up a fresh cycle of customer research which, in the end, is the best insurance policy against disruptions of all kinds.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To search prior columns on productivity, strategy, engagement and business processes, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com

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How to Say No and Become More Productive

Is there a way to turn down requests from other people and thereby increase your productivity? In the changing world we live in, you may have to say more No’s.

“If you want to get something done, ask a busy person.” This old saying has an element of truth: there are certain people who are able to manage scores or hundreds of tasks at a time, without a single one falling through the cracks. If they agree to add your task to their list, consider yourself privileged: there’s a high chance it will be done with quality.

However, experience suggests that the quote should be changed slightly to add a coda: “…but they are likely to say ‘No’.” The fact is that these busy people are black and white with their Yes’s and also their No’s. In order to reliably deliver, they must say “No” to many requests. Even worse, as their reputation grows, they turn down far more tasks than they accept.

As such, their calendar might be full. But what is it full of? Carefully curated tasks which they juggle with precision. They have balanced all the demands in their life and chosen the right blend of commitments. How are they able to pull off this trick?

1. Manage Tasks Using a List or Calendar

As you imagine, they don’t use memory to manage their tasks: there are too many. Instead, they have a system set up using lists and/or a calendar. They treat their tasks with importance and their time as a limited and precious resource. When someone asks them to complete a task, they don’t accept right away…they pause.

Their pregnant pause is not meant to be rude, but to consider, as a serious professional, what they should commit themselves to. Which prior commitments should be denied or postponed?

It’s a bit like visiting the doctor. Your medical practitioner doesn’t just tell you which medication to take based on your (supposed) list of symptoms. Instead, he/she performs a trained diagnosis. Their professional code of ethics guides them.

If there were such a code for the rest of us, it could be: “I don’t dispense time without careful consideration of all my commitments”. With a boss, for example, you may include the requestor in the decision, while showing him/her your calendar: “What should I put aside in order to complete this new task?”

This code-driven pause separates the novices from the practiced professionals.

2. Build Relationships

However, most of us are afraid to say “No” because we are taught, as children, to be nice or good, giving away our power to adults. We still fear the supposed fallout.

I have worked with top executives who routinely tell their ill-tempered bosses fake “Yes’s”. The result? Chaos. Eventually, the boss adapts by asking several people to do the exact same task.

To get past the fear at the root of the problem, author William Ury suggests the following approach to decline requests from anyone.

Step 1 – concretely describe your interests and values, while being as positive as possible

Step 2 – explicitly connect your “No” to your values/interests

Step 3 – explore other options to satisfy the request

For example: “This year I have committed to living a balanced life and making sure my son passes his GSAT’s. Tonight is set aside to help him, so I can’t be at your Zoom call. How about another night this week?”

For those who are productive, either a “Yes” or a “No” can build relationships. However, it takes skill to bring this off in real-time, under pressure from someone who is in power.

A long-term commitment to deliver better quality “No’s” only leads to more skill in this area.

3. Disavow Lesser Channels

In today’s remote environment, we receive requests via a number of channels. How do we respond effectively via text, video or audio when face-to-face communication is impossible?

The answer is to use the most interactive medium possible. If it means a video-chat or phone call, take the time needed. More interactive channels allow the opportunity to react in real-time.

However, if you must use text (the least preferred option), follow Ury’s formula. Do so and you’ll not only be protecting your calendar, but showing the respect that demonstrates your professionalism.

When they return to you with a future request, they’ll remember: you don’t play around with your commitments and you take care of people who approach you for help.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To search prior columns on productivity, strategy, engagement and business processes, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com

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Becoming a thought leader with impact

On becoming a thought leader with impact

Do you ever read my column and disagree with what I have to say? This could be a good sign: you may be ready to take your place as a business thought leader.

If, even once, you have thrown down the newspaper or closed the browser in disgust, all the better. It means that you care enough to become a thought leader. An emotional reaction is a signal that you strongly believe in a different point of view. Maybe your contrary insight might be worth sharing with a wider audience.

If so, you need not be rich and famous to be the next Marcus Garvey, perhaps Jamaica’s foremost thought leader. Like he did, you can start with little more than a knowledge of how to use the latest technology. In his day, he established newspapers in several countries to share his content. By contrast, you could set up a free Facebook page in a few minutes.

However, that’s not likely to be enough. Garvey didn’t have a goal of being “an influencer” or being famous. His publications were the means to fulfill a much bigger vision. Take yourself to his level by following these steps.

1. Start Provoking

While you may not be prepared to write a book or give speeches to thousands, your smartphone affords you tremendous power to craft messages. What about finding an audience? Maybe they are just sitting in your social network waiting to hear what you have to say.

But what if you aren’t ready to formulate your initial thoughts into the written word, audio recordings or videos? One way to begin is to find and spread articles you agree or disagree with. Share, add your opinion and invite others to comment.

As you do so, consider this to be the start of your research and learning. Continue looking for quality evidence and the underlying academic publications that supports it.

Sometimes, you’ll discover nothing but opinions. Occasionally, you may bump into facts that contradict your pet ideas. Overturn them to fulfill your mission of finding the truths that help you make progress.

These are small steps, but the world won’t change until you start to engage it. Sharing and reacting to existing points of view brings your commitment out into the open, starting immediately.

2. Build Your Structure

Most people mistakenly believe that all you require to be a content creator is the right keyboard, audio recording device or video camera. While those are necessary elements, in today’s world they are simply insufficient to be effective.

Especially in these locked-down times, would-be thought leaders need a way to share their content, promote themselves to new audiences and manage their followers. The details of these three approaches are as follows.

– To deliver consistent messages you must specialize in a particular mode: text, audio or video. Why? It takes time to master a single one well enough to rise above the din and distractions your would-be followers face, even if you have world-class ideas. Fortunately, YouTube has all the education you need to move past the beginner stage of using these three modes.

– Some believe that they shouldn’t have to do very much promotion – “if you build it, they will come.” In other words, if the content is good enough, it should naturally attract people. This hope-for-the-best approach is unlikely to win attention. Instead, you must carefully define a strategy to promote your messages in a multi-channel world, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Experiment with each of the social networks, plus setting up your own website.

– Consider obtaining a Customer Relationship Management software system (like Mailchimp) to efficiently scale and automate your communication with your audience.

Recall a time when a typewriter was an essential piece of equipment. Think of these three elements in the same way: the hallmark of someone who is serious.

3. Focus on Results

As a budding thought leader you are likely to have multiple objectives. Pick an easy one to start with, such as the number of people who respond to your next article on Facebook. As you continue, you’ll define more sophisticated metrics that measure your impact.

As you may agree, being an effective thought leader in these pandemic times involves more than having new, fresh ideas. That’s just the beginning. While quality thoughts are essential, they are lost by themselves.

Today, the sad fact is that the smartest voice will not necessarily be heard above the distractions. Think of your “message delivery” skills as a critical partner to your creativity and you’ll start to confront the gaps in becoming a business thought leader with impact.

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How to Persuade an Audience Productively

Do you have the challenge of persuading an audience in either a speech or the written word? Here’s a useful outline I have adapted for use in the background of my talks and articles, including this one.

Psychologists tell us that when people are being influenced by ideas, it’s just not a random activity. Instead, they follow a rather predictable process, especially in live gatherings. The core notion is that a group being influenced journeys from one psychological space to another, almost like running around the bases in softball, hitting each of them in sequence. Following this theory, here are four major phases to use, inspired by speaker-trainer Pete Vargas.

Hearts

The first phase of persuasive communication is designed to address an emotional need. Usually, at the very beginning, an attendee is preoccupied with a “Why should I listen?” question. While it can be logically explained, the best speakers/writers evoke an emotional response, starting with their very first words.

Some begin with a question designed to spur curiosity. Notice that I used this approach in this article; it happens to be the one I use most often. Others give a startling statistic or quote. A few are brave enough to tell stories.

Unfortunately, too many stammer out irrelevant pleasantries to “break the ice”: thanking various people, introducing themselves, dropping anecdotes. They mistakenly believe that it’s impolite to start with a bang.

Yet, this is the best moment to make a heart-to-heart connection, before phones take away people’s attention. If you can follow your opening by evoking their experience of the problem, and how you have struggled with it, all the better.

Finally, Jamaican listeners and readers yearn to connect with each other. Find a way to bridge the gap between members of your audience, taking away the anxiety of feeling as if they are alone.

This first phase ends when the emotional connection has been made. It could occupy 25% of the time available.

Heads

The next question people ask is related to your Big Idea – the “how”. This is the logic behind your thinking – the new approach you are advocating that they have never heard.

Here, you are building a fresh case. Use research data, historical facts, and stories to share ideas that can pierce their logical minds. Assume that they are usually a bit cynical: quick to dismiss your message to the “same-old-stuff” category.

Try to spend about 40-60% of your speech in this phase – it’s the one people will share with others and use to justify their future course of action. They may not mention how you made them feel, but they will remember data such as the percentages I have quoted in this article.

This phase ends when their heads are nodding with understanding, showing they are ready to move on.

Hands

Arguably, your call to action (which takes place in this phase) is the most practical part of your communication. Here, you appeal to your audience to act to fulfill the promise of your Big Idea.

As such, this is not the time to be subtle or obtuse. Instead, create a picture of their future selves and ask them to make a concrete, visible commitment. It could be an altar call, a book purchase, a website download or something that doesn’t involve you at all, such as a sequence of steps.

Once they have been asked to act, you have set the stage for a powerful ending.

Hearts

The final 10% is a return to emotions. This is where you can continue a personal story or ask them to envision the person they’ll be once they take action. If you are able to create a connection to the feelings evolved at the start, even better.

The point here is to summon the emotional commitment needed to be successful going forward. After all, you are setting them loose to try your Big Idea in the real world full of resistance, resignation and cynicism – even if it’s their own. They’ll need to be strong to avoid the friction and distractions involved with the introduction of anything new.

Consider this to be a serious challenge. At the heart of your need to persuade should be an authentic commitment to make a life-changing difference. As someone who has stepped up, hold yourself accountable and be a contribution.

In other words, don’t commit the error of “just” giving a “small speech” or a “few remarks”. Every time you stand in front of a microphone, or put pen to paper, you have a sacred duty. You are not just a noisemaker.

Instead, honour your wildest dreams in which your words help people transform their lives, even if you’re only delivering a wedding toast. After all, you only need a single person to respond postively to know that it was worth the effort.

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How to Inspire “Paused” Employees

As a result of the pandemic and the recession, are many of your staff-members unconsciously “working-to-rule”? In other words, have they reverted to doing the minimum possible to keep their jobs? If so, what can you as an employer do to break them out of a dangerous rut which could drive your firm all the way into bankruptcy?

These are scary times, and with good reason. Here in Jamaica, COVID is spiking to unforeseen levels and as the death-toll mounts, even more people are testing positive. Furthermore, the economy faces poor predictions as we enter the traditional slowdown of the tourist season. Arguably, business confidence is at its lowest ever.

Consequently, most of your employees are probably stalled. Confronted by bad news and distracted by children who would normally be in school, they are overwhelmed. Laying awake at night, they are pre-occupied by the need to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.

It seems only natural: in response to a threat, you should focus on defending yourself. However, when the threat is enduring, there’s a limit to how well a good defense works. Case in point: you can’t win the football World Cup by only preventing goals from scoring. Plus, deep within the human spirit lies a steady force that drives us to do more than just survive.

Unfortunately, few corporate leaders know how to transcend the “survival” stage of the pandemic. With each spike, they reset their companies’ attention to the usual: social distancing, wearing masks and working from home. But there will always be spikes…for now. A vaccine won’t make its way to our citizens for several years.

In the meantime, your company may just go out of business.

Instead of waiting and resetting every few months, how can you take your employees out of the “pause”?

1. Think Big

A few years ago, the US Coast Guard had such a challenge. The world was changing rapidly and its old operating mode as the first-responder to sea-based emergencies was no longer working. The threats it faced were now organized: some by terrorists and others by global forces such as climate change.

The organization needed to take into account incipient trends, then rise far above them. As opposed to merely reacting, it needed to shape long-term outcomes. That could not happen in the short term.

Instead, the organization developed a decades-long scenario in which it transformed itself, creating a new, influential role in the future. From that end-point, it worked back to today, resulting in a difficult re-organization impacting thousands.

But my experience leading Jamaican companies planning tells me that the articulation of a vision isn’t enough. To some degree, we are immune from such leader-talk courtesy of politicians. Now your people are, quite rightly, skeptical of bombast.

They should be.

Research shows that overblown visions of the future can be de-motivational. Why? When a goal is too far out of people’s reach, they give up, asking themselves, “Should I waste time on a failure?”

2. Be Fact-Based and Realistic

The first way out of this dilemma is to create a numbers-oriented map of the journey from the future back to the present. Such a chart is quite difficult to craft, but it starts by defining a specific year for your goal, such as our own “Vision Jamaica 2030”.

Furthermore, it must show how critical metrics such as top line revenue, EBITDA and market share need to change to accomplish your end-point. Plus, it needs to capture qualitative milestones. Finally, projects and interventions which take months or years to implement should be added in and synchronized with the other targets.

The end-result is a detailed picture of the journey your organisation must take from now until the stated year of your vision.

Some would say that such detail is likely to be “incorrect”, and they are right. This is not an exercise in prediction or accuracy. Instead, it’s meant to galvanize your organization with not only a destination, but a realistic means of reaching it.

Why is this activity important to employees? Without this level of specificity, they won’t buy-in, and will simply add the goal to their mental list of empty promises. This is the problem with overarching, vague vision statements. They have stopped working because people are immune to the optimism of “world-class” pronouncements which are more ignorant than credible.

One way to tackle this challenge is to involve all your staff in your data gathering. After all, this is their future you are crafting. Take care to address all the facts and assumptions they deem important.

The fact is, in these difficult times people want to be inspired…but moreover, they don’t want to be disappointed by a CEO’s pipe-dream. Focus on creating a vision that’s realistic and you’ll replace their unwanted fears with a motivation that enlivens and lifts them to extraordinary achievement.

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“It Bruk” – How to Get Past an Everyday Lack of Responsibility

How does a Jamaican executive create a culture of accountability in his/her company? While it’s clear that this trait is deeply correlated with success, why is it so hard to inculcate?

I remember returning home once to a surprising silence: the raucous sound of the grass being cut had stopped. When queried, the gardener remarked: “De lawnmower…it bruk.”

This everyday local comment isn’t remarkable, but there are a number of hidden meanings it conveys which deserve a deeper look. What does this commonplace remark: “It bruk” really mean?

Meaning #1 – “I apologize for breaking the mower and will see that it gets fixed.”

Perhaps we can agree that this particular motivation is almost never present. It’s a manager’s dream: that when something goes wrong, someone always steps up to be fully accountable. Whether you are the chairperson of a conglomerate or a homeowner who employs a helper, the yearning for accountability is the same.

Yet, there are merely a few, rare individuals who willingly take responsibility. Consequently, they are extremely valuable to their organizations. In fact, success (and profits) can be traced to the presence of such high performers. Conversely, in the worst companies, these people cannot be found.

But if this interpretation happens to be uncommon, what’s the normal one?

Meaning #2 – “It broke itself when I was very, very far away.”

This is the popular answer. I suspect that its prevalence in the Caribbean indicates that it was perfected in slavery days: a survival technique to avoid Massa’s ire. When people say “It bruk” they intend to assign the blame to a location that’s as remote as possible. It’s a way to create some psychological distance from the threat of harsh punishment.

In that coercive context from our history, the tactic was understandable. If you ever have a chance to read slaveowners’ letters complaining about lazy workers, you may notice something familiar. The tone sounds surprisingly like a contemporary manager’s email messages on the same topic.

What are the consequences for an organization whose staff has adopted this meaning as a mantra?

Unwanted Results

In today’s workplace, we routinely accept “It Bruk” as a rational response. In fact, we shouldn’t. It’s insidious.

Those who make such utterances are doing more than avoiding blame: they are actually reassigning the twin tasks of resolving the issue now and preventing it from happening in the future.

In other words, they render themselves powerless. They demote themselves to that of a bystander, making commentary on things they pretend to be separate from. As such, the problem is likely to recur.

The typical Jamaican manager knows exactly how to respond. Like a red flag to a bull, “It bruk” makes them swing into action, to take charge of the situation. Many become bullies, dominating others with loud commands and barked orders until a solution is put in place.

Skilled managers know better. Instead of taking the bait, they may ask: “And what will you do about it?” and “How will you prevent it in future?”

How to Get Past an “It Bruk” Culture

I have seen companies undertake a transformation by giving each employee the ability to own the “It Bruk” tendencies in their lives. However, this path is slow and expensive, relying on individual interventions.

Alternately, a group approach can help employees realize the corrosive power of non-accountability. In the same way that cursing in a convent is unacceptable, they can learn to hear “It Bruk” statements as if it were a foreign language unsuitable for the workplace.

The truth is that no-one wants to be told an “It Bruk” by anyone: not by colleagues, family members or political leaders. However, most of us are weak, unable to catch ourselves in the midst of this language. We need help. This aid can come from a strong corporate culture which teaches people to recognize the many varieties of “It Bruk” thinking.

But it won’t happen by edict. This is the job of a learning experience which offers a safe space to explore fresh ideas. But that would just be the start. This unusual transformation has to be reinforced with regular discussions between managers and their direct reports.

After a period of practice, your staff may see “It Bruk” expressions as the impediment they really are. Now, your organization can create a new language of responsibility to replace the old. Your intervention could support this outcome from every direction, making it easy for employees to step up their game.

The truth is that a culture of accountability launches everyone to higher levels of accomplishment, not only in their families but in all areas of their lives, bar none. It could be a transformational gift that changes their daily experience and your company along with it.

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Stop Mailing In Your Participation

Have you ever been part of a project or organization in which a colleague is giving only a minimal effort? This behaviour, which some call “mailing it in”, may be killing your team’s success.

For several years in the 1990’s, I participated in a programme in which I was trained to teach 50-150 person seminars. The head trainer was the most effective instructor, consistently receiving the best scores, but new trainees like me had a tricky challenge trying to figure out exactly what made him outstanding.

One of his traits was an uncanny skill: he could lead each event as if it were his last, giving attendees a fresh experience each time. As a high performer who took each seminar to a different level, he found new ways to make things compelling even when they were, on the surface, mundane.

While I couldn’t replicate his ability, it was fascinating to observe someone who never once “mailed it in.” The phrase refers to the human tendency to do the minimum possible to get by, thereby providing only a weak substitute. According to Wiktionary, the term means “to fulfill a responsibility with a minimum, rather than appropriate, level of effort”, aka “phoning it in”.

In my column a month ago about governance and leadership, I mentioned that many organization’s board members are mailing it in. I wrote: “In some of our (client’s) strategic planning retreats, they either decline to attend, fail to show up, arrive late, leave early, or spend the entire caucus distracted by email.” Or Zoom. Or a live football match on YouTube…a real episode.

But what’s the big deal? Why should you care? After all, mailing it in has been a part of Jamaican history ever since Columbus met and tried to enslave the Tainos. Their response was probably typical of all oppressed people: to pretend to be doing as much as possible while actually doing the minimum.

Here are a few reasons to highlight this tendency that may help address it in your organization.

1. An Insidious Form of Corruption

We Jamaicans often treat corruption as if it’s a novel coronavirus – a once in a lifetime event that arrives out of the blue all of a sudden, shocking us all. Consider that, in your company, corruption starts with something tiny: when someone mails it in.

In other words, whenever staff members offer up “a minimum, rather than appropriate, level of effort” they are doing more than being lazy. In fact, they are undermining the very mission of the enterprise.

Strangely enough, they could be well-intentioned. The truth is, we are imperfect, which means that sometimes we miss the mark entirely. Some departments or boards do so for years at a time, eventually doing great damage to the very cause they are trying to uphold.

However, the important part that’s missing is a tool of accountability: consistent and transparent feedback, especially in those moments when you are mailing it in. In other words, when you don’t have someone who is willing to let you know when you are merely putting in a half-effort, you are likely to slide into a micro-corruption which masses into a mission-killing culture.

To illustrate: for every Usain Bolt there is another person with equal talent. The only difference is often a lack of accountability: continuous, corrective conversations between the performer and his/her coach. Without such direct help at unexpected times, it’s hard to achieve much.

In firms with such dysfunctional cultures, pointing fingers is a wasted effort. The sad fact is, whenever a group of individuals don’t practice holding each other to a high standard on a regular basis, mailing it in becomes the inescapable, mediocre norm.

2. Lack of Role Models

Unfortunately, when this corruption leaks in at the highest level it’s a different kettle of fish. Why? We Jamaicans tend to pay a lot of attention to hierarchies.

For example, a board that fails in its basic duties (i.e. to have AGM’s, regular meetings, challenging conversations, high performing members) sends a signal to the company: it tolerates corruption.

Over time, anyone who attempts to raise the bar in any part of the organization can be thwarted. They will learn or be told that they are being unfair, or unreasonable. And if they look for support at a higher level, they find the same corruption.

At that point, staff members quit. Either they start a job-hunt or worse: they remain in the job and lapse into mailing it in. They join the club.

Sometimes, a knowledge of these two costs is enough to spur a transformation. Use them to show your organization the places where it’s killing its own success by collectively mailing it in.