Broken Windows and the zombie minimum culture

I recently had an experience at an organization that had seen better days. The headquarters of the organization that were once magnificent and stately were now in desperate need of thorough cleaning, fresh paint, and light repairs. Although after using the “facilities” before my meeting, I would say those were in need of a MAJOR overhaul, but I digress. As I sat in the HR office waiting for my meeting, I noticed that the space was more organized chaos than anything else. Even the Receptionist, who was attentive, knowledgeable and polite, had a wrinkle problem with his clothes that made me think he either a) needs to do a wash, or b) like me, he absolutely abhors folding clean clothes. However, no matter how much I hate folding, I always run a warm iron, as needed, over my business clothes (for suits I use my professional steamer). Additionally the non-HR personnel I did meet had a slightly better than zombie look about them as they conducted their business. They seemed sucked lifeless by an organization that valued nothing and was the embodiment of a policy book that set a minimum “15 pieces of flair” without rewarding those who did more. As I sat there I thought two things. First, I thought how sad a state of disrepair this once prominent organization has fallen into. Second, I thought how gross the bathroom was; eye level exposed copper pipes, green and yellow tile and a trough sink. Seriously gross.

It wasn’t until about a week later as I drove through the town where the organization is located and right past the HQ itself that it dawned on me… Broken Windows! More so “broken windows theory” is what I was thinking about. I then thought if I were in charge of the HR area, I could whip that place back into shape in no time (okay in some time, but you get my point). Notice how I didn’t say “if I were in charge of the whole organization”, I said just in charge of the HR department. Why? You ask. Because in a situation such as this, a disorganized zombie culture cannot be effectively transformed from the top, but rather has to be manipulated from within. HR is the police department in the broken windows theory looking to stop the crime of murdering the souls and minds of the employees. Just like in the theory I would start by solving the petty crimes or rather, fixing the broken windows.

Step 1) Reorganize the HR office. Organized chaos is a shambolic front to have. Any potential or current employee who walks into that office should at least walk out impressed with how it looks. They should almost think, well the building itself is terrible, but HR is on top of their stuff. Clean the space up, change the feng shui

Step 2) Enforce the dress code, in the HR office at first, but then throughout the organization. Now “professionals” from around the world will argue with me on this one, but let’s face it how you dress reflects how serious people take you. My receptionist friend could have been the guy from the DOS EQUIS commercials, but with all those wrinkles I wouldn’t even ask him directions if I saw him on the street holding a map. In the HR office, people need to be reassured of the quality product we are providing. Ironing your completely acceptable clothing choices is one way to help assure them of that.

Step 3) After the HR office and staff is on the right path, I would start recruiting and hiring better for all jobs in the organization. Better is a sliding scale, for me talent is talent, but people who are going to fit the mold of professionals and organized are moving to the top of the “to hire” and therefore BETTER than those who don’t. In any event the goal would be to fight the zombies by bringing some life back to the organization.

Step 4) Lobby top management for the funding to have the bathrooms fixed. Now I know in this day and age financial capital can be put to better use than upgrading bathrooms, but as part of the plan to fix the broken windows this has to be the next step. The bathrooms are the only common thread of space between all employees and all visitors to the office, including potential new hires. As any college sports follower knows the better your facilities the more likely you are to have better recruits playing on your team!

Step 5) Zombie management interventions. What are these you ask? Most people know them as management training. Let’s face it, we all tend to manage those beneath us how we were managed or the complete opposite from how we were managed. That means for all the different classes of management in the text book, most people are only using the 2 they know about somebody else’s or the opposite of someone else’s. Neither of which may be a good fit for them as managers or the organization as a whole. By intervening and looking for ways to improve management, their might just be an opportunity to breathe life back into the existing employee base.

Those are just the basis for fixing the broken windows and changing the zombie culture at this particular organization. However, no matter the situation I believe that HR has to be the driver of organizational change. So let me ask you loyal readers… is it HR’s failure that leads to these types of organizations? Is HR the right place to start fixing the broken windows?

Are you a good boss?

Across every organization, in every industry, in every country the questions of what makes a good manager will be a hot button issue. Books on management and leadership are produced almost daily not to mention that annually academia produces volumes on the theory of leadership and management. I even threw my hat in the ring with a Master's Thesis titled "A Study of the Context in Strategic Leadership" however what set my thesis apart and sets my views on management apart from others is I don't believe that there is one "perfect" way to manage or lead people. In recent posts where I attempt to interpret Sun Tzu's five failings of a general and in my posts on why we as managers are bad at making decisions Part 1 and Part 2, I argue that we are all victims of our own limited cognitive capacities as human beings.

While I don't believe that one type of management is better, I do believe that there are good manager and bad managers, and as my thesis would argue it is all based on the context of the context... (If anyone wants a copy of this I can e-mail a bulky PDF upon request). So what do I mean when I say it is all based on context, well consider asking yourself, Which manager in the past did I enjoy working for the most? Why? What was happening in my personal life? What was happening at the organization? What level of work was I at? If you answer those questions honestly you can begin to see maybe it wasn't so much that they were good managers, but that the context in which they managed was positive. You can also replicate the questions in the negative sense, as in why did I hate my old boss?

However while I don't think one style or type is better, I do believe that there are some definite things every good manager should understand... in context of course.

1) Understanding that customer service flows through the organization, not just out of it. As Vineet Nayar puts it into action at HCL, employee's first, customers second. If a manager can understand where in process the work being done by his or her employee's comes from and flows to next, they will be better at addressing the professional needs of their employees.

2) Understanding that while it may rain down from above, a good manager is both an umbrella and a cumulonimbus cloud. A good boss should protect their employees from unnecessary rain and take the brunt of any STORMS that may be headed their way. How many of us can say we didn't like a boss because anytime he or she got into trouble he passed the blame down onto us? At the same time we all love a boss that "goes to bat for us". That said even if the boss goes to bat for you, they should be prepared to rain down thunder and lightning on under-performing employees. A better way to describe it would be that a good boss doesn't let anyone else punish their employees, but is always prepared to punish them if they are at fault.

3) Understanding that being predictable isn't always a bad thing. As any Psychologist can tell you, people are confused by people who have unpredictable reactions. And as any management text can tell you, if your employees are confused you are not doing so well as a manager. The implication for business is to simply try and have a consistent reaction, or at the very least a predictable reaction. If you lash out because a report is filed incorrectly on Monday, and then play it off as no big deal on Tuesday, then no one can tell if it is a big deal or not a big deal because you created ambiguity. For example at an early point in my life as a manager two of my employees didn't appreciate each others personalities. In fact both contacted me minutes apart and said I need to do something. I told them both the same thing, "This is a personal matter, it is not a business matter therefore as your manager I will listen to both your personal complaints, but only rule that you both are liable for not doing your work today. I will only get involved in matters of business, and the interest of business will decide all matters." By doing this I let them both know what they could expect an honest open door as a manager but I removed all ambiguity from the way I would deal with personal and professional matters.

4) Understanding that it isn't personal, it's only business. Just like in the Godfather, you can never react to employee issues personally. If you do, you are done. In the example above, I could have easily told one of my employees who was truly just stirring up trouble, that she was wrong, and she was the root of all the problems in the department. I wouldn't have been lying either. However if I had done that I wouldn't have been able to increase their individual work load with out being rebuffed, nor would I have been able to lighten another person's workload in the department without being accused of playing favorites. However by sticking to business, I maintained my ability as a manager to manage as I saw fit.

5) Understanding that just because you are the boss, you didn't instantly become a genius. This is probably one of the hardest concepts for managers to understand. For example as a result of the above mentioned personality conflict, I brought to my staff the idea of buddy lunches. In theory it sounded perfectly reasonable, one day a week you rotated and had to eat lunch one on one with another person from the department. It seemed like a good idea especially as I tried to break down the "cliques" and personality conflicts in the department. However when presented with the idea my employees kind of chuckled at my idea and told me in unison that this wasn't primary school and they didn't need a required lunch buddy program. Now to be sure I had already spent a lot of time on developing the rotating schedule and fitting it into their work schedules. I was also more than a bit embarrassed to be told that this wasn't "primary school," but instead of ramming my idea down their throats because I could. I simply said fair enough, but we have got to come up with a better way to break up the "cliques" and all work together. They came up with their own solution amongst themselves and it seemed to work.

A manger who understands these 5 things is more than likely going to be labeled a good manager by the majority of their employees. Wouldn't you agree?

Decisions, decisions... why we are bad at making them and what we can do to make better ones for our businesses. (Part 1)

One of the most important aspects about being a leader in business is making decisions. In the hierarchy of decision types the pinnacle is a strategic decision. These are the decisions that make or break the business. These are the ones that impact the future immediately and often bind substantial resources of the company. The importance of the decision is often palpable and as a result strategic decisions are often the hardest ones for even the most seasoned business people to make.

Considering that no one can 100% accurately predict the future every strategic decision starts out as a 50/50 coin flip. However, there are numerous tomes and pages of research dedicated to the topic of making better strategic decisions. Interestingly, none of the things I have read or any of the research I have seen works in all instances. The main reason for this is that most research is based on case studies and hindsight that prove the researchers point, or on experiments that limit “real world” variables. I don’t know about you, but I have never been able to go back and make a decision, nor have I been able to change the variables surrounding my strategic decisions. So is there anything we can do to make better strategic decisions? Yes there certainly is.

Research shows that the only constant in strategic decision making is the human element. However, as you may figure, it is hard to ever really consider the human element a constant. We all have different experiences, moods, emotions, etc. which research shows impacts our ability to make strategic decisions. Moreover since we are not machines the human condition actually causes us to make bad strategic decisions. Therefore the key to making better strategic decisions is not finding a formula for making strategic decisions but understanding what about us is going to cause us to make a poor decision. In part 2 I will discuss the causes and give the tips you need to make better strategic decisions.