Michael Lee Stallard's Blog, page 16

How U2’s Extraordinary Team Culture Helps the Band Thrive

This week U2 releases its 14th studio album, “Songs of Experience.” The band has had a phenomenal run since it came together in the mid-1970s. U2 is composed of four band members: lead singer Bono, lead guitar player “Edge,” bass guitar player Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. The band members have known each other since they were teenagers in Dublin, Ireland. In its early days it was not unusual for the band to be booed and laughed at. The wonder is that U2 has gone on to receive a remarkable 22 Grammy awards, more than any band in history, and has the highest revenue-generating concert tour.

Now in its fifth decade, critics still rave about U2’s music and fans worldwide can’t seem to get enough of its songs and concert appearances. All the signs indicate that U2 is at the top of its game and will be going strong for the foreseeable future. How have the original members of U2 stayed together and the band remained relevant for this long when most bands are fortunate to survive a single decade?

Understanding how U2 has thrived for so long provides insight into the factors that make teams of all types and sizes thrive. One key to U2’s success is its internal culture.

Is there a best team culture?

Culture is a vague concept to most leaders. When my colleagues and I set out to make culture clear so leaders could become more intentional about designing and maintaining a healthy culture, we came up with this simple definition:

Culture is the predominant attitudes, language and behavior of a group. 

Attitudes are the ways people think and feel that affect behavior.
Language is the words people use to describe their thoughts and feelings.
Behavior is the way people act.

Our research revealed that there are three types of cultures to be aware of. The first is the “culture of control.” In this culture, most people feel controlled by one of more of the following: autocratic leaders, micro-management, too many rules and/or bureaucracy. The second is a “culture of indifference” in which most people feel that those they work with don’t care about them personally and merely see them as means to an end. Both cultures of control and cultures of indifference make people feel unsupported, left out and lonely.

The best culture we discovered is a connection culture. In this type of culture, most people describe feeling connected to their supervisor, their colleagues, their work and the people whom the group serves. When people feel these connections, they thrive, individually and collectively, and are more resilient when coping with the inevitable challenges and stress in work and life.

A connection culture is created when leaders communicate an inspiring vision, value people and give them a voice. An easy way to remember this is Vision + Value + Voice = Connection. A connection culture provides several benefits to organizational performance, which, taken together, add up to a powerful source of competitive advantage.

Let’s look at the three elements of Vision, Value and Voice, and how they help create the shared identity, empathy and understanding that connects the members of U2 and provides the foundation for the band’s connection culture. Bono has said that the way U2 functions is even more extraordinary than the band’s music. He has described the band as more of an organism than an organization. Here are several aspects of U2’s culture that stand out.

Communicate an inspiring vision (this creates shared identity)

The members of U2 share a vision of their mission and values. While you might expect a band’s mission to be achieving commercial success measured by #1 hits and concert attendance, U2’s mission is to improve the world through its music and influence. Bono calls it “the spark.” He feels it sets U2 apart from many other bands. U2’s songs address themes the band members believe are important such as human rights, social justice and matters of faith. Bono has described himself as a traveling salesman of ideas within songs.

The band values excellence in the music it produces and in its concert performances. Bono has described this value as a desire to achieve the band’s potential. He distinguishes it from envy, which is an unhealthy state of mind that exists when people competitively want what others have. U2’s members value continuous improvement in order to achieve their own potential, never feeling satisfied that they can’t become even better.

Value people (this creates shared empathy)

Like many of us, the members of U2 have experienced difficult periods in their lives. These experiences have shaped them in important ways. Bono’s mother died when he was a teenager, before the band came into existence. He describes the period following her death as one in which he felt alone and abandoned. Although he longed for emotional support from his family, his grief-stricken father was unable to comfort his son. To some extent, Bono’s desire for family was met through his friends and getting to know their families.

Having experienced what it was like to grieve alone and the difference the support of a family can have, when Larry Mullen Jr.’s mother died in a car accident while Larry was a teenager, Bono reached out to console him. This began a close, supportive friendship. Later on, when U2 was offered a recording contract from a major record label on the condition that it replace Larry with a more conventional drummer, it made Bono so mad he basically told the record company executives to “shove it.”

Bono has stated that when one of the band members is in need, the band rallies around to support him and they put that need above the performance of the band. When Edge went through a difficult divorce, the band members were there to support him. When Adam Clayton became addicted to alcohol and drugs, the band members were there to help him recover. It’s no wonder that one of U2’s most popular songs is entitled, “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own.”

Bono consistently values and praises the talents and character of his band mates. He has said that although he hears melodies in his head, he is unable to transfer them into written music. Because he considers himself a “lousy guitar player and an even lousier piano player,” he relies on his fellow band members and recognizes that they are integral to his success. To Bono, U2 is “the best example of how to rely on others.”

Here is another way that Bono demonstrates that he values the others and it might surprise you: The economic profits from U2’s work are split equally between the four band members and their manager. Given Bono’s status as a megastar, it would not be inconceivable if he claimed more than an equal share of the band’s profits. What better way to show your team members that you value them than to treat them and their unique contribution as economic equals?

Give people a voice (this creates shared understanding)

U2 is further unified by its participative, consensus-oriented decision-making style that gives each member a voice. The members of U2 argue relentlessly over their music, which reflects their passion for excellence. Bono has stated that this approach is frustrating at times but that U2 feels it is necessary to achieve excellence.

These attitudes, uses of language, and behaviors described above develop a bond of connection among the members of U2. Bono describes U2 as a tight-knit family and community. He has said, “people with a strong sense of family and community… are always very strong people.” The commitment to support one another extends beyond the four members of the band too. The four members of U2 are part of a larger community that includes their families, crew members and collaborators, many of whom have known each other for decades.

Watch Michael Stallard explain U2’s connection culture.

Application

Designing a culture that emulates the practices of U2 can unite your group and engage its members. Doing so will increase trust, cooperation and esprit de corps among your group members. Three areas to focus on are as follows:

Identify your group’s identity (i.e. mission and/or values) that makes the members of your group feel proud
Nurture a caring community in which each person feels encouraged, supported and valued, especially during difficult periods
Develop a participative, consensus-oriented decision-making style that gives people a voice in matters they care about.

Vision, Value and Voice are a powerful combination in the team culture that has held U2 together as a band for more than four decades. The resulting longevity has given them time to evolve their music and performances in refreshing and innovative directions. Imagine what this kind of culture could do for your team and organization?

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia user MelicansMatkin under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Image has been cropped.

The post How U2’s Extraordinary Team Culture Helps the Band Thrive appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

3 Ways Connection Provides Protection From Job Burnout

 

Recently Katie Stallard and I taught a Connection Culture workshop at a leading healthcare organization and I gave the closing keynote speech at the ATD/Columbia University School of Business Healthcare Summit in New York City. In conversations with people I met, I sensed a growing alarm and frustration about rising levels of burnout in healthcare.

I’m concerned and believe this problem is growing. It is one reason why we’re seeing an epidemic of loneliness and addiction today. When people are burned out, they typically spend all their time on tasks and little time connecting with others. We are human beings not machines. We’re hardwired to connect and when we don’t, our bodies rebel physically and mentally to send us a distress message. As a result, we don’t feel well and often engage in addictive behaviors and/or substances to make us temporarily feel better.

This problem has been brewing for years. In 2011 Sussman, et al. studied the co-occurrence of 11 addictions in the U.S. (cigarettes, alcohol, illicit drugs, binge eating, gambling, Internet, love, sex, exercise, work, and shopping). By reviewing 83 studies with more than 500 respondents, Sussman and his coauthors concluded that approximately 47% of Americans had one or more of the 11 addictions.

The Primary Cause of Job Burnout

The gold standard job burnout assessment is the 22-question Maslach Burnout Inventory (“MBI”) by Stanford University psychology professor, Christina Maslach,. The MBI surveys three areas: exhaustion, depersonalization and professional efficacy. According to Dr. Maslach, people often think the demands of their jobs are the primary contributors to burnout. Interestingly, she has found that poor relationships in the workplace – incivility, passive aggressive behavior and bullying – are often the real culprit.

In other words, people have a misconception when it comes to burnout; they think it’s caused by work demands when more often it’s attributable to a poor state of relationships or, what I call, a lack of connection. Matthew Lieberman, a social neuroscientist at UCLA, has noticed this blind spot, too, and he refers to it as “our kryptonite.” In his TEDtalk, “The Social Brain and Its Superpowers,” Lieberman calls connection a superpower and this lack of appreciation of our social superpowers keeps us from becoming smarter, happier and more productive (similar to how kryptonite prevented Superman from exercising his superpowers of flight and x-ray vision).

3 Practices to Protect Yourself

Burnout is often the result of spending too much time on tasks that consume energy and insufficient time on activities that energize. Here are three practices that can boost connection and emotional energy to help protect you from burnout.

1. Connect Yourself

Schedule time for self-care. I know one person who literally schedules time in his calendar and guards it as he would an appointment with a client. Self-care will make you emotionally sturdier and more resilient.

At one time in my life, my habit was to run hard until I collapsed, take time to recover… and repeat the cycle. It wasn’t until a client of mine had me complete the Hartman Values Profile that I was even aware of this unhealthy pattern. It was a wake-up call that resulted in changing my attitude and behavior. Today I have several safeguards in place. Each week, I take at least one 24-hour period off from thinking about work and chipping away at my to do list, and do things that are life-giving and that recharge my batteries. I also exercise on a regular basis and spend time on most days for self-reflection (praying and recording entries in the Gratitude 365 app, for example).

2. Connect With Others Outside of Work

You should be aware that America is experiencing an epidemic of loneliness (read excellent articles about it in Harvard Business Review, Slate and The Atlantic). I can relate. When the demands of work and commute crowded out time for family and friends, I began to suffer from loneliness. I didn’t feel well, but wasn’t aware that loneliness fueled by stress was behind how I was feeling physically

No one ever told me that people are hardwired for connection and that we dysfunction when our need for connection goes unmet. If you’re not convinced that you need connection to thrive in life, read the “Science of Connection” chapter in Connection Culture where I present the scientific evidence. Now I’m intentional about spending time with my wife and going to my men’s Bible study on Saturday mornings. You should be intentional about investing time connecting, too.

3. Connect With Colleagues and Customers

Over the course of my career I have worked in cultures that energized me and cultures that drained my energy. Mind you, I hadn’t changed. I’ve come to see that it was the differences in attitudes, uses of language and behaviors that affected me. Workplace cultures either control people, are indifferent to people (because everyone is so busy they don’t take time to connect) or they connect people. It’s connection cultures that help people thrive, individually and collectively.

To establish and sustain a healthy workplace culture, it’s necessary to have a common vocabulary that defines what culture is, a framework to create a healthy culture and examples of how others have done it. Rather than trying to assemble this on your own, I recommend taking time to get your team together to read my latest book, Connection Culture. As a companion piece, download free copies of the 28-page 100 Ways to Connect e-book. You and your team can use these practical resources to develop a shared language and approach to team culture and then identify individual and collective actions for implementation.

The bottom line? Connection is protection from burnout.  I sincerely hope you will mark this day, begin connecting and watch what happens. I promise that over time, you will see that connection affects much more than the financial bottom line. As you experience greater levels of productivity, prosperity and joy that come from having an abundance of connection in your life, you will discover wealth of even greater value.

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10 Practices to Create a Workplace That May Lengthen Your Life

In my last article, I shared two TED Talks on connection.  In Susan Pinker’s TED Talk, she referenced the research of Julianne Holt-Lunstad which found that “social integration” provided a 91% increase in the odds of survival for individuals. But what is social integration and how can you encourage it in your own life?

Social integration reflects the broad ways in which we interact with people throughout each day. With social integration, people feel connected to a community such as their family, the people they regularly commute with on a train, and/or their colleagues at work and customers.

Increasing connection in your workplace culture and the bond you have with your colleagues and customers boosts social integration in your life. Try these 10 practices to get started:

Expect the best of people – Frances Hesselbein, who led the turnaround of the Girl Scouts, always expects the best in others. This kind of mindset helps you to connect with people.
Personalize your greeting – When meeting someone for the first time, a simple practice to help you remember the person’s first name is to use it three times early in the conversation.
Seek the unique – When meeting people for the first time, ask questions to identify something unique about them. Doing this will make you more likely to remember the person. Elizabeth Dole, the former president of the Red Cross, did this and frequently brought up in conversation what was unique about a person the next time she saw him or her.
Know their stories – Take time to get to know the people you work with, especially your direct reports. Have coffee or a meal with them. Ask questions to learn about their lives and what’s important to them: “What are you passionate about?” “What are your interests outside of work?” “Where did you grow up?” “What do you like to do during your free time?” “Which leaders have inspired you and why?” These questions typically open the door for you to ask follow-up questions, and will give you insights into how the people you work with are wired, including what they value at work and in their lives. Psychologist James Pennebaker has found that when you get people to talk, they feel more connected to you, like you more, and believe they learn more from you.
Acknowledge people in meetings – When you enter a room, and it’s appropriate given the context and number of people present, take time to greet or non-verbally acknowledge each individual present, even when you are familiar with people. Not personally acknowledging them, either at the start or close of the meeting, runs the risk of giving them the impression that you’re indifferent.
Be present in conversations – It has been said that attention is oxygen for relationships. When meeting with people, get in the habit of being present by staying focused on them and giving them your full attention. Show that you are engaged and interested by asking questions and then asking follow-up questions to clarify. Listen carefully, observing facial expressions and body cues. Don’t break the connection by checking your phone, looking at your watch or around the room, or letting your mind wander.
Proactively help others – Seize opportunities to help others. Send your colleagues any information you come across that affirms the vision, that may help them do their jobs better, that relates to a topic they are interested in, or that may help them in some way outside work.
Connect over lunch – In many workplace cultures, taking lunch away from your desk may brand you as a slacker. However, taking time to connect with people who energize you is a great way to boost your personal productivity by refreshing and re-energizing your brain.
Be a connection catalyst – Research has shown that the emotions of individuals and groups can spiral up or down. Take the initiative to enhance the emotions of others by being optimistic and upbeat. By intentionally making connections with others, you can become a catalyst to positive emotions.
Express your thanks – When someone does something for you, be sure to say “thank you.” This seems obvious, but you would be surprised by how many people neglect this common courtesy. If the person did something for you that required considerable effort on his part, send a handwritten thank you note. Several outstanding leaders I know send handwritten thank you notes on a regular basis. They understand that a handwritten note stands out in this age of electronic communications and conveys how much they value the recipient.

For more practices, download our free e-book, 100 Ways to Connect.

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Why Connection is a Matter of Life and Death

This week I want to share two outstanding TED Talks with you that demonstrate how both quantitative and qualitative research are coming to the conclusion that human connection improves the quality and length of our lives.

I’d encourage you to watch the entire talks. For those who don’t have time, a few highlights follow.

Richard Waldinger, Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, on Happiness

A recent survey of millennials asked them what their most important life goals are. Over 80 percent stated that a major life goal is to get rich and 50 percent said it is to be famous, but a major study demonstrates that other factors lead to a fulfilled life.

Over 75 years, the Harvard Study of Adult Development tracked the lives of 724 men. Researchers sent them questionnaires, interviewed them in their homes, reviewed medical records from their doctors, tested their blood, scanned their brains, and spoke with their wives and children. About a decade ago, they invited the participants’ wives to join the study.

The study’s lessons aren’t about wealth or fame or working harder. The primary lesson is this: good relationships keep us happier and healthier.

The research found three primary lessons about relationships.

‍People who are more socially connected to family, to friends, and to community are happier, they’re physically healthier, and they live longer than people who are less well connected. And the experience of loneliness turns out to be toxic.
‍The quality of close relationships matters. It turns out that living in the midst of chronic conflict is really bad for our health.
‍Relationships with people who have our backs provides protection for our brains, and people in relationships where they feel they can’t count on the other person experience earlier memory decline.

The bottom line is that the good life, both quality and length of life, is built with good relationships.

Susan Pinker, Developmental Psychologist, On Living Longer

In 2015, Lancet published research showing that men in rich countries are twice as likely to die as women are at any age. An exception is men who live on the island of Sardinia. Genes account for 25 percent of their longevity while 75 percent is attributed to lifestyle, so Dr. Pinker went to Sardinia to investigate. Dr. Pinker observed that the village of Villagrande, at the epicenter of the area she studied, is densely populated. The centenarians there were always surrounded by extended family, friends, neighbors, the priest, the barkeeper, the grocer, etc. People were always there or dropping by. They never lived solitary lives, unlike the rest of the developed world.

Dr. Pinker pointed to the research of Julianne Holt-Lunstad from Brigham Young University, who looked at every aspect of people’s lifestyles: diet, exercise, marital status, frequency of medical exams, whether they smoked or drank, etc., then waited for seven years to see who survived. Results are shown below:

Connection accounts for the two top factors that reduce the risk of mortality. Close relationships rank first. Second is social integration, which means how much you interact with people as you move through your day, including weak bonds. Rhetorically, Dr. Pinker asks:

“Do you talk to the guy who every day makes you your coffee? Do you talk to the postman? Do you talk to the woman who walks by your house every day with her dog? Do you play bridge or poker, have a book club?”

Along with close supportive relationships, casual daily interactions turn out to be “one of the strongest predictors of how long you’ll live,” far greater than diet, exercise and other factors we assume are more important.

Now that we spend, on average, more time online than on any other activity (around 11 hours a day), Dr. Pinker dug deeper to see if it makes a difference. The short answer is no. She says:

“Face-to-face contact releases a whole cascade of neurotransmitters, and like a vaccine, they protect you now in the present and well into the future. So simply making eye contact with somebody, shaking hands, giving somebody a high-five is enough to release oxytocin, which increases your level of trust and it lowers your cortisol levels. So it lowers your stress. And dopamine is generated, which gives us a little high and it kills pain.”

Dr. Pinker points to the research of Elizabeth Redcay, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland. Dr. Redcay’s research images illustrate that there is greater brain activation from in-person interactions as compared to brain activation from watching videos like those on YouTube.

Dr. Pinker concludes that women may live longer than men because they prioritize face-to-face relationships and develop them over their lifetimes.  She states, “fresh evidence shows that these in-person friendships create a biological force field against disease and decline” and calls for each of us to do what we can to build “in-person interaction into our cities, into our workplaces, into our agendas [because it] bolsters the immune system, sends feel-good hormones surging through the bloodstream and brain and helps us live longer. I call this building your village, and building it and sustaining it is a matter of life and death.”

To consider how to boost connection in your life at home and in your workplace, download the 100 Ways to Connect e-book. Take time to go through it and identify attitudes, language and behaviors that will boost connection in your life and in the lives of the people you interact with each day. Consider sending this link to friends and family members so they will benefit from our free e-book and encourage them to sign up for the Connection Culture newsletter with more practical tips.

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3 Factors That Make Costco America’s Best Employer

Costco Wholesale moved in front of Google to earn the title of America’s best large employer this year. To determine America’s best employer each year, Statista and Forbes survey 30,000 workers at U.S. organizations, asking them questions about their work experience. Costco has consistently appeared in the top three. Clearly, Costco is doing something right.

When Costco opened a location in our area, my wife and I became members. Invariably, we stop in for a few items and come out with a loaded cart. Our customer experience has always been positive. Recently, I’ve been learning about the corporate side of Costco, poring over articles and analyst reports. I’ve spoken with Jim Sinegal, Costco’s co-founder and CEO from 1983 to 2011, and interacted with Ryan Watkins, a young Costco warehouse manager across the country in Oregon. In early August I traveled to Seattle to attend a portion of Costco’s Annual Managers Meeting where I gave a keynote speech based on my book Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy and Understanding at Work. (In the spirit of full disclosure, Costco purchased 1,100 copies of Connection Culture for its leaders.)

At a time when the percentage of engaged employees in America is stuck at around one-third and American-style capitalism has fallen out of favor in the eyes of many, Costco represents what’s possible, the very best of America. It provides a model corporate culture that other organizations should strive to emulate.

What is Culture? What Types of Culture Exist? Is There a Best Culture?

Culture is a vague concept to most leaders. When my colleagues and I set out to make culture clear so leaders could become more intentional about developing and maintaining a healthy culture, we came up with the following simple definition:

Culture is the predominant attitudes, language and behavior of the organization. 

Attitudes are the ways people think and feel that affect behavior.
Language is the words people use to describe their thoughts and feelings.
Behavior is the ways people act

Our research discovered that there are three types of cultures that leaders and workers need to be aware of. The first is the “culture of control.” In this culture, most people feel controlled by one of more of the following: autocratic leaders, micro-management, too many rules and/or bureaucracy. The second is a “culture of indifference” in which most people feel that the people they work with don’t care about them and see them merely as means to an end. Both cultures of control and cultures of indifference make many people feel unsupported, left out and lonely. With the prevalence of these organizational cultures in the U.S., it’s not surprising that two-thirds of American workers are disengaged.

The best culture we discovered is a “Connection Culture.” In this culture, most people describe feeling connected to their supervisor, colleagues, their work, the organization’s leaders and the people the organization serves. When people feel these connections, they thrive, individually and collectively. Connection Culture is created when leaders communicate an inspiring vision, value people and give them a voice (i.e. Vision + Value + Voice = Connection). A Connection Culture provides five benefits to organizational performance that I’ve written about, which, taken together, add up to a powerful source of competitive advantage.

Costco’s Connection Culture

Costco has one of the highest degrees of connection I’ve personally witnessed in my 15 years of focusing on issues of organizational culture. I believe it helps explain why Costco is America’s best employer. Let’s look at the three elements of Vision, Value and Voice and how they provide the foundation of Costco’s Connection Culture.

1. Communicate an Inspiring Vision

In the context of a Connection Culture, my colleagues and I define vision as having three parts: mission, values and reputation. The vision of Costco is that the organization helps people make ends meet, helps businesses be more efficient and serve customers better, and is a positive force in the communities where its warehouses reside.

Costco’s values are summed up in a phrase “always do the right thing, even when it hurts.” Costco lives this out in the way it faithfully serves its members, the way it treats employees like family and the positive things it does for communities. Because Costco deliberately lives out these aspirations, its reputation is stellar. As a result, Costco’s members trust the company will provide quality goods and services at an attractive price, and will be safe for its members and the people they love. The level of customer loyalty Costco has developed with its members is the envy of every retailer.

2. Value People

Value exists in a culture when people are valued as human beings rather than being thought of and treated as means to an end. Costco values people. Compared to competitors, it provides generous compensation and benefits to its employees. Costco provides career opportunities for its employees. The fact that Costco’s senior executives started out working on the front lines in warehouses is a testament to upward career mobility. The job security Costco has provided also shows that it values employees as human beings.

Valuing people has been stress-tested at Costco, too. The times Wall Street criticized Costco for its generous compensation and benefits, Costco’s leaders didn’t cave in. Instead, it continued to do what was best for the long-term by giving raises to its people. During difficult economic seasons, Costco tightened its belt, rolled up its sleeves, and worked harder and smarter so that its employees would continue getting raises. No jobs were cut when Costco merged with Price Club. At the warehouses, the local leaders hold programs to help employees move up in responsibility and they teach managers to “greet before delegating.” A word you will hear frequently at Costco is “family.” The intentional attitudes, language and behavior at Costco make its people feel like valued members of the Costco family.

When I spoke with Jim Sinegal, he emphasized that valuing people is the right thing to do and it’s a good business practice. Costco’s low employee turnover is a case in point.  Furthermore, longtime Costco employees develop friendships with each other — a factor which has been shown to boost employee engagement and performance.

3. Give People a Voice

Giving people a voice to express their ideas and opinions then considering them is a third way Costco strengthens its Connection Culture. Sinegal told me a story about the time in Costco’s early days when it was opening a warehouse in downtown Seattle and the local liquor license inspector questioned everything. As the inspector’s inquiry stretched out, Sinegal blew up at him, in frustration. A colleague of Sinegal’s had to be sent to convince the inspector that he had gone temporarily insane.

Looking back, Sinegal wishes he could thank the inspector. His thorough questioning helped Costco become better prepared for what it would face ahead during its decades-long expansion. The bottom line is that difficult conversations and questions can be gifts in disguise. Costco embraces this attitude of humility and honesty and that posture makes the company smarter and stronger.

While attending Costco’s Annual Managers Meeting, I saw another manifestation of the Connection Culture element of Voice. Costco continuously taps into the ideas and opinions of its employees around the world to identify ways to improve its delivery of goods and services to members and improve efficiencies that reduce costs. Video after video was shown of employee ideas that have been implemented, along with estimates of the economic benefits associated with each. The creativity and ingenuity of Costco employees was a sight to behold. In highlighting these stories, Costco leaders celebrated these improvements while at the same time disseminating practices that could be replicated across the company.

Surviving and Thriving

The company’s Connection Culture provides a competitive advantage that will help it sustain its impressive track record of superior performance and weather the difficult seasons that all companies face from time-to-time. Some of its competitors have been reported in the press to have toxic cultures that harm employees. These organizations may continue to perform well for a while, but eventually their lack of connection will lead to managerial failure that sabotages performance. It’s only a question of when. Meanwhile, the Costco leaders of today are preparing future generations of Costco leaders in the ways of connection and that will help ensure the Costco family, and its service to its members, not only survives but also thrives.

You May Also Enjoy: 

When Leaders Live the Vision

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Photo courtesy of Flickr user Mike Mozart under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic. Image has been cropped.

The post 3 Factors That Make Costco America’s Best Employer appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

When Leaders Live the Vision

Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital, a part of Northwestern Medicine, is an elite performing healthcare organization in terms of patient satisfaction, employee engagement and financial performance. Marianjoy is composed of a network of 500 inpatient medical acute/sub-acute beds and outpatient rehabilitation services delivering a full range of multispecialty services to adults and children in the greater Chicagoland area. More than 50,000 patients receive care within the Marianjoy service network annually.

Marianjoy is led by Kathleen Yosko, its president and CEO. A life-long learner, Ms. Yosko, in addition to being a nurse by background, has earned M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees. Ms. Yosko is a source of inspiration to the people she leads. She is an example of a leader who communicates an inspiring vision and lives it, as can be seen throughout her remarkable career.

Overcoming Obstacles to Serve Patients Well

As a relatively new nurse during the height of the Vietnam War, Ms. Yosko was assigned to work with paraplegic and quadriplegic former solders at a Veterans Administration Hospital in Pittsburgh. She noticed the regular “cat calls” and comments from male patients about the attractiveness of women. While others chose to overlook this behavior, Ms. Yosko realized it was a sign the men were longing for sexual intimacy and stressed about that aspect of their lives going forward, given the nature of their injuries.

Historically, this particular need of returning veterans was ignored by healthcare practitioners. To Ms. Yosko, it was a problem to be solved that would help her patients. She went on a mission to learn about male sexual function and anatomy, even though her medical colleagues discouraged her from talking with patients about sexual intimacy. Undeterred, she read books and sought advice from experts, eventually becoming an expert herself and going on to counsel scores of veterans and their wives.

Serving the Poor in Chicago’s Gang-Infested Westside

Not one to back down from a challenge, from 1978 to 1998, Ms. Yosko became the president and CEO of Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital and Care Network on the west side of Chicago. Schwab faced many challenges because it catered primarily to the poor, including gang members who required rehabilitation following injuries from gun violence.

Under Ms. Yosko’s leadership, Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital’s performance improved across the board and it experienced extensive growth. During her tenure, a replacement hospital was completed. Schwab now operates eight satellite facilities in the Chicago area. Ms. Yosko’s success transforming Schwab caught the attention of officials at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital who in 1998 recruited Yosko to be its president and CEO.

Building the Best

In her early years of leading Marianjoy, which is based in the suburb of Wheaton about 30 minutes west of downtown Chicago, Ms. Yosko found people were afraid to speak up so she encouraged them to share their ideas and opinions in order to find opportunities to make the organization more effective. Over time, she gained people’s trust that she truly does want to hear their points of view. And speak up they did! One year the report of Marianjoy’s annual employee engagement survey included 80+ pages of optional comments, even though its engagement scores were near perfect. Typical of Yosko, she read every comment, looking for patterns that would reveal a problem or an opportunity to improve.

Yosko is a straight-talking, open-minded leader. When revenue was down one year due to changes in Medicare reimbursement, she explained to the people who worked at Marianjoy why she had to freeze salaries. This announcement was followed shortly thereafter by the organization’s employee engagement survey. Yosko feared that engagement scores would plummet from the stellar 98th percentile she was accustomed to seeing. To her surprise, engagement scores for the first time hit the 99th percentile among healthcare organizations nationwide.

Under Ms. Yosko’s leadership, Marianjoy continuously strives to be a leader in improving the state of rehabilitation medicine. For example, the organization launched AbilityLinks.org, an award-winning website that matches jobseekers who have a disability with businesses seeking to hire qualified workers. The program has increased employment opportunities for people with disabilities. More recently, Ms. Yosko secured philanthropic gifts to fund the cutting-edge Tellabs Center for Neurorehabilitation and Neuroplasticity.

National Leader and Advocate for the Disabled

Throughout her career Ms. Yosko has been active nationally in the field of rehabilitation. She has served as the chairperson of the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association, a nonprofit trade organization representing freestanding rehabilitation hospitals, rehabilitation units in general hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation facilities, several skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies. Ms. Yosko has also served as the chairperson of the Commission of Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (1997), and as the chairperson of the American Rehabilitation Association (1994), a Washington, D.C.-based organization representing providers of rehabilitation services.

Living the Vision

Marianjoy’s vision is to be recognized for superior and compassionate patient service, clinical excellence, and as the health care employer of choice and the preferred partner of physicians in each community it serves. From helping wounded warriors with disabilities to leading the improvement and expansion of two rehabilitation hospitals, and becoming a national leader and advocate for people with disabilities, Kathleen Yosko’s career journey shows that she lives this vision.

In many organizations, excellent leaders lead well, even though they haven’t lived the vision of the organization they lead. When a board of directors is fortunate to find a leader who lives the organization’s vision, like Kathleen Yosko does when it comes to rehabilitation medicine, it can provide an additional powerful boost to lift the organization’s performance even higher.

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The post When Leaders Live the Vision appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

3 Ways to Encourage Knowledge Flow

In June of 2000, the combative Durk Jager resigned as CEO of Procter & Gamble after a tenure that had lasted only seventeen months. When he left P&G, its stock had declined 50 percent, it had lost $320 million in the most recent quarter, half of its brands were losing market share, and the firm was struggling with morale problems.

Jager was replaced by a quiet and thoughtful P&G veteran named A.G. Lafley. Although Jager had questioned the competence of many P&G employees, Lafley immediately assured them that he knew they were capable of restoring the marketing powerhouse to its former greatness. Lafley’s long career in marketing had taught him how to glean insights by listening to P&G’s customers. Now he sought to do the same by listening to P&G’s employees. Lafley turned to Jim Stengel, heir apparent to the chief marketing officer, and asked him to conduct a survey to find out what employees thought should be done.

Although senior managers were considering several new business initiatives at the time, P&G’s employees felt something different was needed. They wanted a renewed commitment to marketing, more time to listen to customers, the results of programs to determine rewards rather than the quantity of programs launched and more disciplined market planning.

After P&G implemented employee suggestions, the number of employees who strongly agreed with the statement “We’re on the right rack to deliver business results” soared from 18 percent to 49 percent in just twelve months. And in a little more than two years after taking over from Jager, Lafley restored P&G to profitability.

Lafley turned P&G around in part because he increased the cultural element I describe as voice. The expanded term for this element is knowledge flow. Since leaders who increase knowledge flow within their organizations benefit from it and those who don’t risk failure, you might ask what you can do to ensure that knowledge flow is maximized in your company. The following are three steps I recommend.

KNOWLEDGE-FLOW SESSIONS

Hold ongoing knowledge-flow sessions. Leaders stimulate knowledge flow by regularly holding sessions with employees in which they share information about important issues facing the organization and near-term action plans they are considering. The leader encourages employees to share what they believe is right, what’s wrong and what’s missing from his or her thinking. The frequency, length and size of these sessions can be tailored to particular segments of employees. Sessions are conducted at all levels of the organization.

Unlike the typical staged town hall meeting in many organizations, the knowledge-flow session is characterized by honest dialogue. Key to its success is an environment in which participants feel safe to share their ideas and opinions.

Results from knowledge flow sessions are shared with all participants, and valuable ideas arising from the sessions are executed. Employees feel more connected and become more fired up as they are informed and heard. Because few leaders do this well, it is wise for most to get outside assistance to design and implement the knowledge-flow session process as well as see it modeled.

INQUISITIVE ATTITUDE

Ask people to be inquisitive. Better-informed employees are more likely to identify critical pieces of information to solve business problems and spot opportunities. I like the term Peter Drucker once gave the contributions of educated employees who shared an opposing point of view. He called it “informed dissent.” Leaders should ask employees to seek to understand their business, client attitudes and competitors’ actions so that they can bring informed dissent to the organization’s decision-making process.

General Electric does this by thinking of and describing itself as a “learning company.” Among other things, GE encourages employees to recognize best practices outside the company and in other business units across GE, all for the purpose of continually strengthening their businesses.

RELATIONAL CONNECTIONS

Safeguard relational connections. It is important in all communications to be sensitive to the feelings of other people. Politely asking someone to do something is preferable to giving orders. Using a respectful tone is better than talking down to someone. Insensitive communication styles impede knowledge flow because people will naturally react in a defensive manner.

Individuals who regularly show insensitivity should be made aware of it and coached to change their behavior. People who are insensitive in communicating with others may be unaware of it. Although they may not like hearing it, once they see proof of the reactions on the part of their colleagues, they will begin to appreciate the need to change.

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3 Practices to Improve the Contribution of Your Core Employees

The prevalence and extreme nature of star systems in organizations today contribute to widespread employee disconnection and disengagement, particularly among core employees.

Employees can be regarded as stars, core employees, or strugglers. Stars are superior performers. They are either a part of senior management or on track to move up the organization’s hierarchy. Core employees are valuable contributors but not stars. Strugglers perform poorly, some for temporary reasons and others because they may not fit well in their roles or with the organization.

Star systems affect the economic, political, and social aspects of organizations. Leaders are more likely to favor stars economically by paying them more; politically by keeping them more informed, listening to and considering their points of view; and socially by spending more time with them. Be assured, the favoritism is noticed. The star system is similar to a caste system: the stars are Brahman or gentry, strugglers are the untouchables or peasants, and core employees fall somewhere in between. This system makes most employees feel like second-class citizens.

Please understand that I do not oppose linking rewards to performance. I do believe, however, that it can be carried too far not only economically—an issue that the media regularly focuses on—but also and perhaps more important, politically and socially, especially in light of the value provided by core employees.

Understanding Core Employees

Research by Thomas De Long at Harvard Business School and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan of Katzenbach Partners sheds some light on categorizing employees. Their research has shown that “B players” (whom we prefer to call core employees) are just as critical, and often more so, to an organization’s success as its stars. Core employees comprise the vast majority of an organization’s employees. They are often just as intelligent, talented, and knowledgeable as stars, yet they differ from them in several respects:

Core employees are less likely to call attention to themselves.
Core employees are less likely to leave their current employers for greener pastures.
Core employees are quietly dedicated to their work and to their teammates.

Not all core employees are alike. Some core employees are former stars who now seek greater work/life balance. Others are “go-to” players who help their colleagues navigate the organization. Still other core employees are “truth tellers” who, although blunt at times in their criticism, help ensure the organization addresses important issues that others may be less willing to raise.

With the prolonged state of employee disengagement and disconnection, there is good reason to believe that companies are vulnerable to losing many core employees in the years ahead. The reason: core employees feel their ideas and opinions are not sought or heard, and they are not respected or recognized for their work. At some level this lack of consideration is discouraging, and over time they become frustrated. Although they know that they’re valuable, feeling underappreciated keeps them from putting their hearts into their work.

Other factors contributing to the disconnection and disengagement of core employees are the stream of high-profile cases of corporate malfeasance, years of downsizing, and the compensation differential between the company’s stars and the rest of the employees. Employee loyalty has waned; the relationship between most workers and leaders has eroded. Whether leaders realize it or not, they are sending the message to core employees that they are second-class citizens and that shareholders and the company’s stars are one team while the rest of the employees are another.

How to Engage Core Employees

The pendulum has swung too far in the direction of the stars. Organizations need to treat everyone with dignity and respect within a meritocracy that allocates important projects to stars while giving core employees opportunities to prove that they can be stars too.

Here are three practices that will help engage and improve the contribution of your core employees.

Vision Sessions – Share your vision with core employees, why it’s important, how you plan to get there, what your top 3-5 goals for the year are, and what their role is to help achieve those goals.
Value Sessions – Show you value your core employees by asking them individually questions such as: “How are you?”; “What are your interests outside of work?”; “What are your career goals and how can I help you achieve them?”
Voice Sessions – Seek the opinions and ideas of your core employees by bringing work issues before them, especially on matters that are important to them and that you expect them to implement. Begin by sharing what you’re thinking then ask them what’s right, wrong, and missing from your thinking. Listen to what they say. Don’t criticize. Thank them. Consider what you heard. Implement the best ideas. Give credit where it’s due.

When leaders communicate Vision to core employees, Value them and give them a Voice, they feel connected and engaged, and, as a result, give their best efforts and align their behavior with your goals. This creates a win-win for your core employees, for you and for your organization.

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The post 3 Practices to Improve the Contribution of Your Core Employees appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

How to Beat Stress and Elevate Engagement

Don’t miss Dr. Todd Hall’s webinar tomorrow titled “How to Beat Stress and Elevate Engagement.” See details and signup here.

The post How to Beat Stress and Elevate Engagement appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

World’s Greatest Leaders Tap Power of Connection

It’s encouraging to see more leaders identify connection as a primary factor contributing to their organization’s sustained success. Fortune magazine recently recognized Theo Epstein, President, Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball and the Cubs organization, as #1 on its world’s greatest leaders list. Last year the Cubs won the World Series and broke the franchise’s 108-year World Series title drought, the longest in professional sports.

According to Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated writer and author of The Cubs Way:

“Theo Epstein, once known as the number-crunching wizard who broke the championship curse of the Boston Red Sox, built [the Cubs] with an emphasis on people who would create the right ethos. The story of the Cubs’ championship would not just be about 2016. It would be timeless. It would also be about the power of human connection—teammates to teammates, teammates to fans, generation to generation.”

Previously I’ve written about Cubs manager Joe Maddon and the Chicago Cubs’ Connection Culture. In a future article I will present a detailed description of the Cubs’ Connection Culture based on Verducci’s observations in The Cubs Way.

For now I’d like to focus on a pattern I’m seeing. As I read through Fortune’s world’s greatest leaders list, it jumped out at me that a number of the top leaders recognized are intentional connectors who create Connection Cultures.

For example, note that the #3 rated leader is Pope Francis who is well known for being intentional about connecting with people and, I believe, is working to create a Connection Culture in the Catholic Church.

The #4 rated leader is Melinda Gates who is without doubt an intentional connector. I highly recommend watching Ms. Gates’ outstanding commencement speech at Duke University, her alma mater, in which she describes the importance of connection to thrive in life.

In many fields, leaders and thought leaders are discovering the superpower of connection.  Consider healthcare. Kate Otto, author of Everyday Ambassador and co-founder of the organization Everyday Ambassador, recently wrote an outstanding article published in Clinical Correlations: The New York University Langone Online Journal of Medicine. Ms. Otto makes the case that the scientific research shows how damaging chronic loneliness is to health so physicians should be looking for signs of it in their patients.  She recommends that physicians on the front lines of medicine inquire about a patient’s state of social connection by asking questions such as “Do you live alone? Who will visit you here in the hospital? With whom do you share your private worries and fears? How much of your week do you spend with other people?” She goes on to recommend developing therapeutic relationships that include empathizing with patients.

Are You Tapping Your Superpower?

I frequently note that Matthew Lieberman, the University of California at Los Angeles neuroscientist and author of Social,describes connection as a superpower that makes you smarter, happier and more productive. This raises the question: Are you tapping into your superpower of connection?

Research confirms that most people are not. The former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, said the most common illness today is a lack of connection. This is unlikely to change, given current trends and the rise of social media and remote work. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, recently wrote about research that showed social media was making us lonelier. The rise of remote work is contributing to loneliness too.

Is Your Team and Organization Tapping Its Superpower?

Connection is also a superpower for teams and organizations because it boosts employee engagement, strategic alignment, productivity and innovation. Most teams and organizations are not tapping into their superpower of connection. Gallup research shows two-thirds of American workers don’t feel connected at work.

In their Harvard Business Review article on creating a positive workplace culture, Stanford’s Emma Seppala and University of Michigan’s Kim Cameron recommend four connection-producing practices that boost performance of a team or organization:

foster social connections
show empathy
go out of your way to help, and
encourage people to talk to you, especially about their problems.

These are just a few ways to connect. We’ve previously recommended each of these on ConnectionCulture.com plus many additional practices which are also described in our book, Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy and Understanding at Work, and free e-book, 100 Ways to Connect.

About connection, professors Seppela and Cameron write:

“A large number of empirical studies confirm that positive social connections at work produce highly desirable results. For example, people get sick less often, recover twice as fast from surgery, experience less depression, learn faster and remember longer, tolerate pain and discomfort better, display more mental acuity, and perform better on the job. Conversely, research by Sarah Pressman at the University of California, Irvine, found that the probability of dying early is 20% higher for obese people, 30% higher for excessive drinkers, 50% higher for smokers, but a whopping 70% higher for people with poor social relationships. Toxic, stress-filled workplaces affect social relationships and, consequently, life expectancy.”

Your Mindset: Connection is an Extraordinary Opportunity

Although the decline of connection in modern society may seem depressing to some, I want you to see it as an opportunity. By increasing connection in your life and the lives of your family, friends and colleagues, you will thrive and improve the lives of those around you. By promoting connection in your organization, you will be boosting its performance and contribution to society.

To get the conversation started on the importance of boosting connection in your organization and how to go about it, why not establish a book group to read Connection Culture? If you are one of the first 15 people to contact me at mstallard@epluribuspartners.com and order a minimum of 20 copies of Connection Culture directly from me, I will participate in a 30-minute conference call with your book group participants at a date and time in 2017 to be mutually agreed upon. This offer only applies through June 15.

Mark this day, connect more with others and watch what happens. I promise that over time, you will see that connection affects much more than the bottom line. As you experience greater peace, hope and joy that comes from having an abundance of connection in your life, you will have discover wealth of even greater value.

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