Jacob Morgan's Blog, page 25
January 23, 2015
What Does Your Corporate Culture Look Like?
In this video I talk about corporate culture while visiting Mulesoft in San Francisco. They were recently ranked as one of the “Best Places to Work” by GlassDoor so I went to check them out. Corporate culture means a lot of things and is impacted by everything from the physical office setting to perks and benefits to how approachable your manager is. Think about what your corporate culture looks and what changes you can make to improve it. In the video I also give you a tour of Mulesoft’s offices. Enjoy!
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What Does Your Corporate Culture Look Like
In this video I talk about corporate culture while visiting Mulesoft in San Francisco. They were recently ranked as one of the “Best Places to Work” by GlassDoor so I went to check them out. Corporate culture means a lot of things and is impacted by everything from the physical office setting to perks and benefits to how approachable your manager is. Think about what your corporate culture looks and what changes you can make to improve it. In the video I also give you a tour of Mulesoft’s offices. Enjoy!
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January 22, 2015
From the Quantified Self to the Quantified Workplace
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http://traffic.libsyn.com/futureofworkpodcast/kris_duggan_done.mp3
What this episode is about and why you should care
January 21, 2015
Why Managers MUST be Leaders
Anyone within an organization has the potential to become a leader, but managers MUST be leaders. In schools and in our organizations we have been taught and conditioned to believe that managers and leaders are two separate people which is quite a harmful assumption. As a result we have managers who cannot lead and leaders who cannot manage. A leader who cannot manage has a vision of where they want to go but no idea of how to get there. A manager who cannot lead is not able to build trust and create engagement within an organization to get to where they need to go. Neither of these scenarios are practical or effective.
Management and managers are human inventions that were designed with a single purpose in mind, to enforce controls and protocols. The role of a manager was to make sure that employees showed up on time, did their jobs, didn’t cause any problems, and showed up the next day to repeat the process. There was no emphasis on creativity, innovation, engagement, empowerment, or the like; nor was there a need for any of these things. However today we live and work in a very different world where all of these things are essential. This means that managers MUST be leaders. I believe we have reached an important tipping point which is forcing us to rethink managers and management altogether. I have been exploring this in a series of posts which you can find here (with much more on the way):
The Five Trends Shaping the Future of Work
The 7 Principles of the Future Employee
The Evolution of the Employee
The 10 Principles of the Future Manager
The Evolution of the Manager
The 14 Principles of the Future Organization
The stereotypical manager focuses on control, delegation, productivity, the bottom line, process, and efficiency. The leader focuses on vision, engagement, big ideas, empowerment, innovation, and transformation. One without the other is meaningless. Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs are of course considered to be great leaders in the world of business, but do you think that they didn’t know how to build a team, look at the bottom line, execute strategies, and improve productivity? Of course they did. We don’t need to look to the likes of Bezos or Jobs, any manager regardless of how junior or senior needs to be able to come up with big ideas, inspire employees, take on a certain degree of risk, or engage team members. We spend a lot of time taking people in positions of power and trying to train them to be leaders when we should be finding the leaders inside of our organizations and training them to be managers. The only thing worse than working for a manager that can’t lead is missing out on the opportunity to turn our existing leaders into managers. We need to stop assuming that “managers” is a dirty word, if managers must be leaders then they should be looked at with a positive lens.
Greg Schott, the CEO of Mulesoft is a MANGER that personally interviews every candidate that applies to work there.
Todd Etter, the chief collaboration officer of The Motley Fool is a MANGER who uses games to inspire and engage his employees.
Lynanne Kunkel, the VP of Global Talent Development at Whirlpool is a MANGER that recently helped introduce a program across the company that instills the values of leadership and innovation across all employees.
Bob Chapman, the CEO of Barry-Wehmiller Companies, is a MANAGER who measures “heart count” at his company to look at how engaged and happy the employees are.
Scott Abel, the CEO of Spiceworks, is a MANGER who has something called “slices with Scott” where he orders pizzas for the whole company who then gets to spend hours asking Scott any question they want whether it be “what’s our company strategy going forward” to “how come you don’t have kids.”
We can no longer afford to segment and separate managers and leaders, this does nothing but hurt our organizations. If you want to formally be placed in a position of “power” where you help drive your organization forward then the pre-requisite for this is that you must be a leader. That is, you have earned followers, you have built trust among your co-workers, and you are able to think big and inspire others. But if you are not a leader at your organization than you should also not be a manager.
Management and leadership need to be taught in schools as interconnected disciplines that cannot exist without the other. Leaders within organizations should be mentored so that they know how to properly manage. We must stop referring to leaders and managers as two separate people. And perhaps most importantly, we need to give leaders at our organizations the opportunity to be officially recognized as managers. Only then will we be able to create organizations where employees are engaged, organizations that are able to attract and retain top talent, and organizations that are capable of surviving and thriving in a rapidly changing world.
Wouldn’t you want to work for an organization where all the managers are leaders? Wouldn’t you want to be that kind of a manager?
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January 16, 2015
Are Hierarchies Evil?
In this episode of the Future in Five, I share my views about hierarchy and whether it’s a necessary evil. Many companies around the world are trying to “flatten” their structure but there should be some balance between being “flat” and “hierarchical.” I call this creating a “flatter” company. Some hierarchy doesn’t HAVE to be a bad thing provided that communication and collaboration can flow in any direction. Check out the video to learn more!
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January 15, 2015
Playing to Win–How F5 Networks became one of the Best Places to Work in America
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http://traffic.libsyn.com/futureofworkpodcast/Rich_James_Podcast_Done.mp3
The one stat you need to know
F5 Networks was recently ranked #4 on GlassDoor’s top 50 companies in America to work for.
What this episode is about and why you should care
F5 Networks recently made it to Glass door’s 50 Best Places to Work. Richard James, Director of Staffing gives an insider look at what makes F5 stand out. Richard introduces us to the inside world of F5 and how the company is committed towards making a difference. That F5 is governed by its core values of excellence and collaboration, resonates with the company’s outlook towards meeting new challenges. Richard also shares his perspective on the company’s culture and employee management, which makes F5 a great place to work.
What you will learn in this episode>
What makes F5 Networks a coveted place to work?
How F5 is governed by its “seven core values”
Why “being listened to” makes a difference?
Understanding the end objective of an organization
How F5 is able to scale its “start-up” feel from close quarters?
Why focusing on perks and benefits isn’t the only way to create a great culture?
What advice Richard has for other organizations looking to create a great place to work?
Links from the episode
F5 Networks
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January 14, 2015
14 Principles of the Future Organization
Over the past few months I’ve been sharing a series of posts on the 7 Principles of the Future Employee and the Evolution of the Employee. This was followed by the 10 Principles of the Future Manager followed by the Evolution of the Manager. Today I want to introduce the 14 Principles of the Future Organization (which will eventually be followed up by the Evolution of the Organization). This is a concept that is taken from my latest book on The Future of Work and one that I feel is quite important. We are seeing an amazing evolution around how we work, how we lead, and how we structure our companies. These are the 14 Principles of the Future Organization.
Globally distributed with smaller teams
We are absolutely seeing a shift towards organizations “command and conquering” where they are distributed their real-estate and their employees among various pockets around the world. It’s not unusual to see a single employee working in a remote location just so the company can say they have an “office” there. Talent is no longer dependent on proximity to the corporate headquarters. In addition the Jeff Bezos “two pizza rule” is a must in order to allow employees to actually get work, that is, a team should be able to be fed by two pizzas, if the team is larger than “two pizzas” it’s too big.
Connected workforce
A company cannot have a distributed workforce unless that workforce is able to stay connected with the right people and information; anytime, anywhere, and on any device. This means deploying the right collaborative technologies that enable this to happen. Technology is the central nervous system of an organizaiton.
Intrapreneurial
The same spirit, passion, and creativity that entrepreneurs have must also be fostered inside of organizations. Employees should be able to test out ideas, run experiments, pitch new projects, and “run” with the ones that have potential.
Operates like a small company
A small company make decisions quickly, isn’t bogged down by bureaucracy, and are more agile and adaptable. In a rapidly changing world organizations cannot operate as their stereotypical “larger selves” where employees spend all their time checking emails, have meetings about having meetings, and basically operate at the speed of sludge.
Focuses on “want” instead of “need”
Organizations used to assume that employees worked there because they needed to. Today, talented employees are seeing all sorts of opportunities to make a living beyond traditional employment. This means that in order to attract top talent organizations must create an environment where employees actually WANT to be there instead of assuming that they NEED to be there.
Adapts to change faster
Today, “late followers” means “out of business.” Years ago it was acceptable to see what other companies were doing and being a “fast follower,” not so today. Decisions have to made faster and actions need to be more swift. This isn’t just an adaptation to technology either, new behaviors entering the workforce are also crucial to pay attention to and embrace.
Innovation everywhere
Innovation no longer comes from a team, a department, or from a few people at the top of the food chain. In order to succeed in a rapidly changing world innovation must have the ability to come from anywhere including outside of the company. “Idea” and “innovation” are also two different things. Ideas happen all the time but the process of taking that idea and turning into something is innovation. Does your organization enable anyone to come forward with an idea and then give them the opportunity to turn that idea into something?
Runs in the cloud
On-premise technologies have a shelf life and their days are surely numbered. How much longer do you think your company can sustain it’s on-premise deployments before falling behind every single other competitor that is able to adapt to technological change faster than you? Three years? five years? Maybe ten years? Stall as much as you want but the “future organization” runs in the cloud.
More women in senior management roles
There are nowhere near enough women in senior management and leadership roles at companies around the world . This means that most companies are missing out and an increase talent pool with access to new skills and perspectives. Women have the majority of purchasing power, will soon become the majority of the world’s population, will soon earn more than men, and will quite frankly end up kicking ass in the next few years. The forward thinking organizations recognize the value of having more women in senior level roles and are taking actions to help encourage and support this.
Flatter structure
No organization that I am aware of has ever embarked on a journey to create a more hierarchical structure with more layers, more management, more bureaucracy, and less collaboration. Yet this is the stereotypical idea of what a strict hierarchy looks like and how it operates. Some structure within an organization is good but there needs to be a balance between being completely flat and being a pyramid. In other words structure is fine provided that it serves the purpose of helping employees understand where they fit within the company and what the relationship structure looks like. However, this structure doesn’t mean that everything flows “top down.” Communication and collaboration flows up, down, and side to side.
Tells stories
Oftentimes organizations focus on telling stories to customers to build relationships with the, elicit an emotional response, align with customer values, and get them to buy something. But it’s also crucial to tell stories to employees as well. Employees want to work for organizations that they believe in and whose values align with their own there is no better way to do this than through telling stories about how the company started, why it exists, and where it’s going.
Democratizes learning
In most companies today, if you want to learn something you have to book a class or a training session, oftentimes days or weeks in advance. Learning is a very structured and linear process which is completely outdate today. For the future organization any employee is able to act as a teacher or student that can learn from colleagues anytime and anywhere. Of course, this is largely facilitated through the use of collaborative technologies.
Shifts from profits to prosperity
Profit is just the financial gain that an organization receives and it’s the primary measure of success for most of them. Prosperity on the other hand looks beyond just how much money a company makes and looks at things such as employee health and wellness, community involvement, sustainability, and making a positive impact on the world. These are the values and attributes that the future organization must and will possess.
Adapts to the future employee and the future manager
It goes without saying that the organization of the future must adapt to the changes we are seeing around how employees work and how managers lead. Both of these are things discussed in previous posts which were mentioned above.
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January 12, 2015
Is Email Going to Die?
In this episode of the Future in Five, I talk about the future of Email and whether it’s going to go away forever. The complete elimination of email is highly unlikely, at least for the foreseeable future, however some companies are embarking on a journey to do just that, at least for internal communication and collaboration purposes. Today Email is one of the unique personal public identifiers that we all have (another one is our phone number) and is still essential for communication OUTSIDE of the organization. Email will change and evolve, check out the video to learn how!
Oh and I also share a funny personal story from a recent stay at The Marriott in Boston 
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January 8, 2015
How to become a “Best Place to Work”– Insights & Advice from Glassdoor
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http://traffic.libsyn.com/futureofworkpodcast/Will_Staney_Podcast_Done.mp3
The one stat you need to know
Working as a singular community, Glassdoor is a delight hub for employers and employees alike. Their prestigious list of “Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice – 50 Best Places to Work” is one destination where every company wants to see themselves. Coupled with the “war-for-talent” and passion to trigger enthusiasm, it’s a broader story ahead.
What this episode is about and why you should care
With a massive database that holds over six million data including company reviews, interview questions, salary reports, employee benefits and CEO approval ratings, Glassdoor depict effective recruiting and employer branding solutions. Will Staney (Head Talent Warrior) and Lisa Holding (Global head of recruiting & engagement manager) offers an insight into what makes their company an important entity for companies big or small, the research behind putting the lists together, how war-for-talent can be handled and what’s life like working in Glassdoor.
Don’t be shocked when they tell you that 61 percent of people actually have buyer’s remorse while shifting jobs. According to Will and Lisa, the war for talent has never been this big, has never been so competitive. Money being the top motivator, Glassdoor serves a great platform to hit upon one job which can shape your career in the right way. As Will rightly points out, employees wants to feel that they are valued and look forward to working with smart co-workers. Passion drives greater enthusiasm for people making a change which resonates with the idea of being comfortable with your position in a company and liking what you do.
What you will learn in this episode
How bringing in passion to your work helps your work to evolve?
How to identify your best place to work?
How Glassdoor impact individual decisions with their reviews and ratings?
How important are your values when it comes to match it up with the work culture?
Why being the “best version of yourself” is important?
How can you bring about change in your company to achieve maximum transparency and
drive motivation?
Why is it important for a low level employee to “speak-up” to the leadership?
Why giving importance to people is of paramount concern for one and all employers?
Links from the episode
Glassdoor
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January 5, 2015
My New Speaking Reel
I’ve been a professional speaker for several years now but I never really created a speaking reel…until now. I figured it was about time I put something together for conferences and clients that are requesting to have me speak at their events and the timing with the release of my most recent book works out well. This will most certainly be updated several times throughout the year as I get more recent and better (hi-res) footage to use in the video. In the meantime please enjoy and of course, if you want to learn more about my speaking engagements you can always visit my speaking page.
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