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by
Laszlo Bock
Read between
August 26 - September 20, 2017
The leap of faith
Each one of the experiences I’ve shared here has made us stronger.
Those of you who, in the face of fear and failure, persevere and hold true to your principles, who interpose yourselves between the forces and faces buffeting the organization, will mold the soul of the institution with your words and deeds. And these will be the organizations that people will want to be a part of.
14 ................ What You Can Do Starting Tomorrow Ten steps to transform your team and your workplace
If people are good, they should be free.
Organizations build immense bureaucracies to control their people. These control structures are an admission that people can’t be trusted. Or at best, they suggest that one’s baser nature can be controlled and channeled by some enlightened figure with the wisdom to know what is best.
The question is not what management system is required to change the nature of man, but rather what is required to change the nature of work.
But if you want to become a high-freedom environment, here are the ten steps that will transform your team or workplace: Give your work meaning. Trust your people. Hire only people who are better than you. Don’t confuse development with managing performance. Focus on the two tails. Be frugal and generous. Pay unfairly. Nudge. Manage the rising expectations. Enjoy! And then go back to No. 1 and start again.
1. Give your work meaning
2. Trust your people
3. Hire only people who are better than you
The proof that you are hiring well is that nine out of ten new hires are better than you are. If they’re not, stop hiring until you find better people.
4. Don’t confuse development with managing performance
Make developmental conversations safe and productive by having them all the time, just like my manager used to do when we’d leave every meeting. Always start with an attitude of “How can I help you be more successful?”
Development conversations can more safely happen along the way to achieving a goal. Separate in space and time conversations about whether a goal has been achieved. Once a performance period has ended, then have a direct discussion about the goals that were set and what was achieved, and how rewards are tied to performance. But that conversation should be entirely about outcomes, not about process.
5. Focus on the two tails
Put your best people under a microscope. Through a combination of circumstance, skill, and grit they have figured out how to excel. Identify not just your best all-around athletes, but the best specialists. Don’t find the best salesperson; find the person who sells best to new accounts of a certain size. Find the person who excels at hitting golf balls at night in the rain. The more specific you can be in slicing expertise, the easier it will be to study your stars and discern why they are more successful than others. And then use them not just as exemplars for others by building checklists
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6. Be frugal and generous
7. Pay unfairly
Ninety percent or more of the value on your teams comes from the top 10 percent.
8. Nudge
9. Manage the rising expectations
10. Enjoy! And then go back to No. 1 and start again
a great environment is a self-reinforcing one: All of these efforts support one another, and together create an organization that is creative, fun, hardworking, and highly productive.
Afterword for HR Geeks Only: Building the World’s First People Operations Team The blueprint for a new kind of HR
lured
attirer
Strive for nirvana
Use data to predict and shape the future
Improve relentlessly
Field an unconventional team
People Operations vs. HR
