subject: Business Is Personal [print this page] I wrote an article a few years back that still holds resonance to this day - entitled 'Business Is Personal'. Given what I am witnessing in organisations to this day I thought I would blog about it!
Business is about people, and people have feelings. Harness the power of human emotion, and you will see your business go from strength to strength. Eliminate pressure, cultivate excitement; listen to people, and as they are heard they will feel empowered and positive, and be able to access their true capabilities and strengths. People also have limits, and if they are constantly pushing their boundaries, they risk never experiencing success. Turn it around. Help them manage their time and input realistically, and you will not only have their very best performance, you will have their loyalty.
In our increasingly complex world, time is being compressed, and individuals and organisations are looking to manage their lives better to adapt to the needs of the ever-accelerating pace of life. People are learning that to do this means living life at the highest level of awareness and authenticity. As they grow in awareness, individuals will choose organisations which empower them and allow them to follow their purpose and reach their full potential, and organisations will increasingly value employees who live and work to their highest potential. But change and adaptation are not moving as fast as the pace of life. Lessons are learned and awareness increases - but sustainability is missing.
But what can business do to move things along? The short answer is: embrace emotion. What is the level of resonance in your organisation? Are people at all levels tuned to the same music? Or, are some hearing static? If you are not all listening to the same frequency AND tuned in properly, how can you all hear the music, let alone dance together? If you all tune in emotionally - as individuals and as a team - you will all hear the music. But it wont happen unless you stop the rat-race of to-do lists, overwhelm, busyness, lack of balance, and lack of fitness.
It takes a strong leader to set the precedent for stopping that level of "active inactivity", and become the conductor of the orchestra that actually makes the music. Yet unless the people in the orchestra are playing in unison, the conductor is redundant. So switch on your radio - what do you hear? Are you facing the dilemma of trying to conduct an untuned orchestra that doesnt even know its a team, let alone that you are there to lead them through the piece of music? If theyre out of tune, and not playing together, you will have cacophony rather than harmony. Whats it like conducting an orchestra when nobody gets to hear the music?
Embracing emotion for cultural change in your business, every organisation has the capability to operate at the highest level. Yet in two decades of working in the corporate world, I saw time and again that when it happens, few can sustain it. The reason? The organisations culture would be geared to keeping the status quo in place. To create truly sustainable transformation in your organisation, the starting point is embracing the emotional side of the people within it. All human activity is hugely influenced by peoples feelings. Feelings are powerful, and if you harness the power of positive feelings, you will see positive change.
I have identified five key cultural areas for transformation in any organisation, where a shift in focus or dynamic will give positive results - quickly.
1. Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Culture - If your business is focused on KPI fulfillment, you are most likely frustrated by the lack of performance company-wide. When people (at every level of management) are measured against KPIs, they feel pressured by the KPIs, and tend not to perform to them. When this happens, the symptom is addressed rather than the cause (the stick mentality, usually) - and nothing changes. We advocate changing your relationship to KPI fulfillment, and create a culture where KPIs are celebrated - thats right, celebrated! Instead of feeling pressured by the existence of KPIs, people will look forward to setting them. Theyll be excited by them. The shift in dynamic will create a whole new buzz of energy, and fulfillment will automatically follow. KPI targets will be met as the norm - and impact hugely on productivity. What we also witness, if this approach is adopted from the top down, is a leadership framework based in setting the example, which in time becomes the norm.
2. Workload Culture Day-to-day Business As Usual + Allocated Projects and Unplanned Disparate Activity = OVERWHELM - We call that "workload culture", and it is the standard executives life. Most organisations have plans, but do not work to plan. The time required for fulfillment is out of synch with the schedule of activities in the executives day, week, month or quarter - but not addressed. He or she may operate in an almost continual state of overwhelm. As long as people go to work every day and do the same thing, they will get the same results, which will not satisfy either themselves or management. Until you stop the paradigm of overwhelm, the cycle will continue. The solution is simple: streamline. Plan so each task can be handled in the required period of time, and create schedules that allow for necessary unplanned interruptions. Then follow the plan, review at set stages, and experience achievement of goals on time.
3. Meeting Culture - So many organisations tolerate ineffective meetings. Ineffective meetings waste time, drain energy, lead to complaints and lower morale. Effective meetings require: - effective chairing - clear boundaries on acceptable and unacceptable behaviour - accountability - and above all, follow-through. What would it be like if you went to a meeting and always had your needs met, and always had your issues addressed? Create a cultural dynamic in your organisation that only accepts effective meetings, and you will see the results you want.
4. Performance Culture - In his book Good To Great, Jim Collins says that a defining factor that separated the great companies from the good was not simply having the right people in the business. It was about having the right people in the right roles in the business and going in the right direction. Many companies measure their people from 0-6 (poor to excellent), using 360- appraisals. If you only want 5s and 6s on the business, why allow anybody to measure themselves at less? Change the measure to set a new paradigm which requires the highest standards of performance only.
5. Issues Culture - Effective implementation of issues management enterprise-wide is rarely adopted. What would it be like to have your finger on the pulse within your organisation real-time? A framework to manage issues within a preset timeframe, ie 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days, 60 days would give you enterprise-wide viewership of your issues, thereby enabling effective management of your companys programme of work.
If you transform your relationship to these five cultural elements, you will experience transformation within your business. Be a stronger leader who conducts the team to play a different tune - in time, in tune, with feeling. If you transform your relationship to these five cultural elements, you will experience transformation within your business. Be a stronger leader who conducts the team to play a different tune - in time, in tune, with feeling.
