The problem of a shirt

Greg has a solid business employs about 15 people and is managing to take some great holidays with his teenage boys. He has put a lot of energy into building a ‘team’ approach in the workshop with a significant level of trust. He thought it was time to smarten up the team and bought a load of new shirts in the company colours with a bright logo.

When he gave them out the reaction from his factory manager was less appreciative than he expected, in fact the manager seemed quite put out. Over the next few weeks the atmosphere became increasingly soared. Greg was angry at first and then realised he had to do somethiing about it. When he contacted me I spoke with his manager about the incident and his words were “same old same old, thinks he has to do it all” and “I’m not putting in any more effort, nothing changes”. When we got to the bottom of the situation we discovered a couple of things. 1. Greg acted in his usual way of getting things done in the most efficient cost effective way possible.

2. The factory manager thought it was part of his job and he should have been consulted, he also thought his job as manager deserved a ‘better’ shirt than he was given, one a little more like the bosses. After all don’t they go out to customers together sometimes?

The shirt wasn’t really the problem – it became a symbol of the level of trust. In this simple act of apparent generosity the trust between business owner and factory manager was broken – not irrepairably but definitely broken. Its not that the boss shouldn’t have a better quality shirt, sure he can but what message is being sent by this to the person he expects to ensure all work leaving the factory meets the quality standards of the business. And what message about his role? If the situation had been left unquestioned much of the work building the team over the last couple of years would have been eroded.

In a short session with Greg and his manager both were able to accept ,identify the behaviours and their reactions. When looked at through the lense of building a team they could see what had happened and what they each can do so it doesn’t happen again.

What we did to re-build the trust was: First roles, expectations and accountabilities were re-clarified. Next we did some work on behaviours, actions and words that build trust which includes committing to regular monthly management meetings where teh real issues get talked through not swept under the table. And finally it was helpful to re-align the management team on goals and prioirites for the year and diarise the dates for all the management meetings.

Going forward Greg will remember that he has a factory manager who wants to be fulfil his role and share some of Greg’s load. And the manager will speak up truthfully when something like this happens again and not return to his old pattern of thinking ‘there’s no point’. He has re-committed all his enthusiasm and energy to the business because he feels valued and trusted again.

It’s easy to talk about team and trust, the reality is that it is in the small everyday actions that we earn it so that it is there when it is really needed. If you’d like to know what the 13 behaviours identified and tested over many years by Stephen M R Covey that build trust at every level in an organisation are send me a quick email asking for the 13 behaviour list bridget@creatingwhatmatters.co.nz .

Or call me if you’d like to talk about something going on in your team that you know can be improved. 09 412 9485

When they called me in 2006 and asked me to do some work with them, John described their need as wanting a culture change. He was confronting the reality (High Trust Behaviour 8) that his firm was not as good as it could be.  He was very keen that his team take more ownership, be more part of the firm, have more pride in what they were doing. He heard other engineers talking about firms where they had worked as if they were the ‘mercedes’ of engineering firms and he wanted some of that. He wanted his guys to talk with the same pride of his firm.

What We Did

I spent  one and a half days in 2006 working on their vision and their values. Every one of the 8 values they chose was a ‘Trust’ behaviour i.e. a behaviour that when integrated into the systems and standards of the business builds Trust.   Then over a period of months supported them to create and implement new standards and systems that ensured the trust values became part of the way the business is run.

The Results

Asked what difference this work has made to the firm John says: “What happened is that I changed the way I managed the firm” .  John worked from the top down, first changing his own behaviour.   “And the change in leadership trickles down to how the guys feel and how they work.  I’m freed up to go out and get the sales, and know I have a team of guys who take pride in producing quality work, on time and within budget.  Our customers know they can trust us to deliver”.

“We had 24 months of real growth – 33% in turnover and increased margins. I think that growth helped us stave off the current downturn”.  John emailed me on 29 September 2009 to say that he had just won the largest contract of his time in business and the guy said he would be offering the work in future without the need for a quote because he ‘trusted’ him.

I often hear that “People just need to be told,  this is how it is – so get used to it”.  I have a lot of sympathy with the idea from the perspective of keeping life simple and getting the job done on time and within budget.  And it works to the extent that people feel they are paid. But that is as far as it goes.

So the question is – is there further?, is there more that our staff, employees and team members can give and what difference will that make to the bottom line?  And the answer is absolutely there is more and the difference to the bottom line is exponential!

The old ‘ skills and capabilities’ model of hiring and managing our teams is only accessing one of the four intelligences available in the workplace – mental/intellectual intelligence or IQ.   And it leaves out of the equation the other three powerful motivators – social/emotional intelligence, physical/economic and spiritual.  These other intelligences are the ones that allow people to bring their hearts, heads, spirits and whole selves to work.  Sometimes the response to this is ” I don’t want any of that soft values stuff around here, they can keep their  personal lives out of work”.   But personal values are what make  people ‘do their best, complete work given to them, be proactive etc’. Presumably we do want these values at work.

So, how do values work?  Briefly – Our values are behind every choice we make and are therefore our most powerful motivators.  If I value obedience / duty I will put myself in a work situation that has a high level of compliance with moral and legal obligations etc.  If however I value compliance and find myself in a work situation where the culture does not expect,  acknowledge or support compliance I will become frustrated and my energy will be sapped each time a compliance opportunity appears and is let slip.  A person who values compliance will not be motivated to work independently or in situations where there are no fixed guidelines.  The reverse is readily understood.  Someone who does not value compliance will struggle with rigid rules and systems.

Sometimes a business identifies a list of values they wish to grow the business aligned to, but the team don’t seem to get it.  This is a result of the beliefs around the values being different.  Take a value of ‘accountability’ for instance.  When the business owner believes that accountability means people will be accountable first to the success of the business but that definition is not made explicit, then the employees will be confused.  And, importantly will not feel inclined to align with the value of accountability (even if they normally behave that way themselves) because they no longer trust its meaning.  i.e. Their experience of accountability does not line up with their belief around it.

Note also that the values that are espoused (i.e. on the list that is published) must be alive in the company structure, policies and ways of doing things.  A recent example I came across was a business with a value expressed as “people are our most important asset”.  However in reality the impact of decisions on the people involved was not discussed before a decision was made.  Clearly the ‘value’ was not being lived and had in fact become counter productive.

So what is the impact on bottom line of working with values in your organisation?  In research conducted by Kotter and Heskett companies with strong cultures based on shared values grew four times faster than other companies over an eleven year period.  Worth your consideration?

For a complimentary business values inventory email admin@creatingwhatmatters.co.nz