Authenticity, candor and a constructive corporate culture

Recently, social-media-for-associations guru Maddie Grant (from www.Socialfish.org) posted a request for feedback about Truth and Authenticity in the Digital Age. We, as both consumers and as professionals who care about doing our jobs well, probably recognize corporate authenticity when we see it.

The amazing accessibility provided by today's social networks mean that members/customers now expect a certain level of closeness with any company or organization they purchase from.

I'm sure that any organization that is actively communicating with its constituents through social media probably behaved 'authentically' way before the revolution started. Not only that, but social networks allow companies even more opportunities to show off their culture and values.

For companies with positive values and strong moral fiber, these communication vehicles lead to a symbiosis between authenticity and transparency.

Of course, it makes complete sense: if you're going to be transparent, you'd better be authentic, too.

So what does 'authentic' look like? Most likely, we experience authenticity through the 'personal face' of the organization, whether we meet the organization's leaders in person, or through the social networks they help cultivate.

I believe we look for a certain friendliness, candor, intelligence, consistency and easy conversational style.

Via their social networks, we also expect to see the following:

1) The leaders, and/or those they've delegated to, readily respond to comments from their constituents, plus they actively seek out what the members/customers really want.

2) They willingly leave all comments up for public view, both good and bad, since they recognize the benefits of a healthy debate.

3) In keeping with this 'personal face' approach, authenticity may also mean that the leaders blur the lines between their personal and private lives. (Personally, I'm not entirely sure this is a good idea. Another blogger, Deirdre Reid, has an article that delves into this topic a bit more. I am interested to hear additional thoughts on this.)

An organization's innate levels of authenticity and transparency strongly relate to how closely their mission is tied with their actions. By 'actions', I'm thinking of both their public actions (the great accomplishments they tout to the world) and their private actions (from the standpoint of operations).

Right now, I'm trying to answer some questions:

Are there any case-studies of organizations that have fallen or imploded because of a failure to be 'authentic'?

What is the connection between an organization's level of authenticity and a healthy work environment?

Leadership - it's not just having the right stuff

Nonprofit blogger Tera Wozniak Qualls recently started a conversation on effective leadership in the social sector. If you have thoughts or experiences to share on the topic, please visit her site.

Reading this post and the responses made me remember the time a caring supervisor suggested that I get formal leadership training. This was only a few years ago, and what a great suggestion it was. She had taken a course herself, and gotten a lot out of it, and thought I would benefit, too.

At the time, I was convinced I already knew about leadership. The organizational-dynamics courses I had in business school delved into the science and psychology of management quite deeply.

But I figured something more inspiring and hands-on could be a good thing, so I enrolled in a week-long workshop*.

Because of that course, I became convinced that *everyone* who supervises should get formal leadership training. This is not knowledge that people automatically acquire as soon as they get a promotion into management.

Work experience counts for something. But I've seen managers working 20+ years, who think they're really 'experienced', and yet wonder why all of their reports quit on them. Have an MBA? Sorry, that doesn't magically make one a great leader, either.

The most memorable thing I got out of the training is that employees require investment. I have supervised a number of people, and I've sometimes felt like it’s a chore to have to make time for a conversation to address a problem, provide someone additional training or hunt down some extra resources that may help them in their job. But it is TOTALLY worth it.

Employees need training, honest and consistent feedback, a viable reward system, and a sense that what they do is important.

*The course was offered by Academy Leadership (www.academyleadership.com), but there are other good programs out there as well. Whatever you choose, it should be something concentrated, preferably lasting multiple days, away from your place of work and its distractions. You'll get more benefit from something highly interactive that encourages discussion.

Inquiring minds want to know...

In our marketing department, we'll soon be expanding our team, meaning that strangers in nice suits will come strolling through our cube-farm for interviews. I'm especially excited for the fact that we'll get to hire some new team members, as we've been a bit short-staffed as of late.

To prepare for the interviews and to start a list of good questions to ask, I decided to check out Robin Ryan's book titled '60 Seconds & You’re Hired!'

This is one of the better books I’ve found on the subject of interviewing. For candidates, it provides techniques on how you can continually steer the direction of the interview in your favor.

But interviewers can also benefit from the great list of questions. It made me remember some tough questions I'd encountered earlier in life, and so I started a list of some especially good ones.

My short list of favorites:

Tell me about a time you had to give someone bad news.

Describe a mistake you made on your last job.

What kind of person do you think makes a good boss?

Tell me about a book you read recently on (whatever your industry).

An especially weird one: Tell me your favorite joke. (I doubt I'll use that one).

Since hiring for talent is so critical to business success, make sure every question counts! How difficult it is to find questions in which there is no obvious 'right' answer.

All Work and No Play?

Dear readers, you deserve a disclosure on my situation on why work matters so much to me, and why I've decided to make a blog on happiness at work.

1) I'm married, but there are no kids in the picture at this time. My furry children include a cat and a dog, both rather demanding creatures, to be sure. However, parents of human children will likely say I'm very much still 'in the cave, seeing only shadows on the wall' regarding my view towards work. So, yes, in a nutshell, my work is extremely important, a very high priority in life. Work is worth writing about, and I so dearly want work to be worth doing as well, always.

2) My financial planner, who's not too far off from retirement, laughed her head off when I told her this, but I plan on working for as long as I possibly can. Therefore, I better be sure I pace myself, and make sure this is something I'm not going to get an ulcer on. I'm in my thirties, but in the fields I've worked in since high school (science, academia, non-profit management, arts & culture) I've seen and known personally a good number of devoted employees happily coming into work everyday who are in their 60's, 70's and 80's - they come in because they are liked and respected, can still make valuable contributions, and absolutely love what they do. And if they can still be paid to do it, why quit?

3) With the social security cache dwindling, there's a good chance I'm going to need to keep making money for as long as possible. So again, isn't it important to come in everyday to something truly gratifying?

I've started to do some research on the relationship between happy employees and management structures, and will share some things as I go along:

To be happy in a job, one’s ‘basic needs’ must be met first.

In their book 'First Break All the Rules', Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman present their conclusions from studying over million employees over 25-plus years.

The questions that define the basic needs, as outlined by Buckingham and Coffman, are directly linked to employee satisfaction and retention. These questions are:

Do I know what is expected of me at work?

Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?

Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?

Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?

At work, do my opinions seem to count?

The five questions above are linked to the actions and management style of the employee’s immediate supervisor.

There's a responsibility on both sides here: the side of the employee and the side of the employer. At that critical interview stage, both sides are asking the question: 'do you have what I need?' And of course, both sides must be prepared to either deliver on what is promised or politely decline any further procession.

More coming soon on issues of finding talent, motivation, and definitions of success.

Whistle while you work!

-L

Intro

Greetings! In this blog, I hope to share some various thoughts and inspirations on work: Specifically, to take a page from Lewis Richmond's book, how does one make work into a spiritual practice?

Years ago, a good friend and colleague once remarked to me: 'When it comes to jobs, most people are happy with their pay, the work that they do, or the people they work with, but very rarely are they actually happy with all three'. Am I crazy for wanting it all? I'm convinced that it is possible to have the best of all worlds, but maybe I'm just naive...

At any rate, I thought I'd remind myself of some of the most important trends we working folks should be aware of:

Good attitudes are crucial.

Be flexible and adaptable.

Having broad-based skills are very useful, so you can shift between jobs and responsibilities within an organization.

Be able to work in a team-based atmosphere.

Wherever you are working, be able to constantly find ways to save time, save money, improve procedures, improve your performance, or improve the company’s efficiency.

More to come later! Regards,

-L