Behind the Scenes at Global-Roam

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Whilst there is some debate about the order in which they should be ranked (i.e. is it customers-employees-shareholders or employees-customers-shareholders) it is fair to say that employees are central to any business’ success (including ours).

With all the changes we have had on the go in the company since the autopsy, I have been very conscious of the need to ensure that all employees are still engaged and aligned (despite the fact that I might not do a great job at this at times).

1)  Binary Review

Hence this book was of great interest to me:

The Book	What we thought
“People Glue” by Ian Hutchinson	A great framework

Full Disclosure – nope, not an Amazon link this time. Picked up this book at the AIM’s Management Bookshop, so the link above is to this source.  Well worth reading, even for our overseas stalkers.

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Read this book in spurts, but all together, it probably only took a couple of hours to get through it all.  Definitely a framework to apply in our company.

2)  One’s Self at the Centre?

The author notes (p8):

Traditional business thinking puts the customer at the centre of any business.  There is merit in this, as without customers there is no business.  But flogging your people in the service of the mighty customer is neither productive nor sustainable.

I can see some benefit in considering both models – i.e. customer-centric and employee-centric.  This is  just another example of living with paradox.

The author continues and proposes a 3rd Model

The new model places your people/team before the customer, with self-leadership at the centre.

The key philosophy of self-leadership is that you must first look after yourself before you can be a good leader of others.

I certainly see value in this model.  The author is not just talking about the “self” of the CEO, if that was not clear – he’s basically promoting the principle that everyone should first manage themselves (something I have long been advocating).

3)  Why do employees stay?

The basic premise of the book is that people stay for the opposite of the reasons commonly quoted for which employees leave.

The following diagram is included throughout the book to simplify the understanding of the main drivers of employee satisfaction (or dissatisfaction).

The author makes the important clarification that the relative importance of each of these facets varies from person to person (and I believe that they will also change over time as each person progresses through various life stages).

Hence, the author recommends that (instead of performing the obligatory exit interview when people leave) we should schedule a regular “staying interview” to achieve the same purpose:

Why are you staying with us, at this point in time?

There’s plenty more in the book – well worth a read!

4)  What does it mean for us?

I found the “Motivational Driver Tool” above a useful tool to lead my thinking about employee motivation in ways that were slightly different from previous posts (such as this one about Daniel Pink).  I am always cognisant that a model is just a model – hence I believe it is possible to gain values from models (even if imperfect) instead of falling into slavish adoration of one particular one.

With respect to each of the elements in the model shown above, the following are some thoughts I have:

Key Driver	Author’s Notes	My Comments
Rewards	I feel fairly rewarded for my contribution to the success of the business, and I can see a clear link between my performance and my remuneration	As I noted previously in my post to follow the Daniel Pink video, my view is that – once a fair remuneration system has been set up, it should no longer be the focus of anyone’s attention (management, or employees). We’re not a company that pays (or will pay) stellar salaries – I would much rather employees have similar drivers to shareholders in this manner, which is why most are one-and-the-same as a result of our Employee Share Scheme.
Job Fulfilment	I enjoy my day-to-day work, it energises me, challenges me in a positive way, and I can see how it contributes.	For me, the key point here is that both “enjoys” and “challenges” are in the same sentence. As noted in “The Myth of 9-to-5” a Learning Organisation (which we very much need to be) is often an uncomfortable place to work – specifically because it fosters an environment where employees are encouraged just outside of their (expanding) comfort zones as a key mechanism in stimulating learning. I understand that such a focus on continuous learning might not be enjoyable for some, but very enjoyable for others – it is the latter type of people that we are particularly interested in!
Work-Life Balance	My priorities in life outside of work are supported and encouraged.	This is something we are striving to strike the right balance on. We have a relaxed office environment with flexible hours which tends to work fairly well – but there are other considerations we’ll be working through in the months ahead…
Leadership	I feel the organisations’ leaders have trust and integrity, and they keep us all informed and appreciate our contribution	In the quote on the left, 3 different aspects of leadership are provided, though I believe there are many more (and more about that later): 1)  With respect to trust, I believe that everyone in the company needs to be trustworthy (and have exited people beforehand because they were not).  I still find “The Speed of Trust” as the best guide I have seen on this issue.  With our current team, Integrity and Intent is not our concern – but we do have to work on Capability and Results (myself included)! 2)  With respect to keeping everyone informed, I have recognised that I could have been doing this better in the past and have undertaken to make this better (this blog, for instance, is one tactic implemented to achieve this). 3)  With respect to “appreciating everyone’s contribution” I believe that I do do this – but will be following up to ensure that this is the case!
Purpose	I believe that the organisation has a meaningful purpose beyond just making money	To me, the company’s vision and mission has always been central to the approach I have taken.  It starts with “making the electricity market understandable” but goes beyond this. However (as noted above) it is apparent that I have not communicated this as clearly as I should have.
Opportunity	I feel hopeful and positive about my future career prospects here.  The organisation has a culture of constant learning and development opportunities	I will be following up with everyone to see what their views are on this topic. Certainly, having asked everyone to prepare their Guru Plans, it should be clear that I am very keen that every individual develops to their potential.
Relationships	I have positive, open and collaborative relationships with my manager, my co-workers and my clients.	I don’t believe that the workplace culture needs to be all lovey-dovey. However I do believe that everyone working with us has to have open and honest relationships with everyone, and will be checking back on this one to see how we are tracking.

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5)  Moving Forward from Here…

Given we have only just begun the many changes we’ll need to be implementing in the months ahead to ensure we meet the ambitious aspirations we have set for  ourselves, I will be looking

Have a few ideas that I need to explore further…

Tags: human resources, incentivisation, motivation, personal development, remuneration

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 12:14 am and is filed under 02 - People & Culture, Book Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.