During lunch the other day I was seeking marketing advice from a good friend and respected business leader.  Full of wonderful and relevant ideas, she mentioned my writing style tended to be very direct.  This Tulsa business leader said a couple of articles seemed to reach out and grab the reader in a more threatening tone.  Because I greatly respect her opinion, I wanted to share some thoughts.

First, I apologize if my writing is too aggressive at times. Unfortunately, we work in a business climate today where overly aggressive behavior is rewarded. The “just get the job done” attitude is not the way to build long-term, viable organizations. Short-term thinking and decision-making, along with greedy behavior, will eventually lead to an organization’s failure.

Why So Direct?

It is not my intention to offend people, just help them think about important people issues at work.  Typically, leaders have no problem being excruciatingly direct with employees.  My role is to be direct with business leaders while trying to avoid a harsh tone.  Your job is difficult.  I feel your pain.

When I played tennis I found improvement was gained when playing against better tennis players. Good tennis players don’t go easy on you.  They serve hard and aggressively attack the ball. Reading challenging people practice articles, whether on this blog or other sources, is a good way to bring reality, objectivity, sincerity and best practices into your organization’s people initiatives.  However, I promise to not throw my racket at you or hit you in the head with a tennis ball – on purpose anyway.

My Dream Became a Nightmare

In my last corporate position the company was full of promise and the possibilities, both personally and professionally, were a dream come true.  I have not met many business people who have had the opportunity to help start a company and be part of the team to see it grow into a multi-billion dollar enterprise with national recognition.  It was a dream come true in many respects.

That dream turned into a nightmare for me and thousands of other stakeholders.  As the chief human resources officer, I began to sense there was something terribly wrong with the leaders and was trying to cautiously work behind the scenes to identify the issues and work with the CEO.  Eventually, my efforts to help address the company’s leadership issues failed, but not without great costs to me personally, physically and financially.

Most whistle-blowers end up being harassed, bullied or disciplined. Fifty-percent of whistle-blowers are fired.

The targets of workplace bullies typically suffer from devastating physical affects.

That company is now in the midst of a nasty, disorganized and prolonged bankruptcy.  The SEC, FBI and IRS are all investigating the events leading up to the bankruptcy filing.

My Writing Style

So why do I write the way I do?  It is my hope your company’s employees will avoid the pain and anguish associated with leadership failure.  Business leaders should take seriously their brand of corporate culture.  All organizations should treat employees with dignity and respect and adopt and model positive people practices.

Everything Rises and Falls on Leadership

Great companies can fall, and quickly. Employees do not destroy companies, the top leaders possess this power to build up or tear down an organization.

I was fortunate to escape that smoldering house before it went up in flames.  Actually, I was thrown out a second story window with only the clothes on my back while the owner was secretly dousing the place with gasoline.  The others inside were either unaware or uninterested in my observations about the company’s future.  Sadly, my predictions came true.

My motivation is to help prevent another leadership meltdown. When leaders fail, they bring many innocent people with them.  The risks are too great to sit and be silent.

Will you join me in spreading the message of Positive People Practices?

While attending a Great Place to Work Institute annual conference an organizational consultant told the story of a client who prominently displayed posters throughout their offices with the message, “Our valued employees are always treated with trust and respect.”   Yet the consultant noticed employees underwent exhaustive and intrusive security searches when entering and exiting the offices each day.  It was obvious the employer did not really trust their people.  The consultant observed the employees were quite uncomfortable with the invasive nature of the security process.

Considered a highly unusual practice for a civilian organization with very little security concerns, the consultant questioned the leaders about the conflicting message of “trust and respect” while employees were subjected to daily body searches. The organization stopped the security searches.

Avoid Conflicting Messages

In this case, the leaders were oblivious to the conflicting message of building trust and the ongoing practice of their security measures. That’s why business leaders should carefully consider the environment they want to create for their employees.  A well planned and executed people strategy will help you avoid these big, hairy contradictory messages that create barriers between employees and management.

Since corporate culture flows down from the top, determine in advance what message you want your employees to receive through your leadership team’s actions.

People Strategy is Mission Critical

When preparing your business plan, seriously consider the people strategy component of your enterprise.  People strategy is as important as your marketing strategy or finance statements. Many CEO’s will boast in their annual reports, “Our people are our most important asset” because that is what a CEO is expected to say in print or on camera.  But in reality do most CEO’s develop a Great Workplace strategy where employees are treated as whole persons and where leaders are measured on their soft skills? Based on the vast numbers of unhappy, unfulfilled, disengaged and burnt out American workers across this great nation, my educated guess is a resounding “no!”

A business owner should seriously consider their written and unwritten people strategies and make room for this subject in their business plan, whether you have ten or ten-thousand employees.  Even solo-practitioners rely on other people, including business associates, partners, affiliates, vendors, and other professionals, to accomplish their goals.  A well-developed people strategy is critically important to any businesses long-term viability.

Most Successful People Like People

First of all, it helps if you like people. To some leaders, overseeing people is like dealing with the IRS: they avoid them at all cost.  I cannot count the times leaders have told me they hate dealing with people issues.  However, many leaders allow the people component of their business to be formulated by chance.  It is difficult to succeed in business if you don’t like people.  It is not a good idea to outsource your people function to uncaring, unattached outsiders.  Even if you outsource merely the transaction components of human resource management, a leader cannot outsource the employee relations component without disastrous consequences.

If business leaders are not involved in corporate life, the company’s culture becomes a process of evolution, mutation, and happenstance in an uncaring environment.  These are great ingredients for stirring up a prison riot, but not such a great way to develop a great working environment.

Sometimes the temptation is to ignore people problems altogether and hope the problems magically disappear.  However, poor decision-making, or lack of decision-making, can lead to a toxic work environment and a multitude of people issues.

Positive People Practice Questions

When developing or evaluating your business plan, ask and answer the following Positive People Practice (also known as P3) questions when creating a People Strategy section in your business plan:

• Company Culture - Every company has one and no two are alike.  What type company culture do you want for your enterprise?  The culture will typically mirror the personality of a strong leader or CEO. It is good to establish in writing the foundation of the company’s personality.
• Flexibility - How flexible will your company be with employees?  Will you automatically say “no” to reasonable requests or seriously consider and evaluate employee requests for work/life flexibility?  Flexible employers are known to be more productive and profitable.
• Results Only – Are you prepared to base employee performance on results rather than the outdated practices of brown-nosing and face time?
• How Results Happen – How results happen are as important as the results. Will employees and leaders be accountable for their behavior in getting work accomplished?  Make sure results at any cost is not condoned by your leadership.
• Telecommuting – Will employees have the flexibility to work away from the office as long as they get their work done on time and with the quality expected? Today’s technological advances have made telecommuting a practical solution for a number of positions.
• Recruiting by Cultural Fit – Will you carefully screen each new hire to determine if they will live and work according to your company culture? Potential new leaders should also be subjected to a culture fit analysis since this is where many problems crop up.
• Dress Code - How are employees expected to dress for work? Business, business casual, casual, beach attire? Make sure leaders dress like your employees too.  Opportunity seeking leaders will be tempted to dress up in a dress down environment to gain a psychological advantage over other employees.
• Corporate Values - What are the values and guiding principles of your organization?  These guidelines communicate a great message to job applicants and help existing employees and leaders make decisions when faced with difficult circumstances?
• Code of Conduct - How are employees and leaders expected to act during the work week?  What is considered acceptable or unacceptable behavior? Is business ethics taken seriously?
• Jerk-Free Workplace – Will you consider instituting an anti-bullying and jerk-free workplace policy where workplace terrorists are terminated after one official warning? Unfortunately the incivility of our society is creeping into the workplace and business leaders need to stop hiring jerks at work.

Seriously consider these people strategy issues when developing your business plan and your chances of outlasting, outperforming and outmaneuvering the competition will increase exponentially.

Most American workers want to put in a good day’s work. There is a deep desire created in all people to be productive, creative, innovative, inventive, and to leave this world in a better condition. However, our American corporate culture is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of employees and has fallen far from the mark. Rather than working to win the hearts and minds of employees, corporations are driving a stake in the soul of the American worker. After a two-year feasibility study, the non-profit organization Winning Workplaces identified in their Case Prospectus the cruel realities we face in our current work environment.

• The American workplace, a source of our nation’s strength, is also at the root of considerable burdens for many individuals, families and communities.
• Trust and respect in the workplace is breaking down, with less than 40% of employees believing or trusting their senior managers.
• Employees are feeling less control over their jobs.
• Opportunities are shrinking in the workplace.
• Employees are often forced to choose between work and family due to company demands.
• Workers are becoming more detached from their employers due to globalization and outsourcing.
• Work is dominating the life of the American worker.
• Employees spend, on average, 46 hours a week on their job, not counting time online at home or linked to a BlackBerry away from the office at night or on weekends.
• When jobs are satisfying and challenging, it invigorates employees in other areas of their lives.
• When the workplace deflates, frustrates and demeans people, workers are robbed of their energy and desires needed to optimize performance as spouses, parents and citizens.
• Up to 66% of employees say they regularly experience high levels of stress on the job, a significant and growing public health concern leading to drug abuse, mental health problems, accidents and absenteeism.

There is no better time than today to help companies create great workplaces. Our citizens need great workplaces to be fully productive. Our children need their parents to work in physically and mentally healthy work environments to prevent toxic workplace residue from coming home. Our society needs great workplaces to reap the rewards of successful employees and organizations. Non-profit organizations benefit from the increased volunteerism that happens as a result of great work environments. The health of our nation depends on the creation of great workplaces where employees are treated respectfully. And business owners need great workplaces to survive global competition and enjoy long-term financial success. Organizations where the employees have identified their workplace as a great place to work are far superior economically and socially. The Great Place to Work Institute has shown in its research it pays to provide a great workplace. Win the hearts and minds of your employees and you will outperform your competition and increase the return to your shareholders.