Capture The Flag

This little story illustrates how there often seems to be such a wide gap between what employees know about what their leaders intend, and what the leaders think about what the employees are doing. The excerpt is from Chapter 49 of our book Attract, Engage & Reatin Top Talent: 50 Plus One Strategies Used by the Best.
"Disconnectedness between leaders and employees is reminiscent of an old game played at summer camps called Capture the Flag. On a typical sunny afternoon at camp, 80 or so rambunctious, pre-teen campers were divided into two teams. Each team was given half of the camp and a flag to plant somewhere in its territory. The goal was to sneak across enemy lines, capture the opponent's flag and carry it back into your territoy without being tagged and put into prison. For those who chose to immerse themselves in the game, the experience was exhilarating and full of intrigue, secretiveness and playful anarchy. For those who were disconnected from the activity, the game afforded the opportunity to sneak off somewhere to enjoy a little peace and quiet. The game was typically won by the intrepid souls who heroically applied their gifts of speed, diversion and guile to foil their opponents' defenses and carry the flag home to vitory. Most participants in the game did not know what they should be doing to help win the game and tended to wander around aimlessly or hide out and wait for it to be over. Some participants were either rankled or grateful to spend most of the time languishing in prison. Some did not learn the game was won until someone told them--perhaps hours later.

Capture the Flag is a metaphor about organizations that do not measure employee perceptions. In these organizations, leaders may not know what the troops are doing or how they are feeling about participating in the game. They may wonder why the troops are not more engaged or feeling a greater sense of urgency. Some leaders may overly rely on the most talented combatants to engage the enemy and come out victorious through speed an innovation. Employees may perceive that their leaders are so focused on beating the competition that they turn a deaf ear to the needs and ideas of the troops. Managers may be unclear how to use resources to gain advantage and wonder what role they should be playing to help win the game. And most organizational members are not clear if they are winning the game or not."

So what is the moral of the story? Disconnectedness is not good, in personal relationships, businesses or society. Since, in my work life, I offer services to leaders and managers who are trying to get the most "out of" their people--it is often best to first look how to get the most "in to" their people, by finding out how they feel, what they perceive and what might be done about it. Choices for profitable, engaging actions range from all-employee engagement surveys (we can help with that) "stay interview" tools (we can help with that) to focused tools for managers to use in having retention and high gain performance conversations with their key people (we can help with that, too).

It's not too late to retain your best, most critical people--and a time of economic upturn is when you are more than ever likely to lose some.

Attract, Engage & Retain Top Talent

Brian has recently co-authored the book Attract, Engage & Retain Top Talent: 50 Plus One Strategies Used by the Best.

From the book's introduction:

"Forward-thinking leaders have discovered that an opportunity exists to thrive in the competitive marketplace by better engaging the hearts and minds of employees--and in Attract, Engage & Retain Top Talent we explore a myriad of approaches for doing just that. The ideas within these pages emerge from our experiences and lessons learned from organizations seeking to excel by unleashing the talent of their people. Leadership is both art and science. Building your organization into a prefered employer with an engaged workforce and a culture that retain the right people doing the right things requires inspiration and hard work. We hope that this book will serve as a blueprint or at the very least an idea generator for the creation or recreation of your desired place to work."

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Humor in the Workplace

Laughter is healthy. Healthy people laugh. Do it at work. As much as you can get away with. And if you don't have the type of people who naturally laugh together while working, that doesn't necessarily mean something is seriously wrong (a pun there, sorry).

Use props to generate some smiles and laughter at the right moments. I like to use quotes from dysfunctional philosophers such as Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Restaurant at the End of the Universe, So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish), Scott Adams (Dilbert), Larry Kersten (Despair, Inc.) or Jack Handey (Deep Thoughts, Deeper Thoughts, and Deepest Thoughts).

About Interviewing Skills: "When you go for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask is if they ever press charges." Jack Handey

About Facilitating Q&A Sessions: "If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?" Scott Adams

About Openness and Problem-Solving: "Frankly, I'm suspicious of anyone who has a strong opinion on a complicated issue." Scott Adams

About Punctuality: "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." Douglas Adams

About Myopic Thinking: "It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes." Douglas Adams

About Risk-Taking: "Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws." Douglas Adams

Political Commentary: "Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job." Douglas Adams

About Inclusion: "I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they chooose a king, they don't just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good ideas." Jack Handey

"Incompetence - When you earnestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by doubling your efforts, there's no end to what you can't do." Larry Kersten

"Procrastination: Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness pays off now." Larry Kersten

Enjoy.... And smile a little! Now.

Or now.

In Progress: Attract, Engage and Retain Top Talent

I am working on a book with Donna de St. Aubin entitled Attract, Engage and Retain Top Talent: 50 Plus One Strategies Used by the Best (Author House Books). The whole idea of the book is to provide reasonable, practical concepts and ideas for leaders in small or large organizations to enhance their ability to create a workforce of engaged people who stay and contribute to the organization's success, and are happy to do so.

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Below are two excerpts (draft form) from Chapter 25 - Act with Virtue.

Most of us try hard to follow the advice from our youth to play nice and get along with others. But many leaders might wonder whether there really is business value in investing time and resources to build a nice organization where good values are woven into the fabric of work life. The point of view of this chapter is that positive business outcomes occur when an organization lives by its values; when employees are proud of the inherent and visible goodness of their organization.

Virtues are the best of the human condition; the most ennobling behavior and outcomes, the highest aspirations of human beings. Plato and Aristotle described virtuousness as the desires and actions that produce personal and social good. (Pg. 48 of Positive Organizational Scholarship.) In the chapter on Virtues and Organizations from the book entitled Positive Organizational Scholarship (edited by Cameron, Dutton, and Quinn), Park and Peterson state that “organizational-level virtues are characteristics of organizations that contribute to the fulfillment of its members.”

...And later... To summarize all of this; demonstrations of virtue by organizational leaders serve as a source of identity and pride for employees. Virtuous actions create an upward spiral of positive emotions, having an amplifying effect and creating positive social capital. Positive emotions and social capital are the currency that creates great performance through collaboration, healthy colleague and customer relationships, and desire to contribute; even beyond what is expected. A solid foundation of virtuousness can buffer an organization from the negative impact of trauma from events such as downsizing or other high-impact organizational changes.