Here's a sure fire way to show an employee disrespectCorporate life and culture has evolved over the last generation. As we have discussed here before, the days of "command and control," just do what I say and forget the "why" company cultures are thankfully becoming a relic of the past. In its place is a more employee friendly and flexible culture built on collaboration and goodwill.But in many cases, this warm and fuzzy relationship between company and employee can still be fragile, particularly in weaker cultures with a void of leadership. That's where companies can be vulnerable to losing that goodwill in an instant.All it can take is just one or two misplaced keystrokes.I was reminded this week of a story from my past. A company with whom I had an affiliation had big aspirations -- they talked about wanting to be known as a "world class organization" that others would want to follow. The problem was, they were mostly talk. Everyone inside the company knew it. Leadership had no clue or inclination to put in the thought or effort to truly build a culture that supported it.But at least they were trying. They held quarterly "all hands" calls to try to update employees on company progress. The meetings were long and uninteresting, the leaders that spoke did not try to connect with the listeners, and people usually just attended or dialed in due to a sense of obligation.Now in real winning cultures, this is not the case. These types of meetings can be fun, engaging and people look forward to them. They can do exactly what they are designed to do: inspire people to excel.With this in mind, the company in question decided it would give out employee awards each quarter. The idea was for leadership to identify the "unsung heroes" in an organization who "best exemplified the company values" and provide them with recognition in front of the entire firm. There were usually 3 or 4 people cross functionally who received the accolades, and each were given a certificate and gift card as a token of appreciation.Perhaps you know of or work for a company that does this. It is a fine idea, and, again, most people gave the company credit for trying....that is until THAT quarter....In an attempt to make "a big splash" and show people that leadership was paying attention, the company decided it would present just one bigger award to the single employee who especially shone during the quarter. After a little bit of build up, the executive gets to the slide announcing the big winner, the person who went above and beyond to exemplify and embody the company values -- and that is when disaster struck.THEY MISSPELLED THE PERSON'S NAME.While the presenter did not mispronounce the name, it was clearly misspelled on the slide...and the following two slides...and on the certificate the deserving employee was getting...and on the gift card that was being sent to them as well...and it went unacknowledged by the executive who droned on about how excited they were for the employee and well deserving they were of this important accolade. All of that fanfare and someone did not take the time nor put in the thought to ensure the person's name (which, not that it would be an excuse, was not particularly exotic nor out of the ordinary) was spelled correctly. It was simply a careless miss of a very important detail that spoke volumes. People's names matter to them. If you are trying to build goodwill with someone in any communication, the very first thing you should do is make sure you say and spell their name correctly. Believe me, people will remember it if you don't.And in this case, not only did the valued employee see the mistake, so did everyone else in the meeting and on the call. The company took what could have been golden opportunity to act like the "world class organization" it said it was and it failed miserably. It's the little things that matter most in our interpersonal relationships, right Friends? Those that pay attention and care about important details are the ones who build the strongest bonds with others. When companies don't do that for their employees, well, history shows they ultimately get what they deserve....Some good stuff below -- hope you able to make some time to check it out. Have a good one!XOXODave
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Friends of Dave #260: men without hats
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Here's a sure fire way to show an employee disrespectCorporate life and culture has evolved over the last generation. As we have discussed here before, the days of "command and control," just do what I say and forget the "why" company cultures are thankfully becoming a relic of the past. In its place is a more employee friendly and flexible culture built on collaboration and goodwill.But in many cases, this warm and fuzzy relationship between company and employee can still be fragile, particularly in weaker cultures with a void of leadership. That's where companies can be vulnerable to losing that goodwill in an instant.All it can take is just one or two misplaced keystrokes.I was reminded this week of a story from my past. A company with whom I had an affiliation had big aspirations -- they talked about wanting to be known as a "world class organization" that others would want to follow. The problem was, they were mostly talk. Everyone inside the company knew it. Leadership had no clue or inclination to put in the thought or effort to truly build a culture that supported it.But at least they were trying. They held quarterly "all hands" calls to try to update employees on company progress. The meetings were long and uninteresting, the leaders that spoke did not try to connect with the listeners, and people usually just attended or dialed in due to a sense of obligation.Now in real winning cultures, this is not the case. These types of meetings can be fun, engaging and people look forward to them. They can do exactly what they are designed to do: inspire people to excel.With this in mind, the company in question decided it would give out employee awards each quarter. The idea was for leadership to identify the "unsung heroes" in an organization who "best exemplified the company values" and provide them with recognition in front of the entire firm. There were usually 3 or 4 people cross functionally who received the accolades, and each were given a certificate and gift card as a token of appreciation.Perhaps you know of or work for a company that does this. It is a fine idea, and, again, most people gave the company credit for trying....that is until THAT quarter....In an attempt to make "a big splash" and show people that leadership was paying attention, the company decided it would present just one bigger award to the single employee who especially shone during the quarter. After a little bit of build up, the executive gets to the slide announcing the big winner, the person who went above and beyond to exemplify and embody the company values -- and that is when disaster struck.THEY MISSPELLED THE PERSON'S NAME.While the presenter did not mispronounce the name, it was clearly misspelled on the slide...and the following two slides...and on the certificate the deserving employee was getting...and on the gift card that was being sent to them as well...and it went unacknowledged by the executive who droned on about how excited they were for the employee and well deserving they were of this important accolade. All of that fanfare and someone did not take the time nor put in the thought to ensure the person's name (which, not that it would be an excuse, was not particularly exotic nor out of the ordinary) was spelled correctly. It was simply a careless miss of a very important detail that spoke volumes. People's names matter to them. If you are trying to build goodwill with someone in any communication, the very first thing you should do is make sure you say and spell their name correctly. Believe me, people will remember it if you don't.And in this case, not only did the valued employee see the mistake, so did everyone else in the meeting and on the call. The company took what could have been golden opportunity to act like the "world class organization" it said it was and it failed miserably. It's the little things that matter most in our interpersonal relationships, right Friends? Those that pay attention and care about important details are the ones who build the strongest bonds with others. When companies don't do that for their employees, well, history shows they ultimately get what they deserve....Some good stuff below -- hope you able to make some time to check it out. Have a good one!XOXODave