Silos Starving Creativity and Collaboration

Recently I took my culture committee, The Better Beryl Bureau, out for a movie and dinner at the dine-in theatre.  They put in a lot of volunteer hours working hard on the culture and events at Beryl.  When I asked for a vote on the movie, it was unanimously The Hunger Games!  I was excited to kick back and relax with an exciting movie.  But throughout the movie, an epiphany hit me like a ton of books, Hunger Games – the top young adult book trilogy and grossing movie, could be a metaphor for an  example of silos in an organization and how if broken down could lead to changing the future!

If you haven’t been exposed to The Hunger Games phenomenon you must read these sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat books! But in the meantime, the important thing for you to know is that in a post apocalyptic world, The Capital, made up of the politicians, wealthy and the highly entitled population is fueled by the resources from the outlying twelve districts that are starved and abused.  The districts are vaguely aware of each other but are kept in line through brutal police tactics, electric fences and the annual reminder of what their ancestors caused with their opposition, The Hunger Games.

It wasn’t until the districts learned of each other, worked together and merged resources that they were able to overcome the capital.   

Do you see silos in your organization preventing collaboration? How often do you get to the office, put up your blinders and bury your head in your own world?  What would happen if the silos came down?  What would you overcome?

For an entire year, Beryl focused on how to bring to the forefront what goes on in other departments.  Each month a department was responsible for hosting the Beryl Forum meeting, a regularly scheduled meeting for all departments.  Each host highlighted updates and important activities going on in their department to show what it was like to walk in their shoes each day.  Some created fun presentations and games such as Family Feud and Scavenger Hunts while others held more formal presentations.

But by far my very favorite was delivered by the Finance team.  They divided us all into groups of about 10 (there are 140 of us).  Each group received a wooden 3D puzzle of a brontosaurus.  We were told it needed to be completed as a team within 5 minutes.  Easy enough, huh?  Well, it quickly became obvious to a few teams that there were pieces missing while other teams were still oblivious and tried to force the puzzle together.  The teams who were the most successful realized that the missing pieces were in the possession of other teams.  It was amazing to watch the people with the close, cross-departmental relationships start to help each other find missing pieces.  When all the puzzles were finally complete and the laughter died down, the Finance team started to explain how difficult the client billing process could be if there were missing pieces that they relied on from the Operations team or how it impacts the business when a department leader is late with his budget submissions.  There were so many ah-ha moments that day.  It really sunk in for many of us. I can tell you that I am no longer late with my American Express card reconciliations!

Instead of following long time traditions of The Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta decided to work together in order to come out alive. Through this one act, they gave the rest of the twelve districts the fuel and motivation to work together to put an end to corrupt politics and oppression.  Now Beryl didn’t overthrow President Snow but ever since we all went through this process, there has been an increased awareness of how our actions impact our team mates, relationships have strengthened and communication has improved.  We are more aware of how we can utilize the strengths of others in order to reach our goals successfully.

What are some things your company does to break down silos?

Editors Note: For the past 12 years Lara Morrow has been The Queen of Fun & Laughter at The Beryl Companies, a title accidentally appointed due to her wacky personality.  She spearheads their internal communication, recognition, employee relations, leadership training and culture strategy. Her efforts have led to Beryl being recognized nine different times as a best place to work including being voted the #2 Best Medium Sized Company to work for in America. She is a co-author of Smile Guide, Employee Perspectives on Culture, Loyalty and Profit. After hours, Lara “releases steam” through her passion for cooking, blogging and reviewing local restaurants.

Why I Love The Fanatics

At Culture Fanatics our goal is to bring together thought leaders in the Culture and Engagement space to create a hub where people can find tips, rants, stories, and information on creating motivated, passionate, and engaged work environments.

I love that our Fanatics are making noise in the industry. This Inc. article featuring Lara Morrow (Fanatic #3) says it all!

And I couldn’t agree more that every company needs a Culture Chief!

Stop With The Excuses

Nothing makes me crazier then leaders who throw their hands in the air and say that because their company isn’t a technology start-up there really isn’t any way for them to create a great culture. They say things like, “Well, we’re in the X industry and it’s a known fact that turnover is high” or “We have hourly call-center employees so we have to have a lot of policies and treat them like children. Otherwise, they wouldn’t actually get anything done.”

These are nothing more then excuses. There are moving companies, call-centers, and fast food chains all over the country being recognized for their great cultures. All of them have hourly employees, none of them are technology start-ups.

I’ve found that companies that use these excuses are the same ones who justify every employee who voluntarily leaves by saying they weren’t very good employees in the first place. It’s a cop-out.

Editors Note: Marisa is a leadership coach, management trainer, and motivational speaker on all things Culture and Engagement.  She has helped lead the culture and engagement initiatives at two nationally recognized great places to work; Rackspace as Culture Maven and Modea as Talent Manger. Today Marisa consults, coaches, and leads seminars for organizations looking to increase productivity by focusing on management training and employee engagement.

Helpless

I had the pleasure of delivering my “Seeing Beyond the Flip-flops and Margarita Machines: Four Keys to Building a Strong Corporate Culture” presentation recently at a state wide conference. Everything was going well until I was confronted by a skeptic in the room.

I love a good skeptic.

He thought that my philosophies on getting Senior Leadership involved in creating a Brand Strategy for employees was “nice and all” but since he works for a large government agency he doesn’t have access to a team of leaders who can help him build that philosophy. So basically, he felt helpless in creating a strong foundation for building a good culture within his sector.

My response: If you work for an organization that is either huge and you don’t have access to Senior Leaders or where the leadership team doesn’t want to be involved you can still build an engaged workforce in your department. Focus on creating a Brand Strategy for your team. Do everything in your power to share the vision, mission, purpose, and values with them and by doing so you’ll be taking steps towards setting clear expectations for the employees who report to you.

So don’t feel helpless. There are always things you can do to create a stronger culture for the employees around you.

Editors Note: Marisa is a leadership coach, management trainer, and motivational speaker on all things Culture and Engagement.  She has helped lead the culture and engagement initiatives at two nationally recognized great places to work; Rackspace as Culture Maven and Modea as Talent Manger. Today Marisa consults, coaches, and leads seminars for organizations looking to increase productivity by focusing on management training and employee engagement.

Missing The Iceberg

I have always been a little fascinated with the story of the Titanic.  I found myself thinking, “What if?” about so many little details during that fateful night in April 1912.  What if White Star Line wouldn’t have encouraged the captain to run at full speed in order to beat a previous record?  What if Edward Smith would have warned the captain about the icebergs lurking in the cold, dark water?  What if one less compartment was destroyed allowing the ship to stay afloat?  What if there were enough lifeboats?  Would the outcome of the legendary story have been any different if everyone would have come together as a team?  Maybe.  Probably.

Do you ever look back in hind sight and wonder “what on earth happened?” Why didn’t we meet that critical deadline?  Why didn’t we achieve the annual sales goal?  Why did we lose that high revenue client?  Naturally we all want an earth shattering reason that the results weren’t achieved but more often than not we find that it was something as simple as a lack in teamwork or poor communication that caused the downfall.

Now hopefully you aren’t sinking fast like the Titanic so how do you keep from ever going there?  Do you have a company vision and purpose statement that you communicate to your organization?  How often do you communicate it or do you just pop it on your website and hope it infiltrates into the organization?   It is imperative that your vision and purpose statement simply clarifies what direction everyone should be heading.  It is even more critical that you over communicate every chance you get.  Never make assumptions that everyone understands the steps needed to meet objectives.

At Beryl, the senior leadership team continuously focuses on our 3 year vision and how we are going to get there.  This vision is communicated at every group meeting, forum and town hall.  Prizes are often thrown into the audience to those who can quickly summarize the priorities of the organization.  It is printed on our badges and scrolls on our community t.v.’s in the hallways.  This vision keeps us from being blindsided by obstacles.  We’re able to focus on underlying issues that could affect our success.

To the captain of the Titanic, only the tip of  the iceberg showed above the water’s surface.  It probably appeared harmless on top of the water but under the water’s surface was an enormous surprise that not only sunk the unsinkable ship but took 1,514 lives that night.  If their vision and purpose were communicated well to the crew, maybe, just maybe, the Titanic would have forecasted the danger, missed the iceberg and wouldn’t even be an iconic story in history 100 years later.

Editors Note: For the past 12 years Lara Morrow has been The Queen of Fun & Laughter at The Beryl Companies, a title accidentally appointed due to her wacky personality.  She spearheads their internal communication, recognition, employee relations, leadership training and culture strategy. Her efforts have led to Beryl being recognized nine different times as a best place to work including being voted the #2 Best Medium Sized Company to work for in America. She is a co-author of Smile Guide, Employee Perspectives on Culture, Loyalty and Profit. After hours, Lara “releases steam” through her passion for cooking, blogging and reviewing local restaurants.

Good Managers Know

A good manager should be able to answer the following question for each of their direct reports:

What is the biggest obstacle your employee is facing right now?

If you don’t know the answer to this question then you need to figure it out. And keep in mind that the answer doesn’t always have to be professional. Sometimes the biggest obstacle an employee is facing has to do with something going on in his/her personal life. Either way, a good manager will know about it.

Now, just because you know what the obstacle is doesn’t mean it’s your job  to fix it. As a manager and coach sometimes it’s about empowering the employee to fix it himself. It might be coaching them through a difficult conversation with a peer, giving them the flexibility to work on a problem at home, or helping them find training to get back on track.

The only way to empower your employees to do their best work everyday is to help them break down the roadblocks that prevent them from success. And the only way to help them break down these roadblocks is to know what they are.

Editors Note: When it comes to her professional life, Marisa Keegan is passionate about three things; employee engagement, leadership development, and corporate culture. She has helped lead the culture and engagement initiatives at two nationally recognized great places to work; Rackspace as Culture Maven and Modea as Talent Manger. Today Marisa consults and leads seminars for organizations looking to increase productivity by focusing on management training and employee engagement.

Culture Is Your Responsibility

Employees who work for companies that suck love to complain about how bad leadership is screwing up the corporate culture. Actually, employees who work for companies that don’t suck usually complain about this too. As much as I completely agree that leadership has to take a role in creating a great culture, employees can’t just sit back and wait for it to be handed to them on a silver platter.

So whether your work for a great company or a bad one the next time you’re tempted to complain about the culture think about what you can do to  make an immediate change. Think you’re powerless in doing so?

I just came across this post where Heidi challenges us to take steps to change the culture of our companies by doing something small…right now. I couldn’t agree more with her and love her list of “25 Things We Can Do Now” which includes ideas like showing up ready, putting your cup in the dishwasher, and writing a career plan.

It’s a clever post so take a second to check it out.

 

Editors Note: When it comes to her professional life, Marisa Keegan is passionate about three things; employee engagement, leadership development, and corporate culture. She has helped lead the culture and engagement initiatives at two nationally recognized great places to work; Rackspace as Culture Maven and Modea as Talent Manger. Today Marisa consults and leads seminars for organizations looking to increase productivity by focusing on management training and employee engagement.