Gen Y, Aston Martin, Twitter and a Goal

Thanks to the reader who sent the following in response to the last BLOG ‘The Happy PIace – Employee or Employer Responsibility’. I think that as ‘Generation Y’ are moving into businesses they are somewhat egotistical – they expect all the rewards without putting the hard work in, and they reach management positions without understanding what it means to behave like a leader (I say this slightly hypocritically, as I am categorised as ‘Generation Y’ myself).

You also mentioned, ‘Those who seek to be employed who do not have a refined sense of their personal responsibility in this ‘community’ should be avoided like the plague’, again I wholeheartedly agree. … I think it is very important to employ those who will add to the business and brand – rather than just hastily enhance their own career as quickly as possible. I reflected on a quote by Plato – I don’t remember the exact phrase, but he spoke about the behaviour of teenagers and mentioned that the previous generation always questioned their morals, motivations and general conduct. The generational divide has frustrated society for hundreds of years – so I am not concerned that ‘Generation Y’ are any different in that respect. I’m positive that my grandparents thought the same of my parents actions, and so forth. So we shouldn’t worry that ‘Generation Y’ are a shocking new breed of humanity.”

It seems out of character that the above comments should come from a Gen Y, and I guess proves the point that we should exercise great caution when attempting to corral groups or cohorts together for the convenience of type casting. Anyone who reasons like this is already demonstrating leadership and I would be happy to hire more of those regardless of their generation. The last sentence or two remind us that we are not dealing with a unique nor modern phenomenon. So why do we continue to be surprised as generation by generation the same phenomenon is experienced?

One of the phenomenon’s of this generation is the connectedness through social media. I have valiantly tried to do my bit with my Facebook. I just can’t get the hang of Twitter and am inclined to agree with a commentator that it is mindless babble. I don’t think I’ll get into that. I find enough mindless babble on Facebook but it is nice to keep up with those I care about by just clicking in.

And in a more ‘professional’ way I am connected via Linked In, although that is a little embarrassing. You see I set up an account early in the piece, didn’t note the key bits of information and proceeded to forget completely about it. Eventually I set up another but started to get invitations to link via the original account which I can’t answer –embarrassing. No self-respecting Gen Y would do that. And speaking of mindless babble, a change of subject and focus for a moment. I find as I get older I am more aware of my own mortality. I thought I had death all sorted…I had set a strategic goal…I would drop dead (and the age doesn’t matter greatly)  at the dinner table, preferably in a nice restaurant, face first into a plate just after a magnificent desert, having enjoyed a great but far too much of a meal, and wine in the company of wonderful people.

However more recently I had just finished reading a magazine whilst having coffee in Rangiora which prompted the prospect of a second option, that of death at high speed in a fantastic performance car. The magazine was an offshoot of the TopGear programme and the boys were test driving some of the fastest production cars.

Petrol head Jeremy was singing the praises of the Aston Martin Vantage V12 although he did say you could get almost the same value for £80,000 less with the Aston Martin DBS V8. Whether I am able to even afford to think about owning one is something of a moot point, let alone finding myself seriously weighing up whether or not to spend another £80,000 to buy the Vantage rather than the DBS.

I have had to revise my plan, damn it! If any sort of Aston Martin is to be an option then the first plan will have to go on hold for a while. You see I will need to work much longer. Which means I’ll have to live much longer, which means an irresponsible disregard for my personal health will have to change to avoid any risk of an early achievement of option one, my till now strategic goal for death.

Oh the dilemma…and if that’s all I’ve got to worry about, this can only mean my missed GenY period has caught up with me.

Crap! Well I better get on with it.

The ‘Happy Place’ – Employee or Employer Responsibility?

This BLOG began to write itself immediately after the last, ‘The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work’.

A long-time friend sent me recollections of commuting in Wellington. He writes, “Dear Geoff, know what you mean by the rail peoples.  It was just the same back in the 1950's, we would board a freezing cold 1930 style carriage at Taita and usually after two stops our then "group" was complete, two sets of facing seats.  I got my first girl-friend that way, it did not work out but that is the way of such things is it not?

Later with Jane and I from Porirua the same thing happened. One of the train guards was so fond of Jane that when I told him she had died he burst into tears!!!  He had problems with a lady who got on at Plimmerton on Mondays to go into town to live in an apartment there and always tried to pay him with a $50 bill for the single trip. That usually meant she got a freebie as he could never make the change.  One day we had the cash from a church gala and gave him enough so he could give her change all in 20c pieces!!!  That was the last time she tried that.” 

There has since been a lot of comment about the commuter who just did her job and went home feeling nobody noticed she had been there. It appears to have been an astounding revelation. One reader noted, “In some ways it’s sad that people don’t enjoy it (work). You should really see your work place like family, you spend more time there than at home.  Then again some families don’t get along at all.”

The research about the benefits of a positive working culture is vast and in fact comes into the category of being a no brainer. But just how responsible is the employer to provide staff with their ‘Happy Place’ and what is the individual’s responsibility?  How might you respond to someone who felt that it was not their responsibility to help develop a positive culture in their organisation?  Perhaps as a friend suggested… ‘Let's have a strategy to be the worst place to work.  Let's try to beat the Lybian military model.  We can refit for appalling working conditions, drop wages, invent a totally new concept, I think we would call it industrial relations where we would win if we were so awful staff decided to withdraw their labour in protest.  We could get rid of the coffee machines, have enforced start times, fixed morning and afternoon tea and lunch breaks and we could fire one person a week just for fun’. 

For communities to work well, everyone involved has to contribute and take responsibility to ensure the community succeeds. It seems to me it is part of the deal of belonging. How can you ignore those responsibilities? Or perhaps in this age of focus on the individual, we are forgetting communal etiquette and simply don’t know how to behave? 

In an article in The Independent (repeated in a Sunday Herald), Gerard Gilbert interviews Elizabeth McGovern who plays Lady Cora in the global TV hit Downton Abbey. Gilbert asks how she explains the show’s success. She explains, “My contemporary brain finds it very relaxing, looking at an age when everybody knows how to behave because the rules are very clear. There’s something very stressful about today’s world, when people are allowed to behave how they want. You’re always having to make choices and judgement calls about how to behave, whereas in the world of Downton Abbey everybody knows what’s expected of them.” 

This represents the tussle I always experience, first with myself and then with the organisations in which I am working at the time. The earlier times when rules, policies, rank and status prevailed, choices were limited and not much thinking was involved – just check the rulebook/policy manual. I reject that and have advocated quite literally the burning of policy manuals and the establishment of a common code to run parallel with the organisation purpose. Such a model respects those who participate and they in turn not only take individual responsibility for their actions, but actively contribute to the maintenance and development of a positive culture. 

In the Randstad World of Work report 2011/12 in New Zealand, the majority of employers surveyed say increasing workplace productivity and performance is their single biggest human capital challenge. They see it important to unlock workforce productivity. In the survey employees report moderate levels of happiness, and affirm the principles of meaningful work – recognition and flexicurity (flexibility and job security). 

To achieve high performance employers will need to deploy the well-known strategies to engage their staff, to create their ‘happy place’ at work. But in my opinion, the winners will be those organisations which employ people who see they have a personal responsibility to build and maintain that happy place. Those who seek to be employed who do not have a refined sense of their personal responsibility in this ‘community’ should be avoided like the plague.

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work

“Entering the carriage feels like interrupting a congregation…There is something improbable about the silence in a carriage, considering how naturally gregarious we are as a species. Still, how much kinder it is for the commuters to pretend to be absorbed in other things, rather than revealing the extent to which they are covertly evaluating, judging condemning and desiring each other.”

So writes Alain De Botton in ‘The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work’. Alain uses words in a way that turn the most ordinary of events into something of literary colour, causing you to pause and rethink what you have just observed or considered in an entirely different light. I envy his skill, art and craftsmanship with the language.

I travel to work most days by train into the metropolis Auckland from rural farming Pukekohe. Fortunately for me, when I started doing this some 8 years ago a small group of already long experienced commuters opened up and enveloped me in their ‘congregation’. The little group has grown and we euphemistically refer to ourselves as the Train People.

With the introduction of more services, the group has split into two divisions referred to by the departure time of our respective evening trains, the 4.42 and the 5.26. A benefit of being a member of this congregation is that we try and get together, partners included, for a dinner – mid winter Christmas and of course Christmas.

This congregation of Train People are all going to work and contrary to what Alain describes (although that seems to be the rule elsewhere in the carriage), engage in happy banter, keeping each other informed of important events in their lives like births; deaths; a storm ripping the veranda off the house; preparing to act in a new play; the exploits of grandchild and animals; and very often good natured ribbing.

Work dominates our lives and people see it differently. A lady I had never encountered before plonked herself in the seat next to me. I greeted her politely and enquired where she was off to. “Work!” she replied in such a way as to cause me to think I had asked a stupid question, and that ‘Work!’ were some great imposition keeping her from some other exciting and far more important adventure today. So I asked my second stupid question, “Are you looking forward to that?” She gave me a big wry smile and informed me, “I just go, do my job, don’t talk to anyone and go home. I’m sure they don’t even notice I am there.”

As Alain notes, “A question of motivation appeared: whether the company could succeed in providing its staff with a sufficiently elevated set of ideals in whose name they were to exhaust themselves and surrender the greatest share of their lives.”

A long time ago, a chap by the name of Aristotle apparently defined an attitude that was to prevail in respect of employment for a long while when he referred to the structural incompatibility between satisfaction and a paid position.

And trying to prove there shouldn’t be incompatibility, well not a big gap anyway, is the focus of my work from which I derive a great deal of pleasure, satisfaction, frustration and occasionally anguish.

David Ellis is one of life’s gentlemen in the Confucian sense of the word (although he would not consider himself old), ‘A true man of honour who will cultivate themselves morally; participate in the correct performance of ritual; show filial piety and loyalty where these are due; and cultivates humaneness’.

As a boy he just wanted to be a farmer so spent as much time as he could after school, weekends and during holidays to be working on farms. He had one clear objective, to be a farmer. To achieve his goal he worked three different jobs at once to earn enough money for a deposit on a farm. He succeeded and in the early 70’s brought a farm and set up a substantial sheep and beef operation, for which he won the Waikato Business Excellence Agriculture & Primary Production Award in 2009.

But he had another passion, breeding and racing thoroughbred horses. His Te Akau stud has a formidable reputation and is the proud holder of the all-time record for most wins in a season – 2009/2010 – with 108 winners. In 2009 David was also a finalist in both the Waikato Business Awards for Excellence in Service and the Leader of the Year.

David and his wife Karen describe themselves as very happy with their work because, “It gives us such a thrill. Our business is our passion.” What a great pity my fellow commuter did not have the opportunity to work for employers like David and Karen.

Of course we don’t all get to own and operate our own business, with most of us having to endure the soulless, waste of time and costly trekking to some place to work for goodness knows who, hoping to get some satisfaction from paid employment. I consider myself very lucky in that respect, I wish many more could have that same experience.

We are currently on the tail end of what has been, according to the growers in our area, the wettest winter in at least fifty years. Fortunately we didn’t have a lot of stock. But regardless, horses are very hard on the ground and mud became the feature of the landscape along with significant damage to our fields and pasture.

I have begun the work of restoring paddocks and pasture. There is a lot to be done repairing this damage: feeding the soil; harrowing over and over the heavily pocked ground, sowing seed. All of this requires investment in capital and more so labour.

In such difficult circumstances and like people, there are always those who seek to profit from the disruption. In my case it is the rapid re-emerging of the weed dock, a weed which excels in adversity, using its long tap roots to mine the minerals deep down, beyond the reach of the grasses, to promote vigorous growth, which in turn crowds out the good quality pasture. In moderation it is a herb making a valuable contribution, however in these circumstances, and in concert with other undesirables they are making a play to dominate.

So the trick is getting the foundations right: good soil balance; nicely level paddocks; remove the weeds; quality pasture with variety yet balanced; producing a living organism of good health and benefit for the animals. Hmmm, perhaps an analogy for creating a good work place?

In that case the last word can go to Tony Schwartz in his ‘The Way We are Working Isn’t Working’, “An organisation truly is a living organism – a human community that can realise its highest potential only when each individual is fully valued and feels fully vested in a shared purpose. The better people’s needs are met, the better they feel, and the better the organisation functions as a whole.”  

Honour, Privilege and Responsibility

I am sure I have said before I consider myself particularly blessed with my experience of ‘work’; the organisations, the people and the managers. This includes the various voluntary and community organisations I have belonged to and occasionally held office with.

Just recently there was a small ceremony (well, an informal breakfast really) in the Gallery of Franklin: The Centre. Management of the Gallery was handed to the Auckland City Council and we said farewell to the staff. The issue of whether or not Franklin should be part of the Super City was hotly debated and divided our community. However my colleague trustees of the Franklin Arts, Culture & Learning Trust and staff of the Gallery saw an opportunity to strengthen support for Arts and Culture with professional management, peer support for staff, being part of a much larger network of events; and better funding.

The support of Leisa Siteine, Manager Arts & Culture South, made for one of the most positive, speedy and amicable transitions I have ever experienced. Although it was both an honour to be appointed to the Trust Board by the old Council, and more latterly a privilege to be elected as the chair, it would be easy to now walk away.

However I have a sense of responsibility to ensure there is some kind of broad based arts and culture forum in place to advise and represent the community to our Local Board.

It seemed somewhat ironic that the day after this transfer, and on the day of my birthday, we were celebrating the Matariki festival at the Gallery. In addressing those gathered I noted that sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. Sharing knowledge occurred when people were genuinely interested in helping one another and creating learning. Knowledge is embodied in people gathered in communities and networks.

Matariki is the Maori name for the group of stars also known as the Pleiades star cluster or The Seven Sisters; and what is referred to as the traditional Maori New Year. Traditionally, depending on the visibility of Matariki, the coming season's crop was thought to be determined. The brighter the stars indicated the warmer the season would be and thus a more productive crop. It was also seen as an important time for family to gather and reflect on the past and the future.

Today Matariki means celebrating the unique place in which we live and giving respect to the land we live on.

We are privileged to live in a rural community and feel a responsibility to actively contribute to that community. There are many others who give significantly and we are honoured to count a number as friends. Such people are a constant source of inspiration, modeling genuine interest in other people and the community. Whenever I think I may have done my bit, we hear or read about yet another person whose contribution makes anything I might do appear but a tiny, barely discernable blip on a large and busy radar screen.

A few years ago now, when John and I were busy showing horses we breed, I was approached by the then secretary of the Franklin Agricultural & Pastoral Society to be available for election to their Executive. I was told it would be a way I could contribute to the movement which had provided the opportunity for us to showcase our horses and also ensure its existence on into the future.

I spent a number of years on the Executive working with a variety of Presidents who each made a unique contribution both in hard work and with their particular focus. There were also dedicated and often long serving executive members. Their succession model, with annual performance reviews (called elections), prepared me to ultimately become the President. This came with immediate and direct support of the immediate past president and a patron, himself a long serving member and past president. Both are farmers.

A couple of weekends back, at the annual conference of the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand, I was privileged to be appointed to their Executive Council. Apart from the appointment being a great honour, with it comes the responsibility to contribute significantly to one of the oldest organisations in this young country and the associated network of 94 A & P Shows.

In the final chapter of his history of the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand, ‘Show Biz’ Hugh Treadwell notes those who have been involved in the past, “… are part of the fabric of this important History, and helped to fashion what we have today.”  It certainly is an honour and a privilege; however I realise the responsibility as I stand in the shadow of so many great contributors to this unique place in which we live whose interest and lives involved giving respect to the land.

Bringing people togther to execute the plan

In April I spoke to a large group of senior managers of a national organisation. Their Forum was held over two days and the general theme was ‘Lead with Attitude’.

I entitled my presentation Leadership – Beyond C2 – meaning beyond command and control, and opened with the quote by Ferdinand Foch; “A leader is above all things an animator. Their thought & faith must be communicated to those they lead. They & the leader must form as one at the moment of executing the plan. That is the essential condition of success”.

Foch was a French soldier, military theorist, and writer who lived 1851 –1929. Shortly after the start of the Spring Offensive, Germany's final attempt to win the war, Foch was chosen as supreme commander of the Allied armies, a position that he held until 11 November 1918, when he accepted the German request for an armistice. He advocated peace terms that would make Germany unable to pose a threat to France ever again. His words after the Treaty of Versailles, “This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years", would prove prophetic; World War II started almost twenty years later.

It was a little ironic that I should start a presentation with the words of a militarist from a vocation those in the audience might associate as a master of the art of Command and Control. Or was it?

Was it a coincidence that when I began my management life quite a few years ago there wasn’t the huge abundance of management and leadership texts as exists today? When asked what I looked to for leadership learning back then, I answered, “A book called Montgomery of Alamein”.

Bernard Montgomery, was the hero of the Battle of El Alamein, a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign and one of the most inspirational military commanders of World War Two. Unlike many senior officers of the day, he went out of his way to meet the soldiers under his command. He lived a lifestyle that was not typical of a general. Though his command base was a large and luxurious North African house, Montgomery lived in a caravan in the garden. Strictly teetotal and anti-smoking, he made sure that his men had a reasonable access to cigarettes. There is no doubt that he was popular with the men in the Eighth Army.

It was said of Montgomery that he was, ‘uncompromisingly single-minded. The most conspicuous of all his attributes was his unshakable confidence in himself, an infectious quality which rapidly spread throughout all ranks in the armed forces and among the general public.’ Also that, ‘His outstanding characteristics were his professional thoroughness in planning set-piece battles and the projection of his self-confidence so as to arouse enthusiasm among his troops.’

You cannot command people to be enthusiastic, nor can you command them to fully engage in the plan.

My next point to this group of manager/leaders was made by a Malcolm Kent, and whilst I don’t particularly know of the chap who said this, what he said was really my point, “one of the greatest failings of today’s executive is their inability to do what they are supposed to do’. Reminiscent of Dr.Edward Deming saying that  managers need to get out of the way of their peple so they can get on and do a good job.

Whilst I was consulting I conducted some research prompted by something similar out of the States. What that research showed and my small sample of 250 across the country confirmed was that having a good boss was the exception not the rule!

And what made great bosses and leaders? Well a good place to start would be with Montgomery and Foch. Not because they were Generals who fought wars, but because of their ability to bring people together to execute the plan.

I concluded my session with a question. "When your meeting ended; When the interaction concluded; When the crisis was averted and When your team went home at day’s end; How would they describe their experience of you?"