Why we choose to live by the rules

A dear friend of mine shared her woes with me about her teenage son. He is testing boundaries, and the value of rules, in a very trying fashion for his mother.

All social systems have rules; most often they are a good thing and make our lives much easier. I am a Canadian and here in Canada we feel it is important to abide by the law and give everyone an equal opportunity. This means we respect line-ups, patiently wait our turn when traffic lanes merge, and we all experience equally unreasonable wait times for our certain medical procedures. Our tax laws are quite ridiculously cumbersome because they aim to be fair. That is the way we do things here.

And sometimes it’s frustrating. When you have to wait six months or a year for knee surgery – all this fairness seems, well – a little unfair. But for the most part it works and people respect the system.

Organizations too have systems and we would hope that when people join organizations they take the time to understand its values to ensure it’s a place they will feel comfortable in; a place where they can follow the rules.
My husband works for a large Canadian company with a very strong set of values. A small group of employees clearly did not share the same set of values; they broke the company rules – and the mess landed up on the front page of the newspaper.

That little drama has now played itself off of the front pages and out of the public arena. Inside the organization the drama has lingered. The remaining employees are deeply wounded. They were incensed that a few rogue individuals have brought into question their values. These are people who take great pride in what they do and the company they work for. This was a deeply personal and very upsetting experience for them.

I am given to understand that the executives were a little taken aback at the strength of the reaction. They should not be. We are all human and we all have strong emotional reactions when our values are messed with. Why should it be any different at work?

Employees need to feel part of a greater whole. They need to feel their values are in sync with those of the organization. They need to understand the big picture and how they contribute to the organization’s success; common values are a part of that bigger picture.

The heart of change: identifying key behaviours for success

Last week I was in Calgary speaking at the Women’s Leadership Forum . I was fortunate enough to also be a participant and hear what others were thinking and doing.

Here’s a quick overview of what I learned:
1. There is a whole lot of exciting stuff happening out there but you can’t do it all. Find your area of passion and focus;
2. The right-brain is stuff is very important for effective leadership and if you are not yet comfortable with it you need to begin;
3. Our behaviors as leaders are critical to our personal success and that of our organizations.

Let’s talk about behaviors because that is one area I am really passionate about. The first keynote address was delivered by Ron McMillan, co-author of the book Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. Ron and his co-authors studied successful influencers and documented what they did. The book is about the system they discovered through their research.

It’s a well-thought out approach beginning with clarity of vision/results and having really good plans that cover the personal, social and structural elements of change, so that it (the change) becomes inevitable.

Ron also talked about vital behaviors; those key behaviors you need to have in place for the change to take root. And that’s when I got excited. I firmly believe that every change initiative has its own set of associated behaviors. It is our job as change agents to identify those behaviors and build our programs around them.

I’m delighted to see more and more organizations taking the time to identify specific and desired behaviors. See the following article on Farm Credit Union. I’d like to hear about your success stories using behaviors to effect change.

The skills we need from internal communications and engagement employees

In my first job in corporate communications the department was filled with crusty ex-journalist types. They were the most wonderful men (yes - all of them were male) - each a unique character with amazing stories to tell.

But let's get one thing straight. They were not communicators - they were writers. The copy they produced was excellent. But good copy alone does not a communicator make - particularly in internal communications.

A recent article from Ragan talks for the value of hiring journalism graduates in corporate communications. Maybe - if you are hiring for writing ability and someone who understands a variety of different social media. But you better make sure that person is able to develop other skills.
Internal communications is about a great deal more. Key to effective internal communications is the understanding that this is a strategic endeavor focused on facilitating discussions throughout the organization with the goal of performance improvement.

Please don't get me wrong. A good newsletter is worth its weight in gold. But it is one of many tools and skills that we as communicators bring to the table.

I'd be interested in your views on what's critical in the internal communications skill and tool box.

Interactive communications helps employees understand relevance

This week I have been working on proposals. If you are a consultant proposals are very much a part of your life. The job of a proposal is to persuade. And a proposal persuades not by selling what you have to offer, but by providing a solution the purchaser is looking for – there is a difference.

It’s not unlike the difference between top down and interactive communication. Top down communication tells people what to think, is if often general in nature, and as such may not create relevance for employees. Interactive communication, while more time consuming, suggests a dialogue which provides an opportunity to show personal relevance for the employee.

The corporate communications folk clearly can’t enter into discussions with every employee, but they can facilitate the debate between managers and employees. If managers can help employees understand goals and objectives and their personal contributions, your organization will be in the pound seats. Like a good proposal, interactive communication talks directly to individual needs and offers a solution – in this case how the employee can support goals and objectives more directly and be part of something bigger.

Waiting at airports

I don’t know about you but my regular life seems to be filled to the brim. So when I’m thrown a curved ball – which happens – it brings with it a healthy dose of perspective.


Right now I am sitting in an airport waiting for a delayed flight. I may not be able to deliver the workshop I am flying over for. I can choose to fret pointlessly or I can use my time productively. Not much of a choice!


So here I am writing this blog and doing one of my favorite things – people watching. It’s not often we get to observe our fellow travelers in life. Given the flight was scheduled to leave at 7 am there are a lot of suits and Blackberries.


Everyone is trying to reschedule meetings. The man seated next to me needs to deliver a sealed tender document. There’s a missed funeral and a divisional meeting that’s going to go ahead without its senior leader. Despite all this juggling people are remarkably calm.


It’s astonishing the different stories evolving in this cramped little room; everyone is on a journey – aside from the actual flight we are all trying to make. Hopefully soon we will all be joined in making a common journey. When that happens there will be a great sense of camaraderie and shared experience. Organizations too need to find ways to make sure all their employees are getting on to the same flight.

Clinton tells the story of her roots

Hilary Clinton is re-energizing support in Pennsylvania. In part, according to an article by Steve Denning, because she is starting to tell the story of her own roots. Her grandfather lived in Pennsylvania and worked in a lace mill. Her father grew up there too and played football for Penn State.

Our militaristic leadership model (and media portrayals) leads us to assume that the ideal leader must be aloof and invioable. A new theory of leadership is emerging, namely that leaders embody the principles of the people they lead. As such effective leaders work hard to understand the values and opinions of their followers—rather than assuming absolute authority—to enable a productive dialogue with followers about what the group embodies and stands for and thus how it should act.

Hilary Clinton shows her leadership skills by tapping into middle American values and "telling her story".

Business leaders can no longer afford to remain aloof - they need to make the connection with employees. Stories are a wonderful way to show humanity and connect in a meaningful way. But beware - everyone knows a faker - perhaps Hilary was wise to speak about her roots in Pennsylvania - home is always a good place for passion.

Generational expectations - implications for the world of work

My 15-year old daughter and I buy music in very different ways. She finds the notion that that someone would buy a physical object that contained a finite number of songs arbitrarily selected by someone else - rather quaint. My daughter is very clear about what her purchases and her expectations are high.

Businesses are beginning to catch on - music sellers, networks and studios are adjusting to a new world view where the customer is not only right, but expects to be able to exercise that judgment with a click of the mouse.

Clay Shirky, an adjunct professor at New York University’s graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program and the author of a new book, “Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.” http://www.shirky.com/ suggests that the web is not competition for traditional media, but a completely different system that empowers groups and individuals, a place where choice is not only an option, but an imperative.

As a communications professional and engagement specialists I have to ask myself what this will mean for the workplace of the future. Portal-based web sites and customized benefit packages are just the tip of the ice-berg.

I was chatting with a young woman the other day – an engineer. One of her key motivators for becoming involved in volunteer activities within her organization is that she is able to exercise her creative design abilities. Can we expect to see a world where employees and managers co-design the job function? Take that one step further and one can envisage interactive strategic planning. Exciting or terrifying – depends how you look at it.