Flexible & friendly beats smart

Wharton@Work asked members in its December 2007 poll, "What are the most important qualities you look for in team members?" They answered:

• Flexibility/adaptability - 40 percent
• Interpersonal skills - 29 percent
• Specific functional skills - 15 percent
• Intelligence - 12 percent
• Loyalty - 4 percent

Turns out that most of what you really need to know, you DID learn in kindergarten.

As parents, many of us know that one of the competencies expected before children progress in school is the ability to transition smoothly from activity to activity on agendas set by circumstances. And getting along with others is, of course, essential at all ages. What's interesting here is how unimportant intelligence and loyalty are. Once you think about it, though, it makes perfect sense. We've all known people who were incredibly bright, but very difficult to work with. Stanford-Binet intelligence tests don't measure emotional intelligence, which is far more important in teamwork than spatial manipulation ability in most cases. Personal loyalty, too, can be problematic, if it prompts people to cover up unproductive behaviors, support faulty premises, or avoid challenging things which may cause problems later.

Teams drive work

Why should you keep those important team characteristics in mind? Because they are the driving force behind work, according to Wharton's January poll. When asked if leaders or teams primarily drove their work, 52 percent of members said teams, 34 percent said a balance of the two, and only 14 percent said their work was driven by leaders.

Smart is as smart does, my mother used to say. Smart leaders put their money on teamwork.

Workplace frustrations

A recent USA Today "snapshot" presented results of a survey to 1,200 workers listing their top five workplace frustrations. The results:

1. Poor communication by senior management about the business - 17 percent
2. Office Politics - 16 percent
3. Lack of teamwork - 15 percent
4. The use of politically correct language - 9 percent
5. Nosy co-workers - 6 percent

Let's break them down:

Poor communication about the business

One of primary benefits Barr Corporate Success brings is an immediate focus on identifying the top strategic objectives for a business, and, equally important - communicating and cascading those objectives throughout all levels of the organization. If you don't know how, we do. It's critical that front-line employees have the knowledge, mindset, culture, and tools to bring upper-level initiatives all the way down to customer relations. Front line employees want and need information, and to know what really matters and will contribute to their success by contributing to the company's success.

Office Politics

Politics are no more or no less than an expression of power struggles in poorly defined structures, confusion about objectives, and a lack of trust in co-workers. Teams must have the time, space, and structure to know each other, know what matters, and pursue it cohesively. Individual team members must be held accountable for behavior that divides and sabotages teams. Incentives must be geared toward rewarding all efforts that contribute to the success of the team in meeting defined objectives, even those efforts that are less visible, or harder to measure, and similarly, behavior that rewards the individual but damages the team should not be rewarded. It may sound complex, but Barr Corporate Success has simple, straightforward tools to align your company's systems with its goals, and eliminate the distractions of destructive competition, converting that energy into productive cooperation.

Lack of Teamwork

Teams suffer from a variety of ills, chief among them being a failure to understand that each team needs a diverse group of talents and styles to initiate projects, see to the details, and ensure results. Different work styles bring different strengths and talents. Barr Corporate Success has some amazing programs to foster mutual respect and understanding of what each team member brings to each project, and to the company's long-term goals.

Politically correct language

This listed item, in my opinion, reflects many people's frustration at having their intent misunderstood or mischaracterized. All of us have occasionally misspoken or made an offhand comment that flopped with the audience. When among friends, we speak freely, knowing that others will understand us, call us on something borderline, and give us the benefit of the doubt if we express ourselves badly. But in a business environment, we interact with a much wider group of people with whom we have less in common. That's why offering opportunities for employees to get to know one another on a slightly more personal level, through team-building exercises, can be groundbreaking. It's difficult to get much done if one is watching every word he says, or parsing everything another says, looking for something objectionable. Such an environment lacks trust and understanding, and is poisonous to cooperation. When teams know, understand, and trust each other, miscommunications and frustrations over word choices are much less of a problem -- because they're much more likely to be brought out into the open, and resolved very happily.

Barr Corporate Success has a team-building program that involves personalized assessment of work styles and personal interests, attitudes, and values. When a team sits down together, and understands one another's styles and driving interests, the team as a whole draws together and better appreciates the advantages of diverse talents and styles. Call 513.470.8980 for more information about DISC- and PIAV-based team-building programs.

Nosy Co-workers One person's nosy co-worker is another person's best friend at work. Again, It all comes down to lack of trust, violation of others' boundaries, and different styles. We can help.

It's inspiring and uplifting to know that these top work peeves can be easily solved with the right tools. Imagine how productive your company will be when those frustrations and distractions are out of the way, and every employee's attention is focused on achieving important goals with their teammates.

"The No As*h@#!@ Rule"

We apologize for using a word that may offend the sensibilities of some. We'll alternate between the vulgarity, and the more accepted "jerk." We hope that after reading, you'll agree it's worth discussing.

As you can tell from the length of the post, we like the book. Read it!

Stanford University professor and Robert Sutton has not only legitimized the word "asshole" in business conversation -- he's made it practically unavoidable.

"It all started in 2003 with a half-serious proposal that I made to Harvard Business Review, when their senior editor Julia Kirby asked if I had any suggestions for HBR's annual list of 'Breakthrough Ideas.' I told Julia that the best business practice I knew of was the 'no asshole rule.'"

Despite Sutton's expectation that no such title would ever be published by HBR, the article was embraced, and drew so much media attention that he followed it up with the frank, amusing and well-researched book, very directly titled The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't. If you're actively dealing with a jerk, read it. You may find help with your current situation, and at worst, will better be able to recognize and avoid assholes in the future.

Sutton offers welcoming reassurance to anyone who has ever thought, "I don't care how productive this guy/woman is, it's just not worth it to put up with him/her."

Experts agree, and for sound business reasons. Assholes are not worth it. Sutton shows that whatever numbers the jerk generates in terms of individual sales or productivity, more comprehensive metrics prove that jerks take a tremendous toll on morale, overall productivity, and unnecessary turnover.

A partial list of factors Sutton suggested we consider when calculating TCA (Total Cost of Assholes)

• Distraction from tasks, the effort devoted to avoiding unpleasant exchanges, recovering from them, avoiding blame.
• Damaged sense of safety and an environment of fear that discourages "discretionary effort," suggestions, risk-taking, learning from own and others' failures, and honest discussion.
• Reduced motivation and energy at work.
• Stress-induced physical and emotional illness.
• Potentially impaired mental acuity.
• Continual and ongoing bullying transforms targets into assholes.
• Absenteeism
• Turnover due to asshole's abusive supervision, plus time spent looking for new job while at work
• Costs of victims' retribution toward the company.
• "Combat pay" for those who stay.
• Time spent "cooling out" victimized customers, contract employees, suppliers, outsiders, and internal employees who are victimized.
• Settlement fees and successful litigation by both victims, and alleged assholes (wrongful termination claims).
• Increased health insurance costs.

When those factors are considered, it becomes apparent that assholes cost more than they are worth. Add in the damage to personal lives, marriages, and other relationships, and assholes become a toxin that must be removed.

Have you experienced or witnessed any of Sutton's "Dirty Dozen"?

These are common everyday actions that assholes use.

• Personal insults
• Invading ones "personal territory"
• Uninvited physical contact
• Threats & intimidation, both verbal and non-verbal
• Sarcastic 'jokes' and 'teasing' used as insult delivery systems
• Withering e-mail flames
• Status slaps intended to humiliate
• Public shaming or 'status degradation' rituals
• Rude interruptions
• Two-faced attacks
• Dirty looks
• Treating people as if they're invisible

If you haven't, then you're among the lucky few. Sutton cites one study showing that 27 percent of workers in a representative sample of Michigan residents experienced mistreatment by someone in the workplace, with one in six reporting persistent psychological abuse. And a 1997 study of 130 U.S. nurses found that an astounding 90 percent reporting being victims of verbal abuse from physicians during the previous year.

If you have, then you're obviously not alone. We empathize. Without real concrete incentive to change, such as forceful intervention from higher-level management or powerbrokers, it is difficult to stop an asshole. While some are unaware of the effect their behavior has on those around them, others may simply not care, or not be able to control themselves.

Sutton writes of several levels of asshole:

• "Temporary assholes" are having a bad day or moment. Miscommunications and frustrating situations can at times bring out the worst in all of us. All of us have probably offended, if only by rolling ones eyes during a difficult meeting. As long as offenses are infrequent, apologized for, and an isolated aberration from usually friendly, respectful behavior, temporary assholes are part of life.
• "Certified assholes" are workplace polluters who "display a persistent pattern of episodes that end with one 'target' after another feeling belittled, put down, humiliated, disrespected, oppressed, de-energized, and generally worse about themselves."
• "Flaming assholes"... 'nuff said.
• "Two-faced backstabbers" are particularly noxious weeds. They "have enough skill and emotional control to save their dirty work for moments when they can't get caught, and are much tougher to stop, even though they do as much damage as a raging maniac."

Sutton proposes two steps for detecting assholes: find those who persistently leave others feeling demeaned and de-energized; then look to see if their victims generally have less power and social standing than the tormentor. The basic hallmark of assholes is "kiss up, kick down." Does the alleged asshole persistently leave the person he interacts with feeling worse about him- or herself?

Hundreds of cross-disciplinary studies have attempted to define practices that lead to greater productivity. Supportive, warm work environments that reward risk-taking and creative thinking are often most productive. Assholes utterly destroy creative, supportive, productive teams and create a contagion of anger, resentment, and bad behavior. The more powerful the asshole, and the longer his or her behavior goes unaddressed, the more widespread the effects, and the harder to recover from.

Sutton writes, "Research on everything from student groups to top management teams reveals that constructive arguments over ideas -- but not nasty personal arguments -- drives greater performance, especially when teams do non-routine work."

Certain industries in particular are haunted by the myth of the "temperamental rock star", which misleads companies into hiring and retaining -- with gritted teeth and clenched fists -- assholes who put up good numbers. They're often considered part of the price of doing business.

Sutton writes, "There is so much evidence that civilized workplaces are not a naive dream, that they do exist, and that pervasive contempt can be replaced with mutual respect when a team or organization is managed right -- and civilized workplaces usually enjoy superior performance as well."

There is hope. The workplace is changing as the nature of our work shifts more to knowledge work requiring good interpersonal relations and teamwork. Owners and management are paying attention. For example, Virgin founder Richard Branson devised a test to avoid assholes; he dressed as a chauffeur and picked up candidates personally. Other companies are actively training HR and other hiring professionals to weed out asshole candidates.

In the meantime, Sutton recommends you ask yourself: "Am I part of the problem, or part of the solution?" Your answer may determine the course of your career.

Return to Barr Corporate Success

Bob Sutton's blog

"So What Exactly Do You Do?"

For most of us, casual social situations sometimes bring the questions, "What line of work are you in?" The most succinct answers, in our case, are "business consultancy," or "strategic planning and implementation." But that's a little pat, and doesn't really answer the question, now does it?

It depends on what a business or organization needs.

With 20+ years of experience in high-level business, an incredible educational pedigree, a deep personal commitment to ongoing learning, and a personal track record of outstanding results, our founder (and chief!) Krissi Barr dives in, takes stock, and gets busy!

What Barr Corporate Success Does

The one constant in business, as in life, is change. Ability to adapt to an ever-changing world is always a basis for success. And since the greatest assets of your company are its people, corporate success reflects your people’s success. BCS works with a team of your key players who are capable of raising company-wide performance to levels colleagues, customers, and competitors would consider the new standard.

The process to getting there is highly customized for your people and organization.

With a bottom-line focus, Barr helps your team:

• Increase net profits – Break the routine and change the rules. Improve the selling process, generate more customers at greater margins, cultivate advantageous vendor partnerships, evaluate and actively work with key performance financial measurements.
• Heighten competitive awareness and advantages – Stand out from the rest. Put into practice the skills, focus, and structure of businesses at the next echelon to capture new opportunities.
• Communicate better internally and externally – Foster creativity. Understand individual behavior, attitudes, values, and communication and how these impact team dynamics, sales, and customer relations. Improve company interactions, supplier relationships, and customer satisfaction.
• Create enthusiasm and excitement – Put fun back into the business. It’s phenomenal to be a winner on a winning team. The team proactively moves forward, not just putting out fires.
• Achieve tactical brilliance in strategic planning and operations – Aim high. Think big. Look for profitability in problems. Goals are specific, relevant, aggressively implemented, and actively tracked.
• Grow yourself, and your people... and reduce costly turnover – Be a star. Live up to your potential. Leadership, individual and team skills are sharpened with a vision for success.
• Cut costs – Leverage your supply chain and purchasing to drive down costs. Optimize operations efficiencies. Implement cost saving processes that cut costs without cutting corners.

The Big Picture

The Barr Corporate Success process is not just about strategic planning. It’s about setting exceptional goals and implementing actionable, measurable, timely actions to facilitate taking ownership for performing at much higher levels. By considering the big picture, business challenges, corporate culture, and personal concerns, Barr pulls all facets (and potential obstacles) together.

Barr helps teams get all oars in the water, pulling in the right direction, in perfect synchrony, to achieve amazing results. To learn more about how, please check us out at www.barrcorporatesuccess.com, or for personal attention, just call us! 513-470-8980. Or e-mail Krissi today! Krissi@barrcorporatesuccess.com