Adrian Gostick

Larry O’Donnell just may make you tear up—but in a good way. A few weeks ago the president and COO of Waste Management went undercover in his own firm for the NBC television show Undercover Boss. Larry posed as a new hire and rode along on a garbage truck, worked in a landfill, and struggled to keep up at a recycling center. It was one of the most touching television experiences in a long while as this boss saw firsthand how hard his people work, and how the decisions he makes in the corporate offices affects those on the front lines.

Here’s a link to the show.

If you can make through the reveals at the end without getting a little misty eyed, you are tougher than me.

Larry’s candor during his week in the field—showing the good and the bad—intrigued the business media as well. Last week my colleague Tom Mayer gave me a heads up that Larry was going to be on CNN. Larry had this to say about his employees: “They want to feel appreciated when they do a good job. They want to be recognized and they want to have a voice. And if you can create the type of culture and environment where people want to be there, it`s more than just showing up for a paycheck, it can be very powerful, not only for the company, but you can create a work environment where people want to be a part of the team.”

Amen Larry. As we illustrated with the 200,000-person study in our book The Carrot Principle, organizations that effectively recognize great work are up to three times more profitable than those that are ineffective. Seems like Larry O’Donnell and Waste Management are on their way to building a stronger culture, and strategic recognition and employee engagement are going to be keys to their success.

We just sent out the March newsletter with some great tips on developing team spirit—actually, Olympic-sized team spirit. There are many great examples of courage and strength and leadership that come from each Olympic Games and this year’s Games didn’t disappoint. We have a great story that can teach us all how to work better together to bring home our own medal.

Read on for the featured story or check out the entire issue here.

Every business leader wants to build team spirit—getting their department, organization or culture to rally around a unified cause. But it’s easier said than done.

So what can the Olympic Winter Games and a small town in Nebraska teach us about coaching more spirit and energy into your team? It’s a remarkable story:

To show our support for the Games, our parent organization O.C. Tanner granted the first ever Inspiration Awards. Athletes nominated individuals who had been their behind-the-scenes support and strength—the people who “participated” but not in the spotlight. Olympians nominated their coaches, teachers, spouses, and of course, parents. After more than 870,000 votes, skeleton athlete Noelle Pikus-Pace, snowboarder Nick Baumgartner, and Gold medalist bobsledder Curt Tomasevicz earned the opportunity to honor those who inspired them along their Olympic journey with a 14k gold ring (learn more about the stories on the Facebook page).

While all three stories are amazing, it was Curt’s story that made us perk up as leadership authors. The bobsledder said:

“I’m so fortunate to have the support of an entire town, Shelby, Nebraska. And though it might be a small place on the map, their encouragement is enormous. Many hometowns are proud of their athletes, but Shelby has given me the support I needed to make it to the Olympics.

A meager population raised nearly $25,000. They honor my accomplishments with celebration—hosting block parties, golf tournaments and street dances for the entire town to celebrate together. I receive hundreds of emails of encouragement, of love, of admiration and support—emails that bring a smile to my face and make me work hard on their behalf. A Facebook page was created to sell shirts; proceeds [sent] my parents to the Games. Without this family of 690 behind me, I would not be here.“

Consider for a moment the magnitude of Curt’s words—an entire community sharing in a single dream. This is a story business leaders and managers around the globe yearn to emulate. So let’s take some cues from this small town that produced a mighty giant. Here are three ways to develop more spirit in your team:

Root. Curt received email after email from his neighbors and friends and community leaders. He knew peers and leaders were rooting for him and that kept him going. No matter where your team is in relation to the goal, they want to know their co-workers and their manager care and support their daily efforts. Share the great things that happen every day at team meetings and through team emails. Make an attempt to give specific credit in casual settings, as well. Talk up a great team member at the lunch table today—it shows you are paying attention and you are proud of their great work.

Rally around each another. Be aware when a team member needs support to reach a goal or even overcome a difficulty at home. This small town of modest means raised tens of thousands of dollars (during a recession) to keep a hometown hero going. Recognize what challenges each of your employees are facing. If they’re buried in orders at the end of a busy week, step in and organize a rescue party, which includes you helping too. We recently found ourselves in our basement storage room after a pipe burst and flooded our supplies. Now BobAnn Hall and Christy Chatelain led the effort and did the bulk of the work, but our entire team spent time working together to dry out training workbooks and toolkits. A minor disaster brought everyone closer together (and became the source of many new inside jokes).

Celebrate the victories. The neighborhood block parties Curt describes are the equivalent of the corporate team gathering (there really isn’t a corporate equivalent for street dances!). When your team reaches a goal, small or large, celebrate. Winning teams make merry often, it’s that simple. Block out a meeting room for a few hours and have everyone bring their favorite potluck dish. Get ‘em all mingling together with some food and music. Congratulate each team member on their specific contributions and remind them of all the great things they’re doing.

Curt was part of the gold medal-winning four-man bobsled team, an honor the U.S. hasn’t had in more than 60 years. This small town in Nebraska really has cause to celebrate—a home town medal winner and a hometown full of the champions who helped him get there. “They definitely deserve part of my medal,“ Curt added. “I hope through this [Inspiration Award] they will know what they mean to me.“

And that leads us to one last tidbit of advice:

You can’t do it on your own. Look around today. You are surrounded by a potential Shelby, Nebraska. It’s your job to give your team a cause and inspire them to achieve gold-medal performances.

Twenty years of research and innumerable case studies show that recognition done right can bring huge results. But now and then, even the best intentions can go awry. I’ve heard from a few of you recently on the dumbest awards you’ve ever received. They fall into three categories:

Dumb Idea: Awards should be aligned to what matters most in your organization and should recognize great work. However, some awards just miss the mark. A classic wrong move is the “most improved” award, a staple in schools. One fellow said he was named his high school football team’s most-improved defensive lineman, “I basically took it as, ‘you sucked, but now you are slightly better. Congrats.’” A woman admitted she was the recipient of her class’ most-improved writer award. She said, “I had no idea I needed improvement. I thought I was really good at writing. Little did I know.”

Dumb Item: Next, an award’s value should be commensurate with an achievement, unlike this example: Kathe Farris began working for a bank near the bottom of the corporate ladder, answering phones. During a promotion to cross-sell mutual funds, she was able to bring a whopping $1.2 million into the bank. “So what did they give me?” asked Kathe. “A mug. Do you think I—or anyone who worked around me—ever sold mutual funds again? Of course not.”

Dumb Presentation: At a trucking company that shall remain nameless to protect the guilty, Paul was the employee of the year and won the Chairman’s Award. He was to receive a solid gold Presidential Rolex watch. And while you might be thinking that nothing could mess that up, you’d be wrong. The award was presented not by the chairman or Paul’s boss, but was dropped off by UPS. And to make matters even worse, after opening the box, Paul noticed an envelope. It was a 1099 form stating that the company had not paid the taxes on the watch and Paul – their number one employee – owed more than $5,000 in income taxes. A few months later, Paul tendered his resignation.

A sincere, strategic show of public appreciation could have made these people feel great. And yet dumb ideas, items or presentations leave your most valuable employees feeling slighted. Let’s all commit to staying out of the dumb award trifecta.

Yesterday: I am half way through a 90-minute presentation to a senior leadership team when the CEO makes a dash for the door. I was just getting to a really interesting part, and I’m about to make fun of his head of HR, when he bolts. But wait. Only a minute passes and the CEO is back. He reaches up to the stage with a bottle of water. He’d noticed that I was getting parched, prattling on and on, and so he’d dashed to the lobby to find me a drink. Seriously.

I’ve been doing this for a long time. Let’s count the number of times this has happened … um, never.

That’s the kind of guy Bobby Kutteh is.

In Good to Great, Jim Collins talked about the Level 5 leader. He said leaders of the best companies are humble. Bobby Kutteh is indeed humble; he’s sincere, he’s a servant to his people, and he’s loved. Yep, loved. Just about everyone who was in the audience that day would walk through fire for this guy.

As background, Bobby is CEO of Crothall Services. With 30,000 employees, it’s one of the largest and fastest growing companies you’ve probably never heard of. Crothall cleans hospitals and offices, maintains facilities, transports patients, processes linens, and so on. It’s not sexy stuff, but every five years they double in size. At less than 20 years old, they have annual revenue in excess of a billion dollars. Bobby and his team left “good” behind a long time ago and are certainly in the “great” realm.

What’s the point? It’s in how Bobby manages. Before I spoke, Bobby talked for 45 minutes to kick off the meeting. He addressed the audience without notes and with just a lavaliere microphone, pacing back and forth, outlining the strategy for the future, cracking jokes, thanking his leaders, and subtly asking everyone to walk just a little taller. For instance, he told the managers that they needed to take even better care of their employees. “People will always remember how you make them feel,” he said. “A little stroke of kindness to your employees can go a long way.” And when he was done, every one of the 230 leaders jumped to their feet and gave him a standing ovation. It was a fantastic moment.

So how does Bobby engender such loyalty? It’s not by his brilliance (though he is very smart). When I spoke with VP Bart Kaericher, he said it’s something simpler, “It’s because Bobby knows all of us individually. He knows if you have a kid just starting junior high. He knows if you are going through a tough time. He cares. It’s not an act. It’s who he is.”

Humility. I’m hearing more CEO’s mention this as a core leadership attribute they are seeking in themselves and their fellow executives. It seems the beatitude has application in the work world too: the meek truly shall inherit the earth.

One of the fastest ways to unite your team is to increase your open communication. When everyone knows what’s going on, they tend to feel more like they’re “all in this together”. This month’s newsletter is about how to better communicate with your employees. And if you have an idea or suggestion that works for you, with us!

Five Ways to Communicate Better with your Employees

By Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton

Charlie Chaplain, Peter Sellers, Rowan Atkinson. Throughout movie history some actors have been able to hold an audience’s attention without even saying a word.

Likewise as managers, we are constantly sending messages—often without speaking. We communicate by the things we do, the things we don’t do, through our facial expressions, and through our body language. As bosses we send messages all the time, and yet why do so many of our employees feel they’re not receiving adequate communication at work?

Take this data: A survey by Right Management Consultants of employees in 336 organizations revealed that only 30 percent of employees understand their company’s business strategy. That means seven out of every ten people who work for you have little idea of what your organization’s primary goals are. That lack of communication has a direct impact on employee commitment and trust. When we feel left out of the loop, we feel disengaged. It’s that simple.

So what to do?

Bill George, former chairman and CEO of Medtronic (and coincidentally the keynote speaker in our upcoming annual Carrot summit), explains that communication should take precedence over everything else in business. Said Bill, “Leaders don’t pay enough attention to their people. They do so at their peril, because their employees interpret and respond accordingly—in a compliant fashion rather than with their best work.”

That makes perfect sense. When we fail to communicate, employees are left with little understanding of what we can accomplish together. And when employees can’t share in the potential of your team or organization, they achieve only enough to make it through the day. Basically, marginal communication performances by a manager equates to marginal employee performances.

In our research we’ve seen that many managers buy into a dangerous myth: the fear that communicating more effectively will take too much of their already limited time. But, again, if you don’t find time to perform your job, your employees won’t use their time to perform at their full potential.

The truth of the matter is this: keeping the team up to speed with proper communication doesn’t have to take long. Mary Corr, a manager of corporate revenue integrity (isn’t that a great title) at Orlando Health, one of Florida’s most comprehensive private, not-for-profit healthcare networks, shared with us how she guides her team in communicating their goals. She said:

We take 15 minutes of our staff meeting to discuss behaviors we want to change and how we are going to do it. We outline areas of opportunity then detail the small steps we need to take to improve and present ourselves in a positive manner. This has proven to be a successful approach to strengthening our team.

In just fifteen minutes a week, Mary has created an open forum to solve problems and focus on improvements. Opening up communication literally opens the door to success for you, your employees, and your company.

So, what are the gold standards of iconic communicators in business? The best managers:

*Set clear guiding values and goals. By clarifying your core strategies and principles you as a manager can better guide the conversations because everyone knows what they’re working toward.
*Discuss issues facing the company and the team. By updating your people on the big and small issues facing your team or company in daily huddles, you give people the opportunity to be “invested” in organizational priorities. The more they know, the more likely they are to provide suggestions or focus on solutions in their daily work.
*Respond promptly to team member requests for more information. By respectfully answering questions, you strengthen your trust with each team member.
*Tell the stories of employee accomplishment to key individuals in the organization. Storytelling (bragging on your people) is one of the most effective ways of communicating your trust in your employees.
*Recognize, recognize, recognize. There are few communication activities more powerful than gathering your team to appreciate the great work of an employee. As an exclamation point, end the gathering with a team cheer.

As a manager, you own the spotlight. If your words, actions and interactions don’t properly share the messages you want communicated, your audience won’t know how to respond. Like an actor on the big screen, your team is looking for you to tell the story, to guide them to the next big scene, and to lead them to the performance of a lifetime.