Tristan

Followership: Could it be more important than leadership?

 Culture  6 Responses »
May 062013
 

Followership

Leadership has been one of the hottest topics in the corporate, non-profit & entrepreneurial worlds for the past decade.  It seems that becoming an inspiring leader and taking on a leadership role is the destiny to which we should all aspire.   But not everyone can be in a position of leadership. And not everyone wants to be.  Enter followership.

Followership, the capacity to actively follow a leader, is a much less discussed, understood and, seemingly sought-after quality.  The thing is, followership, could well be more important than leadership.

Organisations that are built to last typically have a clear vision and a strong set of guiding principles, behaviours or core values.  What they also have is a strong culture of followership.  Embracing, supporting and promoting those that show strong followership is one of the lesser-known secrets to long-term success.

So why should we focus on the followers in our organisations?  Well for starters there are many more followers than leaders, and, most importantly, the followers are doing the real work.

Like leaders, there are many types of followers, and to build the best culture, we need to attract and retain the best followers.  According to Robert Kelley*, there are 5 types of followers:

  1. The Sheep: Passive folk that need lots of external motivation & constant supervision from the leader.
  2. The Yes-People: These people are committed to the leader and the team. They will adamantly defend their leader when faced with opposition but they won’t question the decisions or actions of the leader.
  3. The Pragmatics: These folk are fair-weather followers.  They won’t stand behind controversial or unique ideas until the majority of the group has expressed their support.
  4. The Alienated: These guys are the critics.  They are negative and often view themselves as the rightful leader of the organization. They actively and passively try to slow down the progress of the team at every opportunity.
  5. The Star Followers: These are the followers we want!  They are positive, active, and independent thinkers. Star followers won’t blindly accept the decisions or actions of a leader until they have evaluated them completely. Even better, these guys can succeed without the presence of a leader.

It’s likely that your organisation and mine has a mix of all five follower types.  A mixture is ok, but, a strong skew towards The Star Followers should be your priority.

So what do you think: is followership more important than leadership in building a strong culture and organisation that can last the test of time? I tend to think so and am focussed on attracting, nurturing and retaining the best star followers I can find.  Promoting followership is not something many leaders and entrepreneurs understand or are comfortable discussing. But it does exist and may be the missing ingredient in your team  I’d love to hear your questions, comments and thoughts in the box below.

 

*Link to more info on Robert Kelley & his work on Followership

Technology, Workplace Culture & V8 Supercars

 Culture  No Responses »
Apr 222013
 

Microsoft365_Tasmania_Day2_09Great workplaces with a strong culture have tools, systems and resources that enable their staff to get their jobs done wherever and whenever they choose.  An obsession with identifying and avoiding roadblocks to ensure team members can work effectively is critical for an empowered organisation.  Ever-advancing technology, especially cloud-based tools, present so many opportunities for us all to get more great work done.

I was invited by Microsoft’s Office 365 team to head to Launceston for Round 2 of the V8 Supercars event a couple of weeks ago.  Isabel Boniface, our host from Microsoft opened the event by describing herself as “A full time mum, a full time wife, a full time sister, a full time daughter, and a full time employee”.  She went on to say “We’re all full time a lot of things.  All the time, everywhere, anytime.”

Organisations, big and small, that acknowledge this concept of ‘full time a lot of things’ and provide a workplace that enables team members to effectively get their ‘job’ done when it works for the individual will be the most successful in the future.  When I describe ‘job’ I’m not only referring to the paid role that a person is responsible for in your organisation or mine; I’m also talking about their responsibilities as a daughter/son, husband/wife, mum/dad, etc.  The ability to quickly and effectively manage the demands of both our personal and professional lives contribute to creating a great place to work.

Cloud-based tools can speed up the ability to manage workload more than anything.  V8 Supercars have grown from a small business just a few years ago to a 70-person, 15 race “travelling circus” according to their CEO David Malone.  Fast growth often creates complexity that can result in huge disruption to the personal and professional lives of employees.  This disruption can impact employee engagement and happiness, it can also very quickly flow on to negatively effect business performance.  To overcome these challenges, V8 Supercars are using Microsoft’s Office 365 product to provide ways for employees to work, communicate and collaborate when in the office, at home and on the road.

At The Physio Co, the cloud-based tools we’ve added to our systems include Google Apps, Salesforce.com and Yammer along with some more industry-specific products for scheduling our team and billing our clients.  After only a few years using the cloud, it’s hard to imagine life without it!  Don’t be surprised however, if your cloud-based tools are used by team members for their other ‘jobs’ too.  Isabel from Microsoft revealed that she has used a quick Skype call from work to home to sort out a disagreement between her kids!  The result: Isabel was able to manage both her personal and professional life in a way that suited her.

Today’s employees are seeking organisations that provide a people-focussed culture and that fit with their life.  If you’re not using technology to build a strong culture and de-stress the work life of your team, I suggest you make a start very soon.

NB – I traveled to Tassie and attended the V8 event as a guest of Microsoft.  Thanks for having me guys :)

7 Steps to Recruiting for a Strong Workplace Culture

 Culture  4 Responses »
Apr 082013
 

I-love-interviewing-headerTo build a successful and sustainable business that can grow fast, you need a great culture.  A strong workplace culture needs every team member aligned to the same vision and living the same values.   It also needs every new recruit to ‘lift the average’ of the existing high standards.

This might make sense, “But how on earth do you do it?” is the question that I get asked all the time.  Sometimes the best way to learn is to understand the experiences of others.  At The Physio Co, we’ve spent years refining our recruitment process, and it’s never finished.  We are continually reviewing and improving it.  Here’s the process we use right now for finding great people that’s helped us become one of Australia’s 50 Best Places to Work.

The most important criteria (in order of importance) we seek in prospective new The Physio Co family members (TPCers) are:

  1. Culture Fit – an ability to EFFORTLESSLY live The Physio Co values. Successful applicants need plenty of examples to explain how they live (and have lived) our core values to TPC recruiters.
  2. Passion for Oldies – TPCer’s love aged care residents.
  3. Passion for The Physio Co – TPCer’s love The Physio Co and are dying to join our award-winning family
  4. Key Skills - for the specific role.

The Physio Co’s hiring process is exhaustive. Every potential new hire goes through the following process before a job offer is considered:

  1. Written application - needs to include a letter that answers the question: “Which of The Physio Co’s four core values resonates with you the most and why? (Remember to Be Memorable!)”
  2. 15 minute phone screen
  3. 1.5 hour first interview with 2 TPC recruiters
  4. Skills assessment -  testing of likely scenarios (both written, verbal and role play required).
  5. 3-4 hour site visit -  spent with existing TPC family members onsite at an aged care facility.
  6. 1-1.5 hour second interview - with 2 different TPC recruiters
  7. 3 Reference checks (with referees that TPC recruiters select)

The vast majority of the selection process is based upon assessment of culture-fit. Alignment with The Physio Co core values is our measure of fit.  In fact, the initial 1.5 hour interview is exclusively assessing culture fit.  A vast majority of questions are around our core values and Painted Picture vision, but, we also use questions including: “From 1-10, how lucky are you in life?” & “If you were an AFL team, who would you be and why?” to keep the applicant guessing as to what will come next, to ensure a memorable interview experience and to ensure we are only selecting the best culture-fits.

The TPC recruiters that complete the initial interview individually fill out a scorecard after the interview.  The scorecard, known as the Post Interview Size-up! is a chance for each recruiter to consider the applicant against our criteria and provide a framework for the conversation as to whether the applicant will progress.

At any point throughout the 7-step selection process, if any existing TPCer is not 100% convinced that an applicant is the right person to join The Physio Co family, then that person is unsuccessful.  A ‘maybe’ from anyone in the process is a definitive ‘no’ for any applicant at The Physio Co.  Our culture is far too important to employ anyone that could damage that.

Building a strong workplace culture is one of the most sustainable competitive advantages any business can build.  This 7-step selection process works for The Physio Co.  By learning about how we select new team members, I hope it might help you build, refine or improve your selection systems.  If you have a question, comment or idea you’d like to share about building a strong culture, please leave a note in the box below.  I’d love to hear from you. And good luck!

26 secrets from Australia’s 8th Best Place to Work

 Culture  1 Response »
Mar 042013
 

Culture Book 2013 - Download here!“How do you create a strong workplace culture?” is one of the questions I get asked every day.  Another question I hear is about the apparent ’weirdness’ of a strong culture.  It seems plenty of people think that exciting places to work are spontaneous, crazy joints that no one really knows what will happen next.  That myth is just not true.  Yes, working at a great place to work often feels exciting and spontaneous, but, despite the facade, it takes consistent effort and lots of discipline to keep the excitement flowing.

Strong workplace cultures start from a compelling vision and are nearly always reinforced by a simple foundation of inspiring core values.  What’s not always so obvious is the behind-the-scenes discipline that keeps the culture firing.  From Google to Zappos, Redballoon and every other organisation with a strong culture, robust systems to keep the culture alive are one of their obsessions.

At The Physio Co, Australia’s 8th Best Place to Work, we have heaps of fun.  Some of it is spontaneous, but most if it’s planned.  It takes a huge amount of discipline to obsessively execute on the big and small programs that create a strong workplace culture.  The Power of Birthday Cake post shared the rhythm of parties that we use to celebrate milestones and successes.

Another tradition we have at The Physio Co is our annual Culture Book.  The little book, this year with the subtitle ’26 secrets from Australia’s 8th Best Place to Work’ is an account of The Physio Co culture as described by our team members (TPCers).  It’s one of the most important and exciting things we create each year that helps strengthen our culture.  It’s released at our birthday party and TPCers immediately grab a copy and flick to the page with their photo and responses.  The anticipation and pride of seeing your own words in print is hard to describe!  

Behind-the-scenes the culture book takes discipline and a heap of work:

  • In November I email every TPCer and ask for their thoughts on our culture
  • In December we collate the responses and outline the book
  • In January, it’s all about design. We create the layout and publish using Blurb.com
  • In February we promote and then release the Culture Book to our team at The Physio Co’s birthday party
  • In March we share the Culture Book with as many people as we can via our website, blogs and word of mouth.
  • From April to October we ask every person who has read a copy to please share it with a friend.  The book is made to be passed around.

The system behind creating and sharing the culture book is just one of the many ways The Physio Co team works continuously to build a strong culture and a great place to work.   Your systems don’t need to start out so complex, but, they do need to be consistent.  Years ago I learnt that you can have a culture by design or a culture by default.  Disciplined systems are the key to building a strong workplace culture.

Check out The Physio Co’s 2013 Culture Book: 2013 Secrets from Australia’s 8th Best Place to Work here on Slideshare**

Or, download your very own copy here.** (Please be patient, this one takes a few seconds to load).

**Please read and share it with at least one friend. Our little book is made to be passed around :)

Birthday Cake: one of the unknowns in building a strong workplace culture

 Culture  No Responses »
Feb 182013
 

TPC Turns 9Building a strong workplace culture should result in more fun & more engagement from everyone.  If you’ve got the right people on your team, throwing meaningful parties is one way to grow an even stronger culture.

A strong workplace culture includes caring personal relationships between everyone in your team and extended community. Important events, big and small, happen in the lives of team members, clients, customers and suppliers every single day.  Acknowledging every victory and joining in the fun of a celebration that is important to someone else will immediately strengthen the bond you share.  Parties and celebrations create shared memories and those memories can be the basis for building the strong personal relationships you need for a great culture.

For many reasons, the line “We take the time to celebrate milestones & successes” is part of The Physio Co core value of Be Memorable.  One of those reasons is that I love birthdays!  Even more than birthdays, I love birthday cake!  In the early days of The Physio Co, when I worked full time as a hands-on physiotherapist in a heap of aged care facilities, I’d find a way to sing happy birthday and eat cake as often as possible.  There are so many milestone birthdays happening in aged care facilities and I tried hard to never miss an 80th, 85th, 90th, 95th or my favourite, the 100th birthday!  It’s so important to acknowledge and join in the fun of a celebration that is meaningful to others.   So today, guided by our Be Memorable core value and the words “We take the time to celebrate milestones and successes” all 60+ members of The Physio Co team make sure we get involved in having some fun and giving others a pat on the back or a proud wink as often as we can.

The Physio Co has a rhythm of parties we throw every year.  Of course we have a Christmas party, we also celebrate when team members get married, have babies, achieve personal goals, win our MVP (Most Valuable Person) Awards, when The Physio Co wins awards & any other reason (big or small) that seems worth a celebration.

Next week, we will be throwing a party to celebrate The Physio Co’s 9th birthday.  Parties and celebrations don’t have to be expensive, but they do need to mean something.  We’re having this birthday bash in our South Melbourne Support Office at the end of a half day learning event for our physio team.  Yes it will be a bit squishy with 60-odd people in a small office. But, we’ll have a big cake, sing happy birthday and create more memories that are the basis of our culture.

If you want a stronger culture, start finding things to celebrate.  Then throw some regular parties!

Is your vision inspiring? 6 ways to make it so.

 Culture  No Responses »
Feb 042013
 

Painted PictureA clear and exciting vision is the starting point for building a sustainable business and a strong culture.  Nearly everyone wants to be part of a growing business that’s achieving its goals. But only when vision is measurable does it become compelling.

During 2012, The Physio Co delivered 108,674 physiotherapy consultations for Australian aged care resi’s, we ended the year with 54 team members and were ranked as the 8th Best Place to Work in Australia.  On their own, these numbers tell an interesting story, but, they also leave a lot of unanswered questions: how do the numbers compare to last year?  What is the significance of each number?  That’s where the measurable vision comes in.

In mid-2009, on a cold night in a rented classroom near St Kilda Junction, I shared The Physio Co’s new 3 year vision with our team. The response I received when I finished my presentation was not what I’d expected.  There was silence!  Why? The vision was a big one.  It was exciting and challenging, but, it scared the hell out of the 19 team members in the room. They liked the idea of growing but had no idea how we were going to do it.  In fact, a few of them actually thought I’d lost my mind!

That vision, our Painted Picture of 2012, included some very measurable goals:

  • Growing our team from 20 to more than 50 people in the next 3 years
  • Growing the number of consultations we deliver from 40,000 to more than 100,000 per year
  • Becoming one of the Top 10 Places to Work in Australia

From 2009 to 2012, we have obsessed over bringing that vision to life.  Every decision we’ve made has been aligned with the vision.  Every team member we selected, client we engaged, story we told, book we published and party we threw were all aligned with bringing our vision to life.

The result: we’ve hit all 3 of the key numbers that were set back in 2009.  There’s been plenty of bumps along the way, but, by being committed to our vision, we’ve brought it to life.

Six ways to make a vision more compelling

  1. Make it clear – a 3 year painted picture vision is an inspiring, easy-to-read document
  2. Make it specific -  measurable goals are the easiest to manage, track and achieve
  3. Make it possible – hitting goals aligns a team, missing them doesn’t. Be realistic.
  4. Communicate progress often - Measure, track and share progress as often as possible
  5. Obsess over it – Talk about your vision coming to life at least once every day.
  6. Make it fun – The Physio Co has a basketball ring in our office with our goals painted on it!

Do you have a measurable vision for your team?  Do you have a different approach?  Please let me know or ask a question in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you.

PS – Stay tuned for The Physio Co’s Painted Picture of 2015; the new vision will be shared at our 9th birthday bash in a couple of weeks :)

The secret (& free) gift that will help build a world class culture

 Culture  No Responses »
Nov 262012
 

In this fast paced, always-on world that we live, receiving the undivided attention of anyone almost never happens. The thing is, your undivided attention is the most powerful gift that you can give. Giving of your time and undivided attention is a secret to creating a magnetic culture that attracts long term success. And that’s why making it a part of everything you do is such an advantage.

An inclusive family culture is based upon having constructive and helpful conversations with customers, clients, workmates, suppliers and anyone else you bump into. Meaningful, memorable conversations lead to strong connections and long term relationships. Long term relationships are the key to an enduring culture and ongoing success in business.

‘Speak and act as if you have all the time in the world, nothing is too much trouble’: this is one of the first things that new members of The Physio Co family are reminded to do every minute of every day when they join our team. Not only with the elderly clients that we visit, but, with their workmates, suppliers, potential clients and everyone else they interact with.

This early message from day 1 is reinforced and lived continuously because it’s a critical part of our core values. The Physio Co’s core value of Respect Everyone describes in great detail the importance of giving our full attention:

Building a strong culture is the highest of high priorities at The Physio Co. Every day, new hires and existing team members hear stories of team members living our core values. Story after story reinforces the importance of speaking and acting as if you have all the time in the world.

Giving of your time and attention is just one of the free things you can do to build your culture. Do you have other freebies that you use to build a strong culture in your business? Please let me know or ask a question in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you.

(NB -The opposite of ‘speak and act as if you have all the time in the world..’ is to rush around with your head down, appearing super-busy, super-important and completely unapproachable. I don’t know anyone that respects, likes or even wants to be around a person that dashes about like this).

A strong culture has its own language

 Culture  No Responses »
Nov 122012
 

“Can someone please grab Maude from the storeroom, we have to record this!”.

Businesses with a strong culture often have a very unique language. And it’s on purpose.   If you listen in to a conversation happening between two TPCers (members of The Physio Co team), you’ll probably have trouble understanding what on earth they’re talking about.  ”Who the hell is Maude and why is she in the storeroom?” you’d have to ask.

The number one priority at The Physio Co (TPC) is to build a strong family culture.  We’ve been obsessing over culture for years and we deliberately give a unique, memorable and ‘TPC’d’ name for all sorts of things including people, processes, meetings, rooms and even inanimate objects!

Some examples:

  • The person responsible for coordinating our South Melbourne Support Office used to be known as our ‘Support Office Coordinator’ (boring!), that person is now known as our ‘Creator of Energy & Inspiration’.  The new title not only perfectly matches Jess’ personality, it also comes with more responsibility: to live up to her title, Jess has to add energy to our office every day.  Perfect!
  • The Physio Co uses a meeting rhythm that includes daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual meetings.  Those meetings are known as ‘To The Point’, ‘Nutting it Out’, ‘S.W.A.R.M’ & ‘The Quarterly’.
  • A TPCer in our Support team could easily describe their priorities for any day as: 1) Present my department spotlight at To The Point 2) Call TPCers Seon & Mike to lock in The Quarterly’s next week & 3) Finish my one page report for November S.W.A.R.M happening on Thursday.

When you’re having to explain lots of terms you use to describe people, meetings and processes in your business, you may well be on the way to building a strong culture.  Not simply abbreviations, acronyms and industry jargon, no, the language of a business with a strong culture is much more memorable and sometimes just completely weird.  Perhaps closer to the language of a cult, after all, the first four letters of culture do spell ‘cult’.  In a way, an organisation with a strong culture resembles something between a business and a cult.

A unique language is just one of the building blocks we have used to build a strong culture at The Physio Co.  Do you have some unusual language or ritual that you use to build a strong culture in your business? Please let me know or ask a question in the comments below.  I’d love to hear from you.

By the way, ‘Maude’ is otherwise known as The Physio Co’s handy cam.  She lives in the TPC Storeroom and comes out on special occasions.

 

How a strong workplace culture returned more than 300% in 6 years

 Culture  No Responses »
Oct 292012
 

Committing to building a strong workplace culture is a long term investment. The time, energy and money invested in building a strong culture can take years to return. But when the returns do arrive, they can be absolutely worth the wait.

In 2006, the third year of The Physio Co’s life, we experienced a gut-wrenching NDE (Near Death Experience). We lost a big client and overnight almost half of our revenue evaporated. It was one of the most horrifying and defining moments of my early career.

At that point, I had a choice, I could either: 1) Blame the client, run away & distract myself with finding new business; or 2) Take responsibility, learn from the failure & commit to regaining the trust of that client which would reinforce the humble, values-based culture that we were building.

I chose option 2. The Physio Co’s core values guided me to ‘communicate in clear, concise & honest ways’. So, when the dust settled on the situation, I made a time to speak to the COO of the lost client. I humbly asked what it would take to regain their trust and how we could become a trusted long term partner as their business grew. I listened closely and committed to, one day, regaining their business.

It took more than a few years, but, in 2011, we did pick up that client site again. We had regained their trust enough to be re-engaged as a supplier. We grabbed that opportunity and have worked closely ever since. Today, in 2012, The Physio Co continues to visit that particular client site and we now service 9 of their aged care homes. This year The Physio Co team will provide more than 100,000 physiotherapy visits to elderly residents. Close to 15,000 of those visits will be with this formerly lost client. That’s a 300% increase in sales from said client! This is the long term returns than can result from building a strong culture.

A business with a strong workplace culture usually has an extraordinary focus on supporting it’s team. This is true, but supporting staff is just one part of building culture. A strong culture applies to everything a business does. Of course it’s how you treat staff, but, it’s also how you treat your clients, suppliers, neighbours and everyone else in your extended community. By committing to creating a strong workplace culture you are committing to building long term relationships with people you trust. You are investing for the future. A strong culture is based upon doing the right thing, always.

Do you have a story of how creating a strong culture and committing to long term relationships has paid off months or years later? If so, please let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you.

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