Steve Barth | Reflexions

Trust Pays Off in Productivity

Is trust important in the workplace? More than you think. You'll perform better when you trust you managers. But it makes even more of a difference when workers know they are trusted.

"A Closer Look at Trust Between Managers and Subordinates: Understanding the Effects of Both Trusting and Being Trusted on Subordinate Outcomes" by Brower, Lester, Korsgaard and Dineen in the Journal of Management, March 1, 2009

Despite previous calls to examine trust from the perspectives of both the manager and subordinate, most studies have exclusively focused on trust in the manager. The authors propose that trust in the subordinate has unique consequences beyond trust in the manager. Furthermore, they propose joint effects of trust such that subordinate behavior and intentions are most favorable when there is high mutual trust. Findings reveal unique relationships of trust in manager and trust in subordinate on performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and intentions to quit. Furthermore, the interaction of trust in manager and trust in subordinate predicts individual-directed OCB in the hypothesized direction.

Forgiveness as a workplace intervention

Apropos of Monday’s outburst, this came across my feed this morning:

Improving individual, team and organizational performance is a primary focus of management and human resource development (HRD). However, only in the past decade has the literature begun to report specific research on the effects of many of the psychological and behavioral constructs that influence performance and productivity of individual employees.

The purpose of this review is to explore the literature related to interpersonal forgiveness in organizations and its possible implications for management and HRD theory and practice. It defines forgiveness and provides a theoretical framework for its consideration within the workplace environment. It also reviews and discusses the benefits and risks of forgiveness, the role of leadership in a forgiving culture, and the literature regarding related business interventions...

Fear, distrust and politics as "gravitational constants"?

Some colleagues were discussing how fear, distrust and politics are the biggest barriers to organizational change. I wish I could be more hopeful about eradicating them or eliminating their causes, but I have started to see it differently.

Instead, now I treat these things as "gravitational constants" in any organization that need to be managed, mitigated and ultimately minimized. Because they are naturally occurring in social interactions, people should be able to reflect on whether or not they are productive without feeling additional guilt or anger. That’s critical.

Constructing a Virtual World

I haven't been blogging much lately. First we were on vacation in Sweden. Last week was KMWorld in San Jose.

But mostly, we have been completely consumed with design and construction of the new Reflected Knowledge Conference and Retreat Complex. Adjacent to our Global Headquarters, this state of the art facility will soon provide peaceful learning and leadership opportunities for the clients and staff of this innovative sole proprietorship consultancy. Stay tuned for more details and pictures.

What is the Future of Work?

Business Week's August 20 double-issue had a big series on "The Future of Work," full of surveys and predictions. "In a decade, the average person will have better working conditions. Women and minorities will have an easier time getting ahead. And more of us will be on a first-name basis with someone in India." At least that's according to the poll that kicks off the section. It seems to me that a poll in which 90% of respondents say they're in the top 10% of performers is full of more than just self-esteem.

The magazine has generally become a valuable guide to the new economy (the same issue covers Facebook as a business tool). But the components of this largely utopian package seem more interested in calming senior executives tied to old ways of profit and progress. For example, Michael Mandel reassures them that "The U.S. and the global economies are coming to a crossroads that no one could have anticipated just a few years ago. Globalization and technology together are creating the potential for startling changes in how we do our jobs and the offices we do them in."

Sorry, but if didn't see the last 10 years coming, why in the world should I listen to you about the next 1o?

Happiness and Productivity

Does your company need a Chief Happiness Officer? Don’t laugh it off. Recent research shows a direct link between happiness and productivity in the workplace.

10 Factors of Happiness at Work	10 Factors of Unhappiness at Work
Friendly, supportive colleagues Enjoyable work Good boss or line manager Good work/life balance Varied work Belief that we’re doing something worthwhile Feeling that what we do makes a difference Being part of a successful team Recognition for our achievements Competitive salary	Lack of communication from the top Uncompetitive salary No recognition for achievements Poor boss/line manager Little personal development Ideas being ignored Lack of opportunity for good performers Lack of benefits Work not enjoyable Not feeling that what I do makes a difference

Source: abora/Chiumento

Emergence in Times of Emergency

US disaster response planning seems to assume that victims are helpless, hapless and hostile obstacles to the imposition of order on chaos. But should governments instead design for emergence in times of emergency?

Dave Pollard has a sobering post at “How to Save the World” about the inevitable incompetence of disaster response planning. Like a catastrophic earthquake in San Francisco, a devastating hurricane in New Orleans was not even a statistically improbable event—in fact, officials and citizens alike knew it was literally a disaster waiting to happen. Nevertheless, as real-time news coverage illustrated and post-mortem analysis confirmed, the most powerful nation on earth couldn’t handle the most predictable possible natural disaster, “despite” having recently reorganized the entire federal government to create a massive bureaucracy dedicated to the single promise of securing the homeland.

It’s interesting to contrast the failure of institutional planning in emergencies to the success of bystander reactions in terms of self-organized teamwork.

Sue the Suits?

I'm a little worried that last month's Toxic Workplace post is the most googled article on my blog. But take heart. New state laws may give you a better recourse than just blogging about it, according to an article in the current issue of Business Week.

"Try This Suit On For Size, Boss"
Bullied at work? Depending on where you live, you may soon be able to file a harassment claim. A half-dozen states from New Jersey to Oregon are considering laws that would make workplace bullying an "unlawful employment practice" and give victims the right to sue an employer that fails to prevent it.
The draft Oregon statute defines bullying as "derogatory remarks, insults or epithets, physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating or humiliating, or the gratuitous sabotage or undermining of an employee's work performance." The preamble to the bill cites surveys and studies that found 16% to 21% of employees "experience health-endangering workplace bullying, abuse, or harassment."

Toxic workplace,organizational culture,harassment,incivility

Of Babies and Bathwater at Circuit City

I wanted to write something about the inanity of the layoffs at Circuit City, but I just couldn't add anything about the arrogance of the company's executives that they didn't demonstrate better themselves--or than what was confirmed by the continuing decline of their share prices since their move. I'll never shop there again.

From: “It’s the Workforce, Stupid” by James Surowiecki. New Yorker April 30, 2007

In the nineteen-nineties… a new term appeared: the “seven-per-cent rule.” …when a company announces major layoffs, its stock price jumps seven per cent… Many academics have looked at how layoffs affect stock prices, and they’ve found that the seven-per-cent rule is bunk. Instead of rising sharply, the stock of companies that trim their workforces is likely to fall…

The Toxic Workplace

(or, Why I’m Self-Employed)

Some years ago, I wrote about the importance of emotional intelligence for effective teams (see “3D Chess” in the Harvard Business School Press reader Teams That Click). But if Robert Sutton is right, emotional stupidity is a problem at least five times worse.

I recently cruised through the audio abridgement of Stanford business professor Bob Sutton’s new book, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't. It’s a chilling account of how prevalent physical violence, sexual and racial harassment, emotional abuse and downright rudeness and disrespect still are in the American workplace. It’s also a sobering assessment of how expensive they are to the bottom line.

Sutton has a great statistic that by itself is worth the price of the book: being a victim—or witness—to bad behavior in the workplace has five times as much negative impact on performance as good behavior has on positive performance. He references a great term, “discretionary effort,” to emphasize how much a worker’s attitude can influence the extra value that they create when they don’t dread coming to the office every day.

Workshop: Accelerating Decisions and Innovation

UPDATE: Unfortunately, this workshop has been cancelled. Stay tuned for future dates.

Richard Marrs and I will present a half-day workshop, "Accelerating Decisions and Innovation through Sense-Making" at the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals' 2007 International Annual Conference and Exhibition. The meeting will be in New York City April 30-May 3.

Supporting better, faster decision-making is a major imperative for CI practice. Organizations in many industries and markets face more dynamic and complex environments than ever before, driven by accelerated change, globalized competition, unexpected technologies, complicated sociopolitical influences and disruptive business models.

Still, It Stops

Disruptive technologies disrupt more than marketing plans and product cycles. “He Took On the Whole Power-Tool Industry” recounts Stephen Gass’ attempts to get his SawStop safety technology licensed by the power tool industry. A compelling read and a compelling example of how social bodies respond to innovation as an invader.

2 Million Steps for 200 Eyes

One of my favorite quotes (attributed to Proust) is: "The secret is not seeing new landscapes, but having new eyes."

The idea has taken on additional meaning for a friend of mine. this week, Jumbhot Chuasai begins a month-long 1000km walk along the Camino Santiago in Spain to raise money for eye operations in Thailand. I've been acting as khun Jumbhot's virtual coach, helping him prepare with conditioning and ultralight gear via email and long distance phone calls. Attached are details about his trip and his fundraising mission. As his trip reports come in via SMS, you can follow his progress--or make a donation--via his website: www.rotarywalktosantiago.com

Time to stop complaining about politics?

I used to think emotions and office politics were the biggest barriers to organizational effectiveness and needed to be completely expunged from business environments in favor of rational analysis and respectful cooperation.

This was, of course, extremely naive.

We've learned to accept emotion's inevitable role in the workplace environment, to appreciate it's evolutionary purposes as a precognitive relevance filter, to approach our and others' emotions intelligently, and to leverage emotional energy to motivate employees in positive ways.

Can we take the same approach with workplace--and even national--politics? Can we rediscover a mechanism of social evolution meant to help us effectively choose and cooperate, rather than simply compete and dominate?

Three simple rules of leadership (but you're not going to like them)

I have a lot of projects, coming up that deal specifically with leadership and culture. This morning I was having coffee with John Glaza of the Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership. We were talking about effective leadership and organizational motivation when I realized that my growing cynicism could be boiled down to three simple rules of emergent leadership.

I'm not going to say that these are the only rules of leadership, certainly. That's probably just as well, since I'm pretty sure these three rules are going to be unpopular -- especially if you agree with me.

Privateers in the War for Talent

Is executive pay out of control? In the 1980s, the average CEO made 40 times a company's average worker salary. Today that ratio is 400 to 1. How does the average knowledge worker feel about that?

"Forget overpaid CEOs," says Vince Beiser. "Now second- and third-tier execs in American companies are getting enormous salaries--as wages and benefits for many workers stagnate or fall."

Triggering Immune Response

For a lot of reasons, it's worth learning how the immune system works--from staying healthy to managing organizational change. I came across a very interesting fact about how just a "scent" of a feared threat is enough to trigger an immune response, even if the threat itself isn't present.

Cultural Cohesion & Organizational Adaptability

Organizational theorists often say cultural change and effective collaboration require an alignment of individual and organizational agendas. I usually say that too. But I could be wrong.

How much alignment you can really expect depends on how you define alignment. If you’re looking for lockstep behavior and rote recitation of the company mission statement, well forget it. If by some miracle of coercion or Kool-Aid you able to approximate this, it would be at the complete expense of diversity. So the first disruptive technology or business model to come along would wipe you out.