Got Drama? Act 1

by Bill Collier

Do you have drama in your company?

“Drama” covers a myriad of people issues ... gossip, finger-pointing, whining, talking behind folks’ backs, can’t/won’t get along, complaining, blame, excuses, under-performing, bickering and more.

Since an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, let’s first talk about preventing as much drama as possible so we don’t have to correct it.

Culture and good hiring go hand in hand. It’s much like the chicken and egg. Which comes first? One begets the other.

A strong, positive culture is exemplified by employees who know they have a good thing going, and who want to keep out the bad ones while welcoming in the good ones. If your hiring process keeps out those who don’t fit your culture, that’s more than half the battle.

I’ve written about the importance of a “culture document” in this space before. A set of Core Values can be invaluable IF they are genuinely used to guide decisions about hiring, firing, promoting and rewarding. If they’ll just be hollow words or a plaque on the wall, don’t bother.

Once you know what values are important, the company’s leaders must set the tone (and the example), educate the troops, and be unwavering in running the business according to these principles.

Here are some ideas for getting your management team on board:
-    Our Core Values apply to everyone in the company. ALL decisions are made with our values in mind.
-    Set the example.
-    Hold others accountable. Do it tactfully and professionally, but do it.
-    Speak up in our management meetings. Debate is healthy as long as we keep it professional and not mean-spirited. We don’t need “yes-people” or nattering “nay-bobs”.
-    Once a decision is made, we each support it as fully as if it was our own idea, both among the other managers and especially with all others in the company. Acting like you support an idea and then undermining it, or not supporting it, in front of employees is not acceptable.
-    Let’s issue an “Adult Card” to everybody in the company ... starting with the CEO and our management team. If there’s a problem, we deal with it like the mature professionals we are: with open, honest, direct communication.

-   You can’t just say all this once and think it’s fixed. You’ll have to remind folks over and over. And over.

Hatim Tyabji grew Verifone into a dominant, global credit card transaction company. His key leadership tool was a booklet that explained Verifone’s eight core values. He says, “I essentially spent the last six years repeating myself.”

A stellar local example is Sandy Jaffe, who grew his tiny Paperback Supply into GL Group, an admired local multi-divisional company with over 200 employees. Their main guiding principle over the last 40 years? The Golden Rule.
In Act 2, we’ll talk about taking the message to the rest of the company.

Bill Collier is the St. Louis-area coach for The Great Game of Business. He works with organizations that want to improve financial results, engage their employees and create a winning culture. He can be reached at 314-221-8558, GreatGame.com/stl, ggobstl.com or billcollier@greatgame.com.