Sanera

Corporate Culture and Consistency

by Alicia Arenas on August 11, 2011

My husband, the love of my life, had brain surgery earlier this year.

The anticipation, wondering if it was benign or cancerous (it was benign and he is almost fully recovered), praying that the neurosurgeon would not suddenly get the shakes, being in a hospital away from home and having no family nearby all added up to make this one of the most stressful experiences we’ve gone through in a long time.

And while we were in the hospital, waiting for Marco to be admitted, something occurred to me. This was a great opportunity to observe corporate culture. First, I would experience it from the perspective of a customer (instead of as an corporate leader or HR pro or business coach). Second, we would be exposed to all levels of employees: janitors, nurse’s assistants, charge nurses (responsible for all the activities in their unit during their shift), staff supervisors and doctors. Third, we were going to be there for three nights and four days, 24/7. It was the perfect incubator for observation. Would the corporate culture the hospital spent thousands of dollars and many man hours to create, translate into a consistent experience?

Meet Megan. In the ICU unit, we had a nurse named Megan. Megan was a gift and the epitome of the hospital’s mission: “Serving Humanity to Honor God.”

When Megan met us, she wrote her name and hospital cell phone number on the wipe-board so we would know who she was and how to get in touch with her.

She explained everything to us. I’m not overstating this. From how each medication was going to help Marco heal, to showing me how to set the locks on the sleeper chair so it wouldn’t roll away and everything in between. She made sure we were as knowledgeable about Marco’s situation as she was.

She apologized for having to wake Marco up every hour.

When I asked her where the soda machine was, she asked me what I wanted, left the room and brought a Diet Coke back to me so I wouldn’t have to pay.

When my husband was in pain and he couldn’t have more pain killers, Megan lovingly patted my husband’s head.

She brought extra blankets and pillows before we asked for them.

Watching Megan attend to my husband left me feeling comforted, safe and reassured. That was because of two things: She knew what she was doing and she genuinely cared about my soul mate.

Toni & Company:

Toni was our nurse when we transferred from ICU to a regular floor.

In her first introduction to us, she wrote her name on the wipe board while explaining this was not her regular floor and that she was on loan from another floor. She didn’t write down her phone number.

We were transferred right around lunch time and my husband was ravenous. I asked Toni when we could expect lunch and her answer was “soon.” Two hours and two reminders later, Toni finally said, “I suppose I’ll have to go to ICU to get his lunch.” More time passed before we finally got his cold lunch.

Megan from ICU told us that if Marco got thirsty, extremely thirsty, we needed to call the neurosurgeon right away; it meant danger. The thirst happened during Toni’s shift. We told her five times over three hours what was happening, we told her the neurosurgeon wanted to be paged immediately if it happened. Each time I went to look for her (she didn’t come to us) she said, “Oh. Okay. I’ll call the doctor.” Finally, after 3.5 hours I went to the ICU floor, looked for Megan and told her what was happening. She immediately broke all protocol by leaving her floor to see Marco. She asked him several questions and I watched the color in her face progress from pink to bright red. She told us she was going to page the neurosurgeon right then. Five minutes later a sheepish Toni walked into the room ready to take care of my husband. She also told us that the neurosurgeon yelled at her on the phone.

It wasn’t just Toni either. None of the nurses on that floor wrote down their hospital cell phone numbers. When Marco got extremely thirsty he asked for Gatorade and the response was, “I’m sorry we don’t have any on this floor” and she left the room. I asked several people if I could have a sleeper chair and the consistent answer was an non-committed, “I’ll try.” The apathy on that floor was palpable.

Organizational Consistency:

Being on the ICU floor was like being at a Ritz Carlton. I imagine that the last three days of his stay was like being at a charge-by-the-hour motel.

What happened? It was the same hospital system. It was the same building. Each floor had the same motivational employee bulletin boards which reinforced the “competency of the month.” The protocols for responding to patient’s needs were the same on each floor. And I’m sure they were operating from the same employee handbook.

Shouldn’t every employee take patient care seriously?

Obviously, the answer is yes. Yet I think one of the hardest things for organizations to nail down is consistency across their enterprise. What happened last week reinforced three things every leader needs to understand and do something about:

What Leaders Should Remember:

An organization can have all the technical tools in place to create an incredible customer experience, but that is no guarantee that employees will use them. Leaders must follow up.

Leaders, Recruiters and HR pros need to continue to focus their recruiting efforts on the technical and behavioral skills candidates present. One without the other is disastrous.

Great tools and skilled employees mean nothing without front line supervisors who know how and have the courage to hold their employees accountable to do their jobs.

It’s a three legged stool. Or is it? What other factors should be considered in creating a consistent experience and corporate brand?

Alicia Arenas is a business consultant and corporate trainer. She learned the business ropes working as an accomplished HR leader in Fortune 100 and 500 companies for 15 years. She decided to leave the corporate world and opened her highly acclaimed consulting firm, Sanera, The People Development Company. Alicia’s mission is to equip leaders to make sound, game-changing, revenue-bursting business decisions and focus employees on being more productive. She also runs a business boot camp. Alicia is based in San Antonio, Texas and consults with companies nationwide.

Related posts:

Photo courtesy of Fotos Gov/Ba via Flicker.

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Why Men Ask More Questions Than Women

by Alicia Arenas on June 20, 2011

I picked up one of my favorite books to re-read last week: Talking from 9 to 5, by Dr. Deborah Tannen. Tannen is a linguistics expert, and has written several books to help us understand the differences in how men and women communicate in the workplace.

There was a section of the book that fascinated me – the gender differences around questions. Turns out that the stereotypes are true: women ask more questions than men. Tannen explains this is because men understand, more than women, that asking a question (whether for help or directions) puts a person in an inferior position. Therefore, most men will avoid asking a question publicly where asking might highlight a lack of knowledge. Instead, they will do almost everything else they can to find the answer on the their own.

As a woman and a coach, I don’t agree that asking questions makes one inferior. From my perspective, someone who asks questions demonstrates humility, they acknowledge they don’t know everything and show a willingness to learn (all essential to being coached). But according to Tannen, mine is a typically female and naive perspective.

The reality, according to Tannen, is that there is a very real, negative bias towards people who ask questions. In the corporate world, people who appear to know things or have the capability of figuring things out on their own are highly valued. And therein lies the problem.

Leadership experts tell us the ability to ask good questions leads to great answers which then leads to intense personal/professional development. (Pick up a copy of John Maxwell’s Thinking for a Change or John G Miller’s QBQ: The Question Behind the Question.) If this is true, your responsibility as a leader is to make your department a safe place for people to ask good questions, regardless of their gender.

Encourage Questions

I’m not suggesting you put Successories posters on your walls that say “There is No Such Thing as a Stupid Question.” More precisely, you need to be cognizant of how you perceive and treat employees who ask questions.

- Do you favor people who ask or don’t ask questions?

- How do you reward employees who ask questions vs employees who don’t?

- How do you respond when an employee asks you a question?

What do you think? Should we ask more questions? Do questions make us look inferior?

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Photo courtesy of Stefan Baudy via Flickr.

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More Money Leads to Poor Performance

by Alicia Arenas on May 11, 2011

Yes, you read the headline correctly. And it flies in the face of everything most of us have been taught about motivating employees.

By the way, I don’t believe motivating employees means you need to hold their hands all day and fix their problems – especially when one of their problems is that they don’t like to work. That said, motivating employees is an important skill to master because motivated employees tend to bring their best to the workplace. And that typically leads to increased revenue and profitability.

Where does money fit into the picture?

Daniel Pink

Let’s look to Daniel Pink. In addition to being the former chief speech writer for Al Gore and an aide to US Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Pink wrote a ground breaking book called “Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.” Get the book.

In Drive, Pink says the idea of using money to reward performance is antiquated and most importantly, doesn’t work. This means most of what you’ve learned about compensation plans, annual reviews and motivation can now be tossed into the garbage bin. According to Pink’s findings, employees who do complicated tasks that require cognitive skills (versus simple tasks which require little thought) perform worse when presented with monetary rewards for their efforts. Their performance does not improve. It gets worse.

“But why do employees complain that they are not getting paid enough money?”

In my experience, it’s because they aren’t getting the rest of what they really want. Complaints about money are symptoms of a bigger issue, not the root. But let me be clear: you need to pay your employees fairly and commensurately with the market. If you aren’t doing that, the rest doesn’t matter.

What Employees Really Want

Pink says there are three main drivers of performance that have nothing to do with money. Those drivers are:

1 – Autonomy. Autonomy is the desire to be self-directed. It is the opposite of micro-managing. If you made a good hiring decision, trust your employees to do their job. Set expectations, give them feedback, check in and let them go.

2 – Mastery. Mastery is our desire to get better at what we do. This is why ongoing training is important, but training isn’t everything. Employees become masterful when they have hands on experience. Look for opportunities that will help your employees learn and practice their skills.

3 – Purpose. Purpose is our desire to contribute to the greater good. Employees who are in positions which require cognitive skills are not fulfilled from collecting a paycheck. They want to know that their work has meaning. Your job is to help them understand how their work impacts the company and its customers.

Autonomy, mastery and purpose. When basic needs are met, these are the drivers of outstanding performance. This is what motivates employees. If you would like to hear more about Pink’s research, watch this engaging presentation.

Related posts:

Alicia Arenas is a business coach and corporate trainer. When she’s not singing or song-writing, she helps her entrepreneurs increase their sales through coaching and her business boot camp. Alicia is based in San Antonio, Texas, and coaches people nationwide.

Photo courtesy of Zach Klein via Flickr.

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Bleh

by Alicia Arenas on May 3, 2011

That’s how I’m feeling.

And it shows because I haven’t been very active in social media and I haven’t updated my blog in a while. I write when I’m inspired and I get really quiet when I’m not. It’s not the way to build a blog or an audience, but as a friend of mine says all the time, “it is what it is.”

So I’ve been really quiet the last couple of weeks and it’s because I’m tired. I’m tired of a lot of things actually, including:

Social Media

Yes, I said I’m tired of social media. I didn’t realize how tired of it I was until my friend Colleen Pence sent me this link: Social Media Manager Fatigue. People, read the comments. It’s real. And be sure to click through to the article Amber Naslund wrote called Social Media and the Stages of Grief.

What I LOVED about Twitter was the personal relationships I built. Now, I have too many followers to have personal relationships with them. And each time I open TweetDeck, I groan. Even though I have neat little columns to help me keep track of conversations and people who are important to me, there is still too much for me to pay attention to and digest. The self-inflicted pressure to stay on top of what is happening with friends, business associates, news stories and small biz articles is tough. Then there is the external pressure of others’ expectations to re-tweet their posts, participate in their contests, send kudos, etc. I’m so over it.

Am I telling you to disengage in social media? Absolutely not. Should you be on Twitter? Absolutely yes. I’m just at a different place with it than I was 2 years ago and I’m trying to figure out how to get back to what I loved about it.

Business

Can we please stop having antiquated conversations about leadership? Please? For Pete’s sake, what leadership training program has not been developed yet? Most are versions of the same thing taught 20 years ago except instead of saying, “Get the right people on the bus,” we’re using terms like “empowerment and influence.” There is so much new information out there. What aren’t people talking about it or utilizing it? I don’t know. But I sure as shootin’ am.

I’m tired of the word “innovation,” especially in Corporate settings. Not only do the leaders not understand what innovation really means, they are completely unprepared to create a work environment that supports and fosters innovation. I’m so glad I get to speak about this at the TalentNet Live unconference in San Antonio this July. Granted most of the participants and certainly the speakers are progressive thinkers so in a sense I will be preaching to the choir. But my hope is they will do something with it, because they are progressive.

The fact that HR Conferences still have a “Gaining a Seat at the Executive Table” track is ludicrous to me. Really? Heads up: the 80′s called and they want their Personnel Department back. If you don’t get it by now, find a new career please; you’re making the rest of us look bad. Laurie Ruettimann wrote about this ridiculous mentality in one of her recent blog posts. Amen Laurie!

What Does All This Mean?

I help people get radical results in their businesses by introducing uncomfortable, inspirational, research-based and scientifically-supported principles. I help people make changes in their behaviors so they can change their results.

And some things are going to be changing here at Sanera. I don’t know what it all looks like yet, but stay tuned. Who knows what will happen once all this stops percolating in my brain.

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Should I Join a BNI Networking Group?

by Alicia Arenas on April 18, 2011

BNI (Business Networking International) is an industry-exclusive, competition-free networking group that gathers once a week for the purpose of passing referrals to everyone in the group.

When I started my business three years ago, I joined a BNI group and I didn’t renew after my first year. Why?

It is a big investment in time. You have to attend or have a substitute attend for you if you can’t make it. After a few absences, you’re kicked out of the group.

There were some people in my group to whom I simply could not send business. For example, there was a successful Mary Kay rep in my group. But I use chemical-free Arbonne products which one of my dearest friends sells. My referrals were going to my friend, not Mary Kay.

I didn’t get good referrals. Part of that was because someone else in the group had some (not all) services that were similar to mine. Also, I had not fully developed the scope of my business or my target market and that made it hard for people in my group to refer to me.

I stepped away from BNI and devoted myself to social media, which has yielded fantastic results and relationships; it’s transformed my business and was totally worth the ROI.

Things to Consider Before Joining BNI

BNI (or any referrals based networking group) can be a game-changer for your business if:

Your target market is in it or if the members know your target market
You are willing to commit to building relationships
The members are willing to build a relationship with you

My biggest issue with BNI is that you can only visit a group two times and then you have to make a decision about joining. Two times is not enough to get a feel for the group. When you visit, you don’t know if the referrals they pass are the norm or an anomaly. Also, knowing the professions of the members is one thing, but knowing their ethics, character and personality is something else; you can’t discover that in two visits.

Your Advice About Joining BNI

So why am I considering going back to BNI? I’d like to develop a stronger base of local business. I visited two groups and then threw this question out on Facebook:

I’m thinking about joining a BNI group. Thoughts?

Holy wow. Did people have thoughts! They are pretty insightful, so I thought I’d share. Feel free to share your thoughts about BNI or other networking groups in the comments.

John Rasiej, with Speak Louder Than Words said:

“Check whether the group has a number of members in your sphere of influence. If it’s a group dominated by home contractors and you do a whole different type of work, it may be harder for people to pass you referrals. The other thing to consider is the time/attendance commitment.”

Wendy Albers with Broadway Bank said:

“A huge commitment with ongoing expectations and accountabilities that can be tough to fulfill. At least, that’s how it was several years ago. But some folks swear by it.”

Patsy Foxworth with Foxworth Consulting Group said:

“I have visited numerous BNI’s around SA – they are excellent for small business owners/sales reps who want to grow their businesses. In the business coaching world – they are excellent for group coaching products. The one-to-one coaching product is a bit out of their investment range.”

Barbara McNeely with Mariposa Naturals said:

“The time commitment is bigger than they let on. Once you’re in, they come up with more. I put my membership on hold last fall with 8+ months remaining. Not real sure I’ll use those 8 months. It does depend, a lot, on who is in your chapter and if you’ll get good referrals. Something else to consider: based on the 2 chapters I am real familiar with, they cannot even spell Social Media. Sometimes email was difficult for them.” I have to interject here. Barbara raises a great point about social media. Being part of a group that can spread the word about you in their face-to-face network and via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and their blogs is huge.

June Smith with Royal and Mary said this:

“In BNI it is all about the ‘power team’. These are career positions that may have the same target audience as you and refer you out to their client base. For instance, a residential realtor, a mortgage broker, a title company rep and a remodeling contractor would all have similar target prospects and can easily refer one another regularly. You must fit into a BNI where you have a great power team in place or you will have to build your own by inviting your affiliate businesses to join your group. But your affiliate businesses are probably referring you anyway so be sure there is a strong power group in place for your client type, otherwise you may not see the results you are looking for. I did not renew. My decision was based on a personal goal of getting my Chair Suits line to market by the end of 2011. I had to develop a different action plan for that. I am still decorating and designing custom draperies and bedding for income, but needed the additional time for product development. I liked BNI, but did not generated as many referrals for my group as I would have liked. I received a few very good jobs from their referrals but mostly within the group, not outside referrals.”

Ava Diamond with Feisty Women Rock said:

“So much depends on who is in the group, and if they are, or are likely to know your perfect target market/audience.”

Ricci Fitzpatrick, owner of a technology company said:

“It really does depend on the group. We got a lot of business from the BNI chapter that Frank was in, but zero from two others that we tried.”

Patricia Porter with Conflict Connections said:

“I got a similar invitation to join a BN recently. I’ve been to one in the past but didn’t feel the audience really met my target audience. I did however get a referral for a general contractor from a BNI group that was helpful. I used the general contractor too.”

What do you think?

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On Fighting Skunks

April 11, 2011

Last Saturday, I had the chance to hear an outstanding speaker named Keith Lowry who enlightened us about dealing with difficult people. In his hilarious and poignant way, Keith took us through his experience dealing with an extraordinarily difficult, button-pushing person. Part of what he learned was which battles to fight. My friends, as entrepreneurs, [...]

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Procrastination Is Important

April 4, 2011

Sometimes I procrastinate because I’m disorganized. You know, I can’t find what I need, so I can’t do what I need to do. Sometimes I procrastinate because I’m lazy. I would just rather do something else like get on Twitter, talk to a friend or read a can’t-put-it-down book. But most of the time I [...]

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What I’ve Learned In 3 Years of Business

April 1, 2011

Today is the three year anniversary of my business! Woo-hoo!!! I started to write a post with all the things I’ve learned in the last three years, but it got too big. (Look for an ebook soon.) Instead, here’s the short and simple version: Do what you love. Be picky about your clients. Stop giving [...]

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March Marketing Madness 2011 – The Recap

March 29, 2011

You asked for it and here it is! A recap of the March Marketing Madness posts all in one place. In alpha order by author, here are all the posts that brought you (the small business owner) marketing advice on a budget: Why Dr. Seuss Was a Brilliant Marketer – Alicia Arenas Would you like [...]

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There Is No Friggin’ Easy Button To Market Your Business – Kevin W. Grossman

March 25, 2011

I can’t think of a better person to wrap up March Marketing Madness than Kevin W. Grossman. Kevin’s 22 years of marketing communications experience has been primarily in the human resources (HR) and recruiting industries. Hundreds of HR suppliers around the country have tapped into Kevin’s marketing and social media expertise. Kevin is an HR [...]

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10 Insider Rules for Marketing a Start-Up – Michelle Tripp

March 23, 2011

Dear readers, I hope you’re getting as much out of these March Marketing Madness posts as I am. Haven’t the experts been fantastic? Well I have another marketing expert to present to you today. Her name is Michelle Tripp. If you don’t know her, I suggest you friend her on Facebook, subscribe to her blog [...]

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How To Maximize LinkedIn For Your Small Business – Jason Seiden

March 22, 2011

Ladies and gentlemen, it is day 8 of March Marketing Madness and you are in for a real treat today: Jason Seiden. I’ve been following Jason’s blog Fail Spectacularly (don’t you love the name?) for a while and had the great pleasure of meeting my online buddy IRL a couple of weeks ago. Jason and [...]

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7 Steps to Creating a Small Business Community on Twitter – Kent Huffman

March 20, 2011

When I pause to think about today’s guest marketing expert, I pinch myself for being lucky enough to know him – Kent Huffman. Kent has been featured in Forbes, is a published author and is a wicked-smart marketing guru. Further, if anyone is qualified to tell us about communities on Twitter, it’s Kent. For the [...]

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Your Game Changing Message On a Budget – Eric Fletcher

March 18, 2011

I was in Dallas a few months ago sitting in a cafe with three people having an energy-charged conversation about small business, customer experience and marketing. One of the brilliant people at the table is our guest expert today, Eric Fletcher. Eric has an unassuming air about him, but watch out – he’s a sleeper! [...]

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How to Get Traditional Media Coverage – Debi Pfitzenmaier

March 17, 2011

It’s day 5 of March Marketing Madness! I hear entrepreneurs ask a variation on this question all the time: “How can I get my business in the news?” May I present to you one of the best Public Relations professionals I’ve ever known? Please meet Debi Pfitzenmaier, president of Pfitz PR. She has more than [...]

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Podcasting Will Inexpensively Solve Your Prospecting Problems – Todd Schnick

March 16, 2011

It’s “Wow Wednesday” with another insightful marketing post on a topic I want to learn more about: podcasting! And there is no one better to teach us how to do it than today’s marketing expert, Todd Schnick. Todd is a successful serial entrepreneur and his latest endeavor is The Intrepid Group, LLC. While there, Todd [...]

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Are You Leaving Money on the Table – Ava Diamond

March 15, 2011

Welcome to day 3 of March Marketing Madness, a series of posts from marketing experts around the country giving their best advice to entrepreneurs. Get ready for some information and inspiration. Our guest expert today is Ava Diamond, president of Feisty Women Rock. Along with many accomplishments, Ava is a renowned speaker and has co-authored [...]

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How to Do Great Marketing with (Almost) Zero Money – Jeff Ogden

March 14, 2011

You are in for a treat! Welcome to the 2nd in a series of marketing specific posts for small business owners called March Marketing Madness. My guest expert today is Jeff Ogden, President of Find New Customers. I met Jeff virtually on Twitter via #B2BChat (I suggest you follow that Twitter conversation Thursday nights) and [...]

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← Previous Entries

Sanera

Corporate Culture and Consistency

Why Men Ask More Questions Than Women

More Money Leads to Poor Performance

Should I Join a BNI Networking Group?

Things to Consider Before Joining BNI

Your Advice About Joining BNI

On Fighting Skunks

Procrastination Is Important

What I’ve Learned In 3 Years of Business

March Marketing Madness 2011 – The Recap

10 Insider Rules for Marketing a Start-Up – Michelle Tripp

Your Game Changing Message On a Budget – Eric Fletcher

How to Get Traditional Media Coverage – Debi Pfitzenmaier

Podcasting Will Inexpensively Solve Your Prospecting Problems – Todd Schnick

Are You Leaving Money on the Table – Ava Diamond

How to Do Great Marketing with (Almost) Zero Money – Jeff Ogden

The One Newsletter You Need to Read

1 Question. 1 Answer. Change Your Business.

Sanera Camp 7 is Oct 4, 2011

Sanera Camp is the place where entrepreneurs go

when they want RADICAL business results!

Let’s Connect On Twitter & Facebook

Recruiting Blogs

Search Away!

Most Recent Posts

Blog Categories

Archives

Things to Consider Before Joining BNI

Your Advice About Joining BNI

The One Newsletter You Need to Read

1 Question. 1 Answer. Change Your Business.

Sanera Camp 7 is Oct 4, 2011

Sanera Camp is the place where entrepreneurs go when they want RADICAL business results!

Let’s Connect On Twitter & Facebook

What Do We Blog About?

Recruiting Blogs

Search Away!

Most Recent Posts

Blog Categories

Archives

Sanera Camp is the place where entrepreneurs go

when they want RADICAL business results!