Finding Talented People For Your Organization
Ernest Sheckleton was an extreme adventurer. In 1914 he turned his attention to the one remaining great object of Antarctic journeying—the crossing of the continent from sea to sea, via the pole. To this end he made preparations for what became the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. He assembled a team, raised the capital he needed and set out on a 1700 miles expedition across one of the most fierce environments on the planet.
It didn’t happen. Disaster struck this expedition when its ship, Endurance, became trapped in pack ice and was slowly crushed before the shore parties could be landed. He didn’t make it. In fact, the expedition came to a screeching halt when their ship got wedged between chunks of ice floating in the ocean. Sheckleton’s trip turned into a rescue mission.
What’s amazing about this story is that no one dies. There aren’t any accounts of anyone getting eaten to survive or any mutiny happening with crew. Instead, they worked together to survive.
Great leaders know how to find and attract talent.
So how did Ernest do it? He put an ad in a newspaper (the Monster.com, linked in or craigslist of his time).
Had Ernest applied the method that is so commonly used today his ad would probably look something like this:
Men needed for expedition.
Minimum 5 years’ experience.
Must know how to sail.
Come work for a great team.
His ad didn’t look like this though. It actually read:
Men Wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.
Ernest was looking for specific talent. The people who thought this ad looked fun and were crazy enough to follow up were just the caliber of people Ernest was looking for. Ernest’ ad goes way beyond the norm. I get that. What I appreciate though, is that there is a greater sense of who he is and what he’s all about and the kind of people he wanted to attract.
People like Ernest, Marting Luther King Jr, Steve Jobs all communicated from the inside out. WHY they existed drove not just the products they created or causes they served but also the people they attracted. How do you attract talent?
Work vs Creative Labor
I found a great article on work and creative labor from 99%. As a guy who leads creatives, the topic of work and creativity is one I’m always trying to better understand. Work, as expressed below, is willed into action. Creative labor, on the other hand, is not always something I can “will” in existence.
As creative professionals, it’s easy to confuse “work” and “labor” — both are a regular part of our everyday. But when we confuse one for the other, we create the illusion that “creative labor” can be willed, managed, or measured, when, in fact, it can only really be, as Hyde points out, beckoned.
We can do much to create the time, the space, and the expertise that lead to incredible creative work. But there is no silver bullet; there is no “time-saving device” or productivity system that is going to alter the rhythm of invention.
via The Rhythms of Work vs The Rhythms of Creative Labor :: Articles :: The 99 Percent.художник на икониИкони на светци
Power of Circles
Social technology is giving us the ability to form circles of specialization in new ways and there is tremendous benefit to this. Though the power of circles isn’t new per se, who we form them with, how we form them and how often we engage in them is entirely new. Social technology gives us reach and accessibility that was never possible before.
In the 19th century, artists including Degas, Monet, and Renoir got together periodically to discuss their commissions, their patrons, and their industry. This circle met consistently, and the artists credited these small gatherings with not only making their careers but the rise of the impressionist movement.
I found this video of Scott Belsky that sums this up. Check it out.
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Making the Doors Fit: What Car Doors and Mallets Taught Me About Leadership
Photo by Slimmer_jimmer
I’m working on a couple projects right now. One is an iPad app and the only way to dedicate the time needed to this thing is after hours. So I squeeze it in any way I can. That includes very early meetings. I have a great group around me to help me think through this but at the end of the day it takes work. There is a temptation here as there is with anything we create and that’s to not put the amount of time into getting the desired outcome.
I remember hearing a story about a group of American car executives that went to see a Japanese assembly line. At the end of the line, the car doors were placed on hinges just as they were in the American factories. However, in the US, a line worker would stand at the end of the line and use a mallet to make sure the edges of the doors fit perfectly. In the Japanese line there were no such people.
Confused, an American executive asked at what point they made sure the door fit perfectly. The guide looked at him and said, “We make sure they fit when we design it.” In the Japanese plant when a problem like that arose they didn’t examine the problem and brainstorm new ways of fixing that problem. Instead, they engineered it so they got the outcome they wanted from the beginning. If they didn’t reach it, they understood that it was because of a decision they made at the start of the process.
Some would argue that at the end of the day, doors got on cars and off the assembly line so what difference does it make? After all, the outcomes were met right? I think it’s important to acknowledge that in both cases the doors did appear to fit but only in one case did they fit by design. Only in one case, was there no need to employ people to hammer doors and no need to buy mallets.
There’s a leadership lesson here. Using mallets to make stuff fit is a good metaphor for an approach to leadership. When things we start don’t work or don’t seem to line up, we whip out the mallets and make them fit. In some organizations the mallets and the people that yield them seem to be so common that people don’t know anything different. They’re used to manipulating the doors to make them fit and that’s standard mode of operation.
Maybe that’s why the person that is good with a hammer tends to see every problem as a nail…or in this case a door? I’m mixing my metaphors. In any case, as effective as these tactics may be in the short term, as a strategy, adding people and mallets to organizations to fix problems that originate with our actions as leaders is never good. It isn’t reliable and it isn’t sustainable. In fact, it’s actually not an outcome of excellence. Below is a quote in reference to Jonathan Ive, VP of Industrial Design at Apple, and the mindset of creating Apple products.
Collectively, the designers obsess over each product, stripping away non-essential parts, reworking tiny details such as LED indicators on the sides of laptops and phones.Jonathan Ive once spent months working solely on the stand for Apple’s desktop iMac; he was searching for the sort of organic perfection found in sunflower stalks.
As I think about my leadership style and my app and my life I think about mallets and not wanting to live that way. The way I see it, reaching an outcome isn’t all that difficult to attain unless, of course, you are trying to do so by design. In which case, mallets need not apply.
Are you making the doors fit or designing them to do so?
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How the Army is Integrating Social Media
Integrating Social Media into your organization isn’t easy. Often times people rush off to start their company’s Facebook page only to see little to no lasting effect. You’ve got to have an implementation strategy. I spent 5 weeks on an internal marketing campaign that included sheet cakes, customized M&Ms, posters and more to get our staff and volunteers hyped up on the idea of new and social media. This was before we even rolled anything out to the public. Without good integration, you’ll lose steam.
Among the organizations that operate at large scales, deal with sensitive information and require high security, the US Army is definitely at the top. Yet they are not only embracing but leading the way in integrating social media at this level. On January 20, 2011, the U.S. Army released their new Social Media Handbook. They’re working hard to ensure that soldiers, personnel and families have an understanding of social media and some best practices to abide by. I suppose it could be very easy for the Army to take a very rigid stance on the issue and dismiss, downplay and otherwise ignore the prominence of Social Media but instead they are leveraging it. The opening statement of the document says it all:
Team-
You already know that communicating your organization‘s messages is important. Today, it takes more than press releases to successfully communicate. Being an effective Army communicator today relies on proactive planning, nesting messages, engaging audiences on a variety of plat- forms, monitoring what is being said both online and in traditional media, and taking a proactive role in telling the Army‘s story.
This new handbook provides tips, best practices and information on operations, security tips, branding information, regulations and FAQ’s. While there are a number of great things in this hand book to learn from, I pulled a few concepts that are helping them integrate this into their organization at the highest levels.
1. Be Prepared
It’s easy to ignore social media for your organization (even though most people use it personally on a daily basis). It’s also lazy to do so. Doing the research and hard work up front can prevent a disaster later. For the military, preparation precedes success. Remember the 5 P’s: Poor Planning Promotes Poor Performance!
2. Empower People
Your marketing and communications department just grew exponentially so equip them to lead the conversations. Lack of understanding and fear of the unknown naturally kills your ability to empower those people. Preparation enables the Army to empower potentially thousands of soldiers and their families to “manage” the Army brand. Given enough eyeballs, a situation can quickly and easily be diffused and capitalized on but only if you learn how to empower your people. Very powerful!
3. Trust Your Experts
It’s so easy for every CEO, Senior Pastor, Director and or manager to think because they use Facebook & Twitter that they can develop and manage the Social strategy for their organization. While they should help shape these policies, trusting your experts in this is key to sustainability. Don’t take this on alone. Trust and empower your experts to set this up properly and support them through the process. You’ll be glad you did. If you aren’t an expert, get some around you. Stephen Lanza, Major General, USA writes:
I advise you to embrace social media, read through the regulations at the back of this handbook and develop a strong fundamental knowledge of these tools. I asked the experts in my Online and Social Media Division to create this handbook to help you use these tools as effectively as possible.
Organizations open Facebook accounts everyday with little to no success but the Army is a great example of an organization that is taking the time and allocating the right resources to make sure they experience success.
