Why do I get out of bed every morning, and why should anyone care?

This is the key question Simon Sinek asks in his book, “Start with the Why.”

Why do I get out of bed every morning?

In my role as co-founder of WLP Success, I get out of bed every morning to make a positive impact on how business is conducted in the Middle East in general, and in Dubai specifically. 

My 20 years working in teaching, training and coaching in a variety of industries in Dubai and throughout the Middle East has allowed me to observe disrespectful and de-humanising people management practices.

Many employees are motivated by manipulation (the carrot) – the employment package, or the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond.  Many are also motivated by the stick – fear.   Fear that they will be fired and lose not only their job, but their residence visa, livelihood, house, kids’ schooling, and ability to pay off loans.  Many people who lose their jobs also face the fear of leaving the decent, liberal society that the UAE provides and being forced to return to their home country and face persecution and/or poverty.

My motivation to get out of bed every day is to help senior leadership, managers, and employees to work in a respectful, harmonious work environment.  At WLP Success our motto is that we are “Humanising The Workplace with Unconventional Wisdom.”

Why should anyone care?

Employees should care that someone out there has their back.

Employers should care because we’re very good at what we do and we get results.

Human beings should care because we’re all inter-connected.  “…We are spiritual beings immersed in a human experience.”  Wayne W. Dyer

Through training, coaching and consulting we help organisations reach their potential through their people.  We work side by side with our clients to set and meet organizational goals, and reduce fear and stress to encourage creativity and innovation.

I love what I do.  That’s why I keep getting out of bed every morning knowing that my work make a difference in people’s lives.

If you’re treating your customers better than your employees, you’re making a BIG mistake!

“The customer is king.”  “We want to delight our customers!”   “The customer is the reason we are in business.”

We’re not debating any of those statements.  But if you don’t treat your employees as well as your customers, your business is not sustainable.  Period. As an exercise, let’s replace the word “customer” with “employee.”

“The employee is king.”   “We want to delight our employees!”  “The employees are the reason we are in business.”

These aren’t statements of fact. They are perspectives to explore.  Let’s look closer:

“The employee is king.”

What if for one day we took this attitude?  What could we do to let our employee know they are “king” and why would we want to do so?

Kings like to be treated as if they are special. So do employees.  Celebrate employees’ marriages, birthdays, new babies, etc.  Put it in the newsletter.  Give a small gift.  Buy a cake.  It’s a small investment towards having a loyal employee.

What if you listened to employees as if you’re life depended on it?  If you didn’t listen to a king attentively in times gone by, you were likely to get your head chopped off! I bet you’d learn something – an idea, some feedback, or some important information.  When people don’t feel listened to, they don’t feel valued and can lose motivation and interest in their jobs.   It’s another small investment with the big pay-off of engaged employees who feel valued and want to help you grow your business.

“We want to delight our employees.”

Are your employees currently delighted and delight-ful? 

Many employers will think, “Can’t employees just be happy with their compensation package?  Why do I need to delight them?   How would I do that anyway, even if I wanted to?”

The good news is that, just like the above suggestions, it can be cheap and easy to delight employees.   People want to follow a leader.  It’s human nature.  Therefore, be an inspirational leader!  Share your ideas, thoughts and plans with them, and they’ll get on board for you (and of course, listen to them!)  Ensure that the company values align with your employees’ personal values.  If your company makes children’s toys, “fun” will probably be one of your company values.  Therefore, ensure that you bring a sense of fun to work.  If you own a law firm, one of your company values will most likely be “fairness.”  In which case, ensure that you are fair with your employees, and that you expect fairness from them.

“The employees are the reason we are in business.”

Employees should be ONE of the reasons you are in business.  Why?  Because a business is a system, and when one part of the system (employees) is neglected, disinterested, and disengaged, the system falls apart.   Just like cancer in a human body.

A truly sustainable business ensures that it is part of a community and enriches everyone it touches – including customers.  And suppliers.  And, yes, employees!

So being part of a community, and providing meaningful employment of reasonably compensated employees means that your business is on its way to long-term success.

3 Ways to Build Your Business Confidence

If you are re-entering the workforce, wanting a promotion or considering starting your own business, here’s three things you can do to present yourself as more confident.

1.     Take a look at your CV or LinkedIn profile.  Does it contain all your major accomplishments? If not, go and update them now!  If so, read them as if they are about a guy named “Joe Smith.”   What do you think about this guy?  Pretty impressive, don’t you think?”  Well, this is you!  You’re impressive. You’ve done all that and are clearly a winner.  Pat yourself on the back.

2.     What’s that little voice in your head telling you?  Let me guess.  “You’re a fake!”  “You don’t belong here!”   “You don’t deserve that promotion!”    These statements feel like “The Truth,” but they don’t have to be your truth.  You can decide what your truth is.  When you notice your little voice saying those things to you, you can do several things.  Try personifying it.  Mine is a little green guy that wrings his hands.  Yours might be a red blob with horns.   The funnier you make it, the easier it is to dismiss the statements as untrue.   Another thing you can do is write down all the statements that you regularly notice on one side of the page, and then write the opposite statements on the other side.  Then practice reading the new statements every morning or several times a day.  “You are the real deal!”   “You belong here just like everyone else.”  “You totally deserve that promotion!”   These can be your new “Truth.”

3.     “Fake it till you make it!”    Really.   Make no mistake that there’s a lot of women and men that you meet that appear to be really confident, but are intentionally pretending to be confident.    When you’re shaving or putting on your makeup in the morning, look in the mirror.  Stand with your shoulders back and head high and say, “You’re a smart, savvy business professional."  What do you see?  A smart, savvy business professional – right?    When you attend the next networking meeting, act as if you are an intelligent, successful person, and guess what?  That’s the way people will see you, and that’s what you are!

Try doing these 3 things before your next networking event or job interview.  It’s important to relfect afterwards.  Did you appear confident?  Did you speak highly of yourself?  Did you manage your inner voice?  If not, go easy on yourself, and plan to do better next time. 

Leadership Lessons from a Canadian Hero

On October 22, 2014 in Ottawa, Canada, a man walked up to the Canadian War Memorial and shot dead an unarmed soldier on ceremonial sentry duty.  The killer then ran into a parliament building while Members of Parliament were attending caucuses.  The Prime Minister of Canada was in the building at the time.

The gunman was cornered, shot and killed by Commons Sergeant at Arms, Kevin Vickers.  The Sergeant At Arms of the House of Commons is responsible for the safety and security of the Parliament Buildings and carries the ceremonial gold Mace into the House of Commons before every sitting.  Vickers wasn’t carrying a loaded weapon at the time, but pulled a 9 mm handgun from a locked box.  He threw himself on the ground and fired 3 shots that killed the gunman.

Vickers was in the RCMP for 29 years and held senior positions throughout his career and was awarded many honours.  When he was appointed as Sargeant At Arms in 2006, he was quoted as saying, “…I told them that if they made me their sergeant-at-arms, there would be no walls built around Canada’s Parliamentary buildings…I have kept my promise.” According to Vicker’s niece, he had never shot anyone in his career.

There is no doubt that Kevin Vickers is both a hero and a leader.   What leadership lessons can we learn from him?

Firstly, leaders are very clear about their values – in other words, where they stand on important issues.   Kevin Vickers is a man firmly grounded in his values.  He has devoted his career to serving and protecting Canada and the freedom and justice for Canadians.   Helping clients become clear about your values is what coaches do.  Here are a couple of exercises you can do:  think of a “peak experience” – a time when you were in flow and everything was wonderful.   Jot down everything about the experience and ask yourself, “what is important to me here?”   Another exercise is to look at any area of your life (money, relationship, career) and rate how satisfied you are out of 10 (with 0 being deeply unsatisfied and 10 being highly satisfied.)  Then spend time examining what it is like to be in that place.   What’s showing up?    After this, pick a number that would be ideal – say 9/10, and think about what would that be like.   Where would I be?  Who would I be with?   What would I be doing?      When you feel yourself getting energized and excited, those are your values showing up!  Start noticing when your values are being honoured and dishonoured.

Secondly, Vickers is highly competent.  We want those who lead us to excel at what they do.   Vickers was highly trained and trusted his instincts when it mattered.  You can’t take short cuts here.  Decide what you want to excel at and go for it!  Ask for help, read everything, meet with people who are passionate about what you are passionate about.  Continue to learn and develop throughout your life.

Thirdly, Kevin Vickers is a man who is highly intrinsically motivated.    When he was given a standing ovation in the House of Commons, he stood poised and accepted the applause, but has not gone seeking fame and fortune because of his heroic act.   He did what he did because it was the right thing to do.     Intrinsic motivation is being motivated from the inside – a fire in the belly.   Extrinsic motivation is things like money, material possessions, praise – something outside yourself.   Coaching can be a huge help here in developing intrinsic motivation.

We like to think that people are rewarded for being leaders, and in this case it’s true!  Kevin Vickers has since been appointed the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland as a result.    When you have a success, reward yourself and celebrate!

Become the leader you are meant to be!

In Praise of Thinking

Thinking is definitely underrated in many organizations.   

What do I mean by “thinking”?   Thinking can mean coming up with ideas,  considering solutions to problems, strategizing, planning, reflecting and so much more.  When people are “thinking”, they are often sitting quietly gazing out the window.   This is often perceived as “day dreaming” or “slacking off”, so what employees often do is to stay “busy” or at least appear to be.

Busy work often involves tasks that are repetitive and require little thinking.  So someone who looks busy may not be asking themselves, “Does this task add value?”   “Is there a better way of doing this?”   “Is there something else I could be doing that would be more productive?”

If people are rewarded for doing busy work, and criticized for thinking, what kind of an organization do we end up with? We end up with an organization that is focused on the dreaded status quo and is not perched for the next big change. And how satisfied are people working in this environment?  The good ones – the ones who take initiative, challenge the status quo, and innovate won’t last long.  They already have one foot out the door.  The employees that you will have left are the ones who decided to embrace the status quo and to resist any kind of change that comes their way.  This type of organization is doomed.

So how do you encourage “thinking” at work?

Everyone needs to be encouraged to think and to feel safe enough to ask questions and express ideas. By everyone, I mean EVERYONE - not just the talented leaders who have lots of confidence and big voices, but also the most junior person on the team, the shy one, the receptionist, the janitor.   Why?  Because they all have eyes, ears, and brains.  You are paying them, so you may as well get the most of them!

If you have a problem to solve, invite a variety of people to a meeting and listen (really listen!) to each of their suggestions and ideas, and then thank them.  You will not only get fresh perspectives, but you will be building their confidence and creating a culture where people feel honored, respected and recognized.

My Story

So you get that I am passionate about people loving what they do.    My life purpose statement is “To re-humanize the workplace.”  I’ll tell you why now.

I grew up in Vancouver in the 60’s and Toronto in the 70’s.    The hippy movement was in full swing.  I didn’t realize how much I took on the values of that time until much later.    Vancouver had very much a “California North” feel to it.  Even conservative Toronto couldn’t escape the movement towards freedom and love.  I went to university in the late 70’s when the economy was booming, my parents were well off, and the sky was the limit.  My professors told me that I was entering a marketplace where I would have a solid career full of successes including raises and promotions.

What actually happened was that I was the lowest woman on the totem pole and treated like a servant (slave).   I was a junior administrative assistant.  Here were some of my duties:  serve tea and coffee to a boardroom full of men who watched me carry the tray to the boardroom table; buy my boss’s wife a birthday present; pick up his dry cleaning.  I asked myself – did I go to university for three years for this shit?   The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I noticed all the partners (male) going to the bank of elevators and leaving the admin staff (women) at their desks.  When I asked the receptionist what was going on, she said there had been a bomb threat!  How despicable.

In admin jobs that followed that, I continued to be frustrated that no one wanted to hear my ideas, and I really wanted to be involved in decision making.   Even when I was a middle manager, one Director told me, “I’ll do it, you’re just a small cog in a big wheel.”  Wow!

I wanted to be heard.  I wanted to be respected.  I wanted to contribute.  I wanted to be part of something BIG.  Instead, I was made to feel small over and over again.

Now, I run my own business and I try daily to live “on my purpose.”

What I want for the world is for people at work to be heard, to be respected, to feel like they are contributing, and to be part of something bigger than themselves. This is an achievable dream if those of us who feel the same make changes in the way we behave and state what we expect in the behavior of others.

Our Business – Why We Do What We Do?

Most businesses have a Mission or Purpose Statement which is the “Why” we do what we do.  

Unfortunately, the mission statement is often developed by the founders, owners and/or senior management and never touched again.   In my last posting, I talked about individuals having a life purpose statement, and that it will likely evolve over time.  The same goes for a company mission statement. 

Mission statements should be inspirational, but should also be easily understood by stakeholders.

Here’s some examples of vague Mission Statements:

Dell: “To be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve.”

Huh?  A bunch of marketing jargon with the word, “Computer” in the middle.

American Standard: To be the best in the eyes of our customers, employees and shareholders.

Snore.

Here’s some examples of great Mission Statements:

Disney:  "We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages, everywhere."

Coca Cola: “To refresh the world.”

The point is, a business needs to have a purpose for being.  Why are we here doing what we do?  It needs to be a purpose that management and employees believe in and strive towards.  This is the first step in bringing purpose and meaning to people in the workplace.

Next, I’ll talk about how to bring sustainability to that purpose and meaning.