Get ON or Get OFF
Last week we had a working session with the Company’s key managers on how to manage our managers and truly achieve the results we are working so hard to establish. Perhaps the hardest part of implementing policy and procedures to reach every single person in the company is executing on the communication. Getting the message, the techniques, the tricks of the trade, the clear rules, the scripts to use, all the stuff we sit around in the executive office discussing and saying we are implementing. How now to not just communicate through the ranks or train it to the newbies, but then continue to confirm it is happening, to manage the managers in continuous guidance and support of what we started.
There is no school for this, no great readings or techniques. I have not heard the perfect Gary V podcast or Jim Collins book analysis on this. Yes, EQ, emotional intelligence is very useful to make sure the teaching of motivation is done right, but how do you teach passion.
How do you create expectations that are for the better of everyone, certainly for the company as a whole, and then set the bar at level that if don’t follow the plan, it’s time to move on.
Well, we came up with GOGO. Get on OR get off. While we are not firing people who are not toeing the line yet, we are hoping to fire up everyone with this simple manta. Come on people, get on the program, do your job with passion, overachieve, or we might not be the place for you. Get on the ball, get with the program, or we going to make a change. Yes, there is a little bit of “demand”, a little “shit or get off the pot” kind of thing here and we all love it. We can’t accept mediocrity from team members anymore. We don’t have the time, the patience, or the money to waste. GOGO creates a little sense of urgency. It’s almost got the classic scholar Rabbi Hillel thing: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?” Yup, that’s what we are talking about, if not now, when. Get on or get off!!
I was just talking about this sort of thing with a colleague today. We discussed that an employee’s passion at work comes when their personal values are aligned with the values of their company. Otherwise, it’s a job, but will likely never be a passion.