Purpose... before it's too late
Did you see the movie, Unbroken? I encourage you to see it now, or when released on DVD.
I am reminded today of the importance of rallying your entire company around a purpose.
As told in the book, The Power of Habit, it was October 1987 when Paul O'Neill spoke at his first "meet and greet" with major shareholders, government leaders, and the press, as the newly hired CEO of Alcoa Corporation.
O'Neill shocked everyone by talking about worker safety. The result was many people sold Alcoa stock because they thought O'Neill's concerns regarding worker safety was nuts. They wanted him to focus on the obvious: Profits, market share, inventory management...
As the book reports, "Within a year of O'Neill's speech, Alcoa's profits would hit a record high. By the time O'Neill retired in 2000, the company's annual net income was five times larger than before he arrived, and its market capitalization had risen by $27 billion..."
How did he do it?
Sincere Gratitude (3rd strand of 3strands LEADERSHIP): He identified an overlooked aspect of the organization that demonstrated the company did not appreciate its workers. He realized this was hurting every aspect of the company's performance.
He sincerely believed that having almost one accident a week per plant was not just injuring or killing workers, it was killing the company. It was wrong for many reasons. The problem: Bad habits
Systematic Power (1st strand of 3strands LEADERSHIP): He then attacked the one bad habit (any behavior that caused worker injury) and stayed focused on driving efficient implementation of new habits to overcome the bad one.
"I knew I had to transform Alcoa," O'Neill told me. "But you can't order people to change. That's not how the brain works. So I decided I was going to start by focusing on one thing. If I could start disrupting the habits around one thing it would spread throughout the entire company."
NOTICE he made a decision because that is how the brain works. How many times do you decide to adapt how you work with someone because of the way their brain works? (We teach this with our Talent Assessments.)
Meaningful Work (2nd strand of 3strands LEADERSHIP): O'Neill's focus on worker safety was saving lives and demonstrating that for the first time in the company's recent history their top executive actually cared about the workers.
His consistency and relentless focus to replace bad habits with new, healthy "keystone habits" transferred the responsibility of worker motivation from management to the workers themselves. They became self-motivated, and with good reason.
QUESTION FOR YOU: What is one bad habit in your organization that is hurting your employees' ability to love their work, or your Clients' ability to be THRILLED with your services?
2014 is gone. You do not get to live it again. January 2o15 is now gone. How long are you going to wait to really play to win?
Your waiting is hurting your employees more than you know. It is one thing to procrastinate because you are comfortable, but why hold back your employees' ability to love their work and earn more?
If you are unwilling to be your best for yourself, why not for them?
Do you need help to develop NEW habits to overpower some less productive ones? Contact us if you would like to talk through what you want to achieve.
