We are what we continually do....

Today, I received my five year plaque.  This is a major milestone, and has long been a sought after goal at my secondary place of employment.

Five years doesn’t seem like a very long time for it to be our corporate equivalent to a gold watch. But in our company, it’s like dog years; every year you work is like seven.

We had our big meeting and, as has been the trend lately, employee recognition has been reduced to a cluttered slide or several in a presentation that is long on delivery and short on absorption.  We had a few really great opportunities, and sadly, it seems that neither our leadership, nor our team grasped the message enough to begin to execute it.

It was ironic that the topic of the day is the foundation of my personal philosophy.

It was ironic how surprised my managers are to hear me speak on this.

It was f*cking disappointing.

So let’s talk a little about my personal philosophy.

Aristotle once said, ‘We are what we continually do, therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit’.

This ties together the main concerns of my life into one coherent truth: every second counts, and your life is the summation of your deeds from each of those seconds.

So we were asked: how can we be excellent?  The answer is simple.  To be excellent, you must be excellent at each step of the way.  Conscious and aware of your actions and the impact of them, you make the decisions that result in actions that are best practices.  The result is that the evidence of your existence reflects each of those tiny decisions, there is a wake left: a wake of harmonious intent that is powerful.

Oh, we went around the room, as is our way, and we shared our individual stories.  We gave personal accounts of the impact of when we do this right.  

Did we get tools to help us do this right every time?  

I spoke about the service process we use.  This is our tool.  

I was the only one discussing this.

This is small ball folks.

During the meeting, we focused on new things, new priorities, and we reviewed the impact of our new focus on several metrics.  We are really great at focusing and executing on a limited range of measurable goals.  We are really crappy at keeping our other goals in focus while we focus on new priorities.

Why is this?

I think we are lacking in cohesive communication.  I think we need a clear vision, clear objectives and clear executable plans.  We are a company of young people mostly.  While we are bright, we are often lacking in the perspective that comes from experience.  We need guidance.  Management needs to know their team in order to effectively manage that team as an efficient resource.

We aren’t given the bandwidth to effectively live our corporate culture.

I’m continually frustrated at how our company, the most amazing company in the world, misses the point.  We hire the best, brightest people in the world.  Then burn them completely out.  We hire creative, visionary people, and then double queue them into mental numbness.  We celebrate diversity, yet only have development that meets a small subset of our employee base.

Why?

We have a feedback mechanism that does work.  I have seen changes as  result of my own feedback, so I know they are listening.  I know they care.  I know they want it to work.

Assuming positive intent is easy.

So why are we still missing the point by such a wide margin?

I don’t know, but I am concerned.

We here in the trenches where I work are the face of our corporate brand.  We personalise our product.  We create a relationship.  

I am afraid that we no longer know who we are.

We cannot live the brand this way.

We are focused a lot on big things, flashy things, things that people notice.  I have always been of the mind, that a lot of small well done things are more influential than one slap dash thing that is really noticeable.  It’s time to focus inward.  It’s time to recreate our corporate identity so that from the top down, we own our culture and understand and live it at all levels.  This creates the consistent environment for all our customers - internal and external - that mirrors the kind of user experience that we are known for and labour after.  How can we have amazing experiences in our stores when we are running the employees there into the ground?

I recently had my meeting with my developmental manager.  After five years at the job, and with the same goal as I had when I interviewed, I was told that they had no idea what my goals were.  Really?  

When I tried to talk about global issues with the company, the conversation was almost derailed by focusing on the illustrative example, and not the underlying problem it was meant to highlight.  This is my mentor.  Sad.

And when I try to grow, I cannot fit the only mold available.  

It’s unacceptable.

Value your customer, or you will not be valued.  This works at all levels.

We are what we continually do - I have reason for concern.