Lesson #15: Invent Your Own Culture and Put a Top Person in Charge of It..

October 2nd, 2011Interesting take on culture by the final keynote speaker at Conference 2011, John DeHart.

Earlier this year, Southwest Airlines came out with their “40 Lessons To Learn” on their 40th anniversary. Southwest is famous for their culture, and their leaders attribute their unmatched success in the airline industry to this. As you can guess, there were a number of lessons on the importance of culture.

Here is Lesson # 15: Invent your own Culture and put a top person in charge of it.

“The person behind Southwest’s unique culture is Colleen Barrett, the airline’s former president. A native of tiny Bellows Falls, Vermont, and a graduate of Becker Junior College, Colleen (no one calls her “Ms. Barrett” and gets away with it) was Herb Kelleher’s legal secretary when Southwest got its start. She started as the corporate secretary in 1978, rose to VP of administration in 1986, and became president and chief operating officer in 2001. By the time she stepped down in 2008, she had crafted the tone and SPIRIT that defines Southwest today, from the legendary annual Halloween party to the way a gate agent treats a Customer.

Sporting a long white ponytail, she looks more like a sweet grandmother (actually, she is a grandmother) than a corporate titan. But anyone who acted against the Southwest way of doing business—who, in other words, behaved in a way that seemed less than heartfelt—were immediately set right.

Heartfelt. If one word defined Colleen and the Culture she worked to create, that’s it. We love that Forbes rated her above Queen Elizabeth II in its 100 Most Powerful Women ranking in 2005. She didn’t make No. 1., but only because Forbes doesn’t grade people by the size of their hearts.”

Point # 1: Invent your own culture.

Southwest is unique. There is no airline like them. There is no company like them. They stand in a class of their own. Why? They had leaders like Herb Keller (founder) and Colleen Barret who recognized that one of their main jobs as a leader was to build and lead a company that never strayed from their purpose and always stuck to their values. So they designed Southwest airlines around these principles. And by doing so, became a unique company.

So many companies are the same. They share the same, boring, old core values. They have a mission statement that is a paragraph that no one (even the founder and CEO) can communicate. And most of all, even if their values aren’t old and boring, they don’t know how to live them. So they never form a unique identity with their culture. And they never form a unique identity in the marketplace, either.

Point # 2: Put a top person in charge of it

How many examples of great brands can we name that started to fail once the founding CEO left the CEO position? Lots. Apple, Dell and Starbucks are the first 3 that come to mind. Why? Because the spirit of the company also left with the founding CEO. Sure they hired super smart people. But super smart people don’t always have the heart and the spirit that the founder embodies. And when this disappears, so can your culture. When the company’s purpose isn’t truly embodied (read blog post “Making Tough Decvisions to Preserve Your Core: Learning From Starbucks), that is when your brand will start to falter.

Southwest did it right. They hired someone from within that embodied the spirit of the company. Colleen certainly wasn’t the smartest CEO out there. But she was someone who would champion the cause. Apple learned the hard way. This time, they promoted from within. I bet after Howard Schultz turns Starbucks around, that he will appoint someone from within as the CEO.

Even if you cant do this, (as with most fast growth, entrepreneurial companies like Nurse Next Door) you better make sure that your person at the top embodies the spirit of your company, and they champion the cause.

Posted by: johndehart
on October 2nd, 2011

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There’s always a better way to do business

September 17th, 2011Here’s what I believe. There’s always a better way to do business. Whether you have a great workplace or a toxic one, it can always be better. And it’s become a business imperative, especially now. Running a healthy organization is no longer optional for success.

This is the purpose of the Health Work & Wellness™ Conference – creating better workplaces. I’m getting excited about hearing what each of this year’s speakers have to say, because they believe in creating better places to work, too. They have all put considerable energy and resources into moving their organizations from good to great, or from toxic to non-toxic.

The challenge for all of us is to ask the hard questions. What will it take to create my vision of a better place to work? How can I shape the culture in my workplace or department to be one where people can be at their best? What will I have to eliminate or add in order to do this? As we all know, culture change is much more difficult than simply implementing programs. It takes time and courage, but the results are much more rewarding.

On October 4-6, get out of the office! Come and join a few hundred like-minded individuals at Conference 2011 who want to create healthy change. We’ll be engaging in some stimulating discussion and connecting with new people. The big ideas will be flowing! And we’ll all be finding a better way to work.

Deborah Connors

Posted by: deborahconnors
on September 17th, 2011

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Easy Perks That Work

August 15th, 2011We love Conference 2011 keynote speaker John DeHart’s ideas about benefits that smaller companies can offer! Have a look and let us know if you have any other great ideas to share!

We enter into a few Best Employer/Best Culture awards every year. One of the advantages of doing this is that we get feedback on what our employees love about working at Nurse Next Door, and what areas could be improved about working at Nurse Next Door.

Like so many growing companies, one big area of opportunity for us, is the area of benefits. Truthfully, we have a pretty weak benefits offering to our incredible employees. So, as part of our 180 day plan to move our culture forward (we work in 180 day increments to achieve this), we are working on a new benefits package.

Part of this plan includes looking at creative perks that work vs expensive perks (like dental coverage). When it comes to perks and benefits (which can become fairly cost prohibitive pretty quickly) I take a similar view as I do when I look at marketing – I know that I cant outspend the big companies, so I better use my creativity to out think the big companies.

So I have started to compile a list of easy perks that work that I like. Here are some of those so far:

Work from home days. While it may not work in every setting, what a great way for your employees to skip the daily commute, spend some time around their families and get some work done, or just work in peace from their own home while sitting in their pajamas.

Reward those who make life easier for employees. Once a year, give your employees the opportunity to say, ‘Can you send a recognition award to my mother-in-law, who takes care of my kids after school?’ “Along with the recognition, send a gift card from a business of the employee’s choosing.

Surf’s up. My favorite perk, although not really applicable to most of us, is Patagonia’s surfs up perk. Daily surf reports are posted at the reception desk , and when the waves are good, employees can tackle a surf break.

Family days.With educational budget cuts, it is incredible how many days off my kids get from school now. Wouldn’t it be great if we could allow employees to take a “family day off” without having to use up a vacation day?

Yoga classes. Yoga is the big thing in Vancouver these days, and companies are starting to bring in a yoga instructor to run an afternoon class on a weekly basis.

Beryl Cares. The Beryl Group of Companies has a program called Beryl Cares. This program is dedicated to providing emergency financial help, including purchasing school clothes for coworkers’ children, helping with unexpected bills and providing emotional support to colleagues who are going through a rough period in life.

Volunteer days. At Nurse Next Door, we used to give our employees a few paid days each year to take part in community or charitable activities that they’re passionate about but otherwise don’t have time for. Perhaps it is time to bring this perk back? (It sure would align with our core value of “Passionate About Making a Difference”). “1% community time” would amount to 2.5 days per year.

Patio pass 1/2 day Friday’s. My friend Razor at I Love Rewards has a perk where they let employees take a Friday afternoon off on any day of the summer that they choose.

Extra vacation days for being a star. Voted by their peers monthly or quarterly, a star employee (at Nurse Next Door it would be the employee who lives our core values to the highest degree) is rewarded with extra vacation days.

I don’t want to get out of bed” days. Sometimes you just don’t want to go to work. So give your employees a free pass to stay in bed for the day.

Cruise Control. Who needs a company car when Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman offers free memberships with Zipcar. The firm covers the application and annual membership fee and encourages employees to use the cars for business and personal errands.

Employee spouse bonus. Send an employee’s spouse a $100 “bonus” with a note saying how much you appreciate their support for their spouse. Why? Because they have tons of influence over your employee’s motivation. And if they love the company that their spouse works at? That is good for the company!

Does anyone have any cool perks that I should consider? And to my team at Nurse Next Door, which ones should we have?

Posted by: johndehart
on August 15th, 2011

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It Takes a While to Get to Utopia (A Policy “Less” Company)

July 11th, 2011Conference 2011 keynote speaker and co-founder of Nurse Next Door Home Healthcare Services, John DeHart, sees utopia as being a company devoid of policies. But without policies, can a company operate well or at all? Read the post below from his blog and see what you think.

My utopia is a company without policies.

If you saw my post “Do You Have A Policy About Working Naked?” you will know my stance on polices. I don’t like them. Policies are created for the few that break the rules, so why should we penalize the many who do not?

As entrepreneurs, we sometimes tend to paint a picture of our vision, and expect it to happen now. We forget to reverse engineer the end and figure out the most logical way to get there. Our vision may be to some day a have a policy “less” company, but unfortunately we are going to have to put some policies in place to help us get there.

So our company, Nurse Next Door, is growing. And as we grow, the need for some policies becomes evident. So how do we balance building a fast growth, policy “less” company with actually having some policies?

Currently, we have an outside group performing an “HR audit.” I know that they are going to come back with a book chock full of policy recommendations (because we don’t have any.)

Some missing ones are obvious. OK, I get it that we need some vacation policies (so many people have over lapping vacations that it isn’t quite working anymore.) And I know we need some “boundaries” around working from home (when people start telling you that they are working from home again because the kids are off for a day…are they really working? I know I don’t when my kids are at home!)

But here is one policy that I don’t want for the company. I don’t want a policy that restricts them from taking a 1/2 day or day off of work for something important happening in their life, like a child’s play.

I want our people to be able do that. I don’t want “work” being an excuse, or” I don’t have anymore holiday time” so I can’t go. But how do I make sure that this stays intact as we grow?

Perhaps we need a policy after all. Perhaps the policy should be a “we will do whatever it takes to make it happen” policy. That seems simple.

Posted by: johndehart
on July 11th, 2011

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Ramping Up and Reflecting: Conferences 1997-2011

April 28th, 2011In 1997 we started the Health Work & Wellness™ Conference because we knew there was a better, healthier way to do business. Over 500 leaders from organizations across Canada thought so too, joining us that year in Vancouver. This was, and still is, our purpose.

As organizations move out of the recession and into growth opportunities, healthy business practices are more important than ever, hence this year’s conference theme – a call to action to senior management to make healthy workplaces A Business Imperative.

Our opening keynote for Conference 2011, Roy Spence, will convince you that the key ingredient to a healthy workplace is a core purpose that defines the difference you are trying to make in the world. Purpose drives decision-making and cultivates visionary ideas.

In addition to Spence’s thought-provoking opening, this year’s program will blow your mind. Really! Closing keynote John DeHart will share how Nurse Next Door created an award-winning workplace culture built on purpose and values. In between, you will learn how to create healthy change, build an effective workplace strategy, inspire emotional intelligence in your workplace and think strategically!

For 15 years, we have been bringing together Canadians interested in workplace health with guests from around the world, and have seen a like-minded organizational health community grow as a result. This conference attracts extraordinary people from extraordinary companies and is simply the best forum in Canada to learn from the leading thinkers in this field.

Please join us in Toronto this October for three action-packed days of inspiring discussion on the latest ideas about workplace health. Your organization will thank you for it!

Deborah Connors
President
Health Work & Wellness™ Conference 2011

Posted by: deborahconnors
on April 28th, 2011

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Testimonial

“We too often get caught in the downward spiral of trying to achieve work-life balance, but the Health, Work & Wellness™ Conference opened up a realm of possibilities that organizations and individuals can attain.”— Tanya Ponnan, Research AnalystLabour Relations Department Greater Vancouver Regional District