Hot Topic Friday: August 21

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Happy Friday! Here are our August 21 Hot Topics and how they relate to advancing culture or leadership.

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Hot Topic 1: ‘If You’re Late, You’re Stealing From the Company!’

Source: Medium, Ryan Holmes.

What It’s About The title is an actual quote on one of my social media feeds, by someone who sees herself as a tough-minded guardian of protecting the organization. However, when you read the reasoning behind her argument, it seems clear that she is holding on to long standing, and now rapidly disappearing, assumptions about work. As the Medium article notes: “One of the most profound changes that accompanied the Industrial Revolution was a shift in focus to ‘inputs.’ Prior to the factory system, workers were compensated for output, i.e. what they actually made or produced. Under the workshop system (also known as the putting-out system), people — from shoemakers and seamstresses to gunsmiths and carpenters — managed their own time and resources, working out of their own homes or shops. They enjoyed autonomy over their work and their time. What mattered was the final product, not the hours spent making it. Factory life changed all that. Suddenly, compensation was tied to hours worked. This shift in focus to inputs was part of a broader commoditization of labor during the Industrial Revolution. People were visualized as cogs in a larger machine, an approach that reached its apex in Ford’s assembly lines. Rather than taking ownership over a finished product, each person was reduced to doing one, repetitive task, for a set number of hours each day.”

So What?: The pandemic, and the remote work movement has shown that for many roles, especially knowledge workers, the “output”  way of working is the more advanced thinking and method. For example, how the heck do parents with sheltered-in kids during the pandemic do it differently? A fussy, teething, 18 month old doesn’t care about parents’ start times and punching in. However, this output versus input is unique to each situation. 

Now What?: I’ve been making this argument for years, and as the Chief People Officer, helped make this philosophy work in a company now recognized as the No. 1 place to work in Canada (2020 Great Places to Work). As the author states: “Output culture requires fully embracing employees as contributors and colleagues, not cogs in a wheel. Values alignment is key, as is equitable treatment and fair compensation. Without pride in one’s work and pride in one’s employer, the trust this approach is built around falls apart. But employers who meet these high standards will be justly rewarded, during COVID-19 and well into the future.”

Remember that no results equals no job. What are you waiting for? Make the output approach the preferred way. To those leaders who still want to be watchers and clock punchers, lucky for you, there are still antiquated companies that need you. (Not for long though). 

One Millennial Response: I understand how we’re engrained with the idea that “first in, last out” means you’re an extremely hard worker, and dedicated to your craft. However, if you’re really early, then spend your day present but not producing, before you pridefully clock out last and return home, then all you did was keep a chair warm the longest. If that’s considered a hard day’s work and a job well done, I don’t want you working for me.

Hot Topic 2: Play Like No One's Watching

Source: NYT, Kristin Wong

What It’s About: I teach a course through Harvard’s Faculty of Extension and the University of Alberta EMBA program, about how to create an extraordinary culture. One of the key elements includes intentionally making play at work an important part of the organization. However, as Wong states, “during a time when jobs are precarious, livelihoods are at stake and we’re still fighting a deadly pandemic, play is low on our list of priorities. We’re living in a world that’s more conducive to anxiety than playfulness. In the never-ending to-do list of adulthood, play can feel like a waste of time. We exhaust ourselves with tasks we should or have to do, but we rarely have time or energy for activities we want to do.” This article makes a strong argument that reinforces my thinking and is supported by research. The piece emphasizes: “Play offers a reprieve from the chaos, and it challenges us to connect with a key part of ourselves that gets lost in the responsibilities of adulthood, especially during a crisis.”

So What?: Play is one of the key positive motivators at work. Neel Doshi and Lindsay McGregor have all the data to support this. See their book, Primed to Perform. When you can let yourself go, be authentic, and enjoy being lost in workflow, it’s essentially play. And when you do something more for the personal joy of it, rather than obligation, you are in play. Regardless of our age, we just need to experience the joy of play, every day. 

Now What?: Play involves the spontaneous joy of doing something because you just love to do it. Everyday in the workplace, we ought to be able to achieve that without justification. The article states: “Play is similar to meditation in that it helps you focus on where you’re at in the moment and reset your busy, perpetually exhausted adult mind.” It is not productive to jam your day with one meeting or activity after another. If that’s the case, activity rather than valued output is your false measurement of success. Everyday at work, even for just a few minutes, you need to get lost in the sheer joy of being at play. You’re worth it!

One Millennial Response: Obviously spreadsheets and analytics aren’t always that fun. But use some creativity. I like the idea of “football meetings.” Assuming you’re just discussing something that doesn’t need visuals, you stand around outside the office and toss a football around while you’re talking. Dreaming up these ideas isn’t hard, but something like that could bring a lot more joy to the mundane. Imagine grass stains on your business casuals, that’s pretty fun.

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And finally! Here’s Cecil’s Bleat of the Week!

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“You must leave this world a better place than it would have been if you had not existed.” - Isabel Wilkerson.

Bye for now!

— Lorne and Garrett Rubis

Incase you Missed It:

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