Be A Professional—Kaepernick’s New Aspiration?

By now even the casual football fan is aware of the travails of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. His recent performance (the word abysmal comes to mine) on the football field is a head-scratcher for many of us. His success in earlier years belies the types of disappointing performances we’ve seen from him in 2014. It’s a fall from grace. (Note: the 49ers, in general, are having an extremely disappointing year as well. That said, it is widely acknowledged by football insiders that something is clearly ‘off’ in Kaepernick’s game.)

To add insult to injury, Kaepernick’s on-field performance has shined when compared to how he’s handled the media. In a nutshell it appears that Kaepernick views the media as the enemy (much like his boss—coach Jim Harbaugh—seemingly does).

During a recent press conference, Kaepernick responded to 32 questions with only 87 words. From his demeanor and body language you’d think Kaepernick would rather endure a root-canal than spend another second with the press. Defensive, petulant, aloof, are just a few of the adjectives that come to mind that characterize how Kaepernick comes across with the press. It’s painful to watch. Treat the press as your enemy and they’ll soon become such.

To me, Kaepernick’s act has gotten old (Harbaugh’s too). These two are the primary faces of the organization to the public. They need to positively represent their organization. At the moment, the impression they create leaves a lot to be desired. Sure the media can be a pain to deal with, but ‘media management’ (otherwise known as PR) is an important part of the job—especially for a NFL quarterback.

Hall of Famer Jerry Rice was asked by a Bay Area radio host what advice he’d give Kaepernick. Turns out, Jerry once had a problem with being defensive with the media early in his career as well. At the time he finally realized, “You know, I need to be a better professional.” (click here for more on Jerry’s comments) Simply put, Jerry realized that he wasn’t handling the media as a professional would.

‘Be a professional’…that was Jerry’s advice to Kaepernick. I don’t know if Jerry spoke to Kaepernick after the radio interview or if Kaepernick heard the interview. But what I do know is….

….the very next day after Jerry’s comments Kaepernick was downright charming with the media. He was vulnerable and even empathetic towards many of the ‘media types’ he presumably loathed. All of a sudden the guy ‘shows up’ in a more effective, more helpful way. He puts a more engaging, more upbeat face on the 49ers organization. No doubt, that’s something that the 49ers had long wished would emerge from one of the NFL’s most public personalities.

For everyone involved, undesired behavior in the workplace is maddening. Gazillions of dollars are spent every year in prevention, investigation, and remediation. Yet it’s amazing how effective the admonition—’be a professional’—can remedy undesired behavior in the workplace.

Whether this contributed to Kaepernick’s ‘about-face’ is unknown (at least by me). But I’ve personally seen dozens and dozens of such cases ‘fixed’ with just such an admonition.

Professional Values Under Attack–A Sobering Look At Healthcare

Why Doctors Are Sick of Their Profession is an article that ran recently in the Wall Street Journal.  It’s a sobering look at the human side of the current dysfunction we call healthcare.

The article’s author Sandeep Jauhar MD makes the point that he and many of his physician colleagues are ‘struggling with the loss of their professional values’.  He suggests that in many ways he has become the doctor he never thought he would be: impatient, occasionally indifferent, at times dismissive or paternalistic.  Whether he’s being too hard on himself, I don’t pretend to know.

The causes for the trend are varied and, in many cases, deeply rooted within an industry in need of reform. In many ways the system has beaten down the doctors—imparting cynicism in place of their once noble aspirations.

The doctors are largely part of a system they can’t beat and many don’t want to be a part of.  This article is instructive in two important ways:

***First: it demonstrates how important professionals really are—healthcare just happens to be today’s example.  Absent professional values, things ‘go south’ fast for all stakeholders.  As Jauhar points out, naturally the patient’s experience is negatively impacted when the doctor’s professional values slip.

***Second: to me the answer to having a system ‘beat you down’  is (in part) to remember why you entered the profession in the first place.  In other words, never forget what your purpose is.  Tattoo it on your forehead if you must.  For one’s own mental health, a compelling purpose (on most days) will typically trump a bad system.

It’s interesting to note, from a systemic point of view, that the author suggests emphasizing professional values in the next generation.  That means ‘instilling professional values early on’ in medical school. Couldn’t agree more.  That’s precisely what we’ve helped do at the West Coast Ultrasound Institute. The results are exciting.

Professional values: without them, eventually we’ll all be sick. With them, we’ve got an invaluable  formula for health.

 

Company Limits Bathroom Breaks To Six Minutes a Day

Yes, you heard right. Here’s the reference: Company Limits Bathroom Breaks To Six Minutes a Day

No doubt there was some employee shenanigans (think: excessive Facebooking and texting on mobile devices in the bathroom) that brought this on. And perhaps management did some things that contributed to this outcome as well.

But would the ‘Six Minute Rule’ have been invoked if management genuinely viewed their staff as professionals? Not likely!

Invariably, self-management practices go way up when management treats the staff as professionals. The staff’s ‘best-self’ gets proudly displayed. They’re motivated to do the right thing, and they’ll do it more often. Of course there’s always going to be a few knuckle-heads, but still…..

Who doesn’t want to work in an environment in which ‘professional’ is the organization’s aspiration. And who doesn’t want to work with colleagues who are professionals? Of course, the questions are rhetorical. An organization that centers its organization on professional ideals wouldn’t stoop to this.

Culture’s Influence on Performance—Greater Appreciation Abounds

It was John Bogle, the founder and former chairman of Vanguard, that noted that ‘the most important things in life are often the most difficult to measure’.

How true—especially things like trust. In the work world, culture is another ‘thing’ that is really important but is often difficult to quantify. Culture (which some have characterized as how we think and act) is not only a vague notion for some but one that Is next to impossible to put on a balance sheet. Rest assured though that culture (which is inseparably linked to trust) effects the balance sheet and other facets of organizational performance.

This weekend two articles ran on the East Bay Times (a San Francisco Bay Area paper) editorial page (Sunday edition) that highlighted the dysfunction of two public-sector cultures that have had a significant impact in terms of degrading public trust. In my experience, it’s rare for two investigative reporters (on the same day, on the same editorial page) cite culture as the major culprit of discord in their stories. I was harkened by the two investigative reporters, acting independently, that were speaking forcefully about the pervasive nature of culture. For ‘culture deniers’ (whom I run into somewhat regularly, are prone not to give the influence of culture it’s due) these types of articles help put a ‘real-world’ context to the impact of culture. In other words, the two articles give a hard edge (albeit with imperfect measurement) to a supposedly soft subject.

The first public-sector culture under the microscope in Sunday’s article was Caltrans (California’s transportation department) for their contribution in the new eastern span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Daniel Borenstein, the article’s author, refers to Caltrans culture as unprofessional—with senior leaders routinely using heavy-handed intimidation, secrecy, and denial as means to the meet the leaders ends. As the article points out, the costs for the eastern span skyrocketed from $1.4 to $6.4 billion. The project suffered significant construction delays and is now is under scrutiny for safety concerns. Not all of these issues have ‘culture’ as the sole cause, but certainly culture is considered a significant contribution. For the complete story see:
Daniel Borenstein Gov. Brown Must Fix Caltrans Culture

The second culture under scrutiny is the Veterans Association (VA). In the VA’s case, it is believed that the silence and secrecy embedded in the culture led to patient deaths. How sad. As author Kate Scannell’s article points out, the VA culture has other troubling issues as well. See:
Dr. Kate Scannell: VA scandal shows we must speak up about the deadly silences in health care

Both of these examples illustrate the very real consequences of a dysfunctional culture. In both instances, trust is on life support. Plus, key performance targets have failed miserably. In the case of the VA, people died. Edgar Schein, an early pioneer in the field of organizational development, may have put it best: ‘culture is to the organization what character is to the individual.’ Both of these examples have been well chronicled in articles beyond the two highlighted here. It’s clear that both these organization’s cultures were by-products of their leadership—in this case inadequate leadership.

Schein also wrote ‘there is a possibility that the only thing of real importance that leaders do is create and manage culture’. Given the era in which Schein made that statement, it was difficult to justify that point-of-view. Today it’s much easier, especially given these two examples.

Lessons In Professionalism (and Success) From Basketball’s San Antonio Spurs

Last night I caught a few minutes of the San Antonio Spurs/Golden State Warriors game.  For those unaware, these are two National Basketball Association (NBA) teams.  I happen to be a fan of the Warriors—being a native of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Spurs were impressive in winning the game—their 19th in a row!  If you want to see basketball played at the highest level imaginable—watch the Spurs play sometime. It’s the precision and jaw-dropping impact of Cirque du Soleil in gym shorts. Some have argued the Spurs could field two NBA quality teams from their current fifteen-man roster.

The Spurs have three future Hall of Fame players but that’s not why they’re so impressive. They play within a system—one that’s been carefully honed over the years by coach Gregg Popovich.  When it comes to the Spurs, it’s professionalism on steroids.

I believe that, out of all the modern sports, basketball is the best in illustrating the mind sets in action.

Consider:

***the deadly-shooting point guard who acts as a decoy, enabling them to distribute the ball to open teammates (mind-sets 1,2,6,7 ).

***the player who passes up a good shot so that their teammate will get a better one (mind-sets 1,2,6,7).

***the uber-talented individual players who choose to forgo their individual stats and play as a unified team (mind-sets 1,2).

***the shooting guard who takes a charge from the opponent’s 280 pound power-forward (mind-sets 1,2,3).

***the star player who generously renegotiates their contract, releasing monies for the team to sign a desirable free-agent, and enabling the team to stay under the salary-cap (mind-sets 1,2,4).

Watch the Spurs play sometime—you’ll see these attributes and more.  You’ll see professionals in action.

Aspirin or Vitamin?

As Seth Godin reminds us, “we’re far more aware of our problems than our opportunities”.  In my work with leaders of organizations, that almost always holds true.

Intrigue turns to enthusiasm as leaders learn about the potential in applying professional values within their organization.  Invariably they initially see the approach as an aspirin to be dispensed in attempting to correct undesired behavior (think: alleviating pain) within their organization.

That’s completely understandable as so many of the headaches these leaders face stem from so-called adults within their organization behaving badly. These same leaders often find themselves exacerbated by the need to invest (what often turns out to be) endless numbers of hours mitigating problems that never should have occurred in the first place.  In the vernacular: it’s a ‘time suck’—one that siphons valuable energy away from weightier matters.

I get it….and I’m sure you do too!

Yet, correcting undesired behavior is the most basic, most fundamental application of professional values within organizations.  It’s a good application. And as helpful and powerful professional values can be in correcting undesired behavior, there’s ‘more to get’.

In other words, professional values can proactively serve as a vitamin to help grow and sustain a healthy (internal) culture as well as a vibrant (external) brand.  This is the best application. Properly implemented, the vitamin approach supports and sustains opportunities.  It materially aids everything from sales to supply-chain management; improves functions as disparate as marketing to recruitment.

Trouble is—because of the pain they’re experiencing— too many leaders use professional values as an aspirin and stop.  Regretfully, these leaders fail to realize the powerful benefit that comes from the vitamin side of the equation.  Guess that’s why our mothers were so insistent on all of us taking our vitamins!

 

Football’s Skill Players—Lessons For Today’s Professionals

A colleague friend of mine was updating me on her prize-recruit son who is destined to be playing football next year at a Pac 12 school.  He plays on the offensive line.  He goes something like 6’ 5”, 280 pounds and bench presses half-a-gazillion pounds.

She was explaining to me how the recruiting process worked and how her son (ultimately) would be spending more time with his O-Line coach than that same coach would spend with his own family.  It was fascinating.  Each group (linebackers, running backs, lineman, etc), she explained, had the own specialty coaches.   “You know, the skill players have their coaches and each of the other groups have theirs.”   In football parlance skill players are running backs, quarterbacks, wide receivers, etc.

I smiled mischievously.  “What?” she asked.  “What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t help myself, so I asked her “does that mean that your son and his fellow linemen are unskilled?”

She hesitated, then smiled knowingly.  We both agreed that each and every player on the team was exceptionally skilled—each in their own way.  And we further agreed that today’s distinctions between so-called skill players and the rest of the football team was unfortunate.

The same thing happens in the workplace.  There’s the professionals and then everybody else.  For those of you who have read The Power of Professionalism, you know we’re trying hard to change these unfortunate distinctions.

Always remember, you’re the one that determines whether you’re a professional or not –no one can ever take that away from you.

Next year I’m looking forward to seeing this young man play at the next level.  Any football fan who appreciates athletes with amazing skill-sets will too.

Your Organization—Is Your Experience There Helping You Become A Better Person?

As part of a recent consulting engagement, I had the privilege to interview a number of employees from one of the world’s best managed companies.  The company—both what they did and how they did it—was really impressive.  They pushed their people—but not in a manipulative or punitive way.  Employees had near-complete autonomy.  The level of responsibility within the employee ranks was off-the-charts.

The intent of the interviews was to find out what the ‘employee experience’ was like.  Virtually every employee said they ‘couldn’t go back’ to the types of jobs they once held before coming to their current employer.  Despite the high expectations, morale was especially high.  The way the company managed was not only admirable; it was a model to emulate.

For context, the company wasn’t solving world hunger.  In fact, the company’s agriculturally-based products were arguably commodity-like.  Nonetheless, employees found their work especially meaningful.  Almost to a person (and regardless of where they served in the organization) each employee’s level of engagement was high—really high.

At the close of our session one of the more seasoned (yet reserved) employees quietly approached me on his way out of the conference room.  He looked me straight in the eye, and said, “you know, I’m a better person for having worked here”.  This gentleman had privately put a bow on the gift (think: feedback) that had been revealed through our ‘public’ employee meeting.  With that, he went back to work.  I was struck, not only by what he said, but by how he said it.

I thought to myself, ‘isn’t that the ultimate for employees…to feel that their work experience has made (or is making) them a better person?’  What a powerful indicator in assessing (among other things) organizational health.  And if the company needed further validation that it was on the right track this gentleman gave it to them in spades.

Fast forward to last week…I received an email from a client; a tell-it-like-it-is, seasoned company president who has been integrating professional values into his organization for some time. (BTW: he was unaware of the experience I just shared.)  After sharing some company updates and some personal niceties, he closed his note with, “…since reading your book and trying to live what it says has made me a much better person as well as an [much better] employer. Thank you.”

This president knows all-too-well that living up to professional ideals isn’t always a bed of roses. Yet he does what needs doing.  Because of it he grows and becomes a better person as a result.

Personally, this is especially rewarding.  Organizationally, it helps validate our approach.  We’re on the right track. Onward!

A Professional Joins the Competition—and Feeling Good About It.

A colleague friend of mine just recently jumped ships–having left one major accounting firm for another. He was very loyal to his former employer, having made significant sacrifices over many years. During his time with his former firm, he clearly had the firm’s best interests at heart—just as a professional would. Think: mind-set two.

Yet, he never made partner—the holy grail for most in these types of firms.

He’s one now! As integral to the offer, his new firm offered him a partnership. He followed his own self-interests, he took the job. Good for him.

As we pointed out in The Power of Professionalism, being a professional doesn’t mean being a door-mat. It doesn’t mean adopting blind, mindless, loyalty.  And it doesn’t mean abandoning your own self-interests.

Keeping balance between your own interests and your organization’s is sometimes tricky—it requires judgment and discipline.  It’s been said that “professionals create more value than they extract”. My colleague friend did just that while at his former firm. I hope he feels good about his decision. As professional, he should.

Minimizing Politics In Your Company

The topic of organizational politics is always a hot one.  I’m sharing a terrific article by Ben Horowitz which speaks to approaches that, when followed, will minimize organizational politics.

This particular article—now over three years old—is definitely centered around the executive suite, but the principles can be applied outside the executive suite as well.

Ben’s blog is one my favorites.  The quality of his writing—and the thinking that drives it—is just terrific. Enjoy.