An Imperfect Environment

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

-- Robert Collier, author

In the previous article, Systems Thinking, we discussed how it’s often not the people in your organization that’s the problem but rather the system(s) they’re working in. So it seems to make sense to discuss what some of the attributes of a “good system” (culture) are.

Often when organizations begin to think about what a great company culture would be like the first thing that comes to mind is to create an employee survey. Find out what unhappy employees need so we can provide them with the optimal circumstances in which to work. However, when we take time to look at this at a deeper level we begin to see the error in that way of thinking.

As I see it there are two primary problems with the traditional employee survey.

1. The idea of ‘optimal circumstances’ is a red herring. There’s really no such thing. Have you ever been part of an employee survey? Was it mostly a laundry list of complaints? If you provided everything on the survey did performance improve? Or, did it become the starting point to an unending list of ‘what we need to bless you with our performance’?

2. A poorly done survey ingrains an attitude that, “We can’t do our best work in substandard conditions.”

I’ve seen companies buy ping-pong tables, foosball tables, fully stocked refrigerators etc. all in the name of creating a great work environment. While there’s nothing wrong with any of those things the problem is we’ve put the cart before the horse. None of these things create a great company culture. When you create a great company culture first, these things become perks for a staff that’s rocking the performance meter.

So what’s the real key to a great culture? Personal accountability. Research shows over-and-over again that happiness and fulfillment at a job are not correlated with a perfect environment. It’s correlated to the amount of accountability each member of your team accepts.

Have you ever had a job where you were given a lot of responsibility but little or no authority? It’s the reason why so many people feel stress, frustration and ultimately burn out at their job. What if we worked to develop our employees so they could have a real impact on what happens around them? Instead of trying to create the perfect environment, we teach them how to succeed knowing they’ll always be working in an imperfect one.

Our greatest fulfillment as human beings often comes from winning against the odds. If you’ve ever played a sport you may know this feeling. Did you ever beat a team everyone knew, even yourself, that was better than you? How did you feel after it was over? Is it one of the main highlights you always remember when you look back on your playing days? Do you remember the games where you beat an inferior opponent the same way?

It’s the same when you build your organization’s team. The old saying, “We succeeded in spite of not because of” comes to mind. Give your employees the responsibility AND authority to do their job. When they are taught to take personal responsibility for their outcomes, they take great satisfaction knowing they’re winning despite all the hurdles thrown in front of them. They’re winning despite a rough economy, despite a tough competitor, despite a lack of resources, despite onerous regulations and so on.

Think of someone that works for you who, once given a job, you never worry about again. You know they’ll get it done no matter what. The French have a name for such people. They call them bricoleurs. The people who have the mental makeup that nothing will stop them from being successful. What if you hired and trained everyone in your business to be that way?

Do you see the difference it could make to have a company full of people who have the authority to do their job to the best of their ability versus one that’s continually trying to figure out how to make their employees happy? To have employees who know and expect an imperfect environment versus those who use it as excuse why something couldn’t be done? Who’s responsible for setting this up? Why you are! Can you think of a better use of your time?

Create an environment where personal accountability is the norm and you’ll find the impossible will happen on a regular basis.