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Posted: 15 Aug 2011 05:17 AM PDT  Achieving milestones within a department or an organization is a process that involves a clear strategy, research, team members, and the flexibility to change and adapt along the way. Just like leaders, a company's culture or environment doesn't just happen. Great cultures are made from the top down and the down up. The key in creating a corporate culture focused on high achievement doesn't come from the learning curve employees and their teammates face but in how they learn and work together during their failures. It's the low points, not the high points that create a high performance team. Or as Robert Sutton, a Professor at Stanford University says, "Failure sucks but instructs." Consider a company like Starbucks, a now 40 year old company, and the success they achieved. Since 1992 until 2007 the company's stock rose a staggering 5,000 percent. Books were written on their rise to fame and the culture distinct culture they created. On nearly every corner a Starbucks reached out to entire communities, listened to individual workers and consumers, and seized growth market opportunities, and then something happened. As the economy changed and the world dived deep into a recession, Starbucks continued with their award winning strategy business as usual, and for that they paid a price. Companies like McDonalds and Duncan Donuts gained market share and Starbucks tried to fight back, but they continued to flounder. In 2008, Howard Schultz the former president and chairman made a bold move returning to his position eight years after he stepped down. He was concerned that Starbucks had lost its way culturally as well as financially. The support and leadership that Schultz provided Starbucks helped put the company's troubles into perspective allowing them to learn and adapt from their mistakes. The company returned to its roots focusing on what it did best, make coffee as well as the culture it provides both employees as well as customers. For Schultz, it's not just about winning but the right way in which to win and using this strategy he helped once again pull Starbucks into the spotlight. The lesson for companies of all sizes and their leadership teams is that from success we gain confidence but from failure we are truly tested. Teams are tested in times of crisis and struggle learning lessons on accountability, collaboration, creativity, and initiative. Maintaining an even keel and believing in your organization and its business culture will help ensure that even in the good times and the bad, the business will live to fight another day. Photo Credit Healthy Lifestyles Blog.  |
Posted: 15 Aug 2011 04:29 AM PDT  Twenty-two years ago, I played slow-pitch softball for a women’s league back in corn-fed Northwest Indiana. The season before, I had the best season of my life, batting .720 and playing first base and catch. I had a strong, but slightly feral throw; I worked tirelessly with my coach pre-season to calm my wild arm and perfect my aim. The goal was to move me to shortstop that season to take full advantage of my aggressive approach and speed of throw. I was having a blast, it was the chance I never got in high school and I had leadership support. Two games into the season and I was off to another record-breaking year. After a Saturday morning practice, a men’s team had been waiting for the field – they had watched a bit of our ferocity and decided to challenge us to a pick-up game. Softball chicks in their twenties? Yeah, we bit and bit hard. We were about two innings in when I hit a line drive just over second base that dropped in perfectly – base hit. The hitter that followed me, hit it deep to right field, I prepared to round second watching my coach, who suddenly signaled me to go back to second, but I was already committed to the rounding. However, the perfect throw to third base did stop me and I turned back to second, when the third basemen sent the ball to second. Pickle. I stopped again and turned back to third. That is, my body turned but my cleat-wearing feet had planted deep in the red dirt and stayed planted. I heard the pop plain as day and felt the sudden snap of pain shoot up my leg to my hip and down the inside of my leg to my ankle. I stood there, tottering not sure what to do. The second baseman heard the pop, too. I had no idea what had happened but I knew it hurt like hell. The following Monday, I found myself sitting in an orthopedic surgeon’s office who assured me that it was just a strain, “Give it two-weeks’ rest and then you can hit the field again.” I did as I was told, I iced it and rested it and two weeks later I was back on the field, playing catcher. The third pitch of the game resulted in a high pop-up between the mound and home plate. I called it and stepped out to make the catch. Third step out on my right foot resulted in a similar pop but this time I went down screaming in agony. I was carried from the filed by four teammates, tears streaming down my face. My awesome season became a quickly fading dream as my surgeon withdrew two large vials of yellow fluid from my knee to relieve the truly unbearable pain. I remember telling my husband that it hurt worse than childbirth, and it was true. I had torn my anterior crusciate ligament. Snapped it in half, but reparative surgery was continually illusive. I bounced round from doctor to doctor with four cartilage tear surgeries eventually under my belt. The real pickle became finding a surgeon that would diagnose correctly, then do the right surgery. Over the years, I became disenchanted with our healthcare system and disappointed in doctors who looked at insurance first and injury second; I had an HMO. I finally beat the system when one of my recruitment clients, the Vice President of HR for a large healthcare district in Central California had hip surgery – I visited her in the hospital, post-surgery. She so appreciated my visit and thanked me several times. She had known of my knee problems and was eager to share her surgeon’s contact details with me; she loved her surgeon and was very pleased with her results and recovery. She made a quick referral for me and I followed up. Two additional surgeries later (seventeen years after the initial injury!) and I was finally pain free with the knee stability I had been missing for nearly two decades. My pickle finally ended. It pays to treat your clients well, to go out of your way and wish them well or assist them in ways not known at first. People do business with people they know. People keep doing business with people they like. People refer business for and to people they trust. It’s kind of an Old West philosophy. But then, I’m an Old West kind of gal.  Rayanne Thorn, @ray_anne is the Marketing Director for the online recruiting software company, Broadbean Technology. She is also a proud mother of four residing in Laguna Beach, California, and a contributor for Blogging4Jobs. Connect with her on LinkedIn.  |
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