#Fearless4Friday: The Big Easy ... Strengthening Our Workplace Culture

This week, our second #Fearless4Friday is brought to us by Carol Gronlund, Zeno Group’s Senior Vice President of HR who shares her experience at the Great Place to Work conference in New Orleans (you know, the home of the famous Café Du Monde).

Without further ado...

Last week I was fortunate to represent Zeno Group at the Great Place to Work conference in New Orleans—two days, dozens of organizations ranked as a “Great Place to Work” by their employees, and one uniting idea: Each had put people at the center of their strategy.

For an HR geek like me, this is like going to the Oscars without the crash dieting and wardrobe planning. Good thing, because New Orleans is a foodie city. Pass the hot sauce and I’ll pass along some of my favorite pointers from the conference.  

1. Get personal.

Great companies have this figured out whether they state it as a management objective or it happens organically. They know their employees and put processes in place that facilitate genuine two-way communication and meaningful recognition.

Can we all agree to ditch the “Thanks for five Years” paperweights? Weren’t we supposed to go paperless anyway? Let’s focus on real rewards instead. Here’s a hint, start with valuing your employees as

individuals.

2. Know your values, hire people who share them and fire those who don’t.

That’s right, I used the “F” word. But let’s face it, nobody wins when we’ve got someone on the team who isn’t aligned. We waste precious time and energy trying to convert them when the truth is, everyone isn’t meant to agree with us and that’s okay.

Blake Nordstrom opened the conference with a keynote presentation during which he shared Nordstrom’s Handbook Rule #1, “Use good judgment”. Rule #2 states, “See rule #1”.  This works for Nordstrom because they hire people who align with their values.  

3. Share the vision in big ways.

Take this one literally friends. I’m talking about a big poster that lays out your five year plan along a timeline or an info-graphic illustrating your BHAG for all employees to see.

Take time to explain it and remember to tie everyone’s job back to successes along the way. Hold regular meetings to talk about how you’re doing and don’t be afraid to discuss mistakes and missed milestones. We all know it takes a village so tell the villagers how their work adds value to the organization.

4. Elevate your organization by getting flat.

Was Thomas Friedman right about more than globalization? He proposed that the world is flat but as I listened to presentations from organizations ranked as “Great Places to Work”, it became clear that they are flat, too.

Many had thrown away traditional ideas about hierarchy for organizational charts that put clients and employees at the top, recognizing that they are the real engines who run the business.

New Orleans was fun and I am so glad I was in attendance at this year’s “Great Place to Work Conference.”