Can your company be a “BEST PLACE TO WORK” and be Results-Oriented at the same Time?

This past week, Joie de Vivre was honored as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in the Bay Area (including the full East Bay and Silicon Valley). We earned the honor of coming in 7th place for companies with 500-3,000 employees after having come in 6th place two years ago (we didn’t compete in 2006). This award is based upon a very thorough survey of a large sampling of the employees for the nearly 500 companies that compete. So, being a well-liked employer is an essential part of how a company makes the grade.

Yet, I was full of cognitive dissonance this week. Sadly, I had to abruptly terminate the contract of an outside PR company that wasn’t meeting the needs of one of our hotels, and, I also had to tell the landscape designer who was planning an overhaul of my backyard that this relationship wasn’t working either. Can you be a nice guy and get what you want in life? And, how does that principal apply to companies?

For nearly a decade, Joie de Vivre has been measuring our managers’ performance on a grid that shows RESULTS on one axis and RELATIONSHIPS on another axis. We rate our managers on a 1-4 scale (1 being outstanding, 4 being poor) on both Results and Relationships, which leads to four quadrants and sixteen boxes that a manager could find themselves in (for more info, take a look at my book The Rebel Rules , which talks more about this method of performance evaluation). We don’t promote managers who aren’t in quadrant one (being either a 1 or 2 in both Results and Relationships).

But, more recently, I’ve heard people within JdV make comments that might suggest our culture is favoring relationships over results. In other words, we’re a “great place to work” because we create a positive, recognition-driven culture that makes people feel good. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as the company is very focused and entrepreneurial in executing on its business plan. There are lots of “good vibe” companies that faced big challenges because they got a little too distracted with just being nice and friendly. Anita Roddick’s The Body Shop was socially responsible both externally and internally but they had a faulty business plan and poor execution in many ways and their performance suffered a nosedive. While Levi Strauss has more recently made some positive strides, a decade ago they were in a deadly downward spiral due to the complacent culture that had developed from their positive-spirited, yet results-blind environment.

My Executive Committee has heard me recently thumping the bible of results and accountability as we’ve seen a few of our hotels not perform as well as we would expect. Fortunately, the majority of our hotels are still gaining market share, but four years ago, 80% of our hotels were gaining market share during the biggest drop in American hotel revenues since World War II. We executed effectively when our back was up against the wall. Does that mean that fear needs to be the primary motivator in the business world? I don’t think so, but a healthy mix of fear, clarity of roles and responsibilities, and a reconnection with what makes us great will help almost any business start to right some of its performance metrics problems.

What do I mean by a “reconnection with what makes us great”? There are two parts to this. First, there’s just the basic business plan which, if it’s well thought through, can prove to be a trusty roadmap for success. It’s amazing how many companies deviate from their well-tested business plan because they just stopped executing properly (quite often, due to complacency or a new regime that didn’t recognize the importance of the business plan).

But, the other component of “what makes us great” is the part that takes us back to my title for this musing. Great companies have great purposes. Southwest Airlines is about the freedom to travel. Whole Foods Market is about nourishing the body whole. Apple is about creating technologies that serves and delight you in a truly unique way. Joie de Vivre is about creating joy. Companies that execute well engage their employees in a way that makes the employees feel a deep sense of mission and meaning in what they do. The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago just published a study this month which showed that the professions with the highest job satisfaction ratings and general happiness were those where the employees look at their occupation as a calling. The top three professions were the clergy, physical therapists, and firefighters with the common theme being that these folks feel a deep sense of calling in what they do every day and they know their “results” – whether it’s ministering to someone in need, providing physical therapy to someone who is frail or injured, or putting out a fire at a family home – make a big difference to those they are serving.

So, one of the secrets to being a great place to work is to create that sense of mission or calling as employees’ performance skyrockets when they see what they’re doing is more than just a job or career. What happens to those employees who aren’t clearly pursuing their calling or have performance challenges? Even great places to work occasionally have to terminate poor performers, usually after giving the employee sufficient attention and tools to help turn things around. While Joie de Vivre is a very relationship-driven place, it hasn’t stopped us from ending someone’s employment if we see that the results that the business (and their co-workers) needs aren’t forthcoming from the employee or manager. It’s no fun telling someone they must leave (or, in some instances, finding them alternative employment within the company), but a company that doesn’t demand both results and relationships is putting all of its employees at risk in the very competitive business world we live in.

The founders of Hewlett-Packard proved decades ago that a great place to work can also be results-driven. I think it was Dave Packard who said “being a business leader is all about knowing when to be soft-hearted and when to be hard-headed.” That’s the kind of wise advice that’s helping me negotiate my way through the balancing act of creating both harmony and prosperity.

Add comment April 30th, 2007

Can you truly change the world?

I’ve noticed those full page ads in the New York Times these past couple of Sundays with the big, bold headline “YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.” While I have a few idealistic friends here in San Francisco who believe in that credo, I didn’t think they had the $100k to fork over for that sentiment in newsprint. Actually, the ads were taken out by Starbucks, which you quickly learn as you scan the page. Being insanely-fearful of a potential coffee addiction–I’ve probably had a half-dozen cups of joe in my adult life–I’m no devotee of Starbucks. But, I will say that I’ve always admired their pluckiness, whether it was the generous benefits they gave employees in an industry where it wasn’t common or whether it’s been their venture into the lifestyle/entertainment genre. Yet, this ad caused a partial scowl on my face. I’m starting to get a little tired of the ubiquity of social responsibility and the marketing machine that’s hitting us over the head with corporate do-goodism.

Maybe I’m just a rebel at heart and love being contrarian. There was a time, not long ago, when I wore a badge of courage by speaking up for the environment or for social justice when I was at some stodgy hospitality conference full of suits. My willingness to speak my mind was equal measures of passion for the cause, my desire to be different, and my joy in upsetting the apple cart of conventional wisdom that surrounded me at these sober conferences. But, today, even Wal-Mart has jumped on the bandwagon as they’re likely to be the largest purveyor of organic products in the world in five years. I’m experiencing serious cognitive dissonance imagining that this transformation happened so quickly. Are there no more bad guys in the business world? That’ll be the day.

OK, OK, I know you’re thinking, “Chip Conley, what has gotten into you? You wrote a book with the subtitle How to Profit Your Business and Change the World” just last year (MARKETING THAT MATTERS). Yes, I did and I truly, deeply believe that the business world has enough power and resources to be the primary initiator of positive change in the world. In fact, if you Google “change the world,” you don’t see any politician or government’s website show up on the first page of results. What comes up is former Apple marketing guru Guy Kawasaki’s blog. You see David Bornstein’s book and website on how social entrepreneurs are making a difference. You sense the earnestness of people’s desire to use private enterprise for public good. And, yet, then, you come across rocker Joan Jett’s Cadillac Story at the top of the Sponsored Links. Once again, how can a big Escalade create a positive change in the world? The ad men are up to their old ways.

So, we have a good problem. PC Pollution (and I don’t mean the personal computer kind). Every business out there knows they need to be perceived as being Politically Correct. Otherwise they risk becoming a stock market dog like Wal-Mart (don’t believe those Bentonville execs went green on us overnight because they saw the light on their own). So, Joe & Mary Customer start getting a little confused. Who should they believe? Is that GAP ad campaign featuring the Red merchandise a good thing because it suggests that a small portion of proceeds goes to a worthy cause? Or is it a bad thing because it’s a crass attempt to get people to buy things they don’t need which just adds more crap to the planet? I don’t have the answer but I do believe we’re likely to see a big shift in the next 5 years which will help Joe & Mary see beyond the PC BS.

The number one change we’ll see in the socially responsible business world will be transparency. It’s already happening as smart companies are opening their books, processes, and boardrooms to activists and journalists to show that they aren’t just bluffing with their ad campaigns. While the stock market world has had social indexes like Domini for years (which has allowed investors to invest in socially responsible companies), the consuming public hasn’t had any “Good Housekeeping” seal of approval that globally says “this company walks its talk.” There are a number of very savvy folks who are in the process of creating those kinds of seals of approval and I welcome them because it will be a nice editor for all the socially responsible advertising clutter we’re starting to see.

In sum, can you truly change the world? Perhaps not by yourself, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. I’m encouraged that the business world has jumped on the bandwagon en masse, but let’s see how long some of those companies stay on the bandwagon when they realize there are responsibilities that come with looking socially responsible. Given the big shift of leadership we’re likely to see in the next ten years (with the retirement of the Baby Boomers), I’m optimistic about the new crop of business leaders I’m meeting when I go out and speak at business schools–a different breed from even what I experienced nearly a quarter century ago. This new breed doesn’t just believe that we can change the world–they actually know that the consequences of not changing our collective habits will be devastating.

Add comment April 23rd, 2007