"A Better Workplace --- Meridian Group's Newsletter"

Men and women experience the world differently. Women typically describe the world in terms of feelings, men in terms of actions. Mothers want to protect and care for children, while fathers push them out the door. The ancient Greeks described these differences with the myth of Scylla and Charybdis, two nymphs, one transformed into dangerous rocks, the other into a whirlpool. Together they edged the Straits of Messina that Odysseus and Jason successfully navigated on their heroic life journey. Success meant finding the balanced course between these two extremes, the hard (masculine) and the soft (feminine).

Today's successful leaders find that same balance between the (soft) human and (hard) operational needs of their organizations. But men and women experience this balance differently. I was reminded of this while reading an article in Fortune Small Business (FSB) magazine, October 2003, page 36, The Best Bosses. "Our survey looks beyond heroics to find the most effective managers for this tough economy."

After carefully screening a long candidate list, FSB picked 8 CEOs who built highly successful companies while being recognized by their people as great bosses. Three of the CEOs are men. Five are women.

Each company has very low turnover, exceptional growth, high profitability, great customer satisfaction, and high employee involvement. But the women CEOs paint a more intimate and personal picture of work. Each statement is from one of the CEOs in the FSB article.

Find that happy state of congruence between who you are and what you do.

Create a place that encourages people to bring their whole selves.

Move around in the company and find a job you are passionate about.

Encourage individual growth, collaboration and social consciousness.

Create a company for workers who want to get a life.

When you put people in jobs they want to be doing, they do them extremely well, and the customer notices.

Satisfy our customers' critical needs while realizing our dream jobs.

We just want people to love this company.

Anyone on the staff can suggest changes, fix problems, or talk to whomever they want to about anything they feel can be improved. There is no expectation that management either directs or authorizes the changes. Each person is responsible for whatever improvements he wants to make without having to get approval.

Independent people are the only ones who can make a profound difference.

People sharing their ideas with one another is a unifying force. It's as intimate as you can get in a business setting. When that happens, blaming and competitiveness go out the window. It's not about how to beat Joe in the other department—it's how to improve the company.

For creativity and innovation to flourish, decision making must be pushed to the lowest possible level.

The difference between the men and women CEOs is heightened by what they chose to say, and not say, about their companies to the FSB journalists. These two abbreviated stories illustrate the point. (While most of each story is quoted from FSB, for simplicity I have omitted many quotation marks.)

1.Celeste Volz Ford, an aerospace engineer, founded Stellar Solutions in 1995 to service satellites. The key to Ford's program is to help each employees pursue his "Dream Job". Ford makes extraordinary efforts to foster camaraderie. On someone's first day of work, Ford sends a cookie bouquet and arranges for all area employees to take the new person to lunch. On birthdays and work anniversaries, she sends cards. "These little things remind them that they are part of Stellar and that they are valued."

That message is reinforced by the benefits package. In addition to medical, disability, and life insurance, maternity and paternity leave, tuition reimbursement, and generous retirement contributions, Ford donates $1,000 a year to each employee's charity of choice. Every worker also receives an individual benefit account, which Ford invented. A lump sum equal to 25 percent of each salary goes into a modified flexible spending account that can be drawn on for extra medical expenses, child care, counseling, even vacation. Rather than being assigned days off, holidays, or a certain number of sick days and personal days, employees get six weeks of vacation to take as they please. Ford encourages workers to spend another week on training or conferences—in fact, they won't receive their full bonus if they don't. "We satisfy our customers' critical needs while realizing our dream jobs".

2. Bruce Woolpert, CEO of Graniterock, a ready-mix concrete supplier, lets employees call the shots. Anyone on the staff can suggest changes, fix problems, or talk to whomever they want to about anything they feel can be improved. There were over 4,000 improvements to the company last year.

At most companies you get recommended for training by your manager. That always seems to me like being treated as a child. So when we made training available, we said "You make your own plan about the training you want". The program started slowly, but now team members elect to be trained in management, reading skills, quitting smoking, and parenting. Some even earned university degrees. Last year Graniterock spent $1,122,595 on training or $1,700 per person.

When my wife read a draft of this article she said, "Mom takes care of you. Dad encourages your independence."

But no matter how differently these 8 CEOs described the meaning of work and their leadership style, each successfully navigated between the two extremes. In different ways they found the essential balance—which is why their names and their companies topped the FSB survey.

These great bosses hold together people values with operational excellence. Like all great leaders, they "Balance the Top and the Bottom halves of culture." For more on this see http://www.companyculture.com/basics/twohalves.htm

Not too many visitors yet. Google and other search engines are still checking it out.

CompanyCulture.com is an online, free resource center, providing the tools for your Company to move on—creating a more satisfying and productive work culture.

Please pay www.companyculture.com a visit and tell me what you think. We need your ideas, suggestions, participation and articles to build the community. I invite your emails, barry@meridiangrp.net.



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	A Better Workplace --- Meridian Group's Newsletter, Number 25, 11-15-03

	Men and Women Leaders Use Different Ways to Get Similar Results Men and women experience the world differently. Women typically describe the world in terms of feelings, men in terms of actions. Mothers want to protect and care for children, while fathers push them out the door. The ancient Greeks described these differences with the myth of Scylla and Charybdis, two nymphs, one transformed into dangerous rocks, the other into a whirlpool. Together they edged the Straits of Messina that Odysseus and Jason successfully navigated on their heroic life journey. Success meant finding the balanced course between these two extremes, the hard (masculine) and the soft (feminine). Today's successful leaders find that same balance between the (soft) human and (hard) operational needs of their organizations. But men and women experience this balance differently. I was reminded of this while reading an article in Fortune Small Business (FSB) magazine, October 2003, page 36, The Best Bosses. "Our survey looks beyond heroics to find the most effective managers for this tough economy." After carefully screening a long candidate list, FSB picked 8 CEOs who built highly successful companies while being recognized by their people as great bosses. Three of the CEOs are men. Five are women. Each company has very low turnover, exceptional growth, high profitability, great customer satisfaction, and high employee involvement. But the women CEOs paint a more intimate and personal picture of work. Each statement is from one of the CEOs in the FSB article. Philosophy of Female Leaders Find that happy state of congruence between who you are and what you do. Create a place that encourages people to bring their whole selves. Move around in the company and find a job you are passionate about. Encourage individual growth, collaboration and social consciousness. Create a company for workers who want to get a life. When you put people in jobs they want to be doing, they do them extremely well, and the customer notices. Satisfy our customers' critical needs while realizing our dream jobs. We just want people to love this company. Philosophy of Male Leaders Anyone on the staff can suggest changes, fix problems, or talk to whomever they want to about anything they feel can be improved. There is no expectation that management either directs or authorizes the changes. Each person is responsible for whatever improvements he wants to make without having to get approval. Independent people are the only ones who can make a profound difference. People sharing their ideas with one another is a unifying force. It's as intimate as you can get in a business setting. When that happens, blaming and competitiveness go out the window. It's not about how to beat Joe in the other department—it's how to improve the company. For creativity and innovation to flourish, decision making must be pushed to the lowest possible level. The difference between the men and women CEOs is heightened by what they chose to say, and not say, about their companies to the FSB journalists. These two abbreviated stories illustrate the point. (While most of each story is quoted from FSB, for simplicity I have omitted many quotation marks.) 1.Celeste Volz Ford, an aerospace engineer, founded Stellar Solutions in 1995 to service satellites. The key to Ford's program is to help each employees pursue his "Dream Job". Ford makes extraordinary efforts to foster camaraderie. On someone's first day of work, Ford sends a cookie bouquet and arranges for all area employees to take the new person to lunch. On birthdays and work anniversaries, she sends cards. "These little things remind them that they are part of Stellar and that they are valued." That message is reinforced by the benefits package. In addition to medical, disability, and life insurance, maternity and paternity leave, tuition reimbursement, and generous retirement contributions, Ford donates $1,000 a year to each employee's charity of choice. Every worker also receives an individual benefit account, which Ford invented. A lump sum equal to 25 percent of each salary goes into a modified flexible spending account that can be drawn on for extra medical expenses, child care, counseling, even vacation. Rather than being assigned days off, holidays, or a certain number of sick days and personal days, employees get six weeks of vacation to take as they please. Ford encourages workers to spend another week on training or conferences—in fact, they won't receive their full bonus if they don't. "We satisfy our customers' critical needs while realizing our dream jobs". 2. Bruce Woolpert, CEO of Graniterock, a ready-mix concrete supplier, lets employees call the shots. Anyone on the staff can suggest changes, fix problems, or talk to whomever they want to about anything they feel can be improved. There were over 4,000 improvements to the company last year. At most companies you get recommended for training by your manager. That always seems to me like being treated as a child. So when we made training available, we said "You make your own plan about the training you want". The program started slowly, but now team members elect to be trained in management, reading skills, quitting smoking, and parenting. Some even earned university degrees. Last year Graniterock spent $1,122,595 on training or $1,700 per person. When my wife read a draft of this article she said, "Mom takes care of you. Dad encourages your independence." But no matter how differently these 8 CEOs described the meaning of work and their leadership style, each successfully navigated between the two extremes. In different ways they found the essential balance—which is why their names and their companies topped the FSB survey. These great bosses hold together people values with operational excellence. Like all great leaders, they "Balance the Top and the Bottom halves of culture." For more on this see http://www.companyculture.com/basics/twohalves.htm CompanyCulture.com is now Online Not too many visitors yet. Google and other search engines are still checking it out. CompanyCulture.com is an online, free resource center, providing the tools for your Company to move on—creating a more satisfying and productive work culture. You can participate in the project in several ways: Read and use the articles. Discuss the ideas in meetings. Join the discussion group with questions and suggestions. Pass the web site address to your friends and associates. Give us your suggestions. Write an article for the site. Please pay www.companyculture.com a visit and tell me what you think. We need your ideas, suggestions, participation and articles to build the community. I invite your emails, barry@meridiangrp.net. This month's "Five Biggest Mistakes Managers Make" Not demonstrating teamwork yourself. Not giving people constructive feedback. Not actively inviting people to speak at meetings Not inviting personal feedback-e.g. asking, "How could I manage better?" Not laying out the financial side of the business to everyone.