The Dangers of the Hokey Pokey (also comments on the symbolic frame of organizations)

If you have a bad shoulder, be careful how you put right right hand in. I did it a bit too quickly and gave it too much of a shake and pulled a muscle. Yes, I actually did injure myself doing the Hokey Pokey during storytime. It's not a bad injury, and I've done this several times in the past. It was such a fun storytime though, that it was worth it. It's already starting to feel better. This group also had a great time putting their backsides in and shaking them about. It's the simple things in life that make it all worthwhile.

Anyway, onto more adult matters. I've been reading my next assignment for the Leadership Academy in "Reframing Organizations" by Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal. This next one coming up is the symbolic frame of organization; the corporate culture and style that identifies an organization. It goes beyond golden arches, geckos, clydesdales and the bulls-eye. This goes deeper into the myth, vision, values and rituals of the internal workings of the organization.

Many organizations think they have positively "branded" themselves, showing people that this is how we do things and that's why we're wonderful. Unfortunately, my miss the mark. It's not just the outward appearance that creates your brand, it's also how you treat the staff, the policies you create, the rules you lay down, and the attitude you show everyone both internal and external. In order to have a truly great brand you must also consider the culture internally. The "do as I say, not as I do" attitude many organizations have completely destroys any brand you want to portray to the external customer. When any organization says ""we want to be number one with our customers", "the customer is always right", "we go the extra mile", etc. and then creates internal "hands-off" policies or publicly praising an action and at the same time privately reprimanding employee the you're just creating a false image. You can't force people to create a positive brand. You've got to fully embrace your brand image 100%, internally, externally, sideways, up, down, diagonally.... you get the picture.

For managers, those on the top rungs of the ladder and in these difficult economic times it may mean sacrificing. I don't mean cutting more frontline staff or lowering the wages of frontline, part-time (or full-time) workers who are already feeling underpaid, unappreciated, overworked, etc. What were those rules that from business class years ago? Twenty percent of the people do eighty percent of the work. It's also likely that the twenty percent are getting eighty percent of the pay. It's not all about money, but how about thanking the frontline staff for keeping the organization running on a daily basis. Throw a little day-long party (so all shifts get to participate), give them a gift card (a $10 gift card to Target or Wal-Mart can go a long way). You can't tell me that between a dozen or so (and in some smaller organizations maybe three or four) managers you can't scrape together a few hundred dollars to thank the people who have provided you the ability to earn the higher pay.

Until management begins to treat their employees exactly the same (or in many cases better) than they expect to their customers to be treated, they won't have that truly great brand.