I've always run my business based on our shared values. They really work. If I'm not sure how I should act on a particular decision I will often refer back to our values for guidance.
Our third value is generosity...
As such when any of the team has come to me to ask to attend a training course or seminar ? I have never refused them. When my HR leader joined some months ago and she reviewed our training and development spend ? she remarked that 'per person it is very generous ? upward of what many corporation would spend'. That's good I thought to myself. The question she posed to me was 'And what is the bottom line return you are getting for that investment?'. I'd not really thought about it.
There are two things here ? one is relevance of the education and the second is how it is applied when the participant returns to work.
We have chosen as an organization to make available to every employee on commencement the Gallup Strengths Finder. This is a great way to get to know someone and to ensure that the new starters KPIs are set based on their strengths. The second program that we offer for each person once they complete their three months probation is the Landmark Forum and Advanced course. Both really operate in the area of personal development.
Then there is also vocational training ? and this is where I have the most challenges (and where I believe that there is a fine line between living our values and being taken for a ride).
One employee asked to do elocution lessons (speech training) she was in sales and on the phone a lot and she said she wanted to get rid of her broad Australian twang. Over a period of expensive one on one coaching sessions over many months this took place. She completed the course successfully, she had a new manager, whom she did not get along with, then one Monday morning she arrived and with out so much as a goodbye to her peers she cleaned out her desk and left ? taking with her my newly invested speech training.
I had heeded my technical people's request to attend a technical development conference. My credit card statement had not even returned when one decided he had met an interesting organization at the event and he was off.
There have been many examples in the past year.
I spoke to my mentor about it and he said that he has had a training guarantee payback scheme in place for years. He ask a person to sign a document on the expected deliverables of the training for the organization and also that if they leave the company within 12 months a proportion (depending on the length of time) is repaid to the company.
My HR leader said that such a practice is quite common in major corporations. However when I presented the idea to my GMs ? one particularly was not pleased (saying it made us look stingy.) he said why 'punish' everyone for the selfishness of a few past people.
Well running a business is not a democracy and sometimes you have to make decisions based on commercial returns not just what people would like. Remember I am committed to the development of our people ? and always will be. But it has to be a two way street.
I have learned that stress is a self-induced phenomenon. As such given that no one imposes it on you, then I have had a good look at what I do to keep myself balanced (some might argue I have not succeeded). Here are some of the ways that I reduce the 'stress' in my life.
Rod Beckstrom has founded, grown and successfully exited several businesses. But he is a curious sort of a guy...he wanted to know about the unstoppable power of leaderless organisations. So together with Ori Brafman he set about researching those organizations that are so very successful but they have seemingly no leader. I got to meet him at the EO event in Tokyo.
I was invited to speak at the global Entrepreneurs Organisation conference in Tokyo last week. What a privilege to meet 450 people who are all up to something. This is a group of people committed to making a difference and I was fascinated by the amount of conversation about global warming, and how it is up to us to do something about it.
Painting a picture of our future.
Businesses go through different phases – each has a distinct set of characteristics. Each cycle brings its own set of challenges about leadership style, cash flow, marketing activities, customer base, processes, systems etc. Over time the focus and importance on any given activity changes as the business matures. My time as CEO (chief experience officer) is 50% with customers, listening, learning and responding. The other part of my role is all about staying focussed on the vision, delivering on our values and of course keeping everyone in the team and our supply community aligned with the plan.
In the early days – my job was survival…I had no customers for 2 months and 4 days which seemed like eternity (the longest 64 days of my life – 'is this baby every going to fly?'). When we did make our first sale (order number 14) I had done 13 before to keep checking that the website worked, I called our first customer Damian Chown to ask how he experienced our website. The news was not good. He gave me some very frank feedback on how horrendous the website was to use. We are now on version six of the site…each enhancement carefully architected based on what we had learned from our customers. Not all developments were a hit…hence the six versions. But it is a process of evolution.
My children regularly ask when we are travelling 'Are we there yet mum?' It is a standard family joke. I respond 'it's all about the journey – we might never get there'.
RedBalloon has come along way from its very humble beginnings in the front room of my home, with me literally doing everything (except cutting code).
Now we have systems, processes and structures to support growth and fabulous people who are specialists in their field and committed to what we are up to. A customer base that gives us bucket loads of ideas.
My role now is about providing a guiding hand. I appointed general managers six months ago to run the business on a daily basis. Highly skilled individuals who are accountable for delivering their plans. As they say 'a founder needs to know when to get out of the way'.
We have a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) that 10% of the Australian population will have had a RedBalloon Day by 2015. And we are on target to achieve this but we have bigger purpose which is to change gifting in Australia for ever (so people reduce the clutter in their lives – no more stuff!).
But what I'm working on now is really fun. I'm painting a picture in words. Letting our imaginations run wild. Not limiting ourselves to the 'how' will we get there. Just imagining what our world will be like when….
The painted picture document is only 2 years out. The end of the decade. It is all about enjoying the journey, every moment of it…. But having a clear understanding of what the destination could be like… if we create it. As Jobs once said 'the best way to create the future is to invent it' and we want to create our own destiny. It is a very valuable picture to allow all those in our organization to share the journey equally.