Trust takes Time... and also the ability to be oneself at work - The RedBalloon corporate team - I wonder what teenagers would say if this was their first experience of work.

I have teenagers – their friends are beginning to get part time jobs… I am fascinated to watch them learn and discover the world of work. The experience that they have with these businesses my well determine what ‘work’ looks like for them.

Trust is paramount in every employment relationship – without it, it is really difficult to achieve great things.

So imagine a young person – his first work experience job – 5 days in total he has been told that he will receive $20 per day. He is happy with this because it covers the cost of his bus and lunch. At the end of the week no one mentions it – he leaves with out his $100… feels unable to say something to someone… and is quite hurt that they said one thing and did another. To a 15-year-old $100 is a lot of money. What is his impression of work so far?

Simon Sinek told us at his presentation this week that the biggest abusers of trust are organizations. (And large organizations the worst.)

“Trust is a feeling, it is a human experience” he said – our instincts tell us when things are not right. So much of business is now conducted ‘online’. The Internet is an amazing tool to connect people around the planet (and locally) to spread the word quickly and also to massively increase the speed of transactions…. but what it is not good at is building relationships. And an employment relationship is one of trust. Negotiations for instance are emotional activities – and as are better done face to face. Let’s not confuse technology for a relationship builder – email is ideally used to confirm the facts rather than a vehicle for emotional thoughts.

Trust takes time – as do all relationships. It is something that is given not earned. I said recently to all RedBallooners – “you have my trust – it is not something you need to earn – it is implicit” – that is I trust my choices in those leaders around me, I trust those leaders to fulfill on and live and honor our values – and that everyday they encourage and develop those around them…. first of all you have to trust yourself and your choices. There is no power in blame.

As employers though our role is to lead by example. I was saddened that one of my children’s friends, who had been so excited when they got an interview and then two ‘trial shifts’ at the local store… was not only not paid for their time – but the employer did not even give them feedback if they were good enough… they simply never called with another shift. What is that young persons experience of work… how easy it is to create a ‘them and us’ attitude. At $12.50 per hour for the sake of a total of $50 this young person would have respected, and perhaps even trusted the employer…  Now some other employer at some other stage is going to have to rebuild that persons trust in authority.

Trust is the very premise of all relationships – and the first employment relationship is critical. Leaders please give your people a reason to trust.

Andrew Carnegie: ''The man who dies rich dies disgraced.''

I was chatting with a friend yesterday and we were talking about how to teach our children the value of money. I remembered a presentation I attended years ago when the woman likened money to water… it has a need to flow – there is clean money and dirty money, sometimes it get’s damned up – but spread freely and evenly allows the world to prosper.

My friend said that he has set aside some money to support community programs or charitable works. His family including his children together debate how it is to be spent. Every cent however must be donated or given away in the pursuit of making the world a better place. A great life lesson for children to learn about giving and contributing to others.

We both lamented the importance of role models and how much of our media is full of so called ‘celebrities’ who are not good role models for our children. My friend reminded me of Gerry Harvey’s comments back in 2008…

Mr Harvey said giving money to people who “are not putting anything back into the community” is like “helping a whole heap of no-hopers to survive for no good reason”….

“You could go out and give a million dollars to a charity tomorrow to help the homeless. You could argue that it is just wasted. They are not putting anything back into the community. “

Now Mr Harvey may well have been taken out of context or changed his tune. But the damage has been done – and his comments remain in print. It is really hard to admire someone as a leader if his or her motivation is the accumulation of personal wealth or if they have no consideration for wanting to make the world a better place.

Recently the Sydney Morning Herald article ‘We’ll be richer if our last cheque bounces’ states that

“Only six in 10 of the wealthiest Australians give money to charity and philanthropic causes, according to a 2008 report by researchers at the Australian Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at the Queensland University of Technology”

Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett are world famous for not only their charitable contributions but in urging other wealthy people to ‘give back’ to society. As Buffet said (though I did hear George Clooney utter this very line in the movie The Descendants)

”.. a very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing”

In fact one does not have to be wealthy to contribute. Australian’s are by nature generous – think of the massive support in recent years to the Brisbane Floods and the Victorian Bushfires. Australia topped the 2010 World Giving Index of 153 countries in terms of people’s willingness to give money, and was third most generous in 2011.

The Employee Engagement Capabilities Report that we undertook earlier this year found that time off for volunteering was the activity most likely to improve an employer’s engagement score – as long as all the other basic employee services are in place.

It is not difficult for every employer to add value to the community – and both will benefit as a result. I wonder if Harvey Norman employees get a day off each year to volunteer somewhere… perhaps someone could enlighten me.

It did make me lament that not all people have this opportunity. My colleague Philippa who is permanent part time and the leader of our communications effort – juggles her hours so that she can have full days with her children and them in holiday care for only a few days –not all employers are like this – but RedBalloon has always been a truly flexible business

I wonder how many parents don’t get to holiday together because with 20 days leave a year each parent must take leave to look after children. Something does need to happen to support parents and the endless juggle.

Margie Hartley and I have made the FreeChildcareAustralia.com website live last week (though we have not launched it yet)… we need more individual stories on how people manage their childcare juggle… what are the costs; both financially and the opportunity cost? Please take a moment to share your story.

This week it is all about the corporate team and planning. I am enjoying the work that I am doing with our clients – it is such a privilege to be invited into businesses to work with them on their programs – whether it is incentive programs or recognition systems.

Our engagement capability workshops are about to start in Melbourne this Wednesday – as we tour the country – my colleague James Wright will be delivering what we discovered with AltusQ in the research we did at the beginning of the year. Let me know what you learned – if you have have a moment to attend.

Hair raising experience this one.

Okay so it is half way through the week and I’m just getting to my blog. It is Christmas after all and I think I am still recovering from last week.

My week did not go exactly as planned – but it did go to other peoples plan. My colleague had put a ‘speaking engagement at the airport’ in my diary. This was in fact a complete ‘set up’ – the team was playing a trick on me – they got me to the airport and RedBalloon extreme category manager Jay Bardon announces “Surprise we are taking you in a brand new Helicopter on one of our brand new experiences” – Exclusive to RedBalloon Night flight over Sydney (it was not actually night but that is a detail).

So within minutes of leaving the office thinking I will be presenting to a group of aviators – I’m taking the helicopter view of Sydney feeling very loved and very lucky that I have such an amazing team who don’t mind playing a few tricks on me…

In addition to doing my first ever gig as an MC for Voiceless, I was on the stage at the Ultimate Job event talking about the importance or purpose, as well as cheering on the Best Buddy pair of the year at Best Buddies day… Last week I touched or worked with six not for profit organizations in various capacities.

Christmas is in full flight at RedBalloon and as a result any spare moment I had I got in touch with many many customers as part of our ‘All hands on deck” approach to the customer experience. I found it quicker to pick up the phone and respond to a customer query in person. I got some pretty funny reactions when people said ‘is that really you?’ or classic ‘I wouldn’t have been so stroppy in my email if I thought you were really going to answer it.’

I continue to love being on the phone to customers. As did our marketing, IT, corporate and PR people – we enjoyed sharing the experience of being with our customer experience

'Retro' BBQ barefoot bowls bash

execs helping out with our Christmas, which meant by the time we got to the Friday afternoon ‘barefoot and bowls RedBalloon Christmas bash’ – we had plenty of stories to share and delight about. The team had chosen ‘retro’ as the theme.. which somehow transformed into an ‘80s’ theme. Why is it that I thought ‘retro’ was ‘60s’?

This week (in Sydney every day – amazing)

Monday: one on ones and Christmas at RedBalloon
Tuesday: PR Review and Company meeting
Wednesday: Book Launch ‘True Leadership’
Thursday: Lunch with David Koch
Friday: It’s all about the customer experience

Winner of the Judges Choice - and fitting given I will be in Melbourne most of this week

One of the highlights and most challenging things I did last week was the final round of judging on the RedBalloon 10^th birthday photo competition. The winners have been announced but I was in awe at many of the entries. I would have liked to spend the whole week just looking at the entries over and over – but alas I had a few other obligations.

On Tuesday I was part of the Dream Employer Webinar (thanks for those people who dropped in) – and I presented to the 1500 delegates on Wednesday at the Australian Superannuation Fund Assoc. Conference in Brisbane.  I managed to squeeze in a little mini break – before attending a two day training and development program over the weekend as well as putting a party dress on to attend a black tie dinner to celebrate the opening of the Picasso Exhibition.

I also learned that apparently 20 percent of customer currently visiting RedBalloon are already looking for Christmas Gifts so it sounds like what I should really be getting on with this week is my Christmas Shopping.

I might have a few moments to shop online over the next five days – thank goodness it is so quick AND you can shop online even if you are dressed in your fine evening gown waiting for the cab to arrive (what a fantastic use of time).

Coming up

Monday: Reviews, feedback on the Trimester Plan to CEO, and board meeting
Tuesday: Role playing with corporate team newbies & Interview for a book business & baby on board
Wednesday: Melbourne, RedBalloon experience afternoon – surprise supplier visit – will advise next week.
Thursday: Melbourne, Judging the National Telstra Business Womens award innovation AND attend as an Eastern Region Finalist the Ernst Young Entrepreneur of they Year awards (fingers and toes crossed)
Friday: Melbourne, Attend the National Telstra Business Womens award dinner

Reading:

Small Giants – Bo Burlingham

Alan Joyce at the eXcel Qantas Awards night

As I sit to write my regular ‘Coming up this week’ blog it is not as simple as looking in my calendar and preparing myself for what lies ahead.

Last week was a complete whirlwind – three speaking engagements, two entrepreneurial workshops and one EY entrepreneur of the year judging… which were in addition to my usual meetings and appointments. I thrive on being this busy… however, I probably could not maintain last weeks frenetic speed for more than a few weeks, and I am so grateful for weekends with family.

This week may or may not pan out how I expected. I am supposed to be in Perth in the back end of the week. I have a feeling of deja-vu.

I was working for Ansett during the pilots dispute of 1989 (which does seem so very long ago). I remember when the pilots first chose to strike (some weeks before they ultimately resigned on mass) – each day I would go to work and wonder what would happen. It was very different back then. Firstly the dispute was industry wide and the result was Australia had NO aviation industry for about nine months. (At least the other airlines are still flying.)

As I sit here and wonder what my next week will be like – I remember the feeling of “surely this will only be a few days… surely someone will see sense”.

I know Alan Joyce personally; in fact we were at Ansett together during the pilots dispute of 1989. He more than anyone knows what this means to both Qantas; as an institution and to the Australian travelling public.

Qantas’ rivals do not have the same militant unions to contend with. As an entrepreneur with a clear vision I cannot imagine how hard it must be to deliver upon the customer experience when all parties are not aligned. I have had the privilege of working with Qantas over many years with its eXcel people recognition program, as well as being a ‘peoples choice panelist’. I have experienced first hand the Qantas leaders commitment to great service through recognizing their people.

Qantas eXcel Peoples Choice Award winners 2011

But the playing field is not level… Qantas is responsible for delivering shareholder value and as such must be competitive.  The very tragic thing is – I had believed that we as a business community had moved into a new world where all employees would align to the vision of achieving something great. It appears that nothing has changed in 20 years since I left the aviation industry out of frustration with archaic business practices.

(I had once presented to Ansett management a piece of work that had taken me months to complete – management pointed out that to achieve the service enhancement they would have to speak to 11 unions. My project was dismissed with the statement “you go and worry your pretty little head about something else.” – I was devastated at the time because I could not understand in my youthful exuberance why all employees would not be as passionate as I was about the customer experience.

I remember that very scary feeling of going to work every day ‘hoping’ that the pilots would fly again – and they never did. Surely we learned something 20 years ago.

There is no doubt that aviation must go through wholesale restructure – and that the Qantas board has known this for a long time – and now the showdown has commenced.

As a result of course – I am back to where I was 20 years ago – wondering what I will be doing this week – and ‘hoping’ the plan comes together quickly

One red dress looks like another.

I was fascinated to learn that there is a Buy Nothing New Month in Australia. I love this idea… though of course retailers will not… (I’m sure the liquor retailers don’t like Dry July either.)  I was in the US last summer on holiday with my family and I was completely overwhelmed by the consumerism. (And quite frankly everything began to look the same). I heard that 10% of all women’s clothes sold in Australia are never worn. It is shear waste. I wondered if I could go a year without purchasing anything new for myself. No shoes, clothes or accessories. I have not managed it completely… but I did go for 8 months without anything new for myself personally.

Clearly this aligns to what we believe at RedBalloon– which is all about buying less “stuff” and instead living in the moment and enjoying shared experiences. Our photo albums and our memories are what we treasure.

With self storage one of the fastest growing industries in Australia – do we really need any more stuff? And just think what all this waste is doing to the environment… recycling starts with reusing.

In our little bit for the planet, RedBalloon has a green program, as you would expect… it is the least we can do.

My personal “lose pledge”, earlier in the year to stop buying unnecessary items for my wardrobe – really changed how I viewed shopping. I have learned to really appreciate the things I do have… More more more does not mean better… and where on earth would I store anything else?. I just didn’t need any more new clothes or shoes – they wouldn’t make life any more fabulous, they wouldn’t make me smarter or more efficient, buying new clothes wouldn’t do something worthwhile for the planet. Instead they were just accumulating in the back, front and sides of my wardrobe. So much so that my daughter recently took up her own recycling task of selling my shoes on eBay… I may have a young entrepreneur on my hands. I can gladly report that I have stuck to my guns and found an invigorated sense of enthusiasm in combining my old favourites to create “new” outfits. Red is red after all.

I also believe strongly in giving to others who need it more – RedBalloon is a gifting company, and the team is generous with its time and spirit, and this spirit of generosity is shown in all that we do. For instance, we have a program called ‘We Care,’ where each RedBallooner gets one day  to go and work for the charity or cause of their choice.  I send my pre-loved outfits to a charity called Dress for Success, which dresses women ready for job interviews and employment… (I can only imagine how many women are turning up for job interviews wearing red.) We also run office clothes swaps a couple of times a year, which are organised by one of our corporate account managers (and chief story-teller) Arielle.

So, here’s the challenge… what do you ‘not need’ ask yourself the question ‘Do I really need this?’… I have a friend who has argued that his wife is ‘saving him into the poor house’ she just cannot resist a deal.  You don’t save money if you buy stuff you don’t need (or even like.)

Have fun – it’s a game. Clothes swaps are the new black.

James shares his insights into RedBalloon

We are fast approaching RedBalloon’s tenth birthday, with that it mind I wanted to check in with the team ‘What does it mean to you to be a part of the RedBalloon story?’ The answers were delightful and insightful… but this particular answer from one of the newer RedBallooners is very worth reproducing in whole.

If you were to ask the similar question in your organisation, you too could get a great insight into the ‘mood’ – think of it as a ‘culture check’.

R Recognised. Continual recognition day to day has been very important in my short time here. Knowing that all my efforts are acknowledged, appreciated and are of value to the business in achieving the goals we collectively aspire to, gives myself and everybody a huge sense of unity in where we are heading.

E Experiences! Such a unique trait to my role and being a part of my story is fulfilling so many dreams for so many people. Not many people I know can say the consequences of their daily tasks will live in the memories of others forever!

D Dynamic. I am buoyed by how I can personally contribute to our visions and challenges for the future. If I want to make a suggestion of change or improvement, the big red door is always wide open. All that is required of me, is imagination.

B Belief. Having the people around me who are not afraid to get out there and make things happen because they believe in the cause. No objectives are too big, because where there’s a will, there’s a way. We are all role models.

A Aspiration. Reaching the One million milestone and the ‘RedBalloon Story’ I believe is directly attributed to the investment in the people along the journey. Being a part of an ever improving, expanding organisation who actively encourage personal development and achievement will, in my mind, only motivate the story into achieving even bigger ‘hairy audacious goals’ in the future, and it feels good to be a part of that.

L Love. For what we do and how we work.  To me the story is based up a culture of passionate, driven people, which can only have a ripple effect on each other and associates alike.

L Learning. The story of the RedBalloon journey is anything but one dimensional, and the opportunities for learning to benefit myself and company co-inside with the RedBalloon ride. Only limited by the wind in my sails.

O One-on-one. Anyone involved in the RedBalloon story can approach anyone at anytime. Two heads are better than one! Be it personal or otherwise, it is well practiced and there is always someone I can to turn to.

O Opportunity. Seizing the opportunity! The story for me has told me to not be afraid in grasping an opportunity. Flexibility in my role is great and I can go about that how I like, which permits outside of the box thinking. Which reminds; “Most people think inside the box, great visionaries think outside the box, geniuses don’t see a box!”.

N Next steps.. the future

James R…. Corporate Team

Two past RedBallooners (and me supporting them) who are now working in NYC

Over the past 10 years RedBalloon has had many members of the team leave the business often to run their own show, travel, take on study or leave to work elsewhere. RedBalloon has been part of their personal journey, part of their learning, development and education – we have impacted and supported them. And in return they have appreciated being part of RedBalloon.

On a personal level we are often sad to say good-bye given that we experience so much together; they often have become great friends. One of my colleagues who left for a promotion to another company – lamented that ‘it just won’t be like RedBalloon’ and I responded – “that it was now up to him – to take all that he has learned about the power of employee engagement and shared values and create that in his new workspace.”

Another colleague who went to work with Disabled Skiers in the US wrote to me to say “as a result of working at RedBalloon and learning how to execute growth strategies and being a values based business – there are 100s of disabled people who are now having a far better experience.” I was so touched that she took a moment to let me know.

I was delighted to receive the email below from a colleague who left to follow the love of her life to New York. At RedBalloon we don’t take recognition for granted – we believe it is all about the authentic, real and timely acknowledgement of really ‘knowing’ our people. And it is wonderful to know that we are spreading the word.

Hello Ladies! I hope all is well. We are melting in the June heat wave here, but otherwise ticking along just fine.

Had a great experience of recognition last night and immediately thought of you gals:

I started my new job about 2 months ago. At the time, I had planned on going to Paris for my (30th!) birthday and had the vacation days pre-approved. Once I started work, however, a big project launch was scheduled for around the same time and I was clear that I would not be able to take my trip— since I was planning on traveling alone, thankfully, this did not ruin anyone else’s plans, but of course it was a disappointment for me. When the project was cancelled at the last minute and quite unexpectedly, I was frustrated that all my work had been in vain, and immediately thought, “I could have gone to Paris!” Last night, a very senior member of the company approached me and said “I heard you cancelled a trip to Paris for us… and whilst its not Paris, at least its French…” and he handed me a generous gift certificate to a new, swanky French restaurant downtown. I was humbled and surprised— not only for being recognized by a senior person for all the hard work I had done but the extra nod to my trip was very thoughtful. This morning, I couldn’t stop smiling and got to work early to be extra prepared for a meeting with the same senior person— it makes me want to do good work for him. Mostly, it reminded me of my days at RedBalloon — I haven’t been “recognized” like that since then and it made me remember how good it feels!

I hope that all is well in Pyrmont and you are living the value of FUN every day! I think of you all often— please keep in touch and definitely let me know if anything brings you to NYC, I would love to catch up.

Wonderful! Not only that they get to carry the story on – but that past RedBallooners take a moment to recognize us and the impact we had…

Megan - accountable for the employee experience - Sailing with the team

I had a great time debating with my colleague Megan (Employee Experience Manager – an HR professional) about what engagement means at RedBalloon – she has developed and documented all the things we do – and Matt in our corporate team is getting ready to share that with the world.

Here are some points from a webinar that my colleague Emma sent me on the same topic I have added the RedBalloon view of the world in italics:

• Engagement is a daily exercise that must be owned by every single person in the organisation, every day.
  I completely agree – we don’t have an engagement manager – every leader and colleague is accountable for engagement – and I have often been quoted as saying – engagement is a journey not an activity.

• Culture is like the tide, and people like boats on the water – when the tide rises so does engagement.
  I have learned that not only is happiness infectious – so is engagement – People like being productive and hanging out with other people who are productive too.

• Engagement requires all of the following: Clarity, Communication, Trust, Priorities, Direction, Action, Alignment, Progression, Relationships –
  Yes agreed. I believe it also takes Passion, Commitment and Persistence.

• “The Engaged stay for what they give, The disengaged stay for what they get”.
  Remember by definition the disengaged are people who are being paid – and they ‘hate’ their employer

• Be aware that if a company undertakes an engagement survey but does nothing to follow up to improve the engagement culture this will actually result in further disengagement!
  Being real with people, authentic and transparent is essential for an engaged team – if you cannot tackle all the outcomes of the survey – let people know what you are going to do and by when (and absolutely make sure that you do do it – cynicism is very distructive)

• “Know your People, Know your Manager!”
  And I would add to that – we are all just people – and business is a people game – so I hope you like them.

If I was to add the RedBalloon ‘secret sauce’ to this list it would be; from the day dot – I founded this business believing in people, whilst I personally had struggles along the journey (I had the commitment but not the technical skills) as soon as practicable RedBalloon employed professionals to deliver on the detail of the commitment. All the ideas in the world do not make success – it is the execution of the plan that delivers the outcome.