A Study in Contrasts

We asked JoAnna Bennett and Mark O’Brien from O’Brien Communications Group to attend our annual Innovation Advisory Board Meeting. Following that experience, Mark wrote this post.

Back in my corporate days, I had the distinct sense in every meeting I attended that they were conducted for the sole purpose of talking about writing plans for things we were going to do. No such plans ever got written. None of those things ever got done. But people seemed pretty content with the routine. And no one was ever held accountable for the fact that nothing ever got done. As curious as I was about that, I was even more curious about how people seemed so content to be unproductive and about why there was no accountability.

In contrast, at the Finys Innovation Advisory Board (IAB) meeting last week, there was no talk about planning. There were only confirmations of things that had been done and updates about things that would be done. There was no discernible hierarchy. Rather, there were contributions from every level of the organization, recognition for those contributions, and 40 or more attendees from Finys’s various client companies, happy that all those things were being done on their behalf. I felt amazed and naïve.

I felt amazed at the genuine interaction and sincere customer satisfaction I was witnessing. I felt naïve because I’d never imagined how simple creating that kind of environment could be. And the secret to how it’s done is that there’s no secret to how it’s done.

Common Sense

Experiences like ours at the IAB indicate how inscrutably uncommon common sense has become.

At the IAB, I learned you don’t create a culture by talking about it. I learned culture and teamwork are like honesty and integrity. You don’t manifest those things by talking about them, either. You manifest them by being them, by demonstrating them, by making sure every interaction — employees with employees and employees with customers — is driven by them. I learned you find the right people for the culture you’re creating by asking the right questions in the interview process. Rather than asking questions like, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” you ask questions like, “How would you like to contribute to this organization and help us grow over the next five years?”

Once you’ve brought the right people on board, you give them the latitude to contribute and to collaborate. You let them make mistakes, correct them, and learn from them. And you give them support, recognition, and opportunities to advance. If you do that, you prove Richard Branson  was correct when he said, “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”

The Proof in the Pudding

If you doubt the truth of Branson’s statement, all you have to do is sit in a room full of happy clients and the people who are happy to take care of them. From what I witnessed, I don’t believe there is one person at Finys for whom working there is just a job. You can’t fake commitment, dedication, and knowledge. And you can’t earn trust from and enthusiastic collaboration with your clients by faking anything.

There’s a clear distinction to be made between doing things right and doing right things. When a client, as one did, says, “My Finys team is like family,” you can be certain you’re doing right things.

JoAnna and I take our hats off to the entire Finys team. And we thank them for including us in their IAB.

It was a welcome contrast to much of what we’ve seen in our working lives.