Tech Free Sunday

We've been experimenting at home with the idea of taking a day off from technology for one day a week - how hard can it be?

Very hard.

Some context - I have four children aged fifteen, twelve, ten & four (boy, boy, girl, boy). My eldest and I take it in turns to be 'most addicted to technology' - but recently he started to edge past me on the league table.

So we decided six weeks ago that Sundays were to be internet, computer, tablet, phone and game console free. We still have the radio, and we still have TV - but that's as far as it goes.

Week 1 - definite withdrawal symptoms, increased levels of grumpiness, especially from my eldest and youngest son (and myself to be honest) for at least two hours - which then resulted in them all pitching a tent in the garden and then sleeping in it for most of the following week. iPhone withdrawal hardest for me.

Week 2 - arguments the night before about whether to try it again ended with my Wife and I pointing out that the reason we were banning technology was precisely because of this level of addiction. On the day - much excitement at having a Nerf war which lasted three hours in a nearby park. Still missing my iPhone.

Week 3 - slight improvement, although new tactic from two children insisting that computers were needed for homework. Internet opened up with a warning that next week they better get their work done on Saturday. 

Week 4 - Acceptance that the rules were not about to change - homework done ahead of time. Much walking with dog, and then National Trust visiting for early evening picnic. Well picnic is too grand a word - more like loads of scones with jam and cream :-)

Week 5 - Day spent cycling. All day. With breaks for the pub.

Week 6 - Yesterday spent predominantly with Frisbee and radio, before settling down for the world cup final, and yes, we let the eldest three stay up and watch it because we're bad parents. Expecting lots of yawning at school today.

So we're carrying on with it. We have a better day for the break, together as a family for the most part. Everyone is less selfish about what they do - rather than retreating into their own world, we all find things to do together - and the world does not stop turning because we cannot use email, or look at the BBC news site, or send texts, or play Minecraft......

The corporate part of this blog, the part that ties this to engagement and culture? We keep doing new things. If you take some time away from the tech and let your brain work properly, you may find some more innovation creeping into your workplace. Live in the moment, connect, look up.......

But why not give it a go at home too? It's not easy, but for us it was certainly worth the initial pain.

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HR vs IT - The Battle Of The Sexes?

I've noticed that HR and IT teams don't get along too well (to say the least), which is odd, because experience shows me that they have a lot more in common than most seem to recognise. For example:

• They are both overheads to the company
• They are both blamed for nearly every bad thing that happens
• They are both held responsible for decisions which were made by other parts of the business
• Everyone else in the company thinks they can do their job better
• They both have wildly unbalanced gender distribution in their teams

I spent the first fifteen years of my career in IT, before switching (sort of) to the HR space - and I'm still confused about this. I only have to mention IT to a HR group and they roll their eyes and growl - the same is true within IT.

At the start of every project, I explain to the program team that HR are the custodians of the most powerful culture and engagement data in the company - I'm usually greeted by confused looks, but if you stop and think about this, it makes perfect sense.

I'm not going to get too geeky with this, but everyone needs a base line of engagement to work with, and either you pay an external agency to do a survey, or you try and manage it yourself - but if you're really smart you tap into the data you already have before making those decisions.

Here's one example of how you do that. Let's say I want to know who the most engaged managers are in the company, HR can look at the moment during the performance management window they completed their staff assessments, and how much work they put into them. 

The data is already there. 

Here's a clue - if the process was completed on the last day of the window, and very little text is present in the summary or development plan, that manager is not too engaged in the process, the company, or the staff they manage. 

A simple report from the IT folks will let you crunch those numbers quickly and easily.

Typically you can find a dozen or so 'markers' in company data that build into an employee engagement profile - from time spent learning on the intranet to employee recognition and wellbeing program data. This gives you a 'real' level of active engagement, rather than a 'passive' level of requested opinion (both are valid if used correctly).

The fly in that particular ointment is the friction that exists between HR and IT. There's no common language, so typically the IT 'guy' sees a "I want ALL this stuff" request from the HR 'girl' - and so begins a negotiation in awkwardness that chews up months of time and effort.

Rarely do I see an IT team brought into the wider conversation or requirements, or the HR team attempting to understand the complexities.

It's easier for me - I speak both dialects quite well, so I can ask for report from the performance management system with a few columns - <manager name>, <employee name>, <date manager started>, <date manager finished>, <date employee started>, <date employee finished>,<date employee signed off>, <length of text in summary>, <length of text in development plan> - and I know that the IT folks can grab this kind of thing quickly and easily (OK, I apologise, that was a bit of a geeky paragraph).

DO not ask the IT guy to do the analysis - this is something that you can (and should) do yourself, Excel is really good at this kind of stuff - and someone, somewhere in the HR team should be able to help.

If you're really lucky you have an HR Operations team that is more than just 'the people that are better with Excel than the rest of us' and they'll already be doing this for you.

If not, start building bridges with the IT team - you're going to need to add salary and promotion data at some point, mixed up with some gender and racial diversity statistics and blended in with the sales and profitability data. Culture and engagement (as I say so often) is about building better business results, not fluffy bunnies - and only HR has access to ALL of the information needed.

Do I think that gender has any bearing on this? No. Although I personally know more geeky men than women and humanistic women than men, I suspect it's more to do with the difference in the two disciplines than any underlying sexism.

What I know for sure is that effort needs to be made on both sides to bridge the communications gap, preconceptions need to be put to one side, and by working more closely together, everyone will benefit.

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Sugar, Screw-Ups and Accountability

I am fed up with rules, nannying and pointless evasion of responsibility in the UK. It's starting to remind me of some of the more dysfunctional companies I work with.

Recent news stories have drawn attention to plans for removing sweet treats from check out areas and considerations of a 'sugar tax' by the government. This is aimed at reducing the number of obese (fat) people in the UK - especially children, and as this recent article in the Guardian points out, there are more problems (fat people) in the UK than anywhere else in Western Europe.

You can spend as much time as you wish researching this, but there are two facts you rarely see pointed out.

Eating more than you burn off during the day will add to your weight. 

People do not HAVE to consume sugary food and drink.

Typically the press take aim at Coke, Starbucks and McDonalds - but I recently grabbed a can of San Pellegrino Limonata which also has over 30 grams of sugar within - about a third of my daily allowance. It was lovely - but I don't feel the urge to consume six every day. 

Nor to I typically go on to grab a Coke, followed by a Frapuccino and a Big Mac.

Likewise, if I want to grab a chocolate bar at the checkout, I will. Another 30% of my sugar intake for the day - but I'm not of a mind to eat one every time I go out. If one of my children ask me for sweets at the checkout, I can say 'no'. I do not need supermarkets to rearrange because I have no self control or parenting skill.

Kat Cole, the President of Cinnabon has exactly the right attitude to this, Cinnabon sell wonderful indulgences ranging all the way from 90 - 880 calories (and we desperately need more of their stores here in the UK). Here's a perfect common sense quote from her:

"We're not a health food, clearly we're a treat and if you believe people want to treat themselves, and I do, and if you believe they're going to want to do that with sweet treats, and I do, then there's a place in the world for indulgent companies"

Bravo. All companies now have the calorie count of their products on the menu. Don't complain when you find your iced coffee has 600 calories - it's YOUR fault for not reading the menu and taking note, not theirs for selling it.  

It's a responsibility issue. If I choose to get fat by consuming too much sugar it's MY fault. Not that of the government or the company that sells it. I am choosing to become unhealthy, choosing to put a burden on my joints and organs. No one is to blame but me.

Too many companies I work with have little concept of accountability. Email is used as a cover your a** mechanism and 'group' decisions are the norm so if something goes wrong nobody is to blame.

It is OK to blame people for screw ups. It is OK to accept blame. It is right and proper to learn from mistakes and move on. Screw ups are an intense form of critical feedback which should be used for personal and professional development.

If screw ups cost the company money, then you just invested that amount of money in a learning experience. 

If you take the opposite view and decide to punish all screw ups then the behaviour of those in the company will change to 'share' responsibility, avoid risk and ultimately cripple you with indecision.

If you are fat or thin, fit or unfit, then decisions YOU made got you there.

If you are an executive in a company that does not hold your managers and staff accountable for their decisions, then YOU are responsible for their behaviour, and the failure that will eventually follow.

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It's Not Sexism - It's Good Manners

I spend more time in London than any other city, with friends, clients or fellow Engage For Success team members, which for me involves a train journey, usually followed by a hop through the tube system. 

Often there are not enough seats to go round - so I spend some of my journey standing up, which is absolutely fine by me.

There are always others in greater need of seating - the elderly, those with injury or disability, families trying to sit together.......but most of the time I give up my seat for a lady. 

Not because I'm sexist or believe women to be the weaker sex, but because I think it's a nice, polite thing to do.

If I was travelling with my Wife, I would not sit down and let her stand - so I find it weird that some men will sit down and watch women standing when they wouldn't dream of letting their girlfriends, wives or mothers do the same.

This is not a generational thing - yesterday I saw an elderly gentleman give up his seat for lady on the tube, a teenage girl did the same on the mainline train. In both cases, many more women were left standing by seemingly fit, able bodied men.

I realise that women have to bear some of the blame here - for decades fear has been instilled into men that by offering kindness to women they may be instantly labelled sexist and publicly humiliated - but I'm pretty resilient to that kind of nonsense so here are my top tips if you feel like developing some manners today. 

If you cannot make eye contact first (while standing and gesturing at the now empty seat),  then stand up, walk over the person you want to give you seat to, smile and say "There's a seat there if you'd like it".

Almost always, they will say "Thank you" and take it. 

If not, the two most common objections are "No thank you, It's OK" or "I'll be getting off at the next stop"

Here are some things you can say in that situation......

On mainline trains this usually means you'll be spending the rest of the journey at the end of the carriage, with a bunch of other people who cannot work on their laptops or spend all their time buried in their smartphone.

An unexpected bonus of this behaviour is that you may find you've started a conversation in the near silence of the modern morgue/library environment of the public transport system - and the journey will pass much more quickly.

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Look Up - Smart Phones, Dumb People

Like 35 million other people, the YouTube video "Look Up" struck a chord with me last week (you can find the video at the bottom of this blog).

Having also watched the BCC documentary "Blurred Lines" investigate whether women are being subjected to more sexism in our culture, and having a number of tweets from Everyday Sexism....we decided to increase the 'draconian' measures in our houshould.

We've had a 7pm curfew on technology for quite some time (although homework for  the children has been known to extend that) - but for the last few weeks we've been dropping out of the (dis)connected world for Sundays too.

We still have the TV, and the radio - but the phones, tablets, web browsers, and even Minecraft are not not allowed. It's just for one day - how hard can it be?

This is not without it's problems, my eldest is nearly fifteen, and we have three others at twelve, ten and four. Removing their technical umbilical chord causes some 'discussion' - but so far we've stuck with it.

Last Sunday, they raided cupboards in the house, found Nerf guns and all four set off to the local park to play some variant of 'Cowboys, Indians and Aliens' which one later referred to as a "first person shooter, but real".........tragic.

But they spent time creatively, thinking up new things to do and generally having a heck of a lot more fun than when glued to a screen. Although they did get a wet, dirty and bruised. Shame.

______________________________________

'Look up' has equal weight in corporate life too. 

Ignoring generational generalisms - most of the people I work with have a smart device glued to their hands (myself included), and although they can be used for work purposes, they also provide an innovational and emotional straightjacket if never put down.

Sitting in meetings, at conferences, even at your desk while looking down all the day will constrain your ability to think, socialise and make new connections - and it's bad for your health.

I'm not advocating removing the gadgets from our professional lives, just taking a break every now and again. Go and make eye contact with real people, walk, discuss, debate. Don't reach for the gadget to find the answer - ask those around you for their opinions.

We are losing the ability to build real relationships with real people, and this is starting to impact on the ability to collaborate and socialise within the workplace too.

Try this experiment. When you get home tonight, park all the gadgets. See if you can spend  the evening without them. See what happens. 

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10 Great Culture Quotes - Superhero Edition

My family all love the super hero movies, and together we picked out ten quotes that everyone can use at work to improve their culture.........

1 

Working together is critical, no matter how small or large the team is. If everyone in the company is not pulling in the same direction, then it's going to be hard to get things done. Do not pursue your own agenda, or tolerate if from those around you.

2 

If you're not learning, then you're not growing, and soon your skills will be obsolete. Continuous learning is a life skill you need to have - or one day you may lose your hammer.

3

Assume positive intent from those around you - only super villains come to work to screw up your day. It is unlikely that this applies to your colleagues.

4

It's hard to remove the brilliant jerks because of the results they deliver. Do not tolerate it - get rid of them before people get angry and real damage is done.

5

You can make a difference. No matter how hard the challenge or how impossible it seems, change always starts with you. 

6

Innovation usually needs a kick start. Analysis paralysis and too much planning can lead to the world changing before anything get's done. It's not arrogant, it's smart.

7

Lot's of people talk a good game, but ultimately your reputation is defined by your actions. Trust starts here. 

8

Your career will not follow a straight path to the top, and most companies go through pain during their financial year. Maintaining a positive attitude will help those around you deal with the tough times - no matter how weird the people you work with are.

9

Don't be afraid to make the tough decisions, companies get screwed up when they forget this. It's typically much easier to apologise than get permission - and you know you're doing the right thing, because you are right there in the thick of it.

10

You need to use your gifts to help others - if you're skills are not being used, then you are unlikely to be happy.

(Top 10 culture quotes from inspiring leaders in business can be found here)

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Nanny State Culture and Halal Meat

Culture is my thing, I love working with people on their engagement strategies, I love making companies better places to be. I try and avoid strong opinion and controversy, but embrace crucial conversations - which is why I'm a little worried about publishing this blog.

Last week I was talking with David D'Souza about his blog "The Sexy Women of HR" and some of the trouble it caused. I enjoyed it, it made me laugh - and I didn't take it too seriously - ultimately it started a great debate which is always healthy.

But I wouldn't be brave enough to have written it.

However, two things just pushed me over the edge. Firstly, I was astonished to hear the leader of our political opposition talking about banning the displays of sweets at supermarket checkouts, and making that a major policy should they reach government after the next election.

Really? Is there nothing better the government of the sixth largest economy of the world could be doing?

He claims it's to help obesity rates decline, especially with regards to children. But I have an alternative policy - trust people to say 'no' to their children and make up their own minds.

I have a fundamental belief that it's my choice to resist (or give into) temptation, and it's certainly not the place of the government to dictate the positioning of goods in a supermarket. Weird I know, freedom of choice......it will never catch on.

If the opposition wants a controversial policy about obesity, how about giving the UK population five years to change before introducing a 'no free healthcare' policy for the clinically obese. 

That should make people a lot healthier, reduce food consumption and reduce health expenditure - and it's easy to measure (may improve our chances in the Olympics too). That beats moving the chocolate a few feet away from the checkout.....

Then today I find that much of the supermarket meat sold in the UK is Halal, and the companies involved haven't thought to mention it. Stunning.

Cards on the table here - as a family we buy most of our meat from the butcher, we keep chickens that I kill and eat on occasion, and I'm a very imperfect Christian (aren't we all).

But this Halal debate makes me angry. 

Do I object to an Islamic blessing being said over an animal as it dies ("In the name of Allah, who is the greatest")? A little bit, but maybe I should take more offence -  there are plenty of scripture interpretations out on the web that say I should.

But personally I take this verse from the Bible as the final word... 

"It's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth...........Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. But the words you speak come from the heart - that's what defiles you" Matthew 15:10 & 15:17

Do I object to an animal having it's throat cut after being stunned unconscious? No - but that cannot happen with cattle, electro-stunning won't work and I do certainly object to a live, conscious animal having it's throat cut and dying slowly.

But what really makes me upset is that this activity has been kept from the consumer. You would imagine after the horse meat scandal last year, somebody might have thought honesty would be a good option.

Because it IS dishonest - everyone working in the food industry (at least those with any common sense) know that labelling meat Halal will affect sales - so it was deliberately left off the packaging. That's lying by omission, even if many don't care (or prefer not to know) about how their meat gets to the table.

It must increase the cost of our meat, it's certainly not the most efficient or fastest way to kill on the scale needed for modern appetites, and that means everyone is bearing a shared extra cost for the activity.

4.8% of the UK population is Muslim - and regardless of the 'secular' make up of our society, it  is wrong to make universal decisions based on a small minority. If 5% of your company wanted to start and finish work an hour early, I don't think that would change corporate policy.

But most of all I object to seeing any objection or debate about this practice being labelled as racist. Grammatically it is incorrect - Islam is a religion not a race, and ethically it is wrong.

Objecting to the way animals are slaughtered is not racist, or even Islamophobic - it's a matter of personal opinion.  

And the executives of the supermarket chains should hang their heads in shame for intentionally supporting the practice of concealment.  

So I leave you with this thought - what kind of culture are you condoning within your own organisation?

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