Happy New Month!

"Happy New Month!"

In my family, we have a ritual in which we try to be the first to wish each other Happy New Month.  The tradition is so strong that those who dare to marry into the family are quickly usurped into the ritual.  The funny thing is that there is no prize, no keeping of a tally, no punishment or hazing is brought onto the losers.  It is simply a monthly inter-family burst of friendly competitiveness that is forgotten on the 2nd of every month.  The joy is in the execution of the tradition, win or lose.

There is a value in tradition and ritual in families and in organizations.  Participating in traditions and rituals are one of the ways we feel a part of the group.  They are also ways to pass on organizational values and beliefs and to make the group, whether its a family or a company, a unique and special group.

But traditions and rituals can have a dark side.  From an organizational standpoint, traditions can stand in the way of change and progress.  Any one who has tried to enact significant change in an organization quickly learns about the traditions or sacred cows that can't be touched.

"We've always done it that way!" or "We've NEVER done that before!" are telltale signs that your organization has tradition-itis.  The same qualities that make for a charming and endearing tradition when they are a simple ritual like providing employees a cupcake on their birthday or trying to wish your sister "Happy New Month" before she wishes you the same, can be maddening if you are trying to go against the grain of a tradition and enact some change.

Organizations, it turns out, crave structure and organizations.  Structure and organization are perfect breeding grounds for traditions and rituals.

The best way to break through traditions that have become roadblocks is by getting buy-in for the change by the same people who are practicing the traditions.  Through information and conversation, it is possible to get past people's strongly held beliefs and traditions.  While that is much easier to type than it is to do, it is possible to enact change and who knows, maybe even create some new traditions!

In the meantime, Happy New Month!  And if any of my family are reading this, I got you this month!

Annoyingly Optimistic

I have a friend who looks at a glass that is 50% full and refuses to consider it as half full OR half empty.  "It is half enjoyed," he insists.

My friend can be annoyingly optimistic.

I have another friend who would look at the same glass and not even notice how full it was.  "I wonder how they washed it," she would ponder aloud, causing everyone in our group to think, at least for a moment, about food borne illnesses.

My friend's germ paranoia can be contagious.

I have a third friend who rarely talks about the glass or its contents.  He does, however, fill his glass with different contents.  He quietly orders whatever he wants, rudely ignoring the whims of popular convention at the moment.  I am not sure if this friend is aware of how much attention the rest of us pay to what he does and doesn't order.

I am sure he doesn't care.

My friends aren't trying to be opinion or thought leaders.  They aren't overtly trying to sway others' perspectives to their own.  They aren't trying to manipulate, persuade, cajole or entice anyone into thinking like them.  Yet they all do.

The same thing happens with your organization.  What you do, how you respond to something, the attitude you present to your customers and constituents, has an impact.  It impacts not only what they think about your organization, but how they feel about the entire industry and, in some cases, all organizations.  How often have you read a news story about a corporate executive who was caught with his hand in the till and thought to yourself, "They're all a bunch of crooks" or heard that a particular company was in trouble and found yourself assuming the industry was in a slump?

Organizations, like friends, lead by example.  A company that voluntarily engages in environmentally sound practices makes it easier for the next company to believe that environmentally sound practices are possible and feasible.  The first company doesn't need to give speeches or shout their green ethos from the rooftop.  They don't have to create a brochure.  They just have to do it!

An organization that steps up to solve a community problem or address a market need often finds, if the need is great enough or the way they address it effective enough, that they are not alone in addressing that need for long.  Sometimes this is good for the first company.  Often it means competition.

This is, however, a door that swings both ways.  An organization that devotes the lion's share of its time and resources on negative issues, such as worrying about competition, or regulation, or uncontrollable market forces, will likely find plenty of competition, regulation and uncontrollable market forces to worry about.

If, instead, that same company paid more attention to its customers, employees, or products, it would find that those market forces that it can't control would matter less and less.  It would also find that customers and prospects would like the organization more and more.

At some point they might even like the organization well enough to go have half a drink with it!

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