Recruiters must tell a gripping story that attracts the new candidates they seek. The most effective way to do this is by inspiring existing staff so they do the bulk of the marketing. More than 30% of required skills on job specifications are rarely met, so recruiters need to be less picky about finding all the right skills in a single candidate. It's those candidates with an insatiable hunger to learn–rather than ones that just meet job descriptions–that are the true rock stars.
COMPANIES LIVING THEIR VALUES
One of the most dynamic recruitment strategies hails from the pioneering Dutch healthcare company Buurtzorg. All nurses within a team (of up to 12) must unanimously agree on hiring any new member. The bond between nurses is so extraordinary because they ensure all new additions are 100% committed and reliable. When it comes to providing care to patients, it's imperative they have confidence with those they work alongside. Buurtzorg's unprecedented levels of care and massive cost savings are possible in part because of the entrepreneurial creativity granted to nurses. It's also the main reason why the model of neighbourhood care is going global.
What about those times when someone is hired and it turns out to be a snafu? Online shoe retailer Zappos offers $2000 to candidates to quit after the first week of training if they decide the company isn't quite their bag. It's a smart recruiting move. The company recognises the high costs of training and if it's apparent that the candidate isn't working out, they can cut their losses early and avoid further costs. Amazon (which acquired Zappos in 2009) has since adopted the practice, dubbing it ‘pay to quit’. Instead of a one‐time deal during training, fulfilment centre employees get the offer each year where the payout increases by $1000 (up to a maximum of $5000).
Zappos also employs the ‘Nice Guy Test’. A clever way to reveal this is from the Zappos shuttle driver. If a potential candidate is rude to the driver on the way to the interview, you can be sure that Jack or Jill ain't getting that gig.
To wrap it all together and really transmit its culture, a company must live its values. In 2014, leading pharmacy, CVS, decided to stop selling cigarettes. As a healthcare company, CEO Larry Merlo claimed the practice was inconsistent with its purpose. That kind of bold move may have resulted in billions of lost sales, but it helped shape a consistent story that employees, stakeholders, consumers, and the public can rally around. A year later, CVS was ranked number 7 on the Fortune 500 list, with revenue jumping to $153.3 billion USD.
What's essential today for healthy company culture is the transparency of a true value exchange.
Or take Southwest Airlines. The airline industry is often criticised for grumpy employees and poor customer service (and, yes, sometimes even dragging uncooperative passengers off the plane). A celebrated Harvard Business Review case of Southwest revealed that the airline's culture was extraordinary. While other airlines permitted their financial numbers to dictate their expansion plans before they addressed their corporate culture, Southwest built, and sustained, its spirited culture first. Regardless of the pressure to expand, the behemoth only grew if it could simultaneously uphold company values. Turns out, Southwest is inspired to go that extra mile.
In one business, gifting customers with financial rewards might get you fired. At the Ritz Carlton, well‐known for giving up to $2000 per employee to spend on customer delight, it can get you promoted. A company's culture is informed by the norms, rituals, behaviours, and unwritten rules that govern any community. What's essential today for healthy company culture is the transparency of a true value exchange. The psychological contracts that weighted heavily in favour of the organisation are giving way to new ones better balanced with the employee.
GOING HOLLYWOOD
Lifetime loyalty to a single company has gone the way of the dodo bird. And progressive companies that cater to the human impulse to be free are the ones that will prosper in the future. Taking their cue from the Hollywood model, the shapers in these organisations work seamlessly with a myriad of worker types. Like a movie production, their WD‐40 is flexibility.
They appreciate that to get the best out of people, they must let them design their own approach to work. It's not debatable, but a basic reality of human nature. Assuming there is the volition (desire to do good work), there must be the right conditions–fertile ground for folks to get on with making their best contribution.
When work seeps into the fabric of life, there is only so much, if anything at all, that humans will tolerate as ‘managed resources’. The benefit an individual brings is their individuality. As such, they should not be wriggled to fit into the firm but celebrated for their unique gifts and stretched so as to make their greatest contributions.
The story a company tells must remain consistent with the values of its employees. And if there is misalignment, then engagement and productivity will suffer. The most talented will jump ship. But when employees can rally around a shared vision, they become the lifeblood of the organisation. When they are ennobled by great teammates and bold leaders, they become more themselves. They become shapers–acting as active agents for the company instead of empty vessels.
A film production enables individuals to make their best contribution. It provides space for them to find meaning in what they do. If more of our workplaces were modelled like this, we would be shaping our human nature in the same spirit.
Nearly half of all US workers are now millennials and by 2025, that percentage will jump to 75%. In comparison, the prior generation represented just 16% of the workforce in their time. Not only do younger workers tend to be more optimistic, their worldview has been defined in the digital era. These bourgeoning shapers are set on creating a working life where they come alive. The big difference now is that they have the opportunity and drive to do so.
CHAPTER 5 THE DRIVE TO WORK
While our ancestors saw work as a sacrifice that made them morally worthy, shapers see work as a moral good that is worthy in and of itself. They want to get better at what they do, connect with others and with their purpose, and feel free to do work that matters. As such, the key to long‐term professional performance stems from having a powerful inner drive.
In the early 20th century, Robert Woodworth, a student of renowned philosopher and psychologist William James, proposed that something could be performed as a function of its own drive. This system of dynamic psychology made room for both our behaviour and our consciousness of a given activity.
Later, Abraham Maslow designed his famous hierarchy, mapping out the basic growth needs starting with those necessary for survival. For some, the self‐actualising endeavour of work, with its space for creativity and problem solving, sits pretty well at the top. Yet Maslow never intended the path to personal bliss to be so quaintly staged, nor to be represented as a pyramid. Towards the end of his life he argued that self‐transcendence was the apex: putting your own needs aside and serving something greater than yourself. Over a lifetime, you might shift back and forth within the hierarchy and address several needs simultaneously.
With their self‐determination theory, Edward Deci and Richard Ryan built upon Maslow's work. Here, motivation rests on three innate psychological needs that shape our behaviour: 1) competence; 2) relatedness; and 3) autonomy. When these three criteria are met, one is poised to continually grow and discover meaning.
More recently, Barry Schwartz and organisational psychologist Amy Wrzesniewski found that work activities can have