A Leader's Guide to Cultural Integrity Being Who We Say We Are

Puzzling Lessons for All of Us See if they ring true for you!

Wynn CEO Maddox - Cultural Integrity

“You don’t fatten a cow by weighing it everyday.”

We know. The real one.

On September 7th, the Las Vegas Sun ran an article originally published in the New York Times with the headline: “ Hotels tout cleaning but guests aren’t all that sure ” by Jane L. Levers. As you can imagine, it caught my eye. Cleanliness connotes an objective standard – “tout” speaks to the emotional - no wonder guests aren’t all that sure. Perceptions are emotional – and emotion drives behavior. So I read the article. The double whammy on the hospitality industry is being caught in the vortex of perceptions of guest and employee. Ms. Levere reports the guest reaction as mask usage “seemingly optional.” That really doesn’t help much. We can readily see the mask and non-mask. We can get compliance - adherence to the rules. This is the bare minimum expectation. But an extraordinary guest journey and experience is a result of a much higher bar, we need commitment. Commitment means internalizing the values – i.e., believing in the purpose/mission and committed to doing the right thing no matter who is around to police the rule. Bridging the gap between new regulations and our desire to engage the enthusiasm of our employees is either a burden or opportunity depending upon how we perceive it. And that has a whole lot more to do with the workplace culture than the requirement itself. The best news is that we are all on this journey together – being both guests and staff as we move through home, work and community. And we know that our confidence is built from our relationships with those around us and the values we share. Engaging team members hearts and minds creates a cultural integrity that will shine through to every guest, every day. Cultural Integrity - Being Who We Say We Are to Our Guests, Staff & Community

DENVER, CO—The Coffman Organization has taken the top spot on Manage HR’s "Top 10 Talent Management Consulting/Service Companies 2020,“ citing that high performance culture promotes individual impact. The messy little secret is the MicroCulture, says the Coffman Organization, explaining why some groups thrive and others struggle within the same organization, with the same infrastructure, products and services. Today is the era of the individual and nowhere is that more important in the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals bond to the organization through their connection to the immediate team and manager; trust in the team to follow safety protocols, confidence in co-workers and belief in successful strategy is all influence most heavily by the local team and varies more within organizations than between them. Research makes it clear that our talents are keys to energy and satisfaction and when we get the role right for the person and the team partnership gels, we see amazing growth, satisfaction and accomplishment. Issues like safety, retention and inclusiveness are indices that help leaders anticipate and guide strategy. Leadership strategy sets the framework for action at the local level, both of which are essential to creating and maintaining high performance culture. " We take pride in honoring The Coffman Organization for providing value-based solutions focused on engagement, manager development, selection, and retention ”, said Alex Gonsalves, Managing Editor of Manage HR. In addition to this most recent award, The Coffman Organization was also named Top Ten Engagement Solutions Provider in 2018 and 2019 by HR Tech Outlook Magazine.

I’m hearing some rumblings these days that imply trust is teetering and that worries me. Things like…”How can I manage people when they’re working from home”? “If I don’t see them working, how do I know they really are?” Did you know there’s software now that tracks an employee’s activity when they’re working remotely? Sign in and sign out times, screen time, even what they’re looking at throughout the day. That sounds eerily similar to Big Brother is Watching You – remember that? That was “1984” published more than seven decades ago. Where’s the trust? Have we not evolved since then? Or, as George Orwell predicted, have we evolved just as expected? Has the pandemic crisis thrown us into the dark ages when it comes to management and the workplace? Or has it thrust us forward to our tragic destiny? Covid-19 has impacted our emotional relationships with employees, brands, institutions and even our community. Some people are responding to that impact by command and control, others by compassion and trust. Still, it seems more and more companies are replacing the value of individual talents and teamwork with counting steps, more rules (aka “standards”) as we enter into this new era. Are we going back to the future with command & control or forward with trust & verify? Trust is not a matter of technical wizardry or monitoring systems. Trust is a matter of character. Why is this happening? I think it’s mostly related to our need to feel in control of something. When our lives seem to spiral out of control, fear erupts like a broken sprinkler head and our subconscious instinct is fight or flight to control whatever we can. Often how we respond tests our character. In the case of managers and the workplace, it seems some are turning to controlling the people. Yet, for decades, YES DECADES, research has clearly proven that employees want to be a part of creating the solutions that drive organizations forward. They want to be valued, trusted and recognized for their input. They have been thriving in environments that allow them to innovate and explore better ways of doing things with leaders who encourage mistakes and then provide mentoring to learn from them. Since the 1960’s we seemingly made great progress in managing people for individual and organizational success. Or did we? What’s driving this? Fear = The creator of the command and control ideology. It smolders under the psyche of some managers awaiting the “OMG what could go wrong and will I be to blame” flareup. It creates mistrust, paranoia, impatience and really big blind spots. What I think we all need to realize is that to allow ourselves to be controlled by fear is to be selfish and ignorant. Selfish, because maybe we don’t want to share in other’s success, hear new perspectives or, worse, be outshined by a direct report. Ignorant because there’s plenty of science to demonstrate what great managers do and engaged employees need. So, the conclusion must be we are selfish and ignorant if we’re driven by fear and succumb to command and control. OK, before I lose you... let’s set that conclusion aside for a moment. Let’s remember - this is the era of the individual. It is these very same individuals who will make or break organizations. Ask yourself, how clear are your outcomes? Do you know what’s expected of you and how to achieve it? How do you want to be managed? Sometimes managers confuse activity or things easy to count for real outcomes. Busy work trumps true performance. Often, employee and manager have never defined measurable desired outcomes. Really, I can’t believe we’re still talking about this. If I said to you, I need you to make a product that does “a, b and c” – how might you respond? You would likely say something like…Great! I’ll need these tools and equipment to get that job done. So, I would give you those tools, the equipment you requested and together we would set a deadline for the job to be done. We would probably check in weekly to see how it’s going, if you need any help or have questions. Then, upon reaching the deadline, you’d deliver or not. Performance based on outcomes. It really works. Now, what if I made you start your day at 8am and I knew you were doing that because I have software that tells me what time you log in to the computer, I’ve provided to you. I expect you to stay logged in all day, maybe log out for a lunch break, and get right back on until 5pm. I’d track your keystrokes, your phone calls, your IM’s, your social media time. I’d expect you to not be diverted by any distractions – family, illness, unexpected emergencies, whatever it might be, I gave you a job and I’m going to make sure every day that you are working on doing that job. How would that make you feel? Would you trust that I had confidence in your ability? Would you feel like I supported your talent and creativity in meeting the goal we’ve set for the end of the month? Would you feel watched, controlled, stifled, trusted? Maybe you feel that way now, in the role you’re in. Maybe your manager is afraid of trusting you because if you don’t come through it hurts her reputation, it hurts revenue, it hurts the company. But, what if instead, I simply said – here’s the target (product), here’s the timeline (one month), here’s the tools and equipment you told me you needed. Let me know how I can help. How would you feel then? Would you feel supported, trusted, confident that leadership believes in your talent and commitment? Free to do what you do best every day? We don’t need tracking software and a big brother mentality. We need trust, good will, mutual respect and support. If you’re a manager and you’re reading this – here are some things I suggest you consider: What matters? Screen Time or Results? Am I avoiding the opportunity to build trust? Am I doing the necessary work of defining outcomes and measuring progress? Am I really going to rely on technology to determine who’s “really working”? If my direct reports spend all day at the beach but still deliver the product and all other expectations on time and successfully, does it really matter where they were? In our studies of employee needs/drivers in the Covid era we’ve found: • People embrace and are motivated by high expectations when strong manager & team support is present • Talents enabled (know desired outcomes + manager knows me + my talents and abilities are fully utilized) = individual engagement above the 80th percentile I know it can be tempting to try to control something right now. I encourage you to focus that need for control on developing new strategies and strengthening relationships your organization will likely need to survive what is sure to be a tumultuous next several months. Turn your energy to building trust. In collaboration with your teams, set clear and measurable goals and expectations. Avoid the trap of wanting to control something. Encourage your teams, clearly set expectations, mutually agree on objectives and determine how and when results will be measured...then get out of the way. Ernest Hemingway wrote...”the best way to find out if you can trust someone, is to trust them.” It really is as simple as that. Curt Coffman is the Co-Founder of The Coffman Organization. A trained psychologist, Curt gets people. Prior to founding The Coffman Organization, Curt spent 22 years at The Gallup Organization as the Global Practice Leader for employee and customer engagement consulting. He is a New York Times Bestselling Author and Executive Fellow at The Daniels School of Business at the University of Denver.

“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out...” -Warren Buffet Yesterday, I heard someone say - we’re seeing the best in good people, and the worst in the not so good. Have you noticed? Trust, honesty, compassion, now have the power to save, or lose, lives. There’s a tremendous amount of interdependence between us these days. I feel it at the grocery store when I hope the person who just coughed as he walked past me isn’t sick. I see it when I watch church on my laptop, instead of sitting in a pew lifted up by the energy of a congregation. I hear it in the voice of my grown children, who fear a Sunday dinner visit might be too dangerous. We are relying on each other in new ways. In some cases, we are asked to trust complete strangers with our lives. Each of us could be just one droplet away from never seeing our loved ones again – and we’re trusting each other – at work, in the community, at home, to keep safe. As we begin to “rebound”, we’ll be asked more and more to trust people we don’t know. We are now interdependent on the restaurant worker, bank teller, retail clerk, and other professionals’ we, as consumers, come in contact with. When I do venture out, my hope is that employees are highly engaged in delivering the best, and safest possible experience to me as a customer. I hope they care about their company, leaders and coworkers. They want to deliver well on the promise of the brand and level of service. They are honest, and stay home if they’re sick, without fear of retribution or losing their job. They are trustworthy, because they know the lack of trust could cost someone’s life. They are compassionate and therefore patient and understanding with pivots and constant changes as their organization works to respond to new situations daily. That’s what I need to venture out to shop, dine, thrive again in my community. How do we ensure customers are ready to engage with our product or service? We want each interaction a customer has with our brand, product or service, to not only be outstanding but now we need it to be safe. How do we, as leaders within communities and businesses, give employees what they need to deliver on that comfortable and safe customer need? Today, it’s not just about what drives behavior, it’s also about being acutely aware of the customer’s new point of view in connection to that behavior. It’s the combination of employee and customer working together that will make or break our recovery. The interdependence of one to the other is ignored at our peril. People need to feel safe and cared for at work. In turn, they will have the engagement and energy to keep customers safe and cared for. Those customers will then feel safe engaging in their community. A community where now our lives are more interwoven than ever before. Warren Buffet reminds us – “You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.” Who will we be in this crisis? We are fully exposed, as individuals and communities. We are now truly #alonetogether. It’s the together part I want us to get right. Let’s listen, let’s learn, let’s adapt, let’s innovate, let’s care, more than we ever have before. My life and yours may depend on it. Curt Coffman is the Co-Founder of The Coffman Organization. A trained psychologist, Curt gets people. Prior to founding The Coffman Organization, Curt spent 22 years at The Gallup Organization as the Global Practice Leader for employee and customer engagement consulting. He is a New York Times Bestselling Author and Executive Fellow at The Daniels School of Business at the University of Denver.