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WOW – Watch Out for the Whelmers…

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Watch Out for the Whelmer Vampire

Chip Conley has written a great book called PEAK – How great companies get their mojo from Maslow. In it he gives grave warning of the dangers of whelmers.

According to Chip there are three types of recruit in your organisation.

There are the over-whelmers – those people that ‘over-whelm’ you with their energy, skill, passion and enthusiasm. These people are what you need. They provide the foundations on which excellent can be built. However you will need to work hard, very hard, to recruit and retain them. These people have choices about where they work – so why should they choose to stick with you?

Then there are the under-whelmers – those that leave you distinctly unimpressed. According to Chip these don’t constitute a real problem either – because they are easily recognised and managed. As a consequence they either perform or get fired. I only wish it were this simple – but I do get the point. Under performance is easily recognised and can then be managed if you have the courage and commitment to do so.

The real dangers are those people that neither over nor under whelm. These are the whelmers. Their work is OK without being great. Customers are satisfied without being thrilled. Colleagues have kind of got used to the mediocrity. And the over-whelmers will not want to be any where near them as they sap energy and enthusiasm. They are passion vampires.

And this is the pernicious culture killer – mediocrity. If the whelmers are allowed to carve out a quiet life of mediocrity they will drag the culture of your organisation down to their level.

In the words of the legendary Van Morrison:

“You gotta fight every day to keep mediocrity at bay”.

More From Tom Peters

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Tom Peters was back in London recently.  Here are some highlights…

“Remember. You are the only human being in the world who can help this particular customer at this particular moment in time.”

“The thing that keeps a business ahead of the competition is excellence in execution.”

“Brand inside is more important than brand outside for sustained success.”

“Make sure that you spend your time on the things you say are your priorities.”

“It’s remarkable how quickly an excellent culture can be torn apart by poor management.”

“Irrelevance comes from always doing the things you know how to do in the way you’ve always done them.”

“If you love your company and love what you do, you will serve your customers better—period!”

6 Word Management Essays

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I was sent this by a PMN member who knows that I am a bit of a mangement geek. It is a bunch of essays on management – all just 6 words long! I think they speak volumes about different approaches to management:

  1. Seek understanding, give support, find results
  2. Look, listen, learn. Lift, laugh, lead.
  3. Learned to GTD, teaching others how.
  4. They tried harder but kept failing.
  5. Learned management wisdom, tried something else.
  6. Eventually she understood what really mattered.
  7. Empower the team, hold them accountable.
  8. Facilitate the network, let the net work.
  9. Always learning and teaching, join me
  10. I requested, they failed, I fired.
  11. Challenge your people; pay them well.
  12. I trust you, make it happen
  13. Living to shape minds and destinies!
  14. He tried, sometimes failed,always learnt.
  15. Worked hard, failed alot, succeeded some.
  16. Chaos ensuing, unaccountability ruling, we’re compelling.
  17. I am interested in your work.
  18. Worked hard, failed alot, succeeded some.
  19. I trust you, make it happen
  20. First, take care of your people.
  21. Living to shape minds and destinies!
  22. They tried harder but kept failing.
  23. ‘He tried, sometimes failed, always learnt.’
  24. Empower the team, hold them accountable.
  25. Eventually she understood what really mattered.
  26. Most importantly, learn to ask questions.
  27. Herding Cats, Taming Lions. Why Not?
  28. Your worth is in their eyes.
  29. Demand high standards; measure with grace
  30. I ask questions, you find solutions.
  31. To learn more sooner, fail faster.
  32. Outward transformation begins with internal change.
  33. Let’s squash the competition like bugs!
  34. My success begins with your success.
  35. Share vision. Don’t be an obstacle.
  36. You will rise above and conquer!
  37. Do Plan. Study. Act. Celebrate. Repeat.
  38. Lead by staying out of the way.
  39. One of many; catalysts don’t boast
  40. Life is a journey…so enjoy.
  41. Dare to dream…and dream BIG!
  42. Watch, Do, Teach; Learn, Live, Give.
  43. Orders are easy, Examples are harder
  44. Measure twice, cut once.
  45. Honeydew this, Honeydew that, I’ll watch.
  46. Open hands hold more than fists
  47. Who, What, Why, where, When, How.
  48. My work is their work, succeeding.
  49. Succeed by failing different every time
  50. You’ll be MY boss, one day
  51. Find the “why”, then act. Repeat.
  52. Once knew all. Now know better.

Let me know which ones you like/dislike and why?

I think my favourite is ‘Your worth is in their eyes’ -so true!

And if you know who was the originator/collector of these micro-essays please do let me know so that I can pay them full acknowledgement!

More Evidence of the Potential for Better Management to Boost Productivity, Performance and Fulfillment at Work

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More than four in ten UK employees are considering quitting their job in the next year, YouGov research for Investors in People suggests. In a report published in April 2008:

A lack of motivation at work is cited as a major problem, with unreasonable workloads, feeling underpaid and a lack of career path being blamed.

About half of staff said they had not been supported beyond their initial induction at work.

Meanwhile more than a quarter felt unsupported by their managers.

Nearly one in three (30%) UK employees is de-motivated in their current role, according to research published today by Investors in People UK. Significantly, 43% are considering taking action and leaving their job in the next 12 months, with those that have been in their job for one to two years most likely to want to do so (48%).

The research carried out by YouGov on behalf of Investors in People UK, found that the top three de-motivating factors for employees were:

  • unreasonable workload (18%),
  • feeling underpaid (18%) and
  • lack of clear career path (17%).

Overall, nearly half of employees (44%) claim their organisation has failed to continue supporting their career development beyond their initial induction period.

Over a quarter (28%) of employees also said they felt ‘unsupported’ by their managers.

De-motivation is highest within larger companies with 39% of people in organisations of 5,000 or more say that they are either not very or not at all motivated compared to 30% in organisations of between 50 and 250 people.

Motivation is lowest amongst public sector workers, with 41% saying that they are either not very or not at all motivated and 44% claiming to be less motivated than they were a year ago.

Employees in the public sector are also the most likely to be thinking about leaving their job, half (50%) said they were considering a change of job.

Employees in the North East are the least motivated in the UK, with 38% saying they are either not very or not at all motivated and 52% thinking about leaving their job in the next year.

In an earlier report (November 2007) similar YouGov research for IiP showed:

Less than a third (30%) of UK employees have complete trust in their manager, with almost eight in ten (78%) believing that their manager has let them down in the past.

Over half (55%) of employees believe that their manager only has their best interests at heart when it suits them.

Managers are most likely to let down employees by failing to provide the support they need to do their job (49%), failing to respond to concerns expressed by employees (48%) or withholding information which impacts on them (45%).

Sharing information in confidence with another member of staff was cited by over half (55%) of employees as the worst possible type of betrayal by their manager.

Employees’ lack of trust in their managers is most apparent when asked who they would confide in regarding a sensitive work-related matter: less than one-quarter (21%) would look to their boss, with 55% turning instead to a colleague or contemporary in times of trouble.

Alarmingly, this lack of trust in managers can have serious consequences: respondents said it can lead to lowered employee morale (68%), destroy team spirit (46%) and result in people looking for a new job (42%).

Anyone for Progressive Management?