The Comfort of Ritual
I’m a planner.
I’m not kidding—I have three planners to get me through my day, whether I’m at work or just kicking around the house. These vary: I have one for an hourly task breakdown, one for my daily work goals and notes of…note, and one that holds all the fun stuff. That probably sounds like torture to most people, but planning keeps me focused and productive. It’s a ritual that aligns my brain where I need it to be.
Everyone has rituals. Maybe you get up in the morning and go to the gym, or you sit by your garden window and have two cups of coffee before you even think about your day. Maybe you’re like me, and your wake-up ritual involves five snooze alarms and some ugly laughing at reddit before you roll out of bed and fight for your life in your emails (I’m not a morning person). Without that, I can’t seem to get my day back on track.
But ritual means doing the same thing, all the time. While that’s a great way to start your morning, it’s a terrible way to run a business. This isn’t news. We hear about the need for agility all the time, to the point that we even have a business process around it. Be Agile! Hell, you’re expected to be certified in it in some positions.
The idea of agility in business sounds good on paper. Of course we want to be able to roll with the punches and move quickly and easily through problems, from an individual to the enterprise level! Of course we want to be innovative and think of new, better ways to do things! How dare anyone suggest otherwise?
But in practice? We have some work to do. Not just we as in Skellig, but the royal we—every business has to do this. Continuous improvement is one of the biggest things companies promise, right? Never get complacent.
Bucking the Status Quo
In reality, being agile is hard. We have our personal and business rituals—we do things the way we’ve become accustomed to doing them. Every single corporate training I’ve ever had during onboarding has reiterated the same principle: if someone tells you the only reason they do something a certain way is that they’ve always done it that way, push back. Challenge. But what happens after the challenge, once the idea has been stated? This stage is often where innovation goes to die, whether by a thousand cuts (read: bureaucracy) or by being ultimately ignored by those who have the power to actually effect change in their industry.
What other things were “always done that way” before we changed them? I’ll bet you can name several big ones right off the bat; just look at major movements within the United States in the last century(ish). Women’s suffrage, the civil rights movement, LGBTQIA+ marriage equality, allowing women to have their own credit cards/finances—all were rebellions against the status quo that changed and saved lives. All required people who made themselves so loud that there was no chance of ignoring them.
Maybe I’m just a malcontent, but I’m never happy sitting still. And every company I’ve been a part of has a LOT of status quo going on (even this one). It’s human to settle into routines. But I’m done being quiet about the act of effecting change within my organizations and communities. Those of you who know me personally, don’t laugh. I really have been quiet, despite what you may have heard (from me). As we advance in the way we do work and the way we engage with our industries, progress requires those of us with speakerphones to use them, to offer a hand to those coming up behind us. If we don’t offer that hand, our successors will find another ladder to climb.
Attracting the Talent You Deserve
If businesses aren’t willing to adapt and change with the times, they deserve the talent they attract. The problem with the old tried-and-true is that many business principles we hold in acclaim just aren’t actually true anymore. Industry, especially impacted by COVID, changed. So did employee expectations of their companies. The Great Resignation was an employee revolution that still has far-reaching effects and, whether you want to admit it or not, reshaped the minds of people in all stages of their careers.
Attitudes have changed across the board. People’s tolerance of poor working conditions has drastically changed. Where some bosses in the past may have treated their employees like machines or children (or both), now they’re met with resignation letters. Repeatedly being looked over for real raises now erodes good will in record time—cost of living doesn’t inspire loyalty. After so many of us worked from home during the early stages of the pandemic and realized just how much of our jobs could be performed at home (and how important our families and lives are), a return-to-office notification serves as an effective layoff notice.
Admitting that these attitudes have taken root seems to elude many companies to the manager level. If you spend any time on management forums (or TikTok), you’ll occasionally see some vindictive spirit gleefully declare that those who walk will struggle to keep a roof over their heads if they have such high expectations.
Don’t lose touch. Being aware of the struggles of the up-and-coming workforce is vital—the promise of security that once kept people in toxic places no longer works, because that security doesn’t exist. Trust has been destroyed between employee and employer, and many Americans are one missed paycheck away from housing instability (and have been for a long time).
Even at the one-on-one level, there’s a sharp divide. I had a wonderful manager at one of my previous jobs who, upon hearing that I was house hunting, suggested that I search in his neighborhood. He knew how much I made, knew that I was the breadwinner for my family, but had no idea that houses in his neighborhood started at $1.5 million dollars at the time. That was years ago—checking now, those are townhouse prices today.
Continuous improvement must not be limited to operations. We must continuously improve how we work with our employees if we want to retain them and achieve long-term visions—because a long-term vision requires a long-term view from key players in organizations. We must strive not only for operational excellence, but cultural excellence, because the status quo is dead.
Just ask your junior employees—before they leave. And they will if you don’t ask and act.
Continuous Improvement and Cultural Excellence
So, what’s a business to do, when all new talent runs to a competitor at the first sign of trouble?
Change. That’s the answer. Listen to your people tell you what’s wrong (and they will), then change accordingly. It will take time, it will take some blood, sweat, and tears—but it will pay dividends as we move into the future.
Listen was the keyword when we started to incorporate the Skellig Way, our company’s cultural philosophy. I listen to our employees and I also listen to employees of other companies in our industry. They’re not quiet, they desperately want their companies to change so they can stay put—nobody WANTS to move somewhere else if they don’t have to.
What have I heard from the industry at large? If you know where they congregate to gossip about you, then you’ll find a lot of common threads regardless of industry (and no, I won’t tell you where to find them).
- “Why am I commuting when nobody needs me on site? To protect someone’s real estate investment? Nobody even talks to me at the office, I spend every meeting on Zoom.”
- “I keep telling my manager that I need help. I completed a 3 person project by myself and all I got was a shitty spot award. How about a hand?”
- “I got a slice of free pizza. Cheese. Not even any toppings. Thanks.”
- “We just acquired another company but suddenly we have to cut $500M in costs? The same WEEK?”
- “I’m just getting into the industry and I’m already burned out. What work-life balance?”
- “My company does serial layoffs. Don’t come.”
What’s actionable from that feedback?
- See how much your on-site employees spend their time actually working on things that require them to be on-site. Even a few days of hybrid work for employees who don’t need to be there can create a lot of good will and trust. And no—not trusting your employees is not a good reason to make them come to the office. Either you have trust issues/need to learn to treat adults like adults, or that employee should not be working for you because they are untrustworthy.
- Ensure your team has the tools and people required for expected tasks. Don’t punish employees for your inability to fill roles, your poor planning, or your lack of role definitions—or soon you’ll have a 0 person team.
- Work-life balance is different for everyone and every company. Find out what your employees expect and target some achievable goals with tangible roadmaps over the next year.
- Own your reputation. People will talk about you. If you’re not proud of your reputation, then why would you try to keep it as is?
Not everything will be within your control, but you need to be willing to move for your employees—and they will move mountains for you.
Like I said at the start, I’m a planner. Unfortunately, being agile in business necessitates plans being thrown out the window on occasion. But when the consequence of standing still is losing all your talent, maybe you should consider taking your business a step in the right direction.
It begins with one step. Your people will help you move if you let them.
