Start-ups and Holidays

I know you don't want to think about it. Your start-up is cool because you don't have to designate Holidays. You don't need to. But, alas, I'm here to say you need to write down and distribute the Holidays your company is closed. It's good for recruiting, good for employees, good for the company, and good for you.

Do you give the Friday before the 4th of July off? The day after Thanksgiving? Imagine being a new employee recently completing a move to Boston. You head in to work on Patriots' Day to find out you are the only one in the office. Or worse, you come into work on Patriots' Day and only half your team is there. Do you get angry that nothing gets done? Do you give the staff that showed up an extra day off?

Employees want to know in advance so they can plan that bbq or ski trip. And they'll remember when they work a day when others are 'off'. For your part, if an employee actually asks, you don't want to have to think about days off on the fly - especially when your answer is no. Worse yet, you don't want to get irked when 3 of your team don't show up on President's Day because they thought it was a Holiday.

In the US, on average, companies usually provide 10 paid Holidays.

• New Year's Day
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
  
• Washington's Birthday
• Memorial Day
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
  
• Columbus Day
• Veterans Day
• Thanksgiving Day
  
• Christmas Day
  

Source: 5USC Sec. 6103.

If you want to give more days, fine. Give 'em. At a moment's whim you can still declare National Administrative Professionals Day or International Talk Like a Pirate Day as a paid day off. You can decide at the bar that you'll shut down if there is enough snow to go sledding. It will even feel like a cooler place when staff get days beyond what was expected. But you'll also be laying the foundation of a strong company (think audit and legal), giving yourself a starting point to address problems, and employees want to know.

WOW: A Handbook for Living - Book Review

I was given a copy off 'WOW: A Handbook for Living' to review, by Zen Ohashi and Zono Kurazono.

Out of a hundred people there may be only one person who will actually use this book as intended , but for that one person, amazing things will certainly happen.

I am not this one person. And (as a basic stats analysis would reveal) neither are you. However, WOW reminds us of some simple, powerful approaches to improve our work and life. Here is what I want to remember:

• If you are in a good mood, good things will happen. If you are in a bad mood, bad things will happen.

• Talking about what is working and going well will significantly improve the mood.

Try this when discussing a difficult problem and see how it works. This point also reminded me of the 'sandwich feedback' method of giving feedback I learned when consulting. Sandwich method: Put the delicious positive feedback on either side of criticism - it's received much more constructively.

• Answer a question in 5 seconds, and you will answer with your intuition - you'll often have the best solution.

• Confront a problem of challenge with the question 'HOW' not 'WHY'. This will productively get you to the root cause of the issue. Why were you late? Why don't I have money? ---> How are you going to be on time in the future? How will I get more income?
  

• Make sure everyone has a voice and an opportunity to use it. If you can't identify who the pushy one in the meeting is, it might be you.

• Write down important goals, tell them to a friend, and ask them to call you to see how you are progressing.
  

• When a problem occurs out side of your normal area of accountability, it doesn't necessarily mean you are off the hook. As an example, if the parent in charge at home becomes sick and is unable to cook, the parent who works has to take over the duties or the child will not eat. Don't just be accountable, be responsible.
  

• Try to live for a month with the premise that there is no one and only right answer.

Do any of these points resonate with you?

Now... don't get me wrong. I won't do all these things. Especially the points from the book I didn't list here. But to be fair, WOW's authors say you need to take each point slow and really let them sink in. And in fact, after putting the book down for a week I found many of the points more compelling than I during my first read. I'm thinking this will be a nice addition to the library.

What makes Company Culture?

Company 'culture' is the buzzword these days. Start-up culture often refers to a work ethic that sacrifices balance. My last post quoted some startup triplet advice - "Hire and invest in your culture." However, it seems talk of culture quickly becomes abstract. To understand and impact culture we need to be more specific.

For me, culture brings productivity and satisfaction through:

Shared purpose. Is there clear and common purpose to people's work? Do actions demonstrate a team approach towards accomplishing a common goal? Do employees understand the company's mission and their role towards accomplishing it? Awesome communication fits in here.

Accountability. Are employees given real responsibilities? Are those tasks followed up on (by leaders and peers) and implemented? We can stick rewards and recognitions here for now.

Opportunity. Do employees have lots of interaction with others, and ultimately an opportunity to learn?

Motivation. Are employees motivated to do their part towards the common goals on their own? (Or do they simply do the checklist requested to prepare for the weekly meeting?) Do employees believe in the value of their contributions? In the value of the company's goals?

Collaborative Decision Making. Are employees involved in the decisions that effect their work, even tangentially? Being part of the decision leads to more informed solutions and more commitment to the solution. Again, enter companies with good communication.

Flexibility. How much freedom do employees have about when and where they work, what they work on and prioritize, and stuff like how they dress. (Having flexibility alone does not make a good culture by itself).

Work Environment. What are the obvious on-site perks? We're talking free lunch, m&m's and Starbucks coffee, bean bag chairs and office slides. I guess we can throw pay, benefits, expected work hours, and whatnot here. Since visitors and job applicants notice this stuff first, it makes it important. (Again, this aspect of culture by itself is shallow and means little without some strength in the other areas.)

Defining what culture really means helps us talk concretely about measuring and improving it. For me, right now, doing well in these areas equates to a great company culture. Did I miss anything key in your culture?

HR Triplets

Not long ago, Dharmesh Shah at OnStartups.com gathered his best start-up advice and reduced it down to exactly three words. When I read it, I saw loads of HR specific advice. Specifically, HR at start-ups should be focused on hiring, creating and fostering culture, rewarding/acknowledging/celebrating, and helping the organization function smoothly and with focus day to day. Triplets offer simple, easy to remember, valuable pieces of advice and focus.

Hire generalists early.

Hire specialists later.

Hire your Culture.

Invest in culture.

Recruit with zest.

Build your team.

Nurture your best.

Celebrate your successes.

Focus, focus, focus.

Encourage diverse thinking.

Encourage rational debate.

Make decisions swiftly.

Don’t break laws.

Cancel unnecessary meetings.

Improve employee's resumes.

Wisely allocate resources.

Keep it fun.

Smell the roses.

Share glory widely

Invest in people.

Do you follow this advice? How can you change your focus to support these causes? What triplet advice can you add?

Do start-ups have HR?

Recently, I've been talking with lots of entrepreneurs and start-up founders here in the New York area. A main goal was to dig - to discover what HR 'stage' they are in, what their challenges are, and learn about their HR strategy. I found, and what I'm now feeling is the norm, there were no HR plans. No thoughts about HR. No concerns. Yikes.

This is worse than I thought. I could have guessed most biz plans didn't include a dedicated HR hire until 50+ employees. Am I right? It's one of those functions that doesn't shout look at these bottom line deliverables. It might be difficult to demonstrate the ROI? It's just easier not to think about HR.

Who does the hiring, I asked. Who picks and administers benefits and insurance and that stuff? The CEO responds "me, and it takes loads of time." Just for items like this, I wonder why seeing HR more strategically isn't obvious. Does compensation planning, training (as a benefit and as a legal protection), facilitating communication/employee relations, or putting the minimal legal employment compliance in place help put the justification for HR over the edge?

Well, I said it. 'HR at startups'. It should not be a stranger to the sharp, forward thinking start-up.

Taking Time to Enjoy the Team

I've been off the map recently because we have been BUSY. In addition to Board Meetings and big client projects, we had our Holiday Party and our 2010 Strategy Meeting. Both important and time consuming events - and both events that have kept me deep in the engagement state of mind.

Our Holiday Party was rejuvenating. We did employee trivia - can you guess what past odd jobs and unique experiences your co-workers have had? We had some drinks, grabbed some silly props, and took some company pictures. Of course, we exchanged secret Santa gifts and shared a fancy dinner - complete with heartfelt employee toasts.

Our Holiday Dinner reminded us that we need to do more hanging out together as a group. We enjoy it and it makes work even more fun.

Engagement

Ok, I'm officially interested in 'engagement' - as a topic, as a field, and as a start-up game changer.

I recently tweeted some Gallup results noting that almost three quarters of employees today don't consider themselves 'actively engaged' in their work. Look at four of your employees and pick the three that aren't actively engaged. If your start-up only has 3 folks, I'm not sure what to do.

No matter what 'actively engaged' means or if this stat really applies to your work environment (of course it doesn't right?) this is some serious business to think about. It is something to be concerned about. Think of the lost productivity, the negativity, the turnover, ahhh... This is something to act on.

Your employees might not be engaged if....

They are overwhelmed with work, they are in an environment with poor communication and uncertainty, the business direction and strategy is not relevant to them, they don't feel safe learning new skills or trying new things, they don't understand the big picture, they don't trust their leaders, or their leaders refuse to embrace reality.

Do any of those sound familiar? What is happening, or not happening, due to lack of engagement? What active steps do you do to keep people engaged?