Different strokes for different folks

I always go out for dinner, vacation and outings with friends from work. I see them as friends rather than peers or subordinates. And friends respect one another and take care of each another. In the newsroom, we work closely together, like a family.

In a business organisation, respect is a very important value that one must uphold. It ties other values and aspects like innovation, passion and integrity in order to create a great culture for an organisation to be results driven and produce superior products and services.

On the subject of organisation culture, I recently read a very interesting article in the February 4th edition of FORTUNE magazine. The title of the article is “100 Best Companies to Work For…”

Some of the things that these companies practice may appear a bit way off to us. But they apparently worked for these top organisations in the United States.

Here are some of the ‘interesting’ things that motivated their employees to go beyond and created great work culture.

GOOGLE: The top company on the list provides free massages and for this year, it introduced 3 wellness centres and a seven-acre sports complex, which includes a roller hockey rink, courts for basketball, bocce and shuffleball.

BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP: The management consulting company maintains work-life balance by issuing a “red-zone report” to flag when individuals are working too many long weeks. New consultants can delay their start date by 6 months and receive US$10,000 (RM30,985) to volunteer at non-profit organisations.

NORDSTROM: In lieu of a rule book, new employees at the luxury department store receive a note card that simply says “Our one rule: Use good judgement in all situations”.

TEKSYSTEMS: Culture at the IT company revolves around “open-book relationships” where workers are expected to share “almost everything” about their personal and professional lives.

CH2M HILL: Lee McIntire, CEO of the civil engineering and construction firm, not only tweets but also posts his own personal development plan on the company’s intranet.

MARS: Employees of the candy-maker’s pet-food division can take their dogs to work, where they often sleep under desks.

Well, different people from different cultural backgrounds see and interpret things differently. Try bringing a cat to the office and a different ‘interaction’ will start – good or bad will depend on the culture and environment. Different people see things differently. For example, in the photographs, (below) which I took, people see a big bird flapping its wings. I somehow see a maiden dancing with a beautiful shawl.

Another interesting article, “Thought Leaders – A New System for a New Century” in the February 4th edition of FORTUNE has the following interesting phrases for us to ponder:

1. We need flexible networks – more “heterarchies”, fewer hierarchies.

2. The system should be strategic, not crisis driven. Most of our energy is currently absorbed by reactive rather than proactive measures. Managing crises instead of thinking about the future leads to defensive attitudes.

3. A system must continually demonstrate legitimacy.

4. Embrace the notion of global citizenship.

Think about it. Have a prosperous Year of the Snake.