Show enthusiasm
When you were a child in school and
you brought home a report card with all
A’s, you couldn’t wait to show your parents what you had done. As an adult, you
should still take pride in what you do and
want to share the good things you’ve achieved with others.
Leaders need to talk to employees about
the end result of their work and the benefits that it provides to customers.
Make sure that the mission the company
is biting off is exciting enough to have that
sort of emotional attachment,” Brown
says “Set the sights high enough and be
ambitious enough that people go, ‘Wow,
this is something really cool, and something I’m proud to be part of.’”
Reaching that point requires that you
look in-depth at the problem you are trying
to solve and take what Brown calls, “A step
beyond what others have done in the past.”
“Whether we’re a shipping company or a
retailer or a service company, here is what
makes us different,” Brown says. “Here’s
what we’re trying to do that others aren’t.
Here is why we’re better. It’s something
that stretches us. Yes, it’s ambitious, but
it’s something you can be proud of.”
Brown believes the reason Interactive
rises above the competition is through its
tenacity in learning about not only its customers but the customers of its customers. Employees speak to these customers to learn more about the needs of
Interactive’s clients.
“The biggest thing I try to impart to our
people is that we don’t just ask customers
what they want and then build it,” Brown
says. “Our job is to apply our technology
vision and combine that with knowledge
of what customers need to build something beyond what they would even think
of asking for.
“It’s a message I constantly have to
preach to our product management people
and others who fall into the trap of wanting
to do surveys and build what customers
are asking for. That causes you to be driving by looking in the rearview mirror. It
keeps you from being really innovative.”
You’ll stand a much better chance of getting your employees to buy in to innovation and to believe in your spirit if you
avoid the use of mission statements and
simply make it a part of your everyday dialogue with them.
“In the technology industry, where you
have highly educated and creative people,
it’s somewhat demeaning to them to think
that their involvement with the corporation gets reduced to memorizing some
phrase that somebody put together,”
Brown says.
“It’s much more important that they
internalize. It gets back to emotional attachment. They are really committed to
the effort that goes beyond some catch-phrase they can regurgitate. It’s much
more important they convey a sense of
excitement and pride in what they do and
what we do rather than they be able to
articulate it in some consistent manner.”
By making the job more of an experience than a test, you’ll stand a better
chance at getting your employees to buy
in to your vision.
“It has to become a part of the fabric of
their lives,” Brown says. “There is a social
network and there is more to a job than
just doing the work. The relationships with
other people, that is a critical part of it.”
HOW TO REACH: Interactive Intelligence Inc., (317) 872-3000
or www.inin.com
