At this time of year, we remember King Wenceslas, the 10th-century monarch who took food and firewood to the poor. That small decency was long ago, but author and company CEO Steve Harrison reminds us that small decencies, day after day, still build great companies.
A CEO is the business leader, but a CEO is also the mayor of a community, explains Steve Harrison, chairman of Lee Hecht Harrison, and author of The Manager’s Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great Companies.
He explains that being a leader is not just adhering to rules and making people toe the line. It’s building culture by small acts to create a feeling of community. And it’s up to leadership—that’s the CEO, usually working with HR—to give clear signals that the company is in “above and beyond” mode, by engaging in behaviors and individual gestures that define the larger environment and become the building blocks for an ethical culture, notes Harrison.
The results can be phenomenal, he adds, when HR and senior leadership team up to build a supportive, enabling environment, conducive to employee productivity and creativity.
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Small Decencies Make the Difference
Harrison defines business decency as “a gesture freely offered without expectation of a reward that, in ways small and large, changes the corporate culture for the better.” He notes that “decencies are tangible, low cost and scalable, and can be replicated through the organization.”
Small Decencies to Try
Here are some examples of small decencies that Harrison offers:
—Greet employees by name and learn all of their names. Spend 2 minutes talking with an employee about nonwork topics. Speak to a different employee every day.
—Make it a point to thank employees for work well done. Slip a handwritten note into their pay envelopes or write “thank you” on the back of your business card and leave it on employees’ desks. Compliment three people every day.
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—Have lunch with employees. Cisco System’s CEO John Chambers hosts a monthly hour-long birthday breakfast for any employee with a birthday that month. Employees are invited to ask him anything.
—Surprise employees with small gestures of recognition. At Cigna Group, executives push coffee carts around the office once a week, serving drinks and refreshments to their colleagues to get a chance to hear their concerns and answer their questions.
—Be attentive in meetings. Don’t multitask, don’t interrupt, and don’t speak more than 60 seconds at a time. Keep an open notebook in front of you for note-taking when an employee is talking.
—Run, don’t walk, away from executive pomposity! For example, says Harrison, if you’re in your office, answer your own telephone. Don’t expect a subordinate to do it. Both employees and callers appreciate this gesture.
A Big Decency
Harrison also recommends one big decency: Provide tools to assist employees in creating work/life balance (and model positive work/life behavior yourself). For example, he says, implement flexible work schedules and generous time-off policies.
What’s Your Favorite Small Decency?
Have a favorite small decency that you’ve used to good effect? We’d love to hear it. Share your comments below.
We’ll be off tomorrow to celebrate the holidays. Look for your next issue on Wednesday. All the best of the season from the HR Daily Advisor team.
Many small companies are very good at these small decencies because we work on the small-town or family model — everyone knows everyone and most know a lot about everyone they work with. An e-mail with a gold star, a thank you — public or private depending on the person and the situation — being cared about and caring about others, all of these kinds of things are important to matter how large or small the company.
The key point here, I think, is that being decent is the decent thing to do. Granted, some employees will miss the point and not return that decency, and in a small company that can be very painful. Generally those folks leave to find an employer more suited to their needs. Our favorite small decency is genuinely caring about each other in ways that preserve the integrity of our ohana, our family of work. When we do that, our employees are able to convey that caring to our customers and clients.