If you are in the business of factory, on-floor customer or high-intense service sweatshop, you can disregard this post. For the rest of us in the service sector, you know that times are changing and the walls should be taken down. Have the right culture? Consider this: 

Drop the scheduled work week

Forcing your associates to play Dilbert and sit in a cubicle for monotonous day-to-day scheduled hours brings everyone’s productivity down to the lowest producer. There are associates in my company that can produce the required results in half the time as me. Does it make sense to punish them by forcing slower productivity or unnecessary idle time for the benefit of the clock? Stop paying for time. Instead pay for the expected result and watch how productivity, company results and staff morale soars.

Drop the compliance

Recently I was forced to sign two lengthy engagement letters by a financial supply partner. No doubt these were boilerplate association attorney recommends or insurance company armor. Really? Is my financial resource supplier so afraid of client suits to lock them down with legalese? What’s wrong with this picture? They should focus on this instead:

• Carefully select your clients

• Serve your clients with excellence

• Act as a partner, rather than a vendor and treat them accordingly

Also consider taking away the heavy-handed baton of compliance from the HR director. They can only succeed in making the staff feel unsafe.

Drop the control

Give your staff freedom to innovate and serve. Get out of their way and watch the company grow. Teach them, care for them and reward them appropriately.

I recently attended a planning session for a non-profit organization. The facilitator followed a typical corporate approach of categorizing ideas and identifying specific assignments around the ideas noted. Whenever a worthwhile conception came up, it was cut short and placed in a box for assignment; time consideration being more important. There was little to no innovative thinking or discussion. The organization is on death-watch, go figure!

Also, don’t torture the staff with annual reviews that everyone dreads and hates. Be a mentor and resource, not an authoritarian; leave that for the military.

Drop the walls

Find your best employees and best clients from anywhere. Take down the walls and the world is your oyster! Warning: technology is only the stepping stone and tool for a remote workforce. It takes forward-thinking leadership and the right culture to pull it off. We have created a six-pillar Virtual Culture Model to assist with this transition. If you are interested in seeing this, click here.

Drop the silos

Create a true team environment and eliminate the pin-fests. A true team strives toward three wins:

1. A win for the client

2. A win for the company

3. A win for each individual on the team

News flash: a so-called sales team consisting of individuals pinned against one another is not a team!

Are you truly ready for the future? It’s here.