The full diagnostic

It happened a few years back. I was very disappointed with my work environment. I had decided that I would be a positive change agent in my job, but the company I was working for had become impervious to my influence. As my partner Maurice would put it, I had woken up my organization’s immune system, and my attempts to make a difference were systematically falling apart. 

“Fair enough,” I said to myself, “I just have to find a job in a company that wants to do things differently and would be willing to pay me for it!“.

And quite honestly, it was much easier than I thought. In fact, the position presented itself to me, and I didn’t even have to look for it. I was lucky. Or rather, I simply happened to be visible and present at the right place, and at the right time.

For reasons out of my control (and also more or less out of the control of the company coveting me), it took a few weeks to receive an actual offer, but they told me it would be the case.

1st symptom : I knew I had to leave

I least, I knew I had to go. A lot of people are asking themselves questions very often, for far too long. 

Should I quit? Would I really be better off? What if I’m wrong? What if it doesn’t work? What if it’s the wrong choice? Will I have to start looking for another job again? Will I be able to come back to my old position? Will I really be happier? What if I suck at my new job?

All these questions are quite legitimate. Some people will try to over-rationalize to know if they should really change job (and I did it myself). Using comparative tables, we write down our criterias by order of importance, we give marks to our current job and potential jobs and compare totals, we weight the pros and cons… 

I think that doing these activities speaks volume. If you’ve gotten there, it means you are very doubtful. If you are doubtful, it means something is wrong. My partner once wrote, in an article on antifragility, that we rationalize when we try to convince ourselves of a course of action that we know isn’t good. If you’re trying to convince yourself of keeping your job, there’s a good chance that something, somewhere, is wrong. 

What I mean by that is if your current job was fully satisfying for you, you probably wouldn’t ask yourselves these questions. It doesn’t mean you can’t take a look what’s out there, but to seriously consider changing job, that doesn’t lie. You don’t have to jump on the first opportunity you see, but maybe you need to admit that something is missing. 

By the way, while your questions are totally legitimate, let’s be honest: nobody has the answers to your questions, not even your potential future employer. I recommend to simply invest this energy in other activities that are not related to trying to predict the future, or to control the chaos in your life. The only way you could get those answers would be to take the plunge. Better regret doing it than regret not taking the opportunity.

2nd symptom : The Emotional Earthquake

Once my decision was made, I kinda had to announce it to my employer. Since my first day at the new job wasn’t that close, I had a week or two to make the announcement.

Not an easy task. Really hard, actually. You see, I was leaving my job so that I could make a difference in the ways people are treated on a daily basis at work, and to do so, I had to abandon my two teams who were in a really unenviable position. They were really going through some rough patch. 

For readers who don’t know me personally, know that I have a very hard time to living in contradiction with my own values. It’s simply intolerable to me. As you’re about to see, it makes me sick, literally. 

So, you can imagine that the thought of abandoning my colleagues to their fate so that I can go and “change the world of work” created an intense clash of values of unequalled proportions. But my choice was made, and I had to announce it, and the more I waited, the more stressful it became. And the less I wanted to do it.

One night, which I remember as if it was yesterday, I was doing a puzzle with some Star Wars music in background. And all of a sudden : ouch! I felt a sharp pain in the sternum. Exactly the kind of pain you never want to deal with, ever. I drank a glass of water, and it went away. But I couldn’t really act like it didn’t happen…

At the hospital, I received an ECG test (electrocardiogram) and they took some blood samples. “Everything seems fine”. I’m sent back home, after promising to set an appointment with a cardiologist. 

The said cardiologist made me pass an ECG test as well, and sent me to the Montreal Heart Institute so that I can pass a stress test on a treadmill. Again, everything is fine. 

“Did you experienced periods of stress caused by emotional dilemmas, or did you have to make a really difficult decision, recently?”

I bet you can guess what my answer was.

All of this for… not much

I’m not going to say that my anxiety and my unrest wasn’t legitimate, far from it. But at the end of the day, announcing my departure to my employer and my colleagues was much less difficult that I thought it would be. “I’m not surprised!”, “At last!”, “Go and change the world!”, they told me. Except my boss. He didn’t see it coming at all… Surprisingly. 

In the end, in my new job, it was clear as day after 2 weeks : It was definitely worth it to accept this job opportunity. In my new position, I did what I had to do for a year, and then I announced, with much less anxiety and stress, that I was joining my friends in their adventures, and that from now on, I’d be a consultant and an entrepreneur.

On not doing the same mistakes

I’m not writing this just for the fun of talking about it. Well, I’m not really hiding this episode of my life, and I like to recount it to whoever wants to hear it. But I’m writing it here in hope that not too many people will follow my tracks in a similar adventure. 

I learned many things in this story : 

• No job or employer deserves that we make ourselves sick 
• If a company can’t survive without you, eh, maybe it doesn’t deserve to survive
• The more you do something, the less difficult and painful it becomes
• Of course, it can be sad and disappointing when an employee quits. But remember that these companies which you hesitate to leave, they wouldn’t end up on a treadmill at the Montreal Heart Institute for a stress test because of chest pain while they wonder if they should let you go or not. They call it a “business decision”. Well, announcing that you accepted a new opportunity is also a business decision, nothing more.

Are you in a similar situation?

One of the LinkedIn status that inspired me to write this article gives excellent tips to help you know if you are making the right choice. 

In the status, Annie-Claude Pineault, a coach in career transition, suggest a list of questions you can try answering if you are considering changing jobs. These questions will bring much more answers than the ones I listed earlier. In my own certainty, maybe I could have avoided so much stress if I had this list of questions handy. 

Here are those questions : 

1. How does this opportunity propels you towards your dream life?
2. How is it linked to your priorities?
3. Does it respect your values?
4. How does it harmonize with your environment and your lifestyle?
5. What need does this change serve?
6. How could you learn more on the tasks and opportunities offered?

Those are simple questions that might help you avoid over-rationalizing, or to try finding answers to questions to which nobody could ever answer. Or to try, in vain, to have a definitive control on your future (which is, let’s be honest, absolutely counterproductive, there are way too many variables in life to really have control on anything). 

I wish you the very best in your new job! Go get them, tiger!

Since I have suffered too much from toxic cultures and very traditional or conservative management mindsets that generally use the “command and control” approach, seeing something a little more human and progressive is refreshing, and I am ready to rejoice for any step we take forward.

That being said, there is a rather unfortunate phenomenon that accompanies the rise in popularity of a healthy and pleasant organizational culture. A phenomenon called “culture-washing”.

When appearing is easier than being

When a concept becomes a trend, such as the going green and environmental awareness, the “washing” phenomenon generally follows very closely. In the case of the environment, many companies will display their products and / or services as “green” in a misleading way since they have not done anything extra to make them green. Even though some of these products or practices are absolutely dangerous for the environment, these companies still want to take advantage of the green trend. They are accused of doing “green-washing”.

In the same way, there are companies displaying the pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness, and whose products contain carcinogens. This is called “pink-washing”: a corporation taking advantage of a trend to sell more products and hypocritically polish its image.

The phrase “culture-washing” comes from there. Organizations are accused of culture-washing when they pretend having a strong and vibrant culture, while the culture that actually thrives within their walls is completely different from the one that is put forward. Generally, it’s way more traditional than advertised, sometimes even toxic.

Many trends unfortunately have this effect. I come from the world of Agile in software development, and of course, 100% of IT companies say and pretend they are agile. No company wants to be perceived as “non-agile”. Everyone wants to be agile, but many organizations do not give themselves the means to take the slightest step forward in this direction. But that’s another debate.

The gap between these statements and reality is usually measured in light years. It’s sad, but it’s the truth: it is easier to pretend to be agile than to become agile, just as it is easier to claim to have a beautiful, pleasant and fun organizational culture, than to actually have one. We must pay attention to this kind of subterfuge.

The marketable culture

For several months now, we have been talking about this “labor shortage” in Quebec. The expression is not mine, hence the quotation marks, you know what I think of the terms “resources”, “human capital”, “labor”… Anyway, you know what I mean…

To overcome this shortage, many companies invest a lot of energy (not to mention budgets) in their organizational culture. And it’s a good idea: the organizations that will suffer in the future will be those with a poor culture, where people can’t flourish, and where political games, micromanagement and the “command and control” approach are part of the daily routine.

However, I still have a problem with the idea of building an interesting culture if the only goal is to promote this new culture. For whom, for what do organizations improve their culture? For future employees? To improve the KPIs of their recruiters and salespeople? To impress their customers? Or for the people who will live in this culture for 40 hours a week?

Don’t get me wrong, I will always be in favor of a strong and human-centric culture. But I think it’s a strategic mistake to develop it for the sole purpose of increasing sales or hiring.

I am a fan of Tony Hsieh, president of Zappos, who has built a culture so strong and vibrant that he can afford to make statements such as “Your culture IS your brand”. And I also like this statement, by Robert Stephens: “Marketing is a tax that you pay for having an unremarkable culture.”

Essentially, your culture must first and foremost be optimized and designed for your employees. A strong culture leaves no one indifferent, and people will naturally talk about it and become its ambassadors. A culture designed for the sole purpose of selling your brand more easily represents, at best, a misguided decision, at worst, a waste of money and time.

The carrot VS the cherry

Since having a strong organizational culture is trendy, it makes many companies want to have one as soon as possible. It is tempting to take shortcuts to “beat the competition”. It is usually at this stage that we start talking about the infamous ping-pong tables, foosball tables, video game consoles, thematic conference rooms and all that stuff.

These things are not bad per se. But having a table top hockey game does not ensure the presence of a strong culture. In fact, I’ve heard about a lot of companies that do have such games, but forbid their employees from using them on business hours. And with fairly severe penalties if one dares to do so. In this case, the message is quite clear: pleasure has no place during work hours. In the meantime, go back to your place, and work, you slacker. One might as well look for another job.

This type of approach, I call it “the carrot approach”. We offer a carrot (which, let’s face it, does not cost much and is easy to put in place) to attract people, while there is no strong foundation to support this initiative; there is only the stick. It certainly attracts a lot of people, who may be there just for the sake of coolness, but we do not know if these people are there because they like their job. And when things go wrong, however, it’s not uncommon to see the game console or the ping-pong table disappear, as if it was stolen by ninjas. And things quickly return to their usual nature: the stick. Those who were there solely for the carrot do not stay long after that.

I advocate for an environment where the basic culture is already very strong, and where these amusing things and games are only the cherry on the sundae. People will not leave if these playthings disappear: they are not there for them in the first place. They show up because they like to work there, are well treated, and can thrive. Video games and themed conference rooms are just extra fun.

The phony values

One of the most glaring symptoms of a poor corporate culture is when an organization has a list of values printed on a wall, and that generates cynicism on the part of employees, simply because they do not live these values every day.

An old joke says that if you ask a person from the reception desk to enumerate the organizational values that are printed on the wall right behind them without looking, they will only be able to list one or two. And it is to be expected when you have values that are ignored by everyone from the janitor to the CEO.

Corporate values have little value if they are only to have a “Our Values” page of a website, to bewilder clients, to impress vendors, or catch the eye of candidates. In this context, values are nothing more than a smokescreen made of fumes of cynicism that spreads throughout the entire office. Also, let’s be clear: to promise transparency, respect, and innovation when you do not intend to deliver, in the end, becomes an old cruel joke for employees. A kind of slow torture that lasts until they decide to stop hoping and go elsewhere.

By definition, a value is a principle we live by. If no one in a company lives by its values, we can not expect anything but cynicism. “Transparency, yeah right”. This kind of cynicism. When corporate values are trampled at any time of the day, it is not unreasonable to believe that employees will have difficulty trusting management or supporting its initiatives. Because we have already marvelously shown how something as crucial as values does not matter at all.

Integrity and consistency with your values

To have a vibrant culture, a company must treat its values for what they are: principles to live by. That means, if it a company has strong values, these should guide all decisions. 

Imagine a situation where an organization faces a dilemma with 3 possible solutions. Values, which should be the most important principles, let’s not forget, should be able to point to the solution that is best for the company. If the best solution does not fit at all with the values of the organization, how can it be the best solution? Or maybe it’s a good time to revise values if the decisions that are made always go against them.

Integrity and consistency mean, among other things, to do what we say we do.

Bosses who say something and constantly do the opposite sometimes find themselves wondering why their employees are not very loyal. It’s a bit normal. Corporate values must be treated in the same way. An organization that systematically follows the values it has put in place creates an environment of integrity and predictability. Employees should not be surprised when companies demonstrate that the decisions made are in line with the values of the organization. And THAT is a very effective way to strengthen a culture: when decisions become predictable because they are always aligned with values. For leaders of organizations using this approach, it is only a matter of time before they won’t even have to make the majority of decisions: employees, guided by values, will do it for them. Can you imagine what that implies? That’s the potential of a very strong culture.

Interpreting values

A very important trap in which one should not fall, however, is to have values that are too vague, and can be interpreted in many ways. Transparency, innovation, respect and communication, these are nice, but difficult act upon. These are vague concepts. “I talked with people today, so I communicated.” Meh. This is not exactly what the leaders had in mind, I believe, when choosing “communication” as a value.

Simon Sinek, known to many for his lectures and writings on leadership, and the importance of finding our “why”, offers a slightly more interesting approach than just a list of words. Instead, he proposes to change your values into actions.

For example, instead of having the value “innovation”, which means everything and nothing, he suggests “Approach problems from a new angle”. Ah, suddenly, it becomes a little easier to understand, and can be acted upon easily. Rather than “Communication”, it could be “Make sure information does not get lost,” for example. It is difficult to show that we innovated, it’s not very easy to measure. However, we can count the times when we have approached a problem from a whole new angle. This is an effective way to measure how much a culture sticks with the employees. And how much they own it.

In conclusion

Investing in your culture is an enlightened choice, as long as your goal is really to see this culture live and develop on a daily basis. Also, finding the desired culture is not just an exercise that concerns only the leadership of the organization. All of your employees will live between 35 and 40 hours a week in this culture, and the only way to make sure they support this culture is if it’s defined for them, with them. As Howard Behard, former CEO of Starbucks said, “Those who clean the floor should choose the broom.”

Those who will live in your culture have a good idea of what culture they want to live in. Do not hesitate to delegate to them this superb task of creating a vision for your culture, a strategy for putting it in place and strengthening it, and finding the reflexes and dynamics necessary so it can bloom. Give the desired goal, and let your experts amaze you.

In short, take care of your employees, and they will take care of your business.

This is essentially the message of Sam Conniff Allende in his book Be More Pirate. It tells how modern-day “pirates”, people like you and me, reject some rules and create new ones, and can really make a difference. He explains everything by drawing parallels with what the real pirates did during the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean between 1650 and 1730. I invite you to watch one of his very relevant speeches in the following video.

Why rebel?

To rebel is first and foremost to offer alternatives. By refusing a situation, one questions its relevance, its raison d’être. One wonders or realizes who benefits from the situation. And one finds ways to make the system serve us, people, better.

Now, probably very few of you have dropped everything by mere rebelliousness. However, I know of several people who have built their careers on a simple feeling of revolt against a problem or situation that they thought was unacceptable, and they made it their main battle. I’m one of them.

But in this article, I’d like to talk about small revolts. Those we can do every day. Those that allow us to move forward or free us a little more when the structures in places won’t allow it. Small rebellions that push causes one step at a time.

What does it have to do with the world of work?

Why talk about this here? Because the workplace is an ideal battlefield for small, more or less harmless, but important, and meaningful acts of rebellion.

A lecturer, whose name I do not remember, once said that 100% of absurd regulations exist because of 4% of people who abuse the system. Difficult to check this statistic. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to believe that a majority of unnecessary corporate rules exist because of a history of a few dissidents who once crossed the line, tried to cheat, tried to manipulate the system to their advantage.

The rather sad result of all this is that 100% of employees must comply with these rules that were created because of a few negative troublemakers, who sometimes have left organizations years ago.

What I suggest is to become positive troublemakers to rebalance everything and change things for the common good.

Stirring up good trouble

The idea is obviously to get things to go forward. To create a reflection, to generate a discussion, to help highlight what is intolerable, what hinders us, what infantilizes us, and to question its relevance. And even better, to offer alternatives and new options better adapted to our realities. But often, it must be done quickly, because organizations tend to stifle popular initiatives. As my partner would say, you need to act faster than the immune system of your organization.

Acts of rebellion with the sole purpose of creating problems are not constructive. It’s all about stirring up good trouble. Let’s be idealistic and constructive rebels, not for the sole purpose of derailing the status quo, but for the realistic and reasonable purpose of taking ownership our work environment for the good of the company (and, of course, ours).

To inspire you, I found many examples of small acts of rebellion. I was able to identify patterns in the different ways that people did it. Here are 4 rebellious strategies I could find in these multiple examples:

• Highlighting the ridiculousness of a situation
• Turning the arms against the system
• Creating a situation that inspires reflection
• Realigning with your own values

11 stories of positive rebellions

These stories are not necessarily related to life at work, but they are all examples where people have created small rebellions that have allowed instigators to inspire rapid change, create important reflection opportunities, or to realign with their values.

Strategy 1 – Highlighting the ridiculousness of a situation

I often say that few organizations make the effort to looking at themselves in a mirror. It is easy to ignore situations when you have developed the reflex of looking the other way. Some people, however, take pleasure in putting a huge mirror in front of the eyes of organizations, often accompanied by a big neon sign that says “HEY EVERYONE, LOOK HERE”.

In short, highlighting the ridiculous removes any possibility of ignoring the situation for very long. As all eyes are turned towards the organization that faces ridicule, it must act quickly to save face.

1. Flowers in potholes

A resident of Brussels was fed up with the number of potholes he found in his town, which grew faster than they were repaired. The 29-year-old Anton Schuurmans, equipped with flowers, soil and a bottle of water, started planting flowers in potholes.

This act did not go unnoticed, as he explains that at least 1 of the potholes was repaired 2 days after planting a flower.

Mr. Schuurmans was not the only one to have had this idea, or he may have inspired others. This is a trend that has been picked up around the world since.

Furious cyclist plants flower display in gaping potholehttp://t.co/oRUgFWios8 pic.twitter.com/tFEe9Qy3n5

— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) March 30, 2015

2. Phallic potholes

A joker who calls himself Wanksy, in honor of the British street artist Banksy, has decided to push the ridicule even further. Rather than planting flowers in potholes, Wanksy, armed with a can of washable paint, draws phallic forms around the potholes of his city, to highlight the ridiculousness of the situation.

Although a representative of the city of Manchester stated that obscene drawings would not speed up the repair of potholes, the majority of those that received the phallic treatment were repaired in less than two days!

Anonymous activist “Wanksy” gets potholes fixed by drawing giant penises around them: http://t.co/BKTkoEv0eA #Smart pic.twitter.com/7WoxWYIiD2

— Lauren O’Neil (@laurenonizzle) April 28, 2015

3. Secret ninja exit

To my dismay, I do not remember where I had heard this anecdote. I once read the story of an office where a huge hole remained unrepaired on the ceiling somewhere in a hallway.

An employee who was tired of seeing that this damage was not enough to make the building management company react simply decided to print a poster saying “Secret ninjas exit” and install it next to the hole.

The following week, the hole was repaired. And while I searched for photos, I saw that he was not the only one to make this little joke!

Strategy 2 – Turning the arms against the system

It is sometimes effective, sometimes not, very often satisfying. Organizations that are so rigid in the respect of their rules can sometimes get beaten at their own game. These small rebellions make it possible to feel that we are doing our part to change things. Sometimes a person is not enough, but a mass movement can make a huge difference.

4. The high price of unsolicited advertising

We all receive advertising by regular mail. Often these unsolicited advertisements include a pre-stamped return envelope. It is no longer a secret that it is possible to use these envelopes to return the advertisement to the company. The pre-stamped envelopes are charged to the companies from the moment they are processed in the mail. Many websites provide ways to return the mail to the sender so that they pay for their own ads.

If a pre-stamped envelope costs $ 1 to a business, and 1 million people send all the ads back to the company, their marketing campaign may cost them more than what been budgeted! That’s the cost of polluting people’s mailboxes!

If 10% of the population began to do this in a systematic way, it is a safe bet that this practice would disappear rather quickly.

Meta-hacking of advertisement in a bus stop

Here I am not talking about computer hacking, but a more interesting form of hacking, which consists of claiming ownership of a system and giving it back to citizens / users.

A citizen of London has simply decided to appropriate a part of his city, more precisely an advertising space located in a bus stop.

In this little “meta” act of rebellion, the person replaced an advertisement with a poster explaining how to hack a bus shelter advertisement. See the result.

Tremendous.#adhackmanifesto https://t.co/BhuFksXjrv

— Owen Williams ????????? (@OwsWills) April 22, 2019

This act of piracy seems to be an organized and growing initiative. It is even possible to download the instructions in PDF.

6. The restaurant with 1-star reviews

In 2014, a San Francisco-area restaurant owner named Davide Cerretini decided he was tired of being at the mercy of Yelp reviews. At the opening of his restaurant, he kept receiving calls from Yelp sales representatives, and when he refused to talk to them, he noticed that freshly received 5-star ratings were disappearing from his restaurant’s Yelp profile.

Being of Italian origin, Davide knew this is exactly how the mafia works and simply refused to be a victim of this kind of machination. It should be noted that Yelp categorically denies allegations of removal of good restaurant reviews and points out its algorithm.

Davide realized that Yelp was completely controlling his reputation. To thumb his nose at the situation, he started using Yelp’s data to turn the system against itself.

He created a newsletter in which he compiled the worst messages he received from the Yelp elite (which he called the Village Idiots). He also made a list of the silliest questions received on Yelp.

Eventually, Davide realized that he could very well live by not caring about his reputation on Yelp. “What if I removed their power from me by making the situation worse?”

One day, he put a sign in front of his store: “25% off for all those who give us a 1-star rating on Yelp“. (Later, this discount is raised to 50%).

He knew it was against Yelp’s rules, and that’s exactly what he wanted. And that was fine because at that time the Court of Appeals had just ruled that the manipulation of ratings and reviews by Yelp was a permissible practice and that it was a form of “hard bargaining”, not extortion.

The owners of small businesses being furious with this news, they found in Davide their hero. Davide has been visited by an avalanche of journalists, fellow owners, and supporters. The same day, he did as much business as in a regular month. He even had to ask for help and had to pizza dough in nearby businesses.

The brilliance of botto bistro, the worst-rated restaurant on Yelp @jillkrasny http://t.co/46abq8pSrk

— Inc. (@Inc) September 23, 2014

Strategy 3 – Creating a situation that inspires reflection

Sometimes, provoking reflection can be enough to become an act of rebellion. Many people, probably all of us, do a lot of things without asking the question, “Why are we doing this, again?” It becomes a reflex, and we quickly stop listening to our original suspicions.

7. The toy that’s neither pink nor blue

When it’s the birthday of my godson or my niece, I still have a lot of trouble being inspired to find a gift. In general, I show up a toy store, and I seek advice from an employee on site.

But as these children grow older, it’s hard to ignore the pattern according to which that girls’ toys are pink and boys’ toys are blue. I know people who are much more militant than me about this. For my part, I wonder: what does it mean, what is being passed on to children by reinforcing these gender patterns, what impact will that have, etc.?

So, to derail this pattern, when I ask for help to find a game, I only specify the age of the child, without saying whether it is a boy or a girl.

The first time it happened, and this surprised me, the employee really wasn’t sure how to approach this. He suddenly had to find a toy which first quality was to be educational. I had feedback, however, that my gifts were much more original and interesting since I was doing this. For this reason, every year, at birthdays and Christmas, I repeat the same thing, and I make an employee suffer a little in a toy store!

8. The right to bare arms

The British Columbia Legislature made headlines last March, since the Sergeant-at-Arms had repeatedly asked women to cover their arms in the corridors of the legislature on the pretext that it was illegal to be bare-armed. He simply affirmed that he was applying the regulation dating from 1980.

This intervention did not fail to create an outcry that found its way into social media, thanks to the hashtag #barearms. And it did not take more for women journalists and other employees to come to work with bare arms.

The initiative failed to get more than a reminder of the dress code, but the reflection went beyond the walls of the legislature and was appropriated by the public.

Do we look unprofessional to you? Women in the @BCLegislature are being told our bare arms are unprofessional, do not constitute proper business attire for the halls of the House #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/1lJSWngP34

— Shannon Waters (@sobittersosweet) March 28, 2019

9. Ginette’s dress code

This is the story of a non-rebellion that really, really needed to happen. My partner Maurice was the one to instigate it as he was involved with a client’s business, and it prompted a lot of reflections. He noticed that several people were wearing a funny outfit in the office: pajama bottoms and slippers, jogging pants and running shoes. When he asked around, he was told “Ah! That’s Ginette’s dress code. “

He dug to understand a little better. The dress code was dating back to the 1970s when very short skirts were fashionable. It turns out that an employee named Ginette really loved to wear the shortest skirts she could find and preferred to walk barefoot. It was highly inappropriate in this type of business, so the owner created a dress code ONLY because of Ginette:

• Obligation to wear shoes
• Obligation to have your legs covered

For 30 years, this regulation was in place for ONE SINGLE PERSON, who had not been in office for decades, and this regulation was abused at will, to the point where, instead of using their judgment, employees wore whatever piece of clothing that allowed them to check both of these criteria. Pajamas and slippers. Let’s be honest, they looked even more ridiculous than Ginette at the time.

It will have taken an external consultant to start wondering why they were following this obsolete regulation that wasn’t made for them, and to resume the habit of using their better judgment.

Strategy 4 – Realigning with your own values

Sometimes, our rebellious instinct shows up for no other reason than because our values are constantly trampled by the structures in place. Human beings have a need to feel aligned and in harmony with their values. When this need is constantly denied, it becomes more and more suffocating, like a plant that lacks sunlight.

10. The non-ethical corporation

In doing my research on small acts of rebellion, I found a rather interesting short story. An employee working for a company that once had very ethically questionable behaviors could not agree to pretend that nothing had happened.

Since the company’s lobby had computers with Internet access, this employee made it a habit go on every computer and load an article about the company’s offenses, and the way it tried to hide or smother the scandal.

Now, this employee is probably playing with fire but still continues to work for this company. But he is certainly a little more in tune with his values.

11. A simple denial of the status quo

Again, while doing my research on small rebellions, I found a very refreshing testimony of a person who acts simply according to his values, even though they seem to be contrary to what is socially acceptable or encouraged in his entourage.

His small acts of rebellion consist of trying to look after the interests of others. Whether it is to hold the door for someone or to ensure that their interests are represented in a conversation where they can not be present but that concerns them. He tries to be fair to those around him.

It may not be a rebellion strictly speaking, but in a world (or a country) where it is everyone for himself, this person likes to believe that by showing genuine compassion and empathy towards his peers, he rebels against a cultural movement that encourages self-centeredness, entitlement, and hatred.

What lessons can we learn from all this?

NOBODY IS COMING TO SAVE YOU!

If you want something, in life or at work, you will have to get it yourself. And it is not always effective or possible to do it by conventional means.

Are there small rebellions that would be safer than an overthrow? What can you do to highlight the ridiculousness of a situation? Can you turn the arms against a system that slows you down or infantilizes you? What small gesture can help you generate a reflection or realign with your values?

What unnecessary or outdated regulations could you challenge? How do you and your peers claim ownership of your work environment?

It’s time to put your imagination to good use and to put in check your ability to tolerate what gets in your way.

Having been on both sides of the hiring process, as a jobseeker and as a hiring manager, my discussions with candidates from all walks of life leave little room for interpretation: hiring processes are really painful. So much that some people think of it as a conveyor belt filled with candidates, who are sorted out by robotic arms that reject those who are not “perfect by the standards”.

Unless you check all the items from the list of requirements (let’s be serious, it never happens), and with the growing number of atypical candidates (I am myself black belt in atypicalness), it’s not easy to stand out with the tools and reflexes we normally have.

Basically, what I propose is to invest your time and efforts so that recruiters and managers come to you, rather than having to go to them.

In short, to work on your professional brand.

It’s all about not following the herd

Let’s not be afraid to name the problems. Maintaining and sending a resume, or keeping a LinkedIn profile up to date is within anybody’s reach. The same goes for the thousands of debilitating application forms that can be filled in to be in companies’ databases. (“I just sent my resume, why do I have to copy and paste all its content into a form?”)

Even if it takes time and effort, everyone can do that. And the best way to blend into a herd is to disguise yourself as sheep and bleat.

So the first step is to understand and accept that we can not just do the same as others, or do the bare minimum. First of all, nobody was ever able to change anything, including their own predicaments, by doing like everybody else. Also, why would a company be satisfied with those who are content with doing the bare minimum? Yes, you will need to invest time and effort. Yes, it’s not always pleasant. But you will get much better results. And you will have an influence on your future: you will be an actor or an actress in your job search, not a passive victim waiting for the favor of being chosen.

Over time, with my experiene and my interactions with people from all walks of life, I’ve come up with a list of tips to increase one’s professional brand, and be able to stand out, especially when looking for a job.

1. Adopt a growth mindset

This step is unavoidable and necessary for everything that follows in this article. None of the tips I will give you here will work if you indulge in a fixed mindset. You must remove your blinkers, and ignore those little thoughts suggesting that you can not do this or that.

In short, we need to stop putting spokes in our own wheels, learn to live with our impostor syndrome and even give it a good lesson. We will talk about it later. All the results you will get will be because you will have tried something new.

2. Surround yourself with people who do what you do and who believe what you believe

It’s not just about networking. By surrounding yourself with people who do the same thing as you, it’s almost inevitable that it will generate very interesting discussions, you will develop your curiosity, you will see with whom you have the most affinities, and it would not be surprising if you embark on some projects with some of those people.

In the end, you will end up being known to your peers, who will think of you when they hear that someone is looking for an expert in your field. And this group of people will certainly become your main audience, if you apply point # 4 of this article.

LinkedIn is a great way to develop this kind of network. When I became a Scrum Master in 2015, the first thing I did was add to my network all the Scrum Masters I could find in Montreal. Not only has it brought me a lot since then, but I have been able to bring them a lot as well.

Showing up at conferences, meetups, or events related to your expertise (many are free) is also a great way to make sure that people make a mental association between you and your expertise. This is not to be neglected.

3. Network strategically

Here we fall a little more in tangible action, especially following the previous step, and it could prove beneficial faster than my other advices. When you have found a lot of people doing what you do, and you have started to develop interesting relationships with some of them, you can certainly leverage this to your advantage.

For example, imagine that you have identified 5 people who seem to work in a healthy and interesting environment, you can ask them to put you in touch with their boss, their manager. Once this is done, offer this person to have a 15 minute call, or have a coffee with you.

First, the fact that you have been referred by an employee works in your favor. You do not have to say that you are looking for a job: you meet them to discuss the challenges that the market offers in your field of expertise, or values that you have in common. You can also say that you need an opinion about their perception of the current market, and see what they hope for the future.

Whether it’s a phone call or a coffee, you’ll have the opportunity to have a human touch first, and also ask them at the very end “Could you refer me to one or two people in your network with whom you share values and whom I could contact?”

This is when your network starts working for you. It is very rare that a person with whom you have created a tangible relationship will refuse to help you.

What will it bring you that your resume won’t

Let’s be honest, no one remembers a resume, unless it is more than extraordinary. However, people will remember how they felt in your presence, or when talking with you.

By meeting managers who vibrate on the same frequency as you, they will certainly remember you. Try to create a long-term relationship with them. When the time comes, they can put you in direct contact with people from their company when a position opens, and even recommend you. It is important to do this at all times, not just when looking for a new job.

4. Create relevant content about your expertise

There are many ways to do this, and I will give you several, ranked by increasing level of required efforts.

a) Share articles related to your values and beliefs

It’s certainly the easiest way to go. Find articles that make you tick, that talk about ways to solve problems that you regularly encounter, and share them with as many people as possible (or just in a LinkedIn post), and explain why you agree.

This generates excellent discussions, you will see who in your network shares your values, and you can engage in more serious relationships with these people.

And about the people who write these articles that you share, what prevents you from contacting them too? Who knows who they could put you in contact with? I swear, people who write articles bite very rarely, and like to help their readers 🙂

What will it bring you that your resume won’t

It’s a great way to share your values with recruiters, managers, and other decision-makers in your network. Not very easy to put our beliefs and values in a resume. By sharing stories that resonate with you, it’s easier to understand on what frequency you vibrate!

Personally, I have been contacted a few times by managers (and even a VP), from companies that were quite in demand, simply because I had shared some publications they liked. I had a coffee with them, and we discussed our plans for the future. One of these meetings, which turned into philosophical discussion, was eventually considered as an interview, and I was offered a job a few days later. None of these people asked to see my resume.

b) Post Q & A about your expertise on social media

This is something I have only been doing recently. Since 2018, I have been responding quite regularly to questions on Quora. Although this allowed me to grow my network internationally, I realized that these answers could bring a lot of value to my local network, so I started doing Q & A style publications on LinkedIn.

Until now, it has been very beneficial to me. First, the number of shares of my publications is higher than anything I’ve managed to do so far. I see very well who vibrates at the same frequency as me in my network, and each time I publish, I have several connection requests in the days that follow.

What will it bring you that your resume won’t

This opens a window directly to your expertise, your knowledge, your beliefs. This provides much more tangible proof of the expertise you are putting forward. Between someone who only has a resume, and someone who has a resume and who displays his expertise in this way, you have the advantage. The only flaw is that LinkedIn posts, even if they can be found on your profile, are quite ephemeral. People need to be active in order to see them. That does not mean it’s not worth it!

c) Write articles related to your expertise

More demanding in terms of time and efforts, writing articles on the realities of your field of expertise can really help you out of anonymity.

The first thing that many people will face is their impostor syndrome. “I do not have the authority to write on this topic.” Nobody will give you permission! Besides, nobody will come to save you either. Yes, it can be scary to write, to face criticism, and to risk being contradicted by people who may have more expertise than you.

If you are determined to adopt a growth mindset, this should not stop you. Make short experiments. Start with topics you master very well. Create articles from experiences you have lived. No one can contradict you about the way you gained your experience.

An easy way to start writing is to draw inspiration from one of your professional pains. Did you solve a problem that bothered you? Write what you did! It will inspire others who are in the same situation, and if people with more experience read your article, they can even give you great advice. It’s a win-win situation.

LinkedIn articles, or blogs like mine, can be great business cards. Very often, in concluding a discussion with someone I have just met, I offer to send them 2 or 3 articles I wrote, because I referred to them in our discussion. And I do it with recruiters as well.

Besides the articles, you do not have to limit yourself to writing. If things work out for you, nothing prevents you from making videos, or even a podcast! All of this is easily accessible nowadays.

What will it bring you that your resume won’t

In the long run, a notoriety. And certainly a very competitive advantage. Imagine someone who is recruiting, and who has two candidates with the same number of years of experience, but that one of them wrote 32 relevant articles on his expertise… This makes the choice a lot easier to do, not to mention everything you could bring to the company to showcase their corporate brand with your writings.

I lost track of times people wanted to meet me after that experiment where I put my network at the service of job seekers, or after the publication of my Practical Guide To Becoming A Terrible Manager.

In this case, it is your experience and your storytelling that work for you.

d) Publish a book?

I say this in the most naively way in the world, and under all reserves, it is an area in which I’m slowly making my first steps. If you can write articles and it works, what stops you from going further? For me, it was a challenge that I gave myself last year, to start writing a book in 2019. I am currently studying how to approach this adventure. I intend to publish “The practical guide to becoming a terrible manager, and how not to be that guy” or something along those lines…

Nowadays, self-publishing is more accessible than ever. We do not necessarily need to convince a publisher (even if it helps a lot) to publish our writings. And we do not even need to print copies in advance, e-books are popular, and many platforms offer print-on-demand options. In addition, a book does not have to be very long, even between 100 and 200 pages, it remains a book.

I will refine this part of the article when I have completed the experiment myself. But the idea is not to stop at what you know. Innovate. Do what others don’t dare to do! How many people can boast of having written a book?

What will it bring you that your resume won’t

You should probably include this in your resume. But I do not need to draw you a picture. A recruiter can choose between two candidates with equal experience, but one of them has written a book about his area of expertise. It’s… significant, to say the least.

5. Impersonate your expertise

Definitely an approach that requires a good mastery of your impostor syndrome, and that will tap into your growth mindset. If writing articles and spreading your expertise is no longer too much of a challenge for you, maybe it’s time to put yourself a little more at risk, and begin to personify your expertise.

By this I mean to start giving workshops or giving lectures. To become the face and voice of your expertise. Its figurehead.

And it does not have to be a very painful or abrupt learning. You could simply begin by organizing a meetup style event, with the help of one or two people from your network.

Many events in the recruiting field often look for volunteer speakers to tell their story. You can contact teachers to discuss the possibility of talking in front of their class. There are plenty of ways to make yourself known in this way, and the only person who can stop you from doing it is yourself.

In conclusion

Whether you are an atypical candidate, or simply a job seeker expert at being interviewed, you should not lose hope. Just because recruitment in its current form does not benefit you does not mean it will always be as such.

By daring doing something new to stand out, you will never be a mere victim of “not having been chosen” just because you have agreed to comply with a recruitment system that requires you to be passive and simply smile, except when it’s time to perform in an interview.

No one is forced to be a victim in this job market, and by taking charge of your professional brand, you position yourself much more as an actor in your professional life.

Have you tried it? Do you feel that a new world is opening before you? It may be the result of your career turning antifragile!

I end with a quote that inspired me a lot as I started working on my professional branding myself…

Work until you don’t have to introduce yourself anymore

I recently spoke in a private event. A company created an internal initiative called The Innovation Week, and they wanted to ensure that the mindset of innovation kept going for the rest of the year. They hired us to give a speech on the matter. Here is a summary of our conference.

Soft skills at the service of innovation

Innovation is not an goal. It’s difficult to measure. “Our level of innovation has increased by 39% this quarter”, that does not exist. While teams can be dedicated to innovation, such as teams of intrapreneurs, for instance, it is also not an expertise you can find on a resume. There is no certificate in innovation, as far as I know.

Innovation is a mindset. It’s a set of reflexes that can be leveraged, using our hard skills, which is common practice, and our soft skills, which is a little less common. What I mean is that we often have the technical expertise to innovate, but not always the mental reflexes to stimulate innovation. There are technological tools for tangible innovations, we use them every day. There are also other tools – both practical and conceptual – to foster an innovation mindset.

Knowing this, we can say that innovation is a culture, or at least requires a certain culture to happen. We have identified 4 key points that are necessary to foster of an innovation mindset that will last over time: agency, intention-based leadership, our power of influence, and the ability to change intangible ideas into tangible projects by experimenting.

A culture that favors agency

Agency is one’s ability to deliberately affect their environment. Basically, it’s our power to act, to voluntary influence our surroundings. When people decide to wash the dishes because there are too many dirty dishes in their sink, they are being agentive. They take a deliberate action to improve their environment. It’s an innate behavior in humans. However, the workplace is one of the only places where this natural parameter is programmed to be disabled by default. At work, we ask permission to take action.

Agency is not the same as empowerment. Empowerment has its limits, and shows several differences with agency.

• Empowerment is a permission given by another person of higher hierarchical rank. Agency is innate, it is a mindset everybody is capable of, and it is deliberate.
• Empowerment can be withdrawn by your superior, by senior management, and anyone in between. Agency being a mindset, is permanent and can not be removed.
• Empowerment perpetuates the status of followers. Agency allows the creation of new leaders.
• Empowerment works as long as we respect the structure in place. Agency works as long as there is a will.

For more information on the subject, I wrote an article entitled Empowerment Is Not Enough, Go For Agency Instead.

A culture of intention-based leadership and leader-leader relationships

People behave according to the way they are treated. Have you ever heard a manager yell “This is a real kindergarten here!”? I guarantee you that this guy treats his peers like preschool kids.

David Marquet, from the US Navy, has tried the opposite. He had just received his rank of captain for the submarine USS Sante Fe. He had to deal with the worst crew of the US Navy. He stopped giving orders, and began telling his crew what he intended to do, and then let them decide how best to get there. This is called intentional leadership. In doing so, not only did he stop treating his peers as soldiers or executants, but he began to consider their expertise, their collective intelligence and their better judgment. He stopped treating them like followers, and began treating them like leaders.

In the end, his crew has collected the highest score of all armies combined in history. On average, in a submarine with a crew of 30, about 1 or 2 sailors eventually become captain. In the crew of Captain Marquet, 9 people became captains. Other captains began visiting her submarine to learn how to achieve such an accomplishment. This guy has managed to create a factory of leaders in a nuclear submarine, nothing less. This is the story I prefer to tell the most, having tried it myself in business, with very impressive results. I also wrote an article on the subject, titled The Colossal Impact of Leader-Leader Relationships.

Note that leader-leader relationships do not only go top down but also buttom up and horizontally. We can treat our boss the way we would like him to behave, and the same goes for co-workers.

A culture that leads people to develop their influence

Not everyone knows how to ask for something in a proper manner. In 16 years, my son will probably ask me for permission to use my car this way “Hey pops, give me the keys to your car”, and it will be with great pleasure that I will refuse him as a matter of principle because that is not a way to ask for something.

So my colleagues and I have devised a process in 3 simple steps that we like to call “How to convince anyone of anything“. This is often scary to managers, and in the end, they end up thanking us because it will save them 1 to 2 days of busy work a week.

If one has to innovate, one must be able to explain why he would do it. A company will not fund all the ideas that come to people’s mind. In fact, most companies will not be interested in people’s ideas until they can attach a dollar sign to it. So let’s see how we can improve that. It’s good for both managers and employees. There are 3 steps

1. Make sure your idea fits into their agenda

Everyone has an agenda, especially high-ranking people in businesses. They have goals to achieve, aspirations, and KPIs. They also have a gun to their head (figuratively speaking) that is brandished by someone higher than them. If you want to convince them of something, you will need to empathize and try to understand what THEY need to succeed. If you offer them something diametrically opposed to where they are going, it is almost guaranteed that you will have a no. So, basically, you have to see how the idea you are trying to sell helps your manager succeed.

2. Do the work for them

I know I know. It means having to work to get what you want. What we mean here is: give them all the information they need to make the right decision. If they do not have the information, they can not make that decision. They have things to do, they are busy, and have a gun to their head. Finding information to support your request is at the bottom of their to-do list.

There is plenty of information you can provide: costs, return on investment (tangible, like money or time saved, or less tangible, like other benefits such as increased retention, engagement, etc.), comparisons with what the competition does, etc.

A quick and efficient way to get this information is to fill out a Business Model Canvas. Here is a simplified version that we have created to gather important data when it comes to selling ideas. It takes 30 minutes to complete, you can do it with your colleagues, and it allows you to ask yourself the right questions, especially those we often forget.

Problem: What problem are you trying to fix?
Why? : Why does this problem need to be fixed?
Customer segment: For whom do you solve the problem? Who will this solution affect? (Customers, other departments, other teams, users)
Distribution channels: By what means will you set up your solution, communicate its value?
Solution: A summary of the solution you propose
Cost Structure: What will be the costs? What will cost what?
Key indicators: What should be measured to determine if the idea is successful? (Ex: Number of visits, number of users, traffic, customer satisfaction)
Return on Investment: A projection of the benefits you expect your idea to generate. (Ex: Increased customer satisfaction, increased sales, increased revenue by 3% to 6%, reduced workload, save 1 hour per day for employees).

Basically, when trying to convince someone of your idea, make sure that the only thing they have to do is accept and sign. Do not give them the burden of having to do the work for you. And even if your manager needs approval from above, you’ll have given him all the arguments he needs to convince his own boss.

3. Make it so that saying YES is easier than saying NO

Or, the alternative to this title: make it so that it becomes a bad idea, or completely stupid to say no. The goal is to put forward what it would cost NOT to say yes. Take every conceivable risk of not implementing your idea, make them visible, and known to everyone. You can even create a risk chart with your team or department. And when you make your request, with all your ROI information, give them all the risks it would represent not to go ahead with your idea. Risks that are known to all.

At this point, if the risks are higher than the costs, it is very likely that you will have a green light to move forward with your innovation or change. It is always possible for the answer to be no. But if one of the risks raised becomes reality, you can always tell your boss “We told you so”.

Encourage small controlled experiments

Most companies are allergic to chaos and uncertainty. They want to be CERTAIN, before making a decision, that it is the right decision. The problem is that no exhaustive analysis or study provides as much data as trying something out.

So, if you have almost convinced your boss to go with your idea, but that he’s is still hesitant, because it could be risky and we aren’t sure of anything (and also, gun to their head), offer him to do a small controlled experiment.

The two main advantages of these experiments are that they validate your hypotheses, and they test your riskiest assumptions.

SMALL: On a small scale. An experiment can be done on a small group of users, or by a small team. In technology, you can create a prototype on a local server with a partial database, for example.

CONTROLLED: An experiment is controlled when it has a time limit, success criteria, and a list of things you want to verify. You can even have a budget (in dollars or allotted time).

When the experiment is over and you have collected enough data, there are 3 possible paths:

1. Stop everything, we were wrong. It’s a good thing we did not continue, and we did not lose a ton of money on this idea.
2. Stop everything, and we move to the overall implementation because we were right and our assumptions were validated.
3. Another controlled experiment is required to collect additional data and or verify other or new assumptions.

Conclusion

A company that can gain and own these 4 mindsets has no excuse not to change, improve and innovate. A team mastering these 4 mindsets naturally has the necessary qualities to be a team of intrapreneurs. It could help you innovate where your competition does not. But hurry up. Your competition definitely is already innovating.

At GoPyrate!, we offer workshops to help teams acquire these reflexes and mindsets, and we offer practical tools to support them. Feel free to contact me if you want a conference on this topic in your organization!

Employee empowerment has the wind in its sails, but it also has certain limitations. Agency, however, goes much further in the development of your employees.

Empowerment

Definition of “Empowerment“
In the sphere of management and organizational theory, “empowerment” often refers loosely to processes for giving subordinates (or workers generally) greater discretion and resources: distributing control in order to better serve both customers and the interests of employing organizations.

Empowerment, according to Wikipedia

The concept of empowerment is not new, but I have mainly heard about it in the last 5 years. Companies, seeing that the command and control approach is equivalent to accompanying each employee towards the door one performance review at the time, changed their mind and began to think that giving more room for decisions and responsibilities to their employees could have a positive impact on their motivation and therefore their performance.

None of this is false. If we trust Daniel H. Pink’s works, intrinsic motivation is composed of three aspects: mastery, meaning, autonomy. It is this autonomy that is aimed at when a company or a manager take initiatives towards the empowerment of their employees.

The problem with empowerment

The great problem with empowerment is that this increase in discretion and decision-making power is granted to employees by a hierarchically superior force. A manager can choose to move forward with the empowerment of his employees, usually with the goal of increasing motivation, growth, and performance. Corporate empowerment is often an initiative of management, which is spread across various departments via a management and training structure.

That being said, what happens if a manager who is a big fan of empowerment leaves and is replaced by someone who is quite less benevolent? No more empowerment. The organization decides that it does not work? No more empowerment. The organization is bought by a multinational corporation that “does not believe in these things”? No more empowerment. And the fallout from these change of minds will be dangerous. One does not take back the freedom of motivated people without suffering the consequences.

In short, empowerment exists in a relationship of power. And the name says it. “I elect to give you more power.” I empower you. Captain David Marquet explains this problem very well in his book “Turn the Ship Around”, but through leader-follower relationships.

He argues that many leaders have the reflex of empowering their collaborators, but the consequence is that this further strengthens their own leader status, as well as the follower’s status. If the leader must be there, and must voluntarily and consciously confer more power to his followers, their empowerment is directly dependent on the will of the leader.

So, basically, empowerment consolidates, strengthens and maintains the status of followers of your peers, because they can not give themselves these powers. It will never turn them into natural leaders. Here lies the limit of the concept of empowerment in businesses.

Agency

Definition of “Agency”
In the social sciences and philosophy, agency is the faculty of action of a being; his ability to act on the world, things, beings, to transform or influence them. In sociology, agency is the capacity to act, as opposed to what the structure imposes.

Structure and Agency
In social sciences, there is an ongoing debate about the primacy of structure or agency in shaping human behavior. Structures are sets of devices that influence or limit the choices and opportunities available. Agency is the ability of individuals to act independently of social structures and to freely make their own choice.

Agency and Structure and Agency, translated from French on Wikipedia

Agency is the ability of a person to make decisions and act on their free will, and to influence their immediate environment. It is more natural in some people, less in others, but it is something that one can work on and develop.

We can’t remove the agency of a person, unlike empowerment. You can certainly prevent someone from exercising agency, however, at our own peril, it would be like depriving a plant of air, water and sun. A person who takes a lot of initiatives and innovates shows agency. Limiting this person’s agency basically means turning him into a pawn, an executant.

Hierarchical and corporate structures are not always tolerant of people’s agency. As defined above, agency is the ability to act as opposed to a structure. But employees with a strong sense of agency will be those who stir good trouble. Those who question for the common good. Those who will go around or bend a few rules to create new ones, or bring value in a way no one would have ever imagined. Those who will take over part of the structure that does not work for them to improve or adapt it to their reality, resulting in the optimization of their team’s work and its efficiency. And all of this without asking permission.

Now, imagine an entire team that demonstrates an increased sense of agency, and that receives the research and development mandate in a company. The potential of such a team will be dangerous for the competition.

The advantages of agency according to GoPyrate

In our workshops, we like to tell the participants that we are there to help them develop their super powers. Because our goal is always to increase the agency of a team. The techniques taught are all meant to involve more the team in their own work as well as in business processes. 

This is also the reason why we push to use real cases that the team is (or has been) involved with. It helps ground the teachings their own realities. Every company is slightly different and, as trainers, we can’t cover every variant. But your own realities can. We don’t even adapt our teachings to your realities, but we help the team do it. That way they own what they learn a lot more, and their agency develops as their confidence with the material grows and as they can directly sees how all theses ideas relate to them in a very concrete fashion.

It’s all about growing their agency.

By capitalizing on agency development, teams become more autonomous, more engaged and more innovation-driven. They also learn to communicate more with management and become more involved with business goals instead of just executing orders.

You pay your experts quite a lot, better make sure that they can contribute to the best of their abilities.

Our training is very freeform. The first thing we’ll do will be a small retrospective: We look at what they tried so far and how did it go, what are the things that they’d like to improve at work, what are the greatest challenges. From that short session, we’ll have all the priorities of your team, and all the material we need to improve on what they learned as well as what new ideas to introduce.

That’s the key with our workshops : It’s all about you, your team, your company, your needs. 

It works well with engineers, but also with managers, salespeople, HR people, etc… Most of our clients are teams of managers.

Training a team takes time. In fact, it takes quite a lot of time outside the time we’re there. We’re just the tip of the iceberg. We aim to teach principles rather than hard techniques. We want people to understand how this work and what is the value for them, and then we let them experiment over weeks. That’s good for any company.

You need people that are curious, stimulated, and bent on improving. When the employees stop being alive, the company itself is moribund. Good training is stimulating and give them a jolt. 

If you’d like to know more about GoPyrate services, visit www.gopyrate.com

This short story, besides the fact that I’m one of its protagonists, really caught the attention, and inspired many in the room, to the point where quite a good amount of people have asked to meet me as a result of this event. And as a bonus, it is a tangible example of what it is to be an Everyman Leader, a leadership role that’s accessible to all and that you can explore further in the article Of the 3 Leader Roles, Which One Are You Perfect For?.

It happened a few months back…

While I was still a manager in a company, I received a LinkedIn connection request from a complete stranger. She explained to me, in private messages, that she just moved to Canada from India, where she was born. She was looking for a job as a business analyst and asked me if we needed her services in my workplace.

I told her that I couldn’t help her with such a position in my company, but that I would be pleased to put her in relation with some recruiters from Montreal who could help her a lot more than I could myself.

*badang*

Even though she lived in Toronto (she was ready to move anywhere in Canada), I almost heard her fall from her chair from where I was sitting.

“Why are you helping me?”, she asks.

She specifies : “I have more than 2000 people in my network, I have contacted dozens of recruiters and managers, and you are the first who one does not just answer me in the negative, but also offers to help me.”

I realized that I was simply acting the way I would like others to act with me if I were in her situation. It is not more complicated than that. I was surprised that she was surprised.

To answer her question …

“It’s five minutes in my day. But to you, right now, it means the world, and maybe even a career. Who am I to deprive you of this?”

She asked me what she could offer me in return. I simply told her to take 5 minutes, as soon as she could, to help someone in turn.

Being an Everyman Leader isn’t rocket science

Whenever people say they are not leaders, they are usually Everyman Leaders. You know, those people who will sometimes take a few minutes to help you, and who end up making your day? They are the ones. They are not always aware of their leadership.

It’s a leadership style that you can develop. I like to compare it to going to the gym or brushing your teeth. No one gets in shape by going to the gym a single day in the year, and you don’t avoid having cavities by brushing your teeth for 24 hours straight once a year. A few minutes a day are enough. The same goes to become an Everyman Leader.

The trick is pretty simple. It’s about being vigilant, and trying to find opportunities for helping someone. It can be anything: lend a book, send a video, help someone to do something, or, as in my story, introduce someone to people who could help them better than you could.

We become a good Everyman Leader the day we succeed in creating opportunities to help people before they ask for it. Sometimes even before they think they need help.

What if…

Can you imagine if everyone took 5 minutes a day, just 5 minutes, to help someone like that, what an impact we would have?

What’s stopping you from doing it?

PS: Today, this woman does not work in Montreal, but she got a new job 1 month later in Toronto.

I could have titled this article The Destructive Potential of Leader-Follower Relationships, but sometimes I prefer to see the positive side of things, you know.

This article is based on the theory according to which people behave exactly the way they are treated. In short, if we treat people as leaders, they will behave like leaders. If we treat them as schoolchildren, they will behave as such as well.

At the time of writing this article, I am reading the book Remote: Office Not Required, a book about remote work, written by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, founders of 37Signals. Here is an excerpt from this book:

People have an amazing ability to live down to low expectations. If you run your ship with the conviction that everyone’s a slacker, your employees will put all their ingenuity into proving you right. If you view those who work under you as capable adults who will push themselves to excel even when you’re not breathing down their necks, they’ll delight you in return.

Source : Remote : Office Not Required, by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

After reading this excerpt, I challenged my memory to find situations that could help prove this theory. I found some, and they are good ones.

The Corporate Kindergarten

In 2006, I worked for a few months for a company that was… special. It did not turn out to be a great experience, to the point where you won’t find it on my LinkedIn profile or in my resume. In this company, employees were treated as kindergarten children. No kidding. Just like a daycare.

For example, every Friday afternoon we had a 30-minute period where everyone had to actively clean their desk. It was not an employee initiative, but a business initiative, and it was mandatory. They would come and watch over to make sure it was done. Each time, it reminded me of the end-of-year days at the primary school where we used to clean our desks for the class that would inherit them in September. But these Friday afternoons are anecdotal compared to what follows.

Every day at 3pm (yes, our work schedule was from 7am to 3pm, you see, because the boss was an early bird, so all his subjects had to be too), we had to pick up our belongings, and wait in line near the door.

And when the boss was satisfied with the way the chairs were placed, the overall look of the office and our attitude, we had the right to leave the office and go back home.

So you imagine the kind of environment all of this generated. Many pretended to go to the bathroom at 2:50PM so that they could leave earlier, and of course, those who stayed were paying the price. Others would make it a point, in a spirit of contradiction, of joining the queue a few minutes late just so that the boss would also have to wait for them before leaving.

This company was able to successfully turn a bunch of adults into 6-year-olds. People were putting more energy into not getting caught by the bosses than doing their job. Small conspiracies, gossip, and denunciations had become the daily life of this business. After 6 months, I was the one with the most seniority there, because most ended up leaving or being fired. I did not wait for my turn to come, and like a rat following his survival instinct, I left the ship before it sank deeper.

This company still exists to this day. They moved, and changed their business model, but they still exist. I’m not really curious to know how they pulled it off. They probably deserved their school children. I do not know if their higher management learned anything from this situation.

Turn the Ship Around

On the other hand, I would like to give you a short summary of the work of Captain David Marquet of the United States Navy. Captain Marquet wrote the book Turn the Ship Around, in which he recounts his first experience at the head of a submarine.

David Marquet had been studying the USS Olympia submarine for months ahead of his captaincy. He had studied all the pipes, cables, parts, he knew the files of his crew members by heart. He absolutely wanted to be a good captain.

Some time before his nomination as the captain of the USS Olympia, he received a call informing him that he would instead be the captain of the USS Santa Fe, a newer submarine, but very different from the Olympia. Oh yes, and by the way, the crew of the Sante Fe was the worst performing crew in the entire US Navy. Just a detail like that.

Mr. Marquet, with confidence and pride, accepted the challenge. He thought that he would be a good captain, and if he gives good orders everything will be fine. So he became captain of the Santa Fe. On his first outing, the crew ran some simulations, Captain Marquet gave orders, the crew executed them, everything was fine. This was repeated a few times, without pitfalls.

One day, Captain Marquet decides to simulate a crisis situation. The idea was to pretend that the nuclear reactor of the submarine had melted, and that they had to return to port using the emergency batteries. During this exercise, Captain Marquet decides to add a little stress to the situation. He gives the order to adjust the speed to 2/3.

—  Ahead 2/3, he orders to his second officer.

His second officer repeats the order aloud, so that all may hear it.

— Ahead 2/3!

 Nothing happens.

The captain walks towards the officer in charge of executing this order, and asks him what is wrong.

— 2/3 is not a setting that exists on the Santa Fe, captain.

Captain Marquet turns to his second officer.

— Were you aware of that?
— Hem, yes
— Why did you give the order then?
— Well … Because you told me to…

Oh. It was at this point that Captain Marquet realized that the system was optimized for his officers to do whatever he ordered, in a nuclear submarine of which he knew nothing about and that spent most of his time in deep waters… “This is how we die,” he thought.

It took no more for him to gather his crew, and announce that from now on, he would give no more orders. He was going to announce his intentions. In short, rather than saying what to do and how to do it, the captain began to express the results he wanted to achieve, and then let his crew find the optimal way to achieve these results.

Captain Marquet adopted and maintained a leader-leader relationship with his crew. This dynamic allowed his crew to give free rein to their agency, their expertise and their sense of initiative. Captain Marquet started treating his crew members as the leaders they naturally were.

Guess what happened?

At the next evaluation of the crew, they got results that were not commonplace: they received the best score in the history of the army, all countries combined.

In a submarine crew of about thirty members, one or two officers on average eventually climb the ladder to become captains themselves. This represents 3% to 6% of a crew. In the crew of Captain Marquet, nine officers finished their career as captains. One in three!

Captain Marquet had managed to turn a nuclear submarine into a leadership factory.

From that moment, captains and crews from other naval units began visiting the Santa Fe regularly to see what was happening there. When he retired from the navy, Captain Marquet became a speaker and an author, wishing to share his story in other areas where it could be useful.

Obviously, I have removed a lot of details from this story by summarizing it. All of this did not work the first time, and the crew had to do a lot of trials and errors before finding what worked for them. But the essential is there.

Now, just do it

It was while reading the book Turn the Ship Around that I decided to change my career path and to return to a management role. I wanted to apply these principles. And I confirm, it works very well with a motivated team that craves autonomy.

Today, leader-leader relationships is a topic I talk about in my conferences, and I reproduce this approach in work units from all walks of life with GoPyrate!. Besides, we are very comfortable to compare traditional management to “telling children what to do”, and modern management to “trusting adults”. The same goes for leadership.

The world of work has everything to gain by getting rid of the tired old dynamic where it’s commonplace to treat employees like schoolchildren, soulless executants, obedient cattle…

We harvest what we sow, and we deserve what we harvest …

This network brings me so much that I decided to give back to it.

I recently made a call to all recruiters in Montreal because I knew two developers who were looking for a job. I was able to put them in touch with 7 recruiters.

And here I asked myself: what would happen if I put my network at the service of job seekers in Montreal?

The experiment

On the Tuesday morning, I shared this image on LinkedIn:

During the 2 days that followed, I received private messages from about 30 people. I told them about what I was trying to accomplish. I asked them what they really wanted to do, regardless of their background.

I spent a good part of my Wednesday compiling the details of the candidates and the jobs they wanted to get.

On Thursday morning, I posted this image on LinkedIn, with a link to the list of jobs that the candidates were looking for:

This image was obsolete very quickly as other candidates were added to the experiment. In the end, 35 candidates were presented.

28 recruiters or managers came forward on that Thursday. On the Friday morning, I made 71 introductions by email (yes, all by hand or almost). I reused the same message, and customized it according to the position the candidate was looking for, and adding the names of the two interested parties.

On the weekend that followed, I sent surveys to both candidates and recruiters to gather feedback. The survey responses are presented below.

The hidden rules

As the experiment progressed, it went from “I can help my network help itself” to “there is something to be learned from this experiment”.

So I decided to impose rules onto my experiment. They were not explicit for the participants, they were more like my guidelines for myself.

• The experiment was to serve the candidates before companies.
• The experiment was to foster human contact and curiosity rather than traditional hiring processes.
• The experiment was to prevent candidates from being disqualified in advance by companies.

In the end, since all I do serves the promotion of people at the heart of the world of work, the idea was to encourage human contact. To make sure people would have to talk to each other first.

The feedback

Here are the results of the surveys. I did not include all the answers, many were similar, others were less relevant.

Feedback from candidates

22 respondents out of 35 (63%) candidates answered the survey.

What did you like about my approach?

• Very practical and well targeted. Sincere. Organized.
• The idea of putting people in touch and the condideration for us.
• Innovative, there is also a more humane element than presenting resumes. You introduce two people based on common interests, it’s like speed dating. The fact that Olivier took the time to put us in touch motivates us to make more efforts than simply sending a CV.
• The personalized approach in my case was great. Job search can become long and difficult. This is one of the most pleasant experiment in which I have had the opportunity to participate.
• The speed of the process: you took 2 days to put me in touch with 2 people.
• It was simple, effective and easy.

How did my approach differ from what you have experienced before?

• I have never been offered this kind of help on LinkedIn.
• This is my first experience and there was a connection with a job giver. I sent a note to the person but they did not answer back.
• I had answers very quickly after your introduction. You bring trust in the candidate / recruiter relationships.
• We feel that it is not “your job” but that you really are happy to help us.
• Simple and straightforward approach. The fact that you do not work for an agency, we go directly to the goal. Much more attentive to what we are looking for.
• The genuine interest for our success, the authentic side.
• I had never tried the networking way before. This method was less robotic, and allowed more contacts and results in my case than sending a resume and cover letter to open positions on LinkedIn or Indeed.ca.
• Normally, people do not want to help and if they say they will, they do not follow up. When I contact them again, I have no answer. A huge thank you to you Olivier. Excellent work!
• Less formality, speed of the answers, but especially the sharing of your own contacts.

What did you learn from the recruiting world by participating in this experiment?

• I felt less alone. I feel that my state of job seeker is shared with many others.
• There are many other ways to connect people. We are trying too hard to put square pegs in a round holes.
• That networking brings much more potential to finding a job that suits me, and many more opportunities can be considered too!
• That recruitment starts with allowing others to access our own professional networks.
• This method is not really meant for new graduates, I think it is more for people with previous experience.
• Why do we spend a fortune on head hunters who don’t even take the time to meet us nowadays?
• This approach is different, it is authentic … it changes from “formatted” discussions and tense candidate-recruiter relationships.

Should more people take the initiative of putting their network at the service of job seekers?

• Yes: 95.5%
• Maybe: 4.5%

Do you believe that your chances of getting a job following this experiment are good?

• Yes: 59.1%
• No: 22.6%
• I was not selected by a recruiter: 18.2%

Feedback from recruiters

13 respondents out of 28 (46%) recruiters responded to the survey.

What did you like about my approach?

• Human approach, positive support for both job seekers and recruiters.
• The sensitivity to the needs of others, a real feeling of wanting to help.
• The direct offer sent to the network. It’s like jumping over the first step of our process.
• I liked the simplicity of the approach, based on the professional interests of the candidates.
• The initiative to connect your network of job seekers with me, spontaneously and without any particular expectations, in networking mode.
• Your human side, as always! 🙂
• The will to help without monetary intention.

How does my approach differ from what you have experienced before?

• It was “real”. Non-profit objective.
• It’s more than just sharing on the newsfeed. There is a human commitment behind it: that of simply wanting to help with a little push.
• Having an intermediary in my sourcing: I usually source directly via Linkedin but it is difficult to target potential candidates.
• No other interest than to help.
• First initiative of this type seen on Linkedin (this type of approach exists, but via recruiters attached to recruitment firms only – or in isolation for 1 friend to refer – you have put many people in contact).
• It is a volunteer approach.
• Sincere willingness to help without any other particular expectation in return.
• Often, people expect for something in return ($) and forget that it’s good to help people for the simple act of helping.

What could have I done differently?

• In my case, the candidate is not on the Canadian territory so I suggest to better target or better communicate information. Maybe mention “availability of several candidates from around the world.”
• It satisfies me, given the time it took to have done that already.
• The candidates could have provided a small paragraph explaining their background.
• For a relationship, it’s good. If you want to go further there are plenty of things to do without falling into the services of a recruitment agency.
• You could have qualified a little more your candidates and your contacts. As you know, recruitment, before being a title + a city is a project for everyone with many criteria that are more or less displayed. Not to mention values ​​and the cultural aspect … In short, it is a profession and intermediation will eventually be replaced by machines.
• In our case, it would have been helpful to know if the candidates were in Canada or outside Canada, but after all, it’s up to us to analyze the profiles. 😉
• Being a reference on Linkedin, we could (potential candidates and recruiters) contact you to be put in contact with potential candidates as you did, to facilitate your work, a platform could be put in place.
• 1st very positive experience.

Following this experiment, do you believe that your chances of hiring a referred candidate are good?

• Yes: 15.4%
• No: 23.1%
• Maybe: 61.5%

Notable observations

Two unexpected things happened during the experiment, one that amazed me, and the other that disappointed me.

A touch of disappointment

A recruiter asked me to disclose the identity of the candidates in order to be able to filter them in advance, and ensure a good “fit”, all this to avoid creating false expectations.

I was surprised. I explained that the idea was precisely to put people in touch on the basis of common interests, and therefore, to communicate with people, not to discriminate / favor them upfront. They might have very surprising discussions with these candidates, and the worst that could happen was that would be a time loss of about 10 minutes.

Having had no response from this person, I still sent the introductions by email. I do not know if this person has agreed to talk to the candidates.

No bad feelings, of course. Had I posted the hidden rules of the experiment, it is likely that fewer recruiters would have contacted me. We’ll never know.

The experiment has proven an important point

Another recruiter contacted me. The candidate I sent him had already applied for the position prior to the experiment. They had put his resume aside, judging that his technical profile was too junior.

However, after speaking to the candidate, the recruiter had an excellent feeling, and they reconsidered their decision and agreed to meet him in an interview.

Human contact: 1
Curriculum Vitae: 0

It’s been a while since I decided not to update my CV anymore and not send it to anyone. Those who are interested in my profile can come and talk to me. We now have a tangible proof that the CV does not say everything and can cause more harm than good. For my part, I consider it more like a nuisance. That’s one more step towards the death of the Curriculum Vitae. After all, even its name comes from a dead language.

My conclusions

The fact that it was free made the experiment more noble

In the feedback I got, it is very obvious that both the candidates and the recruiters appreciated that it was voluntary, and that the goal was not to make money.

For the candidates, I understand. Those who do not have a job right now are probably living on whatever money they have left, and being offered help because someone cares about their future must bring back some faith in humanity.

If helping candidates went without saying for me, you can believe me when I say I didn’t do this experiment for free out of pity for the recruitment firms. I know that most recruiters can appreciate a genuine concern for job seekers. On the other hand, I did a part of their work, so of course, the fact that it was free was very much appreciated.

Several people have suggested to automate this service and make a profit from it. I thought about it. But the automation of this initiative would remove the human element of the act, and would risk creating another hiring platform as there are already so many. Also, I must live from my work, and am not interested in copying / pasting emails all day long.

In short, this experiment cost me 15 hours in 3 days and was quite profitable in terms of networking (300+ new LinkedIn connections in one week, and one of my posts having reached 200+ likes and 25 000+ views), for my values and for my curiosity, but absolutely not profitable for my fridge and my mortgage. But that wasn’t the intent anyway.

It was more human than traditional recruitment

Both candidates and recruiters liked the humanity of my approach. I saw it in the survey responses and in the thank-you messages I received from participants.

I did not use a mechanical and dehumanizing process, I was attentive to the candidates’ aspirations and dreams, I did not care about their past experience, their seniority, their technical skills. I was mindful of their potential. And even if I did not know them, I had faith in them and their desire to succeed.

Recruiters, wake up!

I take advantage of the disclosure of the result of this experiment to give a bit of tough love to my recruiter friends. “Spare the rod and spoil the child”, they say.

When I think that an improvized experiment like mine was perceived as “more humane than traditional recruitment”, I feel sorry for the candidates, and I ask the recruiters of Montreal: what are you going to do now?

Will you tolerate the fact that a guy like me, who is not a recruiter and comes out of nowhere, can step on your toes by improvising an experiment, and do part of your work for free only to be told that he is more human, more attentive and more effective than you?

Do something! Right now! Start by challenging your processes and throw your checklists out of the window. You are humans too, not slaves of your tools. Go back to the basics. Who do you do your work for? Who do you serve? Your bosses or your candidates? Would the company still be in business if you had no more candidates? Bend the rules, break them and create new ones. This is exactly what I did in this experiment. You will be astonished by what you will be able to accomplish!

OK, good. Now that you are awake, what are you going to do?

In my last job, having been the only full time manager dedicated to people’s development in my department, I made sure my teams were as autonomous as they could be. When I announced that I was leaving for new exciting endeavors, my former boss and I agreed that I could come up with a social contract for people who would end-up with some of the responsibilities I had.

Our definition of social contract : An agreement representing what we believe in, and whose signatories would have to respect. This social contract is a way to let people manage in the way they want, but by keeping the spirit of the department in mind. 

I thought it was definitely worth sharing here. Those who know me will not be surprised that it is a people-oriented social contract. Here it goes.

1. We are working for our people

We understand that as managers and servant-leaders, we are working for the success of our people, and not the other way around.

2. It’s not and will never be about us

We understand that nothing we do is about us, our job, position in the hierarchy or our authority. Nothing we do would be possible without our hard-working people. They could do well without us, but we couldn’t do anything without them.

3. People are not cogs in a machine

We understand that people are not cogs in a machine, and that they are not resources that can be replaced by someone identical. We understand that everyone has a unique set of soft and hard skills, unique interests and aspirations. And we treat them as such.

4. We are responsible for showing people where we are going

We understand that we are not here to give orders and tell people how to work. They are experts and are paid to know how to work. Our job is to clarify the expected results and make them understand why those results are important. Their job, then, is to figure a way to get those expected results.

5. We are responsible for people, not results

We understand that we are not responsible for the results, we are responsible for the people who are responsible for results. We are here to ensure an environment where our people can do whatever is in their power to reach their goal. Incidentally, we pledge not to take credit for our people’s successes.

6. We contribute to people’s growth and fulfilment 

We understand that someone happy is preferable to someone unhappy or miserable, no matter their employer. We pledge to do whatever is in our power to help people grow and be fulfiled in their work. We are aware that it might mean supporting them in find a job elsewhere, if their aspirations are not compatible with those of the company. 

7. We aim for increased ownership

We understand that people who are the closest to a problem are better equipped to fix the said problem. We understand that a lower center of gravity for the decision-making process is preferable to making decisions despite our people.

We understand that those who are going to live with the impact of a decision should at best take the decision, or at least be included in the decision.

8. We are open-minded and curious about our people’s needs

We understand that being fair doesn’t mean treating everybody the same way. We understand that people have different backgrounds, stories, families, contexts and we pledge to invest the same amount of curiosity and empathy towards our people’s story and needs.

We understand that doing due diligence and adapting to our people’s needs is more important than enforcing a rigid framework, to a certain extent. We understand that we must also consider the impact it might have on other colleagues or teams.

9. Being leaders doesn’t mean treating people like followers

We understand that treating people like followers or doers optimizes the environment for them to act as such. We understand that treating people like fellow leaders creates an environment where they can develop their leadership skills, and create more leaders in time.

10. We aim for becoming useless

We understand that if we need to be there at all times for things to happen, we represent a risk for our teams, our department and our organization. While being 100% useless is certainly not attainable, it is a state that we are aiming for. We understand that developing the autonomy of our people, teams and department is something we need to work on every day.

Bonus: An infographic

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