Turns out, David Rendall, the guy who wrote it, is a fan of Renegade HR. He wrote today’s post. Enjoy!

Renegade Genes

Dandelions are very resilient. They can grow and thrive in almost any conditions. If you have dandelion genes, you’ll be able to adapt to difficult circumstances and overcome significant obstacles.

Orchids, on the other hand, are not resilient. They require very specific environments in order to thrive. If you have orchid genes, you have a greater risk of failure when facing harsh conditions.

If you had a choice, which would you choose? Would you want to be an orchid or a dandelion? As a manager, would you want to work with orchids or dandelions?

Conventional perspectives emphasize the value of adaptability, flexibility and dandelion genes.

Orchid genes are traditionally seen as a liability. These genes increase the likelihood of “depression, anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, heightened risk-taking, and antisocial, sociopathic, or violent behaviors, and other problems.”

Doesn’t sound too good does it?

But this isn’t the whole story.

This genetic vulnerability is activated by negative experiences, especially early in life. Childhood trauma seems to trigger the negative potential of orchid genes. Children who don’t go through traumatic events don’t experience the downside of their fragile genes.

Additionally, scientists are now realizing that “these bad genes can create dysfunction in unfavorable contexts, but they can also enhance function in favorable contexts.” People with orchid genes aren’t just vulnerable to bad experiences; they have a “heightened sensitivity to all experiences.” Unfortunately, “most work in behavioral genetics has been done my mental illness researchers who focus on vulnerability. They don’t see the upside, because they don’t look for it.”

What we are learning is that orchids “wilt if ignored or maltreated but bloom spectacularly with greenhouse care.” They “falter in some environments but can excel in those that suit them.” This can “prove advantageous in certain challenging situations: wars, tribal or modern; social strife or many kinds; and migrations to new environments.” Because of this advantage, these seemingly “troublesome genes play a critical role in our species’ astounding success.”

Studies show that when people with supposedly bad genes “are put in the right setting, they don’t merely do better than before, they do the best,” even better than their peers with normal genes.

This research confirms my belief that characteristics perceived as weaknesses in one situation are actually powerful strengths in other situations. Situations are very influential. We find success, not when we eliminate our weaknesses and become perfect, but when we find the right fit. And sometimes we need others to help us find or create the right environments.

This truth has important implications for managing other people. It is tempting to emphasize weaknesses and dismiss employees that aren’t as hardy, resilient or flexible as their co-workers. However, in doing so, we might lose the very people who have the most potential. Our job as managers is to create environments that allow orchids to bloom.

Remember, in the real world, we see dandelions as a nuisance but we prize orchids for their rare beauty. Maybe we need to start doing the same in the workplace.

David Rendall is a speaker, trainer and management professor. He has provided leadership training and keynote presentations throughout the United States, Canada, India, Australia and the United Kingdom. His Freak Factory blog shows people how to get the most out of themselves and the people they manage by flaunting their weaknesses instead of fixing them. You can find him on Twitter at @DavidRendall.

Quotes are from David Dobbs’ article, The Science of Success, The Atlantic, December 2009

Image by tanakawho

The gist: HR isn’t responsible for it.

The truth: Employees are responsible for their own work/life balance, and if they want more money, promotions and fame, they’re going to have to work harder than those around them.

I agree, but I don’t think work/life balance is about working less.

To me, work/life balance is the ability to do great work and get all of your other priorities accomplished, too. That means giving people the freedom to choose when and where to do their work so they can best balance every aspect of their life.

Sometimes you need to be in the office to get something done (I’d argue that’s really the case far less than managers would like to believe). Sometimes it doesn’t matter.

Sometimes all you need is an internet connection and a laptop or cell phone. Sometimes those aren’t options – when you’re at the dentist, for example – and you work at night.

The point is, people are working. Work/life balance isn’t about doing less work. It’s about having the freedom to choose when and where.

That’s something HR can influence.

(So what do you think, am I way off-base here? Are the number of hours worked part of work/life balance, too?)

Click here to read Kris’s full article

“What’s your best career advice?”

1-Minute Mentor is a living archive of great career advice from some of EMC’s most successful employees – available in bite-sized chunks.

In each video, I ask a “mentor” a career or development question and record their answer. They share their best advice in 60-seconds or less.

I’ll be talking about this project and how you can do something similar at your organization on March 16 at Boston College.

Click Here to Learn More

UPDATE: The Best of Renegade HR is no longer available.

This is the last week you can get your hands on copy of the Best of Renegade HR.

The Best of Renegade HR is an ebook featuring 23 of the best ideas and insights from this site. It’s kind of like a field guide to recruiting great people and helping them do amazing things that drive your business.

You can read it on your computer, throw it on a mobile device, or print it out and scribble in the margins. If you want a copy, I stop selling it on Sunday, so make sure you buy it before then.

No Longer Available | Learn More

Renegade HR is a simple approach to HR: Recruit great people and help them do amazing things that drive your business.

You’ve got an organization filled with rockstars. Now how do you help them do amazing things that drive your business?

What IS your business?

You can’t help your employees drive your business until you understand what your business is. How does your organization make money?

But more importantly, what sets your business apart. Why should a customer choose you over the hundreds or thousands of other companies who provide the same exact product or service that you do?

Do you offer better customer service, higher quality or a lower price (or some combination of those things)? Are you more convenient? Do you offer a unique experience (like Disney World or Atlantis)?

What sets you apart?

What do people need to do?

Understanding your business isn’t enough. You need to understand what people actually need to do to support it.

Customer service at Southwest Airlines looks a lot different from customer service at Nordstrom (which looks a lot different from customer service at Zappos or Dell).

Southwest is about great customer service, but they’re also about cheap airfare. They’ll go out of their way to please a customer and provide a great experience… as long as it won’t drive up the price.

Nordstrom is about great customer service and high-quality items. Price isn’t a factor. Two different approaches to customer service. Two different ways people need to behave.

Disney World and Plymouth Plantation both offer a unique experience. One is magical and fantastic. The other is historic, pretty accurate, somewhat nostalgic. People at Disney behave a lot differently than people at Plymouth Plantation.

What specific things do you need your people to do to support your business?

What do you reward?

Most management books will tell you that you get the behaviors that you reward. Who gets promoted in your organization? Who gets a bonus? What did they do?

These things are important. They let people know what you value. They help shape your culture.

But it’s not just about who you reward, and what you reward them for. It’s about what you celebrate.

What do you celebrate?

Who gets recognized – publicly celebrated – for what they do? Does your organization have any traditions? Any myths?

Nordstrom tells stories about employees (or Nordies, as they call themselves) who have gone out of their way to provide amazing service:¹

• The Nordie who ironed a new shirt for a customer who needed it for a meeting that afternoon.
• The Nordie who cheerfully gift wrapped products a customer bought at Macy’s.
• The Nordie who refunded money for a set of tire chains – even thought Nordstrom doesn’t sell tire chains!

It’s one thing to say you value customer service. It’s another to give people concrete examples of what others have done.

What stories does your organization tell?

Footnote

1. Made to Stick, p. 73 – 74 ↩

I talk about:

• “Weakenesses” that are actually strengths.
• How I’ve played to my strengths to get ahead.
• My uncanny resemblance to Chris O’Donnell.

Click here to check out the full interview

Direct mp3 Download

Links from this Podcast

• Motivation and the Theory of Everything
• Incentive Programs and Building an Amateur Airplane
• The Difference Between Incentives and Motivation

Podcast Highlights

Many people think, “I know what motivates me, therefore I’ll just package that up and offer it to people. Unfortunately, motivation isn’t that simple.

A lot of times money is nothing more than a yardstick. That’s their yardstick for success – how they prove to other people that they’re valuable.

If HR could train people better on how to do recognition, how to align company goals with what individuals need to get done, that’s the training that’s missing.

About Paul

Paul Hebert is a leading expert on incentives and motivation. He’s the Managing Director and lead consultant for I2I, and author of the incentive and motivation blog Incentive Intelligence.

Paul has been interviewed by the BBC on executive compensation, quoted in USATODAY, has published whitepapers and articles for HRM Magazine, is a contributing author on one of my favorite blogs, Fistful of Talent, and has been featured in several other leading publications as well.

You can follow him on Twitter at @IncentIntel.

They had just spent the last ten hours cramped together in a tiny room, sitting on short stools and hunched over buckets. The room was hot, and the stench of sweat and dead fish lingered in the air.

The three Thai men moved the buckets of fish – 90 pounds in all – that they had spent the day washing, gutting and filleting into a neighboring room. Then they scrubbed the floors with bleach to remove the smell of the dead fish.

It didn’t work that well.

As cockroaches scurried out from the cracks in the walls, the men pulled cots into the center of the room, and settled down for a night’s sleep. The next morning, they would wake up early and take the fish to market, where they would make a grand total of $10.

The Folly of “Best Place to Work” Lists

That was a scene from a show I watched last week, Blood, Sweat and Tears. The show follows a group of six young people from the UK through Thailand, as they work alongside poor, migrant workers and gain a better understanding of the food industry.

Contrast that with the latest issue of Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work list, which had arrived in my mailbox just a day earlier.

I read a few pieces of the article. As was expected, the author went on and on about indoor pools and instructor-led yoga and on-site massages and dry-cleaning.

And all I could think was, “This is bullshit.”

Over-Engineering Human Resources

Perks are way, way overrated. They have nothing to do with a great workplace.

The migrant workers highlighted in Blood, Sweat and Tears put up with horrible conditions and horrible pay because they don’t have a choice. I’m in no way advocating that we should treat workers like crap.

There’s a happy middle, somewhere between the fish-gutters and the free yoga. We need to find it.

I’ve never seen Frank Roche and Sarah Chambers’ organization, iFractal, on a best places to work list. But it is one.

Frank keeps it simple. He hires great people. He pays them fairly. He puts people in roles that align with their passions and their strengths. He creates an environment where people can connect and collaborate and share great ideas. He communicates, openly, honestly and clearly.

He documents the whole thing and puts it up on their Flickr stream.

To my knowledge, there’s no pool or on-site massages at iFractal (though in fact-checking this article, I found out they are looking into instructor-led yoga – no joke!). But it doesn’t matter. Those things have nothing to do with a great place to work.

We over-engineer HR.

We fixate on employee engagement scores and perks and swag. We create 17,000 policies and treat our employees like children, and then we talk about empowerment. We call them resources instead of people.

This HR thing, it’s not really that hard. Hire great people, treat them like adults, and then get the hell out of the way and let them do amazing work.

Image by Michael Porter

Image by Mixy Lorenzo

When it comes to social media, IT security groups have two concerns (and rightly so):

1. People disclosing confidential information.
2. People inadvertently downloading viruses (you see this a lot with shortened links on Twitter).

Organizations can handle this issue one of two ways:

1. Block all social media sites.
2. Educate and coach employees on what’s ok to share and how to your computers safe when using this new technology. If you’re like Zappos, you can take it a step further and teach employees how to use these sites to learn, grow and develop

Which of these would you choose, and why?

PS: Organizations are actually worried about a third thing when it comes to social media – people wasting time. Guess what? The people who are going to fritter away hours on Facebook would have spent that time gabbing away at the water cooler – not filling out your TPS reports.

Why deprive everyone else of a great tool for sharing knowledge, learning and developing professionally?