The Cranky Middle Manager #139 Creating a Connection Culture Michael Lee Stallard
Join Wayne Turmel and guest Michael Lee Stallard, author of Fired Up or Burned Out talk about leadership and creating a culture of connection. We also salute the first in a long line of people to think they could rule Mesopotamia but our boy Sargon did a better job than the current folks… Why do I tell you these things if no one listens to me?
To Listen In Your Browser, Click the Icon Below
To Download For Later, Right Click Here
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the over-connected world of middle management. This show is dedicated to Sargon of Akkad, first ruler of Sumeria. It took a real leader to get people to follow someone they weren’t kin to, but he figured out how to create connections beyond blood. 5400 direct reports is a bunch and I’ll bet he didn’t do annual performance reviews.
2:54 The quote of the week is from Aristotle- we all need people unless we’re beasts or gods. My guess is neither is listening to this little show.
3:34 Welcome Michael Lee Stallard, one of the brains behind E Pluribus Partners. He is also the author of The Connection Culture- A New Source of Competitive Advantage. It always seems to take a personal crisis to bring our attention to what matters.
8:46 There is a business connection of course. Lots of research went into this work. What are the things that connect us to our work and our workplace? Trust, mission, identity and feelings connect us. When we feel threatened that darned cortisol takes over.
12:30 Some people are more comfortable with this discussion than others. (Hello, elephant). How do you start to have this conversation among your team? The Connection Culture e-book is a start. The 3 elements are Vision, Value and Voice.
Vision is how people see themselves. Anita Roddick from The Body Shop understood this. Values is how valued are you? Voice is about do you get a voice in what’s important to you? Oh, and a voice is not the same as a vote.
18:43 What’s the individual manager’s role in this (Note to all future guests, compliment the host’s questions)? One is to implement “Knowledge Flow” sessions. Tell them what’s going on in the company and ask their input. The second team is getting them together. Sargon understood this, why doesn’t YOUR boss? (Cheap plug here, webmeetings help and we can help with that, check out www.greatwebmeetings.com)
23:38 Connection in action can be seen in Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy. The other is Proctor and Gamble CEO AG Laffley.
Michael’s Resources
Let Your Life Speak- Parker Palmer
The Identity Code- Laurence Ackerman
Big Ideas to Big Results- Michael Kanazawa and Robert Miles
The Employee Engagement Network including David Zinger (you can hear his CMM interview here….)
Herman the Ermine says: Don’t let the weasels get you down
April 16th, 2008 at 9:13 am
[…] I recently recorded an interview with Wayne Turmel, host of the “Cranky Middle Manager Show” on The Podcast Network. Wayne is an interviewer extraordinaire. His valuable insights and sense of humor always enliven and enlighten listeners (and guests) alike. Wayne and I had a great chat about Connection Cultures and how they increase employee engagement. To listen to the interview, click here. Also, be sure to check out the other 139 interviews Wayne has recorded since the Cranky Middle Manager show’s inception. These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]