Art from the Hart

Like a gardener takes care of her garden, managers must take care of their employees. If you want engaged employees that take pride in their work and their company, the relationship between employee and manager must be consistently tended to. According to Gallup Research, “Despite efforts to keep the personal and professional realms separate, it's becoming increasingly apparent that workplace relationships are personal and that negative relationship dynamics have far-reaching and long-term consequences for organizations.” Click here to read more.

Giving Recognition Life Through Stories

Next Tuesday's Real Recognition Radio show (hosted by RMI's Roy Saunderson and S. Max Brown) will deal with the power of storytelling and its effects in the workplace. Roy and Max will be interviewing Annie Hart, speaker and trainer on individual development in the fields of business, education, health care and non-profit.

During the show, she will show how stories are one of the most powerful and effective forms of communication today. According to Annie, companies that want to engage and motivate their employees and be on the leading edge of change need to tell more stories: the impact of a story is immediate and visceral.

Tune in next Tuesday, March 23rd, at 1 PM ET, and join our hosts in an engaging and lively discussion about how the power of stories can make an impact in every area of your life.

Art from the Hart - The Power of Relationships!

This is a painting I drew up of my wife and daughter, simply, it’s about their wonderful relationship. And this reminds me that I can never overstate the power of relationships, not only in your personal life, but also at work.
Here’s a nice little article from the Gallup Management Journal summing it up.
If you build a genuine relationships with colleagues and employees, you will build a strong, powerful and positive work environment. As they say in this article, “Money can't buy love -- or loyalty”

Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness by Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy with Luke Williams

When I found out that I was going to be on a panel discussing how recognition builds loyalty with Dr. Lerzan Aksoy, I decided to purchase her book, Why Loyalty Matters.

The back of all Rideau business cards has the following graphic:I believe RELATIONSHIPS are the key to success in our personal and professional lives.

I also believe that LOYALTY is absolutely essential for relationships to thrive.

Lerzan's book examines all aspects of loyalty and shows us why loyalty is so important.

The book comes with a Loyalty Advisor test. This is a onetime test for you and for your friends. There are no right or wrong answers.

The test measures how you fare against the happiest 15% of the population.

You can also see if there is a gap between how loyal you perceive yourself to be and what your friends believe.

I learned a lot from the book including P2 R2... what I need to do to be more loyal.

Check it out. It’s a great read.

Friends Work At ~ Work!

As I’ve mentioned, the Gallup organization asked 10 million employees in 114 different countries twelve different questions. Each question helps explain the difference between engaged and actively disengaged employees.

The tenth question is: “Do you have a best friend at work”? The reason for asking is Gallup has found employees who have a best friend at work are 7 times more likely to be engaged than those who don’t!

This is an amazing statistic but if you think about it, it’s not really surprising…

We spend a majority of our time at work and who wouldn’t prefer working with a friend?

At Rideau, we go out of our way to promote a culture of friendship. We have a Rideau hockey team (we are very good, if I don’t say so myself) and an even better soccer team thanks to Beyas Bonde, our ringer who played on the Cameroon junior national team. (I hope the hockey players don’t read this or I’m toast!) My sons even want to start a Rideau poker team… but I’m not so sure about that!

We do a lot of other relationship building events. And these activities work…

Hamud Zaman has worked over 15 years at Rideau in our Admin department. Mylene Boetsch has worked in the same department for 6 years. Both of them play on our hockey team. Last year they married! And they’ve just had their first child… I told them I expect the middle name should be Rideau!

Having family and friends at Rideau has created an incredible caring culture.

We chip in when someone has a lot of work. We share each other’s burdens. We share each other’s joy.

And probably most important, we have lots of fun at work!

So no, I’m not surprised that having a best friend at work is a leading indicator of engagement. It has worked that way at Rideau for many years.

And oh, by the way, did I mention that Hamud’s sister Samra has worked at Rideau for the last 3 years?

All in the Family

In 1968 Phyllis and Ed Hart, my Mom and Dad purchased Rideau. They took out a second mortgage on our home and had $1,000 of working capital. With four young children at home, my parents risked everything and laid the foundations for the company we have today. Read about the Rideau history here.

In 1978, my sister Rosanne, brothers Stephen, Robby, best friend Cam Ferguson and I purchased Rideau from my Mom and Dad.

At the time, most of our spouses worked in the business and we were told we needed a partnership agreement.

So the five of us went off to see our lawyer who worked for a large legal firm. He told us in no uncertain terms that our partnership would be lucky to last six months! In his opinion, we had too much family in the business!

Needless to say, his firm is long gone and when we have family gatherings we always have a chuckle at his expense!

Today, only my brother Stephen and I remain in the business. Robby who was a silent partner sold his shares in 2001 (his wife Laura is still active in the business). My sister Rosanne retired in 2003 and our best friend Cam retired last year… right now he is en route to New Zealand for four months!

The point of this post is twofold…

First, I know the economy is bleak and the outlook is dim. However, when I think back to what my folks did, they inspire me to believe that courage, creativity and hard work will see us all through better times.

Secondly, if I'm proud of one thing, it is that in good times and bad, we always put relationships first. Not only amongst our family, but with our employees, suppliers and clients. This is the essence of recognition.

I think this is why Rideau has been so successful… we preach what we have always practiced for so many years!