The following is a guest post from Dave Esler and Myra Kruger promoting their new book The Pursuit of Something Better.

Book Synopsis:

The Pursuit of Something Better tells the story of the transformation of U.S. Cellular from a thoroughly ordinary company—ranked eighth in its industry and in danger of extinction—into an organization that is loved by employees and customers alike, and a proven winner by every measure.

Guest Post:

What’s the most you can expect from a well-designed and conscientiously implemented set of internal policies, procedures, and processes? A smoothly functioning organization? Peace in the employee relations valley? Low turnover and high job satisfaction? No HR professionals on medication?

While those outcomes may sound idyllic, especially in these turbulent times, we know from direct experience that they set the bar too low. We’ve had the opportunity to work for the past nine years with a company that has long since blown past those mundane goals and is now changing the lives of its employees, customers, and even whole communities for the better.

That company is U.S. Cellular, a mid-sized (9,000 employees) wireless provider based in Chicago; its life-changing achievements under CEO Jack Rooney are the subject of our new book, The Pursuit of Something Better: How an Underdog Company Defied the Odds, Won Customers’ Hearts, and Grew its Employees into Better People.

In 2000, when Rooney took office, U.S. Cellular seemed to have no future – it ranked eighth in an industry that was consolidating rapidly, and it seemed to have no real reason to survive. Rooney gave it one – a strategy for carving out a niche as the most customer-focused company in the industry, and a values-based culture to support that strategy that he called “the Dynamic Organization.”

Most of our book is devoted to how U.S. Cellular embedded the Dynamic Organization so thoroughly that its values (customer focus, respect, ethics, pride, empowerment, diversity) and behaviors (there are ten of them) have become a way of life driving every individual and collective decision. The D.O. supported Rooney’s strategy so effectively that U.S. Cellular is today that last surviving regional wireless company, ranked fifth in size and still growing. It has won five J.D. Power Awards for customer satisfaction in a row, and it has survived the recession quite nicely so far – the only major wireless firm to avoid layoffs.

Its employees (“associates” in Rooney’s terminology) love the place. We gathered much of our data for the book through our annual survey of the culture, and by 2005, we noticed how often the word “love” was coming up in participants’ written comments – they loved their jobs, the company, their leaders, the culture that enabled them to learn and grow and achieve.

A couple of years later, this outpouring of love for the company and what it had become had overflowed organizational bounds, and associates were writing about the positive changes in their personal lives outside work. “Where else can you be grown into a better person?” asked one sales rep; another testified that “I believe I’m becoming a better leader, husband, father, son, brother, and friend because I work here.” We have read thousands of comments since then that made the same point. One perceptive participant noted that “the D.O.’s not just 8 to 5. It’s full life. Jack wanted us to take it home with us.”

We’ve just finished reading the written comments to the 2009 survey – 760 pages of single-spaced, eight-point type. The overwhelming majority extend this theme, of how a company – an American corporation in this year of AIG and Merrill Lynch, for crying out loud! – has been their role model, has changed their lives for the better, has inspired them to expand their horizons.

It’s a wonderful, humbling story. It proves that transformational change is indeed possible – if we set that bar high enough.

Dave Esler and Myra Kruger combined their 30 years of corporate communications, human resources, and consulting experience as Esler Kruger Associates in 1987. Their consulting firm focuses on culture change, organizational surveys, and executive counsel on effective leadership. They are based in Highland Park, Illinois and can be reached at www.eslerkruger.com

Performance seems to be a hot button issue. It’s no surprise considering many companies tie them to pay. And then there’s always our desire to feel as though we’re valued. You were thinking…

What is “meets expectations?”

What if a supervisor has different expectations than another supervisor for the same position?

What if a supervisor doesn’t believe an employee’s performance can be excellent?

There are many problems with performance reviews no matter how you structure them. As long as there is a human factor they will never be fair and objective. Why bother? Don’t!

Performance reviews exist for management and the supervisor. The supervisor uses them to address issues and management uses them to make sure the supervisor is addressing issues and to find out what is going on in the lower levels.

If  supervisors gave constructive feedback on a consistent basis there would be no purpose for performance reviews. Employees would know they were valued and where to improve. Management would be confident issues were being addressed. And Supervisors wouldn’t have to waste time filling out documents they probably hate doing.

But, but, what about having that piece of paper in the personnel file? Doesn’t that piece of paper offer proof that the employee is doing well? Not in unfair and inconsistent manner they’re currently being done. And as far as a reference is concerned, as long as you don’t have any disciplinary action in your file then there’s no reason to worry. Who’s going to accept a performance review as proof of your past performance? Not any HR professional I know. That alone should tell you the value of performance reviews.

While waiting for my car inspection and oil change at my dealership I took the time to dive back in to reading The Pursuit of Something Better. The book relies heavily on data from employee satisfaction surveys and discusses some manager’s attempts to skew the survey results.

I made good progress in the book before being told that my car was ready. As I handed over my credit card I was told that Honda may call and survey me about my experience. That’s not an unusual event so I nodded. Then I was told that my response to the questions should be “excellent.”

The service representative went on to tell me that “it actually hurts [her] score to answer anything less than excellent.” And then she passed me a sheet with the questions I would be asked, the responses I could give, and then ratings for each response. There was another note at the top saying “Please let us know if you cannot rate your service experience as ‘excellent.’” The service representative even highlighted the “excellent” in case I didn’t get the hint already.

Needless to say I left the dealership feeling dirty. The service I received was perfectly fine up until the point that I was told I must say the service was excellent. I’m actually at a loss to think of how an oil change and inspection on a year old car could in anyway be excellent. Thanks for not breaking anything on my perfectly new car?

I would be very angry at dealership if I wasn’t so confused by the Honda ratings. My options for responses were: excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. This reminded me of a recent conversation with an HR veteran who stated that performance is only ever one of three things: below expectations, meets expectations, above expectations. By Honda’s standards a “good” experience (ie. meets expectations)  is only worth a 50% score on the question. I wonder what ratings the dealerships are supposed to meet. If I do get called for the survey I’ll be very sure to ask what the difference between each rating is since it does not seem to be explained.

Yes, shame on the dealership for pressuring their customers into answering the survey in a dishonest manner. But the fault is on Honda for having such a horrible rating system in the first place. The results of this survey are pointless since the survey was so poorly designed that dealerships feel the need to lie and pressure their customers – which actually ruins the customer experience.

The Annual SHRM conference is over. While many of my fellow bloggers attended the event, I don’t understand the appeal. What can be achieved from these expensive events? Swag? Listening to other HR professionals complain? Learning the newest quick fix in HR? Networking with people who probably won’t advance your career?

The event might make sense if you’re looking for a job and willing to relocate. But how many other people are there for the same purpose. What is the same likelihood that you’re going to get the value of your dollar out the event? To me it seems slim.

The value to me comes in the local groups. The state conferences might even be worth attending. At least then you’ll be networking with local people and learning new local law and changes.

There’s just something about an expensive work party that doesn’t seem all that great.

When I first learned about employee assistance programs (EAPs) I was not impressed. I thought it was a token gesture from the company that didn’t result in much. I’ve since changed my mind about the programs.

My aversion to EAP programs came from a lack of education. I also realized that the lack of education surrounding the programs hurts employee usage as well.

There is a strong perception that EAPs are there for counseling (light therapy). Yes, they do that but they also do much more. They also make referrals. In most fields this probably does not mean much to employees. If the employee is focused on the counseling aspect they may think that “referrals” just means passing them off to a therapist. I always give examples outside of counseling to make employees start thinking outside of the box.

The other major issue is confidentiality. It’s not enough to just tell your employees that they are free and confidential services. That phrase rolls off of HR tongues easily but rarely is it explained in depth. I see no reaction when I say these words to employees. However, when I stop to say that our EAP is bound by HIPAA and is considered health information their eyes light up. They suddenly get it and trust in the security of their information.

There are some employees that will never use EAPs and that’s okay. But, it’s a waste of money and employee benefit to not take a moment to explain in detail the advantages of EAPs and follow that with repeated reminders that the service is available and how to reach it.

The whole world knows that Michael Jackson died last week. When famous individuals die the media focuses on their “legacy.” Twenty years from now when we look back at Michael Jackson we’ll think three things:

1. He made wonderful music that broke racial and style barriers.
2. He may have molested children.
3. He changed his whole appearance, including his race.

The first is quite the accomplishment. It’s the reason he’s been praised this week despite the other two. Yet, when I spoke to people about Michael’s life the word I kept hearing was tragic.

With so many accomplishments and praise for his work why do we consider him tragic? Because we view the personal as more important than the professional when we analyze a person’s whole life.

Two weeks ago infamous blogger Penelope Trunk wrote about having abortions not to further her career but to avoid conflict with it. Looking back on her life now she acknowledges, “You don’t need to get an abortion to have a big career.”

You may be winning the small battles in your profession but what weight will you give it when you look back on your life? Is the cost of professional success worth the loss of the personal.

There is a business pet peeve of mine that my organization has started working against and I couldn’t be happier. The pet peeve is that there seems to be some myth in the business world that the paint colors in the office have to reflect the business’s logo. It’s branding gone wrong.

The last organization I worked for had three colors in it’s logo: gray, red, white. The walls were all painted one of two shades of gray. All day long I looked at gray. You know what else is gray? Prisons.

Branding is important, but so is the mood of your employees. It doesn’t take that much extra money or work to offer several different colors or at least something other than the logo. Logos don’t change and if they do they rarely change in color. When your employees have to stare at item after item with the same color scheme, it can be maddening to stare at the same color on the wall for 30 years.

Just a little bit of effort for happy employees.

I’ve been given an advanced copy of Dave Esler and Myra Kruger’s new book The Pursuit of Something Better. The book details the transformation of U.S. Cellular and it’s CEO Jack Rooney. I’m excited about reading and reviewing the book. We all need to be reminded that positive transformations can take place. We are not resigned to mediocrity.

Book review coming soon…

In the last installment we talked about relationships with coworkers. Now let’s discuss relationships with bosses, supervisors, whatever you want to call them.

You won’t always like your boss. You probably won’t even like half of the bosses you encounter.

In a perfect world your boss would be a kind supportive individual who guides you and allows you to grow. He/she would display all the qualities of a leader. You would look up to him/her and strive to follow in his/her footsteps. You may even be friends; although, some would argue being friends is a bad idea.

The reality is that the boss-subordinate relationship is a forced relationship. Forced does not mean that it is inherently a negative relationship, but that both parties did not mutually agree to the relationship. It’s an arranged marriage of sorts.

That means that you have two individuals who may have very different goals, values, backgrounds, communication styles, ethics, opinions, etc. Differences in these areas can cause conflict. It may be a passive aggressive I’m-going-to-complain-about-you-behind-your-back conflict, but it is still a conflict.

The complaints individuals make about their bosses are always similar. He’s a jerk. She never does any work. He always takes credit for my work. She has mood swings. He’s away from work more than he’s at work. She doesn’t know a thing about XYZ. He’s power hungry.

Some of the complaints may very well be true, but the conflict always comes down to differences in the individuals. If your communication style is vastly different than your boss’s, that will probably cause conflict unless you can learn to mediate the situation.

And that’s what it all comes down to – working together. The good news is that you don’t have to like your boss. It certainly makes things easier if you do but it is not a prerequisite for doing your job well. What you do have to do is learn how to work together. Learn how to avoid having your differences become a disruption. And who knows, maybe you’ll find the next one is worse.

One thing I’ve noticed about the resumes of  people who are further in their careers is that they don’t list their Bachelors degrees when they have Master’s degrees or higher. It makes sense, once you complete your Bachelors you’re expected to remove your high school degree from your resume.

I have a Masters degree and yet there on my resume  is my irrelevant Bachelors degree. The more I thought about it the more I realized I didn’t have a reason for keeping it on my resume.

My American Studies degree was certainly an accomplishment. However, now that I have a degree in Human Resources and I’m pursuing a career in HR, I doubt anyone cares that I wrote a research paper on The Farm or that I read Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl three times. I could try and argue that my knowledge of American History means I have more knowledge of organized labor but that’s a lie.

Perhaps it was because I acheived the degrees so close together. Or maybe I never thought about it because I had just finished my Masters when I was offered my current job. Or maybe I’m hesistant to remove the last remainant of a life outside of HR.

Is it time to ditch the old?