Elite Suite Series “Driving a Culture of Community Service: Omron leads the way!”

Before launching into how exceptional and important the work of Omron Automation and Safety has demonstrated for us all; allow me to take a moment to thank the people who make innovative action learning events such our Elite Suite Series possible for the business community. 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For™ 2013 Winners; Mutual Trust Financial for hosting us on October 25, 2013 as well as Community Resource Partner, HandsOn Suburban for sponsoring the event and most certainly, 2013 Elite Winner for Community Initiatives, Omron Automation and Safety for sharing their practices on how to drive a culture of community service.

This special event allows me to bring some values that we at HRBoost are truly passionate about to the forefront where they belong. When we go to work, we often think of our time in the office as separate from our real lives. Maybe we have a spouse and children and dear friends who we only associate with outside of work, and we view these people as our own personal communities. We consider these people valued members of our lives and are willing to sacrifice money, time and affection to ensure that the needs of inner community members are always being met.

But life at work is by no means disconnected from life in the community. In fact, while our intimate communities may only be ten to twenty-five people in size, our work community encompasses the entire physical area in which we all live. A company has the potential to make a lasting and meaningful imprint on the community with the right attitude and a solid plan.

The key to this, in the wise words of Omron’s Vice President of Human Resources, Cindy Janssen, is to “make it personal!” Suggestions include start a Community Outreach program but don’t let HR lead it. At Omron, a different functional executive takes the seat of Community Outreach Champion in partnership with a team of employees. It comes from the people vs. “another HR Program”. Sure a company can have a donation box and urge employees to return some of their hard earned salary to worthy causes but Ms. Janssen cautions against this as often having employees donate cash funds vs. their time can lead to cynicism. Practices like that prove to be wildly ineffective in trying to build an office culture that truly cares about community outreach with support from their employer. The secret ingredient in the recipe for a culture contribution is to personalize any community outreach initiative. Ms. Janssen further shared that it is pivotal to get leadership involved. At Omron, that meant creating programs within the company that made volunteering in the community an incentive and furthermore a reward. Employees may be rewarded and encouraged with paid time off for volunteering, tactics that have shown to get people out of their homes, away from the desk and into the community where important work needs to be done. Rewards include gifts to the charitable organization of an employee’s choice; even pairing a gift with a charitable donation in the employee’s name.

Programs like this have effects that are far-reaching. The predicament with promoting a program such as this is how to convince executives that community outreach is good for business. The truth is this should never be a hard sell. Often, employers can find the schedules challenging but with help from community resources like HandsOn Suburban, companies can embrace a group initiative that can pair team-building and giving back in one event, even if only for two or four hours. Another 2013 101 Best and Brightest  Companies to Work For™ winner Advanced Resources, representative Kristen Krope shared how their team hosted a group event on the weekend and credited a PTO day back for employees that participated. Omron also treats paid volunteer time similar to PTO time with a framework for request and tracking. Thus, scheduling can be overcome with proper planning and support from leadership.  And to keep it good for business, it is not out of Omron’s scope to invite customers to join in the effort.

Ms. Janssen of Omron talks about how the general morale at her company improves among employees just knowing that the business actively supports organizations that benefit the community. With 16% of Omron’s workforce actively participating in their programs, the quantitative date clearly demonstrates the heart of the programs and culture created goes well beyond the participants themselves. This effect is so far-reaching it even impacts employees who don’t participate in any volunteering opportunities. At Omron the culture shares in the experience of giving back through transparency in reward allocation. The qualitative result measured by the employee’s themselves is Omron’s Elite achievement. Employees who believe in their business are better than ones who see it as a daily eight-hour prison sentence. Ms. Janssen also talked about the opportunity for volunteering employees to wear special company shirts when they are out volunteering, effectively getting the business’s name out in a positive light that will surely attract customers who share similar community values. As Ms. Janssen shared it is amazing how much pride can come from earning a T-shirt that is only provided to those that engage in community outreach.

At Omron the Community Outreach team is the team to belong to. Omron encourages members to have a stake in volunteerism to be a member including evidence of how the prospective member raises efforts and funds for causes despite what Omron does. Omron allocates a budget for the team to award as they deem appropriate under the corporate guidelines and members rotate every two to three years.

The Elite Suite honored 2013 Elite Winner for Community Initiatives Omron Automation and Safety. And truly through the Elite Suite, many  local businesses, each of whom make a positive difference in the community in a unique and important way will be able to develop their own outreach thanks to action learning events where proven leaders share best practices. Make sure to check out other upcoming events at 101bestandbrightest.com to learn more about these amazing programs and find ways to improve your business. And note I will look forward to our next regional action learning event. Thanks again to Ms. Cindy Janssen and those of Omron for leading the way.

Playing for the Same Team, by Jacob the Intern

The recent weeks were very exciting in the field of HR here in Chicago. The 65th annual SHRM Conference, held at McCormick Place in the city is a great opportunity to network with other businesses and learn about what HR challenges they are facing and the solutions they are finding to overcome these challenges. But, without a doubt, among the many highlights of this years conference was the speech and presentation given by former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, arguably the most influential woman of the last 25 years.

While I was not able to attend the conference, my boss, Nicole Martin was able to transcribe most of Mrs. Clinton’s speech to me in an email. The speech had several main, and far-ranging points. She discussed how to make good decisions, the difference between shouting and whistle blowing, and the importance of showing up to ensure success. But the point that struck me as being the most significant was when she addressed the importance to teamwork.

Before the 2008 presidential election, Mrs. Clinton had her sights set on obtaining the Democratic nomination. After months of campaigning, the two candidates that remained in close contention to represent the Democrats in ’08 were Clinton and Barak Obama. Obviously, President Obama eventually defeated Mrs. Clinton in the primaries, and went on to become the President of the United States. But that is only where the story of teamwork begins.

After spending months, if not years, as bitter political rivals, President Obama took a risk in appointing Mrs. Clinton to the role of Secretary of State. The risk did not lie in whether or not the former First Lady was capable of fulfilling the duties of Secretary of State, as she was more than qualified to take on such an important role. The risk was in regards to whether or not the former foes would be able to set aside their past differences and work towards common goals.

As Mrs. Clinton put it, “leadership is a team sport.” Whenever there are people working in the same company they always share common goals of success. Conflicts may arise when there are discrepancies as how to most effectively and efficiently achieve those goals. The thing to remember is that nothing will ever be accomplished if the conflict becomes a distraction from the goal that both parties obviously want to achieve. A difference in opinion is not a negative, but should be seen as an opportunity for teamwork and collaboration, a chance for open dialogue to lead to even better solutions that yield even more profitable outcomes.

Mrs. Clinton described her relationship with Obama as having gone from being “rivals to an unrivaled team.” This is something that leaders in all companies should strive to achieve. When leaders are able to get on the same page, possibilities for innovative solutions arise. The opinions that once divided two people should not be totally discarded, but rather should be combined to find the ultimate and ideal solution. Leaders within the same organization need to realize that they are not competing against each other, but need to be working together. Mrs. Clinton asserts the importance of putting “the common good ahead of personal competition.”

Creating a cohesive unit is not something that will happen overnight, and it certainly will not be easy. It is something that requires constant effort and maintenance from all the involved parties. But the results of creating a cohesive team are too great to ignore. Imagine if Scottie Pippen was constantly comparing his scoring totals to Michael Jordan. It would have become a divisive issue that would have caused friction and derailed the Chicago Bulls on their quest to bring home as many NBA Championships as possible. For Pippen, the only statistic that he cared about was wins. Arguably the ultimate team player, Scottie constantly placed the organizational goals about his personal ones.

While Mrs. Clinton’s impressive presentation was full of tips that are all crucial to the long-term health and success of a company, her point about the importance of teamwork struck me as being the most important, as well as potentially the most difficult of them all. In the competitive environment of the modern business world, no man is an island. Teamwork will always be a key element to success.

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