This interview by Raul Candeloro originally appeared on Inc. Small Giants Community:
The average distance between the human brain and heart is 9 inches (23 cm). And according to What’s Your Green Goldfish (available March 29) author Stan Phelps, bridging that gap is the key toward creating a great culture that delivers high employee engagement, and in return, a successful business. In this week’s interview, Inc. Small Giants Community Executive Director Raul Candeloro sat down with Phelps to learn more about why,
…the biggest mistake small business owners make is not recognizing the impact of increased engagement and the importance of culture as a competitive differentiator.”
Inc. Small Giants Community: Let’s begin by talking about yourself, so our readers can get to know you better. Could you briefly describe your life journey until you wrote What’s Your Green Goldfish?
Stan Phelps: My background spans a 20 year career working with global brands including adidas, IMG and the PGA of America. I honed my skills working as Chief Solutions Officer for seven years at the award-winning agency Synergy Events. At Synergy I took a wide look at marketing with the premise of finding unique ways to engage customers. I currently am the Founder/CMO (Chief Measurement Officer) of 9 INCH marketing, an organization that inspires leaders to think differently about marketing. Nothing personal about the 9 inches (unfortunately), it represents the average distance between the brain and the heart. Given the goal of winning the hearts of your customers and employees, it represents the longest and hardest distance to navigate in marketing.
ISGC: Now about the book. With already so many business and management books out there about, what new information does What’s Your Green Goldfish offer?
Phelps: What’s Your Green Goldfish? is based on the simple premise that employees are the key drivers of customer experience and that “Happy Employees Create Happy Customers.” It is the second book in a trilogy. The first book was an Amazon Best Seller entitled, What’s Your Purple Goldfish? Purple focused on customers, whereby Green focuses on employees. Both books are based on a new approach called marketing g.l.u.e. (marketing by giving little unexpectedextras). The book is based on the findings of the Green Goldfish Project, an effort which crowd sourced 1,001 examples of signature added value. Key themes emerged from the Project. The book is filled with nearly 200 examples spanning the 15 different ways to drive employee engagement and reinforce culture.
ISGC: Could you give us an example out of What’s Your Green Goldfish that reflects your main ideas or concepts?
Phelps: Canadian home healthcare provider Nurse Next Door first showed up in What’s Your Purple Goldfish? They had an interesting way of handling mistakes with customers. And let’s face it, we all make mistakes. It’s how you handle them that makes all the difference. In addition to sending a handwritten note, Nurse Next Door would also send a freshly baked apple pie to apologize. Literally, a humble pie.
Now they’ve appeared in the Green Goldfish Project with two unique programs. The first is the flowerbucks program. Nurse Next Door is a core value driven organization and when team members live one of the four core values, they earn flowerbucks – an in-house currency. Each quarter the company holds ‘Flowerbuck Auctions’ to celebrate core value award winners and auction off prizes ranging from gift cards to iPads and even trips. The second program involves focusing employees’ personal dreams. Nurse Next Door sits down with employees to uncover their goals. They’ve been able to support all sorts of dreams ranging from learning to sail, to learning a new language, buying a home or even travelling. Both of these programs converged recently to make one really cool story. At a recent flowerbuck auction one of their employees ended up winning the trip because her co-workers gave her their flowerbucks. They did this because they learned her dream was to travel to South America and volunteer to teach English. All she needed was the airline ticket, so her coworkers donated their own flowerbucks. (YouTube Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWKthxnNCWk ) These two examples touch on four key concepts in the book: Recognition, Empowerment, Team Building and Paying it Forward.
ISGC:In a short sentence, what kind of person should be attracted to your book? What kind of advice should they be looking for? Or what kind of problem should they be looking to solve?
Phelps: The book is geared for C Level Executives, Business Owners and Entrepreneurs that are looking signature ways to attract and retain top talent. Why? Because engaged organizations grew profits as much as three times faster than their competitors. (Source: Corporate Leadership Council).
ISGC: What’s the first thing you would like a reader to do after finishing What’s Your Green Goldfish?
Phelps: Take action. Look at each of the 15 different ways to drive engagement and reinforce culture. Then ideate, test, implement and measure. Rinse, repeat.
ISGC: What other books would you recommend for someone that wants more information about this?
Phelps: There are numerous books I would highly recommend:
A couple of classics first:
Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard and The Seven Day Weekend by Ricardo Semler.
A couple of newer books:
Employees First, Customers Second by Vineet Nayar and Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson
ISGC: In your work as a consultant, what is the biggest mistake you see small business owners making in the areas covered by What’s Your Green Goldfish?
Phelps: The biggest mistake is not recognizing the impact of increased engagement and the importance of culture as a competitive differentiator.
ISGC: What suggestions would you give them to improve? Where should they start?
Phelps: The process is a 9 inch journey. Nine inches is the average distance between the brain and the heart. Green Goldfish are little things that can be implemented one by one. Collectively they can make a big difference. The journey is broken into three phases called the 3 B’s: Basics, Belonging and Building. I’d recommend starting with the first three inches, the basics. Focus on areas such as Recruiting, Onboarding, Space, F&B, Wellness and Time Away.
ISGC: What about managers and team leaders? In general, what do you think they should STOP doing if they wanted to improve their results?
Phelps: Studies have shown that 69% of US employees are either “not engaged,” or are “actively disengaged.” (Source: Gallup) Managers and Team Leaders should stop putting little or no emphasis on management training. People do not quit jobs, they quit bosses. It is the #1 reason for disengagement and turnover.
ISGC: Anything they should start doing more?
Phelps: Recognition matters to employees. You can’t do it too early or too often enough. Forty-three percent of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week compared to only 18% of employees with low engagement. (Source: Towers Watson) Some studies have shown that employees value recognition more importantly than financial incentives or bonuses.
ISGC: Any additional comments or thoughts for our readers?
Phelps: Culture is not a campaign, it’s a commitment. It’s something that evolves daily. All companies should be striving for three things: 1. A warm workplace where people genuinely like and care for each other. 2. Employees who are working in positions where they are empowered to make meaningful contributions. 3. An open environment where employees feel recognized and trust that management acts in their best interests.
ISGC: Want to get in touch with Stan? Find him on the web at any of these locations:
Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra thrown in for good measure) – What is a Small Giant? It all started with Bo Burlingham’s book, Small Giants: Companies That Choose to be Great Instead of Big. The Inc. Small Giants Community is made up of small business leaders all over the world who define success by more than just their financial bottom lines, but also by their contributions to their communities, a dedication to great customer service and the creation and preservation of workplaces cultures of excellence. Here’s a video by BNET highlighting Small Giant Anchor Steam Brewing. There is an awesome quote by Bo about the importance of employees:
The high quality of the relationship between the company and the employee is a key ingredient of every Small Giant. That’s because everything that makes a company great: the brand, the product/service and the relationship with customers depends on the people that work there.”
