Wanted! Leaders who can manage more than one marshmallow

I listened with fascination to Vanessa Feltz’s daytime radio programme on BBC London Radio. The subject being discussed was the marshmallow test. Whilst teaching at Stanford University in the 1960s, Walter Mischel carried out this now well known squidgy pink and white experiment.

A group of four-year-olds were given a marshmallow and promised another, only if they could wait 20 minutes before eating the first one. Some children could wait and others could not. The researchers then followed the progress of each child into adolescence and demonstrated that those with the ability to wait were better adjusted and more dependable (determined via surveys of their parents and teachers), and scored an average of 210 points higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

People were phoning the show getting excited about how little Timmy, who was off school sick that day, had just passed the test. Someone’s little Timmy had managed to go forty minutes on the promise of three marshmallows, praise be! I couldn’t help but wonder how easy I would find it to pass on the marshmallow if I was off sick. Forty minute Timmy must’ve been at death’s door.

I had to leave Vanessa and Timmy at this point, but I couldn’t get this pink and white dilemma out of my mind. In particular, I couldn’t stop wondering why, when so many children choose to pass this test, many business leaders don’t, or won’t, or can’t. I realise that a lot of short term thinking and acting is likely to be a result of the pressure for more profit, lower cost, and greater dividend yield.

Clearly whilst these things are necessary for businesses to sustain themselves in the long term, they aren’t all essential for the day to day leading of an organisation. If leaders were recruited for their leadership skills, and were trusted to lead, and in turn trusted those closer to the customer to manage, think, act and do, then maybe the profit, efficiencies and other benefits would flow more naturally.

What do you think? And have you got any examples of true leaders? Leaders who can rise above the noise and pressure to create a culture through which trust and autonomy can permeate. Leaders who can deploy real employee engagement to build sustainable, great experiences for their colleagues and customers?

Only those who can manage at least two marshmallows need apply.

Wow!

Delighted customers make the Wow Awards happen. Delighted customers and Derek Williams working with his great team too. Short and simple. The Wow! awards ceremony took place yesterdayand I hope you will take a few minutes to look at the Wow Awards web site. Enjoy the pics, and the videos, some of which are inspiring and humbling.

Learning Always Breeds Loyalty

People love to learn and they form a close bond with the organisation that helped them learn. We see this in schools, colleges and universities which have strong alumni networks. Many organisations could use this link to engage the workforce and create a powerful bond.

Here’s an exciting example of learning creating great results.

As a motivation technique (usually called Innovation Time Off), all Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their work time (one day per week) on projects that interest them. Some of Google’s newer services, such as Gmail, Google News, and AdSense originated from these independent endeavours. In a talk at Stanford University, Marissa Mayer, Google’s Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, stated that her analysis showed that 50% of the new product launches originated from the 20% time.

I am surprised that more organisations don’t spot this powerful connection and do something about it. Too often the personal development opportunities offered by an organisation to its staff, serve to benefit only the organisation. They make the person better at doing what the organisation wants, with little or no regard for the person as a whole. There’s nothing personal about that.

Given the strong bond between learning and loyalty, opportunities for real personal development could be a useful way to engage and motivate staff. Much more fulfilling than the usual morally suspect financial incentives we tend to see trotted out. Pay people a decent salary; maybe include within that salary a small development fund. Give people time to develop, work on projects that interest them, and watch them grow into satisfied employees, acting as genuine advocates for the organisation.