KUD
This Holiday, Give the Gift of Thanks ®
SCHLUMBERGER I N F O R M AT I O N SOLUTIONS HEADQUARTERS IN HOUSTON, TEXAS
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s it your year to break away from the ham and surprise your people with an unmatched collection of glorious gifts and goodies? Thanks® can help. With gift passes, gourmet goodies, holiday gifts and e-cards to choose from, you’ll have your team feeling all kinds of merry. Delight with a set of sparkling canapé plates, a fresh lemon cypress or unique vintage star. Or send them e-cards bearing gifts! Add a Thanks pass code to your electronic thank you and let them choose one of hundreds of gifts from Thanks. Unsure what gift can please them all? Choose a gift pass. You’ll find there’s more to a Thanks Gift Pass than the gift. All items are name brand. Shipping, handling and tax are included in the price. A 90-day exchange option and a 5-year warranty come standard. Choose your price point, style and impress with a sophisticated fold out design that features 24 of many gift choices. Contact your O.C. Tanner representative to create your hassle free holiday plan today.
ku•dos
1. honor; glory; acclaim. 2. a statement of praise or approval; accolade; compliment.
KUD
In this issue… Schlumberger SIS: Programmed for Success
University Health System Trains for Results O.C. Tanner Gives U.S. Olympic Gold
“Not only is there a huge improvement in our yearly employee motivation survey results, but voluntary attrition has also dropped dramatically.”
Holidays 2008: Give Thanks ®
O.C.T. VOL . 12 NO. 3
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V I C E P R E S I D E N T S A L E S & C O N S U LT I N G , SCHLUMBERGER
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Programming Performance HOW SCHLUMBERGER INFORMATION SOLUTIONS KEEPS AN ORGANIZATION OF TOP PERFORMERS ENGAGED hining out among a group of admittedly bright stars can be tough. “Schlumberger is a culture of overachievers,” says Floyd “Trey” Broussard, a business integration manager for Schlumberger Information Solutions (SIS) and recipient of the organization’s highest recognition, the WOW award. “We’re all challenged to come up with one game-changing innovation every quarter. On average only 4 percent of new products ever see the light of day—that makes our goal beyond ambitious. That’s why Schlumberger is known for picking the smart kids and establishing a culture that allows them to run quickly.” Schlumberger is the world’s leading supplier of technology, project management, and information solutions to the oil and gas industry. As an organization it counts on its talent to keep it ahead of competition. Establishing a culture that encourages the right people to stay is an important priority for every company, however for Schlumberger encouraging a culture of appreciation has become a point of differentiation. “We’ve done a lot of different things at Schlumberger to make it a place where people want to build careers, not resumés,” says Technology Center Manager, // continued inside
P R O G R A M M A N AG E R
RECOGNITION SNAPSHOT
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ngaging employees in the early days of their employment is an issue finding its way into boardroom strategy sessions. Why? Early turnover can cripple service organizations and weigh heavily on any bottom line. Consider these stats:
22% 46% 3x$ OF STAFF TURNOVER
OF ROOKIES WASH OUT IN
THE COST OF LOSING AN
OCCURS IN THE FIRST
THEIR FIRST 18 MONTHS
EMPLOYEE IN THE FIRST
FORTY-FIVE DAYS OF
FOUND A STUDY OF 20,000
YEAR IS ESTIMATED TO BE AT
EMPLOYMENT.
NEW HIRED EMPLOYEES.
LEAST THREE TIMES SALARY.
THE WYNHURST GROUP, “SHRM PRESENTATION” APRIL 2007.
FATAL MISTAKES WHEN STARTING A NEW JOB”, ANNE FISHER, FORTUNE, JUNE 2, 2006.
THE WYNHURST GROUP, “SHRM PRESENTATION” APRIL 2007.
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NUMBER 3
R E WA R D S O F E XC E L L E N C E
JESSICA JENNINGS, D E S I G N E R O F R E WA R D S
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“From my perspective it’s an extremely costeffective means of providing rewards and motivation,” says Hicks. “For the last couple of years the cost of the awards I’ve given out has probably totaled up to roughly the equivalent of one or two really nice team dinners. And I’ve gotten a lot more motivation benefits across the board than I would from something else like taking a team out to eat. And that’s simply because rewards are more durable, culturally valued and important to the recipients.”
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a member of the committee, Hyslip and others were challenged to create initiatives that centered on achieving three specific goals: improving service quality, improving client satisfaction and improving motivation of the SIS team. “After evaluating several different levers, we came to the conclusion that creating a better means to recognize great work is really where we needed to start to affect service, satisfaction and motivation,” says Hyslip. “The real change came when we came to the conclusion that the program needed to be peerto-peer. There were some concerns about how well that concept would take off, but after the first year we had a near 40 percent employee participation rate across 65 countries and we knew we were on to something.” Rolling the program out to a largely international workforce was another challenge Hyslip and her team faced head on. “Our employees work in 27 regional organizations around the world. Each of those regions has a manager and we sought their input and feedback throughout the creation of the program,” says Hyslip. “That approach meant that when it came time to roll out the program not only were our international managers aware of it, but highly supportive as well.” With manager support and an eye to communicating in ways every culture could understand including popular video vignettes showing several wrong ways to recognize people, Hyslip and her team made sure the message of sincere appreciation for highlyvalued work was clear through a heavy communication campaign. Generating senior leadership support was also critical to shifting the focus of the Schlumberger culture from highly competitive to highly congratulatory. “We had several debates as to whether showing appreciation for smaller achievements would diminish the value of the really big awards in the organization,” says Hyslip. “In the end we came down to the realization that if our goal was to really affect the service levels and motivation of our people and reinforce certain behaviors, it’s not about the amount of the recognition—it’s about taking time to hold up the behavior as exemplary. We made a conscious decision to invoke a culture of appreciation and senior leadership has been nothing but supportive ever since.” When Hyslip says supportive she means personal recognition from the company president to WOW award winners and surprise calls to the program’s 1,000th and 2,000th award recipients. “Our 1,000th recipient happened to be a young lady in Egypt who was very surprised to hear from the president,” says Hyslip. “But it’s little moments like that, little stories that spread like fire through the organization and everyone gets motivated by that type of support.” WOW award recipient Jessica Jennings of the SIS Rapid Response team says she’s never seen an organization where recognition carries so much cache. “I’ve won some top awards in the advertising industry—a Cleo among others,” says Jennings. “And what’s interesting to me is that I’m known more as a two-time WOW award winner than anything else. People are putting the awards on their resumes when they interview for different jobs in the organization. This program has not just taken off; it’s truly part of our culture.” Improved employee motivation scores, higher employee satisfaction for recognition and rewards and drops in voluntary attrition rates show evidence of the program’s impact. The multi-faceted approach to keeping, motivating and retaining the best and the brightest is an investment that’s paying off big.
AWA R D S P O T L I G H T
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WOW “ The ability to select an award, one that I can choose and share with my family, personalizes it a bit. If I just get a check for $1,000 it’s great, but that type of recognition disappears into the folds very, very quickly.” — F L OY D “ T R E Y ” B R O U S S A R D , B U S I N E S S I N T E G R AT I O N M A N A G E R , WOW R E C I P I E N T
// Trevor Hicks. “We’ve remodeled our work spaces, implemented flex schedules, changed work processes. But I think a highly impactful and cost effective change we’ve made is establishing a regular practice of recognizing people for great work.” While Schlumberger has always recognized significant accomplishments in the organization, its move to make appreciation more frequent and accessible to every employee is a recent and important change. “We had a gap when it came to recognition,” explains Hicks. “Now we have three levels of awards that range from thank you for a job particularly well done, to more significant awards that honor really amazing accomplishments. The range helps us make recognition more frequent. More importantly, any employee can nominate any other employee for an award, which means that employees have influence and ownership in the program. And everyone notices when there is a regular pattern of appreciation in an organization. It’s unifying. It’s motivating. And
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I’ve noticed a real improvement in people’s willingness to go above and beyond.” Hicks also reports that the change in culture has helped SIS’s voluntary turnover rates and employee motivation survey results as well. “Not only is there a huge improvement in our yearly employee motivation survey results, but voluntary attrition has also dropped dramatically,” says Hicks. “Considering that the job market is as hot for oil industry tech professionals as it ever was in the dot com bubble days, that drop is saying a lot.” Bryant Mueller thinks he knows why appreciation has made such an impact at SIS. As the organization’s vice president of sales and consulting, Mueller says recognition helps executives and supervisors better manage change in their groups by establishing greater trust and inspiring the confidence it takes to move the organization forward. “In the past it was rare to have individual acts praised,” says Mueller. “Now wherever we see actions that make an impact we can use recognition to acknowledge and praise the accomplishment. Presenting awards using the program gives us an opportunity to talk about corporate values, the code of ethics and really reinforce why we’re here. That tie to corporate values makes the praise more purposeful and less superficial and employees are responding to that by trusting their manager has not only the company’s, but the employees’ best interests in mind. We move people from being an opponent to an advocate of the organization.” An advocate is exactly what WOW award winner Broussard has become. “Everybody’s coin-fed to a certain extent,” admits Broussard. “But when I received my WOW award for working to bring a marketable innovation to the organization it was a surprisingly exceptional highpoint in my career.” As far as the tangible portion of Broussard’s recognition, he says he enjoyed selecting an award for his achievement far more than receiving cash for his accomplishment. “We’re talking about a social contract Schlumberger is making with me,” says Broussard. “The ability to select an award, one that I can choose and share with my family, personalizes it a bit. If I just get a check for $1,000 it’s great, but that type of recognition disappears into the folds very, very quickly. Awards and cash just tug on different strings in the brain and to be honest for most development engineers and others like me; it’s not about the money. It’s about someone noticing that my contribution is really good stuff. And when you make that recognition visible, it is a very powerful tool.” Creating a more powerful tool that would inspire managers to appreciate great work and inspire Schlumberger employees to bring a bit more to the table is exactly what program builder Janice Hyslip and other committee members were charged to improve. A dip in client satisfaction scores prompted the SIS president to create a committee to address several service-side goals. As
C O R P O R AT E S P O T L I G H T
A Prescription for Appreciation HOW ONE PUBLIC HOSPITAL IS USING RECOGNITION TO TREAT WHAT AILS
ANDREA CASAS, DIRECTOR, HUMAN RESOURCES
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ake one public hospital, thousands of geographically dispersed employees, a high pressure environment, limited budget, and what many in the healthcare field are calling a crisis in care and what do you get? For Andrea Casas, Director of Human Resources for University Health System in South Texas, it’s a recipe for success. For the last 18 months Casas and her team at University Health System, one of the most prestigious health care systems in South Texas, have been working on a strategy to maximize employee potential, improve patient care and create a culture that engages today’s best health professionals. Her focus? Appreciating great work. Routinely named a best hospital by U.S. News and World Report, University Hospital, owned by the taxpayers of Bexar County, is a 604-bed acute care hospital and the primary teaching facility for The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. In addition to its role as a teaching hospital, a regional level I trauma center, and a leader in
organ transplantation, University Health System operates 16 community clinics. All of which make uniting its many thousands of employees a challenging goal. “Everyone responds to appreciation,” says Casas. “No matter how busy our jobs may be, we need others to notice when we’ve given our best. And as an organization we’ve discovered that when we do that well, our people truly engage and commit to giving their best again and again.” Like many healthcare organizations today, University Health System works hard to improve turnover, customer service and maintain its reputation as a world-class service provider. And while the hospital espouses noble values, Casas discovered the lengthy recognition process to acknowledge those who best achieve those values and the link to what those values meant to the organization was not always clear to recipients. “Don’t get me wrong, our people do amazing things,” says Casas. “The trouble was when it came time to nominate an employee of the quarter or employee of the year, I was having to solicit those nominations. Something was clearly broken.” One of the keys to the success of the new recognition program at University Health System was to avoid assuming that every manager in the organization understood recognition, its importance and relevance to achieving organizational goals. “I felt strongly that in addition to making the recognition process easier by taking it from a nomination form that took several hours to complete to a quick six-question click and answer online process, I had to make training a major and ongoing component of its success,” says Casas. Casas invited trainers from O.C. Tanner’s Carrot Culture group to educate, train and enthuse University Health System managers. “A lot of light bulbs went off during the training,” says Casas. “Managers realized that recognition is a priority for employees and has a substantial impact on important measures like turnover, retention and productivity. And it made a difference that I wasn’t the one telling them about it. To have an outside expert come in and share other organization’s success stories was extremely powerful and inspiring.”
THE MOMENT. THE MEMORY. THE SYMBOL.
Following the training, University Health System managers put the new, simplified approach to recognition to the test. The result? In just 18 months University Health System has seen over half a percent decrease in turnover that equals approximately $580,000 for the organization, greater employee satisfaction scores and a general increase in morale. “That drop in turnover represents a significant change in trend for us and it’s something we hope to repeat again and again,” says Casas. And judging by the impressive increases in participation levels—up 56 percent in the first half of 2008 for the hospital’s onthe-spot program and an 88 percent increase in above and beyond performance recognition program participation levels—it’s a trend that’s likely to continue. Dr. Gary McWilliams, Chief Ambulatory Services Officer and Executive Vice President for University Health System says the success of the new program comes from implementing a more visible, easy to use platform for recognition in the organization. “If there’s anything the Carrot Culture training taught us it’s that you actually have to be verbal about your appreciation. You have to be visible. You have to make a big deal of it,” says McWilliams. “It really adds another level when you recognize people for specific things in front of their peers.” Anthony Herron, Clinic Manager for University Health System could not agree more. When he read of University Health System’s leadership in so many fields he decided to come work for the System. “I wanted to be a part of the greatness that was happening here,” says Herron. “But when I got here and started to tell people where I was working, they would frown. It was hard for me to learn that an organization that is tops in so many medical innovations did not have the great customer service reputation it desired. I knew it was my job to change that. Now, nine years later, I think we’ve done that and I’m proud to tell everyone where I work.” Herron attributes a large part of that change to the organization’s increased focus on appreciating people and connecting recognition with University Health System’s core values. “When people understand that employees are recognized for certain actions that contribute to University Health System being better at serving patients and each other, a light bulb goes off and they understand,
“If there’s anything the Carrot Culture training taught us it’s that you actually have to be verbal about your appreciation. You have to be visible. You have to make a big deal of it.” — D R . G A R Y M C W I L L I A M S , C H I E F A M B U L AT O R Y S E R V I C E S OFFICER AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
‘Oh, that’s what that value means,’” says Herron. “Sometimes we assume that having the values is enough. And that’s just not true. Recognition teaches people what those values look like in action and the organization becomes better for it one employee, one patient at a time. “Those healthcare managers who blame high turnover on the industry are missing the boat,” says Herron. “Yes it’s a challenging field. But by and large the people who choose to work in healthcare are not here for the money. They are here to make a difference. They are here to be a part of something larger than themselves.” That certainly rings true for Lynn Lindemann, a Learning Resources Performance Development Manager and recipient of several of University Health System’s performance recognition awards. “Even though I am not at the bedside, I impact care,” says Lynn Lindemann who says receiving her Commitment to Excellence award was one of the best experiences of her life. “I feel so directly connected to the mission of the Health System and it is recognition like this that keeps me motivated day after day.”
Such inspirational tools are what managers like Susan Gerhardt need to encourage employees to continue to give. As Administrative Nursing Director for the Surgical Trauma ICU and Transplant ICU, Gerhardt says it’s not difficult to get eager doctors and nurses in the door, but helping them feel appreciated in the hustle and bustle of everyday life saving can be a challenge. “I give out more on-the-spot cards than you can imagine,” says Gerhardt speaking of the instant thank yous the hospital offers to managers to recognize great work when and where it happens. “They love it and they value it. I get quarterly evaluations with on-the-spot cards attached, even internal applications. They collect them and are very proud of them. I now see other nurses and doctors recognizing each other. It’s one thing to be acknowledged by your boss, but it’s really important when your peers say that you do a great job.” That accessibility to recognition and the culture change it’s brought to University Health System is something the organization’s leadership hopes to push forward. “Appreciating great work is really about offering employees something that gets them to a point where they truly enjoy their jobs,” says Theresa Scepanski, Vice President of Organizational Development. “Recognition
works to move people to a place where they are engaged in the organization. It’s the message that the organization values you as an individual, your skills and your dedication.” And with the right training, communication and continued reinforcement of recognition as a good management practice, University Health System hopes to move the organization closer to its goals. “We invest in training, create smart programs that simplify recognition and deliver improvements in bottom line results like reduced turnover,” says Scepanski. “We’re counting on staying creative with the money we have and continuing to make appreciation part of our culture as a way of creating a measurable difference to our employees and our patients.”
Great work deserves to be appreciated. That’s why O.C. Tanner donated a U.S. Team ring to all 900 U.S. athletes, coaches and staff that attended the 2008 Olympic Summer Games. In fact, O.C. Tanner has donated rings to every U.S. athlete in every Olympic Games since the 2000 Olympic Summer Games in Sydney, Australia. That’s because whether you’re representing your country on the world stage or putting in overtime to accomplish the impossible—appreciation matters.
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