Managing with Aloha Coaching

Civil Responsibility in 2008 for Hawai‘i and for you

“By its very definition, civic responsibility means taking a healthy role in the life of one's community.”
—Senator John Glenn

Worldly social media is fascinating learning (Joyful Jubilant Learning), great for connectivity (LinkedIn) and fun (Twitter), but what’s up locally?

I am starting to read our Hawai‘i newspapers again to find out, and I’ll explain why.

Values-based management starts with self-management

The short answer is that my values of Mālama (stewardship) and Kuleana (responsibility) are self-talking in loud voices lately, and I am feeling I need to be a better local citizen than I am.

The world-wide web connectivity we have is fantastic, however I cannot help but wonder if I should be coming home more often.

Right now you have to be living under a rock in America if you are not hearing about the deeply serious and troubling state of the airline industry. The proposed merger of Delta and Northwest, who seek to combine to create the world’s largest airline, is the story of a business model which must be radically redesigned to overcome a 2008 year-to-date loss that adds up to $10.5 billion dollars.

Yep, no typo there --- $10.5 billion.

Compare that number, just from two carriers in four months time, with this: The Air Transport Assn reports that the airline industry’s biggest annual loss came in 2002 in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, when all carriers reported a combined loss of $11 billion.

According to an Associated Press story, Delta and Northwest both blame their losses primarily on exorbitant fuel prices and write-downs of their companies’ value, however anyone who knows how business models work in total knows that almost always, “primarily” is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. (And I stand by what I previously wrote here: Working Beyond Their Means).

What does this mean for my home?

This was reported in that same Associated Press story, and is alarmingly true right now:

“Hawai‘i visitor industry sources said higher fares [which are inevitable] would impact that state’s major industry, tourism, which came of age with the advent of jet travel and is wholly dependent upon the airline industry.”

Wholly dependent is painfully accurate. There is a saying here in the islands that when tourism catches cold everyone gets sick. From fuel for the airlines to the second highest national average paid at our gas pumps (California is more expensive), everyone in Hawai‘i has the sniffles and we are starting to hear an awful lot of coughing.

Our dependence on the airline industry is easy to understand. Even if you are on another island within the Hawaiian chain, a mere speck in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, I cannot drive to pay you a visit. Boat travel is usually unrealistic if it is possible at all. Tourism is one part of the picture: Most of what we purchase as consumers is flown in.

This is truly a time to think about our lack of self-sufficiency and how we have been both working and living beyond our means. [See How is Your Workplace affected during a Recession?]

So why my return to the newspapers?

I am wanting more empathy with my neighbors and local community. I struggle to understand why some local thinking is the way that it is. The AP story I have been quoting above was on the front page yesterday, and panic is setting into the Hawaiian economy.

I am wanting to help be a voice of reason and more confidence however I can. Things do sound pretty awful, but I am an optimist and always will be. I do believe in that saying that goes, “Where there’s a will there’s a way.”

Personally I read and interact as much online as I can, boycotting more paper anything in my home and business, other than the blank kind you journal or draw on to release your creativity (and my precious books). In that regard I am far, far, FAR from being your normal Hawai‘i citizen in my habits.

They say that people in Hawai‘i are among the most web-connected in the nation, and we are indeed a hub of national and international business. Our largest employer is not tourism, but the U.S. Government. Yet when I go to the grocery store, to a carnival or community town hall meeting —even workplaces in business— I would guess that the way 70% or more of the people I mingle with learn of issues, and are connected to the rest of the world, is through the newspaper and our local news broadcasts, NOT online.

Much as I would love my neighbors (and even many of my customers) to do so, they do not read JJL or this site religiously, they are not on LinkedIn, and they do not Twitter. You can only engage with the people who are there to engage with you!

The influence and insularity of the newspaper and the gullibility of our population is beginning to worry me in that panic never helped anyone all that much, and calmer voices must prevail, but they must be voices proposing some solutions and conveying confidence and positive expectancy.

This is all leaving me with much to think about. What degree of Mellow Mālama Maintenance will still allow me to sleep well at night, knowing I am also being a good citizen?

“A generation that acquires knowledge without ever understanding how that knowledge can benefit the community is a generation that is not learning what it means to be citizens in a democracy.”
—Elizabeth L. Hollander, Author (1817-1885)

Flickr photos by KellyB. and Paulo Prabo.

Working Beyond Their Means

Ho‘ohanohano
“begin to think of
yourself as the loyal steward
of something much greater”
—from Steve Sherlock of our Ho‘ohana Community

Initially I had one of those routine, end-of-month bloggy type postings queued up and ready to go for today, but when I clicked in for a final check last night it seemed so trivial in light of the day’s “late breaking” news. I had just finished listening to the local Evening News coverage about the decision by Aloha Airlines to shut down their passenger operations and lay off 1,900 employees after their shift ended Monday, March 31st.

That’s today.

A 61-year old company, one which is an icon of interisland travel here in the islands, also connecting Hawaiian islanders to their Pacific neighbors, gives nearly two thousand employees less than 48 hours notice that they will be out of a job.

“In a news release Sunday, airline president and chief executive officer David Banmiller said the company did everything it could to find a buyer or financing, but ran out of time… Aloha filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy March 20, the second time in three years. Aloha blamed what it termed unfair competition from go! airlines, a subsidiary of Arizona-based Mesa Air Group Inc., and Banmiller stood by that on Sunday.

“Aloha Airlines was founded in 1946 to give Hawaii's people a choice in inter-island air transportation,” he said. “Unfortunately, unfair competition has succeeded in driving us out of business, bringing to an end a 61-year-old company with a proud legacy of serving millions of travelers in the true spirit of Aloha.” —Pacific Business News

What is wrong with this picture?

If you have been in Hawai‘i over the last week, this is episode number two of tragic job loss.

This past Monday, the 24th, Molokai Properties Ltd. said Monday it will shut down Molokai Ranch by the end of March. The closure will result in the laying off of 120 staff over the next two months. Operations being closed include the Molokai Lodge, Kaluakoi Golf Course, Kaupoa Beach Village, Maunaloa Tri-Plex theater and gas station, and cattle-rearing and maintenance. Read back over that list of operations, and think about Molokai as an island of only about 260 square miles. Molokai Ranch has said access to its 60,000 acre property, more than a third of the island, will be closed indefinitely. Maunaloa only has about 230 people, 50% of them under the age of 18 (2000 census figures); it is a town and a community which will cease to exist.

Photo of Aloha’s current in-flight magazine; seems it will be their last issue. [photo found at  www.spiritofaloha.com]

While the two stories differ quite a bit, both have something in common: Business models that just didn’t work. As I see it, broken business models are about as irresponsible and unethical as being in business can get.

In the case of Aloha Airlines, though I understand the extraordinary pressure exerted on all the airlines by rising fuel prices, Banmiller’s blame game on those fuel prices and “unfair competition” irks me to no end. He also stated;

“This is an incredibly dark day for Hawaii... Despite the groundswell of support from the community and our elected officials, we simply ran out of time to find a qualified buyer or secure continued financing for our passenger business. We had no choice but to take this action.”

I’m sorry; to say that you just “ran out of time” doesn’t cut it. This IS “an incredibly dark day for Hawai‘i” and a dark day for the credibility of smart, moral business practices.

My personal experience flying Aloha Airlines is a large part of my feelings; service levels on ‘Aloha’ Airlines were horrible. I fly interisland often enough to be in the highest level of frequent flyer clubs in both Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines; I would fly Aloha if, and only if, it was not possible for me to get a seat on Hawaiian – any seat, not a good one, or cheaper one. At a certain point of comparison between good service and inferior service, price gets irrelevant. As for go! Airlines, I have never flown with them; not once.

Broken business models, inferior customer service, and management which does little to nothing about both of those things is what causes businesses to fail. Tough competition and rising costs may accelerate your demise, but you can’t blame those two things for everything. It’s been tough for Hawaiian Airlines too, but their story has proceeded differently:

“Hawaiian, which had survived bankruptcy in the early 1990s, again sought bankruptcy protection in 2003 and emerged after trimming costs and reorganizing its debts in 2005. Since then, Hawaiian has been the stronger of the two, putting new planes into service, announcing plans to expand service to the Mainland and Asia and, most important, turning a profit even as fuel prices increased.” —Pacific Business News

Every year at about this time, fiscal seasonality in business (and the fact that the tax man cometh each April if you are a U.S. citizen) causes me to get on my Managing with Aloha soapbox about financial literacy. Because of my own experience with having to fix a badly broken business model, I can’t help thinking about Kuleana, the responsibility I feel businesses have to audit their business models, ensuring their financials are healthy enough for all the stakeholders of those businesses to thrive.

Survival is never quite enough. Asking your business partners and stakeholders to keep plugging away, working beyond their means, is inexcusable. Aloha claims they have been losing $5 million per month; perhaps their throwing in the towel should have happened much sooner. At the very least, saving the last few months of that operating cost may have taken care of more creditors, and made for a decent severance for those employees given less than 48 hours to say aloha to their jobs. For 1,900 employees, plus the many likely affected by the domino effect this causes (imagine half of the interisland terminals on every one of the major Hawaiian islands now being unstaffed and nearly vacant) this is an extremely tough lesson to learn about the wisdom of working for profit versus a paycheck.

Today, just one day from our MWAC April 1 shift to Mālama, the value of caring and stewardship, our local business news saddens me greatly. My heart goes out to the employees who have lost their jobs, and to their families. I feel for the ripple effects there will surely be: A company of 3,500+ employees operating over six decades to connect all the Hawaiian islands with each other and their neighbors over the Pacific makes an impact and leaves quite a mark on our business, civic, and social landscape.

It is a sad day indeed. I would have loved to see Aloha Airlines live up to its name fully, working and managing with aloha, and all the intellectual honesty aloha demands.

From our January Archives: Get Pono Integrity for your Business Model.

See a short video clip on Aloha Airlines History, and more local news coverage, at KGMB9

 

---

From Pacific Business News:
(Image of 1956 logo from Wikipedia)

Founded as Trans-Pacific Airlines, the company started with a war-surplus DC-3 that offered charter flights from Honolulu to Maui and Hilo. Nicknamed "the Aloha Airline," Trans-Pacific officially changed its name to Aloha Airlines in 1958.

The airline was started out of frustration by Honolulu businessman Ruddy Tongg, a Chinese-American who was tired of seeing Hawaii residents treated as second-class citizens while tourists -- mostly white -- were given favored status. Tongg made a point to hire local residents and to promote it as the friendliest for inter-island travel.

Say No to Resolutions: Choose your Values instead.

In my January newsletter, I talked about Ho'ohana as one way "you can stop with unrealistic New Years Resolutions forever. That's right, forever." On Talking Story yesterday, I shared  another great strategy that Harry is using: Tell me your One & Only: 1 Request = 9 Benefits. Like Ho'ohana, this is another way, directly tied in to the value alignment strategy of Managing with Aloha:

Say no to those automatic-pilot January resolutions you've gotten trapped in before, and choose your 2008 values instead.

We all have values, a whole bunch of them. However the whole list of our individually-held values is not always in play.

• You choose your passion-critical ones individually with Ho'ohana.
• In the workplace, great managers help their teams choose their mission-critical values within strategic planning.

In my coaching, I have a list of 42 different values I use to narrow down a person's hot buttons (their passion-criticals), and to begin our conversations about how different ones will come into play for them in different situations. The January tradition we coach with is a tweak on that exercise. We narrow those same 42 down to four and only four values that will be our focus for the year to come. In practical, operational terms, they are quarter-intense (2nd Qtr, 3rd Qtr, 4th Qtr, hit the ground running with next year's 1st Qtr), but all four values are kept front and center to our attentions the entire year through. As the year proceeds, they help focus us on the essentials of our strategic initiatives (whether for the company's mission or for our training programs), and they flavor the intensity of our behavior in a very intentional way.

That is the core belief of Managing with Aloha: Values drive behavior. So get the behaviors you want by keeping the values you revere front and center at all times.

7. You will best get things done through others by incorporating the values you share with them, values that embrace collaboration, and values that also are fundamental good practices … and Aloha is the most universally held value of them all.

~ from The Core 21 Beliefs of Managing with Aloha

I'll give you an example using my own company, Say Leadership Coaching and Ho'ohana Publishing. These are the four values we have chosen for 2008, with a little explanation for each. I'll start with a 5th which is my carry-over from 2007 to help you see how it has already affected what gets written here! (and the one we've chosen for our first quarter will not be a surprise to you):

1. October - December 2007:
   Ho'omau (persistence and perseverance), specifically with our Ma'alahi (less is more) intentions. Continue with the right things: Those that are conducive to our 'Imi ola, (best possible life) and to the essentials and creativity we want to nurture [defining essentials and creativity drivers was our 2007 focus at SLC/HP].
2. January - March 2008:
   Pono, for a newly designed Rightness and Balance as a solo entrepreneur. My we's will steadily become I's. As I had shared with my SLC newsletter subscribers this past summer, I am transitioning our 'Ohana in Business where every single person becomes a solo entrepreneur, and April 1 is the transition date where everyone is officially on their own. Pono will continue to be my year-long self-reckoning, where I can continually ask myself, "Is this action Pono for me, and is my new business model Pono for my customers and all other stakeholders?"
3. April - June 2008:
   Kākou naturally flows from this, for there ARE other stakeholders to every business, even a so-called "solo" one. I know I will need to work on all my communications (in person, by voice, digital, web presence etc.) in doing my transitions to outsourcing and partnerships which I may not presently have. (Joanna, these are the partnerships I was referring to.) Take note that I have already switched to those I's here, however we did come up with these together, so we can keep our paths aligned, being there for each other as we all go through the same thing, just with a different relationship.
4. July - September 2008:
   Alaka'i, will maintain my focus on leadership. This is something I know I need to do for the continued health and vitality of the Managing with Aloha movement, for our Ho'ohana Community (you are important to me!) and so I can hopefully complete my second book by year-end (The realist in me knows the book will still be my big stretch!)
5. October - December 2008:
   Nānā i ke kumu is authenticity and truth, and by this time I know I will have to look to my source in reflecting back on how I'm doing before I look forward to 2009.

At this point, other Hawaiian words you may recognize as MWA values get woven into my statements because they've been carried over as our language of intention (like 'Imi ola did). I will continue to have 12 values for MWAC - one for each month, but you can expect they will align in some way so I keep my focus squarely leveled on my ho'ohana intentions. For SLC/HP and my personal ho'ohana (I don't separate them), those are the 2008 mission-critical 4 for me: Pono, Kākou, Alaka'i and Nānā i ke kumu.

This is where values simply blow the lid off the boxy emptiness of New Years Resolutions: When you tap into your personal, innately held values, you can trust in them, therefore trusting in yourself and your unbelievable capacity. Your values reveal the all of you, and the all of your aloha spirit.

What will be your values in focus for 2008?

Be brave! Share just one or all four here with us, whether in Hawaiian, English, or another language - our values are universal. You might find that you entice me to write about your value in the coming months, or you might find a partner here in our Ho'ohana Community to buddy-up with in some collaborative peer to peer coaching. After all, that is aloha.
~ Rosa

‘Ohana, your business and your community

In my book, Managing with Aloha, you’ll find that I mostly talk about community in the chapter on ‘Ohana. I’d like to share a short excerpt with you before we leave the month of August and our study of this value. A mere month does not do justice to the teachings of ‘Ohana, for in its richness it can add so much possibility to the workplace. It is my hope that this excerpt gives you a jumping off place to hatch some ideas of your own in how ‘Ohana can translate for you, and for your company.

Next month we jump to the teachings of another value, but ‘Ohana is one you can continue to learn in your practice of it every single day, where your personal life in the arms of family inspire you in your professional one.

Here is the excerpt:

The literal translation for ‘Ohana is family, however in Hawaii, within one’s ‘Ohana are those who are family, and those you choose to call your family. As a Hawaiian value, ‘Ohana is a human circle of complete aloha.

Like ‘Ohana, community is a sacred concept in Hawaii. Many believe that a community cannot be created without the foundation of a strong ‘Ohana to support it. Likewise an ‘Ohana can only get stronger when its connections include the embrace of the community that surrounds it. ‘Ohana and community are considered intertwined.

History helps us understand this, for Hawaiian families traditionally belonged to an ahupua‘a, a land division that was more than town or village. The ahupua‘a extended from the mountains to the sea, for in our volcanic island environment, different types of sustenance came from these varied elevations. Your ‘Ohana was responsible for stewardship of the land you occupied, and thus the entire ‘Ohana was bonded in work as well: Yours was a family of fishermen, or farmers or tradesmen. You were expected to share the bounty of your harvest or craft with all in the ahupua‘a, as they would share theirs with you, making the entire community healthy and strong. The community needed the ‘Ohana to care for the land that sustained them; the ‘Ohana needed the community’s reach over the entire ahupua‘a if they were to enjoy the best possible life.

As with the family connections to neighborhood, and sense of place, there is so much good business sense in making community connections.

For one thing, it’s terrific marketing. Let’s face it—customers are more inclined to spend a buck with you if they feel you are caring and socially responsible, and often the best way to demonstrate your caring is via community involvement. In addition to corporate initiatives, as a business we must promote and support the volunteerism of our employees within the community as Little League coaches, soccer moms, soup kitchen volunteers, companions for the elderly—wherever their own values drive them to be giving. As Mea Ho‘okipa they thrive with these additional expressions of their Aloha for others.

Often there are many rewards we gain back indirectly, such as their continuing education, their recognition of good service practices in other organizations, or their participation in fun and social outlets that de-stress and energize them. We may also gain the opportunity to lead and influence community changes that are healthy for both the community itself and thus for our business climate as a whole.

This is all part of ‘Ohana, the human circle of complete Aloha.

‘Ohana helps us see the tremendous worth held within community. A business cannot be all things to all people, and community is there to fill the pukas (the holes, the opportunity) and bridge the gaps. Community involvement promotes inclusiveness, open-mindedness and the willingness to seek a better way to live with each other harmoniously, teachings that are all promoted by an ‘Ohana.

Establishing healthy community networks that include your business concerns can counteract the fear of evolutionary change that neighborhoods are destined to go through. ‘Ohana is the most secure and comfortable support we have for facing truth, for ‘Ohana never loses hope. And with community involvement in particular, the lines between benchmarking new ideas, networking with divergent groups and education in general can become very pleasantly blurry; they all seek more knowledge. Knowledge brings hope, and ‘Ohana promotes it.

Community involvement also gives prospective candidates the opportunity to interact with your employees in a neutral environment. The reality of any job market is that the employees you really want to work with you are probably already employed. You need not resort to tactics aimed at stealing them away when they initiate the effort to seek you out because you have offered evidence to them that you can deliver great job satisfaction. The evidence? Your present employee, the one active in the community who is happy and speaks well of you and your business goals and ethics.

Are you taking the same risk by exposing your staff to other companies in your support of their volunteerism? Only if your own house is not in order. Only if your own company is not a healthy ‘Ohana in business. If it is, what they will see is how good they have it working with you; all they will feel is your support, your Aloha. They won’t give that up.

--- Managing with Aloha, Bringing Hawaii’s Universal Values to the Art of Business

A full index of this month’ articles:

1. ‘€˜Ohana, Community, and The ‘€˜Ohana in Business
2. How Strengths and Performance Coaching Intersect with Managing with Aloha
3. The ‘Ohana in Business is a Place for Business Partners
4. The Purpose-Finding of Ho‘ohana and Wabi-Sabi
5. Sunday Mālama: A Beginning
6. Every employee a Business Partner? Yep.
7. How good do you feel about working in business today?
8. 4 Things Managers Can Do to Bring Managing with Aloha to their Company Culture
9. An expression of Ho‘ohana: The Plastic Spork by Shawn Chambers
10. Sunday Mālama: Aug12'07 Spirit Spilling
11. Branding fame, the ability to provoke, and degrees of follow-up
12. Living the value of ‘Ohana in a disaster
13. MWA Success Stories! The Daily Five Minutes®
14. Coaching Debrief: Do with, not for, not instead
15. Sunday Mālama: Aug19'07 A Ma'alahi Persuasion for Calm
16. Blind Faith is not part of Unconditional Aloha in an ‘Ohana in Business
17. For an ‘Ohana in Business, work on Role, Behavior, and Consequence
18. Sunday Mālama: Aug26'07 Morning Pages, Artist Dates and Rhythm
19. ‘Ohana, the value of Family, and Hānai interpretations for Business

‘Ohana, the value of Family, and Hānai interpretations for Business

If we were to reduce the value of ‘Ohana to its purest intentions, I would say it this way: The Hawaiian value of ‘Ohana seeks to open up family. Besides those blood ties that bind us by birth, we can choose who we consider our ‘ohana to be, enlarging our human circle of aloha.

There is an exceptional article this month in the August/September 2007 issue of Hana Hou! (the magazine of Hawaiian Airlines) called Hānai Tales, Hawaiian Family Values. Hānai is the word for adoption, and as the storyline conveys, “The Hawaiian form of adoption reminds us that love, not genes, is what truly defines family.” The four-page story was exceptionally written by Paul Wood, recipient of the 2006 Elliot Cades Award for literature, and the author of two story collections, and within it Wood demonstrates his skillful weaving of stories, these being of those who are children of adoption, or who have chosen to adopt. Hana Hou! is sold at newsstands and in bookstores, thus the online archives are purposely delayed an issue or two, but I will be tracing the article to link here in a future update. [And here it is!]

The photos which accompany Wood’s article, by well-known Hawaii photographer Linda Ching are absolutely perfect, not only in capturing the precious faces of family, but in conveying the emotional intelligence of Wood’s article. Here is what photographer Linda Ching said, about taking up the challenge of illustrating the complex and often abstract concepts of Paul Wood’s story, as shared on the contributor’s page of the magazine:

“I wanted my pictures to illustrate the bonds that I feel are the truest part of hānai, which I see as love without boundaries. It was like trying to capture love in a bottle, daunting at first, until I met these children who were so lovingly bonded to their kūpuna [elders], and Hōkūlani, whose smile is the essence of aloha.” A hānai child, Hōkūlani Holt-Padilla, calls it “the best of all worlds. I never felt unwanted.”

Hānai is what we refer to as “open adoption.”

According to Wood, the government does not allow adopted people to know where and to whom they were born in forty-five of the fifty U.S. states – including Hawai‘i. [Not even where – I didn’t know that before reading the article.] This is in stark contrast to the traditional Hawaiian practice of hānai, which is very inclusive; hānai children do know who their biological parents are, and often they are close by; sometimes hānai children live in both homes at different times. They feel they are very loved, and haven’t really been given away; elders have simply decided where, and with whom it is best they live, and where the responsibility for raising them well can best be fulfilled. Often there is no paperwork involved, just an agreement between parents; two are giving, two are receiving, four are sharing the life of a child. Where ever they are, and like any child, a hānai child brings new life to a home, to a heart, to a family, to the circle of human aloha. Hānai ends loneliness.

Hānai may very well be the very best way we can learn about the inclusiveness, giving, and unconditional acceptance of ‘Ohana. Now just imagine what happens when someone in the thought-to-be professionally cold world of business, brings these concepts into a company ... a family entrusts one of their own to a business, that company receives and fully owns the responsibility for raising and caring for that person, so that all, including the community, can share in the best possible expression of that life. Wow.

Wood includes a story of how the hānai parents of Auntie Leimamo Lee of Hāna, Maui, asked her birth parents if they could have her before she was born, because “My [hanai] parents never had any children of their own, but they loved children, and they asked for one.” Wood writes,

“One might wonder how any parents could give up their newborn with such apparent ease. So it’s important to remember a key element to all true hānai agreements: No one loses.”

No one loses. You can also say that the world does not lose. More in Wood’s words:

“In deep Hawaiian tradition, the first-born (hiapo) girl was dedicated to the maternal elders, the first-born boy to the paternal ones. Auntie Leimamo of Hana tells me, ‘Reason was, the grandparents will show the grandchild the way to go in life and take the secrets of whatever they know and pass them on to the child.’ … the point of [her] generational story is to illustrate one great value of hanai adoption – it helps ensure that the knowledge of the old folks will pass on to future generations. The child hānaied by the grandparents becomes a conduit of culture.”

Now consider if these kinds of ‘Ohana values were brought to the conventional ways we think of succession planning in a company, where cross-generational bonding (think ‘mentorship’) ensures that the wisdom and skills of the “elders” and any ‘organizational culture’ they represent, is never lost. Again, wow.

Footnotes and Helpful Links:

1. This is how Hana Hou! describes their editorial mission: “As the island lifestyle magazine of Hawaii‘s premier airline, Hana Hou! strives to provide fresh, insightful views of the people, places and cultures that make our island home so special. Whether you‘re a resident or a visitor, we hope to offer exciting new perspectives through our commitment to outstanding writing, photography and graphic design. We consider it a privilege to be able to present the work of some of Hawaii's finest writers and artists.” They do an excellent job, and I highly recommend browsing their archives, or getting a subscription for the stunning photography they showcase. 
2. Those story collections authored by Paul Wood, are False Confessions and Four Wheels Five Corners, Facts of Life in Upcountry Maui. He has also done a number of botanical books.
3. Photographer Linda Ching has often had her work presented in Hana Hou! and when I get on a Hawaiian Airline flight, see a new issue waiting and open it up, hers are photographs that leap off the page at you with startling human connection. Her exhibits include showings in the US Congress and at the China National Museum of Fine Arts in Beijing. Visit her website for samples: www.lindaching.com

For an ‘Ohana in Business, work on Role, Behavior, and Consequence

When we speak of being an ‘Ohana in Business, one of the things that is critically important for a company’s visionary clarity and the execution predicating success, is answering this question:

In an ‘Ohana in Business, how does a manager

“conduct oneself with distinction” (Ho‘ohanohano) with both

the personal intimacy and unconditional acceptance of family values (‘Ohana),

AND the professionalism and growth potential of Alaka‘i (great management and leadership)?

In short, by working on these Constant Goals of Behavioral Consistency:

a) ROLE: Everyone’s role (role, not only “job” to be done) must be clear, and accountability in those roles must be clear.

b) BEHAVIOR: There must be exceptional modeling of “living and working with aloha” by top level managers before there can be any “managing and leading with aloha” at all.

c) CONSEQUENCE: There must be consequences for poor, mediocre, and status quo performance and desirable rewards for great performance. In other words, good enough CANNOT BE good enough!

These are constant goals. I am certain I can find work to be done on these three goals in every single company on the planet, even in those that are exceptionally successful, for change will happen for them too.

What these three things have in common is clarity in expectations. In the work I do as a workplace aloha coach, something becomes more and more apparent to me every day: Great leaders must be obsessed with making all expectations clear, with roles, jobs, decisions, communications, measurement, results, time – with virtually everything you can think of.

Be a broken record of the right messages. Err on the side of repeating yourself. Ask questions that help you figure out if there is clear understanding, and make it safe for people to give all answers – the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. Don’t spoon-feed; challenge thinking and then verify that you have arrived at the same best answer. When there is any communication breakdown, be adamant in following up to discover the root cause so it doesn’t happen again. Never blame; coach for “the next time” and expect improvement.

Pursue clarity relentlessly in roles, behavioral expectations, and performance consequences, and you will leapfrog significantly no matter what the rest of your strategic goals might be.

Blind Faith is not part of Unconditional Aloha in an ‘Ohana in Business

Let’s continue our discussion about the business model of an ‘Ohana in Business.

The following excerpt is from the manifesto I had written for ChangeThis.com on Managing with Aloha.

Before I got a job in the “executive suite” myself, I never thought too much about overall business plans.  Looking back, I’m now pretty mortified that I worked for companies with such blind faith and trust that they had a good plan, and knew what they were doing. I wasn’t that involved in company strategy, and what’s more, I didn’t even think about it. I just did my job description plus some, striving to be an exceptional employee, and I assumed my bosses had paid their dues enough to have some credibility.

I found out that as an employee you need to be better informed than that. I found out the hard way — when I got promoted to a position where I had to be the one to fix it. The people at the top are not always right, and they are often mired in too much “other stuff” to even notice any signs that they may be wrong. I like to believe that most of the time they do have good intent; I’ve learned that I just shouldn’t assume they have all the answers just by virtue of being in charge.

In the aha! moment I realized this, I had more than three hundred employees reporting to me, working hard within a business model that was seriously flawed: When I crunched the numbers I knew there was no way the business could succeed and sustain everyone working within it. The changes we had to make were painful, and that kind of crisis management is something I never want to go through again.

The one smart decision I made at the time I discovered that flawed business plan, was that I wasn’t going to go it alone. I got my employees to help me, discovering they had some great answers for me. They offered suggestions for solutions I may never have figured out for myself, or as quickly as we did together.

Today, I know better. The first thing I let my new employees in on is my business model. I figure that if they work for me, they have the right to know. I also figure that if they know about it, they’ll help me work on it, help me improve it, and help me catch any warning signs that may crop up when we get off track. I hire people I trust and have faith in, who have the desire and capacity to be more tomorrow than they are today.

When you manage with Aloha, you don’t have employees who are followers, you work with like-minded people who are business partners.

When we speak of treating each other with Aloha, the word unconditional will come up a lot. It is also mentioned often in our discussions about the value of ‘Ohana, family, and the human circle of aloha.

The Gift of Unconditional Acceptance

Like birthright, when you are in an ‘Ohana your acceptance by others within that circle is unconditional. Understanding and forgiveness both become immediate and unconditionally given as well, with any “sorting out” that is necessary coming later, if at all. Whatever baggage you come with becomes the burden of the entire family. You alone may have caused it to appear, but you will not, and need not shoulder it alone. The belief is that many hands will make it a lighter load. The joint life force of Aloha will deal with it in the best possible way.

In an ‘Ohana in Business, that same attitude applies to the business model. Everyone gets involved from the standpoint of their best viewpoint where they usually work in the business, and wanting the best for the ‘Ohana as a whole (i.e. the business itself), and wanting the best for everyone within it. This is unconditional acceptance of shared responsibility, and not blind faith in the few who may have titles of leadership.

No one “goes it alone” in the ‘Ohana in Business, and that includes those considered to be “at the top.”

How does this become real? With Financial Literacy

The ‘Ohana in Business model is powered by an exceptionally high degree of financial literacy within a company. Every business partner is expected to understand how the business model works, for that is the only way they can be an active part of continually sharing in evaluating and improving it.

Blind faith in titular leaders is shirking that shared responsibility. Blind faith is choosing to be uninvolved and apathetic. Blind faith is being okay with not learning and accepting mediocrity. Blind faith is saying, “I’m okay with not growing.”

I cannot imagine that any business person would think that blind faith is a part of great financial literacy. Therefore, blind faith is not a part of the ‘Ohana in Business.

Here is the best news about this entire discussion: The vast majority of people in the workforce today, and certainly in the younger generations replacing the older, want to be financially literate, and they want to be more involved. In an ‘Ohana in Business, their involvement is enthusiastically and appreciatively welcomed.

Links which may be helpful;

1. Our Day One essay for August on ‘Ohana: ‘€˜Ohana, Community, and The ‘€˜Ohana in Business.
2. Here is a link to download the manifesto I wrote for ChangeThis.com.
3. The ‘Ohana in Business is a Place for Business Partners.
4. Every employee a Business Partner? Yep.
5. How good do you feel about working in business today?

Coaching Debrief: Do with, not for, not instead

Preface:
In my everyday work I am a workplace aloha coach, and articles with this “coaching debrief” preface in the title will be a sharing of coaching conversations I have recently had with the managers I coach, in the hope that their lessons-learned can be yours too.

Roll up your sleeves! Yes? No.

How many managers do you know, who will roll up their sleeves and jump into the fray of the work of their staff? If you know one, chances are they are proud that they can, and proud that they do. However, this is often a misplaced pride, held for the wrong reasons – simply to show they can, or because they know/think everyone else expects it.

“Rolling up your sleeves” is not necessarily a badge of honor. It certainly is not an indicator that you’ve done the right things at the right times, in fact, it is usually just the opposite. The workplace isn’t playing the sweetest sounding music when the piano player is struggling with a clarinet, or a percussionist has tangled his drumsticks in the strings of a harp. Likewise, the manager who rolls up his or her sleeves has stepped out of the orchestra conductor’s box where he or she belongs. The audience starts to get uncomfortable, and they may even begin to wonder if they should have chosen a different theater.

I am not a fan of job descriptions, for I largely think of them as boxes people close themselves up in, whereas the roles we play is work without boxes. I am also not a fan of the command and control management models of the industrial age, still the music playing in far too many organizations today. However there is some wisdom in job classifications, simply for how organizations work best operationally, that is, how they are employed to deploy, for good deployment is very necessary for great execution. Managers have their own jobs to do, and whereas a momentary turn at the piano can help get a song melodic again, nine times out of ten it’s a red flag for me if a manager has rolled up their sleeves and abandoned the rest of the orchestra and lost the audience’s attention.

Do with. Not for, not instead

There is a song I teach every manager, one that I hope to get stuck in their heads like that ditty or jingle you might hear and can’t get rid of — I don’t want them to ever get rid of it, because it helps them make the beautiful music everyone else hears. It plays over and over again in a continuous loop of underscoring cadence; “Do with, not for, not instead.”

“Do with, not for, not instead … Do with, not for, not instead … Do with, not for, not instead … Do with, not for, not instead … Do with, not for, not instead …”

Singing this song is simple: If you must jump into the work that is performed by others, do it with them and not by yourself. Coach. Train. Mentor. Encourage. Empower. Enthuse and energize.

Don’t do it for them — that’s embarrassing (for both of you)

Don’t do it instead of them — that’s demoralizing (again, for both of you)

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you must do it alone —whatever that “it” may be that you know is not on your own sheet music, vow to yourself that it will be the last time. Be the manager you are supposed to be, and schedule that opportunity you will do with, not for, and not instead. And schedule is the operative word; do it soon. Be proactive, and return to coaching, training, and mentoring. Get back your own good rhythm by encouraging, empowering, and energizing.

Yes, that song has a much more beautiful sound to it. Look at the audience; they think so too.

~ ~ ~

Let’s consider the MWA value alignment within two of our recent discussions here:

1. ‘Ohana in Business: The “Do with, not for, not instead” song and mantra is one that every employee turned business partner understands the reasoning for, and fully supports. It is part of the company-wide “language of intention.” Further, they have connected this reasoning with a way to ensure all business partners are fully deployed in their areas of strength and best possible contribution to the business model that serves as the orchestra’s stage.

Read, How Strengths and Performance Coaching Intersect with Managing with Aloha

2. ‘Ike loa: Connect the spirit of the Daily 5 Minutes® to those times you do find you have jumped into the fray (we shared a D5M success story here). When the dust settles, ask someone you have worked side-by-side with; “Can we Take 5 now?” Those are great times for people to open up to you with new ideas, for a ground rule of the D5M is that it is not for whining [about what just happened] but for turning five minutes of free time into productive conversation. ‘Ike loa; DO you know well? Do you really know what just happened, so you can coach well later?

If you are a manager and you would like coaching in Managing with Aloha, call or email us! Visit my website for Say Leadership Coaching.

4 Things Managers Can Do to Bring Managing with Aloha to their Company Culture

How do I change my entire company’s culture?

This was a reader’s question that was answered by Marcus Buckingham in regards to putting his book into practice. His book is Go Put your Strengths to Work, and it offers a 6-step plan for identifying your strengths on the job, and capitalizing on them in a way that will improve your work performance.

Buckingham answered it by qualifying that he was addressing his answer to managers, and this is what he suggested, keying in on the word “change” in the question. (He first explained that his answer is the result of much study, and not just of his own opinion.)

He said, “There are four key levers to pull if you want to effect change in a culture;”

1. You can change the expressed values of that culture — “the stuff that’s up on the walls.”

2. You can change the heroes of that culture

3. You can change what gets talked about in the informal communications network — “around the water cooler, in the lunchroom, in the car on the way home”

4. You can change the metrics “with how performance gets measured”

I will share the link shortly for you to hear the transcript of Buckingham’s presentation for his complete context in regard to the strengths movement he is a champion of. As you might imagine, my ears instantly perked up when he mentioned values first; as I write of in Managing with Aloha,

MY MANA‘O (what I believe to be true) ~ ~ ~ A company’s values is like the software that runs that company, and the values of the leadership team in charge are those that are currently plugged in and operating. Taken to a more intimate level, every single manager in a workplace creates and establishes the culture in the area he or she is responsible for.

These would be my add-ons to those four levers, if the question were about bringing Managing with Aloha to an entire culture:

1. Value your expressed values — Take them off the walls and bring them into everything you do. Have a value of the month program similar to what we do here at MWAC, so that keeping actions in alignment with the why of your values applies constant, gentle pressure to the way work happens every single day. Name project campaigns with values; for instance participating in a community-based initiative may be a Mālama campaign.

2. Value your heroes — Celebrate the excellence of those who “walk the talk,” and when you recognize anyone for anything, make sure you highlight the value that was “lived and worked with aloha” in the story of that person becoming the hero of the day.

3. Get your “language of intention” to permeate the organization — a) Create your own vocabulary and language of the insider. Phrases like the one we are talking about this month, “the ‘Ohana in Business,” change directional movement. b) Encourage continuations within the workplace; don’t hold meetings that stretch to forever until some answer is agreed upon; reconnoiter — scout ideas and answers by assigning the homework of seek-and-find missions and then regroup later.

4. Get everyone comfortable with metrics by choosing the right ones — I have two favorite tools in getting MWA to work for organizations; a) ho‘ohana statements, using them to wrap job descriptions, goal setting and annual reviews up in the right performance metrics, and b) The Daily Five Minutes ®, making sure that everyone in the company is continually learning to comfortably and completely communicate with each other.

As for the metrics themselves, this conveniently brings us back to our current discussions here about the ‘Ohana in Business; when your values, business plan, and business model all match up and are in sync, the right metrics for you become very apparent.

Links which I have referenced here;

1. The book written by Marcus Buckingham is Go Put Your Strengths to Work. You can buy Managing with Aloha from Amazon.com.

2. Visit the Marcus Buckingham site for information on his Summer of Development Series. Even if you have not signed up for the calls, you can listen to them afterwards by downloading the files they offer. I previously spoke of this series in this posting: How Strengths and Performance Coaching Intersect with Managing with Aloha.

3. As I continue to populate them on this site, these MWAC categories will be the ones that relate most to this discussion: ‘Ohana in Business, Proactive Performance, Strengths Management, Value Alignment. This link will aggregate all my articles with mana‘o boxes on a single page.

How good do you feel about working in business today?

When we speak of the ‘Ohana in Business, we are talking about a chosen form for your business model. I believe that most existing business models have to change in a reinvention that is long overdue.

The business model I propose for the ‘Ohana in Business is not new, but it is somewhat revolutionary because not enough people are yet doing it. The biggest reason is this: It is hard to let go of control once you have it.

All businesses are NOT beautiful just the way they are.

However, they could be.

When I have taught others about the ‘Ohana in Business before, I have started with ‘Ohana as a value first. This time I want to experiment with something here on MWA Coaching, and talk to you about the business model of the ‘Ohana in Business first, and then blend in the deeper stuff of values afterwards. Are you game?

The question of my title appeared in the manifesto on Managing with Aloha I had written for ChangeThis.com when my book was first released, and as an introduction to our business model discussion, I’d like to present a few parts of it here for us to refer to, for my feelings now remain very much as they did back then when I wrote these words early in 2005.

The following excerpt is taken from the manifesto, and I hope you will take a moment to think about it. If it brings up some unexpected feelings for you, great!

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From Managing with Aloha; Yes! You can too!

Let me ask you this: how good do you feel about working in business today?

Personally, I love the world of business — to be precise, my current world of business.

I have a passion for management, and shaping it into an art form as my daily work-in-progress.

I relish the day-to-day working on myself to be a better manager, walking the talk of good management practice.

I love the science of business and the democracy of free enterprise, where ultimately the customer rules.

I love working within business introspectively, but with an ever-constant eye on the fickle, challenging, very human marketplace.

I love studying and benchmarking successfully thriving and self-sustaining companies.

I love the new global possibilities of networking, and I also love seeing how small business networks of entrepreneurs today are reinventing their neighborhood networks closer to home.

I love the possibilities business provides us with, to choose our own destiny and create it in the name of innovation for many and not just ourselves.

I love working through a good business plan, where worthwhile work is done for profit, not paycheck.

I love being involved in the human drama of business, where we study and talk about things like creativity, courage, excellence, empowerment and transformation.

Or do we? Do you?

At every level of the business you are in right now, how much do people talk about things like personal excellence, meaning, dignity, trust, worth, respect, ethics, integrity, honesty, and (gulp) humanity? How much are these concepts talked about with a thankfulness for actually having them at work, and for living with them?

In a business managed with Aloha we do.

We are in a day and time where people are crying for a reinvention of their workplace, and for a reinvention of work itself.

Oh. You say you’re not there yet.

How are your prospects looking? Are you involved in the reinvention, or j-u-s-t  w-a-i-t-i-n-g?

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The wait can be over.

When brought into a business, Aloha centers the company culture on the shared value system of the people involved. The concept of being a values-centered business starts to mean something. Its benefits go right to the bottom line. It unleashes the desire to perform. It creates powerful customer loyalty.  Aloha celebrates people, their inner drive, and their spirit for working with personal excellence.

The ‘Ohana in Business gives this potential of aloha concrete form.

Previous thoughts: Every employee a Business Partner? Yep.