Washington Business Winter 2018 | Washington Business | Page 49

business backgrounder | education & workforce
we say we want. It’s a paradox: We say we want soft skills, but
then we build organizations that are not good at supporting them
and encouraging them.
Can you explain the shift that’s happening within the
workplace with employers recognizing that a content
employee is the best way to put the customer first?
I’m a big believer in employees first and customers second.
I think that you have to start on the inside before you start
on the outside. It’s very analogous to things we might do in
our personal life. If you live your life in a way that you simply
try to make other people happy, eventually you will become a
miserable person because you just act as a people pleaser. For
organizations, I think it’s pretty much the same thing. If you put
your customers first and ignore your employees, you’re going to
find that the inside of your company is going to start to have a lot
of problems and, in turn, so will the outside of the company. A
lot of the research shows that when you invest in the experience
of your people, it will unlock discretionary effort, which will
allow your employees to then create a better experience for your
customers, drive innovation, increase productivity and all those
other sorts of positive things. So, absolutely you
have to start with your employees.
Can you explain the benefits of a flat —
or flatter — management structure and
a dynamic flow of information within an
organization?
I think this idea of a strict hierarchy inside of an
organization is something we are seeing dissolve
a little bit. In my last book, “The Future of Work,”
I talked about a couple of different organizational
structures and the one I think is most scalable for
larger companies is what I simply call “a flatter
structure.” It doesn’t mean there is no structure
or there is no hierarchy at all, it just means there’s
a much flatter way of running your company.
I’m not suggesting that companies need to have
a completely flat structure where nobody has
accountability, where nobody’s told what to do, or
that the senior executive is the same as the entry-
level employee. But, I do think we need to create
an environment where any employee feels like they
can go to anyone in the company and ask for help,
where information is flowing from the top down,
side to side and from the bottom up and where
there isn’t this stigma of being scared to talk to
somebody or knock on anyone’s door for help.
What is the importance of employees feeling like their
employer is tied to a greater purpose, or, as you call it,
“reason for being?”
The way that I define a “reason for being” is essentially a non-
typical mission statement that has four criteria. The first criteria
for a reason for being is that it ’s something unattainable, so you
can’t achieve it. It’s an aspirational goal. The second criteria is
that it rallies employees and gets them excited. The third criteria
is that it doesn’t talk about financial impact, being a market
leader or anything related to money and being No. 1 in a space.
And, the last criteria is that it talks about impact the organization
has on the world or the community in which it serves. A good
example of a reason for being might be Starbucks, where they
say, “to nurture the human spirit one cup, one neighborhood
and one community at a time.” That’s something people can get
behind. Airbnb has a great one as well, “belong anywhere.” It’s
a two-word reason for being that’s fantastic. The interesting
thing about this is that not only can organizations have this, but
communities can have it and individuals can create their own
reason for being. It doesn’t have to be a broad company thing; it
can go down to the individuals.
jacob morgan at a glance
Futurist Jacob Morgan is one of the world’s leading authorities on the future of
work, the employee experience and how the workplace is changing. He is a best-
selling author and keynote speaker who advises business leaders and organizations
around the world.
In his latest book, “The Employee Experience Advantage: How to Win the War for
Talent by Giving Employees the Workspaces they Want, the Tools they Need, and
a Culture they Can Celebrate,” Morgan analyzes over 252 global organizations to
determine how to create an organization where people genuinely want, not need,
to show up to work.
Morgan’s previous book, “The Future of Work,” explores how the workplace is
changing and what organizations need to do to adapt. He is also the author of
“The Collaborative Organization,” a strategic guide for how organizations can
successfully deploy social collaboration tools.
Morgan hosts weekly podcasts, “The Future of Work Podcast,” which are available
on his website at thefutureorganization.com.
He holds undergraduate degrees in Economics and Psychology from the University
of California, Santa Cruz, and attended the University of Houston where he
received his certification in Foresight.
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