1 00:00:00,727 --> 00:00:01,687 Henry: Hello, I'm Henry, 2 00:00:01,913 --> 00:00:03,032 Maureen: And I'm Maureen, 3 00:00:03,032 --> 00:00:09,002 Henry: and today in our podcast we have Traci Fenton who talks about democratic workplaces. 4 00:00:09,430 --> 00:00:10,090 So what? 5 00:00:10,390 --> 00:00:11,830 What's brought you joy, Maureen? 6 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,890 Maureen: Well I mean, when I think about joy, I'm thinking about this moment. 7 00:00:15,956 --> 00:00:20,634 And I may be repeating myself, but I have to celebrate. 8 00:00:20,934 --> 00:00:24,654 I have got one apprentice who's just told me that they've got a distinction. 9 00:00:25,404 --> 00:00:29,934 Uh, I know, and it's from the Global Majority Apprenticeship and it's fantastic. 10 00:00:30,294 --> 00:00:36,474 But the thing is, it's not even just for the fact that they got the, the distinction, but it's the joy that it gave the group as well. 11 00:00:36,474 --> 00:00:42,234 So the impact of that, you know, so, you know, when you spread joy, you know, it's infectious. 12 00:00:42,234 --> 00:00:44,784 So everybody was happy and motivated. 13 00:00:45,110 --> 00:00:47,060 So what's been giving you joy Henry? 14 00:00:47,276 --> 00:00:50,726 Henry: Well, today I had this session on Liberating Structures. 15 00:00:50,996 --> 00:00:56,666 So the idea is, you know, do you ever go to a meeting where a couple of people dominate? 16 00:00:56,876 --> 00:00:57,596 Maureen: Oh, yes. 17 00:00:57,686 --> 00:00:58,406 Oh yes. 18 00:00:58,466 --> 00:00:58,886 There's been 19 00:00:59,161 --> 00:00:59,381 Henry: yes. 20 00:00:59,606 --> 00:01:06,091 So the idea of Liberating Structures is it's 33 structures which enable an equal voice for all. 21 00:01:06,191 --> 00:01:07,566 And we do it at Happy, don't we? 22 00:01:07,660 --> 00:01:08,170 Maureen: We do. 23 00:01:08,170 --> 00:01:09,550 It's really impactful. 24 00:01:09,629 --> 00:01:10,829 Henry: It's very impactful. 25 00:01:10,829 --> 00:01:13,679 And this time, uh, I did it, did it with a client. 26 00:01:13,739 --> 00:01:23,499 Um, so we did one, two four, all, where you had spend one minute in private reflection, two minutes in pairs, four minutes in fours, and then you all share together. 27 00:01:23,883 --> 00:01:26,753 And we did Troica where you get three people together. 28 00:01:26,753 --> 00:01:32,694 One person gives their challenge and then turns their back so that the other people then get to discuss that challenge. 29 00:01:32,769 --> 00:01:34,029 Yeah, it's really exciting. 30 00:01:34,034 --> 00:01:34,839 It's liberating structures. 31 00:01:35,284 --> 00:01:38,089 Maureen: It, it really is, and I do recommend people to check it out. 32 00:01:38,359 --> 00:01:40,265 You know, come come to us and check it out 33 00:01:40,316 --> 00:01:41,106 Henry: Absolutely. 34 00:01:41,679 --> 00:01:44,816 Okay, well, let's go now with Traci Fenton. 35 00:01:47,444 --> 00:01:56,774 Now Traci, you are author of Freedom at Work and you are also CEO of WorldBlu, uh, which involves democratic workplaces. 36 00:01:57,224 --> 00:01:59,294 Tell me what is a democratic workplace? 37 00:01:59,420 --> 00:02:01,730 Traci: Oh, Henry, it's so great to be here with you. 38 00:02:01,735 --> 00:02:10,430 As you know, I've been working for almost 27 years to help build freedom centered democratic workplaces, so had the opportunity to work with. 39 00:02:10,455 --> 00:02:14,115 Hundreds and hundreds of companies all over the world that work this way. 40 00:02:14,115 --> 00:02:18,375 But what exactly does it mean to be a freedom centered democratic workplace? 41 00:02:18,375 --> 00:02:32,835 Well, democracy or organizational democracy for us, in, in the simplest terms, is all about how we give power to our people to realize their fullest potential, so that the fullest potential of the company or organization can also be realized. 42 00:02:33,255 --> 00:02:34,575 Now, what does that mean? 43 00:02:34,575 --> 00:02:35,805 You know, giving power to the people? 44 00:02:36,465 --> 00:02:39,705 Well, I, as you know, and you and I have worked together and for 45 00:02:39,895 --> 00:02:40,495 Henry: we have. 46 00:02:40,495 --> 00:02:41,395 We have indeed. 47 00:02:41,695 --> 00:02:43,570 And we are a democratic workplace, aren't we? 48 00:02:43,575 --> 00:02:43,645 We are. 49 00:02:43,875 --> 00:02:44,445 Traci: That's right. 50 00:02:44,445 --> 00:02:46,725 Absolutely, worldBlu certified freedom centered workplace. 51 00:02:46,995 --> 00:02:53,655 So what, what this all means and, and what, that was a question I was sort of in, early in my career was like, what is democracy? 52 00:02:53,660 --> 00:02:57,615 You know, we all throw this word around, do we even know what it actually means? 53 00:02:57,915 --> 00:03:02,385 And, uh, I, I find a lot of fun in asking people, how do you define democracy? 54 00:03:02,385 --> 00:03:04,515 You know, and some people will say, oh, it's voting. 55 00:03:04,875 --> 00:03:07,695 And I'll say, no voting's a way of making a decision. 56 00:03:07,995 --> 00:03:16,095 It doesn't mean you have democracy, because you can make decisions through majority vote, you can make it through consent, or you can make it through consensus based decision making. 57 00:03:16,545 --> 00:03:31,728 So how do you define what democracy is and when I was in, uh, college and undergrad, that was the question I started to ask, and I did both my undergraduate and graduate research identifying what are the principles that actually create a democratic system? 58 00:03:31,733 --> 00:03:37,848 Because democracy is not only a system for how you do things, it's also a style of leadership. 59 00:03:38,088 --> 00:03:40,068 It's kind of multiple things all in one. 60 00:03:40,068 --> 00:03:45,378 So you'll hear people talk about, um, authoritarian command and control leadership, right? 61 00:03:45,378 --> 00:03:49,033 That top down pyramid structure, that's gonna be that command and control. 62 00:03:49,498 --> 00:03:55,028 Synonymous with that is sort of dictatorial leadership, community control, authoritarian right. 63 00:03:55,048 --> 00:03:57,238 You'll hear, hear people talk about servant leadership. 64 00:03:57,458 --> 00:04:00,878 Also very popular phrase, which I think is a, is a wonderful concept. 65 00:04:01,388 --> 00:04:05,108 But I think, you know, kind of the next step beyond that is democratic leadership. 66 00:04:05,138 --> 00:04:06,938 And clearly, as you know, we're not talking about. 67 00:04:06,988 --> 00:04:08,728 Politics per se here. 68 00:04:08,938 --> 00:04:10,768 We're talking about a style of leadership. 69 00:04:10,768 --> 00:04:13,438 Democracy means demos, crot in the people rule. 70 00:04:13,678 --> 00:04:19,018 So how do you give power to your people to create the best outcome? 71 00:04:19,018 --> 00:04:21,238 And what we've seen at WorldBlu time and time again. 72 00:04:21,713 --> 00:04:39,613 This isn't just some nice utopian, kumbaya idea, but when you actually structure your organization and lead your organization on democratic principles of which we identified what those are at WorldBlu, once you do that, it actually accelerates growth. 73 00:04:40,033 --> 00:04:50,293 In fact, we've seen independent research that companies that work this way average 700% greater revenue growth over a three year period compared to SP 500 companies. 74 00:04:50,623 --> 00:04:54,163 So we're not just talking about, wow, it's just such a nice idea, you know? 75 00:04:54,583 --> 00:05:02,743 We're talking about an actual strategy for how you accelerate the growth of your company and create a culture people love in the process. 76 00:05:02,901 --> 00:05:06,141 Maureen: so just so that I can just visually put this, see this. 77 00:05:06,351 --> 00:05:11,746 So can you give me an example or a story of an organization that looks like this and one that doesn't? 78 00:05:11,848 --> 00:05:14,908 Traci: Well, I think most don't, right? 79 00:05:15,268 --> 00:05:16,333 Maureen: Okay, yeah. 80 00:05:16,618 --> 00:05:19,558 Traci: We all tell our horror stories, right? 81 00:05:19,563 --> 00:05:26,673 I mean, I remember when I first started, um, I went to work for a Fortune 500 and I resigned after three months. 82 00:05:26,673 --> 00:05:29,253 I mean, I was fresh outta college and I started ing on this side. 83 00:05:29,463 --> 00:05:40,863 I resigned after three months, and when I went to my boss, he said, Traci, I knew you weren't gonna last here very long, because I knew you wouldn't let yourself be treated the way we treat people here. 84 00:05:41,023 --> 00:05:46,063 Maureen: But, that's funny because if he was aware of that, then why would he continue behaving in 85 00:05:46,213 --> 00:05:48,823 Traci: Exactly, and I think it's because, great question Maureen. 86 00:05:49,093 --> 00:05:51,823 I think people don't know how to do it differently. 87 00:05:52,283 --> 00:06:00,473 It's kind of like if, if all you've ever eaten is McDonald's, you don't know how great, you know, a Michelin star restaurant could taste or, you know what I mean? 88 00:06:00,473 --> 00:06:02,573 Like, if you just don't know, you don't know. 89 00:06:02,723 --> 00:06:11,378 And so let me tell you about a great company that made that transition from fear and command and control to a much more freedom centered democratic model. 90 00:06:11,378 --> 00:06:12,128 It's a, it's a company. 91 00:06:12,128 --> 00:06:13,748 I love telling the story about DaVita. 92 00:06:14,138 --> 00:06:20,224 Um, they're a Fortune 500 company and a number of years ago, they were on the edge of bankruptcy. 93 00:06:20,584 --> 00:06:23,134 They were under investigation by the SEC. 94 00:06:23,374 --> 00:06:26,494 Their morale was, you know, in the crapper. 95 00:06:27,154 --> 00:06:31,474 People were jumping ship, you know, it was a complete disaster. 96 00:06:31,804 --> 00:06:34,894 And they, they weren't even called DaVita at the time. 97 00:06:34,899 --> 00:06:36,694 At the time they had a really sexy name. 98 00:06:36,694 --> 00:06:38,524 It was Total Renal Care. 99 00:06:38,714 --> 00:06:39,724 So anyway. 100 00:06:40,724 --> 00:06:45,679 um, what happened was they brought in a new CEO named Kent Theory, KT is what they call him. 101 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:51,229 Uh, KT, Harvard MBA guy, so you expect kind of that slash and burn mentality. 102 00:06:51,229 --> 00:06:54,439 We've gotta turn the ship around, let's get rid of everybody, let's whatever. 103 00:06:54,829 --> 00:06:57,979 No, he came in with an entirely different mindset. 104 00:06:58,009 --> 00:07:07,159 And this is absolutely the the starting point when you're thinking about how do you build a freedom centered company, you have to have the mindset that KT had, which was guess what? 105 00:07:07,519 --> 00:07:09,139 Every single person has value. 106 00:07:09,769 --> 00:07:11,329 Every single person has worth. 107 00:07:11,749 --> 00:07:13,879 Every single person deserves to have a voice. 108 00:07:14,089 --> 00:07:21,109 So we're gonna structure ourselves as a democratic community first and a company second. 109 00:07:21,169 --> 00:07:21,739 Okay? 110 00:07:21,889 --> 00:07:25,939 We're gonna lead with this idea of being a democratically run community first. 111 00:07:26,209 --> 00:07:28,339 So they did all kinds of cool stuff. 112 00:07:28,549 --> 00:07:30,649 They, they call themselves a village. 113 00:07:30,994 --> 00:07:32,824 He calls himself the mayor. 114 00:07:33,154 --> 00:07:37,264 Um, he invited people to vote on decisions that impact them. 115 00:07:37,658 --> 00:07:41,524 People will say to me often, oh, Traci, gosh, you know, democracy means voting at work. 116 00:07:41,524 --> 00:07:43,204 Does that mean nothing ever gets done? 117 00:07:43,264 --> 00:07:45,064 No, things do get done. 118 00:07:45,334 --> 00:07:47,554 And in fact, it's a little bit of tortoise and Harris. 119 00:07:47,554 --> 00:07:57,064 Sometimes you have to slow down to educate people to make that informed voter decision, but then you're able to accelerate in the implementation because people are bought in. 120 00:07:57,491 --> 00:07:59,171 They had town hall meetings. 121 00:07:59,561 --> 00:08:12,221 Um, they decentralized, um, out to their, uh, their healthcare company, do dialysis, so they de decentralized out to dialysis or out to the different dialysis centers across, uh, America now around the world. 122 00:08:12,701 --> 00:08:32,706 And one of my favorite things that they did in, as they made this transition to giving power to their people and treating their people like adults rather than children, is that they created, uh, symbolically, this giant wooden bridge, and they would invite people at their conferences to walk across that bridge 123 00:08:33,056 --> 00:08:43,376 when they felt ready themselves to make the transition from being, uh, just an employee and a company to being a citizen of their democratic community. 124 00:08:43,736 --> 00:08:50,816 And I've had the opportunity to walk across that bridge myself, I have to say it was kind of an emotional moment because I obviously, I believe so strongly in this. 125 00:08:51,146 --> 00:09:03,051 And so they were able to turn around from bankruptcy to being a $15 billion company, 52,000 employees now worldwide, and they've sustained it. 126 00:09:03,411 --> 00:09:04,588 KT, um. 127 00:09:04,727 --> 00:09:12,617 recently rolled off and Javier Rodriguez, who's speaking at our summit at the end of February here in, in, down in Miami, he is now CEO. 128 00:09:12,677 --> 00:09:16,967 Again, they just, uh, got re-certified as a WorldBlu Certified Freedom Center company. 129 00:09:16,972 --> 00:09:20,537 They've retained that certification straight from 2008. 130 00:09:20,867 --> 00:09:22,427 So these guys are the real deal. 131 00:09:22,487 --> 00:09:23,507 It's the real deal. 132 00:09:23,777 --> 00:09:27,427 And the secret is you have to have the right mindset. 133 00:09:27,757 --> 00:09:34,297 You have to have the right leadership style that you train people in democratic leadership style, not just like generic leadership, okay? 134 00:09:34,687 --> 00:09:45,457 But the third thing that cements these kinds of culture is you have to put the right systems and processes in place, meaning the people, systems and processes, how you get things done. 135 00:09:45,872 --> 00:09:47,372 You all do this really well. 136 00:09:47,522 --> 00:09:50,192 At Happy one of your systems and processes, right? 137 00:09:50,192 --> 00:09:52,472 Is letting people choose their own manager. 138 00:09:52,622 --> 00:09:54,782 That's an example of a system of process. 139 00:09:54,992 --> 00:09:56,372 You know what they did at DaVita? 140 00:09:56,432 --> 00:09:57,962 Having people vote on key things. 141 00:09:57,962 --> 00:10:03,332 They voted on changing their name from Total Renal Care to DaVita, which means give life. 142 00:10:03,422 --> 00:10:03,902 Okay? 143 00:10:04,292 --> 00:10:05,132 Much better name. 144 00:10:05,132 --> 00:10:05,792 Wouldn't you agree? 145 00:10:07,052 --> 00:10:12,602 And so, and so that's really, um, they're just a shining star example. 146 00:10:12,842 --> 00:10:17,132 Uh, we just had, I always telling you, we just did a webinar yesterday with the group of Electra. 147 00:10:17,349 --> 00:10:22,869 They're an 80,000 person, uh, newly WorldBlu certified Freedom centered company. 148 00:10:23,199 --> 00:10:33,879 Um, big companies in Mexico City and Adriana de Laputa, their head of, uh, people and culture was just on talking about how they also have transitioned into this model. 149 00:10:33,879 --> 00:10:34,239 So, 150 00:10:34,244 --> 00:10:38,649 Maureen: so I'm gonna ask and Traci no, because that's a big number. 151 00:10:39,043 --> 00:10:39,333 Traci: Yeah. 152 00:10:39,333 --> 00:10:39,334 Yeah. 153 00:10:39,659 --> 00:10:45,539 Maureen: So how can a big organization, what would you say are the first steps that a big organization like that would have to take? 154 00:10:45,689 --> 00:10:49,079 Because it feels like it's a a lot to do for such a 155 00:10:49,244 --> 00:10:49,664 Traci: Right. 156 00:10:49,664 --> 00:10:53,294 And it can sound scary 'cause you think, oh my gosh, what does this mean? 157 00:10:53,294 --> 00:10:55,544 Like, are we going nuclear and like blasting? 158 00:10:57,104 --> 00:10:57,974 How do you do this? 159 00:10:57,979 --> 00:11:00,674 And, and honestly, it's really not that hard. 160 00:11:01,536 --> 00:11:11,547 I mean, it starts with, look at what, um, was the mindset of, of KT, uh, the mindset of Roberto Salinas, um, group of Salinas, group of electors, a part of it. 161 00:11:11,787 --> 00:11:13,707 Their mindset is freedom. 162 00:11:14,067 --> 00:11:17,247 Their mindset is people, people have worth. 163 00:11:17,547 --> 00:11:20,307 You know, fundamental to democracy. 164 00:11:20,692 --> 00:11:22,912 Is understanding our self-worth. 165 00:11:23,332 --> 00:11:29,152 If we know we have value, then we want to create environments that value people. 166 00:11:29,302 --> 00:11:33,832 So it starts with the right mindset, which the every, we worked with hundreds and hundreds of companies around the world. 167 00:11:33,982 --> 00:11:35,302 They all have the right mindset. 168 00:11:35,302 --> 00:11:45,232 Look at Henry's mindset, you know, in setting up Happy, he had a different mindset then I am going to, you know, squeeze every bit of life outta my employees. 169 00:11:45,232 --> 00:11:47,272 That's not the mindset we're talking about here. 170 00:11:47,842 --> 00:11:53,722 So it is a different mindset than, like I said, it's training your people in the democratic leadership skills. 171 00:11:53,872 --> 00:11:55,642 How do you have meaningful conversations? 172 00:11:55,642 --> 00:12:01,192 How do you listen to others, you know, how do you have, how do you have fairness and dignity to everyone? 173 00:12:01,462 --> 00:12:01,702 You know? 174 00:12:01,732 --> 00:12:04,372 How do you have transparency of information? 175 00:12:04,762 --> 00:12:08,002 And then it's putting those right systems and processes in place. 176 00:12:08,147 --> 00:12:19,952 At WorldBlu, we have a program for our members when once they join WorldBlu that they can access called Grow With Freedom, and that's where we teach CEOs the different systems and processes that they can put into place. 177 00:12:20,132 --> 00:12:21,632 It's not the same for everyone. 178 00:12:22,022 --> 00:12:27,362 You know, it's not that what, you know, choose your own manager might work great at Happy, might not work well in a bigger company. 179 00:12:27,902 --> 00:12:32,571 But I mean, how hard would it be to go into a big company and say, choose your own manager? 180 00:12:32,691 --> 00:12:34,611 Really not that hard, right? 181 00:12:34,881 --> 00:12:48,758 So this isn't scary, and it's not really that hard, and that's why it's just shocking to me that more companies don't do it because it allows you to attract or retain the very best people and it, um, grows your company so much faster. 182 00:12:48,878 --> 00:12:51,158 But here's what keeps people from doing it. 183 00:12:51,418 --> 00:12:53,698 It's the low self worth of the leaders. 184 00:12:54,328 --> 00:13:04,378 If that CEO, he or she is not secure in who they are as a person, they are not going to create an environment where everyone can flourish and excel. 185 00:13:04,524 --> 00:13:08,424 Maureen: And I remember you sharing that at Happy as a great tip. 186 00:13:08,634 --> 00:13:14,274 And I think you were saying something about the different, different differentiating between self-worth and confidence. 187 00:13:14,574 --> 00:13:15,054 Traci: Yes. 188 00:13:15,114 --> 00:13:15,564 Thank you. 189 00:13:15,564 --> 00:13:15,774 Yeah. 190 00:13:15,774 --> 00:13:18,114 Confident self-confidence is situational. 191 00:13:18,394 --> 00:13:21,964 Like I'm confident talking with you about Freedom at Work, the method we teach. 192 00:13:22,144 --> 00:13:25,744 I'm not confident flying an airplane because I have no clue how to do that. 193 00:13:26,134 --> 00:13:26,164 Okay. 194 00:13:27,259 --> 00:13:34,849 Confidence is situational, but self-worth is understanding our inherent value that each and every one of us has. 195 00:13:34,999 --> 00:13:36,619 It does not mean you're a narcissist. 196 00:13:37,159 --> 00:13:38,149 Narcissism is low. 197 00:13:38,149 --> 00:13:38,659 Self-worth. 198 00:13:38,659 --> 00:13:38,959 Okay? 199 00:13:39,379 --> 00:13:44,959 You know, high self-Worth says each one of us, and it's a humble, joyous sense of, of way of being. 200 00:13:45,199 --> 00:13:46,729 It says, I have value. 201 00:13:46,729 --> 00:13:47,539 You have value. 202 00:13:47,539 --> 00:13:48,529 We all do. 203 00:13:48,749 --> 00:13:51,689 Let's create an environment where everyone can excel. 204 00:13:52,049 --> 00:14:04,469 And what I've seen in doing this, right, most people really struggle with self-worth, and so we see, I have never seen a CEO of a WorldBlu certified freedom centered company that had low self worth, it's just not gonna happen. 205 00:14:04,739 --> 00:14:05,339 Never. 206 00:14:05,699 --> 00:14:09,929 They all are really very secure in who they are. 207 00:14:10,109 --> 00:14:20,009 Because you have to be able to take feedback, you have to be able to, um, be wrong and, and pivot, you know, and you have to have that commitment to creating an environment for everyone to flourish. 208 00:14:20,192 --> 00:14:24,392 Henry: So tell us some real life stories of, of, of democratic workplaces. 209 00:14:24,397 --> 00:14:26,062 Some, some things that really happened. 210 00:14:26,363 --> 00:14:34,246 Traci: Oh, well, lemme tell you about a really cool company we've been working with that's making the transition because we're kind of talking about well how do we, how do we do that? 211 00:14:34,491 --> 00:14:42,021 And we, uh, ha this company, I'm not gonna tell you the name for obvious reasons, but they're, they're a small business, 13 people. 212 00:14:42,411 --> 00:14:46,851 Um, and you might think, oh, well that's makes 'em easy to transition to democracy. 213 00:14:46,851 --> 00:14:47,871 No, no. 214 00:14:47,871 --> 00:14:53,961 It doesn't make it any easier, because you can have two people running a company and have a total dictatorship, you know? 215 00:14:54,231 --> 00:14:56,121 And so again, it's that mindset. 216 00:14:56,121 --> 00:15:04,708 So the CEO actually came to us a few years ago and wanted to work with us, and my wonderful colleague Miranda, interviewed the C and said, you're not ready. 217 00:15:04,788 --> 00:15:06,768 You're not there, we won't take you on as a client. 218 00:15:07,098 --> 00:15:10,368 Because we, through our process that we do to vet, we knew he wasn't ready. 219 00:15:10,638 --> 00:15:13,458 So three years went by and he came back to us. 220 00:15:13,458 --> 00:15:15,348 We gave him some tips of what we thought he needed to do. 221 00:15:15,588 --> 00:15:16,758 He came back to us. 222 00:15:17,148 --> 00:15:24,798 He had been running his company for 30 years, and he says, if I don't turn around our culture and make it more freedom centered and democratic, I'm losing my best people. 223 00:15:25,348 --> 00:15:26,688 And we said Wow, you're ready. 224 00:15:26,688 --> 00:15:32,583 I wanted to see that humility that that humility of like, I'm ready to learn. 225 00:15:32,763 --> 00:15:33,933 And I mean, kudos to him. 226 00:15:33,933 --> 00:15:36,063 I mean, this gentleman is in his early sixties. 227 00:15:36,068 --> 00:15:38,283 He's been running his company this way for years. 228 00:15:38,523 --> 00:15:40,773 You know, it takes humility to come forward and say yes. 229 00:15:41,043 --> 00:15:42,933 So first thing we did was we worked on him. 230 00:15:43,173 --> 00:15:45,793 We helped teach him how to be a democratic leader. 231 00:15:46,073 --> 00:15:47,598 So we have a whole process we do. 232 00:15:47,598 --> 00:15:51,348 We have, um, over a hundred different leadership courses where we work with people. 233 00:15:51,348 --> 00:15:54,978 You don't have to take all 100, but there's key things that we see. 234 00:15:55,008 --> 00:15:57,948 Okay, these are the skills, this is the mindset that we need to shift. 235 00:15:57,948 --> 00:15:58,668 So we did that. 236 00:15:59,148 --> 00:16:02,508 Then what he did was he didn't have necessarily a leadership team. 237 00:16:03,048 --> 00:16:06,648 He created a leadership team of people he calls the stewards. 238 00:16:07,008 --> 00:16:11,208 And what they're there to do is to steward forward freedom at work. 239 00:16:11,354 --> 00:16:14,594 So then we trained the leadership team in these principals. 240 00:16:14,594 --> 00:16:23,774 So we spent a year just on the leadership team, putting them through our different courses and getting them understanding this is what this is about, you know, this is how this works. 241 00:16:23,779 --> 00:16:28,164 Because sometimes we had to D program that command and control thinking that most people have. 242 00:16:28,724 --> 00:16:40,661 And thenz what we've moved into now is the next phase I was talking about our Grow with Freedom program, where we assess the company, so we see how well they are already doing against the 10 principles of organizational democracy. 243 00:16:41,141 --> 00:16:44,601 I talked earlier about what exactly is democracy? 244 00:16:44,631 --> 00:16:48,141 Well, we figured out what what it is and what it takes. 245 00:16:48,141 --> 00:16:55,911 it's these 10 principles like transparency, accountability, choice, the, the valuing of both the individual and the collective. 246 00:16:55,911 --> 00:16:58,461 Not just the collective, you have to value the individual, you know? 247 00:16:58,461 --> 00:16:59,541 So there's 10 principles. 248 00:16:59,546 --> 00:17:02,631 All this is on our website at worldblu.com where you can see it. 249 00:17:02,871 --> 00:17:13,821 But what we do is we have an assessment tool that we evaluate how well those 10 principles are lived at an individual leadership and systems and process level. 250 00:17:14,061 --> 00:17:21,351 We ran that scorecard assessment on them so that we could zero in specifically on where those systems and processes need to shift. 251 00:17:21,871 --> 00:17:24,361 And so we're, oh, wow, transparency is low. 252 00:17:24,361 --> 00:17:26,431 You know, purpose and vision is low. 253 00:17:26,671 --> 00:17:31,081 And so then we got going on, what are the new systems and processes we could implement? 254 00:17:31,411 --> 00:17:32,581 So you always wanna start. 255 00:17:32,581 --> 00:17:36,421 Now this sounds super basic, eye roll, everybody knows this, but it's really true. 256 00:17:36,691 --> 00:17:40,711 You have to start with a clear purpose and vision statement, not mission. 257 00:17:40,891 --> 00:17:42,181 Mission is what we do. 258 00:17:42,391 --> 00:17:45,601 Purpose is why we be, you know, why are we here? 259 00:17:45,786 --> 00:17:47,526 Vision is what we wanna achieve. 260 00:17:47,706 --> 00:17:59,571 So at WorldBlu, our purpose is to transform the way humanity leads with freedom at work, our vision is to see a world where at least 1 billion people can live, lead, and work in freedom rather than fear. 261 00:17:59,631 --> 00:18:05,361 And that purpose and vision is gonna create your river banks that keep everything flowing in the right direction. 262 00:18:05,511 --> 00:18:07,461 You don't have those river banks, what do you have? 263 00:18:07,466 --> 00:18:08,391 You have a flood. 264 00:18:08,601 --> 00:18:11,301 If you don't have those river banks going in the right direction. 265 00:18:11,301 --> 00:18:12,621 Your mission is what you do. 266 00:18:12,721 --> 00:18:14,461 So I love to think of WD 40. 267 00:18:14,461 --> 00:18:16,921 They're another WorldBlu Certified Freedom Center company. 268 00:18:17,371 --> 00:18:18,151 Their purpose. 269 00:18:18,151 --> 00:18:19,981 You think of WD 40, the spray. 270 00:18:19,981 --> 00:18:22,051 We all know the, you know, the lubricant spray. 271 00:18:22,231 --> 00:18:27,691 But they don't think they're, they don't think of themselves as in the business of, you know, making your wheels turn better. 272 00:18:28,051 --> 00:18:31,321 They're in the business of creating positive, lasting memories. 273 00:18:31,321 --> 00:18:34,381 That's their purpose, to create positive, lasting memories. 274 00:18:34,381 --> 00:18:34,651 Why? 275 00:18:34,651 --> 00:18:43,611 Because when I put WD 40 on my bike tires, you know, squirt squirt, I can go for a bike ride with my niece, you know, and that creates those positive lasting memories. 276 00:18:43,911 --> 00:18:45,171 So you have to start. 277 00:18:45,171 --> 00:18:45,891 So this is what they did. 278 00:18:45,891 --> 00:18:50,359 We got helped them figure out their purpose and vision, and then you have to figure out your core values. 279 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:50,599 Why? 280 00:18:50,604 --> 00:18:57,769 Because core values, as you all know, are Happy, they're will guide the behavior of your citizens within your company. 281 00:18:57,859 --> 00:18:59,419 So how are we supposed to behave? 282 00:18:59,479 --> 00:19:00,739 Here's how we're supposed to behave. 283 00:19:00,739 --> 00:19:01,879 Those are those core values. 284 00:19:02,269 --> 00:19:04,339 Then we got them going on town hall meetings. 285 00:19:04,639 --> 00:19:06,229 So they start doing town halls. 286 00:19:06,589 --> 00:19:08,449 Then they, and they decide what they wanna do. 287 00:19:08,449 --> 00:19:11,179 This isn't prescriptive, it's not one size for every company. 288 00:19:11,599 --> 00:19:14,299 Then they looked at what, what best practices we had. 289 00:19:14,479 --> 00:19:15,769 They opened their books up. 290 00:19:15,769 --> 00:19:17,779 They started to practice open book management. 291 00:19:18,049 --> 00:19:24,434 They realized they had a big accountability problem, so they created accountability buddies to team people up. 292 00:19:24,434 --> 00:19:26,474 to be accountable with each other. 293 00:19:26,864 --> 00:19:34,814 And we're slowly but surely working through, we're, we're working now on, um, how to hire, fire and promote democratically. 294 00:19:35,414 --> 00:19:42,894 We're working on how to have more, uh, compensation, not just be about somebody going to the CEO saying I want more money, but how do we decide? 295 00:19:43,224 --> 00:19:44,904 Do that in a Democratic way. 296 00:19:45,294 --> 00:19:49,464 And then we're also working with them right now on how to democratically decide bonuses. 297 00:19:49,464 --> 00:19:51,294 And I can tell you more about, that's a really cool practice. 298 00:19:51,299 --> 00:19:53,034 I can tell you more about in a moment if you want. 299 00:19:53,424 --> 00:19:56,844 So they're making that transition and oh my gosh. 300 00:19:56,844 --> 00:20:09,744 Their CEO just told me last year as they were imp at the end of the year after they've implemented all of these new systems and processes democratically, their, um, year to date the revenue was up 40% just in that one year. 301 00:20:10,104 --> 00:20:11,294 Henry: So, tell us about bonuses. 302 00:20:11,324 --> 00:20:15,374 'Cause I know at NeoSoft they have an absolutely flat bonus, don't they? 303 00:20:15,518 --> 00:20:16,088 Traci: What does that mean? 304 00:20:16,088 --> 00:20:16,748 Does everyone gets the 305 00:20:17,063 --> 00:20:17,333 Henry: Yeah. 306 00:20:17,338 --> 00:20:17,873 Everyone gets the same. 307 00:20:17,873 --> 00:20:23,817 We also, we did handles bank recently and they also have Exact, and everybody gets the same, 308 00:20:23,817 --> 00:20:24,217 Traci: ah. 309 00:20:24,357 --> 00:20:25,867 Well, our approach is a little different. 310 00:20:25,892 --> 00:20:26,112 Henry: uh. 311 00:20:27,037 --> 00:20:27,397 Traci: Yeah. 312 00:20:27,397 --> 00:20:31,597 I wouldn't say, I wouldn't necessarily agree with that approach, to be 313 00:20:31,747 --> 00:20:31,947 Henry: not 314 00:20:33,037 --> 00:20:35,887 Traci: Um, because I don't think fairness is sameness. 315 00:20:36,637 --> 00:20:37,987 So let me give you an alternative. 316 00:20:37,987 --> 00:20:38,947 I'm not saying it's bad. 317 00:20:38,947 --> 00:20:40,267 Every company can decide their own. 318 00:20:40,267 --> 00:20:41,287 Lemme give you an alternative. 319 00:20:41,707 --> 00:20:42,877 I did not come up with this. 320 00:20:42,877 --> 00:20:48,847 This was a really cool idea that came out of a company in, in California, and it's been implemented in other freedom centered companies. 321 00:20:48,847 --> 00:20:50,587 I talk about it in my book, Freedom at Work. 322 00:20:50,887 --> 00:20:53,317 It's called the Peer Impact Bonus Award. 323 00:20:53,707 --> 00:21:03,327 And the way they do bonuses at several WorldBlu companies is, um, so they have like a percentage of the bonus, and you can do this on a quarterly basis or annual basis. 324 00:21:03,717 --> 00:21:06,246 And so let's make the math very simple. 325 00:21:06,246 --> 00:21:09,156 Let's say the bonus is, um, a hundred dollars, okay? 326 00:21:09,486 --> 00:21:13,986 Then what they do to employees is they say, um, you get a, do you get a point. 327 00:21:14,196 --> 00:21:17,616 And for every point that you have, one point equals a dollar. 328 00:21:17,646 --> 00:21:17,826 Okay? 329 00:21:17,826 --> 00:21:21,306 My math isn't gonna work, but you get what I'm say for every point equals a dollar. 330 00:21:21,816 --> 00:21:32,061 And now they say you're gonna distribute your points to who you think in a, in a merit based way, most deserves to get that bonus. 331 00:21:32,481 --> 00:21:36,171 And oh my gosh, they did this in a company with about 60 employees. 332 00:21:36,771 --> 00:21:41,901 And we actually had their, um, head of people and culture present on this at our, our summit. 333 00:21:41,931 --> 00:21:42,921 I think you were at that summit, 334 00:21:43,006 --> 00:21:44,061 Henry: Yeah, I think I was, I think I was. 335 00:21:44,686 --> 00:21:47,986 Traci: And, you know, you, you think of all this stuff like, oh, but is it fair? 336 00:21:47,991 --> 00:21:51,226 You know, is it all about a popularity contest, or? 337 00:21:51,271 --> 00:21:54,046 No, no, it actually works out. 338 00:21:54,046 --> 00:21:56,146 And they say, well, what about the people who are quiet? 339 00:21:56,296 --> 00:22:00,766 No, because here's the deal, everybody knows in a company, or you don't have to know everybody in the company. 340 00:22:00,766 --> 00:22:01,906 I mean, you could just give 'em the people you know. 341 00:22:02,596 --> 00:22:04,726 Everybody knows who's getting work done and who isn't. 342 00:22:05,371 --> 00:22:07,531 Everyone knows who's pulling their weight and who isn't. 343 00:22:07,651 --> 00:22:11,671 Everybody knows who's the slacker and who's the star performer. 344 00:22:12,061 --> 00:22:16,321 And so it's democratically decided, meaning the people have the choice. 345 00:22:16,321 --> 00:22:19,261 It's not decided by the CEO saying everybody's getting whatever. 346 00:22:19,681 --> 00:22:23,971 Um, it's not decided by years, years working there because what does that have to do with anything? 347 00:22:23,971 --> 00:22:24,901 How have you added value? 348 00:22:24,901 --> 00:22:31,211 You could have just come in in one year and added tremendous value and someone spent there 10 years is, you know, a bump on the log. 349 00:22:31,791 --> 00:22:34,216 So it's totally that, and people love it. 350 00:22:34,216 --> 00:22:42,616 They absolutely love it because they feel like they're recognized for the contributions that they're making and they feel it's fair. 351 00:22:42,748 --> 00:22:44,478 Maureen: But as you say, you put it to the people. 352 00:22:44,502 --> 00:22:46,812 Traci: You put it to the people and let them decide. 353 00:22:46,817 --> 00:22:49,722 You know, if they don't want that, if they want a flat bonus, do a flat bonus. 354 00:22:49,722 --> 00:22:50,082 You know? 355 00:22:50,232 --> 00:22:51,942 But like you said, you put it to the people. 356 00:22:51,942 --> 00:22:56,742 It shouldn't just be, you know, the CEO deciding in the ivory tower what should be done. 357 00:22:57,202 --> 00:23:02,002 Henry: So Traci, what are your three best tips for a happy workplace or for a freedom centered workplace? 358 00:23:02,236 --> 00:23:02,776 Traci: Oh my gosh. 359 00:23:03,151 --> 00:23:09,631 Number one, you really have to know as a leader how to handle the fear in the workplace. 360 00:23:09,731 --> 00:23:13,001 The biggest obstacle is fear. 361 00:23:13,211 --> 00:23:16,061 And I talk about this in my book, the Power Question. 362 00:23:16,061 --> 00:23:19,241 You all know it 'cause I, we came, we did a fabulous workshop there. 363 00:23:19,336 --> 00:23:34,316 so the power question is when you recognize the challenge you're facing, it could be a challenge individually, collectively, and a team member, with a team member, you identify a challenge, and then you go through these five questions we teach, which is, what are you afraid of? 364 00:23:34,436 --> 00:23:35,636 Why are you afraid? 365 00:23:35,876 --> 00:23:37,436 What would you do if you weren't afraid? 366 00:23:37,496 --> 00:23:39,026 How would you feel without the fear? 367 00:23:39,031 --> 00:23:40,556 And why can you let the fear go? 368 00:23:40,586 --> 00:23:46,946 Now, I know I said it just said a whole bunch, but what I wanna focus on is the main question in that, which is, what would you do if you weren't afraid? 369 00:23:47,426 --> 00:23:55,308 So I say to your listeners, as you think about freedom and democracy, what would you do if you weren't afraid You know, how would you give power to your people if you weren't afraid? 370 00:23:55,518 --> 00:23:58,158 How would you open up your books more if you weren't afraid? 371 00:23:58,308 --> 00:24:00,558 How would you be more transparent if you weren't afraid? 372 00:24:00,768 --> 00:24:02,658 Perks is not freedom and democracy. 373 00:24:02,688 --> 00:24:03,918 We're not talking about perks here. 374 00:24:04,338 --> 00:24:14,408 We're talking about meaning, we're talking about purpose, we're talking about everyone knowing they have value, inherent value, and worth, every single person has inherent value and worth. 375 00:24:14,468 --> 00:24:16,658 And so what would you do if you weren't afraid? 376 00:24:16,658 --> 00:24:19,478 How would you run your company if you weren't afraid? 377 00:24:19,668 --> 00:24:26,721 So two more practices, um, besides the Pure Impact Bonus Awards, um, this comes from another great company in England. 378 00:24:26,931 --> 00:24:29,481 They set up a, a best practice called the Money Gang. 379 00:24:29,991 --> 00:24:33,081 And the Money Gang, uh, decides compensation. 380 00:24:33,531 --> 00:24:41,331 And so people can come to the money Gang and say, um, I'd like a raise, and here's what I think I'm worth, and here's why. 381 00:24:41,711 --> 00:24:43,031 And present information. 382 00:24:43,031 --> 00:24:49,241 And the Money Gang, which is not made up of the CEO or the CFO, these people can be democratically voted into the Money Gang. 383 00:24:49,721 --> 00:24:52,181 They're gonna look at how, how is the company doing? 384 00:24:52,851 --> 00:24:54,231 You know, can we afford this raise? 385 00:24:54,231 --> 00:24:55,101 Does it make sense? 386 00:24:55,311 --> 00:25:04,941 They're gonna look at industry standards, they're gonna look at the value that this individual employee is bringing to the company, and they'll approve or disapprove, uh, the compensation bonus. 387 00:25:05,271 --> 00:25:07,821 So it's all done very openly and transparently. 388 00:25:07,821 --> 00:25:13,766 You know, compensation is one of the things that people are most, uh, feel most, uh, unfairly treated on. 389 00:25:14,181 --> 00:25:19,401 So this really helps it to put that democratic principle of fairness and dignity into operatIon. 390 00:25:19,550 --> 00:25:20,584 Henry: We have a similar thing to that. 391 00:25:20,584 --> 00:25:22,804 We have a Democratic elected salary panel, 392 00:25:23,050 --> 00:25:23,920 Traci: That's exactly it. 393 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:24,460 I love that. 394 00:25:24,460 --> 00:25:24,970 I love that. 395 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:28,660 And then, um, another fun one is, so we'll say it's my third tip. 396 00:25:28,665 --> 00:25:31,540 Another really fun practice also comes from a company in England. 397 00:25:31,930 --> 00:25:33,250 Um, it's called Dream Balls. 398 00:25:33,255 --> 00:25:34,450 Maybe you've heard this one, Henry. 399 00:25:34,450 --> 00:25:35,440 It's called Dream Balls. 400 00:25:36,150 --> 00:25:43,675 And, and, I love this practice, especially, we're recording this at the, in January beginning of the year, people are thinking about their goals, setting goals for the company. 401 00:25:44,005 --> 00:25:58,405 So the way Dream Balls works is they have, at this company, they have kind of a big gumball type machine and everyone gets to put In their, you know, little plastic round thing, what their dream is, um, you can put a cap on the dollar amount, whatever. 402 00:25:58,615 --> 00:26:11,275 So they put this into the gumball machine and every time the company hits its goals, uh, which, you know, you can look at this on a quarterly basis or monthly, however you wanna do it, but, um, they turn, you know, they turn the knob. 403 00:26:11,325 --> 00:26:18,585 One of those dream bowls comes down the chute, they open it up and read that person's dream and makes that person's dream come true. 404 00:26:18,945 --> 00:26:26,685 So, um, you can put a dollar limit on it if you say, okay, up to five, do $50 or $500 or whatever bridge pound sterling would be. 405 00:26:27,645 --> 00:26:32,025 Um, and so, but it's just really fun because to me, I love that practice. 406 00:26:32,395 --> 00:26:37,105 Because it implements the principle, the Democratic principle of the individual and the collective. 407 00:26:37,185 --> 00:26:38,895 We're collectively hitting those rules. 408 00:26:39,015 --> 00:26:39,465 We're on. 409 00:26:39,465 --> 00:26:41,595 We're recognizing also the individuals. 410 00:26:41,775 --> 00:26:42,885 And it's fun. 411 00:26:42,885 --> 00:26:44,445 I mean, it's just pure fun. 412 00:26:44,775 --> 00:26:47,235 Um, and it has meaning to it as well. 413 00:26:47,415 --> 00:26:49,185 So there you have it, Henry. 414 00:26:49,190 --> 00:26:50,205 Those are my tips. 415 00:26:50,385 --> 00:26:50,715 Henry: Excellent. 416 00:26:51,105 --> 00:26:52,515 So that, that's PropellerNet, isn't it? 417 00:26:52,515 --> 00:26:53,295 The dream ball one? 418 00:26:53,295 --> 00:26:53,558 Traci: Yes. 419 00:26:53,712 --> 00:26:54,782 PropellerNet/ Yes. 420 00:26:54,837 --> 00:26:56,042 Wonderful practice. 421 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:58,440 Henry: Well, thank you Traci Thank you. 422 00:26:58,650 --> 00:27:01,260 It's been a brilliant, uh, brilliant podcast. 423 00:27:01,325 --> 00:27:09,065 Traci: Well, it's been wonderful to be with both you and Maureen, so thanks so much for having me, Henry, and congratulations on your new book as well. 424 00:27:11,204 --> 00:27:12,764 Maureen: Isn't Traci awesome? 425 00:27:13,154 --> 00:27:15,314 So many stories. 426 00:27:15,314 --> 00:27:19,514 I mean, do you know, um, there was so much in there. 427 00:27:19,514 --> 00:27:22,094 So I, a couple of things just quickly, a couple of things. 428 00:27:22,094 --> 00:27:31,544 I mean, first thing that stood out for me was about that whole saying that top leaders should have high self-worth, which is different from confidence. 429 00:27:32,324 --> 00:27:38,492 And I'm gonna throw in there different from ego as well because you know, you get lots of leaders with egos 430 00:27:38,656 --> 00:27:39,726 Henry: You do, you do. 431 00:27:39,746 --> 00:27:44,546 Maureen: But what I really loved was that whole statement about, you know, slowing down. 432 00:27:44,696 --> 00:27:52,697 So sometimes you have to slow down to educate to understand, and then the speed up comes that implementation. 433 00:27:52,882 --> 00:27:55,042 So don't get frightened to slow down. 434 00:27:55,222 --> 00:27:56,452 Things will speed up, 435 00:27:56,550 --> 00:28:03,510 Henry: Well, I love the idea of DaVita going from bankruptcy to a 15 billion valuation. 436 00:28:03,930 --> 00:28:08,490 'Cause that that is what you, you do when you create a freedom centered workplace. 437 00:28:08,490 --> 00:28:12,375 Maureen: My jaw dropped just to think, you know how they've just turned that right around. 438 00:28:12,725 --> 00:28:14,236 It's a great example. 439 00:28:14,236 --> 00:28:15,073 Henry: Absolutely. 440 00:28:15,291 --> 00:28:19,991 Okay folks, so check out our website a happy.co.uk. 441 00:28:20,013 --> 00:28:21,903 Maureen: And thank you for listening. 442 00:28:22,053 --> 00:28:23,793 Go check out the podcast. 443 00:28:23,853 --> 00:28:30,333 Don't forget to subscribe and continue creating happy, productive workplaces.