Put Down
Your Ping Pong Paddle and Get Down to Business
The
pool party's over, too. As we head toward the next recession--and we are--play
at work is going to have to give way to work at work.
Executive director, Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation
and Tech Entrepreneurship, Illinois Institute of Technology
We've reached the official end of the ping pong and pool period.
Couldn't come soon enough for me. Something just feels different these days and
maybe that's the need to hunker down a bit and take the task of "taking
care of business" a lot more seriously. Let's dial back leisure in
the office, lower the volume on the whining and worrying about hurt feelings,
and double down on sweat and toil. We've always called it "work" for
a reason and, while it can certainly be plenty stimulating and rewarding, work
is not intended to be all fun, all the time. Never was. There's still no
substitute for hard, purposeful work and no more likely path to eventual success.
Talent and creativity are great, and should certainly be encouraged, but effort
and execution are what really matter.
If those happy and halcyon days ever made sense, they're already
on their way to the dustbin, soon to be long gone, and utterly un-mourned by
the people trying to build real businesses. These aren't the frothy,
kombucha-and-beer times of yore anymore. Global competition is rising, a
recession is almost certainly on the horizon (it's only a question of
"when"), and when the market and the investors start seriously
keeping score, all the touchy-feely awards for "the very best place
in the whole wide world to work" ain't gonna matter much if your team
isn't monetizing your business and putting some
real numbers on the bottom line.
The thought of a bunch of clowns playing pong (analog or
throwback digital) in the middle of the day while other team members are
busting their butts trying to get a new software release out the door no longer
computes. Camaraderie is critical in any new business, but it's important to
make sure that it comes from the shared pride of completing what needs to get
done, not solely from Thursday night shots, smelly cigars and card games. That
also includes the pinball machines, foosball games, and the old pool table,
which is just as passé today as the phony masse shot that Matthew McConaughey
makes in the latest Lincoln Navigator ad. Time to pull the plug, people.
Real company cultures are built on respect, recognition and
well-earned rewards, not free food, laundry services and recreational
resources. Your customers don't really care about the perks, the toys, or the
cereal selections in your break room or any of the other lovely snack options.
When their system's not working, they want the best software engineer on the
case, not the guy who racked up the highest score playing pinball.
And, even more importantly, your best and most important
employees don't really care about all this crap, either. They're the ones who
are head-down and have no time to fool around. These rabbits are worth a dozen happy and
sensitive little turtles and pong players. Businesses rapidly become the
behaviors that they tolerate, and it only takes a few slackers and snowflakes
to suck the life, energy and momentum out of any startup. Part of the job is to
make sure that doesn't happen.
When people are struggling to answer too many incoming customer
calls or polishing a PowerPoint for an important funding pitch, or cold-calling
piles of prospects, it seems somewhere between petty and perilous to show up at
a critical meeting with blue cue chalk dust on your fingers. You don't
really want to be the office's social director and party person. The goal is to
be the "go-to" guy - not the mope
you'd probably have a drink with, but never count on for much of anything else.
Late night and "after hours" bonding activities might
still be okay, but what authentic entrepreneur has ever had regular office
hours to begin with? In the real world, you work 'til you're about to fall over
and then you go home so you can pick yourself up in the morning and do it all
over again. And you desperately hope that your family recognizes you when you
finally do get home.
If you want to build a serious business, that's the behavior you
want to model. That's what people inside and outside the business pick up on.
Passion and commitment. You want to build a team that finds its satisfaction in
achievements and accomplishments and not one that's fixated on freebies and
fresh fruit. If you have to bribe your people with goodies or otherwise
convince them to work hard and do their best, you've got the wrong people and
you're sending the wrong message.
It's all about revenues and results, and not refreshments and
recreation.
PUBLISHED
ON: FEB 12, 2019
