The Good Ship HPO
A people-centric model for thinking about how to keep your organization afloat and catching wind
Welcome to the latest entry in The Workaround. You’re in good company with thousands of fellow entrepreneurs and innovators who have subscribed!
I’m your host, Bob, and my mission here is to share personal, behind-the-scenes stories of ups and downs from my career leading tech startups and corporate innovation.
I write to make you think, smile, and discover a shortcut to success or a trap to avoid.
Here we go…
I had three separate conversations last week that led to a discussion about building a great business—each of which led me to share a model that has guided my thinking. Three dots make a line—so I guess the universe is calling me to get this model out here before I get hit by a bus…
Lots of people talk about great company culture. There are countless best-place-to-work awards. Many have set up good guidelines like the “No Assholes Rule” and made tactical choices such as “We Promote from Within.” But I’ve yet to come across a framework for strategically thinking about company culture. It’s not in the EOS playbook and wasn’t in any 2x2 matrix I saw in Business School.
But my teams and and I have fleshed out a model through the real-world process of two steps forward and one-and-a-half back. This is what has worked in my companies, where our incredible cultures powered high growth, industry-leading profitability, and strategic acquisitions.
This week is Part 1. Here’s Part 2.
The Opportunity in Organization Design
This isn’t about external choices like your product, market, or industry; it’s not about SaaS vs. Service, and it’s certainly not your branding or go-to-market. I am talking about core internal ways of human beings working together at your company—but “culture” is also too generic and wimpy to represent the strategic business choices at hand here. I prefer to think about Organizational Design and getting to a point where you have a High-Performance Organization, or HPO for short.
More on this below—but first, let me show you the logic behind building a truly great place to work…
You don’t need to see data. You know what this means. You’ve worked at or with companies with weak communication, regular surprises, heartless layoffs, and the eternal reminder that nobody knows what they’re doing—yet are deathly afraid to admit it.
You also know what it’s like to do your best work—like when your manager trusts you to make decisions, when a team is excited to see each other for a meeting, and when no fingers are pointed when a setback happens.
Here’s the data, any way, from the 2023 version of the annual Gallup State of the Global Workplace Report:
Only 23% of workers are “engaged” in their jobs. “Engaged” means they are “enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and contribute to their organization in a positive manner.”
60% of employees are Quiet Quitting, costing the global economy $8.8 trillion, or 9% of global GDP.
44% of employees said they experienced “a lot of stress” the previous day (up from 31% in 2009—during the Great Recession!
51% of currently employed workers are actively or passively job-seeking.
The number one change respondents said they would like to change at work is engagement or culture. 41% selected this, compared to 28% who would improve their pay and benefits.
TL;DR: Employers of the world are failing miserably.
77% of people are not engaged in their jobs. That means they are ready and able to do better work. They would rather do better work than get paid more! They want to help your company become more profitable and grow faster—which is kind of what this whole business thing is about, right?
They are just waiting for their employer to create an organization that inspires them. What are we waiting for?
Why take on the long odds to invent a disruptive technology when all you have to do is build a “regular” business where the employees are more engaged?
Hey, we’ve even got a KPI—employee engagement—that we can measure versus the industry and plot along with revenue and profit growth.
Do I have your attention yet? OK, now let’s talk about how to make this happen.
Organization design for human engagement
But first, some first principles…
Every organization is humans working together to achieve something more than they could individually. This is called the Theory of the Firm in economics and was first penned by Robert Coase. He was ahead of his time by researching how humans actually live and work together (look at me, flexing my Econ major!)
Humans will cooperate to do great things under the right conditions. This is the secret to our success as a species.
And People want to work! For much more than money! We are born with a social programming that nudges and rewards us for working in groups. Work can bring a sense of accomplishment, joy in working with others, the flow of practicing your skills for hours at a time at a high level, and the chance to positively impact others’ lives.
But too many workplaces are painful. Our basic humanity is squeezed out in countless ways. And benefits like WFH or half-day Fridays are just pain relievers. They reduce hours and engagement rather than fix the core problem.
Humans will revert to self-protection and selfish interests when work conditions aren’t right. Office politics, quiet quitting, and actual quitting are the results.
You don’t have to be a people-person to get this, I’m an introvert, and was always a shy kid. As regular readers know, I’m still working on many self-improvement things myself.
In fact, this model works best when you’re a hard-core capitalist bent on maximizing profits and growth. Because if you care about building a successful business your job is to ensure your human resources are working at their peak—which goes back to a company where people are fully engaged and enjoying their work.
Mental Model: The Good Ship HPO
Words alone are hard to grasp, especially when we’re in the throes of a big problem or decision. That’s why the most expensive management consultants use a lot of visual aids and why billions of dollars in startup investments come from a simple slide deck. Maybe we’re just kids at heart, drawn to pretty pictures.
The model for me crystallized in the book Transcend: The New Science of Self Actualization by Scott Barry Kaufman.
(Side note: throw away those cliche business books and read about human psychology and behavior—this is the stuff that counts in work and life)
In this book, Kaufman aims to improve upon Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It’s a decades-old theory about the order in which people pursue goals. I’m sure you’ve seen the visual:
You likely know the drill here ^^^. First, we seek food/water, then shelter to survive. With that, we are drawn to human connection, then achievement.
But Kaufman saw room for improvement. Heck, his research uncovered that Maslow himself didn’t like how the world put his thinking into this box triangle.
As Kaufman describes in this post:
“Life isn’t a trek up a summit. It’s more like a vast ocean, full of new opportunities for meaning and discovery but also danger and uncertainty. In this choppy surf, a pyramid is of little use. What we really need is something more flexible and functional: a sailboat.”
Here’s Kaufman’s model. He calls it The Transcend Boat. But I think it needs a spiffier title: The Good Ship HPO.
In Kaufman’s metaphor, you are a boat at sea. Your first concern is safety or security.
“With holes in your boat, you can’t go anywhere. All of your energy and focus is directed toward increasing the stability of the boat. The human needs that comprise the boat are safety, connection, and self-esteem — security needs that, under good conditions, work together toward greater stability.”
Once we’re confident that our personal ships will survive and we can be ourselves, we’re able to hoist the sail and get growing. We can open ourselves up to learning and exploring, and with the trust of others, we find love in being together. Then we gain a sense of purpose that guides us to achieve goals and make a positive dent in the universe. If you’ve ever been in at boat a full sail—or flowing with your best work—you know what this feels like. So damn good.
But from time to time, troubles come upon us. It could be a family emergency, a new manager at work, or a global pandemic. When this happens suddenly lose our sense of safety, connection, and/or self-esteem. That’s when we lower the sail and head down below decks to patch the leaks. Hopefully, we can keep a calm head when it happens, or find a friend when we cry “Mayday!”
Your Job as a Leader: Look After the Ship
I hope this model can serve as a much-needed update on The Theory of the Firm and perhaps the first useful way of thinking about the core of Organizational Design.
A business is also a ship at sea. Whether trading pepper or searching for plunder, there is a mission at hand. The crew of employees must cooperate in plotting a course, capturing the wind, and surviving the tempests.
But if there is a leak in the ship—if communication is weak, confusion is rampant, or the first mate sexually harasses the yeoman—then the ship, its crew, and your growth and profits are in jeopardy. The spirit of camaraderie devolves into every man and woman for themselves.
(Side note: this is why we named our recruiting business “Hearty”—as in the pirate phrase “Ahoy, me Hearties”—and why our holding company is named “Fleet”—as in a fleet of ships. Sorry / Not Sorry about all the cheese ship puns!)
Your job as a leader—The Captain of the ship—is to recruit the crew, build a “vessel” that is safe and fulfilling, watch for leaks, and keep everyone’s heads calm when storms or shoals approach. This goes against the intuition of sitting in the leader’s chair. You have power and the right to make decisions; you can hire and fire at will, and no one can challenge you.
However, if you’re barking orders, threatening to pitch people overboard, or hiding in your quarters, your crew—who keeps the ship afloat—will feel unsafe. They revert to protecting themselves and maximizing what they get from the business. Quiet Quitting is just the modern first step in launching a mutiny.
On the other hand, if you can bring a sense of safety and an attitude of We, not Me, the spirit of camaraderie takes hold. No one wants to disappoint anyone, and individual egos shift into the collective good. That’s when you can unfurl the sails and go for treasure together.
So hit the print button on this post, cut out picture of The Good Ship HPO, and tack it to the wall behind your office desk so that you and everyone you work with remember what it’s all about.
So concludes Part 1. Next week, I’ll dig into some more details. Here’s hoping I don’t get hit by that bus before then…
How we might work together…
My team and I lead Hearty, a boutique recruiting service that helps tech-forward companies hire proven talent. Our senior team of operators sources and screens, saving you time and money. When you need help, let’s chat.
Need help with a software project? Perhaps a product MVP, a project that requires outside help, or a fractional CTO for key strategic decisions? Our team at Shipwright Studio has worked together to build multiple successful startups, and we love helping leaders turn their dreams into reality. We're the team our clients trust for software built to last.
Looking for Influencer Marketing and Content Creation? The team from our previous company is back by popular demand with A2 Influence. We’re ramping up now and would love to share more.
Feel free to schedule time together during my Open Hours for questions, feedback, networking, or any other topic!
BONUS: Cool Content of the Week
A little something I found meaningful. You might agree…
The Art of Living
Do you know people who seem to be masters of the Art of Living? Is this how you live your life?
While not the usual kind of “cool content” I share here, the concept of “The Art of Living” seems to pop up regularly in my reading and reflecting. Two specific quotes in particular tickled my brain recently:
The ancient Stoic philosopher Epictetus said: “Just as wood is the medium of the carpenter and bronze is the medium of the sculptor, your life is the medium on which you practice the art of living.”
To me, The Art of Living lies in finding meaning through attention to our existence. It combines consciousness, effort, and a carefree attitude—a realization that we have value to offer the world, yet we do not take ourselves too seriously. And each of us writes a unique story during our time here.
A much more recent quote by the Substack writer, L. M. Sacasas, also got me thinking: “The art of living, like any other art, is the art of learning to work creatively with the constraints of the medium.”
If you’ve worked in any creative field, you know that constraints can be painful but positive on the net. We need a “box to think outside of.” We are born into and come across many constraints in our lives. But our ability to turn them into something we can use is where the art of living shines through.
Think about the people you know who seem to be painting a canvas upon the world around them. They make a mark where they tread and have a unique perspective. Such artists struggle like the rest of us but tend to roll with the punches. They are far from perfect and laugh at themselves more than anyone else.
I’m not sure if I can master of this art, but it’s sure fun to learn from others and try.