Googlize Our Department

Last spring one of my team colleagues circulated a viral email from Google. The email highlighted all the comforts and perks that can be yours if you went to work for the mighty Google.

There was a hint of envy in the supplementary message that was shared among the team; a “wouldn’t this be a dream job” innuendo.

Rather than just acknowledge the message and move forward, I took it to a team meeting and asked the question “why can’t working in our program be just as motivating and rewarding?”

We then created the task of Googlizing our workplace.

The first step was thematically organizing the appealing aspects flaunted by Google into the categories of health, work-life balance, environment, and team interaction. Then came some brainstorming which yielded 22 immediate ideas, with implementation challenges ranging from simple to creatively complex.

Over the span of the first few months since the first meeting, we have implemented four of the ideas. One of the coolest is the purchase of “Core strength building Fitness Balls” for everyone on the team. Now each of us is literally bouncing in our seats, working the back and abdominal muscles. Perhaps there’s a calendar opportunity in our future!

We’re celebrating some of the wackiest honorarium days on the calendar. National doughnut and cheese days are behind us. There’s a day coming soon in honour of the Ice Cream cone. Perhaps it’s a good thing we have the fitness balls. The team seems to love the days that celebrate food.

I’m proud of the way our team refused to submit to being victims of our fiscally constrained healthcare environment. They clearly relish the challenge of creating a workplace that invites us to participate everyday. There are many other ideas that are in development to Googlize our department. If I can blend these great workplace ideas with their passion for achieving goals and providing outstanding services and products, then perhaps we’ll be the envy and motivator for another organization in the same way Google motivated us.


As per our blog guidelines - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.

A Behemoth Lesson in Trust and Leadership

I expect to be a better leader after each vacation. That results from a blend of casual but professionally related reading by the beach, stress-free reflection on the busy period prior to the holiday, and even practicing leadership and coaching skills within the joyous confides of family and friends.


One of the most enjoyable days of this year’s vacation was a day spent at Canada’s Wonderland, riding every daredevil ride the park offers. The highlight of the park is its newest rollercoaster called Behemoth. It’s one of the new generation of rollercoasters (called a hyper-coaster) that contains a (nearly) direct vertical climb and drop.

Want to learn more about this ride? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behemoth_(roller_coaster)

How does Behemoth connect with trust and leadership?

Let’s present the Behemoth experience with any new special project challenge. Here are the characteristics of the Behemoth ride that would serve you well in a new project.

o You are embarking toward the unknown. You know it is something you haven’t done before, and it will lead to an experience previously unimagined. But you must have the gumption to try it. Not every type of personality has this which is just fine. For me, these hyper-coasters create what I call “out-of-body experiences” that attract me to their insanity.

o As the coaster begins the journey, hauling you 230 feet straight into the air, it gets scary. You’re helpless. Your inner voice screams ‘high enough’, ‘please take me back’ or many other things. You accept the fear and keep going.

o What helps deal with the fear is trust. You have to trust that the engineers who built Behemoth, and Canada’s Wonderland who paid 26 million dollars for it, have your back. It’s the same with an anxiety-thrilled project; trust in your leaders is huge.

o The payoff moment arrives. On the behemoth, you are falling at a speed of 127 kilometers-per hour (almost 80 miles-per-hour), followed by a series of rapid “air-time hills” that create a brief sensation of weightlessness. During this part of the ride, you feel a greater sense of team as everyone around you screams. You are all living the moment together.

o In less than three minutes, the ride is over. You will decide if it’s an experience you want to repeat (with your newly acquired experience and understanding), or maybe you have learned that you never want to do it again.

Any project that seeks to profoundly change or create new ways of improving our lives will probably carry many of the same emotions as a ride on the Behemoth. As a leader, we should look for team members with the courage to face the unknown; accept the risks; and the ability to acknowledge and conquer their fear. The leader of such a team must realize that they will place their trust in you to safely support and protect them at every turn.

If you have that kind of team, you’ll accomplish great things.

As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.

Transcending Music Into Survival – Leadership Is The Trick

I keep some space between my passions for leadership and music. Who is really going to believe that a jiving, jumping fool at the front barrier of a Peter Frampton concert (me on July 10th) is going to be continuing his read of “High Altitude Leadership” (Chris Warner & Don Schmincke) when he calms down the next day? I’m a strange cat in that respect.

I don’t go to concerts expecting to see examples of leadership. But on July 17th, I witnessed a wonderful example of selfless leadership during the course of a natural near-disaster at a festival rock concert here in Ottawa.

The (band) leader in this situation was Rick Neilson of the group Cheap Trick. At 7PM they launched into their show with all the energy captured in their 1979 multi-million selling live record “At Budokan”, and the sun was shining on them for the first four songs of their set. At 7:20 PM, during their fifth song, an ominous black sky quickly rolled in. Strong winds began to whip the festival grounds. And even though the PA system cut off the sound to the mass audience, Cheap Trick professionally played “Tonight It’s You” to its conclusion for those who could still enjoy it at the front of the crowd. That professional finale could have cost them dearly.

The group quickly waved to the crowd and left the stage, but before I could count ten steamboats, a blast of wind grabbed the stage like a kite and blew it to the ground in seconds.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only person in front of that stage that thought there was no way the group and crew had time to get out. My first thought was that I had just witnessed the possible death of a group I have grooved with for over thirty years.

All the people around me did the expected and ran for cover, but my counter-intuitive healthcare brain kicked into emergency planning mode and I jumped the barrier in front of the stage and headed toward the wreck to lend a hand. I spent fifteen minutes hollering for anyone trapped under the fallen stage and equipment, and then hauled road barriers away to make room for emergency vehicles.

As I paused for a moment in the pouring rain I noticed the group’s leader, guitarist Rick Neilson behaving more like emergency crew than rock star. He was searching for everyone that he knew was on the stage. He was at the hip of a fallen team member (the band’s truck driver) who was badly injured in the collapse. He was communicating with the few inexperienced festival grounds workers during those initial minutes of shock and panic immediately following the stage collapse. I thought to myself, most performers would be in their trailers, perhaps on the phones with their attorneys after such an incident.

Rick Neilson clearly considered this event a family tragedy. This probably explains why band members, crew and fans have been so loyal to him. This was not a rock personality in front of me in the pouring rain, lightning flashing over our heads. These were the behaviours of a military commander or any archetypical leader in a crisis.

Perhaps this explains why the group has survived the music business for approximately four decades. They were at the height of their rock music popularity in the late seventies and early eighties, but like most classic rock groups, as styles and commercial radio changed, the group’s space in the limelight dwindled. But here they were making a long overdue return to Ottawa Ontario, in front of 10-15 thousand fans, on a huge stage with a ton of equipment about to fall on them.
Any business or industry tends to destroy the selfish. I’m sure that holds true in the music business. But if Neilson’s actions during this catastrophe are representative of his care for the family that are Cheap Trick and the music they create, then leadership and rock ‘n roll have thankfully coexisted.

You can get more on this near catastrophe on the band’s website at http://www.cheaptrick.com