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Trust the Process: How EmployEASE attracts and retains peak performers in a shrinking labor market.

Americans have mastered Task Orientation; we are makers of lists and managers of time. We manage daily to-do lists; we micro-manage our associates and ourselves. Our performance appraisals and reward systems are based on 'what' gets done not on 'how' it gets done. Task Orientation requires control and control limits fun. Companies that are task oriented have cultures in which fun and work are considered incompatible.

In order to bring fun back into our work, we need to utilize and master Process Orientation. Process Orientation requires trust and trust encourages fun. People are the backbone of Process Orientation - trusting them is the key to its success. In Process Orientation, we give our staff the big picture, describe our expectations, allow them to fail, support their efforts, and celebrate their success. Trusting the process requires less energy and less supervision, is more liberating for everyone involved, and generates more fun and better results.

Employease is a Living Laboratory for Trust the Process. In 1996, Mike Seckler and John Alberg started Employease, an Internet Business Service (Application Service Provider) that helps small companies deal with their overwhelming Human Resources problems, with this philosophy: treat people like adults and trust them to do their jobs. Their success has been staggering. Not only are companies flocking to utilize Employease' services, but so are individuals who are looking to work for a technology-leading company where the environment is even more advanced than the technology.

One of the key elements to the success of Employease' process is First Friday: the meeting you never want to miss. On the first Friday of the month, the entire staff gathers at noon for pizza and pop, an update of what's happening and why, and what's planned for the future. The room is filled with excitement and enthusiasm. Employees are everywhere-filling all the seats, leaning against the walls, and even sitting in the aisles. During each First Friday, all new employees are introduced and allowed to speak the group. Virtually every one of them remarks on how Employease' environment was the determining element in their decision to work there.

Employease' philosophy is to hire someone with the right attitude who lights up during their interview, explain what they're expected to accomplish, and then get out of their way and let them work-let them follow the process. Because they trust their employees to be accountable for their actions, be responsible for their results, and take ownership of their jobs, Employease gets great results. Their Process Orientation embraces mistakes: they know that success happens as a result of failure. Because their environment blends fun and work, Employease' attrition rate is extremely low. Process Orientation allows Employease to start with good people and to keep them.

04 THE TRUST KEY.

If we're going to learn to trust the process, we're going to have to learn to trust. Trust is the assured expectation that someone will do the right thing for the right reason at the right time. It is the belief in a positive outcome. Trust is not an absolute but is relative; we have various levels of trust at all times about all things. The higher our level of trust, the more likely we believe in the outcome. Fear and fun are the opposite ends of a continuum. Fear comes from low trust; fun comes from high trust. When we have high trust, we have fun; when we have fun, there is high trust. The only thing that prevents us, then, from bringing fun into our work is fear; fear that someone will object, fear that we will be considered less than professional, fear that we will lose our capacity to be serious about our efforts. To counteract that fear, we must develop a higher level of trust. Fear is often the thing that stands between us and what we want most. Fear creates a reaction that makes our desires elusive. What we want most is coated with our own fear. To reach our goals, we must trust in our ability achieve them and not be put off by the fear that naturally emanates from them. When we have fun, we have trust; trust replaces fear and allows us to have fun. To have trust, you have to believe in the future and have fun in the present.

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