I must confess I was under the impression that a hippo was a large grey animal that resides in rivers in Africa, happily wallowing in mud and occasionally crunching on unwary tourists/passersby. However it transpires it's actually current management speak.
Apparently this Hippo - or rather the lack of it - is an acronym for how the highest paid persons opinion isn't any better than anyone else's in the room and this is being used in practice across the business below.
Which is a great idea. And one that we at PIE wholeheartedly believe in and try to put into practice (we just weren't aware it had an actual name).
And hippo jokes aside, it really is a good idea to promote in the workplace. If applied in the right fashion, it's a great way of levelling your staff hierarchies and getting the most out of them all in terms of ideas and input - and it's great to see ideas like this being engendered in businesses which are eager to bring everyone's contributions to the table. There is no way that your boss or senior management team are always right...it's just hard to tell them that sometimes! Perhaps, if you were all equally highly paid, it might be easier?? But that's probably a subject for another day...
“Management is about empowering people at all levels. Restricting opinions through lack of seniority is just counterproductive. “That’s why I like the motto, ‘No Hippos’. The highest paid person’s opinion isn’t any better than anyone else’s.” This is a philosophy that has been embraced at TotallyMoney.com. “Everyone needs encouragement,” he continues. “I think this comes from breeding enthusiasm and creativity. “I want to keep creating a culture where our employees try new things and think for themselves. Rather than just following a leader. That’s why we don’t have separate offices for the management team at TotallyMoney.com.” Employees must always be rewarded: “Like most people, we believe we deserve a treat at the end of the week. Friday afternoons are spent chatting and toasting the weekend. That’s where we differ from others in [our] sector.”
Read the original article here