One of the common concerns I hear from executives is that their once strong company culture is fading as the business grows. This makes perfect sense, especially in rapid growth companies where new hires are not always screened for values-fit and on-boarding is an afterthought.
Related article: How to get Accountability in The DNA of Your Team
Deliberate vs. Non-Deliberate Cultures
In recent years, the word culture has come into vogue. This has mainly revolved around the concept of having a positive culture, but it’s not just about making people feel good. (Although certainly authenticity and happiness at work is far better than toxicity and gossip.)
Culture is the environment that you create in your company and should extend beyond how employees feel. The work environment could be one that also fosters employee development and growth. Our mission is to help our employees become the best versions of themselves, and we create software to help other leaders do that in their own companies.
Culture happens whether you intend it to or not. It’s simply the natural byproduct of humans coming together and collaborating. So leadership needs to be deliberate about the type of culture that is manifesting at the company.
This new paradigm of creating a deliberate culture no longer looks at profit and business objectives first. While those matters are still important, leaders are now prioritizing their people and the systems that can help them thrive. Companies that practice this also tend to be more profitable and sustainable. Here are some findings:
- 31% Lower Employee Turnover *
*Berlin by Deloitte – State of Employee Recognition 2012
- 37% increased Sales*
Forbes: How Happiness Improves Your Success 2013
- 147% Higher EPS*
Gallup: Why Great Managers are so Rare 2014
A New Leadership Paradigm
Psychologists used to assert that mental complexity stopped around the same time as physical growth. We now know that we are able to grow and change throughout our adult lives. Building a company is almost like an incubator to continue the growth and development of the adults who work for you.
Here are some tips for managers who want to mentor employees to develop into the best versions of themselves:
Make it safe to be vulnerable.
Growth implies doing something we’ve never done before, but people think they need to get it right from the start. That’s impossible. We are going to feel vulnerable whenever we do something new, so managers have to create a culture where making mistakes is ok (and even encouraged).
Measure people’s cultural contributions.
Managers can consider the innovations, contributions and attitudes that people bring to the culture alongside output and business contributions. Reward great cultural behaviours as well as employee work product. This strengthens team cohesion and helps to overcome the silo effect.
Conspire for each other’s greatness.
The best way to explain this is by example: We ask people to share their personal and professional dreams for the year during our annual company-wide retreat in January. The leadership team then keeps track of what those dreams are, and we see how we can help make them a reality.
Be Curious.
Maintain a sense of curiosity and wander around employees, as opposed to a place of judgment. It’s important to be discerning sure, but managers can actually help foster growth by checking-in with employees to see how they are performing, learn what they are experiencing, and then have regular conversations to help them develop.
Thrive Change Management fosters a new competitive advantage for businesses by focusing on the “soft stuff” like neuro-science based strategies and supportive management, along with the “hard stuff” like metrics, KPIs, and objectives. Contact us today for a no cost (until end June) Employee Engagement survey: jake@thrive-cm.com. We will present the results on our unique “Heat Pad” which highlights problem areas and shows what needs to be done.
First seen on 15five.com
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