Workplace culture matters. A great one produces happy, engaged employees who give their best efforts, challenge themselves to grow, and consistently meet goals and delight customers. A toxic one creates miserable, unmotivated clock-watchers and job-board checkers.
In our booming economy, with its incredibly tight labor market, making sure your culture is closer to the first kind should be job one, says Deb Boelkes.
"In a strong economy, people have their pick of good jobs," says Boelkes, author of The WOW Factor Workplace: How to Create a Best Place to Work Culture. "If your culture is one of disengagement and toxicity, your most talented workers will be looking to leave. You'll be left with mediocre and low performers who have little incentive to do more than the bare minimum."
The bad news is that leaders often aren't aware their culture isn't what it should be. The good news is that they can change that. When leaders consistently motivate and inspire employees, fill them with purpose, challenge them, and make them feel safe and supported, what Boelkes calls the "WOW factor" manifests, grows and permeates the entire culture.
With the end of the year approaching, Boelkes says it's the perfect time to look back over 2019 and see how you did, culture-wise. Here's a checklist to help you get started.
In 2019, did you...
Hire slow and fire fast? When your company is made up of talented, enthusiastic, hardworking people, employees won't want to leave. That's why you should hire only people who will fit in with the culture you're creating — and get rid of bullies and others who create a toxic culture. You may be reluctant to fire someone you yourself hired, but don't wait till they do maximum damage. Fire him or her now.
Make adjustments and break things to make 'wow' happen? Adjustments are made all the time in wow-factor workplaces to make things even better than they already are. The adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is not the way wow-factor workplaces become wow-factor workplaces. Sometimes you must break things intentionally to make continuous dramatic improvements.
Encourage employees to interview elsewhere? Boelkes is a strong believer in a piece of advice she learned early in her career: Always be interviewing. While this applies to managers seeking the best possible job candidates, she says it also applies to employees. Everyone should interview elsewhere from time to time. This is one way to ensure neither the employee nor the business gets complacent. It's crucial for employees to know their value to the outside world.
"Likewise, organizations should be made aware if they are not keeping up with competitive marketplace opportunities," says Boelkes. "You certainly don't want to wait until your best team members have accepted another position elsewhere to finally offer them a raise or a promotion. By then, their hearts and minds are out the door."
Mentor in the moment? Mentoring should happen every single day, not just a few times a year during performance reviews. That's why Todd Wilcox recommends that leaders should have a smaller number of direct reports — more like five or six instead of 15 or 20. With a smaller group, leaders can talk to their mentees every single day.
Hold people to high expectations? Wow-factor workplaces have a well-documented set of behavioral standards and performance expectations. When someone isn't meeting these expectations, leaders will collaborate with him or her to develop an improvement plan that spells out SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reasonable and Time-bound. Each party is responsible for holding the other accountable to his or her end of the bargain. The underperformer must either get his or her act together or move on to something else.
Refuse to tolerate excuses? Some people hold themselves back. They may think they aren't as good as others or as prepared as others to assume a leadership role. Maybe they haven't had as much education or they're from a low-income family or any of a whole variety of reasons. Don't let this happen. Tell employees they don't need to have had a model upbringing or have earned a PhD to live up to their potential. They can do their best work with what they have right now. No excuses. They'll be amazed at what they can achieve with their talent and wherewithal alone.
Help employees connect to purpose and meaning? Britt Berrett, former president of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, explains the value of purpose in healthcare: "When I get exhausted, I'll go to the lobby. I'll watch the patients walk in and out. They are scared. They're going to be entering a new environment. We'll poke and prod them all night long. If I, as a leader, can understand my role in blessing their lives, if it can give me purpose and meaning, then I'll be much more purposeful in my efforts. That's invigorating."
Nudge people out of their comfort zones? Strong leaders look for the potential in employees and push them out of their comfort zones. They show employees that they have faith in them. They mentor them along the way. When you do this, employees are inspired to make the best use of their talents and push past their perceived limitations.
Make them feel like they belong? Garry Ridge, CEO of WD-40, talks about fostering belonging. He says, "People feel like they belong here because we are doing things every day to help them be better. We help educate them. We help them deal with their stresses of life. Just last Friday, we had a lunch-and-learn. We had someone giving people a two-hour session on stress management. We had massage therapists in here during that time. We want people to be feeling good about themselves in many ways, not just emotionally but physically."
Regularly go beyond the expected to delight your customers? Donald Stamets, general manager for Solage, an Auberge resort in Calistoga, Calif., allows employees to take the lead in this area with his Expected, Requested and Delighted philosophy. He encourages staff to go above and beyond what the customer expects and try to delight them at every turn. For instance, if a guest is sick, employees can bring them tissues and chicken soup without asking a manager.
"You can always improve if your culture isn't yet where you want it to be," says Boelkes. "The year 2020 is a fresh start. Commit to start moving in a positive direction and build a culture that will make you and everyone on your team feel lucky to work for such a great organization."
Published in North American Title Company NATNews Blog:
https://www.nat.com/NATNews-Blog/January-2020/When-Good-Help-Is-Hard-to-Find-Culture-Wins.aspx