Culture is how we choose to live and behave every day. It is the mindset we embrace. It is a shared set of beliefs.
What kind of culture are you growing at work? Are you creating a type of environment which leads to high performing, emotionally invested teams?
You are building a community. The members of that community know who you are. They know success comes as a group, not on the back of an individual. They have a service mindset. It becomes a dynamic family that does life and work together.
When you create a feeling of value in the work people do, they feel trusted. It becomes a place that people seek out to work. You create raving fans in your customers due the exceptional service they receive.
You’ve got to give them a why. When you do – and when the whole team is on the same page – it will inspire people to give you way more than you ask for. If they feel manipulated or taken advantage of, they will give you exactly what you pay for.
If you start with the why right at the beginning – during the interview- you lay the groundwork for success. Do you have a plan in place to retain those employees? Do you celebrate their talents? Do you have a plan to help them improve their self and their work?
So how can you do this? How many of you have performance evaluations? What if you changed those to individual career plans? Most employees don’t come to work with the goal of seeing how they can screw up. So why spend all the time pointing out their flaws. What if you set up a plan for them to grow their skills and reward the effort? How would that change attitudes and work levels?
What if you rewarded them for having a community presence and showing them you value their commitments? Could you offer one hour of paid leave each month to volunteer in the community? Not only do you become know as a community supporter because your employees are seen out and about doing good work, but the employee feels their involvement is important to you as well.  That’s good will and image building all around.
Small changes can make huge differences in company culture. What can you do?