CULTURE
The Linchpin
Are more minds really better than one? Or can one person steer your culture ship? Let’s call them a linchpin. Your linchpin should be a high-performing person creating a culture of results.
Based on Forbes, here are a few reasons why you should be a creating a culture of high performers and “embrace the mantra that low performers and underachievers can exit stage left.”
- Think Like a Sports Team – Look, we get it, the people you see every day become like family. But, if your teammates aren’t putting up points, it might be time for them to get benched.
- Grow and Grow – If you aren’t growing as a business, you’re dying. Set a growth metric or two and make decisions based on those metrics.
- Does Your Back Hurt? – Yes, it’s true…low performers drive high performers away. Don’t force your high performers to carry the weight of under-performers.
Check out a few more reasons here.
LEADERSHIP
Communication is Key
Effective communication is key when it comes to influencing others. It’s important to think about what matters and why to you and the people you’re trying to influence.
Forbes magazine spent some time with Deloitte’s change strategy leader, Mike Bentley to discuss how Deloitte uses communication effectively.
- Desired Outcome – what are you really trying to do? Bentley said, “Organizations fail because they’re missing what they’re really trying to do.” Let your desired outcome lead the conversation.
- The Right Approach – This is based on 4 types of transformation (read more here), but the long and short of it is, you need to get your people to buy in. If change is happening, explain why and the strategy behind it.
- Enable – Based on your organizations’ operational style, you’ll need to determine how to enable your team. Bentley does a deep dive here.
Always Be Learning
“Managers need to make learning an expectation – not an option.” Kristi Hedges with Harvard Business Review is a big proponent of managers encouraging continual learning and not trying to fit it in on top of regular work.
- Be a Role Model – If you do a training with your team, set the tone and talk about your own development. It’ll become more acceptable for your team to do the same.
- What’s Your Passion? – A Stanford study found that people don’t simply have passions, they develop them. If you want your team to find purpose in their work, force them to step out of their comfort zones by being curious and experimenting.
- Same Thing, Same Results – It’s easy for employees to get caught in the monotony of the “grind.” Foster a new experience through cross-functional projects, role rotations or geographic locations.
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