"The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best." ~~Epictetus
Good Morning Folks,
Successful company culture can make the difference between a workplace people dread and one they brag about.
Culture is not about the furniture in your office. It is not about how much time you have to spend on feel-good projects. It is not about catered food, expensive social outings, internal chat tools, your ability to travel all over the world, or your never-ending self-congratulation.
Culture is about power dynamics, unspoken priorities and beliefs, mythologies, conflicts, enforcement of social norms, creation of in/out groups and distribution of wealth and control inside companies. Culture is usually ugly. It is as much about the inevitable brokenness and dysfunction of teams as it is about their accomplishments. Culture is exceedingly difficult to talk about honestly. The critique of startup culture that came in large part from the agile movement has been replaced by sanitized, pompous, dishonest slogans.
Many culture-changing initiatives have no direct costs to the company. In fact, when properly executed, culture-improving initiatives can lower company costs in both the short and long term.
Blogger ARSHAD CHOWDHURY belives that “Culture Isn’t Costly.”
He’s spent the past 10 years learning about and implementing solutions to make work better for employers and managers alike. He’s touched hundreds of companies large and small and have seen many distinct cultures. Based on this experience he offers these simple initiatives to encourage a peaceful, productive workplace that people love:
==> Make Rules for the 95%, Not the 5%
Most of your employees are hard working, motivated, and professional. Workplace rules should be designed to give maximum autonomy to the vast majority of your workers. Don't burden people with rules designed to control the 5% of employees who are constitutionally unmotivated or undisciplined. From dress code to work hours to meeting attendance, fewer rules in the workplace are better.
For one, fewer rules can start saving you money right away. Get rid of expensive firewalls blocking Facebook and YouTube. At the same time, access to these tools can help your employees research and network faster.
==> Celebrate Going Home Early
It's not true that the longer you work, the more work you will get done. According to a 2010 study, flexible work hours can lead to increased retention and productivity. You can quickly improve culture by focusing on work output instead of hours of input. If you're going to leave the office early, go ahead and announce to your coworkers that you just closed a mega account, sent out that TPS report, and are now heading for the golf course. There's no shame in going home after hitting a home run.
==> Stop Swearing
Not all rules are bad. Implement a "no swearing" rule today: no swearing about or at your coworkers or customers. By cutting out swearing, you will elevate discourse to expression of thoughtful ideas instead of base emotions. An environment where people swear at one another can quickly turn toxic. The no swearing rule can save you millions by avoiding costly lawsuits where disgruntled employees--with good reason--strike back.
==> Cultivate Experts
Imagine if every one of your employees was an expert in what they did; if, no matter how mundane their subject, they could teach it with passion. The benefits to you, your company, and your employees would be profound. Encourage people to become experts by having them research best practices in their field and share those with their colleagues on a regular basis. At my companies, we encourage book clubs for every level of employee. We incur cost here by buying every book club member an e-book. The $79 e-book, however, pays for itself twice: once when employees brag about their incredible work environment with their coworkers, and again when employees learn to do their jobs better through ongoing learning.
==> Talk About the Future
Start taking people out for coffee, one at a time, to ask them where they want to be in five and 10 years. Armed with this information, help them achieve those goals, even if the goals aren't related to your company. If an employee tells you he or she wants to be an actor, support them when they want to take acting classes. This way, in the time that they are with you, they'll be loyal, committed, and thankful for the support.
==> Let Employees Manage Their Own Energy
Our metabolism is guided by our bodies' circadian rhythms. We all experience peaks and troughs of energy throughout the day, and the highs and lows differ for each person. One-third of your employees experience a dip in energy so steep that between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. each day they need to nap. So let them nap. According to a NASA study, a nap of just 26 minutes can boost productivity by 34%.
==> Recognize Your Team Every Day
People don't work for just money. They work for recognition, too, so don't deprive your employees of this vital form of compensation. They are working to build your company every day. As such, give them specific words of thank-you the moment the occasion calls for it. You should be thanking each person you directly work with at least two times a week. As my mentor Chester Elton (coauthor of The Carrot Principle) says, reward behavior you want to see repeated.
Here at FSO we’d like to add the most important ingredient we’ve recognized as key to our own success:
==> We make sure to hire people who are a cultural fit
In delivering our Onsite Outsourcing Services, our people are the driving force in making the difference– it’s that twinkle in the eye, that skip in the step, that fire in the belly that makes our people different from any of our competitors .
Our Company Culture (PERSONAL, PASSIONATE AND PRODUCTIVE) ensures our staff provides a better service experience to our clients and in turn, we provide a warm and highly inspirational environment for our valued employees.
==> PERSONAL
Active involvement of the most tenured outsourcing leadership team in the business. Myself, Founder, Chief Happiness Officer, & Owner) and Jim Caton (President, Chief Chaos, & Owner) are “hands on” leaders who are intimate with every operation and who remain so for the life of the contract.
==> PASSIONATE
FSO is driven by fun, passionate people and the value they create. We hire, retain and assign people with that deep inner passion to perform — the spirit that gives them that fire in the belly, that twinkle in the eye, boundless pride in their work and the drive to succeed. New and legacy staff are always attracted to FSO and are inspired by our performance based rewards and opportunities for advancement. At the end of the day, passion is really important. You can’t fake passion—you either have it or you don’t!
==> PRODUCTIVE
Only FSO provides our clients with the insight of our (re)IMAGINE The Future™ team and 120+ Subject Matter Experts who support our Onsite Outsourcing accounts. They’re our own corporate level Operational and Strategic Executives fully dedicated to analyzing your operation as if it were their own – uncovering systematic cost savings and implementing best practices and operational efficiencies where possible.
Because everyone we work with is a great culture fit, which is code for “able to fit in without friction,” we are all friends and have an unhealthy blur between social and work life. Because everyone is a “great culture fit,” we don’t have to acknowledge employee alienation and friction between individuals or groups.
The desire to continue being a “culture fit” means it is harder for employees to raise meaningful critique and criticism of the culture itself.
Have A GREAT Day!
Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer
