It’s Spring! Time to consider the shedding of what is no longer needed, the growth of new.
If you are considering working on your corporate culture, watch this short video in the NEW Culture Bites series by Lisa Jackson.
(How to eat the elephant of change? One bite at a time…)
Lisa Jackson-Culture Bites 1 from Lisa J on Vimeo.
Written script of video:
If your business is in a growth season … it is an important time to also tend to your company culture – like preparing soil for the garden.
Without good soil, the harvest (of expansion, mergers, or other growth initiatives) can weaken the overall structure of your organization: Profitable growth is the harvest, company culture is the soil.
Hi I’m Lisa Jackson, Principal and Founder of Corporate Culture Pros. My mission is to help leaders create culture as a profit center for their business … one that unleashes high-performing, amazing teamwork and results.
Culture renewal can be very simple. It does require structure and leadership to be most effective.
During any cultural change – I advise my clients to start with a cross-functional “culture committee” – a few respected supervisors and lead employees, who facilitate a series of focus groups. These groups identify “Culture Renewal” ideas to improve the workplace environment, decision making, and overall company culture during rapid growth.
To keep this from being a gripe session, you need a few basic rules:
- State the purpose of culture work, visibly and explicitly: “We want to build the best possible workplace culture. As we grow, we want to identify issues and areas that will help us keep our workplace sane, centered, and positive.”
- Ensure cross-functional membership: Assemble groups from across the business, versus intact teams.
- State the ground rules with the focus group effort: “Generate Ideas to improve our work environment, clarity of roles, and better ways to collaborate and have fun across the business. Stay positive. Keep focused on what we can control and what will help us do our best work. Ask the group “What other ground rules will help us work on our culture in a positive, proactive manner. This forum is not about personnel concerns or overt criticisms of leaders. Those should be worked through with HR.”
A simple effort such as this, done a few times every year, sends the message to employees that you care about the health of the team and the company, not just the financial performance. (and of course, you need to follow through on their ideas – otherwise they will stop flowing.)
You may want to incorporate a culture assessment into your Culture Renewal effort. Check out the FREE version by signing up for the Culture Toolkit Sampler on my website.
People perform better when there is Culture effort to work ON the business, versus “business as usual.”
Happy Spring, Happy Culture Renewal!