Before founding and launching my latest company in January of this year, I founded, scaled and ultimately sold a business called MST Solutions. During my time leading MST, I was especially proud of the numerous “Best Place to Work” awards we won — and, even more importantly, the fact that our team truly lived and believed in our shared commitment to being a place where employees were happy and wanted to come to work each day.
As my current team and I continue to nurture and grow our new business, Keenstack, we’re implementing many of the culture-first lessons I learned in the previous one. Here are five of those factors you can incorporate in your organization to grow employee satisfaction and retention as well as business success.
1. Cultivate ongoing engagement through shared learning
One of our best initiatives at MST was choosing a new book about business culture to read as a team every quarter. We rotated through work by authors like Patrick Lencioni and Jim Collins, intentionally selecting material that covered a new angle of team-building, internal collaboration and other essential building blocks of culture.
At the end of each quarter, everyone would present their ideas about what they took away from the book and then share two or three specific things they would change based on their learning. We had a small team at the time, but we held to this practice religiously for many years. This approach ensured that culture was not just a nice-to-have and a command from the top down, but was actually being developed from within each person and laterally across the whole team.
This practice helped us collaborate and make sure we were all speaking the same language and striving toward the same goals, and it also raised the team’s collective knowledge to a new baseline. That baseline then became the expectation regarding interpersonal relationships, company operations and beyond.
2. Set clear expectations upfront
Reading one book per quarter is not a heavy lift in terms of time, but you might encounter an employee who is resistant to the idea. This is why it’s a good idea to be explicit about your expectations from the very first interview. If someone doesn’t want to invest in themselves to learn or grow, and that is a core value to you and your company, make it clear that perhaps your organization isn’t the right place for them.
This isn’t negative; this is figuring out fit. I’ve always handled this piece with a great deal of empathy, knowing I don’t have the desire or capability to change someone else’s way of thinking, especially if they’re set in their ways. That same person may go elsewhere and be incredibly successful, and I’d be glad for them and even help facilitate that transition. However, there are certain non-negotiables that every individual should live by, because I believe that is how we grow both the business and ourselves personally.
3. Seek incremental change
When leaders think about creating a culture-first company or revamping their existing culture, they often think of the big picture. They want to make significant, sweeping changes, and they formulate a plan that rips the bandage off so they can make as much progress as possible — and quickly. Unfortunately, this type of approach almost always backfires. Change is never easy, and doing too much too soon is not sustainable and might even alienate or burn out your team. In my businesses, I’ve sought to foster an environment of continual learning and start small.
For example, at MST, we gave every employee an Audible subscription so they could access our quarterly book and other books they were interested in to listen to during their commute or while they worked out. We made it free and convenient for them, knowing this would increase the likelihood of their engagement.
Work toward incremental change and deliberately weave new behaviors into daily routines. This approach ensures your team adopts what they’ve learned for the long haul and drives lasting benefits for the business.
4. Culture should come from the leadership team
There was a point at MST when I hired somebody whose role was to focus on increasing employee engagement. I had the best intentions, but it ended up being a disaster. Instead of trying to embrace our already-established culture, this individual spent her time digging into what was broken at the company and “trying to fix it.” The work of this individual amplified the negative rather than strengthening the positive.
This was a challenging time, but it taught me a valuable lesson: never outsource your culture. It’s impossible for an outsider, no matter how qualified, to deeply understand your business’s culture and operations as you and your team do. As the CEO (or leader with another title), your job is to champion your company culture. You need to marry your insight and passion, then set the example at the top.
5. Operationalize key findings and accountability
It’s not enough to discuss culture; you must also design methods of accountability and operationalization. Peer-to-peer accountability is one approach, but having one-on-one check-ins with a manager or leader is also helpful and necessary. After a team meeting, aim to identify the one or two changes to be implemented at the organizational level, then assign clear owners and integrate them into quarterly goals. This draws on methodologies like EOS, which emphasizes turning cultural initiatives from ideas into operations.
For example, to measure and reinforce culture, we adopted a data-driven approach. Inspired by Patrick Lencioni’s Ideal Team Player, we evaluate employees quarterly on both performance and cultural alignment. We map each individual on an X-Y axis, with performance as one axis and cultural as the other. This tracked alignment, encouraged ongoing growth and led to meaningful conversations. It also helps us make culture a measurable part of our company’s DNA.
A culture-first company is a business that is built around people and, therefore, built to succeed. When you’re intentional about shared learning, clear expectations, making incremental change, setting the cultural tone at the top and operationalizing your cultural initiatives, you’ll be well on your way to being a truly great place to work.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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