Your Team and Your Culture

In this week's newsletter, we'll delve into two critical aspects of cultivating the soul of your business:

As a reminder, this blog is designed to take a large amount of general information and condense it down to the most salient information that is useful for small businesses. If you find a topic particularly captivating, please don't hesitate to reach out as there is plenty of additional information than can be provided.

Make sure you check out the Bonus Tip at the bottom of the page before you go!

How intentionally are you cultivating your company?

Crafting the Right Teams and Culture: You just hired a new employee that the whole team is excited about and after onboarding you pair them with your highest producing employee in the hopes that they will learn to be a high performer too. It backfires, the high performer hates dealing with 'the new guy' and the new employee is already showing signs of burnout trying to keep up, and not acting like the person you hired. Whether you are in an office, out in the field or have a virtual team your employee structure and culture set the tone for how your employees interact.  Some employees prefer structure and other want flexibility. Did you place employees on a team just because you needed to fill a seat, or did you assess what you thought would be the best fit for them and for the company? When was the last time you adjusted the teams or forced employees on opposite sides of your org structure to work together?

Discovering Individual Inspirations: Each member of your team has unique aspirations and motivations. Taking the time to understand what inspires them can create a more engaged and motivated workforce. Some people are motivated by money, others by title, some by recognition and the most rare group of all; the ones inspired by a job well done. Regular one-on-one conversations can provide insights into their professional and personal goals, enabling you to align their aspirations with the company's objectives.

GRPI (pronounced Grippy)- Goals, Roles, Processes, and Interactions: Are the GRPI elements clear within your teams? Each team should know and track their goals, should understand the roles and responsibilities individually and as a team, the process of how the team operates, and how they are expected to interact, communicate and work together in their team and among other teams. Teams are not static, so regularly assess and refine these elements to ensure your teams are performing at their best.

Cultivating Collaboration

Do you host meetings or workshops: You just scheduled an all hands meeting and you overhead an employee say to another "great, another 45 minute lecture". What do you do? Well, it sound like you need to change how you hold your meetings and convert them into a workshop.   Workshops provide platforms for team members to share ideas, brainstorm solutions, collaborate and align their efforts. Encourage active participation and provide avenues for everyone to contribute their insights.

Psychological Safety: Nobody wants to feel dumb. An environment where your employees are afraid to ask questions is a DANGEROUS environment. Part of your role as an owner is to create an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing their ideas and questions. Cultivate an atmosphere where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities and diverse perspectives are valued. This encourages innovation and creativity.

Final Thoughts

Prioritize the intentional development of our employee teams and the creation of collaborative spaces that promote growth, innovation, and success. Remember, your business is a 3 legged stool:

Product: Your business needs to have a unique value proposition in order to be competitive in the marketplace.

Process: Your business needs defined procedures on how it interacts with customers, completes projects, who handles each task, etc. Without processes and procedures, the business creates chaos and a different experience  for customers each time they interact with your company.

People: Your business needs people in order to provide services.

Constant improvement on all three legs of the stool leads to a successful business.

BONUS TIP: +▲. This is a concept that you should use for EVERYTHING and a part of your culture you need to implement immediately. +▲ is shorthand for 'plus delta'. This is my favorite concept of the week. Plus Delta is a verb and you can use it in a sentence like "hey team, we had some errors in our new CRM scheduling tool, we want to Plus Delta the process, so if you have input, let us know." Plus Delta is a way of asking for or providing feedback in a constructive manner. The foundation is the 'Plus' which is a reminder to start with what went well. The 'Delta' encourages constructive feedback by asking for input on what should change, and not just what went wrong. The Delta is a reminder to come with solutions for change and not just negativity.