Curt Fowler | Fowler & Company | Fowler, Holley, Rambo & Stalvey
Last week we talked about how to fix a toxic culture. Fixing a bad culture is no easy task, but making it stick can be even more difficult. Here are six sure-fire secrets to making your culture change stick.
1 – Live It – Just like with our children, our teams at work watch what we do, not what we say. If your leadership of your organization are not living examples of the culture you want, your culture change efforts will fail miserably.
2 – Fire For It – If you have leaders on your team who cannot live out the core values that define your culture they have to go. Leaders must deliver outstanding results, but they also must achieve those results in a way that honors your culture. The same rules apply to all team members.
3 – Hire For It – Nobody likes firing people. It is costly and often traumatic for everyone involved. We need to avoid it at all costs. How can we ensure we will have less turnover? Hire better.
We must hire for skills and cultural fit. Many great organizations dedicate a separate interview to culture fit so culture can get the focus it needs. Create questions that allow the interviewers to determine if the candidate has the right character for your organization.
Have your “A+” players score the candidate on cultural fit (0 to 10 on each core value is an easy way to do it). Do spousal interviews. Have their kids around during the process. The better you and everyone on your team know the candidate personally and professionally, the more likely you are to make a great hire. Name any organization with a great culture and they will have a long and arduous hiring process. You must protect your culture. Keeping bad employees out is the best way to do that.
4 – Measure It – As Peter Drucker said, “If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it.” But how do you measure something as vague as a culture? It’s easy. You have already clearly defined your culture through your core value statements. Those statements not only define the core value, but the actions all team members must take to live out each core value.
Use 360-degree reviews to provide feedback to everyone in the organization on how they are living out the core values. If you have a leadership team that is willing to eat their own cooking, post the results of their 360’s publicly. Great leaders lead their teams into battle. Great leaders publicly recognize their short-comings and ask their teams to help them overcome them.
5 – See It – Zappos has used cartoon characters to represent each of their core values. Decorate conference rooms themed around core values. Core values can be painted on the walls. Just like vision, culture leaks. You must keep the culture you desire in front of your team always.
6 – Celebrate It – Everyone time a leader speaks, they should be speaking about the vision of the organization and some aspect of the culture. The Ritz Carlton leadership goes through one of their 24 points of service every day at their daily stand up meetings. Create awards for the values. Make it fun!
Your culture will be the number one factor in the success or failure of your organization. Your culture is also a huge driver of happiness in your workplace. Success + Happiness + A Salary = Good Times! Give your culture the attention it deserves.
Are you cultivating a winning culture at your workplace?
Have a business growth topic or question you’d like me to cover? Send suggestions to cfowler@valuesdrivenresults.com or use our contact form by clicking here.
Curt Fowler is President of Fowler & Company and Director at Fowler, Holley, Rambo & Stalvey . He is dedicated to helping leaders create and achieve a compelling vision for their organization. He is a syndicated business writer, keynote speaker and has an MBA in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School. He is also a CPA and a pretty good guy as defined by his wife and four children.
