Aligning Actions to Your Company Culture

Click on any business news feed and questions like “How Strong is Your Company Culture” or “How to Create a Winning Company Culture” would pop up.

But there’s one key piece of advice that’s missing from the conversation - All too often, companies and their leaders talk the culture talk without walking the walk. And because an organization’s cultural agenda is essentially a foundation and starting point for its strategic agenda, any disconnect here can become a significant problem.

This becomes more likely as companies grow and evolve. As it can result in messes such as the crisis of lawsuits. To make sure culture continues to inform and align with everyday thought and behavior — especially as companies grow and evolve — Dan recommends consistently using these 4 checkpoints to evaluate your organization’s actions and decisions at every level, each step of the way:

·      Taking care of customers
Does this decision support our values and culture around how we care for our customers and their needs?

·      Economic performance
Will this decision contribute to our profit and sustenance?

·      Competitive advantage
Does this decision help us maintain our competitive advantage and differentiate ourselves meaningfully from the competition?

·      Corporate stewardship

Is this decision in line with our business ethics and values of integrity and service?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no” it’s time to stop and rethink before acting upon any of these.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

The Ripple Effects of Thank you

A recent study showed that expressing gratitude affects not only the grateful person, but anyone who witnesses it.

Researchers and social scientists studying gratitude have found that being thankful and expressing it to others is good for our professional health and happiness. Not only does it feel good, it also helps us build trust and closer bonds with the people around us.

These benefits have mostly been observed in a two-person exchange—someone saying thanks and someone receiving thanks. Now, new research suggests that expressing gratitude not only improves one-on-one relationships but could bring entire groups together - inspiring a desire to help and connect in people who simply witness an act of gratitude.

When people witness an expression of gratitude, they see that the grateful person is the kind of person who notices when other people do kind things and actually takes the time to acknowledge them—meaning, they’re a good social partner. People who are responsive as social partners are really desirable people.

When a grateful person actually takes the time to step outside of themselves and call attention to what was great about the other person’s actions—that’s what distinguishes gratitude from other kinds of positive emotional expressions.

It’s easy to imagine how this should work in a workplace, where people are actually attending to and acknowledging other people’s good deeds and kindnesses. A whole group of people could be inspired to be kinder to one another, and, through this interwoven kindness, the group itself could become a higher-functioning group and a progressive company unit.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

Training Techniques to turn Large Teams into Decision-makers

We’ve all been part of a group training session where you walk away feeling like your time was wasted. More often than not, you may have found yourself in a room with a lot of people who felt the same way.

It’s close to impossible to have a productive group discussion when there are 100 people in the room. When a training group is too big, employees don’t have a chance to participate, and few are able to have their questions raised or concerns voiced. That leads to a work culture where people don’t feel empowered to make decisions, a crucial skill that defines good teamwork.

If your company has a large number of employees, it’s imperative you learn to adopt specialized training techniques that allow everyone the opportunity to contribute.

The end result is employees that become valued, confident decision-makers.

Over the years, studies have found large training groups equals more distraction and dissatisfaction. When employees aren’t engaged in meaningful activities, it often means less productivity, reduced motivation, and individuals that don’t feel like they’re part of the bigger, decision-making body.

As a result, companies end up wasting time and money—especially when they use outdated, boring teaching methods.

The next time you have a group training, ditch the traditional lecture or PowerPoint pitfall. Instead, find a teaching method that focuses on the participants by allowing employees to learn together.

Have training techniques with large groups that are fun, interactive with unique ways to teach your team new skills while empowering them to be more efficient policymakers.

Rather than have everyone discussing openly, a different technique could be a kind of team-building exercise. You can start by asking your group, “What is our biggest issue?”

Next, give everyone a few minutes to think about a problem. Ask them to write down their thoughts on sticky notes, keeping the specific task in mind. For example, ask them to write down why that issue is important.

Next, have each employee place the sticky notes on the wall. From there, everyone works together to sort the notes according to what they feel is most relevant, important, or useful.

During the exercise, there’s no discussion. This lets team members see where they agree or disagree with others. In addition, the “problem” isn’t just one person’s idea—everyone actively participates.

This is a fast and effective way to get employees working together to identify challenges while making decisions as a group.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

Every large group training session can benefit from facilitators—people that guide or direct individual teams during discussions or exercises.

These are the people who prompt participants with questions or conversation starters. They also monitor the group activity to ensure everyone has a chance to talk or share their ideas. Of course, having more facilitators also allows for more groups with fewer people, which gives each attendee more individualized attention and time to participate. Co-facilitators work extremely well when there’s specific domain knowledge being discussed.

In my experience, employees don’t dislike team exercises. What they don’t enjoy is not being able to make the decisions that allow for positive change and growth.