Culture is important now more than ever
When we peak behind the curtain of companies that appear to be on a rocket ship to discover the culture is a nightmare it is disturbing. Particularly when the founders are females because there are not enough of us.
Culture should be a priority. And today it is more important than ever. For the amount of time we spend working it should be positive, enjoyable, challenging in a good way and everyone there should feel connected to the company. Happy people make for happy atmospheres regardless of the hard work being done.
Everyone is dealing with the coronavirus differently. It is emotionally draining. Leadership is necessary which means acknowledging how everyone is feeling otherwise it’s just an elephant in the room.
Companies are being forced to cut the headcount. Raising money is going to get more difficult. Pressure will come from boards and the C-team.
Prioritize what you need to do as a founder or a team leader or even an employee and focus on one thing at a time. Be honest about the issues at hand and how tough these times are. Acting like everything is just like it was a month ago is unacceptable.
There will be silver livings for some and not for others but knowing that you rose above the white noise to keep a positive, transparent and understanding culture is now more important than ever.
Comments (Archived):
What are some good indicators of an unhealthy culture, beyond high employee turnover?
High turnover is def a red flag. Clicks like high school. Pay attention to the body language of people and how they are reacting to their manager or the people around them. It’s multiple things but if you are paying attention you will see it
Gracias! Those all make sense if you can get close enough to observe.
.It is laughably easy to test the culture of a company — conduct an Anonymous Company Survey in which you tease out the rub points. This is not new.Having been a CEO for 33 years, I used to do this regularly and never, ever, ever failed to learn something of incredible importance that I did not know, refused to know, or for which I had a blind spot. Every. Single. Time.I used to do it twice a year and people used to look forward to it.I have gone through this with “good” CEOs — clueless about their company culture but good at their jobs — and seen them make changes that evolved into their becoming “great” CEOs. Great CEOs in that they had a company that was aligned and no conflict between Vision/Mission and Culture.aKnow what makes elite military units powerful — perfect alignment between Mission and Culture.It is so easy to do, but it requires a bit of focus like learning how to tie the Monkeys Paw/Fist knot.If you follow this approach, you will know what your culture really is and you will be able to make corrections that work.https://themusingsofthebigr…JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
With Corona we now see that so much of what we have hitherto been conditioned to accept as being our contemporary culture just falls apart under stress. That is not culture. That is product. It is manufactured. It is fragile. It is false culture.
Culture is defined at the top and bottom. You at the top set the culture by your actions not words and at the bottom by the person you allow to break your culture and stay
.What he said.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…