Positive Growth: 21 ways to fertilize and grow the culture you want

Positive Growth: 21 ways to fertilize and grow the culture you want

“Culture trumps strategy every time.”

~Peter Drucker

1. Be honest. Never lie.
2. Lead by example – leaders set the tone and temperature of the organization.
3. Don’t take short cuts. Use every decision to build the long-term culture.
4. Invest in key relationships on the team.  People want to know their leaders do care.
5. Invest in growing your team’s knowledge, skills and positive attitude. Start your training program now.
6. Focus on building a culture that attracts and retains top talent, not warm bodies.
7. Develop and grow your core values, mission and vision statements.
8. Continuously remind your team about the ways your organization is living these core values, vision, and mission day in and day out. It gives people a deeper purpose to what they are doing.
9. Create buy-in by asking your team for their opinion on projects and processes.
10. Focus on developing your intrinsic elements for motivation: autonomy, mastery and purpose. Read Daniel Pink’s book, Drive.
11. Develop exceptional customer service in your people. Provide learning opportunities that are focused on equipping your team to grow and serve your customers well.
12. Develop a yearly schedule of positive culture building experiences.
13. Be competitive. People like to know they are on a team that competes at the highest levels. Even though we may not be on the field of athletics, encourage the mindset of being “better than” and “best.”
14. Share profits and loss information when appropriate.
15. Get input from your team on problems. Do this even when you know the answer. People like to solve problems and claim ownership to the solutions which grows pride in the work being done.
16. Share customer satisfaction surveys and responses. People like to hear encouragement and have direction.
17. Keep salaries competitive within the marketplace.
18. Be forward thinking. Look ahead and give others a sense of direction.
19. Inspire by being excited, energetic and positive about the future.
20. Help the team become more organized. Frustration starts when no one cares about a messy location. Organized people become demotivated and may even leave if sloppiness is accepted.
21. Listen. Change and opportunity begins at the top. When leaders stop listening, no one who can change anything is listening. People will know and get frustrated.

Let me know what practices you are doing to grow your culture so I can add it to the list.

Keep cultivating your culture!

Jeff