Category: Culture
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Failure of the week trophy
Do you hide your mistakes? Or do you celebrate them, and learn from them? Share with your team who gets the failure of the week trophy this week, and why, and what is the learning. See what happens…
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Please, help me improve
That should be a sentence leaders ask to their teams all of the time. Signaling that you work for them, and need their help and feedback to do better is a powerful cultural signal. It shows you care, and you will listen and act.
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Great cultures are not tension free
Many people I speak to think that everything is smooth sailing and happy within the walls of innovative companies. But in fact, the opposite is mostly always the case. The most innovative companies, and the ones with strong cultures – good cultures – see a lot of tension. The tension, challenging, questions, probing, testing that…
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The office space
There are pros and cons to open plan offices, there are pros and cons to cubicle offices. Each has their good and bad things. Rather, the key to success is to define well – in any space – the type of work you have to do. Make it clear when you are doing deep work…
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The “monoculture”
You wont have diversity and innovation if you hire people for “culture fit” you will instead create a monoculture of like minded, similar individuals. Hire for “cultural contribution” instead: people who add value on top of the existing culture, and of course are aligned with the values of the company.
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DEI & B
Diversity and Equity are when you are invited to the party Inclusion is when you are asked to dance But Belonging is when you really want to, and enjoy the dance! And that, is the aim.
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Be specific
It is far more impactful to be specific when giving praise and / or feedback to someone. Saying what they did, and the impact it had makes it tangible and – most importantly – personal.
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Shallow or deep
Do you let your colleagues do team building activities together? They are quite “shallow” activities when it comes to a lasting culture, the effect wears off quickly. Or do you let them do “deep” activities like co-creating a new – lasting – process for the company? Those activities, add far more value and should be…
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Apple sets expectations
I am always thinking about making expectations super clear for people – so they know where they stand and what they need to deliver. That creates a kind of safety, where people can thrive. Too much uncertainty and ambiguity and things can go wrong. Well, Apple is a great case in point. On someones first…
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The first day
The first day of a new job is always daunting. Does your company have a tick box list to go through for new joiners? OR, do you really take the time to welcome, wow, and introduce the new joiner to the company and its cultural norms?