Creating a positive organizational culture is akin to devouring homemade pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. That is, at our house, it’s not an afterthought to be enjoyed only “if there’s room.” No. You build it into the plan, priorities are established: pie first, then turkey, potatoes, stuffing, in that order. Likewise, engagement before results. It’s a winning recipe.
First, some context. Just four years ago our organization was struggling and there was a direct correlation to workplace satisfaction and performance output. Only 19% of our workforce identified as being satisfied with the workplace culture and nearly 40% of our staff turned over annually. In tandem, nearly every key performance indicator was on a multi-year decline.
Today, 97% of our workplace identifies as "being inspired to do my best for the organization everyday," 94% agree with "having the ability to prioritize my personal priorities with my workload" (the dreaded work/life balance conundrum) and employee satisfaction scores soared from 19% to 89%. Talent retention and acquisition are the healthiest they've ever been, with an annual turnover rate of just 8% today.
Subsequently, every single performance metric is soaring, breaking records in growth, sales, retention and revenue. There’s something remarkable about a team with spark. Passion and positivity are contagious and you can’t stop them from improving your results.
Culture is a funny thing though. The results aren’t always obvious and instant, like flipping a light switch. It takes commitment and consistency. Gradually, like a slow dawn, things get brighter until light starts to permeate even the darkest shadows.
The list of the initiatives, ideas and people that turned our culture around is extensive. Here are four critical pieces of the pie that shaped our transformation.
Communication
First, we received communication. As the CEO, I invested time to meet one on one with every employee and board member. I asked questions about what could make this their dream job, and who they identified as the top performers. I took notes on what they’d tackle first if they woke up to find they were the CEO tomorrow. It takes extraordinary effort to put aside all defenses and simply listen to authentic ideas and input. Any form of blaming, retaliating, or making excuses renders this step ineffective. Without question it helped that I was new to the organization, these weren't my plans and processes so thoughtfully created and executed. I sat on the edge of my seat, intently listening, pen on paper and said, "you're not calling my baby ugly here, let's hear it" and began writing. Our people had many of the answers, we simply needed to give them a voice.
We also gave communication, authentic communication. It was a gift we had been withholding, creating distrust and disengagement. We became transparent with staff. When we made hard decisions, we gave the sometimes painful background. We gave organizational updates when things were great, and also when times were lean. We brought the entire team into the fold, for both the joys and the sorrows.
With genuine listening and open sharing, we utilized the skills and passions of the entire team and invited them to be part of organizational solutions. Even when solutions were stubborn, the team remained engaged in their work, trusting the process.
At every turn we invited every team member to help us build our future. We not only invited them, we incentivized them. We created "Game-Changing Grants," funds for proof-of-concept scalable ideas. We rewarded those who diligently pursued a better path and had faith the outcomes would eventually follow.
Caring For People
Step two was acting on what we had learned, and it took a leap of faith. We overhauled the entire organizational chart, aligning positions with skills, goals, and a structure of servant leadership. It literally represented a bottom up approach, with CEO as the “bottom rung” in the organization, lifting and elevating the next team, and so on.
A critical part of caring for our people was updating our benefits and policies to reflect what was best for the people, not the organization. Let me position this by saying, this was not easy. But I echo what I often ask my children as they face difficult decisions, "is it the easy thing to do or the right thing to do?" We have limited space, limited resources and everything we did was on a shoestring budget (often, no budget).
We added 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave (for all mothers, fathers and guardians), we implemented Infants at Work, we added 5 days of paid bereavement leave for miscarriage, and created 4 weeks of Paid Caregiver Leave allowing employees to provide the acute physical or mental care of a loved one in need (without burning through their PTO). We wanted our benefits to say, "life can be complicated and sad and hard, but we see you, and we have your back." We added paid time off to volunteer in the community, transitioned some employees to remote/home-based workers, and created a casual dress code. Trust and autonomy became our love language. A group of team-leads came in after hours with bright paint and vinyl letters, working late into the night so that when Monday morning came, the staff on that floor was greeted with “Awesomeness Happens Here.” And by that point, they were all starting to believe it.
Connecting With Purpose
As an organization with struggling performance metrics, the work had become rigid. Performance pressure had led to more meetings and more data: report, review, require. Wash, rinse, repeat. It was easy to forget that real people were involved. So, we began our weekly executive meetings with “Brag and Tag,” an opportunity for each team member to celebrate a personal accomplishment and share one that they’d witnessed from another staff member. The 10 minute investment we made each week helped us connect on a level beyond spreadsheets.
We carved out time to hand write notes to staff and began thinking outside the box on celebrations: office chair relays, a chopped challenge, decorating Valentine boxes and Take your Parent to Work Day, just to name a few memorable activities from the past year.
Most importantly, we flattened our attitudes alongside our org chart and made leading by example priority number one. No team member was asked to do something an executive member wasn’t willing to do- myself included.
With team members across six physical locations over portions of three states, it became a priority to bring the entire team together three times per year with a focus on growth, passion and connecting. We’ve played games, zip-lined and completed service projects. From silly-stringing the CEO for hitting a staff-wide goal, to kicking off the gathering with a parody R&B song utilizing lyrics representing our organization, we embraced things that make people smile and showed that we’re in this together…not just work, but life.
I was born with just one hand. Usually it has no effect on my physical capabilities, occasionally it does. As the CEO, I climbed into a harness and made my way to the top of a 40 foot pole, where 14 dangling, extreme obstacles hung between me and the finish line, a zip-line to the ground. I was shaking, near tears, saying "I can't do this." I was showing my team my vulnerability- not just the things I'm great at, but the things I'm really afraid of, cracking the veneer. (FYI, they cheered me on and I made it to the end)
Let me be clear, zip-lining with employees isn't the magic answer- but when connection and authenticity are at the heart of the activity, it transforms relationships.
Credibility
We made learning about leadership and acting like leaders a priority. We read several books as an executive team and implemented key strategies. We increased our professional development budget dramatically. We developed ways to measure performance so we could provide clarity and resources for staff. Personnel and policy changes were made to align with our goals and culture. We made some tough financial decisions that were emotional but needed. We transitioned some responsibilities into a Talent Development role to raise the bar for our whole staff and recognize the skills they had to offer. As the CEO, I took on portions of front line work to better understand the challenges. When executive positions opened, we promoted internal candidates who had showcased their talent and commitment to our positive culture.