Why You Need a Culture Plan

What do you do when your employees act like children? In other words:

• When competition overshadows teamwork
• When comparison creates jealousy
• When bickering undermines collaboration

A frustrated senior leader recently raised this question when her employees were more concerned about recognition and status than working together. “Our meetings are like a family meal with children arguing about which kid is the favorite. I wish they would act like adults instead of children!” she said.

In my last blog, I compared leadership to parenting and I set guidelines to help leaders determine who owns a problem – your employee or you. Today’s blog builds upon the parenting analogy and addresses the importance of clearly defined employee behavior expectations that define your corporate culture.

Many organizations today have a work culture focused on bottom line results rather than serving customers. Wells Fargo is a recent example. Other organizations focus on policy rather than critical thinking when faced with challenges. United Airlines has recent experience with this.

Just like parents need to provide boundaries and direction for acceptable behavior with their children, leaders need to provide boundaries and direction for acceptable behavior with employees. This is especially important when employees with strong personalities exhibit behaviors such as over the top competition and jealousy. Without clear expectations and your intervention as a leader to monitor and manage these behaviors, your employees will be the ones in charge. You may have a leadership title, but employees with strong personalities and negative behaviors may be the ones actually defining your work culture.

How to stay out of courtrooms and media madness

Before you have to go into clean-up mode like Wells Fargo and United Airlines have done, develop a culture plan that outlines how you want your employees to behave. Here are three behaviors to get started that are antidotes to competition, comparison, and bickering.

1. Check Your Ego at the Door – Personal ego and agendas should never get in the way of doing what is best for the team. Don’t be concerned with who gets the credit, who looks good, or who looks bad. Be open to others’ ideas to advance our collective success.
2. Have Each Other’s Backs – Nothing is done in isolation. Work from the point of view that we’re all in this together. None of us can win at the expense of someone else or the team.
3. Work Together – Innovative problem solving happens when people collaborate. Ask for help and share information. Be open to different perspectives that may challenge your way of thinking.

To define your corporate culture, you need to make a conscious choice and draw a firm line of expected behaviors that uphold your company values, integrity, and brand reputation. If you’d like to learn how to build a culture plan and stay out of courtrooms and media madness, send us an email or give us a call, we’d love to help.

Bonnie Artman Fox is a Work Culture Speaker, Consultant, and Coach. She works with senior leaders to strengthen organizational health through work cultures that optimize performance, productivity, and results. She brings over 25 years of expertise as a psychiatric nurse and marriage & family therapist to help leaders build work cultures where people function at their best. To learn more or bring Bonnie to your company, let’s talk.