While skill and talent are important parts of any business, the culture in the workplace influences performance more than any other factor. Building a business and culture that promotes goal-setting and growth is going to have more success than one that focuses on hiring a lot of people who have the technical skills to do the job. In a 2003 study by the Harvard Business School, it was reported that over a 10-year span, business that cultivated a culture that encourages flexibility and risk-taking were more profitable than those who did not spend time working towards that goal.
The start of a new year is a natural time to introduce your teams to a new set of expectations and evaluative processes. While the goal here shouldn’t be to bog down your co-workers with more paperwork and red tape, fostering a reflective, collaborative work environment will take your company to the next level. Spend these days right after your holiday breaks to refresh your company on the pre-existing expectations and to share that you’re now working towards an environment that allows them to set attainable goals and celebrate their acquisition.
If possible, you should also make culture building as interactive as possible. Ask people from every level of the company to sit down for a voluntary meeting, where you discuss the latent skills that are necessary to thrive in your field. Once you’ve nailed down the cultural components, it’s time to create an action plan. This can look like sitting a supervisor down with every individual and crafting custom goals that function within the culture, or it can look like a generalized list of goals that allows your business to track its own progress. Whichever route you choose, stressing to your co-workers that the end game looks like a more collaborative, more successful work place should be your main point.
Keye Strategies can help you create an action plan for your business and culture plan for 2018. Contact us today to speak with our dedicated leadership coach and get started!
