Culture = Cash
I tell my audiences every day that the key to success is taking action. Take a minute to look over this weeks featured articles and videos that highlight the different ways you might take action and have it positively benefit your bottom line.
Culture = Cash
Use This eBook To Turn Productivity into Profit
The culture of your company is one of your greatest opportunities to gain revenue and increase profitability. The competition can copy your products, underbid your pricing, and imitate your marketing, but they will have a very hard time recreating your culture. Therefore, in order to help your company define and develop a winning culture, I have combined thorough research and years of business experience to produce this eBook full of solid tools and tips that you can use today.
In this free eBook, you will receive the best information for creating a strong, positive and engaging organizational culture, such as:
- The nine elements of engaging your employees
- The seven keys to trust
- The five fundamentals of accountability
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This Super Successful Manager’s Favorite Leadership Trick: Sunday Letters
by Jessica Stillman
A veteran leader shares a simple but powerful trick for greater accountability and accessibility. When it comes to management successes Sam Schillace has a few under his belt. Often referred to as ‘the father Google Docs,’ Schillace led the team that created Writely, which would be acquired by Google and become Docs. At Google he continued to lead the team that developed the product. Now he’s an SVP at Box.
Assumedly he’s learned a couple of things from his years as a leader at these tremendously successful startups. In a recent interview with VC Hunter Walk he shared a few. In between talking about his past experiences, hiring philosophy, and advice for new managers, he shares a simple idea that other business leaders might want to try – Sunday letters.
What’s in a ‘Sunday letter’?
Just like the name suggests, at the end of every week, Schillace writes a letter to his team. “It actually started out as a personal accountability exercise–I think it’s very easy to fool yourself as a senior leader about your effectiveness, so I was trying (in Google snippet style) to just document my goals and accomplishments each week,” he tells Walk. But because of confidentiality concerns around hiring, M&A, and new products, he found it impossible to get into the nitty gritty of what he worked on each week. So he changed gears.
“I shifted over into some more personal and cultural thoughts, and it just sort of took off from there. I’ve been doing it since the very first week I joined, and I’ve only missed a few–and even then I always have one of my folks write it instead,” he says.
What specifically do these letters contain? “I’ll typically talk about something I’ve noticed during the week that I can apply generally. Lots of them are about growth–I explained some things like Dunning-Kruger and how it relates to impostor syndrome, sometimes I’ll talk about design philosophy and how to think about what needs to be done first… I’ve written a lot about the value of humility in leadership and how that manifests, and sometimes I’ve used them to take ownership of mistakes I’ve made or challenges I see in the organization,” he explains.
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4 Simple Ways to Make a New Hire Feel Welcome
by Mark Straz
Picture a new hire walking into an unfamiliar place full of people they don’t know with only an office map and a heavy handbook for guidance. They feel nervous, isolated and lost. They’re not sure how to act or who to turn to for help.
Onboarding can be a lonely but it doesn’t have to be a solo venture, and HR professionals aren’t the only ones with the power to make the new kid on the block feel comfortable. Existing employees can do their part to help new hires feel welcome in their new work environment.
Getting the team involved in the onboarding process is critical because it brings employees — new and old — closer together, and office friendships breed better work and happier employees. According to Globoforce’s Fall 2014 Mood Tracker Report, employees with friends at work are 47 percent more likely to love their companies.
Here are a few creative ways to get the team more involved in the onboarding process:
1. Introduce new hires to the company on a Friday.
The team is busy. Breaking up their day with new hire activities and events may seem like a welcome change of pace, but it could be viewed as an annoying interruption. A busy Monday morning is not be the best time to take current employees away from their desks to bond with a new hire. Instead, introduce new hires to the team on a Friday when everyone is more relaxed and may have some downtime.
Better yet, think of other opportunities for making great first impressions — an all-company meeting before the new hire starts, a company party or a departmental outings. See if there’s a fun alignment on office calendars before a new hire begins. When employees have greater freedom to talk and get to know their new co-worker without sacrificing their work, everyone can make a new employee’s first day a good start.
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