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10 embarrassing mistakes about office culture that companies are still making
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As crucial as workplace culture is, it remains a
misunderstood topic.
To guarantee that you build and maintain a healthy and
prosperous organization, it's crucial to understand these popular
myths about culture so you can learn how to overcome them.
Parties don't make a culture positive. The culture of your
business needs to be aligned with your core beliefs and purpose -
and the fun stuff is just the cherry on top.
If you haven't already read "Bad Blood" by John
Carreyrou, I highly recommend that you do. There's a lot of
lessons that entrepreneurs can learn from the rise and fall of
Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. What stuck with me was the
dysfunctional culture inside the company - full of fear and
intimidation.
As a founder myself, I can't imagine creating such a toxic
workplace environment. As Kip Tindell perfectly explains in a
previous article for Entrepreneur, "Culture actually drives the
value of the business."
This fact will always remain -
culture is vital to the success of any startup because it sets
the tone for the company's future by boosting its profile. In
return, your company culture attracts top talent, investors and
customers. Additionally,
employee morale and productivity get a
lift, and it distinguishes you
from your competitors.
As crucial as workplace culture is, it remains a misunderstood
topic. To guarantee that you build and maintain a healthy and
prosperous organization, here are 10 myths about culture and
how you can overcome them.
Obviously, you want to surround yourself with people who are
skilled and competent. At the same, you also need to find people
who fit you company culture and are enthusiastic about your
business. Before you do that, it's up to you to define your
organization's culture.
Let's say that you have a short fuss. Because of your little
temper tantrums, you're known to snap at people in a blink of an
eye. How do you think the environment will be at your startup?
Probably tense and stressful because you've built a culture of
anger, or fear - probably both.
Your team can become ambassadors for your brand and help shape
its culture, but their perception and the way they experience
work at your company will ultimately start with you. Create a
purpose, define your values, and lead by example when building
your culture. Most importantly, keep investing in yourself to
become the leader that people will rally behind.
Myth 2: There is a 'right' and 'wrong' type of culture
Every startup is different, and there are different types of
culture. Zappos is known for its fun and nurturing culture but
fun, gentle and supportive may not work in a power-driven and
competitive business, such as those involved in sales or
consultancy firms.
There is no such thing as a good" or "bad" culture. It's all
about what works best for your business, team and industry - but
suspicion and despair aren't a good cultural mix no matter how
intense your business agenda and strategy is.
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Myth 3: Culture is only about pay and perks
In my opinion, this is perhaps the biggest misconception
regarding culture. Many people believe that culture is all about
pizza parties, Ping-Pong tables, happy hour, and open-door
policies. On top of these perks, employees have amazing salaries
and benefits.
While a decent paycheck and unique benefits and perks are
substantial, they don't equal culture. The
culture of your business needs to be aligned with your core
beliefs and purpose. Your convictions should also be appropriate
for your team with all the fun stuff as the cherry on top.
Myth 4: Open offices encourage collaboration
Over the last several years the open office has been all the
rage. The idea was that without any barriers, like separate
office walls and cubicles - collaboration would improve since
everyone could more easily interact with each other.
Researchers have found that open offices actually accomplish the
opposite. Participants spent 72% less
time interacting and spend more time
emailing each other. Additionally, an open office hinders
productivity. It also creates stress and causes a higher rate of
absenteeism. Instead of riding every wind of change for office
design helps, "offer "variety" where
there are workspaces designed for specific activities.
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Myth 5: Efficiency drains morale
How would you feel if you arrived to work one morning only to
find out that several of your colleagues have been let go? This
action is one of the fastest ways to put you and your coworkers
on edge. Even more, it has been shown this action is a definite
slap in the face and decreases morale.
Indeed, there will be times you need to decrease the size of your
team if you want your business to scale. Case in point was the
company, Grasshopper. "At one point we had 65 employees and a
huge payroll," said co-founder Siamak Taghaddos. "It
was hurting our ability to grow our business and focus on
marketing. We learned it was easy to go from $5 million in
revenue to $10 million, but hard to go from $50 million to $100
million.
By standardizing its culture and streamlining its hiring
processes, which was built around a set of values and team
building, the company reduced costs and became more efficient.
"We could see who on our team wasn't radically passionate, and
who wasn't necessarily entrepreneurial," said Taghaddos. "It
helped us in doing employee reviews and shaped our hiring."
What's even more fascinating is that Grasshopper achieved this by
decreasing its workforce to 40 people.
Myth 6: Employee feedback can solve all of your problems
Do you feel that your company's culture is underdeveloped or
uninspired? A way to resolve this is by gathering feedback from
your employees. After all, it seems like a simple and
straightforward way to find out what they want and how you can
improve your startup's culture.
The problem with this approach is that you may not always receive
honest feedback from your team. Would you be comfortable telling
your superior what's wrong with their management style or
business? It is a rare individual who is capable of hearing
negative feedback about the company they founded.
If you want real feedback from your team, you first need to build
trust with them. Furthermore, you need to understand that
employees recommendations aren't personal. Instead, these are
suggestions that will improve every facet of your business.
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Myth 7: There’s no connection between a culture with business objectives and strategies
You can develop the most exceptional product in the world. But
what's going to make it stand out and turn a profit is people.
Zappos, again, is an excellent example of this. They aren't
selling anything that you couldn't purchase anywhere else. You
probably could find a better deal. However, it's their customer
service that made them a success. That's because they built a
culture that put people first.
There is a strong bond between culture and your business objects
and strategies. To achieve your purposes, you need to align your
culture with the goals of your business.
Myth 8: A great workplace = happy employees, no conflicts, and few mistakes
While researching his book "The Best Place to Work," Ron
Friedman, a Ph.D., and founder of ignite80, writes in
HBR that he
discovered the following workplace myths:
Everyone is happy. It's been studied that "when
people are in a good mood, they become more sociable, more
altruistic, and even more creative." On the flipside, when "we're
euphoric, we tend to be less careful, more gullible, and more
tolerant of risks." To counter this, there needs to be a balance
between positive and negative emotions.
Conflict is rare. Relationship
conflicts like personality clashes are harmful at work. However,
task conflicts can be beneficial since they can "produce better
decisions and stronger financial outcomes."
Mistakes are few. Research shows
that if you want to "achieve top performance," you and your team
must be comfortable with failure. Acknowledging failure is one of
the most effective ways to learn and grow.
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Myth 9: Culture costs more than it pays
When you're on a tight budget, it may not seem like investing in
culture is worth it. There are affordable ways to improve your
company's culture like developing your emotional intelligence or
providing your team with training opportunities. However, there
is indeed a correlation between culture and your finances.
Studies have found that 40 percent of employees report that they
"benefit when their own goals are in step with their company's
goals."
Myth 10: Culture is just a state of mind
Finally, culture isn't the vibe you get whenever you walk into
a startup. It's not the
mission statement found on your website and it's not all the
clever productivity sayings plastered on the wall of your office.
Culture is the behaviors and rituals that assist you and your
team in getting work done.
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