Don’t Let Employee Culture Drift
Last week, I wrote about the danger a leader faces when they get pulled into the day-to-day details and lose sight of the big picture.
There is another storm that can develop as an organization grows, and it can be just as damaging.
I call it the cultural chaos crosswinds.
Someone said, “Culture is king; that culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
The culture of an organization is the shared beliefs, practices, and habits that shape its atmosphere. When things are going well, the overall feel of the organization is positive. Employees are happy, enjoy working together, and sense that they are making a meaningful contribution to the mission.
A healthy, positive, energetic, and joyful culture is crucial. Who wants to spend a significant chunk of their life working in a place that drains their soul?
One significant advantage of working in the nonprofit sector on a meaningful cause is the sense of purpose it provides to employees. People feel like they are doing something valiant and useful with their lives.
When you give people purpose, you provide them with something humans deeply desire.
When the Crosswinds Begin to Blow
Culture can easily go sideways as the crosswinds begin to blow. That is because the humans in the organization all contribute to the culture.
Not everyone contributes equally to it. Certain employees will be a force, while others will be a whimper. Some will be loud and noisy, cheering people on and lifting spirits.
These same people can become disillusioned and begin to voice every complaint, stirring up discontent.
Negativity and grumbling can quickly become the dominant culture of the organization. Even healthy employees can get drawn into the whispers and soon become disaffected. The once-vibrant, healthy, and energetic culture can become a cesspool that drains people and poisons everyone.
If left unchecked, bad culture will start to seep out of your team. Students will sense the negativity coming from teachers. Members of the congregation will hear church employees share gossip and spread it.
Before long, the captain of the ship will realize that people are not rowing in the same direction and the crosswinds are diverting the boat from its destination.
People begin jumping overboard, leaving for healthier places.
Building and Maintaining a Healthy Culture
Culture is not something a leader can single-handedly control, but the leader does exert significant influence over it.
There are several actions a leader can take to help build and maintain a healthy culture.
Lead with joy. Don't be fake, but be genuinely enthusiastic and cheer people on.
Check in on people. Ask how they are doing, what is working, and what is frustrating them. Do what you can to address those issues.
Celebrate wins and praise the people responsible for them. Say thank you often and do it publicly.
Watch out for bureaucracy. Nothing stifles culture like top-down, slow-moving, controlling bureaucracy. Empower employees and trust them to do their work.
Communicate often with your people. Don't sugarcoat everything. Tell them the good and the bad in appropriate levels of detail.
Respond to employee feedback. Fix things that are broken, especially those things employees highlight. This will build goodwill as people see that their voice is heard.
The drift of employee culture can be very subtle. While leaders should not get sucked into operational details that might drown them, they need to pay attention to the subtle signals of employee culture. My preferred method of assessing culture is to walk around and talk face-to-face with a range of employees. In addition, I want to know that the managers and team leaders in the organization are doing the same thing.
Compare notes. What trends are you seeing? What departments are making noise, good and bad? These can be those subtle signs of cultural health.
These aren't complicated ideas, but they require intentional leadership. A healthy culture needs to be nurtured, protected, and modeled by the people leading the organization.
Don't Let the Crosswinds Take You Off Course
A toxic culture will create crosswinds that divert you from your destination. Invest in a healthy culture, and employees will stick with you, recruiting others who want to be part of a life-giving team.
As a leader, it's worth asking yourself: What kind of culture are we creating? Are our people energized by the mission, or are they simply trying to get through another day?
And are we paying attention to the warning signs before the crosswinds become a storm?
Sometimes protecting a healthy culture requires more than encouragement and communication. Sometimes it requires making decisions that no leader enjoys making.
That's another storm we'll explore next week.
