I recently presented a project update to a group of 20 people and a funny thing happened during the process of prepping for the presentation: it grew into something that was about more than the update, and it demonstrated something important about the factors that drive us to build better businesses.
Think of the exercise by envisioning PowerPoint slides: first I created two slides that contained the update … fact based statements, data, and dates. As I thought about the audience, I realized that I had to create context … so I wrapped slides around the core content that gave some history, explained what concurrent activities we being managed, and explained next steps and goals.
In the process, I found myself adding information about the culture we were trying to create because in the process of creating the slides, I saw very clearly that our cultural goals dwarfed everything else in terms of their long-term impact on success … and on my goal of getting the group excited about the work that needed to be done.
This isolated example made me think about wrapping cultural goals around our work in general and how important that is. Developing and vocalizing cultural goals (open exchange of ideas, value of creative expression, freedom to be wrong) sends a strong and motivating message to your coworkers and collaborators:
I value these goals because I value people.
And if you think any of this is fluff, just remember the times where you worked in a toxic culture (we’ve all been there) … remember what it means to your revenue and margins to have employees bullied, ignored, demeaned, and made to feel cautious. Nobody should have to think twice about sharing an idea …. This state needs 100 ideas an hour from motivated people in order to find our way!
What is your culture like? Do you participate in and encourage the kind of work that drives breakthrough innovation?
Or do you play silly games or work for someone who makes you shy away from fully engaging? Michigan does not have time for that kind of B.S.
What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment