Do you have legacy staff in your organization? The ones who were there probably even before you were a part of it. They are the ones who have grown up the ladder and there’s not much left in the organization for them to learn. Today they have reached a stage where they are comfortable with the situation they are in. They feel satisfied with their job roles because they are seniors. They are well settled in their business roles and have no drive to move forward.
How do you extract performance from such people?
Performance happens with 2 factors- Competence and Commitment.
For senior team members, the issue is with their attitude and commitment since their competence level is high due to the experience they already have. They do not have the inspiration or the drive to perform better! They are content with their performance, which is ongoing, just about meeting all necessary deadlines and needs but not fulfilling the agenda of growth.
The focus area to increase commitment should be through creating a Culture! You need to do this for your entire organization where people know the culture of their workplace, what is their purpose, what’s in it for them, and how’s it aligned to the goals you set as a leader?
Sit with the concerned team members, understand their ‘why’s’, set goals, provide feedback, and incorporate them into a win-win culture where they find the motivation to work productively for themselves and the team as a whole. When people know their purpose, it gives them the drive to perform.
Culture is the context of any organization. Culture is the background that creates the background for people to behave in a certain manner. It has an impact on people’s behaviors, the way they relate to each other, the motivation and emotions that people have. Thus, Culture is the foundation for any performance in an organization.
Why is setting a culture in your workplace important? Because culture can have both positive and negative effects on your team members. Culture has a direct impact on how people are aligned. If the culture of your organization is disruptive or unorganized then it will have negative effects and if it is organized or disciplined, then it will obviously show positive results.
Some entrepreneurs complain that the culture setting ‘doesn’t work’ in their organization. To them I say, that’s because the right culture has not been explored and implemented for it to work in your favor. Investing in a Culture Setting as a process is very important.
An analogy that might help in understanding this would be to think of Culture as Religion. We all are brought up in a way where we follow the rituals and protocols that religion brings with itself. Similarly, culture in an organization must work like religion which tells people how to work, how not to work, what to follow, and what to expect so that people behave in a certain manner. That becomes the baseline for people to perform.
What happens when you don’t CREATE culture? You have a default culture which is also a kind of culture, but which only creates misalignment.
Some entrepreneurs might think that in spite of giving their team members substantial pay packages and responsibilities, they still leave! Why does this happen?
This happens because monetary or professional profitability is not the only aspiration that team members have. They also need a thriving, rewarding culture to fall back upon and stay on. Your people are not aligned with the culture of the workplace. They feel like misfits which is why they don’t feel belonging.
2 kinds of cultural work in an organization: Default culture and Designed culture. You need to design a culture that works for you, the team, and your business and help each other achieve goals.
- Discuss with your team and come up with the Core Principles that you need to put into place to demarcate the culture of your organization. No matter what, ensure that the principles act like a value system that each member of your team upholds!
- Break down the principles into clear behaviors that people can do in multiple situations. That’s how culture becomes tangible from an abstract form.
- Educate your team about the importance of these behaviors so that they know exactly what is expected of them and they behave accordingly. They need to be able to agree with and follow these guiding principles that they themselves helped set.
Now, what happens when an organization has a fruitful culture in place, but the new members joining are unable to adjust?
Firstly, it is a very common problem that occurs in businesses when they are in their business expansion stage. Different kinds of people join teams and the cultures that were set with a specific set of people might not work for them.
It is also natural for a business to undergo a change in values according to the situation they are in. It is a natural progression to happen, which comes with a good, growth challenge!
This is the time for a change in your organization. With time, you have to redesign your culture to be more inclusive of the new batch of people coming in. So, sit with this new team and your old team and devise a WIN-WIN-WIN culture that works for everyone. In this setting, your customer needs to win, you as a business owner need to win and your team needs to win as well.
Once you get ownership of your entire team, they will follow through with following this culture themselves. Implementation is key.
Even after all these steps if some people still leave, then accept the fact that they are not well-suited to your organization. There are people out there who are meant to be in a culture like yours and there are people who aren’t. Learn to let go of people who are not aligned with your culture. It saves everyone a lot of time, money, and effort.
As they say, if it is meant to be, they’ll stay.
Karan Hasija is one of Asia’s leading business coaches. His insightful and intensive business coaching programs equip business owners with the knowledge they need to expand their business and make it successful. Explore more of his strategies on team building, culture setting, and much more by signing up for his training and coaching programs.
