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Transcript:

[00:00:00] In continuing the theme that I have been talking about over the last few months, this week I want to talk about why culture matters. We've explored quiet quitting, quiet firing, employee monitoring. And these are all very negative terms because of what is happening within organizations. But let's look at some statistics to back up my point, that culture matters.

[00:00:36] The statistics today come from Team Stage 2022 if you would like to look up the rest of the statistics because I'm not going to cover all of them in one talk. But here are some key ones.

[00:00:53] Company culture is an important factor for 46% of job seekers. That's about half of job seekers. I suspect if we dig a bit more into what company culture actually means to people that that statistic would be higher.

[00:01:12] 86% of job seekers, avoid companies with a bad reputation. Now, I don't know what criteria were used to determine what a bad reputation is. But we all can do the research.

[00:01:29] Today's media, especially social media is unforgiving. If a company gets a bad reputation, it is a really difficult thing to overcome.

[00:01:40] So let's talk about that. Because what that is then leading to is another statistic where U.S. companies are saying that it's harder to retain than to hire workers. So if half of workers are looking at cult culture and company fit when they apply for the jobs, but then 63% of companies are saying it's harder to retain workers than to hire them, what is happening inside the organization?

[00:02:19] Are we putting on a shiny, sparkly face to get people in the door and then we're not living up to the hype? Do people have unrealistic expectations? When things get difficult does culture go out the door first in the name of, we must meet deadlines and make profits? I don't have the answers to that. But I suspect that the problem is "the grass isn't always greener" and maintaining a culture takes work. As leaders, it is not something we can abdicate to other people. It is not something that we can say, "well, we've put the culture in place. We've said what we want. Now it's up to the rest of you to live up to that." Culture is something that we live and we breathe every day.

[00:03:21] If you think about it, the culture that we grew up in as children has very much defined who we are as adults. So the culture that you find in your workplace influences your entire adult work-life. If you have a bad experience, and unfortunately many of us have examples and stories, myself included, that follows you. It impacts how you behave in the next job. It impacts what you look for in the next job. So it only takes one bad experience and your entire professional life can be colored by that.

[00:04:03] . Another statistic, 69% of employees say they would work harder if they received more recognition. I'm not sure about the wording on this one. What does work harder mean? I think this is how we got wrapped up in the whole quiet quitting. People just doing the bare minimum. But are they really just doing the bare minimum?

[00:04:24] And what do we mean when we say work harder? What are we expecting? If we say to people, good job, or atta boy, they're going to work harder? No. That is not going to be enough. The recognition has to be genuine. It has to be transparent. It has to be in the moment. It cannot be an email that nobody else sees or hears "saying you're doing a great job. Thanks." It has to be open.

[00:04:58] Attracting high caliber employees leads to a 33% revenue increase. Now that one we might say is a no brainer. If you attract high caliber employees, they're going to create better products. But what's behind that? What does high caliber employee mean? Does that mean the person with the best education or that went to the best schools? No. Personally, what I think that means is when you have people that come into a culture that fosters innovation and growth, and they are able to bring their best and create value in the work that they're doing, then you see the revenue increase. I don't think it has anything to do with how smart or how skilled or how much experience these employees have when they arrive at your front door.

[00:05:56] It's what happens when they get through the front door; that we have the right culture for them to be able to thrive. And when we see that - when people can focus on the value that they are delivering, that's when we see the revenue increase.

[00:06:12] Another statistic - and this one's a pretty impressive number -highly engaged employees can lead to a 202% increase in performance, 202.

[00:06:24] That means that engaged employees are actually doubling their performance. Now again, we need to be careful with this statistic. Because it doesn't mean if we keep engaging them that they are going to do more and more and more work because we're pushing them more.

[00:06:48] What it means is that if employees feel like they are part of the overall mission, and that they share responsibility for delivering value, we see an increase in performance.

[00:07:03] And this last statistic that I want to share with you is a big one. And this is why at Agility for All, we focus so much on teamwork, collaboration, and leadership as part of making a company agile.

[00:07:18] 100% of people surveyed said that team leaders have the highest impact on company culture.

[00:07:30] Leaders have the highest impact on company culture.

[00:07:35] So, if you have engaged, transparent leaders who are willing to admit, they don't know everything, that they need everyone to come together to create the whole and create the value that absolutely has an impact on the culture of the company.

[00:07:56] I would hope that these statistics and trends are not surprising to anyone reading or listening to our blog.

[00:08:06] What I do hope is that we see more and more companies realizing that acting out of fear, controlling out of fear, monitoring employees and going back decades in how we work is not a model for success. I also hope that we see more positive news about organizations and companies. And that future blogs that I do can focus on some of those trends that we are seeing and focus on some companies that are really getting it right. I hope that quiet quitting becomes a phrase of the past very quickly and not a constant buzz word. And that we can get to the job of transforming organizations one at a time so that everyone can go into an organization that treats them with respect and values what they bring to the table.

[00:09:12] Until next time. I hope you have a great day.

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INDRA A. BOOKS

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