Leadership Coaches - The Value of a “Nice Culture”
Business Management, Leadership January 2nd. 2010, 7:08amEstablish a culture of innovation and prosperity by being “nice.” At the end of the day, successful organizations are fun places to work. Employees should feel like its fun to come to work. If Sunday night feels like dread and stress…your culture is wrongheaded.
Upscale clothier, Jack Mitchell, author of Hug your people shares why positivity is good for productivity and profits. His opinions were outlined in a recent Gallup management journal where he identifies four criteria for hiring “nice” people.
First-they have to be open, honest and have integrity.
Second-they have to be positive.
Third-they need to be competent.
Fourth-they need to have passion to listen, grow, and learn.
Being nice creates a culture where people have fun and look forward coming to work. The culture becomes one which enables employees to learn and grow…the critical energy and essence of innovation and creativity for an organization.
Engagement and getting employee input is a choice ownership and management must commit to. Intentions must be sincere and genuine. Inviting the opinions of a new hire are as liberating and encouraging as inviting opinions from tenured employees.
How can organizations and leaders be surrounded by great people if they don’t ask their input to discover greatness?
Mitchell further describes how to create a “nice” culture.
Pleaser mentality-relationships are positive and grounded in humility.
Expectations and standards, not rules-rules are cold and unbending and often destroy trust. Develop a list of outcomes you want fulfilled.
Make people feel a part of the business-have a solid inspiring vision and mission statement that celebrates the value of people
Engage people-and be clear of your intentions to sort and use their input
Be fair-fairness doesn’t mean equal. People don’t genuinely contribute equally, so their rewards may not be equal.
Jodi Wiff and Mike Krutza have tackled big issues and big challenges. Over the years, they have been involved in just about every important phase of business. They created a culture described by employees as the best place to work. http://lighthouse-leadership.com
Jodi Wiff developed the mantra Elegant Courage Jodi lead the cultural turnaround which was core to financial recovery. Mike is innovative and persistently explores new ideas. Together as leadership coaches they make a powerful one two punch.
