*
Some
of the examples of processes I mentioned last week are what can be called external energy. They are great as reminders for how you want your business to run and
I know they will help your staff understand the direction you want your
business or team to head in.
For the
long run, be aware that consistency is the tough part. The trick is to use both internal and external energy to keep moving in the right direction. This is why the
questions at the start of this mini-series were so key: knowing who you are and
what makes you tick, the internal energy, is so much more driving over
time. Motivation can’t be relied upon forever, but owning something as part of
your identity will stay with you.
So for the internal energy, after
the first few months of moving towards your new culture, you need to revisit
some of the sort of questions you and your team asked at the start:
- What makes us stand out?
- What environment are we trying to create?
- How do we want your customers to feel when they leave?
- What are you committed to? What would you defend?
- How does your personal role at
work relate to all that?
I'm not saying you jump your staff with revisiting these all at once but getting
round to one of these questions in a casual way at the tea station or in one-to-ones
gives your staff the opportunity to own the culture and add to it. If the idea is making you uncomfortable, just think of it like this: they want to be
happy at work and be a part of something, so by asking a sincere question and
genuinely listening to them, you are helping both the culture and your employee
grow. If you go in with the right attitude of really wanting to hear what they have to
say, it’ll come across and not set any BS detectors off. Plus, going in with the intention of being helpful will most likely also create some new ideas for processes to help the team continue the cycle.
You’ll
obviously also need to have conversations like this with yourself too. Mentors
are fantastic, as are journals. External prompts can be of use here - remember the trick is to use both in tandem. So think post-its on your mirror, pod-casts, TED talks, diary reminders, new workplace processes, a creative brainstorming session with your team. Whatever works for
you. If you can set up external processes to prompt you into being grateful for what you
have and proud of where you are going then you’ll maintain your internal energy.
One
of the best processes I’ve heard a business owner put in place was this: every
day before he got out of his car and entered his business, he turned off the
engine, closed his eyes, and envisioned how he wanted that business to feel.
His opinion was that even if he was running late, if he walked in with the
exact attitude and presence that he wanted his employees to emulate then that
was far more valuable than saving two minutes. It really struck me with its
simplicity because who we are when we get out of the car is so rarely who we
want to be when we walk in to work. And yet it’s such a perfect, private space
to switch off for a minute and visualize how we want our day to go.
Try
it next time you turn the car off.
Who are
you? Where are you going?
*Available to buy here.
No comments:
Post a Comment