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As technology leaders, it is easy to focus on, well… the technology. Cyber Security, Disaster Recover, and Network infrastructure vie for attention with Budget numbers and KPIs from the service desk; It is easy to lose sight of our most important asset: the people. Defining and creating a culture can take a back seat to the crisis du jour. This happens even when of you recognize the importance of a great culture and how it can make everything else easier. It’s hard to spend valuable strategic planning time on soft, difficult to measure culture objectives. But I would like to emphasize how important an excellent culture is, and ‘the great resignation’ that we are hearing about is proof that our office cultures may not be as great as we think.
How do you define a ‘great’ culture and what benefits does it bring? This question is different for every organization and is partially defined by internal and external needs. The customer view of a bank is significantly different than it’s view of the company that makes technology; the same can be true internally as your ITS team may be required to drive innovation while the finance team should bring more stability.Other factors that may shape your view of the necessary culture may be more general like a need for engagement, inclusion, creativity, collaboration, or simply to boost morale. Whatever the drivers are, you must define what the ideal culture will look like in the end. But isn’t my ‘culture’ driven by the people on the team? Somewhat, but it is mostly driven by you the leader.You read that correctly, the culture is driven by your actions, words, toneandtenor of your communications, body language and processes. It is not just modeling either; your words and actions send cues to the team on how they behave, work, and interact with others. Think about it: If you have a leader that is constantly looking for what folks are doing wrong, then the instinct of the employee is to hide or blame others for mistakes andkeep their head down, do what they are told to do the way they are told to do it. Now imagine a leader that focuses on what people are doing right and treats mistakes as part of the learning process; you see employees that are willing to try new ideas and go the extra mile more frequently. Because people bring a different version of themselves based on the culture, you may not really know what kind of people you have on your team. Creating a great environment will allow you to better understand your team members strengths, weaknesses, and drive.Redefining Culture To Improve Bottom Line
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