A Recipe to Nourish Your Team and Culture
Presented by: Susan R. Schilke
Overview
Jon’s latest book – a story about a newly appointed CEO, Nancy, running Soup, Inc.
Soup was in trouble, and Nancy was trying to save the company from takeover or bankruptcy
Her time was spent in heated discussions or crunching numbers, with little results
- She found the recipe for saving her company at a lunch place that serves…
- Soup! Grandma’s Soup House
Grandma’s First Lesson
- Who stirs the pot matters
- Wine experts can determine the personality of winemakers by tasting the wine
- Chefs following the exact same recipe create different tasting dishes
- Our lives, careers, and businesses are a reflection of the love and energy we put into them
Peter’s First Lesson
- Soup = Culture – a business culture is a direct reflection of the leader
- Culture drives behavior, and behavior drives habits – culture trumps strategy every time
- Soft is powerful
- You must nurture your culture – focus on the root of the tree, not the fruit it produces. Sales & profits are a by-product of culture, teamwork, and productivity
- Great leaders create great cultures – must be your focus
The First Ingredient
- Lead with Optimism
Great leaders share their belief, vision and passion, and inspire others to believe
Not just managing people, you are managing beliefs
Encourage optimism, and guard against pessimism
Emotions are contagious – one negative employee can create a toxic environment and one positive leader can rally a team to accomplish amazing things
Get non-believers off the bus – hire possibility thinkers
The Second Ingredient
- Share the Vision
- Must be a purpose people can rally around
- Captures the essence and spirit of the organization and can be reinforced through action
- The North Star that keeps everyone on track
- Easy to remember – alive in the hearts and minds of all
- Clear, simple, energizing and compelling
- Pair it with a big-picture goal – a tangible result to aim for
- Feeding Greatness – A can of soup in every house
The Third Ingredient
- Build Trust
- People follow the leader first and the vision second
- Trust connects people to the leader and his or her vision
- If your team trusts you, and believes in you, then your vision will inspire them to follow you
- Trust generates commitment, teamwork & results
- Trust is built a day at a time, yet can be lost in a moment
The Fourth Ingredient
- Enhance Communication, Add Transparency & Authenticity
- People fill voids in communication with negativity. Fill this in instead with positive, frequent information
- Replace assumptions and uncertainty with truth and facts through daily e-mails, Company-wide conference calls, Weekly meetings and status updates
- Get managers out of their offices, sharing honestly, building trust and communicating more
Measure Engagement
- Engagement means positive results will follow
- Gallup uses the Q12 to demonstrate engaged employees lead to increased productivity and profits
- In average companies, the ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees is 1.5 to 1
- In world class organizations, it is 8 to 1
- Engaged companies have 1.6 times the earnings of same industry companies with lower engagement measures
Build Relationships
- Communication, trust & love create the foundation for any successful relationship
- Strong relationships create strong teams and a strong organization
- Building relationships takes time and effort
- Rules without relationship lead to rebellion
- Leaders and managers must invest in building relationships to effectively lead, develop and shape people to be their best
Engaged Relationships
Engage your relationships
Ask each person to create a personal vision and share how they can contribute to company success and how you can help them achieve their personal goals
Inspire, encourage, empower and coach
Create an internal ‘university,’ promote leadership practices, committee develop ‘Winning Habits,’ mentoring programs, lunch once a week (outside dept), celebrate Success Fridays
