How to rid your organisation of politics and create a massively high performing team
Imagine every one of your employees goes to work excited and energised by what they do. Bringing their ‘A’ game, solving problems, hitting deadlines, going the extra mile. How would that change your organisation?
Business in the 21st century gets a bad rap and sometimes rightly so. Capitalism, with its unchecked greed, leads to stories of workers being ignored, abused or worse, even killed in pursuit of profit for shareholders and billionaire founders and investors. The newspapers abound with articles on zero-hours contracts and drivers being paid less than minimum wage with no holiday or sick pay, due to some loopholes in employment law, whereby they are merely contractors and not employees at all. (Strange how if you get your income solely from one source you are considered employed for tax purposes, but not for legally required employee benefits.) Think delivery drivers across the globe or food courier riders in London or read stories in the British press of companies, where people were fired for taking sick days and ambulances were regularly called to a warehouse after people collapsed on the job, fearing poverty if they took any time off.
It does not need to be this way. It shouldn’t be this way. I believe it is possible to build a world where business takes the lead in creating a workplace for their employees to thrive. A place where people are understood and genuinely cared for by their employer. A place where people are more than happy to spend their time and effort in a worthwhile pursuit. And the amazing by-product of employees who love to work is that the organisation becomes more productive and improves their bottom line profits too.
The more businesses that choose to actively build this type of authentic culture, the closer we get to the imagined utopia.
I’ve spent over a decade studying successful companies. Investigating what makes companies like Ritz-Carlton or Cadbury different and the good news is it is easy to understand how to build a culture where people thrive. The less good news is that while it is simple to understand, it is not easy to implement.
That’s why so few organisations actually manage to do it.
It takes determination, commitment, hard work and perseverance, sometimes against vocal opposition. But, it is entirely possible to build a culture without politics and hidden agendas. A culture where teams are massively high performing and take so little management you won’t know what to do with your time. It is absolutely possible to build a thriving culture that not only improves the lives of employees but also improves the profits of the business.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast!”
Peter Drucker
About the Author:
Benjamin Drury, The Culture Guy
Benjamin has a passion to inspire, motivate, excite and challenge organisations to think differently, create boldly and be brilliant. He wants to encourage business to be built on a foundation of inspiring mission, honest core values and an audacious vision.
Benjamin is an entrepreneur, an experienced coder, a trained social worker, a published author and a consultant helping organisations build effective cultures.
