How do you like yours?

Mon, 17 Apr 2023 13:33:48 GMT

How often have you been tempted with a decadent looking cake to be disappointed with the first bite?

Just like we are drawn to elaborate creations, Candidates are often drawn to nice offices, freebies, and gimmicks. Companies too, trying to replicate initiatives from well-known brands, all with good intent.

Trouble is when reality hits, inevitably falling short of expectations, this will be followed by disappointment. Employees leave or worse they stay with a bitter taste leading to disengagement.

Just like baking a cake, creating a strong company culture requires a set of key ingredients and a carefully crafted process to ensure success.

Recipe

Just as a cake recipe outlines the necessary steps and ingredients, a company culture plan needs to have clearly defined values, behaviours, and expectations that guide the organisation.

Ingredients

You need high-quality ingredients to make a delicious cake, just like you need to have the right people to build a strong company culture. Each employee brings their unique talents and personality to the mix, much like the different flavours and textures in a cake.

Time to develop

Slowly adding ingredients and carefully mixing them creates a cake that rises to perfection, while taking time to own your culture, guiding it with strong values and having thoughtful policies and procedures with a positive employee experience in mind creates a company culture that stands the test of time.

Consistency

When making a cake, you need to follow the recipe carefully and ensure that each step is done consistently to achieve the desired outcome. Similarly, building a strong company culture requires consistency in how you communicate, lead by example and celebrate successes.

Start with a simple cake, it will surprise with every bite leaving them wanting more.

Once the recipe can hardly be improved on then the decoration can begin. Be careful not to overdo it, compromising the consistency and taste of the cake itself.

Attention to Detail Matters

The details matter when making a cake and building a company culture. Every step in the process, from measuring ingredients to establishing policies, contributes to the overall outcome. Focusing on small details such as office decor, team activities, and social events can all contribute to the overall experience and sense of belonging for employees.

Experimentation and Creativity

When baking a cake, you can experiment with different flavours, toppings, and decorations to create something unique and appealing. In the same way, companies can encourage employees to be creative and innovative in finding new ways to promote a positive company culture.

So next time you have an idea to add a decoration or you want to ask busy leaders to help you add more cherries on top be mindful – is it the right step?

Would time in better served going back to the recipe first?

Just like building a cake, building a company culture takes patience, consistency, creativity, attention to detail, and quality ingredients to achieve the desired outcome.

If you would like to follow my recipe for a great culture - you can get your free 8 page step by step copy now - Just message me CAKE here or DM me on linked in.

Culture left unattended creates itself

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 01:14:16 GMT

Are you struggling to retain your best talent? do you have performance issues? or do you simply have a feeling that your culture needs addressing before it gets out of control? - a good place to start is your company values.

Reflection:

Are your values clear, genuine, and lodged into the employee lifecycle? If not can you truly say they are your values?

Some say you don’t really know yourself as a leader, or your values, until faced with pressure. We have been living in a world of immense pressure over the last few years, all feeling the impact of challenges in some way. So now is a great time to reflect on how well your values have stood up .

You may have some in place already but are they working for you?
Are they evident in the way your employees think and act every day?
Do they help you to find the right approach when you need to make tough decisions?

Advice:

When developing or updating your values, you might:

Use them to turnaround behaviour
Define what actions provide good product or service to your customers
Set out what you need to achieve your long-term goals

There is no right or wrong way to define your values you can be successful anywhere on the creative to straightforward spectrum. The keys things to ensure are:

They are verbs, actionable words rather than abstract nouns, that apply to all employees or better still widely across your company stakeholders
The language is clear, and they are easy for everyone to recall
They are realistic but also a stretch to aspire to

Once you have defined your values, what can you do to avoid them being just words on a wall?

They need to be clearly launched and carefully lodged in. This can be done simply with a few steps or if you are keen to build a strong employer of choice brand you can really get this right by touching all elements of the employee lifecycle.

Your People 1st can help define or redefine your company values,

taking you one significant step closer to a winning culture.

Your People 1st Blog

How do you like yours?

Culture left unattended creates itself