Given that the service industry employs about 80 percent of the U.S. workforce, many organizations are focused on measuring employee productivity and improving it. Unlike the manufacturing sector, in which employee productivity can be measured by the number of items produced, in the service industry you need to know how the service was delivered, as well as the degree to which the service impacted the customer experience. The good news is that there are many ways to measure the productivity of employees in the service sector, and you can improve employee productivity with training and development activities.

Ways to Measure Service Sector Employee Productivity

The traditional employee productivity calculation equals total output divided by total input, for example, the number of cars (output) produced during a 12-hour shift (input) in a manufacturing plant. But for organizations in the service industry, a purely quantitative method of measuring employee productivity doesn’t work quite as well. In the service sector, the input (for example, decision-making, judgment) and output (customer experience, achievement of performance objectives, and so forth) may be harder to measure and are subject to variation from employee to employee.

Instead of focusing on the number of customers served or hours worked, an effective strategy for measuring employee productivity in the service industry takes into account a range of factors that will vary depending on the sector, company, or employee role.

Here are a few examples:

Customer Satisfaction: A focus on quality outcomes rather than number of transactions often makes sense for service sector employees, because the service industry provides customer experiences rather than products. For example, a customer service representative’s patience, professionalism, and friendliness matters as much as the number of calls taken in the space of an hour.

Employee Engagement: According to research conducted by Gallup, teams with high employee engagement are 21 percent more productive than teams with lower engagement rates. While engagement is no guarantee of employee productivity, when employees are engaged and have the desire to perform at their best, they may be better positioned to do so than those who lack engagement.

Performance Against Goals: Productivity can be measured according to how successfully employees meet their performance goals. As an example, a salesperson has a goal to increase business from new clients by 10 percent. Business development productivity requires that salespeople deliver a high level of service to potential clients. The degree to which the employee meets the goal shows his or her level of business development productivity.

Examples of Employee Productivity Measures by Sector

The following examples illustrate how the factors described above help with measuring employee productivity in different service sectors:

Transportation: Instead of focusing on the number of routes a train conductor completes each year, it would be more effective to measure the conductor’s productivity by the number of on-time arrivals or the length of time gone without a safety violation or accident. Strong marks in these areas also help build customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Food Service: The fast pace of many food service establishments requires engaged employees who want to provide excellent customer experiences. The productivity of waiters, chefs, and hostesses is not measured only by the number of customers served, but also the degree to which their engagement enables them to provide great food, courtesy, and a swift resolution to any customer complaints.

Merchandise Retailing: It’s true that dollars per sale and sales per employee matter when looking at the productivity of retail employees. However, as one study found, high engagement among retail employees not only increases their productivity, but also results in significant reductions in inventory shrinkage, waste, cash loss, and lost sales.

Healthcare: A quantitative measure of employee productivity for a hospital might be the number of patients seen by a nurse in the course of a workday. However, that might not adequately measure the nurse’s productivity if each patient didn’t receive proper care and attention. In an age when the patient experience is a critical component of a hospital’s competitive advantage, a more important measure of the nurse’s productivity would be the number of satisfied patients, which can be quantified with patient experience surveys.

Improve Employee Productivity with Training and Development

There is no one way to measure employee productivity in the service industry that works for every organization. However, many factors together compose an effective strategy for getting at the heart of employee productivity.

At the end of the day, once you’ve effectively measured employee productivity for your specific industry, the next important step is to work to improve the areas that need it. A combination of employee development and training exercises can improve productivity and performance, leading to increased customer satisfaction, more efficient service delivery, and highly engaged employees.

Whether an organization’s employees and leadership realize it or not, every organization has a culture. It’s defined by what the people of the organization do—culture is the sum of all behaviors. Do employees go out of the way to help each other? Is there a unified approach to the way employees treat customers?

It’s different for every company, but the behaviors that define a culture are always there. The question is: Is it the culture you want? If it’s not, it’s possible to transform the existing culture into one that supports the short- and long-term success of the organization.

What is Culture Transformation?

Culture transformation is a shift that can take place throughout an entire organization or in individual departments and teams. It requires changing the hearts, minds, and skills of the workforce to support the desired culture. Individuals must first have the conviction (heart) to change their behavior. Then, they must understand what behavior change looks like (mind) and have the necessary tools (skills) to change.

As Eagle’s Flight founder Phil Geldart so aptly put it in his book, Purpose, Passion, Path:

“The exact nature of a culture transformation is simply that the people within the organization are behaving differently in some fashion, on a consistent basis, and that different behavior is being supported by each manager. The results of adopting those new behaviors will result in improved metrics, or outcomes consistent with what has been determined as essential for the long-term success, and maybe even survival, of the organization. The transformation will be achieved when the desired results, or metrics have been achieved. A transformation is therefore a process whereby, over time, people behave differently and the organization benefits in some fashion as a result. If these benefits are required, then a transformation is necessary.”

This is a lot to digest, but when you break it down, it is an achievable goal. The first step is to determine why a transformation of culture is needed. The second is to learn how to do it most effectively.

Why Undergo a Culture Transformation?

The underlying reason behind a culture transformation must be to achieve corporate objectives. Without this impetus, there will not be sufficient motivation to maintain the necessary momentum to create lasting behavior change. The specific objectives will depend on where your organization currently is and where you want to be. They might include goals such as:

• Improving safety
• Delivering excellent customer service
• Engaging employees
• Fostering leadership excellence

Regardless of what your corporate objectives are, they must be clear from the beginning so you can use them as touchstones throughout the process.

How to Achieve a Culture Transformation

A successful transformation requires full engagement and buy-in from all levels of leadership throughout the organization. Leaders play a vital role in modeling and coaching the desired behaviors that will permeate the company. Without a commitment from leaders to transform the culture, employees are not likely to make lasting behavior changes on their own.

After getting all the key players on board, create a roadmap that addresses the following questions:

Where are we now?

Perform assessments to diagnose where the organization actually is versus where you think it is. Leadership sometimes has a different perception of the culture, so it is important to collect accurate data and input from the organization as a whole. In order to determine how the majority of the organization perceives the company culture, use the following cultural transformation tools to get started:

• Surveys
• Focus groups
• Interviews with high-potential employees
• One-on-one interviews with executives
• Digital voting platforms

Gathering this information will help you successfully take on the next step of the culture transformation journey.

Where do we want to be?

Set organizational goals and objectives so you know when you have succeeded. This might be a market expansion, becoming innovative leaders in your industry, or standing out as a company that provides extraordinary customer service. Or it might be higher employee engagement and lower staff turnover. Whatever your specific objectives are, they must be clearly defined so that you know what success looks like.

Why do we want to change?

Clearly articulate the reason for the change. This includes communicating with both leaders who will support the transformation and employees who will have a hand in making the transformation actually happen. Examples of reasons include:

• Fixing a problem or filling a gap
• Capitalizing on an opportunity
• Entering new markets
• Attracting and retaining top talent

As Phil Geldart writes, “When people understand the benefits that will occur as a result of a successful transformation, or even during the journey, then they are much more willing and able to support all the efforts that are required to achieve it” (Purpose, Passion, Path).

What is our line of sight?

After determining where the organization currently is, where you want to be, and why you want to get there, the next step is to create a line of sight from the beginning to the end of the transformation process. After defining the path, this line of sight must be continuously highlighted so it stays top-of-mind throughout the transformation. This can be achieved through periodic check-ins, milestone celebrations, and measuring success along the way.

Conclusion: Corporate Culture Is A Demanding But Worthwhile Investment

Simply stated, culture transformation is the collective shifting of individual behaviors to support a shared goal. It’s a demanding process, but can be achieved and is highly rewarding when done properly. Therefore, start by knowing exactly why a culture transformation is necessary and then answer the listed questions. Once you do, you will have taken an important step in the process of shifting your corporate culture.

Introduction

Introducing new concepts, systems, or processes in a work environment is rarely as simple as sending an email and immediately getting the desired results. Successfully convincing individuals to change their behavior in the workplace requires:

• Clear communication about expectations
• An organizational training program that provides the necessary skills
• Consistent reinforcement and measurement

This might seem like a tall order, and indeed it does require a comprehensive overall strategy, but there are some simple change management activities you can do on a daily basis.

Meetings are the most logical place for change management activities because you have the attention of the entire group at the same time. You can ensure that people hear the message and create a greater likelihood of understanding what you say. Consider adding these change management activities to your next meeting agenda:

1. Status Updates

Have an agenda item for status updates about initiatives occurring in your organization. For example, if your organization is shifting to a customer-centric culture, a sales staff meeting might include an update about the new sales process that is under development. This is also an excellent opportunity to gather input from the sales team about how to be more customer centric and get the team to start thinking in that mindset.

Status updates should include:

• What initiatives are currently happening
• The status of each initiative
• The next steps for each initiative

The individuals providing the updates will have to stay on top of their assigned tasks, and others will feel more involved in the process, especially if they have the opportunity to provide feedback during status updates.

2. Reinforcement Exercises

If your strategy includes organizational training, one of the most important change management activities you can do is reinforcement exercises. The human brain will only retain so much information (10-30%) after a training session unless you actively recall the lessons learned. Adding a quick reinforcement exercise such as a quiz, game, or discussion about how to apply the new knowledge in the workplace will keep the information fresh in the minds of participants and encourage them to apply and use their new skills.

3. Introduce the Next Initiative

Make time to discuss the next change that is on the horizon, even if you don’t plan to roll it out for several months. Communicating early about changes to come will allow individuals to mentally prepare in advance. Providing regular updates about the plans in the pipeline will reduce the inevitable anxiety that people feel about change. Giving individuals an opportunity to provide feedback will make them feel more invested in the process and increase the likelihood that they will embrace the new systems. Clear communication about upcoming initiatives also demonstrates that leadership has a strategy in place and a plan for executing it.

4. Recognize Successes

Create an agenda item that prompts you to identify all of the successful milestones or accomplishments since the previous meeting. These could be as simple as an individual who exhibited one of the desirable behaviors identified in a recent training, or as significant as a team who measurably improved their sales numbers. When individuals know that leadership is paying attention and that they will be rewarded for their efforts, they are more likely to adopt the changes you are introducing and more likely to perform at their peak. Many leaders don’t realize how impactful recognition can be, especially in a public form like a team meeting.

5. Action Items

Every productive meeting should include action items that are assigned to individuals and have clear deadlines. Action items go hand-in-hand with status updates on your agenda. Everybody knows that they will be expected to report back to the group, increasing the likelihood that they will complete their assigned tasks. Action items also provide the benefit of keeping a project moving forward.

It’s unrealistic to expect individuals to change their behavior without some motivation. Including these change management activities in your meetings helps maintain momentum, gives leadership a forum for introducing new changes to come, and increases accountability. What agenda items did you include in your last meeting?

An offsite leadership retreat is a great time for leaders to get away from everyday pressures, get some through some serious planning and strategizing, and maybe have a little fun while they’re at it. Finding the time to invest in this type of event can be difficult, so it’s important to make the most of the opportunity. Here are the four key elements that make for a successful leadership offsite:

An Objective

Without a clear focus on a desired outcome, a leadership retreat won’t achieve what you need it to. Maybe your leaders will return to the office feeling a little bit refreshed from a few days offsite, but it’s more likely that they will be frustrated at wasting their time, or worse, it could drive wedges into relationships when people are made to sit through days of meetings with no clear purpose. So before you pick a date for the annual leadership retreat, figure out why you’re having it in the first place.

You can do this by sitting down with senior sales executives and other leaders who are ultimately accountable for the event. Talk about what they are looking to achieve by having the retreat. Why are they bringing the leaders all together? What is the main purpose, and what do they want everyone to return to work with? Once you have defined the main objective and perhaps a few sub-points, then you can begin thinking about the specifics of the event agenda.

Alignment

Regardless of the objective for the leadership retreat, it’s vital to create alignment among the leaders in attendance. When you send out the agenda prior to the retreat, it should include a clear statement of the goals, along with any pre-planning or work you need leaders to prepare.

Then, to open the retreat, the retreat leader – whether that’s the CEO, senior sales executive, or a professional facilitator – should lead a discussion or an activity to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Since the top leaders at any company will have different – and sometimes competing – priorities and perspectives, they might not be coming to the retreat with the same goals. Together, attendees should come to an agreement on what they will achieve, and a definition of what success will look like at the end of the retreat. This is an opportunity for truthful discussions and brainstorming about the business, so it’s important to establish a safe space that encourages healthy debate, not just rubber-stamping things to get it over with.

Throughout the leadership retreat, the leader of the event should circle back to the established definition of success and track progress, summarizing decisions that have been made and ensuring the alignment that was created is intact.

Engagement

The only way the objective can be successfully achieved and alignment maintained is by ensuring that all of the attendees are engaged throughout the retreat. This is part of the reason leadership retreats are held offsite – it minimizes distractions and provides a change of scenery to help people to think creatively. But removing distractions alone isn’t enough to ensure that leaders remain engaged. It helps to have a variety of interactive sessions and experiential activities to get people moving. Getting people out of their comfort zones and engaged in an experiential activity can be eye opening, and prime the leadership team to come up with innovative ideas and new solutions. These types of activities are also great for developing skills such as leadership, communication, effective delegation, and problem solving, so it could be a great time to add time for professional development.

Using different types of activities throughout the leadership retreat not only keeps things interesting, it also ensures that everyone gets the chance to contribute. Shaking up the way the conversations happens appeals to multiple styles of thinking and inspires creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. This ensures that everyone, regardless of the way they approach problems, will feel included and stay engaged with the process.

Action

No matter what comes out of the leadership retreat, it can only be completely successful if leaders actually implement the ideas that were brought forward and agreed to be actioned on. At the end of each session throughout the retreat, the decisions that were made and action items that were identified should be agreed on and recorded. At the closing of the retreat, the leader should recap everything that was accomplished, and facilitate a discussion on how the team will follow up on each item. After everyone has returned to work, the plan that was developed should be sent out with names and deadlines attached to each item. This way, nothing slips through the cracks post-event and everyone is held accountable for what they agreed to do.

Planning an effective leadership retreat begins with getting clear on why you’re having the retreat in the first place, getting all of your attendees in alignment about what they need to accomplish, keeping everyone engaged throughout, then making sure the outcomes translate into action back at work. If you can do all of that, your executive team will be excited about what they can accomplish during their time out of the office, as well as what it means for the year ahead.

Leaders have a tremendous influence on their direct reports, and one of the most critical areas for leadership success is being able to give feedback to employees, praise when it’s deserved, and coaching in the moment. However, not every leader will be able to do so successfully. This is a leadership skill that can be trained, honed, and perfected over time. For this reason and with over 30 years of experience providing leadership training, we believe training leaders to give employees feedback is imperative to the long-term success of the organization, the team, the leader, and of course, the employee.

Why Is Giving Feedback An Essential Leadership Skill?

Feedback Helps Employees Achieve Their Goals

One key characteristic of a good leader is that they are able to reach organizational goals by motivating others. Giving constructive feedback helps individuals grow by learning how they can improve and by reinforcing the activities they are doing well. This ultimately helps them achieve both personal and organizational goals.

Feedback Builds Trust Between the Leader and Employee

Although it can initially be challenging, when an employee and supervisor become adept at giving and receiving feedback—it’s a two-way street—it builds a foundation of trust. When done well, the feedback process should not be anxiety-inducing for either party. It should be a mutually beneficial learning experience that helps individuals gain new insights that will help them improve performance.

Feedback Influences Employee Engagement

In companies where leadership knows how to give effective feedback, employees are more engaged. According to Gallup, “When employees strongly agree that their manager provides meaningful feedback to them, they are 3.5x more likely to be engaged than other employees.” Additionally, “Employees who receive daily feedback from their manager are 3x more likely to be engaged than those who receive feedback once a year or less.” A higher level of engagement is associated with better performance, lower turnover, and higher rates of employee satisfaction, all essential elements of staying competitive and attracting top talent.

Feedback Reinforces Individual Accountability

An organization – whether large or small, corporate or not-for-profit, complex or traditionally structured – cannot function to its fullest if individuals do not take accountability for their projects, tasks, and behaviors. Keep in mind that accountability is defined as a commitment to follow through on what has been agreed upon and to take ownership of the outcome. Feedback is crucial at reinforcing an individuals accountability to their commitment as it provides support, guidance, and direction in a way that builds confidence.

How Can You Train Leaders to Give Feedback to Employees? The Answer Is Experiential Learning

For leaders who are not well-versed in giving feedback to employees, the interaction can be stressful and uncomfortable, even in a training session. Fortunately, like any other type of competency or behavior, feedback skills can be taught and practiced until they become second nature. However, you can’t expect leaders to learn feedback skills on their own by reading management books. To become excellent at it, they must practice it.

Of course, practicing new feedback skills in the work environment is intimidating and potentially damaging if it’s not done well. This is why experiential training is an ideal way to teach leaders this vital leadership skill. Experiential learning takes participants out of the work environment and allows them to practice new skills in a safe space with no real-world consequences. By trying different approaches and immediately seeing the results of each, participants can learn what works, what does not, and why.

Well-designed experiential learning sessions close with a debrief, led by a skilled facilitator, that connects the concepts learned in training to real-life situations that participants face on a regular basis. The leader can then return to the workplace with the confidence to use their new feedback skills effectively.

Leaders at every level can benefit from learning how to give and receive feedback, but it is especially important for emerging leaders to gain these skills through training. Experiential learning is a training method that allows leaders to test their new skills and become comfortable with them in a way that does not impact their employees. Seeing the positive results of giving feedback in a training environment and learning how to do it most effectively through practice empowers new leaders to use their new skills on the job. This leads to stronger employee-manager relationships, higher performing teams, and more engaged employees.

Discussions about teamwork in the workplace often revolve around a few central topics: effective communication, sharing a common goal, and solving problems. While each of these are absolutely essential in strong teams, one key often seems to be missing – Leadership.

We think of teams as highly democratic entities where everyone contributes equally to complete a project. However, just like the Presidents and Prime Ministers that guide the world’s great democracies, a leader is essential to team success. In fact, the team at Eagle’s Flight considers leadership one of the seven cornerstones of teamwork. Without a clearly defined leader, the whole team foundation will crumble. Here’s why teamwork in the workplace must start with strong leadership:

1. Team Leaders Keep the Team Accountable

It’s far too easy to dodge responsibility in a team setting, since you can “hide” among your sea of colleagues. That’s where a leader comes in. In a team setting, a true team leader takes full responsibility for the team’s final results. Since a leader has so much on the line, he or she is extremely motivated to keep team members accountable for the work.

2. Team Leaders Empower Team Members

Being a leader on a team isn’t about concentrating power — it’s about giving away power. Yes, team leaders are responsible for assigning tasks to the team. Even more importantly, leaders must trust the skills and expertise of other team members. Through trust, leaders empower teams to carry out assigned tasks in the way that they see fit.

Why is trust so important? When other team members see that the leader has put his or her trust in a colleague, they won’t try to undermine or question that colleague. Plus, studies show that employee engagement is closely tied to the level of freedom and ownership that individuals are given. If you want team members to be engaged and excited about the project, leaders must empower members by easing up the reins.

3. Team Leaders Simplify and Streamline the Decision-making Process

Teams can avoid the power struggles commonly found in “equitable” teams with leaders in place. In these “equitable” or “leaderless” teams, members actually compete to gain authority and assert dominance.
Team leaders also make the decision-making process far more streamlined, since they have the final say. Leaderless teams may get stuck on making tough calls when members can’t come to a consensus and there’s no “tie-breaker” to turn to. In the meantime, the entire project — and even teamwork in the workplace overall — stalls. Having a clear-headed colleague who’s clearly in charge simply makes teams simpler.

4. Team Leaders Keep Projects Moving Forward

It’s hard to keep a group of people focused, so having someone make it their mission to do so is crucial to team success. A designated leader will move past any hiccups by initiating conversations about potential problems and steering the team back on track during meetings that start to go off the rails.

How do leaders keep projects moving forward? They will:

• Ensure all team members understand the project goal
• Establish clear deadlines
• Clearly define roles within the team
• Describe how each role contributes to the project goal
• Remind the team of the shared goal to keep the project on task

When members understand that the part they play on the team is critical to achieving the goal, they’re more motivated and engaged.

Team leaders are typically individuals who know the most about the project — which means they might not have extensive experience with leading. They might not even be the person with the most “senior” rank in the room. That’s why building in leadership skills exercises into your training on teamwork in the workplace is so important.

The strategies and behaviors of a manager can impact the performance and productivity of a team, and therefore the whole organization. Most would agree that managers who effectively leverage employee strengths and rally individuals around team goals will achieve a more favorable performance outcome than those who withhold feedback or provide little support to team members. A person’s management style can also impact overall employee engagement. According to Gallup research, managers account for 70 percent of the variance in employee engagement, and can adversely or positively impact employees’ commitment to their work and the company.

While one kind of management style may work better in certain work environments than others, managers often rely on a mix of styles, depending on the situation and circumstances. Here are four examples of different management styles and how they affect the workplace:

Authoritarian Management Style

An authoritarian management style is one that relies on an individual’s position of authority in the organizational structure. Managers who lead with authority typically assign tasks and deliverables with little room for debate or questioning, which, if not done in the right situations, can lead employees to feel micromanaged, undervalued, and replaceable. Authoritarian management can also negatively impact employee behavior. One research study found that an authoritarian leader in a manufacturing environment contributed to higher incidents of negative employee behavior such as theft, personal internet surfing, and misuse of overtime.

While an authoritarian work style may negatively impact employee productivity and engagement, there are times when it is necessary. Environments that frequently deal with emergencies or equipment failures—for example, hospital emergency rooms or power plant facilities—require strict adherence to management directives. In those environments, an authoritarian style can help ensure staff consistently follow required procedures and protocol.

Laissez-Faire Management Style

At the other end of the spectrum is one style that is far more hands-off. A leader who employs the laissez-faire management style empowers employees and trusts that they have the adequate skills, knowledge, and judgment to execute goals without much direct oversight. Self-reliant teams and individuals who prefer to work with a lot of freedom typically respond well to this type of leader.

While this management style leaves a lot of leeway for employees to be creative, collaborate, and take risks, it can also have a negative impact in the workplace when used inconsistently or in an environment where teams need close supervision. Employees who are new to their role or accustomed to more hands-on management may feel abandoned and unsupported by a manager using a laissez-faire approach.

Coaching Management Style

A coaching management style focuses more on employee learning and creating opportunities for individuals to perform to their full potential. Leaders who coach their employees to improve their performance provide necessary support, encouragement, and guidance. Leaders that act as coaches use their one-on-one time with employees to give praise, deliver feedback, and brainstorm ways to improve, which can help employees develop a sense of trust and loyalty.

While this style is very beneficial, it comes with its own unique set of challenges. Leaders need to manage day-to-day operations, which can sometimes limit opportunities and time for coaching. It’s a fantastic way to manage, if you are intentional about it! Also, keep in mind that coaching employees requires first making a connection with employees, so that the coaching isn’t confused with criticism or condescension.

Collaborative Management Style

A collaborative management style focuses on encouraging the free exchange of ideas within and between teams. Since collaboration in the workplace can have many positive benefits, including increased innovation and the break down of organizational silos, a collaborative management style can be invaluable to helping to build a high-performance culture and a workforce that embraces change. A collaborative manager listens to employees’ ideas and suggestions before making a final decision independently, but also relies on consensus decision-making, which gives employees a voice of influence and a sense of empowerment.

While a collaborative management style can bring employees together and help to establish a strong sense of team in the workplace, it can also sometimes lengthen the time it takes to make decisions. This style may even negatively impact productivity during times of crisis when quick, decisive leadership from one individual may be more appropriate.

Depending on the workplace culture, company goals, and the roles and experience of employees, the use of different combinations of management styles can be effective at different times. Leaders can be most effective when they understand that they can employ a unique mix of styles to use in a range of scenarios in the workplace. A good first step in helping to expand leaders’ knowledge and skills is leadership development that helps them discover the many ways they can motivate, coach, and support employees to perform to their maximum potential.

Corporate culture is often defined as a set of shared beliefs and values that influence the behaviors and actions of employees. It can also be helpful to think of culture as the personality of the organization—the combination of a company’s history, vision, people, and environment.

In a survey of 1,800 global CEOs and CFOs conducted by Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, 78 percent named culture as one of the top five factors impacting overall company value. In addition, 92 percent said that improving their company culture would improve the value of their company. Whether you’re in the process of building a high-performing culture or you’ve identified some aspect of your culture that you want to change, one thing is for sure: Your culture has an impact on the overall success of the company.

To better understand corporate culture and the elements of it that you can change or adjust, it’s necessary to understand its key components:

Vision and Values

The backbone of an organization’s culture is the organization’s vision and purpose and how these things will help it survive and compete in the market. Values describe the employee behaviors and mindset required to achieve the company vision. Together, the vision and values serve as guidelines for how employees are expected to lead, behave, and communicate.

Some of your company values may be aspirational, while others may already be a part of your culture. For example, a technology company may have core values of zero-defect product delivery (aspirational) and innovation (a value they already possess).

As you examine your culture, it will be helpful to routinely evaluate your vision and values statement, because it may need to be altered as the organization grows and times change. At all times, however, employees need to understand the vision and values, as well as the associated behaviors that are expected of them.

Practices and People

Perhaps the most important component of corporate culture is the people—the “culture carriers.” Customers, prospective hires, and other stakeholders will understand your company culture from their interactions with and observations of employees.

Because employee behaviors impact corporate culture, targeted skills training can be used to teach employees the behaviors that support the culture you want to build. Employee behaviors, both innate and learned, define corporate culture. Some examples include:

• Traits and skills of leaders: the degree to which individuals lead by example and cultivate desired behaviors in others
• Communication: how employees share information and deliver feedback
• Camaraderie: how employees have fun and build a sense of community within the organization
• Teamwork/collaboration: the degree to which individual input and perspective is respected and considered in group problem-solving and decision-making

Narrative

Every organization has a unique story that undeniably shapes its culture. When elements of the company’s narrative are shared and retold over time, they become a significant part of the culture. Examples of narrative/storytelling activities that help shape corporate culture include:

• Celebrations that remind employees of important company milestones and successes
• Rituals and routines, such as annual meetings, that recognize newly promoted employees, or a program that brings a special guest to speak to employees at the same time each year
• Company folklore and legends

Environment/Place

The environment in which people do their work, collaborate, and make decisions is a critical component of corporate culture. For example, geographic regions tend to attract different kinds of companies and employees, as in the case of Silicon Valley for tech firms. Within companies, location can help shape culture as well. Trading floors in brokerage firms engender a culture of loud conversation and a lightning-fast pace of work. In many office environments, flexible-use gathering places and conference-type rooms support a collaborative culture among employees.

While there may be many answers to the question “what is corporate culture?”, it is ultimately shaped by the vision and values that drive the behaviors and attitudes of the people involved. All of the components of corporate culture are impacted by important decisions you make and the type of culture you want to build. You can achieve your desired culture with a mix of training and other activities that impact employee behavior. In addition, a culture transformation may necessary in order to achieve larger organizational culture goals.

Organizational change is inevitable. According to research by Gartner, a typical organization today has undertaken at least five major organizational changes in the past three years. During times of change, effective leadership is especially critical to organizational success. Every organization needs leaders who can successfully navigate the waters of change.

Whether change is driven by shifts in customer demands, increased competition, or the introduction of new technology, organizations must be able to upgrade or re-engineer processes and ensure employees adapt and grow to meet organizational needs. People are at the heart of any effort to bring about organizational change, and they require strong leaders who, through their actions and words, can set the tone for how employees should approach change. Here are four ways to provide strong leadership in times of change:

Set and Communicate the Vision

Whether dealing with one significant change or a climate of continuous change, it’s important to establish and communicate a vision early. The vision for change helps employees understand why change is occurring, what the desired end result is, and how the organization will look once change has been achieved. When people understand the vision, there’s a greater chance of allaying the anxieties they may have about how change will affect them. But establishing the vision doesn’t stop with the initial communication; the vision must then be communicated often, and in different forums, so that employees have many chances to encounter and connect with it.

Model Expected Behaviors

An IBM study found that the top factor reported by organizations for successfully leading change was having leaders who act as role models and communicate the case for change. When leaders model desired behaviors, they show how to develop a positive attitude about change and approach it with confidence. Leaders can model expected behaviors by:

• Asking thoughtful questions when unclear about how change will impact certain processes
• Sharing advice and insights with the team about what they’ve learned when undergoing certain kinds of change
• Displaying a healthy sense of humor, which helps others feel encouraged rather than discouraged
• Showing a willingness to try new things and adjust processes to accommodate organizational change

Support Employees

Strong leaders are able to support employees who are dealing with fear, confusion, or resistance to change. In fact, when individuals feel supported by their leaders and see that they’re not alone or ignored, they become more receptive to change. Leaders can support employees by:

• Regularly sharing information about the status, timeline, and impact of change on people and key processes
• Showing empathy and expressing a desire to understand how change affects each of the people on their team
• Providing opportunities for employees to share their frustrations, concerns, and successes in dealing with change
• Providing employees with learning opportunities to adjust their mindset and acquire new skills for managing change

Recognize Successes

Leaders can encourage positive behavior and a healthy attitude about change by recognizing behaviors that demonstrate support of change. There are a variety of ways to recognize employees, including via email, in team meetings, and one on one. During times of change, it can be easy to get caught up in ever-changing activities and processes, but recognizing and celebrating successes along the way helps everyone see the progress made. In addition, by recognizing employee actions taken in support of the change or changes that are occurring, leaders reinforce positive behaviors and show others what they can do to be recognized and rewarded.

To lead change successfully, leaders must communicate the vision for and details of change early and often and show through their actions how to approach change. When leaders remain a constant source of information and support, employees don’t just understand the vision for change; they embrace it.

You might have heard the adage, “teamwork is less me and more we” before, and for good reason: this simple sentiment gets right to the root of teamwork. Yet, as simple as it is, for too many organizations, employees lack the skills they need to pull it together and “get the job done.” A lack of team-building skills among team members can kill productivity, negatively impact morale, and hurt bottom line results.