Employee Management is Culture Management

Have you ever seen a business caught in the crossfire between management and employees? It’s not pretty. It’s distracting, and most of all, it’s damaging to customers.

Employees are more powerful than you may think. First, there’s more of them than the boss. Second, their interaction dictates a company’s culture.

When one relationship goes sour, it’s easy for more to follow. You’ve seen it before. In a heartbeat, a business goes from running like a Swiss watch to running like a failed banana republic.

The trick is to focus on culture management instead of employee management. These simple action steps will show you how.

Action Steps:

1. Create a strong company culture by hiring people whose beliefs and values are in tune with your company.
2. Ensure that managers and employees communicate regularly via one-to-one huddles.
3. If you are making a promotion, do it based upon personality traits and learned skills, not just past performance.
4. Become a life-long learner. If you’ve just been promoted to a position of more responsibility, it’s your responsibility to update your skills—and even your point of view—to ensure success in your new role.
5. Let’s talk. Share your insight—and horror stories—by commenting below.

Principles to Learn:

1. Business growth and stress often cause management relationships to deteriorate.
2. A strong company culture arises when people of harmonizing beliefs and values are working together.
3. If you’re too busy to meet one-on-one with those you manage, you’re just plain too busy!
4. Consistent one-on-one meetings, away from the hustle and bustle of the business, will reduce workplace chaos.
5. The Peter Principle states that people are often promoted to the level of their own incompetence.

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