Randy Grieser's Blog, page 10

Hiring Employees for the Right Fit

One of the most overlooked and important aspects of creating a work culture that people like is the impact that new hires have on the workplace. Selecting the right employee who will be a good fit for the office is crucial to maintaining a healthy workplace culture. Unfortunately, too often speed and low costs are seen as an indicator of a good hiring process. However, to maintain and even improve workplace culture, the focus of any hiring process should be on quality and fit – regardless of...

Don’t Judge My Bathroom Breaks!

For research into writing a new book about organizational culture, I asked several of my staff why they liked where they work. Their responses were positive, and ranged from liking the people they work with to appreciating that leadership involves employees in decision making. The most surprising response?

“I like that I’m not judged for when I go to the bathroom.”

After some laughter, I asked for a bit more context to this response. The employee explained that he recently heard of someone wh...

How to Be a Leader Worth Following

Are you honest and respectful? Do you lead by example? Do you do what you say you will do? When you make a mistake, do you take responsibility for it?

If leaders can’t answer with a resounding yes to these types of questions, chances are some of the people we are supposed to be leading are not following.

When we are effective leaders, people will willingly take on tasks and go the “extra mile” – not because they are forced to, but because they want to. Being a leader means different things...

How To Change Workplace Culture

When we experience things like cynicism, overly aggressive behavior, distrust – when we experience weak culture on a daily basis – this is a sign that we need to do something about culture. Others will only desire to tweak their culture. It’s not so much dysfunctional or bad, as just missing a little something.

According to Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report, of more than 7,000 CEOs and Human Resource leaders surveyed, only 19% of CEO and Human Resource leaders feel they have the “right cul...

How Do Things Really Work Around Here?

It’s a scene we have all seen many times. A new employee begins work and at some point during their first day or two of orientation they will ask: “So how do things really work around here?” What they are really asking is, “What’s the culture of this place?” They want to know what the do’s and don’ts are, if leaders are authentic and what’s important to them, are people really as nice as they seem, what it is they need to watch out for, and so forth.

We should really all be asking that questi...

Office Space Shapes Experience

Creating an organization where people like to work is much more easily done when leaders and staff can easily and naturally connect with each other throughout the day.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the role our office space plays in how we feel about those we work with. How do our spaces help to foster collegiality and teamwork, and how don’t they? I have seen how the kitchen, while serving a basic function, is also is a vital social hub. Things as simple as paint color, how a workshop stat...

Why Culture Really Matters

We spend a large amount of our waking hours at work – wouldn’t it be nice if more people liked where they work? Beyond this just being the right thing to do, there are practical and financial reasons to invest energy into creating organizations that are great places to work. In a survey from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, completed by 1,400 North American CEOs, these executives overwhelmingly indicated that healthy corporate culture is essential for an organization to thrive.

One hundred...

The Culture Question

While there is agreement that culture exists, and that it plays a crucial role in an organization’s success, there is less agreement on what organizational culture actually is. The concept of culture can be very vague and confusing to grasp. While it is largely an invisible force – like the wind – it can still be felt.

No two cultures are the same. A distinct element of culture is that it is the only thing that is truly different from other organizations.  Products and strategy can be copied,...

Do You Like Where You Work?

At ACHIEVE Centre for Leadership & Workplace Performance, where I am the CEO, a key belief that guides the creation and delivery of our services is that people should be able to like where they work. At a fundamental level, we believe that when people like where they work, organizations are not only more fun and enjoyable, but also more innovative and productive.

Healthy and likeable organizations are not just good for our mental health and well-being, but also for the organization’s success...

Balancing Work and Chit-Chat

While most organizations I know value productivity, I believe that there is an important strategy for increasing efficiency and output that is often overlooked.

One of the ways productivity can be improved is by focusing on building good relationships in the workplace.  People who like those they work with and for are typically happy and engaged, and thus more good work gets done. By contrast, working in an environment where people don’t know or like each other can be demoralizing, and as a r...