S. Chris Edmonds's Blog, page 2

Culture Leadership Charge – Preconceived Notions May Steer You Wrong

Business leaders today have a lot on their minds – and on their plates.

They juggle hiring challenges. Mask mandates. Retaining talented players. Vaccine guidelines. Supply chain issues. Generating revenue. All these tasks are demanding, requiring attention and intention every minute.

Yes, these are important considerations in today’s business environment. However, they are not the ONLY important considerations.

Leaders may have a preconceived notion about these considerations: “This is my sole job: managing results.”

When leaders are immersed in tasks like these, they may ignore reports that things aren’t going well in their work culture.

If leaders learn about bosses behaving badly, most don’t want to deal with it. Another preconceived notion takes over: a perception that “managing results is more important” or “it can’t be that bad” or “HR will handle it.”

Such preconceived notions are deeply flawed. The reality is that there is NOTHING more important for leaders to pay attention to than disrespect in their workplace.

Here are two recent examples where preconceived notions may have contributed to bad boss behavior was enabled.

Eric Lander, the top White House scientist, resigned on February 14 after a months-long investigation found he regularly bullied subordinates – particularly women and people of color.

It’s good that Lander resigned. What is not good is how long it took to address his toxic behavior. Complaints were filed last year – yet Lander’s was not challenged to treat people respectfully. It is likely a preconceived notion that “Eric is rough around the edges” allowed him to stay in his role.

California State University chancellor Joseph Castro resigned on February 17 after an investigation found he mishandled years of sexual harassment, bullying, and retaliation complaints against a senior administrator while Castro was president of CSU Fresno. Castro hired this administrator. A preconceived notion that “Frank means no harm” would explain Castro’s lack of interest in addressing the problem.

Don’t let preconceived notions dissuade you from engaging willingly in workplace issues that arise. Results are certainly important – and they’re exactly HALF the leader’s job. The other half? Ensuring everyone is treated with respect, every day.

This is episode one hundred and one of my Culture Leadership Charge video series. In these concise videos, I share proven practices for building and sustaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture – where good comes first.

You’ll find my Culture Leadership Charge and Good Comes First episodes and more on my YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon Podcast channels. If you like what you learn, please subscribe.

Have you responded to this month’s culture leadership poll? Add your ratings to two questions. It’ll take less than a minute. Once you vote, click “results” to see the responses from around the globe.

The post Culture Leadership Charge – Preconceived Notions May Steer You Wrong appeared first on Purposeful Culture Group.

Culture Leadership Charge – Learning from a chiropractor

I’m old. Over the years, back and neck pain caused me to hold my neck & shoulders & back very tightly – so moving wouldn’t hurt. Those tight muscles learned to be inflexible and immovable – so I wouldn’t hurt.

Muscles are incredibly powerful. If they learn to be inflexible and immovable, they act like bones – firm and solid. That firmness causes muscles to adhere to other muscles (for greater inflexibility) which compresses nerves.

The result was a pinched nerve in my neck. Two surgeries in the last two years helped reduce the pain but my hands still didn’t work right. My neurosurgeon said to find a good chiropractor.

I found Dr. Eric. He’s been working on getting my neck and shoulder and back muscles to let go. He’s working to release those adhesions for greater strength and flexibility. His efforts have made my hands work better!

The thing is – he couldn’t fix my muscles in one visit. It’s taken 27 weekly visits so far – and we’re not done yet.

So, Dr. Eric makes changes a little at a time. He’s releasing muscles and retraining muscles. Slowly, the muscles learn to trust the “new normal,” working together rather than binding together.

Changing the nature of a work culture requires the same approach.

Just as muscles can become inflexible, organizations can become inflexible. Systems that made sense in the ’70s may not serve well today. Policies and procedures drafted decades ago may not enable the nimbleness needed to wow your customers now.

Leadership beliefs that are embedded in the autocratic, command-and-control Industrial Age do not inspire employees of any generation.

Many of our organizations – and our leaders – are stuck . . . immovable and inflexible.

Just like Dr. Eric, leaders must work steadily and slowly to break down lousy structures and practices and build up respectful and validating practices.

Some leaders might start with modifying policies and practices that pit people against each other.

Others might begin mentoring leaders who rely on bullying to “inspire” results.

Don’t wait. Begin the subtle refinements that will build clarity, commitment, and cohesion across your organization to sustain a work culture where respect is as important as results.

This is episode one hundred of my Culture Leadership Charge video series. In these concise videos, I share proven practices for building and sustaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture – where good comes first.

You’ll find my Culture Leadership Charge and Good Comes First episodes and more on my YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon Podcast channels. If you like what you learn, please subscribe.

Have you responded to this month’s culture leadership poll? Add your ratings to two questions. It’ll take less than a minute. Once you vote, click “results” to see the responses from around the globe.

The post Culture Leadership Charge – Learning from a chiropractor appeared first on Purposeful Culture Group.

Culture Leadership Charge – A Leader’s 2022 Call to Action

I’m reflecting on an anniversary this month. Twenty-eight years ago this month I had a heart attack.

It was not how I planned to spend the day.

Thanks to exceptional health professionals, dedicated family, and the grace of God, I survived.

Like many others who have experienced a significant health issue, my heart attack caused me to reflect on my life. I knew my job at the time was not a great fit for me. I was not using my talents to proactively serve others.

So, I left that role and started on the culture educator and consultant path. I am grateful to help leaders build and sustain workplaces where everyone is respected and validated for their ideas, efforts, and contributions every day.

I pray you never have a myocardial infarction. Maybe my story can inspire reflection and action in the coming months.

The world is going through a “heart attack” today. The pandemic has caused employees to reflect – and many have come to the conclusion that their workplaces are not healthy. So, they resign. Since April, more than 24 million US workers have voluntarily quit their jobs.

Of those employees who have remained at work, a new global McKinsey study found that 40% of employees are likely to quit in the next three to six months.

These numbers tell a sorrowful tale: our workplaces suck. Why? Because leaders don’t make respect as important as results.

When leaders tolerate bad behavior — bullying, harassment, and worse — that’s what they’ll get across their work culture. If they define good behavior — respect, validation, and more — and hold everyone accountable for that good behavior, that’s what they’ll get across their work culture. The reality is leaders build a healthy work culture upon the constructive behaviors rewarded. They destroy a healthy work culture based on the deconstructive behaviors tolerated.

Don’t wait. Don’t let your organization be another statistic in the tsunami of resignations in 2022.

There is a proven pathway to creating an uncompromising work culture where respect drives results. Learn more at GoodComesFirst.com.

This is episode ninety-nine of my Culture Leadership Charge video series. In these concise videos, I share the best practices for creating and sustaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture – where good comes first.

You’ll find my Culture Leadership Charge and Good Comes First episodes and more on my YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon Podcast channels. If you like what you learn, please subscribe.

Have you responded to this month’s culture leadership poll? Add your ratings to two questions. It’ll take less than a minute. Once you vote, click “results” to see the responses from around the globe.

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Culture Leadership Charge – 3 Things to Boost Retention

If you’re trying to hire staff right now, you’re not having fun. The US Federal Reserve Bank in September estimated that the average time required to fill an open job rose from 20 days to 50 days over the previous four months.

And a new global McKinsey study found that 40% of respondents are somewhat likely to quit in the next three to six months. 18% of those said their intentions to quit ranged from likely to almost certain.

This study also revealed why so many employees are ready to walk out your door. The three driving factors were 1) employees didn’t feel valued by their organization (54% said this), 2) employees didn’t feel valued by their managers (stated by 52%), and 3) employees didn’t feel a sense of belonging at work (stated by 51%).

The pandemic has changed what people expect of their workplaces, colleagues, and bosses. Leaders don’t know how to meet those changing expectations. Leaders want to go back to “the way it was” because that’s the only way they know how to manage.

Employees have learned they have a voice and they have a choice. How can business leaders change their mindset and change their work cultures? By making respect as important as results.

In our new book, Good Comes First, co-author Mark Babbitt and I outline a proven approach that boosts engagement, service, and results and profits within 18 months of implementing our change process.

The process requires three things of leaders and team members.

First, it requires partnership. Leaders must invite team members to co-create an uncompromising work culture that treats everyone with respect in every interaction. By defining the behaviors required for respect and validation, leaders and team members can co-create an uncompromising culture.

Second, it requires role modeling. Leaders must be proactive champions of the new behaviors – modeling them, celebrating them, measuring them, coaching them, and mentoring others to embrace those behaviors.

Third, it requires accountability. Leaders must recognize and validate team members’ ideas, efforts, and contributions while re-directing behaviors that discount, demean, or dismiss people or efforts. Leaders can no longer tolerate disrespectful treatment by anyone.

Change is not easy – but “staying the old course” is not an option. Not today. Move forward, together with team members, to sustain a purposeful, positive, productive work culture.

This is episode ninety-eight of my Culture Leadership Charge video series. In these concise videos, I share the best practices for creating and sustaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture – where good comes first.

You’ll find my Culture Leadership Charge episodes, Good Comes First interviews, and more on my YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon Podcast channels. If you like what you learn, please subscribe.

Have you responded to this month’s culture leadership poll? Add your ratings to two questions. It’ll take less than a minute. Once you vote, click “results” to see the responses from around the globe.

The post Culture Leadership Charge – 3 Things to Boost Retention appeared first on Purposeful Culture Group.

Culture Leadership Charge – Respect Must Come First

Years ago, a friend received some brilliant leadership advice from a mentor. The mentor said, “How you treat people today becomes conversation around their dinner table tonight.”

Today, it’s not just dinner table conversations that leaders need to be aware of. It’s Glassdoor.com and social media platforms where examples of great or lousy leadership efforts go viral with just a click!

As a culture geek, I’m constantly asking people what their company’s work culture is like. People are surprised that I’m interested – and they tell me their perceptions.

Last week I asked a member of a health and wellness company what their work culture is like. She responded immediately. She said:

“Our company rocks! I have worked here since the fall of 2019.
We are an awesome team of friends. Everyone truly cares about everyone else.
We all put our heart and soul into our work each day.
We do what it takes each day because we believe in the products, our customers’ experiences all matter, and we enjoy helping others help themselves.
When challenges arrive… we roll up our sleeves and work together to solve problems together.”

That’s a powerful testimonial to a purposeful, positive, productive work culture. And stories about culture like this are far too rare.

Employees—of all generations—desire and deserve workplaces where they are respected and validated for their ideas, efforts, and contributions, every day.

Most business leaders do not see their job as creating a respectful workplace. They see their job was creating a productive workplace.

Leaders today don’t pay attention to the degree to which their work cultures demean, discount, and dismiss employees’ ideas, efforts, and accomplishments.

To most leaders, employees’ need for respect, validation, and recognition of their contributions is not important. The only thing that matters is results.

The reality is that when team members feel respected and validated at work, engagement goes up by 40%, customer service goes up by 40%, and results and profits go up by 35%. https://drtc.me/proof

Every leader that hears these numbers perks up at the results gains!

The trick is that results don’t come first. Respect drives engagement which drives service which drives results.

Respect must come first. Learn more at https://goodcomesfirst.com.

This is episode ninety-seven of my Culture Leadership Charge video series. In these concise videos, I share the best practices for creating and sustaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture – where good comes first.

You’ll find my Culture Leadership Charge episodes and more on my YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon Podcast channels. If you like what you learn, please subscribe.

Have you responded to this month’s culture leadership poll? Add your ratings to two questions. It’ll take less than a minute. Once you vote, click “results” to see the responses from around the globe.

The post Culture Leadership Charge – Respect Must Come First appeared first on Purposeful Culture Group.

Good Comes First – Leaders Model the Culture They Want

Today’s video features Good Comes First book co-authors Mark Babbitt and yours truly discussing a core foundation of a purposeful, positive, productive work culture. Here’s an excerpt.

Mark: “I often say, Chris, that most of what I learned about leadership was on the baseball field as a coach for three decades now. On the diamond, I learned that if you set rules and then you don’t follow those rules yourself – for instance, if you say showing up late to practice is unacceptable, but then you show up late – you’ve not only destroyed the values. You’ve not only destroyed the culture. You destroyed integrity, trust, respect.”

Chris: “How do they know what to believe?”

Mark: “In writing this book and in our work together, we got to learn from good bosses, the great bosses, and those that weren’t so great. It’s been interesting and in a couple of places within Good Comes First, we compare good comes first cultures with not so good cultures and good leaders with not so good leaders.

And it’s been very interesting to put in words what makes a great leader and, and what makes a leader untrustworthy. Some of these examples from clients helped us see where the failures are coming from.

Leaders bring us in. They say they want their culture to steer toward good. But then when we actually get in there, you find out the leaders aren’t the problem solvers. They’re actually the problem.

The best leaders by far we’ve discovered over the years and now with Good Comes First are the mentor-based leaders, the servant leaders.

That’s why mentorship is so important within Good Comes First. If you say that one of our values is we respect each other enough to show up on time and to be fully present, you have to follow the rules you set.

I have to model them. I have to coach them. I have to expect them, not just from other people, but from myself and every leader.

That’s not a common characteristic of many leaders. They don’t hold themselves accountable.

Leaders can’t just keep doing what they’ve been doing and expect their culture to change.

in Good Comes First, we help you develop an uncompromising company culture, where everybody knows what to expect every single day. And people are expected to live up to those expectations every single day. And so we can’t keep leading as we used to lead.”

Good Comes First publishes on September 28, 2021. Learn more and order your copy at GoodComesFirst.com.

This is episode six of our Good Comes First video series. You’ll find Good Comes First and Culture Leadership Charge episodes and more on my YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon Podcast channels.

Have you responded to this month’s culture leadership poll? Add your ratings to two questions – it takes less than a minute. Once you vote, click “results” to see the responses from around the globe.

Video production was brilliantly handled by Phelos Productions – Chris Archuleta and David Towers.

The post Good Comes First – Leaders Model the Culture They Want appeared first on Purposeful Culture Group.

Good Comes First – Make values measurable and socially relevant

Today’s video features Good Comes First book co-authors Mark Babbitt and yours truly discussing a core foundation of a purposeful, positive, productive work culture. Here’s an excerpt.

Chris: “What I find when I, you and I both experienced that as we work with leaders to help them define what values mean, what does respect mean? What are the two or three behaviors that you want? Teamwork? To demonstrate with each other, with their bosses. You want bosses to demonstrate with current staff, potential hires, customers, etc.

You have to get very, very specific in essence, create measurable behaviors that define what your values are. And then most leaders would say, “Cool. Let’s announce those. And then everyone will magically embrace them.” Well, that’s not what happens. So just as leaders have been taught and trained and incented over decades, maybe centuries to formalize performance expectations and monitor the tar out of them and then don’t celebrate much, but redirect a lot, mentor a lot.”

Mark: “The definition is key to Good Comes First, to create an uncompromising company culture. You and I worked with a client and we ask them to define integrity. And we asked 20 people what integrity means and we got 14 different answers. How do we get people on the same page? Even when your company says that’s a core value there’s no agreement on what it looks like.

14 different answers! And so it becomes a war of words. And I think that’s what Good Comes First does: Clearly define that value. So it’s not ambiguous. It’s not open to interpretation. No, this is how we see integrity here.

Here’s what integrity means to us. And here’s another key thing that came from that work was a lot of people, especially younger employees, tied integrity to social issues. They said, “We can’t act one way inside the walls and then ignore what’s going on in the outside of the world.” We started writing this book three years ago, but from the very beginning, one of our cornerstones for Good Comes First was to use our voice for good.

Now, since we started writing that we’ve had several issues, including black lives matter, police injustice, and other social inequities that, that have surfaced. And it’s just magnified almost in a way that the hybrid, the remote workforce that we started talking about three years ago in the book, it, companies started perfecting that as the book was being written.

Corporate America has gotten a lot better at remote work over the last 18 months, but we haven’t gotten better yet at the social issues. We’re still fighting those every day. And, the cornerstone user voice. We can no longer sit back and go, ‘All we care about is our shareholders. All we care about is market share.’ We have to have a voice in the world and we have to stand up for what’s right.”

Good Comes First will be released on September 28, 2021. Learn more and pre-order your copy at GoodComesFirst.com.

This is episode five of our Good Comes First video series. You’ll find Good Comes First and Culture Leadership Charge episodes and more on my YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon Podcast channels.

Have you responded to this month’s culture leadership poll? Add your ratings to two questions – it takes less than a minute. Once you vote, click “results” to see the responses from around the globe.

Video production was brilliantly handled by Phelos Productions – Chris Archuleta and David Towers.

The post Good Comes First – Make values measurable and socially relevant appeared first on Purposeful Culture Group.

Good Comes First – Helping leaders make respect as important as results

Today’s video features Good Comes First book co-authors Mark Babbitt and yours truly discussing what it takes to build and sustain an uncompromising work culture. Here’s an excerpt.

Chris: Once leaders get to a stage where they realize “This is not sustainable. We’re not going to be able to attract the kind of talent we need. We’re not going to be able to manage using, you know, everybody around the conference room table so I can yell at you!” A toxic work culture doesn’t translate to global remote digital nomads, which, which in a lot of cases is what employees are able to do.

We want leaders who understand that it could be better – who understand it could be different – to be able to look at our process. In essence, the process is three pieces. It’s define the culture you want. then align practices, people, behaviors, decisions to that defined uncompromising culture and third, refine it over time.

The idea of, as you say, if leaders promote good comes first, they must make respect as important as results. We have to teach leader how to implement this change.

Mark: The teaching part is what excites me most about working with you on this book. We both take a mentor approach to everything we do in our businesses and in our personal lives.

And it was fun to actually create a model where we could teach people – not talk at them – but work with them to model the behaviors themselves, coach those behaviors, to monitor, measure the behaviors, and mentor people through the change.

Occasionally when you have people that aren’t living up to the new expectations. What can you do?

Too many business books talk at you, not with you. They tell you exactly what to do at what moment, but in a, not in an actionable way. In this book we actually create the steps where if you first model and then you coach, and then you measure, well, now you have something quantifiable to go back to an individual and say, look, your performance is actually really good, but you’re not showing the level of respect that we demand now within our new culture and we’re going to work on that. We’re very happy with this, but we’re going to work with you on this.

And Good Comes First walks a leader through that. So it’s, it’s not a personality thing. It’s not a toxic thing. It’s not even a negative thing. It’s like, “No, you have to be both a high performer and you have to have high values.

And we’re going to measure both. We’re going to monitor both and we’re going to help get you into the, into the higher sector of both of those areas – results and respect. And then you’re a model corporate citizen.”

Good Comes First will be released on September 28, 2021. Learn more and pre-order your copy at GoodComesFirst.com.

This is episode four of our Good Comes First video series. You’ll find Good Comes First and Culture Leadership Charge episodes and more on my YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon Podcast channels.

Have you responded to this month’s culture leadership poll? Add your ratings to two questions – it takes less than a minute. Once you vote, click “results” to see the responses from around the globe.

Video production was brilliantly handled by Phelos Productions – Chris Archuleta and David Towers.

The post Good Comes First – Helping leaders make respect as important as results appeared first on Purposeful Culture Group.

Good Comes First – There’s no labor shortage. There’s a respect shortage.

Today’s video features Good Comes First book co-authors Mark Babbitt and yours truly discussing what it takes to build and sustain an uncompromising work culture. Here’s an excerpt.

Mark: “Let’s talk about this ‘old normal, new normal.’ What we’re doing with Good Comes First is creating a new normal or creating a means by which to generate a new normal. We don’t have to go back to a toxic work culture. One of the things we’re seeing in the news as we talk today is this concept of a labor shortage.

There is no labor shortage. There’s a respect shortage, and people don’t need to go back to work. Why go back to work if all you’re going to get is disrespect? If you’re going to have to work with a toxic colleague or worse, a toxic boss – the government has set it up now and eventually those benefits will run out.

Why go back to work if you’re less happy than you are sitting at home watching Netflix?”

Chris: “I think people can afford to be choosy. Some are in a different position with that, Some have a greater ability to wait two or three months. Even folks that are jumping in and taking what is available now, they’re looking for something more. They’re looking for a leader they can respect, a leader that inspires them, a leader that drives the company to serve others.

Those needs are not just post-pandemic. Now this is a team that I’m interested in, right? This is a purpose that I’m inspired by. But it also gets to the idea that younger generations are not inspired by some of the things that our boomer males – we talk about boomer male syndrome in the book – about old school thinking and procedures and systems and disrespectful treatment – and younger generations are simply not going to put up with that.”

Mark: “That’s also a part of the why Good Comes First is needed now. In a short while Gen-Y and Gen-Z will represent 75% of the workforce – and they’re not going to tolerate an autocratic boss. They’re they’re not going to go to work happily knowing that when they get there they might hear those words, ‘You’re just lucky to have a job. We can replace you tomorrow.’ They want to feel validated. They want to feel trusted. They want to know that there’s opportunity for growth.

In Good Comes First, we focus on those issues. Those issues lead directly to respect and, when people feel respected – and this is a foundational principle of Good Comes First – when leaders equally value respect and results.”

Watch this video for the authors’ insights on how holding everyone accountable for both respect and results has such a powerful positive impact.

Good Comes First will be released on September 28, 2021. Learn more and pre-order your copy at GoodComesFirst.com.

This is episode three of our Good Comes First video series. You’ll find Good Comes First and Culture Leadership Charge episodes and more on my YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon Podcast channels.

Have you responded to this month’s culture leadership poll? Add your ratings to two questions – it takes less than a minute. Once you vote, click “results” to see the responses from around the globe.

Video production was brilliantly handled by Phelos Productions – Chris Archuleta and David Towers.

The post Good Comes First – There’s no labor shortage. There’s a respect shortage. appeared first on Purposeful Culture Group.

Good Comes First – Why attrition can be your friend during culture refinement

Today’s video features Good Comes First book co-authors Mark Babbitt and yours truly discussing what it takes to build and sustain an uncompromising work culture. Here’s an excerpt.

Mark: Chris, toward the end of the book we talk about not just what it takes for leaders to become change champions, but how to build a team that will support, live, model a good comes first work culture. And the reality is this is not always an easy process. It takes months and years to actually execute.

One of the criteria that we talk about is that attrition is your best friend. Not everybody’s going to thrive within a good comes first culture. There will be players that you must lovingly set free. Let them go work somewhere else where it’s okay just to collect a paycheck. Where integrity doesn’t matter. Where values aren’t monitored and measured, and certainly where respect isn’t on the same pedestal as results.

That’s not what you want in a good comes first culture. The premise of a good comes first culture is good people doing good work in a good place to work.

Chris: I’m so taken by some of the conversations we’ve had with leaders. I’ve had a senior leader demonstrate such anger at a player on the leadership team. She said, “He drives performance. His sales team is doing great. But I can’t trust anything this guy says! The next day I find that it’s not truthful, that that’s not honest, that’s not the full story.” It’s an issue of high performance and low values. And I asked, “How long has this guy been here?” “10 years.” I asked, “Have there been good times? Have there been validating times?” “Not enough,” she said. “Not enough.”

Watch this video for the authors’ insights on how holding everyone accountable for both respect and results has such a powerful positive impact.

Good Comes First will be released on September 28, 2021. Learn more and purchase your copy at GoodComesFirst.com.

This is episode two of our Good Comes First video series. You’ll find Good Comes First and Culture Leadership Charge episodes and more on my YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon Podcast channels.

Have you responded to this month’s culture leadership poll? Add your ratings to two questions – it takes less than a minute. Once you vote, click “results” to see the responses from around the globe.

Video production was brilliantly handled by Phelos Productions – Chris Archuleta and David Towers.

The post Good Comes First – Why attrition can be your friend during culture refinement appeared first on Purposeful Culture Group.