One Mistake Leaders Make That kills a Winning Company Culture!

Leaders keep making a big mistakes when they're looking to build company culture. I've worked for large corporations, startups, agencies, and 'mom and pops.' I help companies see people for who they are, how they respond to their products, what they like, what they don't like, what resonates, and what doesn't. I talk with many people, and the pattern is clear; yet, leaders keep missing it. I even share this with many leaders, and they often dismiss the very idea. I don't know all the pressures they're under, especially the kind of pressure that would encourage them  to gloss over the info, or worse, push back and say, 'this just isn't true in my organization.' So what is it? Drum roll, please! Leaders don't but must provide safety for their staff: physical, mental, and emotional security. They need to create a psychologically safe space. Now, we're going to do talk about that subject a lot. The quickest way to see talent walk out the door, the biggest blocker to building a winning, excellent, beautiful company culture, is not providing the space for people to speak their truth, make mistakes, be empowered to take risks. How do leaders make this happen? Create a safe space in their organizations. 

No one is perfect, and the pressure that we put on ourselves to be, feel, or do perfect is ridiculous. It's not achievable. It doesn't allow us the freedom to experiment and explore. And that's a mistake! We need to do both for ourselves and the community around us a huge favor: embrace risk-taking, be allowed to fail and fall. Think this is impossible? Go back to the time when you first learned to ride a bike. I know not everyone is fortunate enough to have a bike, have access to a bike, or have the physical ability to ride their bike. But for those who can identify, go back to when you rode that bike the first time. There are all sorts of techniques out there: no pedals with pedals, holding the bike and running alongside pushing, wobbly balance et al. The most successful stories include the 'trainer'  supporting the child, allowing them to fail, and helping them back up to try again; it's almost a rite of passage to fall. 

On the other side, the bike rider, the employee, the budding risk-taker doesn't want to fall, and they brace themselves when they're about to. Sometimes they have to armor up their skin a little bit. You see this with designers. When designs are critiqued a lot, it's easy to feel that burn that 'Ouch!' moment. The design might majorly suck, too, especially at the beginning of a career. If you're amidst a company culture that says, 'Hey, it's okay to make mistakes, keep taking risks because risk leads to innovation, and innovation is what keeps us in front of the competition.' Wow! What a boost. Time to quote The Greatest Show, 

'It's everything you ever want

It's everything you ever need

And it's here right in front of you

This is where you wanna be.'

Okay, leaders, time to shift - start taking risks, create that culture. Suddenly different people start conjuring and sharing great ideas about how to make the product or service more attractive; this leads to attracting more talent who, in turn, brings big broad brushstrokes of creativity and combines it with its nuances of fine-tuned delivery. And you get celebrated too because you gave people an ideal opportunity to take risks. Of course, as they start taking risks, mistakes will happen, things will go awry, maybe even chaotic. But you provide a pathway to get back on track without reprimanding or extreme correction, but by giving guidance, 'here's what we might consider the next time.' You created a place where multiple voices can supportively share in the journey.

Have you been part of a company culture that didn't implement an environment for you to contribute your whole self, flaws and all? 

Of course, this wouldn't mean that every idea you express is funded and launched. Yet the feeling that you have leadership's support, their open hand, a listening ear, and a little leeway to see what might be. Plus, a bit of healthy competition where the best ideas win is a good thing. Unfortunately, in many places, those formative moments of solution creation, life is stamped out of anything that doesn't fit in the narrowest path. That's a problem!  That narrow path likely only includes a cis-gender white male's perspective. So those not on the path are those that are already disadvantaged in some manner. And they continue to lose their footing, slipping further into the shadows of the forest maze of opportunity, never reaching the center target destination. 

Good ideas can come from everywhere!

Everyone is a leader. Give people room, freedom, strength, empower them to speak up, contributing all of themselves. Allow good ideas to launch and give it breathing room, knowing that many will be unsuccessful. Success is found in committed, joyful employees who wholly contribute because they feel safe. Everyone is a leader.