{"id":843,"date":"2018-05-30T16:10:24","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T16:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/?p=843"},"modified":"2018-05-31T07:05:17","modified_gmt":"2018-05-31T07:05:17","slug":"chester-elton-organizational-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/chester-elton-organizational-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Chester Elton, Partner and Founder, The Culture Works"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chester<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

#1 Bestselling Business Author, Organizational Culture, Employee Engagement and Leadership Expert<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of today\u2019s most influential voices in workplace trends, Chester Elton has spent two decades helping clients engage their employees to execute on strategy, vision, and values. In his provocative, inspiring and always entertaining talks, #1 bestselling leadership author Chester Elton provides real solutions to leaders looking to manage change, drive innovation, and lead a multi-generational workforce. Elton\u2019s work is supported by research with more than 850,000 working adults, revealing the proven secrets behind high-performance cultures and teams.<\/p>\n

He has been called the \u201capostle of appreciation\u201d<\/strong> by Canada\u2019s\u00a0Globe and Mail<\/em>, \u201ccreative and refreshing\u201a\u201d by the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>, and a \u201cmust read for modern managers\u201d by CNN, Elton is co-author of the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0and #1\u00a0USA Today<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Wall Street Journal\u00a0<\/em>bestselling leadership books,\u00a0All In<\/em>,\u00a0The Carrot Principle<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Best Team Wins<\/em><\/a>. His books have been translated in more than 30 languages and have sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Global Gurus research organization ranked him as #13 in the world\u2019s top leadership experts<\/strong> and #5 in the world\u2019s top organizational culture experts<\/strong>; and he is a member of\u00a0Marshall Goldsmith\u2019s 100 Coaches (MG100)<\/a>, pay it forward project.<\/p>\n

Elton is the co-founder of The Culture Works<\/strong>, a global training company. He serves as a leadership consultant to firms such as American Express, AT&T, Avis Budget Group and Procter & Gamble. He is most proud, however, to be the father of four exceptional children with his lovely wife Heidi.<\/p>\n

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What does Culture mean to you?<\/span><\/h1>\n
Culture to me is how you feel about your work every day. It is an emotional connection.\u00a0I think that when you have a good culture, you\u00a0understand not just what you do and how you do it, but WHY you do what you do. It\u2019s the WHY, that separates the great cultures from those that simply get the work done.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
When that is achieved you can attract and retain the best people in your industry. In today’s fast-paced business environment being able to create the right culture to\u00a0attract the best talent is everything. The best cultures\u00a0<\/span>engage\u00a0people on the emotional level.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
That to me is what culture is all about.<\/span><\/div>\n

What are the major\u00a0determinants\u00a0of organizational culture?<\/span><\/h1>\n
The biggest\u00a0factor in\u00a0determining a culture starts right at the top.\u00a0The leaders.\u00a0Their actions and behavior set the\u00a0tone for everyone else.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Everyone watches the leader see what is acceptable behavior. From the\u00a0CEO\u00a0to the team leader this is the biggest determinate for me. Their actions give everyone else permission to do the same. So, to me getting the leaders right is the most important task in building a great culture.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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When you\u00a0have the\u00a0wrong leader with the wrong values\u00a0things can get very bad very quickly. Reputations and brands can be destroyed and customer confidence\u00a0disappears.<\/span><\/div>\n
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When you have the right leaders in place the opposite happens. You attract good talent and customer loyalty goes up.\u00a0<\/span>Get the leadership right. It all starts there.<\/span><\/div>\n

What is the role of employees in\u00a0organizational culture?<\/span><\/h1>\n
The employees are your culture. From top to bottom everyone owns the culture. It doesn\u2019t matter what the website says the mission and vision is, if that isn\u2019t on display every day with every employee in the\u00a0<\/span>company you haven\u2019t got anything.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Often, we\u00a0think that once the posters go up and the website is all done that our work is finished. The\u00a0truly great cultures work on getting the behaviors right every day. Making sure that everyone has a way to recognize and reinforce the\u00a0right behaviors is key. Simple things like thank you notes to team members, one on one reviews with the line manager or supervisor on a monthly basis, or even more often, help to make\u00a0sure everyone is\u00a0loving the values every day.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
The culture is owned by everyone in the organization. Everyone!<\/span><\/div>\n

What are common problems associated with managing organizational culture?<\/span><\/h1>\n
This is an excellent question. We are often so caught up in getting things done every day that we forget that it is the soft skills that make the biggest\u00a0difference in\u00a0getting\u00a0the culture right.\u00a0I talk a lot about\u00a0\u201cManaging\u00a0got the one.\u201d In other words, making sure we know our people as\u00a0individuals and don\u2019t let blanket policies stop us from making sure we have the right people in the right jobs where they can be passionate about what they do.\u00a0I think that often we don\u2019t take the time to really engage with each other.\u00a0The best cultures are places where we know each\u00a0other as people, not just co-workers.<\/span><\/div>\n

What are the ways to\u00a0innovate company culture? And best practices to\u00a0<\/span>share.<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n
Innovation when it comes to culture is getting back to human. What\u00a0I mean by that is making sure we have\u00a0personal and meaningful connections at work. When we have real human connections at work everything gets better. I have found the best way to do that is through appreciation.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
H<\/span>ere is one small example. A great leader\u00a0I\u00a0know at AVIS Rental Cars uses one simple idea that has made all the difference. He puts 10 coins in his pocket and sets a goal to have 10 positive interactions with his\u00a0people\u00a0<\/span>every day. He keeps track by moving one coin from his left pocket to his right pocket every time it happens.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
It is so\u00a0<\/span>simple and yet very effective.\u00a0His message to his team is that there are good things happening every day where we work and we should be just a quick to point those out as we are to point out what has gone wrong. It builds a culture of trust and appreciation. It works.\u00a0I\u00a0hope you will\u00a0give it try with 10 coins in your pocket. It takes practice and is well worth your time and effort.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

One last thought is that these are important ideas in creating a great workplace culture and they as\u00a0<\/span>Los\u00a0work in creating your own\u00a0personal culture. These ideas apply to our families and personal relationships too.\u00a0I hope that we can’t leave all these great ideas at work ut take them home with us as well.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"Do<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

#1 Bestselling Business Author, Organizational Culture, Employee Engagement and Leadership Expert One of today\u2019s most influential voices in workplace trends, Chester Elton has spent two decades helping clients engage their employees to execute on strategy, vision, and values. In his provocative, inspiring and always entertaining talks, #1 bestselling leadership author Chester Elton provides real solutions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12,8,11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843\/revisions\/851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}