9 TAHAP PERUBAHAN BUDAYA ORGANISASI

The 9 Clear Steps to Organizational Culture Change. By Tim KupplerNovember 26, 2013

Step 1 : Evaluate Current Culture & Performance

Step 2 : Clarify Vision
DEFINE
Step 3 : Clarify Values & Expected Behavior

Step 7 : Maintain a management system

for priorites & goals
Step 8 : Manage Communication habits & Step 4 : Clarify Strategic Priorities
routines Step
BUILD 5 : Engage your team in defiing Smart Goals
THE
Step 9 : Build motivation throughout the Step 6 : Clarify and Track Key Measures
CULTURE
process FOUNDATION

MANAGE ALIGN

(mirip process 4dx ya)

 The bottom line from the Booz & Company culture study is this: 96 percent said culture change is
eeded.
o Merubah kantor jadi analog
o Berubah bisnis menjadi red ocean
o Rasa aman menjadi rasa nyaman
 We believe the answer is to build your unique culture foundation. (to support your propose
/strategy)
o Every organization that excels at building, reinforcing, and leveraging their unique
culture in support of delivering sustainable performance has built a strong “culture
foundation.”

Building a strong foundation (Define-Align-Manage)

 Initial effort is focused on :
o a couple of key behaviors
o only 1-2 critical performance priorities
so progress and momentum can build.


I. Define

Begin with the end in mind – Stephen Covey

  Step 1 – Evaluate your current culture and performance: 1) Define your 1-3 critical
performance priorities – e.g. growth, profitability, customer satisfaction, etc.; 2) identify your 3-
5 value/behavior strengths and 3) identify no more than 1-3 value/behavior weaknesses that are
holding back your organization from achieving its full potential with the performance priorities
you defined.
 Step 2 – Clarify your initial vision: Define your vision for improving results with only one or two
of the performance priorities from step No. 1 and how you will build a culture advantage by
leveraging the value/behavior strengths and improving the weaknesses. Clearly communicate
how you will work together to improve the weak areas since they are holding your organization
back from supporting your purpose and stakeholders.
 Step 3 – Clarify values and expected behaviors: Define supporting expected behaviors for the 1-
3 weaknesses that you identified in step #1. These behaviors would be consistently exhibited in
your organization if you were “living your values.” People interpret values from their own
perspective so define expected behaviors like Zappos, The Container Store, and others.

Align

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision – Andrew Carnegie

 Step 4 – Clarify strategic priorities: Define and clearly share the 3-5 actionable strategic
priorities that your organization will focus on to support the 1-2 performance priorities included
in your initial vision from the Define steps. If the performance priority is growth, will it be
achieved through new products or services, revised sales strategies, growth with current
customers, or other strategies. Employees want and need to understand the big picture.
 Step 5 – Engage your team in defining SMART goals: Engage your organization and utilize
extensive feedback and prioritization to define the objectives that support each strategic
priority. These goals need defined in a way to support the expected behaviors for the 1-2
weaknesses you identified from the Define steps. For example, if accountability is a weakness,
goals should include more disciplined plans, measures, reviews, recognition, and other
approaches to support the behavior you need. Goals also need translated to all levels in larger
organizations so people understand how work on their goals and measures impacts the broader
organization.
 Step 6 – Clarify and track key measures: Identify a small number of overall measures that
support the one or two top performance priorities from the Define steps. It may help to have
one highly visible “unifying metric” even if some employees don’t directly influence it.

Manage

A culture of discipline is not a principle of business, it is a principle of greatness – Jim Collins

 Step 7 – Maintain a management system for priorities and goals: Most organizations have a
system to track or monitor the status of priorities and goals. These reviews need adjusted to
focus additional time and attention on the top performance priorities and value/behavior shifts
identified in the Define steps. The focus must be on results and supporting the behavior shift
through recognition, coaching, removing barriers, etc.
 Step 8 – Manage communication habits and routines: Transparent, genuine and consistent
communication is needed about your performance improvement journey and the role of culture
 so all employees feel part of the process. Regularly scheduled sessions with two-way
communication and extensive informal approaches are needed to emphasize expected
behaviors and results. Use these sessions to clarify plans, answer questions, expose rumors and
reduce drama.
 Step 9 – Build motivation throughout the process: Feedback and recognition are critical to the
process. Share and celebrate progress in a transparent manner as a standard part of regular
communication activities. Confront reality when improvements don’t go as planned and re-
engage your team to prioritize adjustments.

BUILDING UNIQUE CULTURE

https://www.tlnt.com/the-9-clear-steps-to-organizational-culture-change/
acts & Definitions

Some of the facts that are stated or that can be inferred after reading this book are following:

 Most of the schools teach you to define strategy and they hardly teach you on execution
 Most of the time people fail on execution and the obvious reason is that you have not learned
that yet
 Three reasons individuals disengage from work are – anonymity (feels their leader don’t know /
care what they are doing), irrelevance (don’t understand how his / her work is creating
difference) and immeasurement (unable to access their contribution)
 Whirlwind are your day-to-day job and you do need to continue with that. You cannot get rid of
that as it is necessary for your survival
 Whirlwind creates urgency and it acts on you
 Goals are something important and you act on them to often smoothen the whirlwind
 Urgency and Importance don’t get along nicely and when they fight, urgency wins most of the
time
 There are three types of strategy that you often see – stroke of the pen, whirlwind, behavioural
changes. Bringing in behavioural change is the most difficult aspect
 Every company has 3-types of people
o Models (top performers) – generally 20%
o Middle Group – generally 60%
o Resisters – generally 20%
 As part of behavioural goal you need to move the middle and shift them towards right (model)
to keep the right as tight. Of course you to need to nurture your models.
 The lesser the goals the higher the possibility of achieving them with excellence. When the
number of goals are 2-3 then you can achieve 2-3 goals with excellence. Law of diminishing
return is pretty much applicable on number of goals that you choose.
 We often fixate on  the lag measure, which is easy to measure and easily visible success criteria
and of course that is what we want to achieve. However, since we measure it after the time has
been spent, we cannot do much about it.
 Lead measures lead to lag measure and it foretells whether you will achieve your lag measure or
not.
o It has two important characteristics – predictive (i.e. if you do something with this then
lag measure will be affected) and influenceable (it can be influenced by team).
o It eliminates elements of surprises
 People play differently when they are keeping score

Following image shows a sample distribution of different groups of people:

The 4 Discipline

Keeping facts in perspective, it is not at all easy to do following

 Identify 2-3 wildly important goals out of the whirlwind of day-to-day job or from outside
 Even if you identify them, measuring the progress becomes challenging
 Assume that you are able to measure the progress, sustaining the progress become further
challenging
 Of course we desire to inculcate a great habit into the individual and team through that goal and
this of course start looking like an uphill task

Following image shows the uphill task of moving the middle right and keeping the right really
tight:
This is why Chris and his team has given us 4 discipline, which when strictly followed, will
enable us to achieve extraordinary result. Namely, they are

1. Focus on the Wildly Important Goal (WIG)

2. Act on the Lead Measure
3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard
4. Create a Cadence of Accountability

These 4 discipline of execution are meant for helping you to execute your important goals in the
midst of the whirlwind.

WIGs

Following rules related to WIGs must be respected:

 No team should have more than 1-2 goals at any given time
 Each WIG must have a finish line – From X to Y by WHEN
 Sub-WIGs can be different but they must ensure success of the parent WIG. The battle must win
the war. In other words, if a battle is not helping you to win the war then see if you can avoid
that battle.
 Senior leaders can veto (on the WIGs determined by team or junior leaders) but they cannot
dictate

Idea is simple, without loosing the track of the events / items in the whirlwind, bring your intense
focus and put most of your energy on one (or maximum two) MOST important goal and achieve
excellence in that. You do need to know that “there will always be more good ideas than there is
a capacity to execute“.
In an organizational environment, the mission and vision often drives the need for behavioural
change. In such cases you may like to look at the following diagram, which emphasizes the focus
area of the 4DX:

Acting on lead measures

The lead measure must be

1. Predictive : Measure something which leads to the WIG or Sub-WIG. What it means is that – if
the lead measure change, you can predict the possible change in lag measure as well
2. Influenceable : Something which can be influenced by the team. What it means is that – team or
individual within the team can come up with action items which may change the lead measure

Following image shows a beautiful example of a lead measure in action:

It is often difficult to identify the lever (lead measure), which will move the rock (lag measure).
It does require quite a bit of brainstorming and commitment. However, when team does come up
with such lever, they bet that they can actually move the rock by moving the lever.

There are two types of lead measure and both are equally important:

 Small Outcomes –  lead measures that focus team achieving the weekly committed results using
the committed method(s)
 Leveraged Behaviours –  lead measures that track the specific behaviours you want the team to
perform throughout the week

Keep a Compelling Scoreboard

While the 4 discipline enabled you to set up a winnable game, the great teams know at every
moment whether they are winning or not. This is where compelling scoreboard, the 3rd principle,
plays its role by compelling the team members to remain focussed on the wildly important goals
as they would love to continue winning.

The compelling scoreboard is for the whole team (coaches / leaders may have more complicated
scoreboard, but that is just meant for him / her), which must have few simple information / graph
on it which clearly indicates “Here’s where we need to be and here’s where we are right now“.
In five seconds or less time anyone can determine whether we are winning or not.

Following is the characteristics of a compelling scoreboard:

 It has to be simple
 It has to be easily visible to the team
 It should show both – the real lead (what the team can affect) and the lag (result they want)
measures
  It has to tell you immediately (five second rule) if you are winning or losing

Create a Cadence of Accountability

The 4th discipline is about creating a frequently recurring cycle (weekly)of  accountability to self
(individual) through commitment to the peers (team) on the ideas (lead measure)  brought
forward by the individual to move / change the lag measure. This is where real execution takes
place. Of course a leader can judge the idea and seek better idea, however, the idea does come
from the individual who are going to execute the lead measure.

This brings in truly repeated accountability due to following reason

 The idea is owned by the individual

 In the weekly WIG session the individual does commit this to the group and hold each other
accountable for taking actions that will move the lead measures resulting in the achievement of
the WIG despite all the whirlwind around the individual / team
 Everyone wants to win in the team
 The score is maintained at team level and thus the team (and generally team leaders) assist in
choosing the effective lead measure and clears path if any blockage is being foreseen. In
nutshell, individual understands that they succeed as a team or fail as a team.
 Since they bring-in the lead measure (on weekly basis, based on latest information and fresh
energy) and they are keeping score, they are always in the game, which is designed to be a
winnable game

WIG Session

Key to the successful implementation of 4th discipline is the sacred weekly WIG session, whose
3-part agenda is following image:
Each person gets 2-3 minutes to talk about these 3-parts where he / she updates on the previous
commitment, reviews scoreboard and talks about the future plan.

The WIG session rules  :

 It must be held on same day and same time without any fail otherwise the momentum will be
lost and WIG will fail
 The whirlwind shall never be allowed in this session
 It must not last more than 20-30 minutes (i.e. you run this in fast and forward mode)
 Scoreboard must be updated before the WIG session
 It must be very focused on the WIG

Key Question for committing to the group is “What are the 1-2 most important things I can do
this week to impact the scoreboard?“.

With all the four rules combined, this is how the system looks like:
What to expect from 4DX

Below image shows 5 stages of installing 4DX in your team:

At different stage there are different challenges and expectations. Following image shows a
sample pyramid for achieving behavioural changes:
In nutshell, there is a method to install 4DX as Operating System in which you can execute
WIGs to achieve the change in behaviour of the individuals / teams.

4DX templates
Focus on WIGs

Using the discovery questions like listed below, you shall be able to figure out the list of WIGs
for the team which will have the overall impact on the organizational WIG

 Which one area of our team’s performance would we want to improve most
 What are the greatest strengths of the team that can be leveraged
 What are the areas where the team’s poor performance needs to be improved

Once a WIG is determined and ranked, following questions help in testing the WIGs

 Is the team WIG aligned to overall WIG

 Is it measurable?
 Who owns the result – the team must own at least 80% of the results
 Who owns the game – team or leader? Note that the game must be owned by the team.

Once the WIG passes the test, you need to define it using following criteria

 Begin with verb

 From X to Y by WHEN
  Keep it simple
 Focus on what, not how
 Must be achievable (winnable)

Once you are able to define them very clearly, choose top 2-3 WIGs on which the team shall be
focussing.

Following image shows the recommended template for recording and finalizing WIGs

Act on lead measures

Like you did for coming up with WIGs, for lead measures also you need to do following

 Identify possible lead measures by asking questions like below (with respect to WIGs)
o What could we do that we have never done before?
o What strength of this team can we use as leverage on the WIGs?
o What do our best performers do differently?
o What weakness might keep us from achieving the WIG?
o What could we do more consistently?
 Rank the lead measures by its impact in WIG
 Test top lead measures using following questions
o Is it predictive?
o Is it influenceable?
o Is it an ongoing process or “once and done”?
o Is it a leader’s game or a team game?
o Can it be measured?
o Is it worth measuring?
o Does it start with verb?
 The lead measures which passes the test, define them in the final form by considering following
questions
o Are we tracking team performance or individual performance?
o Are we tracking the lead measures on daily basis or weekly basis?
 o What is the quantitative standard?
o What is the qualitative standard?
o Is it simple?

Following is the template for coming up with the lead measures:

Keep a compelling scoreboard

The purpose of player’s compelling scoreboard is to motivate the players to WIN through
energetic actions. Also, their scoreboard has to be much simpler than the scoreboard of the
coach. Also, note that the team shall be able to keep their own score and preferably design their
own personalized scoreboard. Following points must be noted while coming up with the
compelling scoreboard:

 Choose a theme based on the type of lead measures – e.g. trend lines, speedometer, bar chart,
Andon, etc
 Put Lag as well as lead measure in a very simple way so that team can see at any point if they
are winning or loosing
 Build the scoreboard
 Keep it updated on agreed frequency through the responsible person(s)

Following is a sample template for creating a scoreboard:

Create a cadence of accountability

The cadence of accountability starts with the question “What are the one or two most important
things I can do this week to impact the team’s performance on the scoreboard?”

In above question you may like to note following qualities

 Very specific and focussed commitment with specific outcomes

 Well defined personal responsibility without any condition (with respect to day-to-day job)
 Time bound – zero tolerance for unfulfilled commitments
 Aligned to moving the scoreboard

Following diagram shows the 3-steps to accountability with all the due respect to the whirlwind:
Key to this 3-step accountability is a successful WIG session. Following important aspects must
be respected for a successful WIG session

 Hold WIG session as scheduled – every week same day, same time and at same place
 Keep the session brief – 20-30 minutes
 Set the standard as a leader – you shall not be asking your team anything which you are
unwilling to do yourself
 Post the scoreboard – Update the scoreboard before the session
 Celebrate successes – reinforce commitment to WIG by congratulating team and the individual
 Share learning
 Refuse to let whirlwind enter
 Clear the path for each other
 Execute in spite of the whirlwind

Below is the sample template for managing WIG Session:

While you can come up with your own template, the bottom line is that there should be a way to
ensure participation and fulfilment of commitments.

Rolling Out 4DX

Following are the key aspects of successful roll out of the 4 disciplines

 must be implemented as a process, not an event

 must be implemented with intact teams
 must be implemented by the leaders closest from the front line

Following 6 step installation process leads to adoption of 4 discipline as an Operating System:

1. Clarify the overall WIG

2. Design the team WIGs and Lead Measures
3. Leader clarification – Scoreboard design, WIG Session Skill and Launch meeting preparation
4. Team Launch
5. Execution with coaching
6. Quarterly summits

Great Quotes

I really liked following quotes in this book:

 If luck is playing significant role in your career, then you are fixating on lag measure!
 There will always be more good ideas than there is a capacity to execute
 Many believe that engagement drive results, however, we know now, and have witnessed over
the years, that results drive engagement
  Nothing affects morale and engagement more powerfully than when a person feels he or she is
winning
 People are not stupid and they are not lazy; they are just busy
 If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
 The pain of discipline is far less than the pain of regret

References

 http://businessexcellenceclub.com/change/effective-execution
 https://charger4dx.wikispaces.com/Chapter+2+Lag+and+Lead+Measures
 https://www.my4dx.com/library/videos/NewLook/index.html
 http://www.4dxbook.com/
 https://www.team.my4dx.com/
 http://addicted2success.com/motivation/23-rare-motivational-quotes-that-will-knock-your-
block-off/
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQnOMY98fGg
 http://www.fastcompany.com/1835210/how-set-wildly-important-goals-and-what-theyll-do-
you
 https://classes.lt.unt.edu/Summer_10W_2012/CECS_5420_020/lah0228/final-project/
educational-projects/powerpoint/WIG_Powerpoint.pdf

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One thought on “The 4 Disciplines of Execution – a personal notes”

1. Carl Tunkel

January 18, 2016 at 4:45 pm

4dx is a distraction from the real job and is a joke

 Reply

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Building a High-Performance Culture: Raise It Up or Tear It Down?

10/13/2016

0 Comments

 
“A culture is made—or destroyed—by its articulate voices.” ~ Ayn Rand

As an organizational leader, you can consider yourself to be a “cultural architect.” It is your job to create
and sustain culture in an organization. Yet shaping the culture can, at times, be a heavy burden to carry.

Your organization’s culture is the foundation upon which your results sit. A weak, dysfunctional or
misaligned culture will usually yield poor results. A strong, high-functioning, well-aligned culture, on the
other hand, will typically bind people together to produce amazing results.

Organizational culture is generally defined as the values, beliefs, symbols and norms people follow in the
execution of an organization’s day-to-day business transactions. It shows up in behaviors that are
considered acceptable and unacceptable — behaviors that begin and end with the attitudes and actions
of leadership.

6 Phases of Construction for Building Culture

So, as leaders, you can choose to either build a high-performance culture or allow a variety of
destructive forces to tear down your culture. If we look at the raising up of an effective culture as a
construction project, here are six phases of the job that you’ll need to complete:

1. Goal setting: The building plans. Every construction project begins with a plan, right? In the same
vein, leaders must set specific goals to drive success and point people in the right direction. Goals can be
thought of as the overall plan for what needs to be accomplished during a given period in order to
achieve key organizational objectives.
To ensure buy-in and line-of-sight, be sure to allow employees plenty of input in establishing their own
short- and long-term goals. In addition, ensure objectives are put in writing using the “SMART” criteria
(Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time-bound), prioritized and regularly evaluated.

2. Expectation setting: The pre-project meeting. Before most construction projects, the contractor sits
down with his project manager and workers and goes over the building plans. Why? Because putting
something down on paper isn’t enough — expectations must be established. Clarify items such as:

 The roles employees will play in each given project,

 Specific behavioral expectations (what’s acceptable/unacceptable),
 What resources are available and where to find them,
 How the work/project is important to the organization, and
 How to communicate about progress, changes and obstacles.

Clear expectations are as important as the goals you set. In fact, research has shown that a lack of clear
expectations is often the root cause of poor performance. Expectations can be thought of as the
“means” or how one achieves his or her goals. Expectations set the boundaries of behavior so people
can “play big” and “play fair” as they work to achieve their goals.

3. Continuous feedback and coaching: “The barking foreman.” When many of us think of a construction
project in progress, we might think of workers clambering about a half-built structure, pounding
hammers and carrying different building elements. But we may also picture a foreman or project
manager walking around, barking orders to the hardworking crew.

Now the barking part isn’t advisable in most work environments. But your busy workers do need
effective systems in place for determining whether they’re making progress and meeting stated goals
and expectations. A few ideas might be:

 Simple scorecards to denote “gains,” “wins” and “losses” toward an outcome,

 Budgets and profit and loss statements for financially related activities,
 Customer feedback forms for customer-facing employees, and
 Weekly, monthly or quarterly production data for suitable employees.

Other key factors are verbal feedback and an open, two-way dialogue.

Leaders must create a feedback-rich environment where employees know where they stand. Course-
correction feedback (when an employee has drifted too far from the goal) and acknowledgment and
praise (for progress and momentum in achieving the goal) are equally important. In fact, studies have
shown that a 5:1 ratio of positive interactions/feedback to negative promotes the most effective self-
development and performance.

In short, communication is critical to creating and maintaining a high-performance culture. Leaders are
visible, caring individuals who provide “state of the organization” information regularly and don’t shield
employees from bad news. They share expectations, provide feedback and acknowledge strengths.
High-performing cultures manage to strike a balance of both quality and quantity of information
communicated.

4. Development: Raising the roof. As a construction project nears its finish, the roof — either literally or
figuratively — is raised. The property is being developed into something new, useful and exciting.

So should it be with employees. Leaders need to create and execute an ongoing process to develop staff
members in their areas of strength and interest. The best managers/leaders find ways to make every
day a “development day” for their people. Specific ideas include:

 Stretch projects or strategic assignments,

 Discussing development areas during 1:1 meetings,
 Providing current and future job-related training opportunities,
 Succession planning,
 Internal advancement ideas, and
 General career planning.

Leaders have these and many other methods at their disposal to grow, shape and engage employees
while improving organizational performance.

5. Performance appraisals: The punch list. At the very end of a project, most contractors must complete
a “punch list.” This is an itemized document reflecting precisely what needs to be finished to truly
complete the project. Similarly, performance appraisals provide a summary at the end of a given term
that lets employees know how well they’re meeting expectations and progressing toward their goals.

In terms of driving performance, however, an annual appraisal is your least effective tool. People want
to know how they’re doing in the here and now, yet such appraisals focus largely on the past.

Performance comprises both results (what) and behavior (how). So, to do an appraisal right, you need to
address both the “what” and the “how.” Set up appraisals on regular cycles and, of course, follow the
golden rule: There should be no surprises! Always step in immediately when problems arise — don’t
wait until the next appraisal.

6. Recognition and reward: Celebrating completion. The successful end of a construction project is
generally referred to as “completion.” It’s something that contractors strive to reach efficiently and
profitably. And, at least for large projects, they often celebrate when they get there successfully.

Encouragement and celebration in every organization are critical. Leaders must recognize progress as
well as accomplishment of a goal, so employees know they’re on the right track and will keep striving for
success. Recognition doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, what distinguishes recognition from rewards
is the use of “I” words that create “intrinsic” rewards, which tend to last longer and be more meaningful
to employees than monetary or “extrinsic” rewards. Intrinsic rewards include things such as:

 Assignments of more interesting work,

 Involvement in key projects or decisions,
 Opportunities to work independently, and
 Sharing information.

Another good approach might be to share success stories during staff meetings or events or in company
e-mails or a newsletter (if you have one). Oral or written praise delivered in this manner can serve as a
real morale booster to recipients.

Whereas recognition tends to be intangible, rewards are generally tangible. They include statues,
company merchandise or plaques. Of course, rewards may also be financial — such as spot bonuses,
merit raises or other monetary incentives. Remember, the more timely the recognition/reward is given,
the stronger the connection to performance.

The Demolition Crew

e’ve listed above the six phases of building a positive culture. But what about the behaviors that can tear
one down? These are just as important to identify when trying to make productive changes to your
organization. As you endeavor to raise up your organization’s culture, watch out for the demolition
crew:
Flawed character. Dishonesty, intentionally poor communication and blame can sabotage any culture.

Fear. Organizations that refuse to take any risks and that avoid problems and tough decisions typically
don’t get far.

Unchecked power. If leaders have or need complete control over others, a culture won’t thrive.
Employees will feel that collaboration is pointless.

Arrogance. Anyone with too much pride, who is unable to admit mistakes, ask for help or recognize the
value of others, is more than likely a liability. These individuals can poison even the best-intentioned
culture.

Ineffective coaches. At the end of every season, no matter what the sport, a number of coaches (or, in
baseball, managers) are usually fired. Most of these individuals may not have been bad employees, per
se. But, in their employers’ opinions, they failed to develop a winning environment for their players. This
dilemma can apply to any type of organization — which doesn’t necessarily mean you should fire a bad
coach, but he or she may need additional training or, in worst cases, reassignment.

YOU Are the Architect

Leaders play a key role in the process of creating a positive, high-performing culture. You are, in fact, the
architect. Your behavior, attitude, language or jargon, style of dress, decision-making process, everyday
work practices and strategic direction create the cultural blueprint for not only your employees, but also
clients, suppliers and anyone else who comes in contact with your organization.

Thus, as a leader and architect, you’ve got to recognize the boundary lines of your existing culture, align
your strategies accordingly and always be on the lookout for ways to improve it. For help assessing your
culture, determining whether your leadership style/habits are aligned with your organization’s strategic
objectives, and targeting effective improvements for the future, please

A great company culture comes down to one thing: people. You define your values and mission,
but ultimately, it's up to your team to live by them. And that starts with having a cohesive team
in the first place, one that's willing to trade ideas, praise, and even lunch recommendations.

Curious about the ways entrepreneurs help their employees connect--to the company's mission,
but also to each other--we asked 16 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) to share the
perks, products, and processes that have helped the most. Their best answers are below.

1. Intrapreneurship, Shark Tank-style.

It is crucial to create a culture that empowers everyone within the organization to be innovative
and intrapreneurial. We hold a semi-annual event, very similar to Shark Tank, where employees
come and pitch their ideas. Ideas range from new products to ways we can streamline or improve
our current processes. This helps create a culture of collaborative, collective intelligence.--Dusty
Wunderlich, Bristlecone Holdings

2. Public shout-outs.

At the end of every monthly team meeting, we put up a slide listing all of our company values.
Then, team members have a chance to give shout-outs to each other based on those values and
based on each person's work in the past month. It's a great way for everyone to publicly
recognize each other--and it's free!--Bhavin Parikh, Magoosh

3. A culture calendar.

We recently introduced a culture calendar that is viewable by all team members. It includes
activities ranging from team meetings to employee birthdays to fitness challenges. Team
members are also able to suggest new activities in a shared document. Putting events down on a
calendar, accessible to everyone across different office locations, leads to increased team
communication and transparency.--Doreen Bloch, Poshly

4. Lunch lotto.
We instituted a monthly lunch lotto where we draw names for a group to go to lunch on the
company's dime. This was started in efforts to build interdepartmental relationships between
people who may not work together regularly, and break down silos that may exist between some
departments. We encourage people to chat about personal and work life, and they typically take a
longer lunch than usual.--Angela Harless, AcrobatAnt

5. A Champion-in-Residence.

Our company's biggest cultural win was the addition of three-time boxing world champion Paul
Vaden, who is our Champion-in-Residence. Paul has had a big impact on our company culture.
Employees meet with him regularly, and he attends major company meetings to offer inspiring
guidance. He also adds to the level of fun in the office and hosts departmental boxing classes off
site, too.--Jason Kulpa, Underground Elephant

6. Naps.

As the CEO of a mattress company, I always try to emphasize the benefits of adequate sleep to
my customers and clients, as well as my team members. Napping is a huge part of our company
culture here, and I have found that a well-placed nap will make my already-gritty employees
even more hardworking, creative, and happy when they wake up.--Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep

7. A supply of books.

We cover the cost of books for our team, so there's zero friction in the process for anyone who
wants to learn something new. Because we seek out new markets and novel product ideas, we're
constantly adding to our knowledge base and becoming experts in different fields. Catering to a
culture built on learning and continuous self-education is the key to our successes.--Emerson
Spartz, Spartz

8. An adventure reimbursement program.

We implemented an adventure reimbursement program to instill the concept of "work hard, play
harder." We reimburse our employees to participate in an adventure or try new things on the
company's dime. During meetings, we then talk about it. Some have taken swimming lessons,
gone to a play, taken karate lessons, and the list goes on.--Tamara Nall, The Leading Niche

9. A group "campfire" session (no tech allowed).

We have a process called "campfire" every Monday and Wednesday morning with zero
electronics. Our team meets at our creative room on the floor, cross-legged. We discuss project
statuses, current challenges, brainstorm creative and development solutions, define workload
action plans, and socialize. Our full team is deeply integrated into the company with an
enthusiastic understanding of the global workload.--Dalip Jaggi, Devise Interactive

10. A Ping-Pong table.

Great companies have a passionate drive to beat competitors and help customers win. Embracing
a healthy culture of competition is a great way to feed this fire. Our solution: Installing two Ping-
Pong tables and running monthly tournaments with a variety of prizes. Let's just say that the
competitive spirit is alive and well at VideoBlocks.--Joel Holland, VideoBlocks

11. An investment in employee learning.

We believe strongly that as consultants and advisers, we must push the thinking in our areas of
specialty. We invest in developing our staff members as thought leaders because it not only helps
strengthen our brand, it also provides opportunities for team members to shine. This strengthens
our culture because it directly aligns with our values and strategy, and benefits employees.--
Chris Cancialosi, gothamCulture

12. Better communication for remote workers.

We are a small company with a remote workforce. In order to strengthen our corporate culture,
we needed a tool that allowed all of our employees to share ideas, work through problems, and
socialize just like they would under the same roof. We've accomplished this with Slack, which
has become our team's virtual office. It's the foundation on top of which we've developed our
culture.--Maxwell Finn, Loot!

13. Frequent team lunches.

We encourage a team lunch every Friday afternoon outside of the office. This allows the
employees to connect on a personal level outside of work, which helps them relate and connect
with each other. You spend more time with the people you work with than your own family, so it
is important to enjoy your time around them. -Jayna Cooke, EventUp

14. Dinners at teammates' homes.

At least once a month on a weekend, a teammate or co-founder will cook dinner for the team at
their home. Teammates will bring their family, dogs, significant others, and friends. We're
extremely family-oriented as a team and treat building our company as a team/family effort, not
just as a job.--Nanxi Liu, Enplug

15. Team recognition and rewards.

I'm not lackadaisical about the culture I build, and I've found major success with software and
apps that allow employees to give each other kudos for just about any job well done, then
allowing the employee to pick from a variety of rewards THEY want (headphones, time off,
casual dress days, cash, etc.). Because of programs like YouEarnedIt, I'm able to let my
employees cultivate real culture.--Darius Mirshahzadeh, Endeavor America Loan Services

16. Team workouts.

Seeing each other sweat and compete together in an organized sport (like soccer or running) does
wonders to build team cohesiveness. You view each other in a different light as well as learn
about people's families. People learn to compete. It's something we will continue to expand on in
the coming years.--Kofi Kankam, Admit.me

Published on: Mar 2, 2015

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The AICLeading the way

Productivity

Employees Stop Learning When They're Too

Busy, According to a New LinkedIn Report.
Here's How to Fix It
Employees who are eager to continue learning are more productive and
engaged. Here are tips on how to make sure every one of your team members
has time to grow.

By Adam RobinsonCo-founder and CEO, Hireology

@adrobins
CREDIT: Getty Images

Top employees are always eager to learn and improve in their careers. But according to the
"2018 Workplace Learning Report" from LinkedIn, the top challenge holding employees back
from learning is that they're too busy.

Employees who continuously learn are often among the most productive, drive more revenue,
and are more engaged than employees who remain stagnant in their roles. In fact, the LinkedIn
report found that 94 percent of employees surveyed would stay with a company if it invested in
their continued learning and development.

If you find your employees are too busy to make time for learning, this means it's time to take
action and ensure each team member makes learning and development a top priority. I've
outlined some tips to get started below.

Set aside time for continued learning.

If your employees say they don't have time for learning due to their day-to-day workloads, one
solution might be easier than you think. Simply set aside time that's strictly dedicated to
employee learning and development.

While your top-performing employees likely have the busiest schedules, it's still possible to find
time on their calendars for continued learning. For example, you can set up breakfast meetings or
lunch-and-learns, where employees can hear from guest speakers about skills that will help them
grow in their careers, the latest trends in your company's industry, or any number of other topics.
This way, employees can get to learning first thing in the morning or during the lunch hour,
rather than getting interrupted in the middle of the work day.

Another option is to include professional development time off in your company benefits. Many
employees can benefit from attending conferences or workshops outside the office. Consider
allocating a few days each year and a set budget to each employee specifically for professional
development. And to ensure your business benefits from this investment in professional
development, task employees with sharing what they learned and how they can apply it to your
business upon their return.

Embrace online development resources.

While breakfast or lunch learning sessions might be convenient for some employees, there's
always the chance conflicts will come up. To ensure employees don't miss out on learning
opportunities, it's also helpful to invest in online training and development resources. According
to the LinkedIn study, 58 percent of employees prefer to learn at their own pace, and 90 percent
of companies surveyed offer digital learning today.
Digital training can be used to share content with colleagues about any updates to your product
offerings and services. Or resources can be shared to help employees train either to improve in
their roles or move on to the next level--such as management training materials. And an added
benefit of online training is that you can set up assessments to measure what employees have
learned.

With online assessments, you can give employees a few weeks or a month or any time frame you
choose to complete them. This way, employees who might not often have time for continued
learning can find time within this window. Ultimately, this will help your business grow as your
employees learn new skills, and make your employees feel valued by your investment in their
continued education and development.

Collect employee feedback.

Whether you already have measures in place to empower your employees' continued learning or
are looking to build an employee development program, a key step to take is soliciting
employees' feedback. This ensures you're offering employees the training and development
resources they want and need to grow.

Consider sending a survey to employees or setting up internal focus groups so they can share
their feedback about what you currently have in place, what you might be missing, and how you
can improve when it comes to continued learning. Also, ask employees how you can help them
carve out time in their busy schedules for learning, since many do not have time to learn the
skills they need.

Every employee, from entry-level to the executive team, should strive to continue learning every
day. This will ultimately lead to increased productivity, profitability, and employee engagement
at your business.

Peak Performance | 4:54

5 Savvy Ways to Empower Your Employees

Published on: Nov 15, 2018

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