What Are You LEaving on The Table?

Written by Matt Curts

Sliver Beach Pizza in St. Joseph’s Michigan is a great family spot for quality pizza and craft beer.  This past weekend it became the spot of a great debate amongst three generations.  The topic, the greatest to ever play the game of basketball.  My father is almost 70 years old so you can probably guess that the likes of Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson made it into the discussion.  I swear I think I even heard a reference to Pistol Pete before we asked him to just stop.  For me I wasn’t even sure why the conversation was necessary, certain that all present had seen the Last Dance.  But my son and nephews insisted that the players of today are greater than the greats of our day.  They are especially fond of a so-called King.  Nonetheless, it’s a circular conversation really, that always ends in focusing on one or two players and relegating all others to a list of the underappreciated.    

With any discussion of comparison, we often use statistics until we can’t.  Offensive statistics, defensive statistics, vertical jump statistics.  But all roads lead to the number of championships won.  And when that doesn’t satisfy, we use terms like “killer instinct” and “great vision” to try and explain what seems inexplicable.  Back in the day, Spike Lee even asked, “Is it the shoes?” 

But no matter how you slice it, individual players do not win team sport championships, teams do.  And so, it goes back to stat lines and box scores and consecutive championship runs before grasping for words to separate what is good team from a great team.   But is it really so hard to explain?

Hall of Fame Coach Phil Jackson once said, “Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the me for the we.”

Today players demand to be placed alongside other all-stars to chase the championship that has alluded them their entire career.  Time after time we see these super teams become super duds as the individuals can’t see how to work together for the collective good.  They share the same skills but not the same values or since of identity.  This doesn’t show up on a stat sheet or box score.  But everyone knows in spite of their combined superior technical skills they still lack “it”.

That “it” is a great culture.  A clear identity.  A great culture allows for nothing to be left on the table.  But too many analysts sniff at that which can’t be easily measured and often serves a branding exercise as much as anything.  Chemistry is often an afterthought because people don’t believe they can clearly define what they are to do to create it.  This is left brained thinking.

In your business you have followed all the best practices both inside and outside of your industry.  Your strategy is defined for efficiency and effectiveness. The systems and processes are in place.  The individual skills have been hired and developed. You have surpassed all your expectations when you started your venture.  But still, you know there is more to be had.  What is holding you back?  What else could be possible?

Culture is how we make meaning of the world.  It’s the way we perceive it based on our past experiences and values shaped by those experiences.  It’s how we believe the world even sees us.  In contradiction to popular belief our brain is not split in two.  But, the right side of our brain starts processing our surroundings and draws conclusions before the left side is even aware of what is happening.   It governs the whole of our relational life and manages our strongest relational connections.  In a sense our right brain is running a five-minute mile and our left brain a six-minute mile.    

The good news is that what seems to be immeasurable is being measured every second of every day by your people as they constantly search for a place of belonging.  The human brain was designed to look for and run on joy. Our joy drops when we sense few faces shining on us and few people happy to be with us. ALL OF US are collectively looking for our we.  When organizations excel in creating high trust and high accountability the right part of our brain has found what it is looking for and our left brain can fully engage in the mission at hand.  Thus, producing a high productive culture.  Great cultures don’t leave anything on the table because its people have found what they first look for. 

So how do you become the group that others are seeking after?  I believe it starts with two things.  The first is to simply be honest.  Being honest is not simply just telling the truth (although that is one measurement for a good workplace culture).  It is also being unapologetically you.  The Detroit Pistons of the 90’s produced a team that was hated by many but revered by a few.  Their style of bad boy basketball offered a place of belonging to some who felt like misfits among the elite.   They succeeded because they fully bought in to the values of the group.  Willing to sacrifice their personal accolades for the whole.  Not all cultures are created the same.  You’re unique, so own it.  Second is to clearly define and know your roles within your organization.  All great teams start with the greater why of defining who we are and what we are about.  But it still requires each member to know how they participate in that why.  It is often the underappreciated ones who make it possible to have the greatest success.  The greatest of all time does not win six championships without the likes of Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, Steve Kerr, and Toni Kukoc playing their roles to perfection. 

If attachment is the strongest force in the human brain, then we need to give others something to attach to beyond our strategic plan.  Peter Drucker famously quipped that culture eats strategy for breakfast. If you succeed in attaching relationally to your people you will succeed in ensuring nothing is left on the table and you will accomplish immeasurably more than you could have ever dreamed or imagined.

So, here’s to going from good to great.  It simply starts with being unapologetically you.  

Be sure to join us for the Culture Webinar later this month. Also, be sure to check our other Weekly Tips articles throughout the month of July.

If you are interested in learning more about how to identify, build, assess, and nurture your business culture, please feel free to take our culture assessment which can be found at the following link:

Company Culture Assessment

Once completed, a Thrive Consultant will review the results with you and develop a high-level action plan of next steps. 

For additional help with growing your company, contact a member of the ArboRisk Insurance team! If you’re looking to improve upon your communication skills or want to help one of your key team members develop personally, sign up for the Thrive Leadership Development package today! Additionally, if you find it difficult to find or keep quality employees, check out our Thrive Hiring & Recruiting Package.

How Good Company Affects the Journey

Written by Matt Curts

THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS

Every year there is a great migration to escape an unpleasant climate and find the needed nourishment to make it to the coming of spring.  No, not the barn swallow heading south for the winter, but rather, a gang of mini vans in a side-by-side pattern packed full of midwestern families and enough snacks to survive the apocalypse.  The destination – the Gulf of Mexico. 

But before I and other road warriors meet on the highways that Siri espouses to be the shortest and fastest route, the vision of rest and relaxation fuels our last-minute preparations of stuffing the vehicle full with things than no one would ever need to simply sit and stare at the ocean for a week.  Nonetheless, readied for eternity, we wake our people up at zero dark thirty to chase the greatest view of our week – a clear road.   

A few hours in and all the preparation appears to be paying off and a smile comes over our face as we silently mock Siri’s overly conservative estimated time of arrival.  The strategy is working and all are at rest.

Then it happens……

Ahead the highway is full of weary travelers who all share the exact same strategies of road travel.  Leave early to hurry up and wait behind a never-ending conga line.  Traffic grinds to a halt and you now hear Siri, in her pleasant South African accent, mocking you as she adds another hour to your estimated time of arrival.  Not on your watch. Tensions rise, and alternate routes are pursued.  Maybe the shortest distance between two points really isn’t a straight line after all?  That state highway might only be 55 MPH but it’s better than zero, right?  Really Siri, I’m still on the fastest route?  An obsession with the destination overtakes me and all the sudden my family is a captive audience to my irritability, hurried spirit and constant calculating to outmaneuver this nuisance.  The mood has shifted and rest is no longer available – for anyone.

When we finally arrive at our destination, us vacation pilots are confused that our family isn’t hoisting us upon their shoulders for coming just under Siri’s original estimated time of arrival after conquering insurmountable odds.  Instead, you’re being told that you are not good company. 

Maybe, like me, you have piloted a few vacation road trips and can relate.  Or maybe as the pilot of your organization this describes the excitement and disappointment of leading others towards your desired destination. 

It’s only natural to want to find the fastest way between two points. But we all understand obstacles are a constant in the world of business and road trips.  And we know that hustle and adaptability are needed in challenging times.  But in finding our way back to the fastest route we find the same frustrations and irritability resurface and our workplace culture takes a hit whether it be in the form of employee turnover or lack of engagement. 

But is there a better way?

When it comes to your workplace culture, the destination is not the only goal of your team.  It is vitally necessary, but it cannot stand by itself alone.  To have a good workplace culture your team needs more.

A 1938 Harvard Research Project asked, “What makes us happy in life?”  The answer – positive relationships – by a landslide.  But how do we as leaders navigate the obstacles to reach our destination without ruining the trip for others?  How do we find the fastest route while maintaining the positive relationships that would cause others to say our organization is a good company to work for?

I suppose it takes a change in perspective. 

I heard a story several years ago about an essay competition from a local newspaper that challenged readers to submit their solutions to speed up a trip into the city that had and continued to experience the worst traffic in the world.  The selected essayist described the fastest route into London in just two words – “good company.”  What person comes to mind in your life when you hear, “good company”?  When you think of your organization do you think of it as good company?

“Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.” – Izaak Walton

In order to be a good company, we must first be good company.  But where do we start?  How do we ready ourselves for the next traffic jam?  Here are some tips for the road.

1. Become aware in what makes you bad company

•   Ask someone you trust to point out the things that make you irritable and bad company.  And then avoid such things however possible.
•   My wife identified my limit at seven hours on our road trips.  We now make one overnight stop along the way. 

2. Laugh with one another

•   Laughter strengthens relationships, attracts others to us, enhances teamwork, help diffuse conflict, and promotes group bonding. 
•   We try to out- do one another with really bad dad jokes on road trips.

3. Take time to take interest in one another

•   To be seen and heard is one of the greatest gifts we can receive from another. 
•   Try and find out one new thing per week about each other that you didn’t already know.  Speaking in stories is the best way to engage.

4. Eat a meal together

•   Sharing a meal with someone is the greatest form of hospitality as it meets the basest need of a human being. 
•   We sit down to eat a meal outside of the car as it gives us a much-needed break to the mundane nature of a long trip.

Remember, people join your team not only to arrive at a destination, but even more, to enjoy the journey.  To be a good company, you must first be good company.  Let’s choose to take the path of a great workplace culture.  After all, it’s the fastest way to get anywhere. 

See you on the highway my fellow road warriors.

Be sure to join us for the Culture Webinar later this month. Also, be sure to check our other Weekly Tips articles throughout the month of July.

If you are interested in learning more about how to identify, build, assess, and nurture your business culture, please feel free to take our culture assessment which can be found at the following link:

Company Culture Assessment

Once completed, a Thrive Consultant will review the results with you and develop a high-level action plan of next steps. 

For additional help with growing your company, contact a member of the ArboRisk Insurance team! If you’re looking to improve upon your communication skills or want to help one of your key team members develop personally, sign up for the Thrive Leadership Development package today! Additionally, if you find it difficult to find or keep quality employees, check out our Thrive Hiring & Recruiting Package.