Greencastle has 22 Behaviors that help create and maintain our culture. These behaviors are built from our values, experiences and relationships. These behaviors are woven into every facet of our business. They apply to everyone and make no distinction between job titles.
Who is Responsible for Creating and Maintaining the Company Culture?
There was a post on LinkedIn from BambooHR that stated that it was the HR professionals responsibility to create and reinforce a great culture. I couldn’t disagree more. While HR has its role to play in cultural development, it is the leaders responsibility to create and reinforce it. Nothing against BambooHR, we use their platform and love it. Their payroll option is great too. But culture development, is a responsibility of the company’s leadership, not HR.
As CEO, it is my job to reinforce the behaviors and help the team interpret them. Each week, I pick a behavior and send out an internal message to our team. Sometimes it is video, sometimes it is a post on Teams. Either way, this is one of the most important things I can do to make sure Greencastle is a great place to work and the team is getting better professionally.
One of the behaviors that has been instrumental during the COVID crisis is – Assuming Positive Intent.Our behavior states:
We work from the assumption that people are good, fair, and honest and that their intent is positive.
We set aside our bias, judgments and preconceived notions and give them the benefit of the doubt.
We will react positively to events and will help others find positivity and won’t justify bad behavior or poor decisions.
As we continue to work remote, this behavior becomes even more important. There is a lot of difficulty in determining tone and emotion through email, texting, Teams, etc… When you can’t walk down the hall and talk with someone, assuming positive intent can help out in many ways:
- It can diffuse a tense situation if you take the view point that the person you are interacting with is coming from a positive position.
- It keeps you happier by not getting wrapped up into someone else’s issues.
- Puts you in a position of control. You can’t control how someone is acting, BUT you can control your reaction.
- It can make the other persons day a little better.
Adding a positive salutation to a work email can instantly transform it. Asking about someones day, or thanking them can round the sharp edges of your email and reduce the recipients guess work of trying to figure out if your are angry, indifferent or happy.
As the nation continues to work remotely, it is going to get more stressful.
You will set up meetings and and people won’t join, or they will join and their kid will interrupt. Whatever it is, assume positive intent and don’t fall victim to negative vibes. Be the leader and focus on results/outcomes. Not the things you can’t control.