CULTURE COUNTS: The Cost of Culture

Chapter 1: The Cost of Culture

The 3 Dilemmas: Engagement, Retention, and Turnover

“When trust goes down, speed will also go down and costs will go up. When trust goes up, speed will also go up and costs will go down.” ~ Stephen M. R. Covey, author of The Speed of Trust

I’ve logged well over 11,000 hours leading leaders and their blue-collar teams through process improvement, organizational change, and cultural transformation. I’ve learned a lot. But, two things were obvious from the start:

1. Every team member wants a great leader.
2. Every leader wants great team members.

"Respectful treatment of all employees at all levels was rated as 'very important' by 72% of employees in 2014, making it the top contributor to overall employee job satisfaction. At 64%, trust between employees and senior management was the second most important contributor to job satisfaction." ~ Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement (SHRM, 2015)

I discovered many leaders were frustrated because they had disengaged team members. Employee engagement is not only the key to increasing retention, productivity, profitability, and teamwork, but it’s also the key to reducing turnover, costs, and frustrations. Numerous research studies have revealed only 30-35% of employees consider themselves engaged.

As a result, many leaders are facing three costly dilemmas: engagement, retention, and turnover.

THE ENGAGEMENT DILEMMA:

Employee engagement starts with engaged leadership. Disengaged employees are a symptom of disengaged leaders at one or more levels in your organization. In fact, research studies show employees are 40% more productive if they want to follow their leader compared to those who feel they have to follow their leader. In other words, the level of engagement below is determined by the level of engagement above.

Leadership development, or the lack of it, at every level determines morale, engagement, turnover, productivity, communication, teamwork, and how your customers will be served. Unfortunately, many people are over-managed and under-led.

People who are led well become highly engaged.

People who are over-managed become disengaged.

Leadership development is the key to transforming the culture of your organization, improving your team’s results, and reducing costs in all areas.

THE RETENTION DILEMMA:

The competition wants more than your customers. Have you considered there are two types of competition?

1. Those in the same industry who want to steal your customers.
2. Those who may or may not be in the same industry who want to steal your people.

A leader’s ability to attract and retain high performance employees is a crucial factor for organizational success. Employees who are disengaged are far more likely to change jobs and even change industries because disengagement leads to dissatisfaction.

Minimizing employee turnover by increasing engagement through leadership development is critical to improving your bottom line.

High performance team members and managers are looking for more than a good salary. They are seeking growth and development opportunities that will help them become more successful personally and professionally.

“87% of managers wish they had more training before becoming a manager.” ~ Heather Huhma

High impact leaders understand they must offer more development opportunities in order to become the sought after employer of choice in their industry and in their area of operation.

THE TURNOVER DILEMMA:

Are you tired of hiring, then firing?

Employees are primarily interviewed, selected, and hired based on their competency. In this case, competency means a leader believes the candidate has the required skill set, technical knowledge, and ability to perform the task or job.

However, most employees are terminated based on character. Character relates to who we are and how we do what we do. It’s the “soft” skills, such as attitude, work ethic, integrity, behavior, and how we work with others.

In other words, employees are hired for what they know, but fired for who they are.

Performance problems are almost exclusively a character issue. According to Daniel Goleman, “90% of our results as individuals and organizations is determined by character.” However, most organizational training and development is focused on improving competency, not character.

If your team isn’t engaged, you’re likely dealing with some level of frustration, resistance, confusion, anxiety, and stagnation. It doesn’t have to be this way.

“Imagine the personal and organizational cost of failing to fully engage the passion, talent, and intelligence of the workforce. It is far greater than all taxes, interest charges, and labor costs put together.” ~ Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Continue reading Chapter 2: The Foundation of Culture.

Get a FREE download (no email required) of the first 5 chapters of Blue-Collar Leadership & Culture and those below here.

More details about Mack's newest book, Blue-Collar Leadership & Culture: The 5 Components for Building High Performance Teams, released 7/13/19:

“It’s easier to compete when you’re attracting great people instead of searching for good people.” ~ Mack Story

“We just can’t find any good people,” is a phrase Mack Story hears far too often as he speaks to and interacts with leaders all across the USA. If you or a member of your leadership team has ever spoken these words, this book was written specifically for you. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Blue-Collar Leadership? & Culture will help you understand why culture is the key to becoming a sought after employer of choice within your industry. Culture matters because those who work there will determine who wants to work there.

Becoming a sought after employer means, “People who don’t work at your organization have a strong desire to work there.”

Becoming an employer of choice means, “People who already work at your organization have a strong desire to continue working there.”

Mack wrote Blue-Collar Leadership? & Culture specifically for leaders who want to become THE sought after employer of choice within their industry and in their area of operations. Sought after employers of choice attract great people and don’t spend their time and resources constantly searching for good people.

Mack has logged over 11,000 hours leading leaders and their blue-collar teams through hundreds of kaizen events, process improvement, organizational change, and cultural transformation and speaks with his wife, Ria Story, on personal growth and leadership development throughout the USA as they help leaders transform their cultures and develop high performance teams.

Although leaders in all industries at all levels will benefit greatly from this book, Mack structured the content specifically for the top leader who has never led a cultural transformation but is curious to find out what will be required. He’ll help you not only discover why you should transform your culture, but also what to do and how to do it. Therefore, Mack includes many references and links to additional resources throughout the book that will support and accelerate your cultural transformation.

Blue-Collar Leadership? & Culture is intended to not only teach, but also to serve as a tool, a guide, and a transformational road map for leaders who want to create a high impact culture that will become their greatest competitive advantage. It’s a starting point for those who don’t know how to start or those who want to become more intentional and methodical as they take their team to the next level and beyond.

In Blue-Collar Leadership? & Culture, you’ll also discover how to leverage the components of The Transformation Equation to create a culture that will support, attract, and retain high performance team members. To learn more about The Transformation Equation, visit GetTheTransformationEquation.com

“My first words are, GET SIGNED UP! This training is not, and I stress, not your everyday leadership seminar! I have never been a part of anything like it. After 30 years in technology and two years in Concrete Construction, I have attended dozens and sent hundreds to the so-called ‘Leadership-Training’…while all of the courses, classes, webinars, and seminars, had good intentions, nothing can touch what Mack and Ria Story provide…100% of the team that attended said that they were ‘blown-away.’” ~ Sam McLamb, VP~ Sam M. VP/COO