Three books for every new employee on their first day at Hungry Harvest

At Hungry Harvest, we’ve created a culture that promotes trust by practicing 3 traits: honesty, transparency, and vulnerability.

Honesty: The ability to give and receive feedback is a crucial part of business. If teammates can’t give honest feedback to each other for fear of conflict, you will create a culture where people are OK with the status quo. If you’re OK with the Status Quo, there’s no innovation. If there’s no innovation, your business will become Blockbuster or Sears.

Transparency: The team needs to know where the company is headed, and how we’re progressing on that vision. People always perform better and trust each other more when they understand the context of what impact their actions make on the bottom line.

Vulnerability: We all make mistakes. Great businesses are not built on the shoulders of great achievements. They are built on how you and your team handle, embrace, and learn from failure. Embracing failure is difficult for one’s ego to handle, yet necessary for the team’s overall performance.

We seek people on our team who believe in our mission. They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and something that will make the world a better place. Over the past 3 years, we’ve hired 45 employees, and split ways with only 2. We have a knack for finding people with the right skill set, knowledge, and passion for food justice.

To accomplish the above culture, expectations are set from the onset that Hungry Harvest will be a different workplace than the new employee has experienced before.

Part of that onboarding is one of my favorite pastimes: reading books.

Here are three of my favorites that we give to each employee on their first day.

Start with Why — Simon Sinek.

The book’s theme is right in the title. Simon Sinek, perhaps best-known for his Ted Talk, elaborates on how great leaders inspire action in this quick read. The best companies & leaders are effective in what they do not by offering the lowest price, or the most bang for your buck. They are effective because they start with why they do what they do, and why that matters.

We embody our why at Hungry Harvest: to end food waste and hunger. It’s not just a marketing phrase. It’s the lense which we look through to make decisions. Start with Why provides the framework for how any organization can use the same tactics to find their why and use it to inspire their stakeholders.

Crucial Conversations — Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler

A crucial conversation is defined as a conversation when the stakes are high, emotions are tense, and opinions are on opposite sides.

To be honest with each other & provide feedback on how our team members can improve, we need to know how to communicate feedback. It’s a skill that can be learned.

Personally, this is the most influential book I’ve ever read. It’s applicable in all aspects of life — personal, family, business, partners, and friends. It provides a playbook for how to have conversations that need to be had, but many people don’t know how.

5 Dysfunctions of a Team — Patrick Lencioni

A parable that relates to any business team whether a c-suite executive team, a team of developers, or a group of interns. This book tells a story about an auto-industry executive who becomes the CEO of a highly-funded, highly-experienced, yet struggling startup. She teaches them through a series of off-site meetings about the flaws in their team, and how they can fix it. The 5 dysfunctions of a team are: the absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and finally — inattention to results.

The book teaches team members how to look out for each dysfunction, and how to fix it when they spot it through open communication.

Placing one’s own priorities above one’s team priorities is a classic symptom of a dysfunctional team.

I agree with Peter Drucker’s quote: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” A small gesture & investment like a few books on someone’s first day goes a long way towards creating a winning culture.