What Exactly Is Culture By Gry Tomte

So, I have spent a lot of time lately speaking to business owners about culture. Sometimes it’s easier to recognise when the culture isn’t how you envisioned it than to pinpoint exactly what it is.

It’s that feeling that people are behaving in a way that isn’t quite how we’d like it. So, what exactly is culture?

Well, Put simply, it’s “how things are done around here”. John C Maxwell identifies 3 things that make up culture;

1. Behaviours 2. Symbols 3. Systems

Let’s see.

Behaviours: leaders must DO the right thing. Not just SAY the right thing. If you for instance say “we value work life balance” - and then introduce a roster where that’s clearly not the case, you might as well not say it...

Symbols: what we spend money on, who gets promoted and why, what happens when values are broken.

For example: A therapist always leaves when she’s done for the day and doesn’t stay and help her team mates. The manager does nothing about it because the therapist is after all the highest performer on the team! The message the rest of the team receives is that we don’t value team work here. All that matters is the $$ value you bring. Systems: how do we express culture? How do we make it visible? Display what we define our culture as?

As an example, at HÜD every single day our team pops a slack message up for all to see with

1. One thing they’re grateful for, and

2. One win.

It can be their own win or someone else’s win. Or it can be both.

The beauty of this is that it’s both a symbol (because we as leaders then highlight the behaviour and sends a message that celebrating each other’s wins and staying grateful for the little things is valued around here) and a process - because we’ve systemised it so it happens automatically, every day. It’s a system.

Was it always like this? No. Definitely not!

One of the things I now see as a blessing but at the time was VERY challenging and confronting, was when one of my team members told me I wasn’t very good at receiving feedback.

She gave me that feedback and my very first thought was LITERALLY “no way I do that!”. After reflecting and talking it through with my coach (how good is a coach!!) I had my AHA moment. And it was a game changer for me.

I realised I’d missed out on so many opportunities for growth and learning. And if I ever was to build an incredible culture, I needed the team to feel safe enough to give me ALL the feedback - both the good and the bad.

And I made a really conscious effort to become GREAT at receiving feedback.

Which ultimately meant that the team now feels totally safe coming to me with the awkward things as well as the good.

Like someone once said: “if you’re not getting uncomfortable feedback about things you’re missing or not getting right, there isn’t enough psychological safety”.

REWARDING PERFORMANCE VS REWARDING BEHAVIOUR

But what about if you have that one team member who always has an attitude. Always feels superior and brings the vibe down.

So often I hear clinic owners say, “I just can’t pull her up on it because I’m afraid she’s going to leave”.

But my question is, what if she stays??

Here’s a common scenario - and one I’ve experienced myself more than once in my time:

You have one team member who everyone feel a bit icky about. But no one really dare say anything. Because they’re the “money maker”...

That person who steals clients and sales just so they can hit their targets. They rebook clients at all cost with themselves and even if they’re going on leave, will let their clients wait until she’s back to book them in!

This therapist is often wrongly classified as a “great therapist”. A true high achiever.

So, do you reward them? Maybe give them a nice bonus? A pat on the back and a pay raise for great performance? Oh yep. Rings a bell with many I’m sure. I’ve certainly done it!

What about someone who smashes their rebooking targets week on week in (because they’re a force of nature!) - but then clients cancel their appointments with this therapist consistently? In the eyes of a metric - like rebooking, they’re a “great performer.

But are they actually a high performer or a good employee? A good team member?

Basically, what you’re saying is “we don’t care how you get there as long as you do”. “Don’t tell us the dirty secret as long as you look good on paper”.

“You’re doing great! Here’s a bonus check”!

So, for instance, if your ONLY metric for what’s valued is financial performance - a “if you make $300 an hour, you’re doing great,” then you might be inadvertently reinforcing the wrong symbols.

And how about the fact that many organisations will promote high performers to managers - purely based on their high performance? Never mind that they’re all for themselves and don’t really care to see others succeed as long as they look good.

So, then we all of a sudden have a toxic work environment....

SO, WHAT TO DO IF YOUR TEAM MEMBER ISN’T A GOOD CULTURE FIT?

First of all, check in with your company’s values.

If you haven’t defined them yet, I so encourage you to get them identified and made a part of your culture - how you do everything.

In the meantime, write a list of the types of traits you admire in others and narrow it down to 5. Check in with how your team members’ behaviours are faring against those 5 traits.

If they’re not behaving in a way that sits well with you, take the time to have the conversation!

Many business owners I speak to are either too afraid to have the conversation - and what I often hear is “I down like confrontation”. Or, “What if they leave?”

Well, first of all, why is it a confrontation?

And if they leave due to a conversation around unacceptable behaviour, they’ve done you a favour.

But straight up, it’s simply a conversation around “hey, I noticed you did this the other day and I’m curious as to your thinking. Can we talk about it?”

Once you’ve had the conversation and set the expectations around “this is how we do things here,” get a commitment to change. Then remember you are going to need to check in at least every week for the next month or two, to ensure there’s been a change. If there hasn’t been a change, then find out what’s holding them back and get another commitment. If they have made a change, make sure to highlight it and thank them for it.

At the end of the day, once a toxic team member leaves, you will be shocked at how quickly the others will step up. I guarantee it.

Don’t forget, the culture of any business is shaped by the worst behaviour the leader is willing to tolerate.

When toxic employees’ negative behaviours are tolerated, it can have a hugely detrimental effect on the company’s culture, decrease collaboration between team members, affect the way customers are treated, lead to good people leaving - and so much more.

People in leadership positions will often look for a quick fix, but it’s not that simple.

It’s easy to blame the hiring process or one individual team member, but unfortunately, the buck stops with you as the person who sits in the leadership seat.

It sucks. But it’s the cold hard truth.

Being committed to building strong culture means investing time, energy and dedication.

And being bold enough to stay strong to your values when finding staff is like finding a bloody needle in a haystack!

It means turning down “the perfect candidate” if they are exceptional at their job but not aligned to your values.

And if you’re in a position where you think things will fall apart because there’s no one out there, I want you to know that I once had more than half my team walk out in a matter of 2 weeks.

And it was the beginning of the rebirth of our culture. I mean, after the tears and the 3 days in bed it was the best thing that ever happened to us!

If you don’t currently have an ideal culture - or you haven’t quite defined it or systemised it - or you don’t know what’s missing, ask your team for their insights.

Gry Tømte is the Founder and Director of multi award winning, 7 figure skin clinic, HÜD.

Gry has shifted her focus to mentoring and coaching high performance leaders in the aesthetic and beauty space. If you want to learn more about all things mindful leadership, culture and how to create a robust, profitable people first business, follow Gry on www.instagram.com/grytomte