The Culture+ Blog
Insights to help you create a compelling and connected culture
High-performance teams come from high-performance cultures
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Need people? Focus on building your employer brand
"How can I get more people?" Over 12 million open jobs. More open jobs than ever. Record low unemployment. Stories of job postings attracting zero interest. Stories of candidates not showing up for phone interviews, in person interviews, or even their first day after accepting the offer (a better offer came through just in time). Oh, the stories. The people you really want are not casually perusing the help wanted sections. They don't need a job. But they are interested. Here's the big...
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The secret trick of promotions
Yes, there is still technical level work after you get promoted to some "lead" type role. It's not a wholesale change. The problem is that many of the newly promoted don't quite understand what a promotion actually means. Your job title will change. "Yes." Your pay...
The hard part about asking open questions
Easy: Ask your team "closed" questions. Closed questions can be answered with a yes or a no (or a grunt), don't provide much insight, and often lead the questionee in a certain direction. "We are going to have that report done by Friday, right?" Oh yes ma'am! Hard:...
When it makes sense to you but not your customer
The gas station attendant hurriedly exited his observation booth and yelled to the man loading a couple of blocks of ice into his truck. "You can't take those!" The man loading the blocks looked confused. "What's the problem?" The attendant replied, "You paid for the...
I am Spartacus!
The man standing by the food truck looked like a normal guy. His beard was thick and long. He was a bit older, but not old. We were both waiting for our orders amid a crowd of others at the art fair. After a few minutes the young woman inside the food truck moved to...
The slow flat
Her tire was completely flat. She was completely unaware. At least that was my assumption because I watched her drive around on it as if nothing was wrong. Just driving around. Flat tire. If you have ever driven on a flat tire, then you know something. What do you...
Free your team to contribute their best work
You disagree? Good! Finally! Let's hear it. What's your opinion? How should we be doing this thing? How can we make it better? Where are the flaws? You're passionate about your points? Great! We need more passion. We need more people who give a damn about the work...
Sacrificing for the long game
If I had my choice between you agreeing with me in the short term, and agreeing with me in the long term, then I will always pick the long term. Of course my ego wants both, but if you disagree with me in the short term? I can take that. I am focused on playing a...
Are you durable?
Yesterday I was bit by a German Shepherd while on my weekend run. I'm fine. It barely got me as the combination of the small woman trying to hold the leash and my reflexive shuffle step kept us mostly separated. Still felt the teeth (and the adrenaline). I didn't stop...
See it through their eyes
What most enticed you to make your last job change? Was it to realize a bright future, or to escape a dim reality? Were you motivated by the good of the new opportunity, or were you motivated by the bad of the current situation? Why does this matter? Though we are all...
An empty cup pours nothing
I heard a podcast guest say in passing that you "can't pour from an empty cup." He meant that your ability to motivate, inspire, help, encourage, listen, strategize with, learn from, teach, engage with, guide, support, advise, serve, counsel, mentor, model, play with,...
Crush your next presentation
Crush your next presentation: 1. Spend more time than you think you should creating the story. Even the most technically dense material is in service of a story. A story you are trying to get us to buy. Spend more time than you think you should crafting that story. 2....
Forget those long and boring job descriptions and try this instead
Long winded, descriptive, and tightly worded job descriptions will be a thing of the past in the future workplace. Think about it. Why do we have long winded, descriptive, and tightly worded job descriptions right now? The main reason is because we are still applying...