As the teams I work with have grown over the past 3 years, I find it important to set the right tone and expectations for new members of the team. I put together a Culture Deck which I review with anyone new as part of their onboarding process.
Some companies have defined culture traits and others have no culture at all; being in a company with a strong culture but not well documented I felt the need to define what I look for in any team I play a part in.
I’ve pulled out the key 4 slides which outline what I personally feel at the traits of a strong team.
DRI
Directly Responsible Individual
This is very a much a key tenet of OT culture but also something I personally value and is one of the reasons I gift Extreme Ownership to my fellow people managers.
When a problem occurs you should think:
- How can I make a difference rather than blame others?
- How I can be accountable for the adoption and referenceability in this situation?
- If you have to run the same workshop 5 times because a customer does not understand, don’t blame the customer.
- Are you explaining it well?
- Is there a better way to convey your message?
- Are you properly prepared for the meeting or just fumbling around?
Empathy
This is such a key factor in any service industry but especially a fast past one, with poorly defined requirements, but strong enforcement and fines. Uncertainty means opportunity but also requires understanding and going above and beyond to earn trust.
Customer’s Best Advocate
Our jobs as consultants is to champion our customers internally and externally. By this I mean, if there’s a bug or critical enhancement a customer is facing it’s our job to go internally and represent our customer to our Product Management team to try to get the bug fixed quickly or feature built sooner than originally planned. And externally it’s up to us to make our customers look good to their boss and their boss’ boss.
Room for A Team Players Only
These bullets below basically summarize the mindset I expect from members of my team. Personally I hate being the best player in a sports team or the only person who cares to win. If you’re not here to win, might as well not show up.
We are our customer’s best advocate
We get our hands dirty
We don’t believe in red tape
We work collaboratively together and with customers to achieve shared goals
We go the extra mile to ensure our customers are taken care of
We challenge customers to provide the best experience for them
What does your team culture look like? How do you train your team on it? Remember, a strong culture is intentional. Don’t expect the team to operate how you expect if you’re not continually talking about it.