Culture 101

In other words, you must: 1. care for people as individuals, 2. set up each person to reach their potential, and 3. do great work together. In that order of priority.

You don’t have to make your values People, Empowerment and Excellence, but your values/behaviors in your culture guide should incorporate the ideas from these 3 pillars.

Let’s dive into each:

Culture Pillar #1: Value People First 

You must actually care about people and show the team they come first, as the foundation for success.

*This is key for the sustainable, longer-term part*

People first includes some obvious stuff:

• You are kind to others

• You care about the wellbeing of others

• You treat people like human beings, not as robots

• You look for ways to show appreciation and care

• You try to be considerate of the perspective of others

But how this plays out practically makes all the difference.

Many companies have poser people-first culture. (Let's call it PPF culture…)

It's the illusion of people-first, for example:

• Free energy drinks

• Paid laundry services

• $20 gift cards for months of overtime

• Monday morning off after working all weekend

These superficial solutions are the minimum investment to signal caring and keep people working.

Want actual people-first culture? Here are just some examples:

• Fire brutal clients

• Hire enough people

• Have appropriate workload

• Plan timelines with more buffer

• Balance busy seasons with less busy times

Spot the difference from PPF? (I know it's subtle…)

People-first culture is shown by difficult decisions, where there is a temporary cost. It's the actions taken when values are challenged. It's in the clash between short-term profit versus long-term health.

Many companies only care about what people produce, where the team gives bare minimum and many leave. But caring first about the person means they’ll give their best and are a lot more likely to stay.

Prioritizing people means prioritizing the longer-term. And sustainable business results will inevitably follow.

Ask: Do people feel valued, heard and appreciated, to want to contribute their best?

The People Void:

If People aren’t valued first, the business results won’t be sustainable. People will often feel used and not care to give their best effort.

Culture Pillar #2: Empowered > Controlled

You must set people up to think and act without constant direction.

​​*This is key for the exponential, scalable growth part*

You must empower your team, not control.

With control, the one in charge is the one who:

A] knows what's going on, and

B] can make decisions.

They restrict what others can know and do.

What this looks like:

• Tasks are dictated and actions micromanaged.

• Information is protected with little transparency.

• Decisions are made by an exclusive group.

• Feedback and opinions are generally unwelcome.

• Expectations are unclear and inconsistently enforced.

But control restricts potential and blocks sustainable growth.

While control is about restricting power, with empowerment, power is shared. 

Empowerment is setting people up to succeed without constant direction.

What this looks like:

• Ownership is delegated and people are trusted.

• Transparency is the norm where more information is openly shared.

• People are invited into the overall decision-making process.

• Feedback and opinions are encouraged with no fear of consequences.

• Expectations are clear upfront and people are consistently held accountable.

Empowerment releases potential and allows sustainable growth.

There is a lot of nuance with how to empower over control, and to learn more, check out our Control Detox course that helps leaders detox control and master delegation to grow their impact (or preview the first 2 chapters of the eBook).

Ask: Are the right conditions in place where people are empowered and set up to make sound decisions?

The Empowerment Void:

If Empowerment isn’t strong, scalability won’t be there. Those in leadership will burn out, ownership-minded people will leave and the organization will likely double-down on procedures and rules.

Culture Pillar #3: Pursue Excellence

You should expect high performance and great results.

*This is key for the making money, results part*

Excellence absolutely must result when:

1. People are cared for, and

2. They are properly set up to succeed.

Many organizations naturally tend to emphasize Excellence no matter what the cost, but the other two culture pillars should come first allowing for more sustainable Excellence. Sometimes when initially starting with the EC3 framework, the pace may have to slow a little to establish a firm foundation of People and Empowerment.

But when people are cared for and empowered, you should expect real results.

You must set the bar to have a high performing team, like a professional sports team. This isn’t a family where all are welcome no matter what the contribution. You are doing great work together.

Here are some examples of what Pursuing Excellence first looks like:

• You work to make real impact, not just put in time

• You are thorough and produce quality work

• You desire the best idea to win above your own

• You exercise critical thinking and good judgment

• You always want to improve

Remember that impact matters above activity. Bureaucratic companies focus on activity: timesheets, procedures, checklists, status meetings, etc. Entrepreneurial companies focus on impact: being clear on goals, making progress, solving actual problems, growing, etc. Activity should support impact, and activity shouldn’t be the focus in and of itself.

Ask: With a valued and empowered team, is great work the result?

The Excellence Void:

If Excellence isn’t pursued, the results just won’t be there and high performance people will leave to do work they’re proud of with a stronger team.