“How do I get my people to buy into our strategy and what we are trying to do around here?”

Posted May 22, 2012 by Terri Sjodin in Archive, Public Speaking, Recommended Reading, Sales Presentations, Training and Development

How do you build a great work culture? How do you get people to follow your lead and believe in what you are trying to do?

The answer often lies in the strength of high performance managers. The best managers create a culture of belief and can drive big results.

To elaborate on this subject, I’ve turned to my new friend, Adrian Gostick, who co-authored the New York Times bestseller All In: How the best managers create a culture of belief and drive big results and asked him to provide you with some insights. You may know also know him from his mega-hit The Carrot Principle.

Adrian’s research team interviewed 300,000-people over the past two years to determine the characteristics of the world’s most successful work cultures. I asked him for a couple of nuggets from his new book to help answer these questions. I hope you find the following information of value. TS

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Guest Blog

By Adrian Gostick

Here’s one big aha: The new data shows that there is no doubt that today, in this floundering economy, high-performance managers are vastly more agile at helping guide employees through the vagaries of the marketplace—and that can lead to stunning financial results. Looking at just 2010 data, we found the high-performance companies that were more “agile” than their peers reported three-year revenue growth a whopping three times higher.

So what was different about the cultures in these most agile of places? Change started with managers at all levels who provided a clear sense of direction and made decisions promptly, they treated employees respectfully and took action on issues their people raised, and they behaved in alignment with company values. These agile companies also faced competitive market pressures head-on through innovative product development, a customer-focused culture, and integrity in dealing with their clients.

We could go on about the ahas from the research. The point is, whether you manage the smallest of teams or a multi-continent organization, you own a culture—and it’s important to understand that the effectiveness of that culture will have a big impact on your performance. If your culture is clear, positive, and strong, then your people will buy into your ideas and cause and, most importantly, will believe what they do matters and that they can make a difference.

Adrian Gostick is the author of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestsellers All In: How the best managers create a culture of belief and drive big results and The Carrot Principle. You can learn more about his work at TheCultureWorks.com.