The Best Ways to Improve Your Brand On Social Media

The Best Ways to Improve Your Brand on Social Media

There are a number of ways to improve your personal brand on social media that can be effective. In this episode of The Solutions Oriented Leader Podcast I am going to share the best ways to improve your personal brand that I have used with amazing results!

Here are my best ways to improve your personal brand for you to use as a guide. I used these steps when I released my new book The Solutions Oriented Leader Your Comprehensive Guide to Achieve World Class Results

The Solutions Oriented Leader Strategy to Improving Your Personal Brand

1. Change your thought process

If you are going to build your personal brand you have to change your thought process and put yourself out there especially when it comes to social media. If you are not engaging on a regular basis your brand will be invisible.

The purpose of being visible on social media is for you to demonstrate your superpowers across multiple platforms that can be seen and heard by a variety of audiences worldwide.

2. What is your expertise

It’s important to know what you are great at where is your expertise its important to know because that is where your brand needs to focus. It's important to assess your strengths and weaknesses in addition to assessing which industry would benefit the most from your expertise.

3. What groups will you focus on

Knowing the groups that you want to focus on is critical. It's impossible to reach your goals if they are not specific. The same goes for your personal brand. You can't build your brand effectively if you have not determined what groups you will focus on.

4. Do your research and come up with a plan

Research some of the top experts in groups you are focusing on. Look at the industry publications to see the types of articles they publish. This way you can start positioning material for yourself.

5. Create an editorial calendar for posting

An editorial calendar will help you plan and map out your social media postings. Suffice to say, you need to be everywhere and, on every platform, where your target market consumes information.

Those platforms could be LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit. The best platforms in my opinion are your own website, your own podcast and your own blog. People consume information in many different ways, and you need to be prepared to deliver in all of them.

6. Give away everything you know

Make sure to share and give away everything you know especially content in consumable bites. Our attention spans have gotten shorter over the years so if you can communicate in sound bites your message has a better chance of being retained by your target audience.

7. Develop a positioning statement

I have been asked by clients over the years what is the purpose of having an positioning statement? My response is simple. You have less than 30 seconds to make an impression on someone. They are judging you from the second you connect with them. If you want to succeed in promoting your brand you only have a few seconds to accomplish this.

We call it a positioning statement it explains your superpower in a concise and succinct manner within seconds.

8. Grow your personal network

Growing your personal network will help to boost your brand when you engage and share helpful information. It’s just as important to engage with others content as you do post your own. Communication is a two-way street.

9. Ask your friends and clients to make introductions where needed

 You should never be afraid to ask for an introduction, you’re only risking a yes! I always say “if you don't A.S.K. you won't G.E.T.” What's the worst thing that can happen? If the person says no, you're in the same position you were a few seconds before. If they say yes you just went to the next level. I have found that people love to help others so why not just ask for help in making a connection.

10. You are your brand

 You are your brand and your personal brand is not just online it follows you wherever you go. In today's highly engaged planet everyone is watching whether you see them or not. Your reputation is everything so its important to protect your brand!

If you're interested in repositioning your brand or reinventing your business by building your personal brand reach out to me directly at info@rickgoodman.com. Or call us at 888-267-6098.

Ask us about our personal brand building strategy sessions that can reposition your brand for today's changing world.

 

Check out this episode!

How to Protect Your Brand During The Coronavirus with Bruce Turkel and D...

How to Be More Productive When Working from Home

How to Be More Productive When Working from Home

 

Many people around the world have had to learn to be more productive when working from home to stop the spreading of the coronavirus pandemic. In this episode of the Solutions Oriented Leader Podcast I will give you five tips that you can implement to make you more productive when working from home.

 

Five tips to make you more productive when working at home

 

1. The first thing that you can do to make you more productive when working from home is to define a start and stop time along with the things that you need to accomplish each day. It's very important to devise a routine and stick to that routine the same way you would follow your schedule when you were in school. This will help you to separate your work time from your personal time especially if you're not used to working from a Home Office.

 

2. Make sure you do whatever it takes to have her a separate work environment so that you can focus on your goals and objectives. There are many distractions especially if your family is in the house when it's time for you to work. Explain to your family the importance of sticking to your routine in order to maintain normality as best as possible.

 

3. Be sure to make time for yourself it's best if you can keep your morning routine the way it was before you started working from home if possible. Make sure you take time to eat the right foods and exercise daily. Studies indicate that the more time you spend in a disciplined routine the more you will accomplish!

 

4. Make sure to keep all of your meetings and do them face to face with video chats if possible. There are many different applications that you can use including us, Skype, WhatsApp and go to meeting . You could use these video platforms to connect with new prospects, meet with your staff and work with your clients.

 

5. Make sure to set realistic goals especially based on new circumstances and make sure to reward yourself when you have accomplished these goals. It's important to maintain your focus including your goals and objectives when you're working from your home environment by placing them in front of you at all times. It’s also important to end your work day by preparing for the next day.

 

 

If you’re interested to see how our team can help you with your organizational needs

reach out to me at your next opportunity. Contact me at www.rickgoodman.com  email us at info@rickgoodman.com or call 888-267-6098.

 

You can now get flash briefings on your Alexa at home or on the Alexa app all you have to do is enable the solutions-oriented leader and click on this link below:

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RNGG1WV/ref=nodl_

 

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

 

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance, you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

 

Never feeling extra loving, I’d be really grateful if you let me review over on iTunes to. Those views help other people find my podcasts there. It’s also fun for me to go in and read them. Just click here to review, select ratings and reviews and write a review and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is.

 

 

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Solutions Oriented Leadership During the CoronaVirus A Conversation with Bruce Turkel Part 2

Dr. Rick Goodman and International Branding Expert and Author Bruce Turkel discuss solutions oriented leadership and what needs to happen during the coronavirus in Part 2 in this series.

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Solutions Oriented Leadership and COVID 19 A Conversation with Bruce Tur...

How to Protect Your Brand During The Corona Virus A Conversation with Bruce Turkel

The coronavirus is just starting to have a major effect on our lives and our businesses in the United States. In this two part episode of The Solutions Oriented Leader Podcast Dr. Rick Goodman interviews branding expert and author Bruce Turkel about steps you can take to protect your brand during this crisis.

Check out this episode!

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5 leadership Lessons We Can Learn from The Iowa Caucus Debacle

                   5 Leadership Lessons We Can Learn from The Iowa Caucus Debacle

 

Iowa Caucuses Debacle: 5 Leadership Lessons We Can Learn 

 

 

I was recently interviewed on I Heart Radio by Doug Wagner from 600 AM WMT in Cedar Rapids Iowa about the 5 leadership lessons we can learn from the Iowa Caucus Debacle. I think we can all learn from some of these leadership lessons and apply them to our own lives and businesses.

 

Dr. Rick Goodman international leadership expert and author of The Solutions Oriented Leader “Your Comprehensive Guide to Achieve World-Class Results” shares what our future leaders must do to focus on solutions and not problems! He understands how solutions-oriented leaders assess and solve problems in a methodical fashion by following “The 5 Solutions Oriented Rules of Change”

 

There are 5 leadership lessons the we can learn from the Iowa Caucuses debacle.

 

5 Rules Solutions Oriented Leaders follow when implementing any type of change.

1. Assess your present situation and systems to see if there is even a need for change.
2. Create a step-by-step plan for testing and evaluating potential changes successfully before implementation.
3. Have at least 2 contingency plans should any unforeseen problems arise.
4. Keep all lines of communication open, transparency equals trust.
5. Accept responsibility for any issues that arise and discuss action steps taken to prevent problems in the future.

 

If the leaders in Iowa had followed these 5 simple rules, we would not be talking about this                          today!

 

What people are asking Dr. Rick:

 

• How can leaders create a culture of change and innovation?
• How can I tell if someone is a solutions-oriented leader?
• Why is it important for leaders to create systems to assess and evaluate any change initiatives?
• What is the most difficult part of the challenge?
• How can leaders in politics and business improve communications with employees, customers and constituents?

 

 

Even though the Iowa Caucuses were a debacle there are 5 leadership lessons we can learn from this starting with, you need to have a plan! You can create a culture of innovation and improvement that inspires others for a lifetime.

 

Dr. Rick says, “with the solutions-oriented mindset, you now have the business and life playbook promoting productivity, boosting employee engagement, and creating a happy and productive work environment.”

 

 

• WPEC TV CBS Palm Beach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F71wSbZ5qg
• WFLA NBC Channel 8 Tampa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzL8ObJexJM&t=29s
• Rick Keynote and Interview Philippine HR Congress: https://youtu.be/Ozzcs9GFNH0

 

To arrange an interview with Dr. Rick Goodman contact:

 

Rachel M. Anderson
Publicist
THE SOLUTIONS ORIENTED LEADER

952-240-2513

rachel@rmapublicity.com

www.RickGoodman.com

Check out this episode!

10 Rules for Building Your Teams Leadership Skills

 

10 Rules for Building Your Teams Leadership Skills

What if there were 10 rules that you could implement and live by that would build your teams leadership skills effectively, would you be interested? In this episode of The Solutions Oriented Leader Podcast I am going to share with you my 10 rules for building your teams leadership skills successfully.

 

It’s simply a matter of creating the right organizational culture. Specifically, you’ll want to build a company culture in which your team members can all develop effective leadership skills. As a transformational leadership keynote speaker, I've worked with many companies and associations who have recognized the importance of building their teams leadership skills

 

The question is how? How can you encourage the people who work with you to develop effective leadership skills?  Let me share my 10 rules for building your teams leadership skills and you will be on your way!

 

10 Rules for Building Your Teams Leadership Skills

 

Rule #1 Be the example

 

Your team is going to be watching every step you make it's no different than your children they do exactly what you do. You must set the example of true leadership. When I deliver a transformational leadership keynote speech, I use examples of leaders who are walking their talk because that’s what works!

 

Rule #2 acknowledge and recognize your team members strengths

 

As a solutions-oriented leader if you attempt to do all the work yourself you will never be successful. There are many people on your team that have strengths that you do not possess it's important to acknowledge their strengths and utilized them to benefit the team. This will have a positive effect empowering your team members and growing their leadership skills at the same time.

 

Rule #3 empower each member of your team to make decisions

 

if you want your team to grow their transformational leadership skills and become solutions-oriented leaders, they need to make decisions on their own. Of course, they're going to fail and make wrong decisions that's all part of the growing process. If you don't allow this to happen, you will stagnate the team and prevent the growth of their leadership skills.

 

Rule #4 people like responsibility

 

if you really want to retain your best employees and see them grow it's important to add additional responsibilities to their plate. This has an empowering effect on their leadership skills and growth potential as a transformational leader. It also shows them that there is a possibility of growth opportunities in their future.

 

Rule #5 trust is the key

 

when you help your team members to develop their leadership skills it's important that you place a large level of trust in what they're about to do. Understanding the importance of trust when you are developing your teams transformational leadership skills is not easy, however the benefits are enormous.  

 

Rule #6 future pace your team to victory

 

Another way you could use transformation of leadership skills to grow your team's leadership skills is by future pacing them to victory! This simply means showing them what things will look like when they become transformational leaders by keeping them focused on the goals and objectives of the team.  

 

Rule #7 push your team to be the best

 

As a transformational leadership keynote speaker and executive coach, I understand the importance of pushing your team to be the best. The best athletes and entrepreneurs in the world push their teams to achieve goals they never thought they could accomplish! The key is to understand when to push and went to hold back.

 

Rule #8 give respect

 

One of the hallmarks of transformational leaders is that they command the respect of their colleagues and peers. If you want to develop a whole team of transformational leaders who are making a difference you must give respect to get respect! Whenever I'm delivering a transformational leadership keynote speech the first people, I make sure to acknowledge are the audiovisual team who are in charge of the cameras and the audio. They are also in charge of my life when I'm working so I give them the ultimate respect as soon as I entered the building.

 

Rule #9 praise, visualization and affirmation

 

Everyone wants love appreciation and respect and if you want to become a solutions-oriented leader and develop your teams skills you must praise, visualize and affirm your message consistently. This can truly help motivate your team to achieve goals above their expectations.

 

Rule #10 don't feed into fear

 

Too many people fall into fear and I always say fear stands for (false evidence appearing real). Most of the things we worry about never happen! However, if we do focus on all of the worst things that could possibly happen, we will eventually attract that into our lives. That’s why it’s important to keep future pacing your team with a motivational message.

 

I believe if you implement these 10 rules for building your team's leadership skills your results will far exceed your expectations and you will have developed through your transformational leadership skills, an entire team of solutions-oriented leaders

 

One more thing you might consider is bringing in a motivational keynote speaker or coach to help inspire your employees. If that’s something you’re interested in, by all means give me a call!

Connect at www.rickgoodman.com or call 888-267-6098, and let’s get deep into the details of developing transformational leadership skills for your entire organization.

 

Check out this episode!

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6 Steps for Building Your Personal Brand

 

6 Steps for Building Your Personal Brand

 

There are 6 steps that you can take as a leader to build your personal brand that will get results. In this podcast you will discover why every leader should take this seriously and how these 6 steps for building your personal brand will impact your personal and professional life.

 

 

Why is Personal Branding Important?

 

Let’s start by answering this basic question: Why is personal branding important?

 

Your personal brand is important because your team members will inevitably see you as the face of the company, or at least one of its most influential representatives. When you’re in a leadership position, your values and priorities are naturally going to be assumed to be the values and priorities of the company as a whole, so it’s important to be aware of this.

 

Also, a personal brand can very easily be parlayed into thought leadership. In a lot of ways, I think branding yourself is all about identifying your superpower or your key strengths, then building a brand identity around that. When people in the business community learn what your superpower is, they’re going to start calling on you to use it. That can lead to amazing opportunities for your business.

 

Lastly, branding yourself can also make your employees more likely to buy into your initiatives and your ideas. That’s because they’ll feel like they have a clear sense of who you are and what drives you, they get to know The REAL YOU!

 

 

6 Steps for Building Your Personal Brand

 

I have found that some people are naturals at building their personal brand and others would like a roadmap for success. That is why I put together these 6 steps for building your personal brand that are easy to implement with great results!

 

1. Assess yourself and Understand Your Strengths and Weaknesses. Before you can start branding yourself and before you can begin offering effective team leadership, you need to assess your strengths, weaknesses, and values. There are a number of leadership assessment tests out there that can give you a good idea of where you stand, including your personal team leadership style.
2. Write your personal mission and vision statement. I find it helpful to actually create a written statement of your personal brand. This doesn’t have to be something you make public; this is simply for you to focus on your brand and your team leadership style. I’ve worked with a lot of leaders who have real “breakthroughs and transformation” while drafting their personal branding statements.
3. Establish your thought leadership through the production of good content. Your personal brand needs to be shared in a in a way that it gets noticed. You can do this through keynote addresses, videos, blogs, or even a smartly employed Twitter account. What’s important is having your personal branding strategy articulated in a way that people will see and understand what your superpower is so they can buy!
4.  The importance of having an elevator pitch. I think it’s important to have an elevator pitch for your business, but it’s also important to have a personal elevator pitch. When you meet someone at a conference or event and they ask what you do, what do you tell them? What’s your succinct, one-or-two-sentence way of sharing your superpower? And how do you convey your team leadership style?
5. Be authentic and Real.  People can sense if you are being real and authentic and they judge you within the first 30 second of meeting you. Being real means not speaking to things you’re not knowledgeable about, and not pretending to be an expert when you’re not; and, sticking to your basic values, allowing them to guide all your decision-making rather than just going with the crowd. After all, it’s that set of values you really want to become known for.
6. Be consistent everyone is watching. Do what you say you’re going to do, show up when you say you’re going to show up, and deliver on what you pledge to deliver. This is crucial for how to be a good team leader, and it’s crucial for branding yourself effectively. Simply put, if you’re not consistent, the only thing you’ll be known for is your inconsistency!

 

Learn More About How to Be a Good Team Leader Through Executive Coaching

 

A personal branding strategy can help you advance your career, and it can also help you offer effective team leadership. Every great leader and athlete have a coach. Let us show you how executive coaching can get you immediate results! If you’d like to talk more about what how we can help Reach out today and let’s talk. Contact me at www.rickgoodman.com or call 888-267-6098.

 

And don’t forget, my Solutions Oriented Leader book is now available to order online. In this first-of-a-kind, comprehensive guide, I’ll lead you through the everyday challenges of the modern workplace while providing you with easy-to-implement solutions to achieve world-class results!

 

Check out this episode!

6 Steps for Building Your Personal Brand

 

6 Steps for Building Your Personal Brand

 

There are 6 steps that you can take as a leader to build your personal brand that will get results. In this podcast you will discover why every leader should take this seriously and how these 6 steps for building your personal brand will impact your personal and professional life.

 

 

Why is Personal Branding Important?

 

Let’s start by answering this basic question: Why is personal branding important?

 

Your personal brand is important because your team members will inevitably see you as the face of the company, or at least one of its most influential representatives. When you’re in a leadership position, your values and priorities are naturally going to be assumed to be the values and priorities of the company as a whole, so it’s important to be aware of this.

 

Also, a personal brand can very easily be parlayed into thought leadership. In a lot of ways, I think branding yourself is all about identifying your superpower or your key strengths, then building a brand identity around that. When people in the business community learn what your superpower is, they’re going to start calling on you to use it. That can lead to amazing opportunities for your business.

 

Lastly, branding yourself can also make your employees more likely to buy into your initiatives and your ideas. That’s because they’ll feel like they have a clear sense of who you are and what drives you, they get to know The REAL YOU!

 

 

6 Steps for Building Your Personal Brand

 

I have found that some people are naturals at building their personal brand and others would like a roadmap for success. That is why I put together these 6 steps for building your personal brand that are easy to implement with great results!

 

1. Assess yourself and Understand Your Strengths and Weaknesses. Before you can start branding yourself and before you can begin offering effective team leadership, you need to assess your strengths, weaknesses, and values. There are a number of leadership assessment tests out there that can give you a good idea of where you stand, including your personal team leadership style.
2. Write your personal mission and vision statement. I find it helpful to actually create a written statement of your personal brand. This doesn’t have to be something you make public; this is simply for you to focus on your brand and your team leadership style. I’ve worked with a lot of leaders who have real “breakthroughs and transformation” while drafting their personal branding statements.
3. Establish your thought leadership through the production of good content. Your personal brand needs to be shared in a in a way that it gets noticed. You can do this through keynote addresses, videos, blogs, or even a smartly employed Twitter account. What’s important is having your personal branding strategy articulated in a way that people will see and understand what your superpower is so they can buy!
4.  The importance of having an elevator pitch. I think it’s important to have an elevator pitch for your business, but it’s also important to have a personal elevator pitch. When you meet someone at a conference or event and they ask what you do, what do you tell them? What’s your succinct, one-or-two-sentence way of sharing your superpower? And how do you convey your team leadership style?
5. Be authentic and Real.  People can sense if you are being real and authentic and they judge you within the first 30 second of meeting you. Being real means not speaking to things you’re not knowledgeable about, and not pretending to be an expert when you’re not; and, sticking to your basic values, allowing them to guide all your decision-making rather than just going with the crowd. After all, it’s that set of values you really want to become known for.
6. Be consistent everyone is watching. Do what you say you’re going to do, show up when you say you’re going to show up, and deliver on what you pledge to deliver. This is crucial for how to be a good team leader, and it’s crucial for branding yourself effectively. Simply put, if you’re not consistent, the only thing you’ll be known for is your inconsistency!

 

Learn More About How to Be a Good Team Leader Through Executive Coaching

 

A personal branding strategy can help you advance your career, and it can also help you offer effective team leadership. Every great leader and athlete have a coach. Let us show you how executive coaching can get you immediate results! If you’d like to talk more about what how we can help Reach out today and let’s talk. Contact me at www.rickgoodman.com or call 888-267-6098.

 

And don’t forget, my Solutions Oriented Leader book is now available to order online. In this first-of-a-kind, comprehensive guide, I’ll lead you through the everyday challenges of the modern workplace while providing you with easy-to-implement solutions to achieve world-class results!

 

Check out this episode!

How Your Attitude and Emotion Affect Your Success Rick Goodman Leadershi...

4 Strategies for Delivering Solutions Oriented Feedback

 

4 Strategies for Delivering Solutions Oriented Feedback

As a motivational keynote speaker, I receive solutions-oriented feedback regularly from my clients. Delivering and receiving feedback as a leader is crucial for your growth and your teams growth. In this podcast I am going to share 4 strategies for delivering solutions-oriented feedback that produces results. As a motivational keynote speaker its important for me to receive feedback in order to improve my performance and the truth is that it’s necessary.

 

But both kinds of feedback can ultimately be valuable: We need the affirmation just as surely as we need the correction. I review some of the best motivational keynote speakers in the world to improve my skills and sometimes the feedback is painful, but that’s what makes you want to get better

 

And, as a leader, part of your job is delivering feedback as needed. That means offering both kinds of feedback to your employees—and frankly, it can sometimes be hard to know what to say and how to say it.

 

Let me offer my advice—some basic tips for transformational leaders looking to deliver employee feedback as effectively as possible.

 

4 Strategies for Delivering Solutions Oriented Feedback

 

Ask your team members for feedback on you and it will encourage them to receive feedback. When someone actually requests feedback, it’s a lot less threatening… and thus, they’re much more likely to really listen and absorb it. As a motivational keynote speaker, it’s important for me to lead by example. I am always actively seeking out feedback on my own performance which opens the door for them. Also make it clear to your employees that you’re happy to have a low-key conversation about their performance any time they like.

 

Focus on growth opportunities and solutions. When your feedback is all about results, it can make your team members feel pressured. You can defray this by encouraging them to think in terms of learning, growth, and personal development. Don’t make your feedback about the bottom line; make it about effort. This means that you have to provide training and growth opportunities which will lead to better retention.

 

Take the Yoda approach. Yoda was famous for teaching by asking questions—guiding his young jedi to discovering insights on their own. You can take a similar approach when you give employee feedback, asking team members to reflect on their own performance and come up with some of their own insights. As a motivational keynote speaker, I regularly invite other speakers to critique my performance and they always start my asking me questions about how I feel it went and what I would improve.

 

Understand your teams personality. When you’re praising an employee, it can often be best to do so publicly—unless you know the employee to be shy, or to eschew public shows of affirmation. Meanwhile, when you criticize, it’s almost never wise to do it in front of an audience; better to take those opportunities one-on-one. This is no different than when I am about to deliver a motivational keynote speech, I send out a pre-program questionnaire so that I can understand the demographics of the audience in order to deliver a more focused message at the event which gets better results!

 

Those are some of my guidelines and strategies for effectively coaching and delivering solutions-oriented feedback to your employees. If you’d like to hear more about how transformational leaders deliver solutions-oriented feedback, I’d love to tell you! Reach out today and let’s chat together. You can contact me at www.rickgoodman.com or call 888-267-6098.

 

What is a solutions-oriented leader? Take the free Solutions-Oriented Leader Assessment now https://www.solutionsorientedleader.com/assessment

and claim your Comprehensive Guide to Achieve Success. Dr. Rick Goodman’s Solutions-

Oriented Leader book is now available to order online. In this first-of-a-kind, comprehensive

guide, author Dr. Rick Goodman leads you through the everyday challenges of the modern

workplace while providing you with easy-to-implement solutions to achieve world-class results!

 

Check out this episode!

The Ten Best Questions for Assessing Your Organizational Culture

 

   The Ten Best Questions for Assessing Your Organizational Culture

In this podcast I am going to share with you my ten best questions for assessing your organizational culture. In order to assess your organizational culture to make changes its important to develop questions that will point you in the right direction and I know these ten questions for assessing your organizational culture will put you on the right path.

 

What’s difficult sometimes is defining your organizational culture, putting a finger on what makes it distinct. With that said, I think this quick questionnaire can be vital for just getting you started in thinking critically about what your organizational culture is and how it might be improved.

 

What is Organizational Culture?

 

Before we can assess our organizational culture it’s important that we understand what is organizational culture, generally speaking?

 

The way I explain organizational culture is that it’s a summary of how people at your business interact with each other… and, how they interact with clients and customers. More formally, you might say that organizational culture is the mixture of beliefs, assumptions, values, and habits that comprise the psychological environment of your workplace.

 

Organizational culture comes in different varieties, and some are healthier than others. So, how do you assess your company’s culture? That’s what we’ll address next.

 

Assessing Your Organizational Culture

 

Here are my Ten Best Questions for Assessing Your Organizational Culture

 

1. What is the mission/purpose of the organization? Is this mission statement written or codified in some way for people to view? Would you say that most team members can articulate the mission? Or, if you asked 10 different employees what the mission is, would you get 10 different answers?
2. What motivates your employees? Are team members motivated into action by a sense of mission or by promise of a reward, or the threat of corrective action? What’s the motivating force at your company?
3. What’s the organizational structure? Would you say that the structure of your company is hierarchical? Or is it more of a flat structure, where team members all feel like they’re on pretty much the same footing? How does this structure impact your daily productivity and employee relationships?
4. Is your company overall collaborative? How often do different departments work together with one another? On a typical project, is one employee holed up in their office, or do you see a lot of instances of teamwork and cross-disciplinary unity?
5. Do people in your company feel respected and appreciated? Actually, start with yourself: Do you feel respected, both by people who work under you and by the people to whom you report? Do colleagues appreciate your particular skills and subject matter expertise? Do you feel like you have opportunities to add value, and is that value welcomed and appreciated by the rest of the team?
6. Is there freedom to fail with new initiatives? What happens if a team member tries something innovative and new and it doesn’t quite work as intended? Is punitive action taken? Is that employee scolded by the boss? Or do you have a work environment where effort and experimentation are rewarded and encouraged, even when things don’t quite pan out?
7. How does employee morale impact the end client/customer experience? This is a tough one to assess, maybe, but think about the general mood of your employees. Does it seem like their disposition carries over into friendly, attentive, courteous customer service? Or do you notice that lackluster attitudes lead to a chilly demeanor with customers?
8. How would you characterize leadership at your company? Leadership and organizational culture go hand in hand. I’d encourage you to ask whether the managers/bosses/supervisors/executives at your company lead by example; whether they micromanage; whether they delegate; whether they ultimately trust employees with some real autonomy and freedom.
9. Can you name three specific areas where your organizational culture could be improved? Simple question… simple but crucial! No company culture is ever perfect. It’s always going to be a work in progress and thinking critically about specific areas for improvement can be a really helpful exercise. What are a few things that immediately spring to mind? And do you think other team members would share your assessment?
10. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your organizational culture? Would you recommend it to a friend? Again, this may sound simple, maybe even simplistic. But I think there’s real value in just doing a quick gut check: How much do you like your organizational culture, really? Your instincts here may be more revealing than you can imagine.

If you’re interested to see how our team can help you with your organizational needs

reach out to me at your next opportunity. Contact me at www.rickgoodman.com  email us at info@rickgoodman.com or call 888-267-6098.

 

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5 Strategies for Fixing a Toxic Work Culture

                      5 Strategies for Fixing a Toxic Work Culture

There are many things that can contribute to a toxic work culture such as high stress, constant turnover, low morale and no teamwork. In this podcast I'm going to share five strategies for fixing a toxic work culture that you can use immediately with great success! Ask yourself a question; Is that the kind of workplace you have? It’s been my experience that often people who work in a toxic environment don’t quite realize it; they question their own reality, or simply blame themselves for their unhappiness.

 

But if you and your teammates struggle with engagement, with high anxiety, and with the constant interruptions of office politics and team discord, that may mean that your culture is simply poisonous.

 

That’s the bad news, but there’s some good news too: Leaders shape culture, and as such they can be proactive in fixing a culture that’s broken. It won’t be easy and it won’t be overnight, but there are some things you can do to remove the toxicity in your work environment.

 

Here are 5 strategies that you can use immediately to fix your toxic work culture

 

Focus your employees on their highest and best use. Instead of assigning work to each employee find out what they love to do both inside and outside of work, allow them to gravitate toward teams and projects that they feel passionate about—as long as they are working on initiatives that benefit the company. You may find that they possess a skill that will help the team and you didn’t even know about it!

 

Firing continues until morale improves. A big part of reserving healthy company culture is getting rid of the people you identify as toxic. I always make sure you counsel and coach them beforehand and try to make the save it’s much more effective. Don’t create a work environment where employees are constantly afraid, they could get axed without warning. However, if they won’t fit into the culture of the company you have to let them go and find a place where they will be more successful and happier.

 

Spend time and invest in training and developing your people.  Don’t offer them a job; offer them a career, and a professional journey which means investing in your people especially leadership skills. This means mentoring, coaching, and using your annual review system to learn more about what your employees really want—and showing them how you can help them achieve it.

 

Don’t hire people just to be bigger. Don’t hire a person just because you need a warm body in the room to make your team look bigger. Hire because you find people whose gifts and passions align with your culture and will add value to your team.

 

Encourage and insist on teamwork. If you want to build your team its best to create projects that are designed to be tackled by several team members working in tandem. This will help to strengthen your team and build a bond and culture of family.

 

Again, these strategies won’t stamp out your toxic culture immediately—but they will help you to build something truly healthy and positive.

 

Dr. Rick Goodman CSP is a motivational keynote leadership speaker who provides solutions globally that help people and organizations lead, engage, and grow their business.

 

For more information on how you could bring Dr. Rick Goodman into your organization for keynote speech, a leadership workshop or executive consulting and coaching contact rick@rickgoodman.com

 

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