We’re constantly trying to answer the question of how to do the extraordinary in the workplace by building a culture that people love and thrive in while achieving extraordinary business performance. That’s how we’ve strived to build our own organization.
Previously, we went over five important elements of Best-Self management. Today, we’re helping you conceptualize the methodology by presenting three key pillars to help you run a successful company:
- Create a Powerful Shared Context
- Support People In Being & Becoming Their Best-Selves
- Cultivate Relational Self-Mastery
Once you understand and make a commitment to these three pillars, you can implement practices that contribute to a healthy work culture, such as positivity, psychological safety, and growth mindset.
This all begins with creating a powerful shared context. This will lead to a sense of meaning within your organization. The context of your company is more than its mission. It is where the work culture is created and from where its creativity and purpose flows.
For example, take a company like Enron. Their shared context was to defy regulations, lie, cheat, and steal their way to the top. And what happened? Thousands of employees lost their entire retirement.Then look at a company like Patagonia. Yvonne Chouinard recently refreshed their WHY to save Planet Earth. The shared context of every employee is “we save the planet”.
The context is akin to headwaters (where the river starts). If the water is polluted from the source, that will flow all the way downstream polluting everything along the way.
Next comes supporting your people to become their best selves. Leaders and managers can inspire the key practices of strengths discovery and regular self-reflection. By helping your people achieve their full potential, your whole organization can’t help but become stronger overall.
Finally, cultivating relational mastery will help make the other two pillars possible. Many problems within most organizations stem from relational friction between people. By consciously teaching and supporting healthy and high-order interactions, people will be transparent and hold others accountable in more effective and less toxic ways.
Beyond simply making a profit, is there a higher shared context in which your organization exists? Let’s talk about it in the comments on the episode page!
In this episode:
- What happens when you create a powerful shared context within your organization
- Why it is critical to support each person in your company in becoming their best selves
- Preventing relational friction by cultivating healthy relationship skills
- The incredible role of any business to provide meaning in people’s lives and society
- How to create powerful company values that align with your personal values
Quotes
“Don’t just practice performance management because performance is a byproduct. If you instead support people in becoming their best selves, you’re going to get performance.” [2:21]
“When you really start to realize that organizations are simply a collection of individuals, to realize an organization’s full potential, you need to realize the full potential of every individual within it.” [6:24]
“Business has a unique opportunity, perhaps unprecedented, to provide meaning. I think we really need it. If we’re going to blossom in the 21st Century rather than decay, we need people living their purpose.” [11:30]
“Values can be really powerful or they can be watered down or non-existent. Choose the first one. Make your values come alive.” [25:51]
Links
Good to Great by Jim Collins
Simon Sinek TED Talk
Cameron Herold: Vivid Vision
15Five’s OKR Guide
The Dream Manager
Best-Self Academy
Listen to Best-Self Management Here
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