Your Company Culture is Kryptonite.
It happens all the time. You see the new employee come in, full of enthusiasm and gusto for the job. They came with a great body of work from their last job and their skills are sorely needed in the team, which is why they were hired. And after a few months, you notice that they finally come down to earth, and their performance is as mediocre as everyone else's.
Why does this happen? It happens because your culture is kryptonite.
Hopefully. your company is not one where top performers come to die but this happens quite a lot.
As depressing as this sounds, there really is a method to this madness.
One of the most pervasive influences in any organisation- and the one which is largely ignored during the recruitment process is Company Culture and the effect it has on performance.
Think about it. Whenever you hear someone talking about how much he or she dislikes their job, they usually refer to specific people. But it is important to note that PEOPLEare influenced by the ENVIRONMENT in which they are placed. That culture, whilst made up of many different personalities, is governed by the beliefs and nuances of those that run the organisation. This means that if the culture is toxic, you do not have far to look for the reason. In such an environment, a top performer can struggle.
But who are these top performers anyway? In an income generating department, where metrics are easily captured and measured, this can be easy to determine. In companies that also have a track record of measuring and monitoring performance via a performance management system, this is also possible. But for many, many organisations, especially in the local scenario, this is not the case.
In fact, the top performers are usually always associated with the brash sales or marketing executive, who is always wining and dining customers, bringing in the big accounts (in theory), and is frequently in the CEO's office, shooting the breeze.
Little recognition is given to the team that builds and supports the product or service that this sales executive is selling and the organisation loses out on the capacity to harness the strength of the team.
And then you end up with a general staff sentiment of mediocrity. Which quickly turns to resentment, when grievances are ignored, or treated with scant courtesy.
HR has to be the touchstone for a company's culture. This is important because they are primarily responsible for bringing 'fresh blood' into the organisation. And if HR wants to know why turnover is high, or why so many once bright sparks are fading- then they have to come to terms with the characteristics of the culture. This can be hard to do when you are part of it yourself. But it is possible.
I usually hear HR practitioners complain about the poor pool of applicants when hiring for a new position. This is especially true when hiring a 'millennial'. Some of the criticism is fair. Some of it is not. What I do not hear enough of though, is a recognition that the company's culture may not be as welcoming to a new way of doing things or to new ideas- as it ought to be. This is especially true in the Caribbean, where in a lot of organisations, the opinions of the youth are not given serious consideration.
What these organisations fail to grasp is that in years to come, not only will a significant portion of their company be made up of such individuals with this 'new' mindset, but so will their customer base.
And there is always a key to getting insight into the culture- no matter the company. And it lies with the head of the department in question or the person that owns the company.
As a manager or business owner, hold yourself accountable first before lighting a fire under others.
