Learn Four Ways to Build a Winning Business Culture
I'm a big fan of the Olympics and the amazing stories that emerge. Each Olympic story teaches lessons we can apply to life and business. Whether it's an individual or team event, the training culture of each Olympic athlete has a big impact on their success.
Building the Right Culture
During the 2012 Olympics, there was a tight race for gold between the USA and Russia for the women's gymnastics team competition. As I watched the drama of the event unfold, I heard the announcer discuss the training cultures of the two teams.
He said, "There is a big difference between the training sessions of Team USA and Team Russia."
During the Olympic training sessions, Team USA's culture was one of positive reinforcement, strong focus, individual excellence, and powerful team support. In stark contrast, Team Russia's training sessions were full of angry, individual dominance, hostility between coach and athletes, and negative energy.
“To perform like a champion, you must practice like one.”
I believe that how you practice is how you'll perform. Such was the case for Team USA & the Fab Five who were crowned with the Olympic Gold that night. Positive reinforcement, strong focus, individual excellence, and powerful team support were pillars of their win. Their training culture turned into a performing culture of precision and excellence. You could see how their team culture gave team them confidence as they competed individually and succeed as a team. Their team culture was as a huge part of their success. So, how is your business culture?
So, how is your business culture?
Because if your team culture is based off of fear, hostility, and title dominance, watch out. You're depriving your greatest resources and hindering huge results.
Creativity, productivity, individual excellence, and inspiring results come from strong a team culture. So, how do you create a business culture that drives huge results? Below are four basic principles you can use to build a winning business culture. Team USA used these four principles in their Olympic win.
Four Ways to Build a Winning Business Culture
1. Use Positive Reinforcement
As a manager, you're a coach. Tell your teams when they do something right. Many times managers only point out how team members could have done better, they forget to recognize and celebrate success. Find ways to compliment the small successes of team members. Be specific and show positive reinforcement. As you do this, you'll also build winning behaviors that turn into a winning culture.
2. Build Strong Focus
As a manager, you drive the strategy, but make sure you help drive a strong focus. This is tough, you might want to keep adding stuff to your team's to-do list. This causes confusion and less productive team members. Don't build a culture that focuses on doing everything, build a culture that focuses on doing the right things at the right times. You'll get more done and win more.
3. Promote Individual Excellence
As a manager, your job is to position team members in the right place where they can win. A team is only as strong as the weakest link. You've hired team members with certain skills. Help them succeed with by putting them in the right place to use their skills. This will help build a winning culture that promotes individual excellence, which will create strong team success. Team USA brought McKayla Maroney to the Olympics because of her vaulting skills. It paid off big as McKayla Maroney perfectly stuck her vault and lead Team USA to gold. Her vault will go down in Olympic history as one of the greatest vaults ever (except maybe Kerri Strugs, 1996 Vault).
4. Create Powerful Team Support
As a manager, your job is to promote teamwork among your team. Powerful team support comes with trust. As you build trust among team members, you'll build strong team support. With strong team support, your team will accomplish more with less pressure and more precision. Your team will be strong and their results will show it. You could see the team support from Team USA. They were strong individually and strong as a team. They were so strong that it provided a winning confidence that propelled them through each event until they achieved Olympic Gold. What a win!
Start building a winning business culture using the principles of positive reinforcement, strong focus, individual excellence, and team support.