Cultivating a Growth Mindset

How to connect personal values and ethos with Corporate and Organisational Culture?

A few of the biggest challenges top executives face within their organisations is unpredictability, shifting regulations and AI. Fundamentally, they are all concerned by the world's ever changes and rapidly evolving complexities for perfection and productivity.

With complexity and intricacy comes agility and adaptability to our changing world.

Top executives, managers and CEO's already know this and often refer to agile and flexible systems, agile and manoeuvrable software, hybrid/flexible working as well as implementing agile and malleable practices and work ethics. However, what some bosses fail to recognise and appreciate is that you cannot have an agile and flexible organisation, business or company without creating and nurturing a culture of agile and flexible people. While the common adage, “the customer is always right,” is important, Sir Richard Branson also follows his own beliefs. He is quoted as saying, “Clients do not come first, employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”

Everything that organisations and businesses plan for is very much dependant on the people within it, who bring the best of themselves forward each and every day so that everyone can thrive both personally as well as within the business.

These such people have a few key assets. They have the courage for conversation they are curious and they operate from a place of values and groundedness and this goes way beyond good recruitment and hiring. It requires a shift in the workplace mindset to recognise and appreciate that culture, much like in society and communities, is sculpted by the behaviour and measures of the individual.

So, if you are a leader or manager, it is vital that you understand that employees will not accept an implemented value simply because you say it as your own or claim it is important on your website or company banner. Announcing a commitment to a 'customer first' ethos or 'employee wellbeing' is not enough to make anyone feel connection or relatability with that value let alone drive a desire to change their behaviour and focus. These statements of grandiose are likely received with a large dose of dubiousness and cynicism, as an expression of 'empty promises' or just a 'management view' from a position of power to voice and impress a way with words.

So how can we demonstrate effective reality?

People within businesses and organisations must be able to see and voice their own individual values. We live in a society in which we are encouraged to assume the practice of equality, inclusivity, diversity and belonging. In return, we must be able to share our own sense of self and our values as they are intrinsic as to what drive us forward. In a business whereby you want to elevate customer focus for example, you need to help support employees to establish and share a connection of valuing and caring for others and generosity. Caring for a client requires the ability to see the other persons needs and creating the flexibility and adaptability to consider a wide landscape of perspectives. In turn, this can be presented to every client or customers interaction. Indeed, it might also support better interactions and relationships at work.

Even if you are not a leader, we can deepen the connection between our personal values and the chance to act on them, every single day which is important to our own sense of belonging, purpose and wellbeing.

When we link together our values within the workplace we achieve four vital benefits;

• reduce emotional and psychological exertion and stress

• reduce conflict within the workplace

• increase engagement and interaction with others

• bring a sense of personal value to the workplace

We live in a world with multi-faceted differences and we do not all share the same values however, our differences do not need to cause us discord. With a little thought and consideration, there are many opportunities to find values based connections between employees and customers that will not only make the office a happier place but it will become more effective and productive as well.