The Impact of Culture: Those who work there determine who wants to work there.
Mack Story, Blue-Collar Leadership®
Developing the Blue-Collar Workforce and those who lead them.®│Author of 15 Books│Leadership Speaker│Trainer
Chapter 3: The Impact of Culture
Those who work there will determine who wants to work there
“I think the most important and difficult thing is to create a culture in the organization where leadership is really important. It’s important for people in the company to realize that this is a growth-oriented company, and the biggest thing we have to grow here is you, because it’s you who will make this company better by your own growth." ~ Jim Blanchard
Note: This series started with Chapter 1: The Cost of Culture.
Listen to the voices of leaders who are losing the labor war:
“We just can’t find any good people.”
As if…there aren’t any good or great people.
“Due to the low unemployment rate, there just aren’t any good people left.”
As if…the only people who can be offered a job are those without a job.
“In today’s labor market, those who want to work are already working.”
As if…those who are working at one place can’t decide to work at a different place.
“When we do get good people, they won’t stay.”
As if…the problem is always with the good people and never with their leaders.
One thing I know about leaders who make these and similar comments is this: Their culture is a competitive disadvantage. Someone else has the advantage and is winning the battle for the good and great people. The good and great people certainly aren’t out of work wishing they had a job. They’re working someplace else.
Until a leader is aware of the problem, they can’t address the problem. In case it’s not obvious, the problem is their culture. The leader owns this problem whether they want to or not. Every time I hear these comments, and I hear them a lot, I know I’m talking to a leader who doesn’t know what they don’t know.
My wife, Ria Story, and I hear leaders across varying blue-collar and white-collar industries repeatedly making these comments as we travel across the USA speaking on leadership development. These voices seem to be getting louder and louder. In fact, these voices were an inspiration for my book, Blue-Collar Leadership & Culture: The 5 Components for Building High Performance Teams.
There are many leaders in blue-collar industries needing help. I want to help them stop searching for good people and start attracting great people.
The transformation won’t happen overnight. However, until it starts happening, it’s not going to happen. My intention is to use Blue-Collar Leadership & Culture to raise awareness while providing a transformational road map for those leaders who truly want to make their culture their greatest competitive advantage.
We were speaking in Louisville, KY recently to owners of blue-collar organizations. Afterward, one approached and said, “There isn’t a magic pill is there? I think we all hoped there was.” I replied, “No sir. There isn’t a magic pill or an easy button. This is how you build a high performance team and an exceptional culture that will attract, retain, and support them. There is no other way.”
Your culture is always attracting certain types of people and repelling others. Who we are is who we attract. This principle applies to individuals as well as organizations. The culture within your organization is negatively or positively impacting those within the organization, and some who are outside the organization.
The key point is to understand the people inside your organization are constantly providing the most influential type of advertising about your organization and the leaders within it. It’s called word of mouth advertising.
How your team is feeling inside the organization will determine what they’re saying outside the organization.
If what they’re saying about their leaders and the organization to others is good, it’ll be easier to find good people. If what they’re saying is great, it’ll be easier to attract great people. But, if what they’re saying is bad, finding good people will be hard, if not impossible.
Remember the voices at the start? Those leaders had team members who were sharing bad word of mouth advertising about the organization. Unless those leaders choose to change, nothing will change.
Common sense reveals it’s easier to win the labor war while attracting great people instead of searching for good people. However, what’s common sense isn’t always common practice. Often, it takes uncommon sense to act on things that are commonly understood. Creating an organizational culture that will attract and retain great people requires leaders with uncommon sense.
The best led companies aren’t impacted by labor shortages because they’re consistently attracting the best and the brightest people to their organizations.
“If we lose sight of people, we lose sight of the very purpose of leadership.” ~ Tony Dungy
Continue reading Chapter 4: Becoming a Sought After Employer
More details about Mack's newest book, Blue-Collar Leadership & Culture: The 5 Components for Building High Performance Teams, released 7/13/19:
“We just can’t find any good people,” is a phrase Mack Story hears far too often as he speaks to and interacts with leaders all across the USA. If you or a member of your leadership team has ever spoken these words, this book was written specifically for you. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Blue-Collar Leadership® & Culture will help you understand why culture is the key to becoming a sought after employer of choice within your industry. Culture matters because those who work there will determine who wants to work there.
Becoming a sought after employer means, “People who don’t work at your organization have a strong desire to work there.”
Becoming an employer of choice means, “People who already work at your organization have a strong desire to continue working there.”
Mack wrote Blue-Collar Leadership® & Culture specifically for leaders who want to become THE sought after employer of choice within their industry and in their area of operations. Sought after employers of choice attract great people and don’t spend their time and resources constantly searching for good people.
Mack has logged over 11,000 hours leading leaders and their blue-collar teams through hundreds of kaizen events, process improvement, organizational change, and cultural transformation and speaks with his wife, Ria Story, on personal growth and leadership development throughout the USA as they help leaders transform their cultures and develop high performance teams.
Although leaders in all industries at all levels will benefit greatly from this book, Mack structured the content specifically for the top leader who has never led a cultural transformation but is curious to find out what will be required. He’ll help you not only discover why you should transform your culture, but also what to do and how to do it. Therefore, Mack includes many references and links to additional resources throughout the book that will support and accelerate your cultural transformation.
Blue-Collar Leadership® & Culture is intended to not only teach, but also to serve as a tool, a guide, and a transformational road map for leaders who want to create a high impact culture that will become their greatest competitive advantage. It’s a starting point for those who don’t know how to start or those who want to become more intentional and methodicalas they take their team to the next level and beyond.
In Blue-Collar Leadership® & Culture, you’ll also discover how to leverage the components of The Transformation Equation to create a culture that will support, attract, and retain high performance team members. To learn more about The Transformation Equation, visit GetTheTransformationEquation.com
“My first words are, GET SIGNED UP! This training is not, and I stress, not your everyday leadership seminar! I have never been a part of anything like it. After 30 years in technology and two years in Concrete Construction, I have attended dozens and sent hundreds to the so-called ‘Leadership-Training’…while all of the courses, classes, webinars, and seminars, had good intentions, nothing can touch what Mack and Ria Story provide…100% of the team that attended said that they were ‘blown-away.’” ~ Sam McLamb, VP/COO
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5ySounds good but hard to find
Mid Atlantic Regional Sales Manager at UniFirst Corporation.(Retired)
5ySo true.. weather it’s office culture, corporate culture or leadership culture ,each must be motivational toward employees and drive positive customer experiences.
Sales | Marketing | Operations | Business Development
5yCultural fit and cultural response are solely responsibilities of the C-suite leaders. They should be modelled up-down, with clear cut expectations.
Promoter and Designer of State-of-the-Art Transportation Systems that Maximize Passenger Throughput while Stimulating Economies and Preserving the Environment
5yMake sure it’s a healthy culture that encourages industry engagement. The reason why industry engagement is so important is that it helps everyone see the “big picture”. Seeing the “big picture” makes everyone more productive and team-oriented as they get a renewed sense of purpose and meaning in their work. As I explained before the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board in June, industry engagement across all levels of personnel is the key for expediting the California High-Speed Rail Project www.hsr.ca.gov. Also, make sure that it’s a culture that encourages diversity because diverse teams bring a variety of perspectives that make them smarter and stronger.