by Insight Global Staff
“Secret Sauce” is an element that takes a dish to the next level—it’s what really brings the meal home. We aren’t just talking about ranch dressing and ketchup, people. It’s a mixture of different ingredients thrown together to make something go from good to great. Ok, now that our mouths are watering, how does this relate to culture? As we know, culture isn’t an easy task to obtain. Everyone is thrown onto a team together and expected for it to magically work. Which isn’t the case. We are going to go through the step by step instructions of how to create the secret sauce recipe for making a great team culture.
Ingredients
- 2 1/3 cups Vision
- 3 1/3 cups Buy In
- 1 tablespoon Guidelines
- 3 tablespoons Praise
Directions
Step 1. Bring the vision and culture to life.
Understand what the corporate vision is and translate that to your people. Understand what success looks like in your environment.
Step 2. Create a buy in to that vision by investing in your people.
People support what they help create. People are bought in when they have the ability to make decisions. It was their idea and it was created by them? Guess what…You’ve got a buy in.
A buy in is a large part of the secret sauce, it allows your team to go from good to great.
Step 3. Give your people guidelines of tasks you want them to accomplish, but make them broad enough to let your people grow.
Don’t micromanage. Instead, macro-manage but stay micro-informed. Basically, stay in cahoots with your people and know what they are doing but don’t tell them how to do it.
Step 4. Praise your people. Make them feel valued and appreciated.
Don’t criticize them if they are doing something wrong. Instead, provide direction. Ask questions, have a conversation instead of telling them what they did wrong. People know when they are valued and appreciated. They will want to do better and do more.
Take your team to the next level. Who doesn’t want to feel like the greatest version of themselves at work? While it may not happen overnight, creating habits around these three topics are what it takes to make a good team a great team, and ultimately bring culture to life.
by Brita Long 
by Alexandra Woodford 
