When are you allowed to celebrate a good corporate culture? The short answer: when the Honeymoon is over.
The long answer:
Les McKeown of Predictable Success has another good one here discussing how your corporate culture may not be as amazing as your think. (In fact, if you spend a lot of time talking about how amazing it is, that’s a pretty good sign that it’s not.)
It reminded me of something I have noticed with clients over the years: the Honeymoon.
The Honeymoon happens whenever a business has a new owner, a location has a new chief or even a department has a new manager. Some or all of the following may happen:
- Money is spent. Often it is for basic things like physical improvements. I once saw a new owner energize his new team by painting the bathrooms and doors. The leader may just look like a man or woman of the people.
- Processes are fixed. “Why do we do it that way?” is something anybody with a new set of eyes may ask. If these questions reveal opportunities to get more efficient or resolve staff headaches, it is a breath of fresh air. The leader may just look like a genius.
- Aspirations are expressed. Maybe it’s a vision painted on the wall, a speech from the new owner or even a repeated phrase from that department head. If it gives people a vision of what could be, that hope can be fuel. The leader may just look like a visionary.
- Employees feel heard. By its very nature, new bosses spend time getting to know their new team. Maybe team members talk about needed spending or processes to fix. But beyond that, everybody wants to be known. If you’ve spent much time on this blog, you know how important Hip Socket considers connecting and relationships. The leader may just look like a saint.
But honeymoons eventually end. The bathroom gets dirty again. Processes constantly need changed. Somebody doesn’t live up to that motivational saying on the wall.
And, above all, leaders stop talking to employees.
All that hopeful energy eventually leaks out of the workplace. We are left with people going through the motions–or worse, becoming more cynical than they were at first. After all, the new guy really did actually listen to the employees. Once that stopped, now employees know that their voices don’t mean much.
So people keep their head down and just do their job.
How do you keep the Honeymoon from ending?
How do you keep it from ending? I that’s the wrong question. I loved my honeymoon, but I’m more in love with my wife after 15 years than I was when I was a newlywed.
A better question: How do you transition from Honeymoon to a long-term work relationship?
Again, we can look to marriages for some ideas. Newlyweds spend time with each other. They genuinely want to know more about the other person and how they can care for them.
When the marriage inevitably hits a dry spell, they eventually come to a conclusion: Why did we ever stop doing what we did in the early days?
Why do workplace Honeymoons end? Why do they fail to transition to a long-term workplace relationship? Because we stop doing what we did at first.
- The bathrooms, etc. get dingy again, but we don’t notice and fail to pay for an upgrade.
- The processes work OK, so we don’t look for ways to improve and fall for, “We’ve always done it this way.”
- The vision is still on the wall, but we don’t talk about it in our meetings or ask how we are living it out.
- And we stop talking to our employees. Oh, sure, we talk to them … but we no longer take the time to investigate what makes the person tick, how they are really doing, what would make their work life better, how they want to grow.
Managers, I’d love to sell you an employee engagement survey. And I certainly can do that. But I think you would be best served by carving out time on your schedule each week to meet with individuals on your team. Hip Socket has a number of coaching resources to help you do this. Reach out if you need some ideas.