Does your company have a damaged culture?
How would you even know?
6 Signs Your Company Has Damaged Culture
How to Strengthen Your Company Culture
What makes a strong company culture?
And how do you reinforce it?
15 Ways to Build a High Performance Culture
What makes a high-performance culture?
Read MoreHow To Build A Positive Team Culture
Inspired by an infographic I came across on Pinterest.
Growth Mindset or Fixed Mindset - which is best for employees?
Understanding if you or your colleagues has a fixed or growth mindset can be a good indicator of how likely they are to overcome difficulties, in their day to day duties. So, let's break down these two mindsets:
A Growth Mindset employee is malleable - able to leverage their talents and skills, even look to obtain new skills to overcome problems to ensure a successful outcome.
A Fixed Mindset employee is rigid - tend to stay with their known talents and skills, they often won't push to learn new skills to overcome problems.
It's important to highlight that not everyone fits cleanly into one camp or the other, but understanding the needs and wants of employees with these mindsets is key to the success of any business. So, which is mindset is best?
A growth mindset has been linked to more productive and positive teams. However, it is not always the norm - it's important to access your own situation to find the best fit for you.
Personally, I feel a growth mindset is the best choice. It gives you the flexibility and belief that you and your team can achieve anything that comes their way - Adapt & Overcome!
Emotional Equations
Inspired by a Chip Conley interview with Forbes
What can math teach us about controlling our emotions?
In creative professions, emotions can run high, because creatives tend to pour their hearts and souls into their work.
While this sounds like it would produce brilliant work, it can be a slippery slope, leading to friction during critiques, anxiety about presenting ideas, causing people to feel constantly on edge.
Emotions are subjective, and often perceived in different ways by different people.
However, this doesn't mean that we can't objectively break them down.
As Chip Conley mentions in the article:
"...the more conscious about what creates regret or envy the more we can influence those ingredients and have emotional mastery in our lives."
I hope these equations make you think more consciously about your emotions in your work and life, helping you to readjust the power they have over you, so you can lead happier, healthier, and more productive lives.
7 Elements of Agile Culture DNA
Inspired by an article from agilebusiness.com
What is an agile culture? Do you need one?
As the late great Muhammad Ali said, "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee".
In creative business, it’s super important to float, or be agile: light on your feet, so you can quickly adapt and overcome whatever comes your way.
So I would say yes - you and your business need an agile culture.
This culture needs to be buried deep into your DNA, empowering your business and employees to grow, develop and deliver the best possible results, no matter the odds!
Connect Then Lead
Inspired by Tanmay Vora sketchnotes on a Harvard Business Review article of the same name
"Warmth is the conduit of influence: It facilitates trust and the communication and absorption of ideas... prior warmth helps connect immediately with those around you, demonstrating that you hear them, understand them, and can be trusted by them."
The combination of warmth and competence forms the foundation of leadership within the design process, reducing the perceived risk for both your clients and team members.
The Power of Thank You
Inspired by an infographic from brandongaille.com
How often do you say Thank You at work?
64% of working working Americans leave their jobs feel under-appreciated.
Taking the time to send a thank you note can build deeper bonds within your business from employees to employers.
It’s been well documented that employees who feel appreciated are more loyal, have increased productivity levels and are more profitable to your business.
Struggling to form some words of thanks? Lucky for you, I’ve listed out some examples as inspiration.
Maslow's Hierarchy Applied to Human Need and Employee Engagement
Inspired by unknown.
What does your design process look like?
I love a solid creative process - always on the look out for ways to improve. As the old saying goes “work smarter, not harder”.
The actual and ideal design processes, I found on Pinterest post from Crowhop Creative.
The post made me chuckle.
It got me thinking about my dream design process, then I remembered a video from The Futur, in which Chris Do outlined his creative process.
It was amazing, so logical and clear - removing risk, guesswork and surprises. It always delivered.
This is the process I try to emulate now in my own work.
Every project gets me a little bit closer to that dream process.
Thanks, to Master Do for sharing it!
5 Shifts Companies Must Make to Become the Workplace of Tomorrow
Inspired by an infographic by InfoSys.
What will the workplace of tomorrow be like?
I’ve been listening to a lot of Adam Grant’s podcast WorkLife recently, and I love it.
The ways different workplaces operate fascinates me. It feels like there are shifts coming to our workplaces.
Change is a constant. I’m looking forward to it!
The Iceberg of Culture: Assessing The Need For Change
inspired by the work of gothamculture.com
“Organisations must find ways to change and adapt to the changing needs of their stakeholders in order to maintain high performance.
Organisational culture change at any scale can be challenging. And in order to overcome challenges like these, we often have to start diving into the depths the organisation and figure out what is truly driving the culture.”
Company culture is a tricky thing to build and maintain. It’s really interesting to understand more behind the visible stuff.
We all hate the phrase "that is the way we have always done it", right? So here’s some reasons why, and how, you can avoid it.
12 Ways Leaders Can Build A Winning Culture
From Terry Starbucker
I believe that without a strong and happy culture, you will never be able to create awesome design solutions.
Leaders in the business of design are key to nurturing these creative environments.
Key takeaway:
Culture affects everything
Making these nudenotes reminded me of a Simon Sinek quote I once read, “customers will never love a company, until the employees love it first”.
The culture of a company doesn’t just affect all the internal operations of a business, but it also bleeds into external aspects like your products, customer services, and marketing.
Don’t underestimate the power of good culture!