Whether talking about culture, employer brand or retention, I often mention auditing your company. How is the organization really doing? The answer isn’t always pretty. Sometimes you find out that things are a hot mess. Sometimes it’s just one element – maybe the onboarding process is ridiculously unorganized. Maybe a culture shift is in order to slow down turnover. Maybe, just maybe, executives have a rosier opinion of the culture than those in the trenches.
There was a recent article by the MIS Training Institute that included all kinds of great research about auditing corporate culture, in fact calling it a new imperative. When a regulator like Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) gets on board, then things start moving along. In its 2016 Regulatory and Examination Priorities, it stressed that assessing firm culture would be a major focus. But I digress.
Realizations about what is wrong can be really tough. But when you admit the hot mess exists, it’s the first step towards a resolution. All of us are watching Rio from afar with dropped jaws and some genuine discomfort and fear. And that’s happened when witnessing companies fall apart, too. So it’s quite refreshing when we see some admittance of guilt and action to fix things.
That said, I don’t sit on the Olympics committee. I don’t actually know what is setting their hair on fire (some would joke it’s Citronella candles); but I do know that the PR mess continues. We are literally afraid for the health of our world athletes and visitors. Does it get much worse than that?
Here are three examples of when you can’t ignore the crisis at hand and better take action or your company, your reputation and your legacy are doomed.
When you have a political crisis.
I liken Brazil’s political crisis to when an executive team is in shambles. No organization can function effectively when there is turmoil at the top. Corruption and financial ruin are the ultimate examples, but be honest. Are executives leading with vision, grace and respectful authority? If not, a coup is possible and responsibility needs to be taken – like yesterday. Don’t try to grow the company with bright lights focusing on a faux employer brand and savvy marketing if your leadership needs a boot camp. Just don’t.
When you have an economic crisis.
All businesses are going to have their ups and downs financially. However, if the company’s future is uncertain because of financial issues, slow down and clean things up. Transparency can get a little tricky in this regard, but however you decide to explain what’s going on to employees, partners and clients, do so with honesty and prudence. Throwing a multi-billion dollar party on the world stage is ill-advised at this point.
According to Public Radio International, the Brazilian government allocated $9.7 billion from both public and private sectors to the Rio Olympics, which is "16 times more than the allocation for Aedes prevention." In case you aren't sure what that is, Aedes aegypti is the mosquito that spreads the dengue and chikungunya viruses and that is suspected of spreading the Zika virus. The article also states that Brazil's health ministry has estimated that up to 1.5 million Brazilians may have been infected by the virus. Scary. And perhaps a misallocation of funds?
When you have a health crisis.
Okay, I’m hard pressed to think of a perfect example of when a company needed to do a health reboot because everyone’s lives were literally at stake by showing up to work. (It has existed, but I am not going to get all Erin Brockovich here because she does it best.) Instead, let’s take the word “health” to a general level and say, if you have an unhealthy culture, fix it. Whether it’s uncommunicative silos, infighting, unfair compensation practices, high levels of disengagement or a million other things, get to work. These are unhealthy in so many regards and a company can't thrive with these kind of activities bringing people down.
An article last year in Harvard Business Review recapped research by Queens School of Business and the Gallup Organization that found, “disengaged workers had 37% higher absenteeism, 49% more accidents, and 60% more errors and defects. In organizations with low employee engagement scores, they experienced 18% lower productivity, 16% lower profitability, 37% lower job growth, and 65% lower share price over time. Importantly, businesses with highly engaged employees enjoyed 100% more job applications.”
When you’re negotiating for all the wrong things.
There is an art to negotiation. Ask Chris Voss, a former FBI hostage negotiator who I’ve just learned about. Negotiation is actually extremely fascinating. There are things worth fighting for – and there are things that aren’t. But I feel like Rio is negotiating for all the wrong things and forgetting what’s really important (like their people?). I don’t think I need to get into lists here. Leaders need to know the difference; it separates the stubborn from the wise.
What’s the hardest part about facing these issues in organizations? Denial! Honestly, people love to play lip service to audits. “Oh sure, we took an internal audit and things have never been better!” You mean you asked your pal down the hall? Nope. Take pulse surveys. Host town hall meetings. Ask questions of everyone. Is it risky? Yes. You’re going to hear a few things you may not like. But you know what's worse? Having the whole world talk about you being a hot mess and acting like everything’s cool. Leaders who aren’t afraid to face the facts and fix what’s broken get the gold medal in my book.
