Ep. 47: MaryBeth Hyland - Organizational Culture

MaryBeth's Links:


Website: http://www.sparkvisionnow.com 


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marybethhyland/


Events: http://www.sparkvisionnow.com/events/


FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:00)


Welcome back for episode 47 of Count Me In. I'm your host, Adam
Larson and today's conversation features Mary Beth Hyland the
founder and chief visionary for spark vision. Mary Beth talks to
Mitch about the different strategies she implements to help
organizations identify and close the gap between their current
and ideal culture. Let's tune in now to hear her perspective on a
healthy and thriving culture and what leaders can do to create
and sustain these values and behaviors. 


 


Mitch: (00:38)


What is organizational culture to you and why do you believe that
so important? 


 


MaryBeth: (00:43)


Organizational culture is such a complicated thing, but the way
that I think about it is basically how things are done around
here. So when people talk about their company, it sort of those
norms and behaviors, the rituals and routines, what are the
expectations that people have? It's also thinking about what is
the emotional experience within your company. So how do you feel
before you get to work while you're at work and after you leave?
It was quite a dynamic thing to think about, sort of a short
definition of what organizational culture is. but the way that
I've sort of distilled it for the work that I do is I think about
it in a formula. The formula that I use is values times, behavior
equals culture, so that can take a lot of this intangible and
start to make it feel like you can actually pinned some pieces of
culture down. When you're thinking about values and you're
thinking about behaviors and the reason that this is so
incredibly important it is because it's ultimately going to
greatly impact the way that people are engaged in their work, the
productivity within your teams and your office overall, the
loyalty that people have within the organization and ultimately
how people feel their health is directly connected to an
organization's culture as well. So investing in your company's
culture and being intentional about really getting clear on what
that definition means to that specific institution or
organization, why it matters to them as as a company at large and
as the individuals that make up that company, it's really
critical in being able to create environments where people can
thrive. My job as a workplace culture consultant is most of the
time coming in and just being a really effective listener.
Because the reality is the people who work there, they know
exactly, exactly, exactly what they like to see change. They
might not know what the solution is for that change, but they
understand what the pain points are and they understand what's
going well. So being able to identify not just where things need
to shift, but wow, we're really effective when it comes to fill
in the blank. So let's just say communication. So how can we make
that even stronger and make that proven practice really go out
deeper within the company. 


 


Mitch: (03:15)


So in your current role, you know, I'd like to go back to kind of
what you were just talking about is being a good listener and
while you're listening, and I'm assuming you watch the
organization as well, what is it that really sticks out to you
when you're looking at a healthy and thriving culture? What does
that look like and how, have you ever worked with an accounting
or finance organization that you knew just by looking and
listening that things were going well? 


 


MaryBeth: (03:40)


Yeah, it's such an interesting question because every time I go
into a company irregardless of the industry or the size or
anything like that, everybody always seems to believe that what's
going on there is really unique. And it's something that I
probably have never experienced before and haven't seen before.
So a lot of times when a company is thriving and doing really
well, and this goes the same way, if you think about it in the
opposite terms of they're not, so oftentimes these things aren't
present, but when these things are present, it's apparent that
things are, there's not as much of a lift as far as what are some
intentional shifts that can be made for how people feel like they
can thrive in that environment. So things like communication that
is huge. It's amazing how many organizations, I believe that
they're transparent and perhaps even have a value of
transparency, but are making humongous decisions for the
organization that directly impact the people who are going to be
implementing that work and never involve them in the process or
even loop them in to that as something that's happening. So
communication is one of the key pillars to having, a culture
where there's loyalty and trust. And those are also huge
component. So, right, the trust factor is directly a dotted line
connection to, to the communication, but really having people say
what they mean and mean what they stay and then following through
on those things. So there's this excellent book called the speed
of trust, that really talks about how we have these, investments
in trust that we're constantly making these small deposits of
trust. And then another, another part is, is an organic goes
directly connected. So dot line and even a hard line connected to
trusting communication is being able to have to may feedback,
being able to have conversations where people are able to bring
to the table where their frustrations are, where they feel like
change is necessary and have it received an open mind versus a,
this is how it's always been done. Just get with the program or
get outta here. 


 


Mitch: (06:06)


My next question is going to kind of build off of what you were
just talking about and combined two different ideas here. So as
we're looking to build or you know, see this thriving culture,
what can leaders do, whether it's top down or bottom up, when the
vision, their behavior is in line with the culture they want, but
maybe there's others in the organization that just aren't buying
in and they really want them to it's not just to get out, but
what can they do to make sure that everybody involved in the
organization is behaving in that way and ultimately, you know,
will enable the organization to sustain this cultural success and
their strategy for the future? 


 


MaryBeth: (06:51)


Well, I have a a little bit of a clarifying question for you
before I answer because there is, it is, there is a
differentiator between people who just aren't bought in and
people who are toxic. So I'm happy to answer both. What I'd love
to know if you're interested in a specific, you know, somebody
who just sort of needs to be convinced versus someone who's
creating extremely negative experiences in the workplace. 


 


Mitch: (07:16)


Very fair question and good point. I'm really more interested in
the individual who maybe isn't fully bought in, in my opinion, if
somebody were toxic, as you said earlier, it's kind of like, you
know, jump on board or this isn't the right position for you. But
if somebody is doing their work and maybe they're just not fully
bought into the culture that somebody is trying to establish, how
can you lead that person in the right direction so the
organization goes in the right direction?&nbs...