Empowering Winning

Workplace Cultures

Heather Daigle Xu

heatherdaiglexu@gmail.com

speaktheculture.blogspot.com

@speaktheculture

Inquiry. Intention. Intimacy. Innovation.

Culture. It shapes the way we see the world. It influences our behaviors. It drives our actions. Whether ethnic or organizational, culture is the ―software of the mind‖ that resides beneath the surface and propels us to conform. Yet, culture is fluid. It is dynamic. It can be shaped and influenced to inspire high performance. Simply put, we can capitalize on culture to advance organizational objectives. In fact, it is imperative. Infusing a powerful culture in our workplace requires planning and purposeful action. There’s no magic wand to wave. If we want to build a strong culture, we must ―speak it‖ — not only with words but also with action. Sustaining a compelling culture requires continuous initiative: designing strategic objectives that align with organizational values, disseminating compelling leadership communications, implementing processes and workflows that facilitate desired behaviors, and creating learning experiences that inspire and motivate. Speak the Culture exists to help winning workplaces craft and sustain powerful cultures that inspire employee passion and performance. I help leaders transform their visions into meaningful realities by intentionally building and reinforcing the organizational culture they desire to create. Sitting at the intersection of organizational and ethnic culture, we also work with clients to assess and discover the impact of ethnic culture on performance and craft organizational solutions closely align with the specific characteristics and needs of peoples across the globe.

A fierce belief in the power of culture.

Helping companies craft and sustain

powerful cultures.

Driven to unleash the potential of every individual, I thrive on creating powerful culture initiatives that ensure employees are engaged, equipped and inspired to deliver to their best. Specializing in the design, creation and execution of organizational development, learning, collaboration and culture programs, I leverage eight years of experience delivering talent solutions at such companies as Microsoft, Ernst & Young and Rolling Forecast Solutions. Moreover, I apply cross-cultural cultural insights from five years working in Shanghai, China to bring cohesion and enhance communications in global and virtual work environments. Working with senior leaders to create winning workplace cultures, I balance inquiry with advocacy to identify root cause issues and opportunities for change. Versed in learning program design, employee engagement and change management methodologies, I successfully target organizational needs with dynamic solutions that accelerate business success. I hold a Master of Science in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Louisiana Tech University.

Peter Drucker

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Reflect

Your essence. Illustrated.

As the first step in a long journey of sustaining the vision, mission and values of your company, the process employed to unearth and establish your corporate vision must be intentional, strategic and inspiring.

What is good? What is working?

Who are we? What makes us different?

What does success look like?

Where do we want to be?

What behaviors will help us get

there?

Imagine Dream

Strategize

Leadership shapes culture. Whether you are birthing an entrepreneurial company or undergoing a culture and strategy transformation, it’s essential to encapsulate a corporate vision to evoke the spirit of your brand and culture. In entrepreneurial environments, articulating a corporate vision can set a powerful tone for years to come. Well-designed vision, mission and values statements can bring to rise the essence of who you are and who you want to be. It can serve as a foundation for growth and a compass to steer your operations and strategic development. In larger enterprises, revisiting a vision can be the first step to re-shaping a dysfunctional culture. It highlights the purpose and intent of your company, and offers clarity to employees regarding the behaviors that are desired and valued.

Visioning

Unearthing your purpose.

Dream positive. Dream big. 1

The path to creating a powerful vision begins with envisioning a state of success. Where do you want to be and what will success look like? What will clients say about you? How will employees feel about working there?

Extract the essence. Reflect the core. 2

Synthesize your dream into the key goals, strategies and behaviors critical to success. What behaviors will get you where you want to be? Use these insights to construct a compelling vision and powerful values that will guide your path.

Make it vivid. Make it real. 3

Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Convey your vision not only with statements but also with metaphors, visuals and stories. Make the meaning explicit. Leave no room for misinterpretation.

Everything must come into alignment –strategies, processes, policies and communications. Ensure no aspects of operations undermine or contradict.

Live it with action. Live it with words. 4

Visioning

Reflecting your core.

Creating Corporate Vision and Values Rolling Forecast Solutions is a management consulting firm dedicated to driving strategic growth for clients through business solutions that leverage leading-edge technologies. As a small business operating primarily in the virtual world, it was critical to identify a powerful corporate vision and explicitly articulate it to the global Rolling Forecast team to foster alignment, shared understanding and united goals.

The Inquiry Interviewing the company president, I conducted an assessment rooted in the Appreciative Inquiry methodology. This methodology is grounded in positive psychology principles and facilitates the elicitation of a powerful vision for the future. In response to appreciative questioning, the company president shared descriptive stories that illustrated the nuances, behaviors and values connected to his view of success.

The Discoveries Conducting a thematic analysis, I extrapolated the key elements and themes that surfaced during the assessment. It was vital that I abstract key insights to the appropriate level of detail – narrow enough to be vivid and meaningful but broad enough to cover all service lines, now and in the future. Through continued dialogue we established a strategic vision statement and set of values that could guide the company to success.

To eliminate frustration for people and businesses so they can focus on the things that truly matter.

Delivering intelligent business solutions that supply critical data to decision-makers at all

levels of client organizations.

at Rolling Forecast Solutions

The Impact

Connection

Trust

Loyalty

Drive

Innovation

Truth

Fearlessness

Discovery

Uncertainty Exploration

Personalization

Empathy

Honesty

Authenticity Openness

Faith

Credibility

Confidence

Bravery Courage

Boldness

Energy Determination

Initiative

Devotion Dedication

Commitment Love

The articulation of vision and values was critical in defining the direction of Rolling Forecast. However, it was just the first step in a continuous process. Rolling Forecast Solutions continues to strategically build operations to convey and facilitate these values. Everything from recruiting processes to learning programs to marketing materials are designed with the company vision, mission and values at the core. Moreover, internal workflows and processes are examined to ensure that they facilitate the desired behaviors and align with the corporate vision.

The union of passion and productivity.

Imagine an environment where employees consistently deliver to their best. A workplace where passion meets productivity to produce incredible results. Employee engagement lies at the heart of this workplace culture. Actively engaged employees exhibit intrinsic drive, dedication and commitment to their organizations, enabling them to positively influence bottom-line results. Your culture can fuel the engagement of your talent. Boosted by a sense of purpose, opportunities for learning and growth, the ability to play to one’s strengths and a spirit of community, employee engagement is a strategic influencer in the success of your organization. Ultimately, the engagement of your employees is up to you. As a leader, you have the power to shape the employee experience and ensure your talent are equipped and inspired to bring their best to the table every day. If you set your team up for success, success is sure to follow.

Processes Communications Learning programs Networking

opportunities

Launch initiatives Embed new culture Continue evaluating

opportunities for engagement

What is threatening engagement?

What is fostering it? Where do the best

opportunities lie?

Interviews Surveys Focus Groups Observation Informal Dialogue

Engagement Inspiring with intention.

Assess Discover

Design Engage

Ensure employees are equipped with the tools and resources they need to be successful in their roles.

Promote purpose. 1

Create community. 2

Supply resources. 3

Why are we all here? What does our work mean? Paint a powerful picture of the purpose of the journey.

Recognize talents.

Facilitate growth.

Celebrate success.

4

5

6

We’re all just looking for somewhere to belong. Inspire connectivity. Build relationships. Embrace community.

Celebrate the unique talents each individual brings to the company. Help them do what they do best each day.

Invest in employees’ growth and development. Challenge them. Inspire them to achieve greater results.

Reward and recognize employees for their individual contributions and celebrate the success of the entire company.

belonging: 100 learning: 100 achieving: 100 contributing: 100 grow: 53 strengths: 53 purpose: 53 success: 53 passion: 53 committed: 62 positive: 62 equipped: 62 productive: 62 valued: 62 connectivity: 30 productivity: 30 celebrate: 30 care: 30 authentic: 30 cohesion: 30 talents: 30 retention: 30 influence: 30 values: 30 results: 75 performance: 75

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Engagement

Cultivating with culture.

Building an engaged practice area

The transfer pricing practice at Ernst & Young in Shanghai was rapidly expanding. In just six months, the practice grew from merely seven to over 40 consultants and managers. Employee engagement levels began to suffer as competition between the ―old‖ and the ―new‖ surfaced, new employees lacked guidance and mentorship and communication flows began to break down. As the number of projects increased, individual and team efficiency and productivity decreased, potentially undermining the success of the practice. Advancing employee engagement became an essential initiative to strengthen the swiftly growing practice.

The Design In response to the strong demand both to increase engagement and to drive business results, I employed a multi-faceted approach to increase team success. Incorporating learning programs, team-building opportunities, enhanced internal workflows and increased communication, this approach influenced key drivers of engagement as well as facilitated organizational performance.

at Ernst & Young

The Success

The Programs

English Corners To increase team cohesion, I initiated a weekly team-building event held each Friday at lunch. Bonds grew stronger as team members engaged in interactive activities in an informal, collaborative and social environment. Training as a Team To build professional skills, collaborative teamwork and shared mindsets, I designed and facilitated training workshops for the entire practice area. Topics included business writing, cross-cultural communications, performance feedback delivery and effective teamwork.

Workflow Improvement To drive productivity, I redesigned workflows and introduced tools that increased the flow of communication. As a result, team member utilization increase and management coordination efforts decreased.

Janice Ng Senior Manager, Transfer Pricing

Heather’s proactive efforts strategically increased our

team cohesion and effectiveness in a time of rapid growth.

The combination of learning activities, improved processes and team building initiatives increased team cohesion and productivity. Each team member experienced better utilization and was more equipped to execute their responsibilities. Engagement levels soared. As a result of this continued success, the China Transfer Pricing practice has continued to experience monumental growth.

Team Celebrations and Outings As the practice area grew, I identified opportunities to celebrate the successes of all colleagues through informal outings and events. This furthered personal connections among the consulting team.

We’ve entered into a new era. There are more low-cost communication and collaboration tools than you can count, and society as a whole is more connected than ever. This is good news for organizations as knowledge sharing and stretching beyond work silos leads to the development of innovative and promising ideas that drive businesses forward. But is your culture holding you back? Technology is simply a tool. And one, that if used alone, will fail if your culture does not support behaviors needed adoption. A wealth of opportunity is available to streamline processes, enhance workflows and increase connectivity, but within your culture lies the key to success. As you evaluate and adopt leading-edge collaborative technologies, align tools and new processes with existing business objectives and practices. Moreover, broaden your focus beyond technology to foster the culture required to spark value-added collaboration.

Where ideas procreate.

micro-

blogging

screen sharing

virtual office

white boarding

social recruiting

presenting

video meetings

project manage-

ment

Collaboration

Activating with technology.

Collaboration

Sustaining with culture.

Explicitly outline the purpose and goal behind fueling internal collaboration. Link this to your company mission.

Foster trust. 1

Create shared vision & goals. 2

Communicate strategic intent. 3

The key ingredient to knowledge sharing? Trust. Without it, employees will act in their own self interest.

View technology as a tool.

Integrate existing processes.

Model collaborative behaviors.

4

5

6

Unite the entire workforce under one common mission to increase cohesion and decrease internal competition.

Always remember that technology is merely a tool that should be strategically designed and governed.

Isolate opportunities to weave new tools into existing processes. Use them to make work easier for employees.

As a leader, you have great influence in shaping your culture. Employee s are looking to you to take the lead.

Enhancing workplace collaboration at SnapHawk is an entrepreneurial firm that consults with clients on search engine marketing and website analytics and optimization. Neighboring Northwestern University, SnapHawk offers many opportunities for learning and growth to students in the form of internships. Being a small firm, SnapHawk found it essential to have fluid, dynamic and efficient modes of communication between staff and interns.

The Technologies A combination of collaboration tools were selected based on business needs, existing processes and opportunities for growth.

SnapHawk

The Results

Compelling communications defined the purpose and intent of each tool, conveyed the mission and culture of SnapHawk and illustrated the learning journey ahead. These materials were introduced to interns on their first day during the orientation program.

The Design Consulting with the Founder/Managing Director, I mapped out the roles and responsibilities of the interns. What would they be responsible for? What would they need approval for? What types of collaboration would be essential to their roles? We identified technologies that would bring both collaboration and efficiency to these critical tasks while incorporating and integrating current tools and technologies to the fullest extent possible.

Since this program was designed, more than 20 interns have contributed to the work of SnapHawk. Defining both the most powerful tools and the desired behaviors and outcomes reduced unnecessary ambiguity for new interns. Moreover, these materials inspired action that closely aligns with SnapHawk’s strategy, stimulating greater success for the company and the interns.

corporate vision

employee engagement

organizational learning

workplace collaboration

internal communications

career development