A culture of mutual commitment

Some people are born to sell, competitive energy running through their veins. I am not one of those people, but I love to learn. While out of my comfort zone in a world of accounts and sales, my old boss (let’s call him Dave) taught me many things but one concept always stood out, something that smoothly translates to building teams and scaling culture.

During my time working with him — and I can only assume even to this day — Dave was one of if not the highest performer in the team. Although surrounded by an amazing group of people, he separated himself with his ability to identify the best ways to invest his time and act accordingly. It was all about understanding which relationships were the right ones to nurture and work with those clients instead of for those clients.

Dave had built genuine relationships where he could trust clients to commit in the same way that they could trust him to, meaning both parties knew no effort was being wasted. They would come to him for help because they knew he was serious and he would take on the job because he knew they were too. No calls ignored, no emails unanswered and no disingenuous conversations.

They were just getting sh*t done — together.

In establishing his standard of mutual commitment, Dave was almost guaranteed high return on his time investment because the “master-servant” trap, which we often fall into through client relationships, didn’t exist. No one saw themselves as more or less important because that type of thinking wouldn’t lead to the best results — communication and collaboration were key.

Easy! So why is something that makes so much sense so rarely achieved? The answer is fear. Whether it’s worrying about the potential loss of a client or needing that ex-Googler on your team, we so easily establish ourselves as the servant without even realising it.

There is no point in chasing people who can’t be caught.

That isn’t to say that everything should come easily — strength is often born from trying, failing and trying again but we do need to recognise when our tenacity is being wasted. When Dave found himself needing to persuade someone to give his time the same respect they give their own, he knew a mutual commitment wasn’t there and most likely the outcomes that he wanted wouldn’t be either.

Scaling culture requires the same logic.

When building any team, no matter the industry or company size, the most important relationships to get right are the ones on the inside. Every new starter, from grad to C-suite, must understand that they aren’t becoming an employee but a team member and that brings both rights and responsibilities.

Hire people who believe in the company as much as leadership believes in them. Hire people who are passionate about contributing to the mission as much as leadership is passionate about contributing to their growth and development. Again, so easy! But how do we uncover who carries that level of engagement?

It’s all about nailing your interview process.

Much like Dave with his clients, we need to identify who the mutual-committers are before welcoming them to the team and not wait for on-boarding to spell it out. While defining the scope of their role, we must set clear expectations around the push-and-pull spirit of team BAU.

Asking the right questions is also vital to discovery. What leadership style keeps them motivated? How do their personal values align with the company? Why do they believe in the company’s product/service? How would they like us to help them grow? What are their workplace experience deal-breakers?

At the end of the day, we all want to get sh*t done together. It’s just that easy!