In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, Brandon Laws talks about culture with guest Donna Cutting, culture consultant and Founder/CEO of Red-Carpet Learning Worldwide. Listen in as the two discuss how leaders can make their people — the “heart” of any organization — feel seen, heard, and inspired.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
Donna Cutting, Founder and CEO of Red-Carpet Learning Worldwide, is a consultant passionate about helping her clients create positive and inspiring company culture. She is the author of the recently published book, Employees First: Inspire, Engage, and Focus on the Heart of Your Organization.
A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST
🔊 Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR
🎙️ Host: Brandon Laws
📋 In his own words: “The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders.”
BEHIND THE BOOK
For years, Donna Cutting had the ideas for her book, Employees First: Inspire, Engage, and Focus on the Heart of Your Organization, in her heart and on her mind. All of a sudden, in 2020, she found herself with more extra time than she could have imagined, so she got straight to writing. Fortunately, as she got closer and closer to publication, it became evident that there couldn’t have been a better time to release this book.
Although it was “pretty daunting” to be writing a book in the middle of such immense change, “I will still stand by what is written in the book because I think the principles of what makes people feel valued and seen and heard — which is really what we’re talking about — here remain the same,” Donna explained. The pandemic showed us all that it’s time to shift from a “fix approach” to a deeper focus on appropriate relationships in the workplace.
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Looking Inward
“What prompted me to start thinking about writing this book is that my first two books are about customer experience — so rolling out the red carpet for your customers. And as I was doing the work with my customers, learning about their organization and talking with their team members, […] I realized that I should have written a different book first, and that’s the one about the employee experience. In the past, I think it was an afterthought. We have to focus on the experience we give our customers, but you forget, it comes from the experience that your employees are having. And, of course, now they’re speaking up about it, both with their voices and with their feet.”
A Catalyst for Change
“As a collective country, as a world, many of us have started to realign our lives with our values, and that’s where you’re seeing a lot of Baby Boomers retiring earlier than they thought they might — because they’ve looked at and asked themselves, ‘What’s really important to me?’ You also have a whole generation of people who are more entrepreneurial anyway and have decided that they want to work for themselves rather than have someone dictate for them what they can and cannot do.”
It Starts with Leadership
“When you think of companies with great culture or great customer service, it often starts with the leader. As a leader, what is your sense of purpose? Why are you getting up to do this every single day? And it’s gotta be purpose over the profits because your company’s profits will not compel other people to jump on board.”
Beyond the Leader
“In Employees First, one of the things that I harp on, again and again, is involving your team and listening to their ideas. The more people feel a part of something, the more likely they are to buy in and then make it their own. So really listen and then collaborate with them to help carry that vision out.”
Slowing Down
“With what many people are facing, I’m hearing a lot of ‘hire fast’ — like sometimes the same day — get ’em on the phone, get ’em in there, get a paycheck in their hand.
If you’re gonna hire fast, onboard slow and use onboarding as an extension of the interview […] so that if you’re seeing flags — that they don’t show up, they’re not on time, they’re not really paying attention — get curious and f out what that’s about. But it also might be a signal that maybe you didn’t hire the right person, and it’s better to make a decision about that sooner rather than let them infect your culture.”
What About Pay?
“For years, we all said that as long as you have a good culture and everybody feels appreciated, you don’t have to be the one who pays the most. And the reality is that it’s actually not one or the other. It’s both. People have to feel like they’re fairly compensated. I’ve witnessed hourly workers who have families that have to work two or sometimes three jobs to keep that going, so you can’t really say you value your employees and then pay them so little.”
LEARN MORE
For more, check out Red-Carpet Learning Worldwide, connect with Donna on Linkedin or Instagram, or grab a copy of Employees First: Inspire, Engage, and Focus on the Heart of Your Organization, wherever books are sold.