In this episode, Sarah Tenisi speaks with Dr. Shahrzad Nooravi, author of A Powerful Culture Starts With You. She is an organizational psychologist and Master Certified Coach (MCC) who helps organizations cultivate thriving workplaces from the inside-out.
Dr. Nooravi is the Founder and CEO of Strategy Meets Performance, a business consulting firm that partners with leaders of mid-sized to Fortune 500 organizations to help them create engaging, innovative, and productive cultures.
Listen in as Dr. Nooravi discusses the mindset required to be an engaging leader that employees can’t help but be loyal to and never want to leave!
She explains why, in the new normal, it’s so important for leaders to determine the right balance between in-person and virtual meetings in the workplace, because the truth we all have to contend with is that workplace culture has totally transformed over the past two years.
Dr. Nooravi breaks down her three-part model on cultivating a great company culture, as detailed in her book. Those three parts, each an acronym, are:
WATCH IT: How do you look at your culture to determine what’s going on? DRIVE IT: How do you create a coaching culture? WALK IT: How do you create a culture where the senior team is aligned?
Finally, Dr. Nooravi gives an inspiring example of the three-part model in action and how your leadership team can begin to implement these principles into your organization today!
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
● [01:36] How to be an engaging leader, and why it’s vital today
● [04:30] Why employers need to find the right balance of in-person/virtual
● [06:08] Switching focus from recruitment to retention
● [08:14] Winning loyalty from your team
● [11:54] Defining “organizational psychology”
● [15:22] Signs that your company culture is not working
● [19:45] The three part-model on cultivating a great culture
● [23:41] What DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) should really mean for creating a culture
● [28:00] How not to be a work-addicted organization
● [33:17] How to create an aligned, coaching culture
● [39:01] The limitations of the desire to constantly innovate
● [41:16] An example of what can happen to an organization when the three-part model is put into practice
● [45:49] How to start implementing the three-part model today
Key quotes:
● “When workers have a skillset that is in-demand, they will want, at minimum, a hybrid setup; but a lot of them are looking for these virtual jobs. Unless employers get to the point where they figure out, for the right jobs, how to make that possible, it will be more difficult to bring on talented employees and to keep them.”
● “It’s so important to create a culture where people share their voice. That is their agency. We cannot change a behavior, a culture, or a system without speaking up.”
● “A culture is a living organism. You are tending to it like you do with any relationship that you have.”