Up Your Business!: 7 Steps to Fix, Build, or Stretch Your Organization, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded

Chapter 2. Abolish Corporate Welfare: Create a Culture of Merit

Defining a Culture of Entitlement and a Culture of Merit

One of the most overlooked organizational aspects that must be addressed to fix, build, or stretch an organization is the workplace environment. Managers work within this environment all day but do little to work on it. And that’s a travesty because environment dictates behavior and behavior dictates results. Thus, if a leader wants better outcomes from the employees, he or she must first focus on enhancing the environment in which that behavior is found. To fully appreciate the relationship between environment and behavior, you only need to look around to see it in action. Think about it: When you go to church, you find people behaving a certain way. Why? It’s a result of the environment they’re in. When you go to a library, a nightclub, or a ball game you witness the same relational principle at work. The identical cause-and-effect connection is evinced by your workplace environment. How your people behave on a day-to-day basis is a direct result of the culture you have created. If people are motivated, energized, and passionate about what they do, the environment gets much of the credit—as do the leaders who created it. On the other hand, if people drag their feet, go through the motions, and produce the bare minimum possible, the environment shares much of the blame—as do the leaders who are presiding over it.

Many leaders are uncomfortable talking about corporate ...