Let me tell you a story:
Can you believe an unknow software company called Ceyentra becoming one of the best workplaces in the IT/ITes sector in Sri Lanka which was evaluated by Great Place To Work Sri Lanka.
We all know the big players in the IT sector in Sri Lanka. They give higher salaries? Higher benifits? etc?
To be frank Ceyentra is such a small company. We might not give the best salary and most number of benifits. To be frank.
So! how did we made to that list? Can your small startup also do it?
The short answer is: YES.
How?: Inspiration.
Read this article to find out the science behind it. And inspire all the employees and team mates in your company.
Let's dive in.
It all begins with Leadership.
All leaders have one thing in common? What is it?
Can you guess?
Answer is Followers.
A follower is somebody who volunteers to go where you want to go. Someone who raises their hand and says, I choose to follow you.
Why should someone follow you?
There are two ways to influence human behaviour to make some followers.
Manipulate people
Example of manipulation is giving the highest salary. It means giving more financial/non-financial benefits to reduce the risk of competetion.
Another example is fear. You can fear people to follow you. A parent can fear a child to influence the behaviour.
None of them breed loyalty. None of them create trust. In the long run they can cause a lot of money and over the cause of time it increases stress. It becomes stressful.
Inspiration is the alternative.
Inspire People
There are less organisations relies on inspiration than manipulation.
Ceyentra winning that award from Great Place To Work is the best example for that. If there were lot of companies doing the same.
Ceyentra will be nowhere as we were in the past. We are not boasting hear? Just imagine?
How do we inspire people?
Before understanding that you should have a clear idea about the Golden Circle. We learnt this concept from Simon Sinek.
Before understanding that you should have a clear idea about the Golden Circle. We learnt this concept from Simon Sinek.
What is this golden circle? It is a concept that has been designed to understand the messaging patern of every inspirational leader.
Simon Sinek has observed that all the inspirational leaders are communicating from Why to What. Managers communicate from What to Why.
Let's understand what are these components.
Every body knows about your What they need to do. A beginer to a senior knows about it.
It is obvious that some people only know about How they need to do? Senior person might know better than a beginer about How they need to do it.
Very very few people understand about the Why? Don't anticipate the Why as making money. Money is the result. Not the answer for your Why?
There is a clear difference of these two examples. The right side is more appealing. Because it clearly explains the reason why you should do your job.
In order to make sure this will work you need to have 3 things right.
1. You have to know your Why - the clarity of Why is important here.
2. Discipline of How - You have to hold yourself accountable and your people accountable to your own guiding principles and your own values.
3. Consistency of What - Everything you say and everything you do has to prove what you believe.
The person has the best Why and the person who successfully communicate the Why to everybody will have the most number of followers. And he/she will become the most influential leaders in this plannet.
The person has the best Why and the person who successfully communicate the Why to everybody will have the most number of followers. And he/she will become the most influential leaders in this plannet.
Lastly you have to be authentic.
How do you implement authenticity?
Things you say and things you do should be the things you actually believe 100%. This should be taken seriously.
Because if not, you will lose the authenticity in the long run.
The reason human race is so successful is not because we are the strongest, it’s not because we are the smartest.
It is because we have the ability to form communities and cultures.
What's a community? What’s a culture? What’s a country? What’s a company?
It is a group of people with a common set of values and beliefs.
When we are surrounded by people who believe what we believe something remarkable happens.
Trust emerges.
Trust is a feeling. Trust is a human experience.
Simply doing everything you say you are going to do does not mean people will trust you.
It means you are reliable. We have friends who are total screw ups. Yet we still trust them.
How trust is born?
It borns from a common set of values and beliefs.
When we trust them and they trust us. We are more likely to take risks. To explore and experiment. Which requires failure by the way.
The difference is in great teams and in great cultures and in great communities when there is stress the entire team comes together to solve the problem.
When there is no trust we back off and the thing collapses.
The most basic human desire on the planet is to feel like we belong.
Leadership is a choice.
There are lot of leaders in this world I invite everybody to become a leader and do remarkable things to your company. It is you guys that will set the tone of the future of this world.
Credits: Simon Sinek for great theories and the inspiration.