MODERN THINKING
Creating a Stand Out culture
By Alison Hill
I
n the face of relentless change
and 24/7 connectivity, your team
have many demands on their time.
Perhaps you sense they’re barely
holding on. What if, even when life
was rushing at them (sometimes as
fast as that river of coffee they just
knocked over their desk), they could
re-centre and reconnect, and turn up
feeling calm, focused and clear on
what’s important next?
A Stand Out culture isn’t driven by
fear, pressure or haste. Instead,
even when your people are being
18 ModernBusiness
October 2016
pulled in a million different
directions, a Stand Out culture
encourages them to recognise
these moments and find calm in
the chaos. To move from martyr to
centred, and go from being ‘over it’
to ‘I’m all over it’.
In order to create Stand Out cultures
there needs to be a focus on the
two drivers of change: purpose
(why this?) and progress (what’s
next?). Teams that obsess about
asking the why behind their actions.
This includes everything from
the purpose the team is trying to
achieve overall, down to getting
clear on why we’re having a team
meeting at 9am on a Tuesday
morning. If you hear the words
‘just because’ then you need to find
purpose. When there’s relentless
change it can feel like people
are going nowhere. Focusing on
progress means knowing what’s
next, creating a clear line of
sight between todays tasks and
tomorrows celebrations. Being
clear on progress means the
people in your organsation can see