Curtis Heath | Building A Winning Culture

Curtis

00:00 - 00:11

I'm a 100% and you're a 100%, it makes 300%. The invisible entity is teamwork.

And that all starts with a very baseline of making sure that we are communicating and the words mean the exact same thing.

Chris

00:11 - 00:21

When you walk into a company, what's the first thing from a cultural perspective, like, from a red flag that you typically notice when you walk into a business?

Curtis

00:21 - 01:39

Behavioral standards. Right? Like, how how the teams operate and how they interact with each other.

Culture is a very tricky word in itself. It means a lot of different things to different people.

But when you really break it down into, a business and and, an applied science of how to move it forward, You have to really look for, you know, the behavioral standards, consistency and action. Right? And then, you know, type of a a shared ownership as well.

Right? Because that's what culture really is based in is a shared ownership and an identity behind the company and how we work together. And then it kinda falls into energy and talent.

Right? And so I I do an assessment at first when I first come into a company, and I really look at the behavioral standards, the shared ownership, energy and talent, and then obviously the consistency and action because that's, you know, really what every company needs is consistency and action so they can develop and perform and increase upon that action and and develop other better. And those would be the primary categories that I really evaluate.

So, at first, I'm quiet, and I take a lot of notes, and I do a lot of observations, and I don't do a lot of feedback in the beginning, because I'm really monitoring those details and trying to understand what the baseline is that I'm working with and where I need to go from there.

Chris

01:39 - 01:46

Do you think that's a mistake that a lot of leaders make at first is come in and just start, this is what we're gonna do, this is what I want?

Curtis

01:46 - 02:42

I view leadership a little bit differently than, you know, the status quo. There's a lot of ego based in modern day leadership.

And, if you come in and you're forcing your will and you're forcing, you know, your opinions and your ideas over what's already existing, you know, you can do that because you have the title and you have the power, but you're not gonna get the result. Being quiet is, you know, is a simple way of saying it, but it's really you have to go into a very strong observe mode and and stop the feedback at first.

Right? Because anybody could walk into any business and point out my problems. And I also don't wanna discredit, what other people are built.

Right? Because nothing is a fresh start. Right? I'm not starting Facebook from zero employees here.

There's history involved, and there's people's, you know, pride and their dedication, and they put a lot into this. And so you don't wanna devalue anything that they've already established as well.

Right?

Chris

02:42 - 02:53

What were, say, three tactical things that you started doing to turn around the culture before, like, anything got put in the process, you know, pay all that stuff? What what what did you.

Curtis

02:53 - 05:02

well, it's really an evaluation of the existing leadership. Right? And so you have to understand, are these individuals capable of growing in the role to the desired result, or are they not? Right? Because once one thing I tell people all the time is I don't run a company.

I build teams that run a company. Right? I'm not Yeah.

Capable of running the company. A team is based of a wide variety of talents, a wide variety of skill sets that takes to execute, and your leadership should reflect that.

And so it's the group of people who...