In the video Schmidt talks
about how important it is to develop the culture of your company and I think he
is so right about this! Proof of this is
Google which has a great culture within their company and it shows in all the great
things that they have created. He talked
about having passion and drive to do what you love to do. When you walk into any kind of business you
can see right away the people who are happy to be a part of that company and
the ones who are only there to collect a pay check. Throughout this course we have talked about
culture and the importance of having it and Schmidt explains this when he talks
about Google.
He mentions how time has
been spent on passion, academic qualifications, commitment and intellectual flexibility
and I agree that these are very important to the culture of a company. I will
say that while I understand the academic qualifications, sometimes a book
cannot teach us what happens in the real world so if that is the only thing
that keeps a person from being hired and they have all the other aspects, they
should be hired because you can mold them and teach them so much more than they
could learn from a book.
When I first started at
ERAU Worldwide I had no financial aid experience but I had everything else
(drive, passion, and academic qualifications) so my old director took a chance
on me and 5 years later I am a manager and I have learned so much more than I
ever thought I would but there is so much more to learn as well and this is the
drive and passion I have with my job. I
want to learn and grow and I feel that is something that is vital to the
culture of any company. People who want
to learn to explore what their organization can give them and how far it can
take them. I continue to ask questions as well as go to conferences and absorb everything
I can not only on the regulations but how it affects our students and our counselors.
One of the things Schmidt
mentioned that stuck out for me was hiring people who are compatible with other
people. I know from personal experiences
when sitting in on the interview process we look for the type of people who
will fit in with our department. Are
they outgoing? Do they take criticism
well? Are they drama free? We have many different types of personalities
and if we drop in a person who creates friction and drama it would upset the
balance we have.
Now our department is not
perfect but we do work well together and anyone who comes in has to be able to
fit in and deal with the idiosyncrasies (people who hum and talk to themselves,
people who like to keep to themselves for the most part, people who are very
outspoken, etc.). When we interview
potential employees we will bring in the other counselors and let them ask
questions. I like to watch the nonverbal
ques between the interviewee and the counselors to see how they interact. This way I can see if there is potential for
friction within our group. It is wise to
choose the right person who will add to the department not cause problems.
As a leader we may not
always be able to make everyone happy and we must be aware of how our employees
are feeling and truly listen to their concerns.
Making sure everyone works together is vital to the success of
interpersonal relationships and as well as how your team works together. If you have a great team who can get their
work done and done well, jump in and help their coworkers and work through
problems without having to go to the boss, there not much management needed
because they are already doing it. You
are there to guide and encourage and challenge them to the next level. For me a great leader is one who wants you to
succeed and move to the next level whether it is in that department or somewhere
else in the organization.
One point that Schmidt
made that I thought was interesting was about discord at meetings. I think it would be interesting but I feel
that it could backfire if not done carefully.
If you are trying to get your employees to speak up at meetings
especially if they are quiet or concerned about an issue they may not want to
speak up at a meeting for fear of looking dumb or that they should already know
the answer. Maybe a round table where
everyone can throw out their ideas so it can be bounced off of the group
because this can bring out the best in the group.
No this won’t always work but I think if you
make everyone understand how it will help them grow and learn it is a step in
the right direction. I can definitely
apply these things in my job now and feel that having a clear idea of what kind
of culture you want in your organization is important not only in how you do
this but how you support it. We have a
retreat coming up and I want to bring up to my director that we need to get
everyone’s input on what they think the culture of our department is and how we
can improve it.
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