Resources > Manu’s Blog > The 6-Point Universal Culture Playbook for Modern Companies
The 6-Point Universal Culture Playbook for Modern Companies
Founder & CEO – Rolling Arrays
Originally Published on LinkedIn
Summary : This article introduces a Universal Culture Playbook that helps companies enhance productivity by guiding employees to manage their emotions effectively. By integrating culture and people strategy, this playbook creates a more engaged, resilient, and high-performing workforce.
Let’s define Company Culture : Collective sum of human emotions at work.
Lets define People Strategy : At any given point in time, all individuals to perform at their individual best.
Let’s correlate the two.
If employees’ emotions are positively managed at work, they will perform at their individual best, as emotions drive our ability to perform.
Let’s use above statement as the foundation to design a Universal Culture Playbook that all employees of an organization can use as an anchor to self-manage their emotions when they are in the middle of a professional situation.
Default Emotions
Humans are wired to go with the flow, and most of the time, they just follow default emotions. Let me give you an example of situations that happen at work for all of us.
- You are super busy with a deadline, and a colleague of yours needs help. The default emotion is: You are busy, unable to help. [I am BUSY]
- You committed a mistake at work. The default emotion is: You will hide it from your boss or colleagues. [It was not my FAULT]
- You are doing well at work; the default emotion is: You don’t need to learn more since you are better than most around you. [I KNOW IT ALL]
- Your client has unreasonable expectations; the default emotion is: You will argue to prove them wrong. [CLIENT DOES NOT OWN ME]
- At work, if someone shouts at you, the default behavior is to react. [I CAN ALSO GIVE IT BACK]
Self-Managing Your Emotions
Imagine your organization gives you an anchor culture playbook to make the right choices when you face the above situations at work. The organization explains why you should make these choices. In other words, your organization gives you a purpose to be a better human, a better professional, and when you see positive results, you would want to do it more and more. Your organization helps you to self-manage your emotions.
In your organization, if most employees self-manage their emotions as a way of life, what will happen?
It will result in a compounded environment of trust, care, and growth.
The 6-Point Universal Culture Playbook
Here is a 6-point Universal Culture Playbook that can turn your employees into great professionals who share a common goal of trusting each other, caring about each other, and having a growth mindset to become better versions of themselves. A culture playbook that can build a calmer, kinder, happier, and more productive workforce – one that drives productivity across the entire organization.
- I help my teammates, especially on days when I am super busy.
- I respond with kindness, even when others aren’t at their best—they might just be having a bad day.
- I never stop learning—for me learning is not a course, it’s a mindset. Every meeting, email, and interaction offers a chance to grow.
- I’m not afraid to admit mistakes—My team is a safe place to share mistakes openly so that we can all learn from the mistakes rather than hiding them.
- I make it a point that clients love me. My job and my company exist because of them.
- I take out time every few months to reflect on my routine tasks— to find a better way to do them to boost my productivity and free up more time.
Conclusion
A Universal Culture Playbook isn’t just a strategy—it’s the key to unlocking your organization’s true potential. When employees master their emotions, they drive not only their own success but the collective success of the entire company.
This edition is inspired by an article I read recently in the HBR July-August 2024 print edition and the Rolling Arrays Culture Code, which we launched in 2021.
About Manu Khetan
Manu, Founder and CEO of Rolling Arrays, a global HR technology leader, brings two decades of expertise to redefine HR practices. Passionate about pioneering HR automation and nurturing talent, Manu advocates for a customer-first and employee-first approach, prioritizing value creation. Beyond the boardroom, he is a dedicated family man, a skilled pianist, and an advocate for empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs. Join Manu on the transformative journey where HR emerges as a dynamic force for positive change in the business world.
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