Tom Newton is an executive coach with 30 years of experience and is head of Trillium Executive Coaching.
What are some of the things that make a company a great place to work? In Tom Newton’s experience there are three things to highlight: trust, purpose, and learning and development.
“First and foremost is trust. It really is foundational,” he says. “You can build trust over a long period of time, but it’s easy to lose it quickly. So, a lot of things go into trust. It’s something that leaders should spend a lot of time to really analyse or to look in themselves and go, do people trust me?
A first sign there’s a lack of trust can even be seen during a meeting. Are there crickets, Newton asks? It sends the message that there’s a lack of feeling safe to speak up.
Active listening is important. “Listening to somebody, and maybe you’re not going to follow through on their idea, is empowering when somebody comes up with an idea and they have an opportunity to share it. And it’s in a safe space.”
How well does the company communicate? “Communication is huge. When you think how often you might hear somebody on the front line say, ‘Well, we don’t know what’s going on.’ That creates an ‘us versus them’ kind of atmosphere.”
Trust and communication create a pathway to have healthy debate, to express ideas, he says. “When that happens, then innovation can come alive. But it goes through a process of trust that leads to allowing for healthy conflict, which can lead to commitments and people buying in. If everybody’s had the opportunity to speak their mind on something, you’re going to get better buy-in—because people have made that contribution, which leads to accountability and ultimately results.”
Purpose helps people to align the work they do with the purpose of the business. Newton shares a bricklayer analogy and how it relates to someone working on the front lines. When asked what each is doing, bricklayer number one says he’s laying bricks. Bricklayer two says he’s building a wall. Bricklayer three says he’s building a cathedral. “When people understand why they’re doing something, they can connect the work they do to the key results of the business.”
It helps define purpose: knowing that what they’re doing matters, Newton says. “That contributes to people saying, ‘I like working here.’”
Learning and development is empowering. When companies provide support, Newton says, it’s encouraging. “Even having a good mentor on the job. That, too, is learning.”
Initiatives like these should always start at the top. “If the culture isn’t created from the top, it comes up from the bottom,” where Newton says it can create a negative experience. “It’s rooted in gossip. But when it’s coming from the top and it’s intentional, it works its way down.”
