company culture

Who’s got the ball?

Posted on August 27, 2023August 27, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

Nowadays there are more company meetings than necessary.

Zoom meetings, Client meetings, internal sync ups, and weekly catchups fill up our calendars every week. Months go on with many meetings that serve no purpose or get results.

Meetings are not going away soon. However, effective meetings are highly valuable for everyone in attendance.

To make company meetings effective, have an agenda, start and end on time, and have clear next steps.

Shellye Archambeau, chief executive of MetricStream likes to end her meetings by asking, “Who’s got the ball?” When you’re in sports, and the ball is thrown to you, then you’ve got the ball, and you’re now in control of what happens next. You own it. It becomes a very visible concept for making sure that there’s actually ownership to make sure things get done.” – NYT’s article

What does Progress look like?

Posted on July 29, 2023July 29, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

We want Progress. Like yesterday.

It’s tempting to be thinking of achieving massive success as soon as possible.

So what does Progress actually look like (realistically)?

In Atomic Habits, James Clear says if you find yourself struggling to build a good habit or breaking a bad habit, it is often because you have not yet crossed the Plateau of Latent Potential. When you finally break through the Plateau of Latent Potential, people will call it overnight success. We tend to see the most dramatic event rather than all the work and efforts that came before that “overnight success.”

Source: James Clear

Empowering Curiosity

Posted on July 26, 2023July 26, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

Building a company culture of curiosity in an organization takes small intentional steps.

If a team member asks a question in a group, how is that question handled?

Does the meeting organizer have an agenda and allocated time for questions?

What is the team leader’s first response to a team member’s question? Is it a straightforward answer or a thoughtful follow up question?

Does the team member feel safe and comfortable asking the question in that environment?

Who has been given the default “authority” to ask questions in that environment?

Is the meeting host intentionally seeking out questions from the participants rather than just expecting them?

Do you have a Company Alumni Network?

Posted on July 19, 2023July 19, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

Companies go through all sorts of changes in their journey.

One of the biggest and costly changes is personnel change.

When experienced employees leave the company for better opportunities, it can take some time to fill the vacancy or get someone ready internally to take that position.

The most untapped and available opportunity that companies have not considered or used is keeping in touch with the employee(s) who is about to leave or have left the company in good terms.

How about creating your Company’s Alumni Network?

The Company’s Alumni Network would consist of anyone who has left the company on good terms and wants to stay in touch with the company and its developments. Most employees have good and healthy professional relationships while working at a company and want to see their team and company succeed even if they decide to pursue other opportunities.

Similar to a college’s alumni network, the company’s alumni network will keep the previous employees engaged and updated on the company’s progress. The company can create a newsletter that is regularly circulated with the alumni network.

Imagine the short and long term benefits of a Company Alumni Network : building goodwill with previous employees, generate possible referrals for employees and new businesses, possibly bring back experienced employees who want to rejoin and much more!

From Entrepreneur to Empowerer

Posted on July 1, 2023July 1, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

How can entrepreneurs grow their startup?

The qualities that help entrepreneurs start their businesses might not be the same that will help take the startup to the next level.

There will still be challenges that entrepreneurs will face when they have hired all the “right people” for the different roles of the company. If the entrepreneurs continue to become heavily involved in decision making of the different functions even when they have put “right people” in those positions, the company will be limiting itself. The entrepreneurs’ efforts might actually be counterproductive then.

For entrepreneurs to grow their company, most times they themselves become bottlenecks to the growth. It’s time to switch from being an entrepreneur to becoming an empowerer (one who empowers others to do their best). If entrepreneurs have empowered other leaders in the best way possible, the company will experience growth in many ways.

1,000 business cards

Posted on June 10, 2023June 10, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

We were new to entrepreneurship.

My friend was starting to sell custom made jewelry.

He reached out to me to help him with business development work.

One of the first purchases we made was to put an order of 1000 business cards, each.

Well we ended up using probably 50 a piece in the next few months.

Sometimes we can get caught up doing all the fancy activities that seem important at first but not doing much to increase sales or build a business!

The best time to do a startup is…

Posted on March 7, 2023March 7, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

NOW.

Literally now.

If you are thinking about doing a startup, want to be an entrepreneur or create something of your own, there is no better time than RIGHT NOW.

There is no uniform age, timeline, state, region, phase, moment or any other factor that guarantees the best time to do a startup.

I like to watch this Ted talk by Bill Gross from time to time to remind myself why start-ups succeed.

I used to have an illusion/perception that I need to have a decent amount of money to start a business. Yet when I did start a business, it was more than just money that I needed. I learned about the importance of having a solid business and technical team members, balancing product development and marketing, public relations and network and countless other valuable lessons that I learned only because I started the business.

I believe that if you are thinking of doing a startup or want to go into entrepreneurship, the earlier the better.

For example, let’s say you are 25 now, have an idea and want to build your own company. If you wait 5 years (at 30 years old) to start implementing that idea, the market might have changed, other companies might implement similar idea(s) and you are late to the market, you have other priorities now (family, job etc) among others. On the flip side, if you wait you might be gaining experience in a particular domain that can help build your company or have more financial resources to venture on your own.

I strongly believe that if you have an idea and want to build a company, the best move you can make is to start it. The immediate benefit of starting now will give a lot of momentum to your idea/venture, you will learn tremendously by experimenting and getting feedback from the market/customers/non customers etc. The learnings from starting a business will be exponential. If you start as early as you can, you will gain experience that will be very valuable to the success of your idea/business and also as an entrepreneur.

Doing entrepreneurship is both an art and a science.

I can’t wait to see what you create in the world. Now.

Getting through the data noise

Posted on November 9, 2022November 9, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

An authentic brand story will help your company get through the data noise.

How much data noise is really out there?

Domo’s Data Never Sleeps 10.0 presents some numbers.

Some notes from Domo:

Over the last ten years, digital engagement through social media, streaming content, online purchasing, peer-to-peer payments and other activities has increased hundreds and even thousands of percentage points.

As of April 2022, the internet reaches 63% of the world’s population, representing roughly 5 billion.

According to Statista, the total amount of data predicted to be created, captured, copied and consumed globally in 2022 is 97 zettabytes, a number projected to grow to 181 zettabytes by 2025.

There will be more data generated in the coming days, months, and years. How will your startup or corporation get through the data noise? Will your company keep spending more money on ads, social media marketing , PR and others? Or will you invest in a long term strategy such as identifying your authentic brand story and leveraging it?

Is success really “self-made”?

Posted on September 18, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

We often see the below headline in the media (blogs, magazines, articles etc.) to describe an individual or founders’ success.

They were self-made billionaires. They were self-made entrepreneurs.

Then the rest of the media coverage goes something like this…

Person A’s company is now worth a billion dollars. Having started in her garage four years ago, Person A has disrupted the industry and won every industry award.

Person B had a dream to change the industry and with another co-founder, they developed a MVP over a weekend. Now their work has become an industry standard and they are pioneers in helping to move the industry forward.

Using the word “self-made” to describe individuals running successful organizations does not provide the full picture. We have fallen so much in love with the narrative of a solo entrepreneur or visionary who did it all. From having nothing at all to now running one of the biggest so and so company in the world. However, it’s rarely one individual who does everything and becomes successful. There is always a team who is helping to run the company and making sure everything is operating as smoothly as possible. That team could be a handful of individuals or a few hundred or thousand. Yet the credit or the media coverage usually goes to the founder(s) who took the risk, “sacrificed” almost everything, and made an impact.

Maybe it’s about time we find a different word to describe this type of success than calling them “self-made.”

What’s a word that celebrates the individual’s work plus highlights the contribution of the team?

Handling dissatisfying situations

Posted on June 15, 2022June 15, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

In Albert Hirschman’s book “Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States” he mentions that there are four different options for handling a dissatisfying situation.

Decades of research show that you have a choice between exit, voice, persistence, and neglect. Exit means removing yourself from the situation altogether. Voice involves actively trying to improve the situation. Persistence is gritting your teeth and bearing it. Neglect entails staying in the current situation but reducing your effort.

How do you respond to dissatisfying situations?

Text reference: Originals How non-conformists move the world by Adam Grant

Who’s the most valuable member of the company?

Posted on May 24, 2022May 24, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

Since it was the founder/co-founders’ idea that led to the company’s start, is she/he/them the Most Valuable Member (MVM)?

Sales team brings in clients and revenue. Are they more valuable then?

How about the technology team that made the software which the sales team sold?

And the human resource team who found and hired the talent with the right attitude, education, and skillsets?

Let’s acknowledge the Training team who help employees to keep their skills and knowledge up to date as per company’s needs.

Getting the software in front of potential customers at the right place and time, isn’t the Marketing team deserving of applause and attention?

Client services team is communicating with the client and making sure they have an amazing experience. Don’t they receive credit on what they do to make the customers happy?

The creative narrative

Posted on May 15, 2022May 15, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

“She is so creative.”

“He is really creative.”

“That’s the creative team.”

Creativity is hard to define. Each one of us is creative – that creativity can be seen at our homes, workplaces, the hobbies we have, the activities we do, and it can be anywhere and everywhere.

What type of environment helps in facilitating creativity could be a more interesting question to ask. In my experience, the initial moments of feedback given to an individual who is exploring her or his creativity is critical. In those initial moments, the words and behavior (feedback/response) absorbed by the individual will shape how he or she sees creativity and the world around them. These earlier experiences can form a narrative and a fixed or growth mindset can be set towards creativity which can have a profound effect in the individual’s ensuing years. Creativity is a muscle and it gets better through exercises and engagements.

All of us are creative in our own unique ways. Change the narrative, change the outcome!

What’s your dominant question?

Posted on February 12, 2022February 12, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

Jim Kwik, author of Limitless says a dominant question is the thing we keep asking ourselves, over and over throughout our day. It’s what drives our decisions in the moment and focuses our obsessions when we’re alone. He says the dominant question feels permanent but it is not.

“The questions you ask yourself will shape your life.” – Jim Kwik

In Entrepreneur magazine (June 2021), Jim shares his experience working with the actor Will Smith. They realized that Will’s dominant question is “How do I make this moment magical?” Jim recalls “One night, he was with Will Smith and his family on a movie set and it was 2am and everyone was freezing. He starts making hot chocolate for everybody, even though there’s a crew there that does that for them. He starts bringing us blankets. He starts cracking jokes. He starts telling stories. And I realized. He’s living his dominant question.”

2 WAYS TO FIND YOUR DOMINANT QUESTION according to Jim Kwik

Review

Listen. Reflect on your thoughts, listen to your inner talk. Sit in silence. Silence isn’t empty, it will be full of your own questions.

Record

Journal every day. Review and record your day, and you’ll start to notice patterns skewing towards the things you find important in your life.

Useful resources on curiosity and questions

Posted on February 5, 2022February 5, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

Articles/blogs:

The DNA of the World’s Most Innovative Companies

Curiosity is a Must-have Skill

The Business Case for Curiosity

Forget Brainstorming. Try Questionstorming

Why must businesses step back in order to move forward?

Videos:

How to Ask Better Questions | Tim Ferriss

The Truth about Being the “Stupidest” in the Room | Simon Sinek

Podcasts:

Cal Fussman’s Big Questions podcast

The Career Contessa Podcast

The Tim Ferriss Show

Akimbo A Podcast from Seth Godin

Others:

The Right Question Institute

A More Beautiful Question

This list will be continuously updated. Please share any resources that can be added to this list.

Feedback for growth

Posted on November 30, 2021November 30, 2021 by Nirmal Thapa

Growing up in a household or being in an environment where you get mostly or only positive feedback, you will expect that type of feedback in all areas of your personal and professional life. How helpful is the (mostly or only) positive feedback for the person receiving it in the long run? Is that positive feedback motivating the person or setting up expectations/beliefs that are not really assisting her or him? If only positive feedback is being given by a coach to an athlete/by a parent to a child/by a manager to an employee, then it can be more counterproductive than productive.

Constructive feedback is better for us. We need to know where we are good at and where we need to improve. When we get feedback of our strengths and improvement areas, we can allocate our time, energy, and focus accordingly. If we become tempted to create a perfect world of positive feedback from coaches to athletes, parents to children, and managers to employees, we are being in the fixed mindset. It’s important to adopt a growth mindset which “leads to a desire to learn and therefore a tendency to embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, see effort as the path to mastery, learn from criticism, find lessons and inspiration in the success of others. As a result, they reach ever-higher levels of achievement” (Carol S. Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success)

How are you using the feedback you are getting?

Asking questions to understand better

Posted on November 22, 2021November 22, 2021 by Nirmal Thapa

Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why and other books says that “asking questions doesn’t mean you’re the stupidest person in the room; it usually means you’re the only one brave enough to speak up.”

Some of the reasons why we aren’t asking enough questions even when we don’t understand the topic of discussion are the beliefs/thoughts/internal questions we have going in our head:

By asking this question(s), will it make me look “stupid”?

Would I look like the person who doesn’t understand this topic if I ask this question?

It’s actually not relevant to me at all so why ask this question.

I am the “expert” or “smartest” person in this room. Why ask questions and make myself look like a beginner?

Do I have the “authority” to ask questions in this group or in this context?

Organizations that grow

Posted on October 19, 2021October 19, 2021 by Nirmal Thapa

In Carol S. Dweck’s groundbreaking book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, she talks about the research that Jim Collins and his team did on what made companies move from being good to being great. The five-year study showed that there were several factors that distinguished the thriving companies from the others. In Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great, he states that the one distinguisher that was absolutely key was the type of leader who in every case led the company into greatness. “They were self-effacing people who constantly asked questions and had the ability to confront the most brutal answers – that is, to look failures in the face, even their own, while maintaining faith that they would succeed in the end.”

Carol states that these leaders have the growth mindset and believe in human development. They are constantly trying to improve themselves and surround themselves with the most able people they can find, they look squarely at their own mistakes and deficiencies, and they ask frankly what skills they and the company will need in the future.

Who sets the company culture?

Posted on October 8, 2021October 8, 2021 by Nirmal Thapa

The people who care.

The people who care think of an idea, an initiative and pursue an action. In a startup, people who care make or break the company culture. The values or ideals that the caring person or the caring group have will carryover and reflect in their initiatives and activities within the company.

Many employees want to be part of something bigger than themselves. When an employee cares about a topic or issue very deeply, they will take action and others with similar interests follow suit. But it always starts with the one who cares enough to do something about it. Great company cultures are rarely set by the majority of bystanders.

Great company cultures start and thrive on people who care about the topic or issue. If you want to build a great company culture, find the individuals who care and give them all the resources you can to let them implement ideas and initiatives and watch them grow. There will be challenges along the way but trusting the people who are leading the culture front and encouraging them would be the way to go to building a resilient company culture for the long term. The people who don’t care enough to do more than their roles and responsibilities will be there in each company. However, the company culture will be driven by the individuals who are passionate and voluntary lead the efforts.

Take care of your employees.

Posted on August 18, 2021August 18, 2021 by Nirmal Thapa

We’ve heard the phrase many times “Employees are a company’s greatest asset.”

Do you think most companies actually believe that phrase in their core and behave accordingly? That’s a profound statement that companies have to visit and revisit all the time. Some well established companies tout all the benefits they provide to their employees but seldom ask employees how they value each of the company’s benefits or what other benefits could be more important to them. Some companies’ benefits package reflects what their industry counterparts offer and do just enough to remain competitive employee benefits wise.

If companies wholeheartedly believe that employees are indeed a company’s greatest asset, how are they showing that they care for their employees?

Here’s something to ponder upon…

Tag: company culture