Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajiving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul
Speaker 1: Fello Aledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode six forty four. Let me ask you a question.
Speaker 2: If someone offered you free snacks, a nice office chair,
Speaker 2: flexible fridays, and a small bonus, but you had to
Speaker 2: work in a place where people talk behind each other's backs,
Speaker 2: where standards were unclear, and where leadership changed direction every week,
Speaker 2: would you stay? Most people would not. Now flip it.
Speaker 2: No fancy perks, no gourmet coffee, no ping pong table
Speaker 2: in the breakroom. But the expectations are clear. The mission
Speaker 2: makes sense. Leaders keep their word, the team protects each other.
Speaker 2: Performance matters, and accountability is real. That is culture, and
Speaker 2: culture beats perks every single time. Here's the mistake I
Speaker 2: see leaders making right now. They're trying to buy loyalty.
Speaker 2: They're trying to rent engagement. They're trying to solve a
Speaker 2: culture problem with surface level incentives, and it never works.
Speaker 2: Long term perks are temporary. Culture is permanent. Perks are visible.
Speaker 2: Culture is felt. Perks show up in a job post
Speaker 2: in culture shows up in the hallway conversation. When leadership
Speaker 2: is not around and your team knows the difference, you
Speaker 2: can give someone a fifty dollars gift card that feels
Speaker 2: good for about a day. You can also give them
Speaker 2: clarity about their role, respect from their supervisor in a
Speaker 2: voice in how decisions get made that lasts a lot longer.
Speaker 2: One is a try transaction. The other is trust. Here's
Speaker 2: something leaders need to hear. People do not leave companies
Speaker 2: because there was no pizza party. They leave because they
Speaker 2: felt ignored. They leave because standards were uneven. They leave
Speaker 2: because politics mattered more than performance, And they leave because
Speaker 2: leaders tolerated behavior that chipped away at morale. Culture is
Speaker 2: not what you print on a wall. Culture is what
Speaker 2: you allow. You can offer remote work, gym memberships, tuition
Speaker 2: reimbursement and still have a toxic culture. We've all seen it.
Speaker 2: High pay, shiny benefits, and behind the scenes it is chaos,
Speaker 2: no accountability, no ownership, no real leadership. Culture answers questions perks.
Speaker 2: Never can do I feel safe speaking up? Does my
Speaker 2: boss tell me the truth? Are promotions earned? Or hand
Speaker 2: it out? If I make a mistake, will I be
Speaker 2: coached or crushed? Those questions matter more than free lunch.
Speaker 2: And here's where this becomes tactical. If you want a
Speaker 2: strong culture, you have to decide what you will protect
Speaker 2: at all costs standards, integrity, fairness, performance, professional behavior. Then
Speaker 2: you have to enforce it consistently. Culture is built in small,
Speaker 2: daily moments. Who you hire, who you promote, who you coach,
Speaker 2: who you let slide, what you ignore, what you confront.
Speaker 2: You cannot fake culture. You cannot outsource it to hr.
Speaker 2: You cannot announce it in a memo and assume it exists.
Speaker 2: It is built by leaders who show up the same
Speaker 2: way every day. And let me give you a real
Speaker 2: world pattern. I see a company starts losing people leadership panics.
Speaker 2: They add more perks, casual fridays, bigger holiday party, extra
Speaker 2: time off, and maybe a retention bonus, and people still leave.
Speaker 2: Why Because the problem was not perks. The problem was trust,
Speaker 2: or communication, or inconsistency, or a leader who says one
Speaker 2: thing in a meeting and another thing behind closed doors.
Speaker 2: Perks are decorations. Culture is the foundation. You don't fix
Speaker 2: a cracked foundation with new curtains. Here's the uncomfortable part.
Speaker 2: Culture takes work. It requires hard conversations, It requires leaders
Speaker 2: holding other leaders accountable. It requires setting expectations and following
Speaker 2: through even when it's awkward. Perks are easy. Culture is earned.
Speaker 2: This is why organizations with strong cultures can survive hard seasons.
Speaker 2: They can survive i've economic downturns, they can survive industry
Speaker 2: disruption because the people inside believe in what they're part of.
Speaker 2: They trust leadership, they know what the standards are. When
Speaker 2: the culture is strong, people lean in. When the culture
Speaker 2: is weak, people quietly update their resumes. If you're leading
Speaker 2: right now, I want you to audit something. Take away
Speaker 2: every perk in your organization for a minute in your mind,
Speaker 2: no bonuses, no extras, no fringe benefits. Would people still
Speaker 2: respect the leadership, Would they still believe in the mission?
Speaker 2: Would they still feel proud to work there. If the
Speaker 2: answer makes you uncomfortable, that is your starting point, and
Speaker 2: here's how you fix it. First, define your non negotiables.
Speaker 2: What behaviors are required, what standards are expected, what values
Speaker 2: are real not decorative. Second, communicate them clearly and often
Speaker 2: not in corporate buzzwords, in plain language. Here is who
Speaker 2: we are. Here is how we act. Here is what
Speaker 2: we do not tolerate. Third, enforce them evenly. High performer,
Speaker 2: low performer, new hire veteran.
Speaker 1: The rules are the rules.
Speaker 2: Fourth, model them yourself. Culture does not listen to your
Speaker 2: speech as it watches your behavior. If you want a
Speaker 2: culture of accountability, be accountable. If you want a culture
Speaker 2: of respect, be respectful. If you want a culture of ownership,
Speaker 2: stop blaming circumstances. Culture is leadership multiplied. Perks are optional.
Speaker 2: Culture is oxygen. And here is the final truth. The
Speaker 2: best leaders do not use perks to distract from dysfunction.
Speaker 2: They use perks to reward performance inside of a healthy culture.
Speaker 2: That is the difference. When culture is strong, perks feel
Speaker 2: like appreciation. When culture is weak, perks feel like bribery.
Speaker 2: So here is your challenge for this week. Spend seven
Speaker 2: intentional minutes examining the culture you're shaping. Look at what
Speaker 2: you tolerate, look at what you celebrate, look at what
Speaker 2: you avoid. Then decide what kind of environment you want
Speaker 2: your name attached to. Because long after the gift cards
Speaker 2: are spent and the snacks are gone, your culture is
Speaker 2: what people will remember. So build something worth staying for.
Speaker 2: This has been the seven Minute Leadership podcast, and I
Speaker 2: thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com