Small links can sink great ships.
That’s a saying you are probably familiar with.
And a leak of any kind can unexpectedly wreck your team culture.
In Rapid Teamwork I wrote about a management team learning how to build a more positive and profitable workplace culture from a wise river guide as they traveled down the Nantahala on a raft.
If there had been a leak in that raft, it would have ruined their day ; )
But not every leak is discovered quickly.
Some leaks go unnoticed for a while, quietly producing unseen damage.
And then, in a disturbing moment of discovery, the damage from that gradual and seemingly insignificant leak suddenly gets discovered.
I learned that lesson recently when my wife stepped into our guest bedroom on the main floor of our home… and yelled upstairs “HONEY!”
As a husband, when I hear “honey” said with THAT tone, I know something is wrong.
When I got to where she was standing I could see her foot pushing down into the carpet of the guest bedroom, which is across the hall from our laundry room.
The floor squished. It was soaked with water.
We had a leak.
You have to find what caused the leak.
After searching for about 15 minutes, I could not locate any issue with the pipes that were in our bathroom or water heater closet.
We had a plumber come over to locate the leak… and he suggested it was possibly a pipe hidden in our foundation and we would need to break up the concrete floor to locate it.
But before we called in that specialty guy, we found the issue.
There was a small drip coming from behind the shelves in our laundry room, from a pipe that had been poorly capped when the house had been remodeled years earlier.
A change in water pressure had created the leak.
And the leak had flooded the inside of the wall, gone under the hardwood flooring of our hallway, and then gotten into the carpeting – where my wife’s foot had squished.
Fixing the leak was relatively easy – and done quickly.
But that was not nearly as important as mitigating the flood it had caused.
It takes longer to fix the damage than to find it.
The company that came in to restore our home was fantastic – they took pictures and measurements, assessed needed work, prepared an estimate, worked with our insurance company, and communicated well throughout the process.
But it took much longer than we thought to get our house back together.
We walked over bare concrete for weeks.
And we even had to move out for a few days to get the floors redone.
Repairing the damage from the leak took a great deal more time and effort and money than we at first would have assumed.
And after about twenty thousand dollars’ worth of work, we eventually were able to settle back comfortably into our restored home.
So how does this apply to YOUR organization?
Just as a small water leak left significant damage in our home, a small leadership leak can wreck your team culture.
And the impact of organizational culture damage can cost your company far more than just twenty thousand dollars!
The reality is that you, as leader, must constantly be walking around and checking to see if you can locate any “squishy” issues.
Just like our wet floor was a symptom of our leak, a dip in productivity or sales, an increase in absences or silence by team members, or an uncharacteristic dip in morale could be a sign that something needs to be identified and fixed.
And after you have discovered the issue, the tough part of leadership is realizing it is your job to ensure that thing get put back right – better than before the issue popped up.
In my experience working with teams, there are five areas where leaders need to maintain their focus to ensure they create and sustain a positive and profitable workplace culture:
- Goals
- Relationships
- Expectations
- Accountability
- Thankfulness
REMEMBER – leaks are going to occur at times… life happens.
But the damage becomes far more significant if you are not vigilant in monitoring your people and your workplace for signs of concerns.
Think your team may have a small leak in one of those areas?
Reach out and let’s talk!
As a workplace culture change speaker and corporate team building event facilitator, It is my passion to help smart team leaders to build exceptional environments where their people can thrive and get great results…
