Culture Leadership Charge – Snacks Won’t Change Your Culture

I saw an ad on LinkedIn recently that made me laugh – out loud.

The ad was for a company that delivers snacks to workplaces. The headline read, “CEOs rave about how easy it is to improve employee happiness, productivity, and well-being” . . . with snacks.

I don’t doubt that healthy snacks can improve one’s energy and possibly one’s outlook. Employee happiness, productivity, and well-being are vitally important – but if your work culture is toxic, snacks or team building activities or pinball machines won’t improve the health of your work culture.

The only way to create consistent employee happiness, productivity, and well-being is to create a workplace where everyone is treated with trust and respect in every interaction.

That’s not easy to do. Most companies measure, monitor, and reward results – and only results. If people get results by withholding information or poaching customers from their colleagues or yelling and screaming at their peers every day – their results are praised and rewarded.

That doesn’t create a healthy work environment. That doesn’t create employee happiness or well-being.

In that environment, snacks provide nourishment so these players can behave badly – because that’s all they know. They’ve been trained to deliver results in less-than-gracious ways, ways that erode trust and respect.

In today’s three-minute episode of my Culture Leadership Charge video series, I support healthy snacks while explaining how leaders can create employee happiness, productivity, and well-being with an organizational constitution.

My Culture Leadership Charge series features short (two-to-three-minute) videos that describe proven culture leadership and servant leadership practices that boost engagement, service, and results across your work teams, departments, regions, and even your entire company.

Each episode’s “charge” is a challenge for everyone in your organization – not just leaders – to refine their behaviors and ensure everyone is treated respectfully at all times.

You’ll find my Culture Leadership Charge episodes and more on my YouTube channel. If you like what you see, please subscribe!

Photo © Adobe Stock – Photoma. All rights reserved.

How healthy is your workplace culture? To what degree are people throughout your organization treated with trust and respect in every interaction? Share your insights on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.