Orchestras comprise multiple musical instruments played by a range of individuals. Of course, each instrument and each musician can solo. But the magic happens when a composition includes different notes for each of them that sound magnificent when played together.
If one instrument doesn’t play its part, the whole piece is changed. Moreover, if one musician plays out of rhythm or key, the entire song is discordant. Everyone needs to follow the score and the conductor to delight the audience.
Companies are not unlike orchestras. They set goals and employ strategies that employees follow, each doing their part for the benefit of the entire organization. Success in business, as in music, doesn’t occur by accident.
As a leader, it’s your job to create a culture of harmony for your company. You need to get everyone on the same page and find ways to encourage them to work together. Here are five tips you can use to orchestrate that harmony within your organization.
1. Compose the Right Arrangement
Organizational structures vary from one to another. If you’re leading one, though, you need to arrange it in such a way that all employees understand their role. Each one of them must know what the priorities are so everything they do contributes to those objectives.
That requires you to clearly articulate organizational goals to individual employees and groups. That way, teams know where to put their energy when they show up every day. This top-down strategic alignment naturally encourages everyone to work on common objectives.
What happens if you don’t? Teams set their own priorities, which may not coincide with those of other teams. You will still see work being produced, but you may never all get to the same end.
2. Create a Culture of Respect
In a world where the news is rife with examples of disrespect, build a culture that exudes the opposite. Your employees need to get along with other team members, and your teams with other teams. Leadership needs to earn the respect of the rank and file and return it.
A culture of respect is safe from internal discord. Differences between employees should be celebrated rather than scorned. An employee who may feel vulnerable in life outside the office shouldn’t feel that way at work.
A culture of dignity begins at the top. If you show all employees respect, not only will they show it to you, but also to their colleagues. Don’t allow harassment to play any part in your organization’s ensemble.
3. Provide Opportunity for Variations on a Theme
Practicing top-down strategic alignment properly does not equate to micromanagement. Employees need some latitude in making decisions about their jobs within the structure of those organizational priorities. You need to create an environment in which they feel comfortable suggesting variations on a theme.
Employee empowerment is inexorably linked to mental health. Mental health, in turn, affects job satisfaction and productivity. Providing some level of autonomy in schedules, work arrangements, and methods engages employees in the process of achieving goals.
Avoid being too prescriptive in how your teams achieve the goals set by leadership. You may be surprised by the innovative ways individuals and teams can cooperate to solve problems. And solving them is the key to success.
4. Build Bridges
Harmony is all about agreement among multiple components. Your employees may all have different roles, even those on the same team. But each one needs to find a connection among disparate roles if they are to achieve organizational goals.
Congruence requires that you help employees build strong relationships within a community. That community is created by individuals but connected by a common bond — achieving shared goals. Moreover, those connections need to be made vertically, between leaders and employees, as well as horizontally, between team members and teams.
There should be a bridge between roles, responsibilities, and communication that can be crossed in either direction. That way, no one’s progress is ever stopped, regardless of the path taken.
5. Applaud
Recognizing and appreciating employee contributions aren’t the same thing, although one is often equated with the other. A pat on the back or a pay raise serves to recognize employee performance. But showing appreciation is a nod to an employee’s inherent value to the organization, their co-workers, and, simply, the world.
Of course, you should invest in recognizing employees for what they do. That provides them with incentives to keep setting the bar higher. But don’t neglect to also show them how much you appreciate them as individuals. This can manifest itself in providing them with support, listening to them, and reminding them of their worth.
Recognition and appreciation may not be precisely the same concepts, but both are equally important. After all, if employees know they are valued, they are likely to ratchet up their job performance. You’ll be there to recognize them when they do.
Delivering a Captivating Performance
Delivering a peak performance relies on more than putting the right players in seats, holding the right instruments. It also requires structure, respect, empowerment, community, and value. You create harmony when you put these elements in the proper places at the proper times. And that will earn your organization a standing ovation every time.
