About the eventEveryone wants to work with winning teams.But what does it take to build one and have it continue to have it thrive in such unpredictable times?Join Steven Bartlett, entrepreneur, investor, and host Europe's No. 1 podcast, "The Diary of a CEO," as he shares his insights on how to:1. Recruit, motivate, and retain top talent2. Build a high-performing team that can drive business success3. Foster a culture of innovation and disruptionBartlett will discuss the importance of hiring for culture fit, creating a clear vision and mission, and providing your team with the resources they need to succeed.About Steven Bartlett.Steven Bartlett is a speaker, investor, author, content creator and the host of Europe’s No.1 podcast, ‘The Diary of a CEO’. He is the 30-year-old Founder of the social media marketing agency Social Chain. From a bedroom in Manchester, this university drop-out built Social Chain Agency, which would become "Social Chain AG" - a social commerce marketing group. The marketing-commerce group reached a market valuation of more than $600m and is currently listed on a European stock exchange.In 2021 Steven released his debut book ‘Happy Sexy Millionaire’ which was a Sunday Times best-seller. Steven is particularly focused on inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs and creators from a BAME background.At just 30 years old, he is widely considered one of Europe’s most talented and accomplished young entrepreneurs and philosophical thinkers. Steven joined Dragon’s Den from Series 19 in January 2022, as the youngest ever Dragon in the Show’s history. On May 4th, Steven Bartlett joined us in the Yuniverse and chatted to our Co-Founder and CTO Josh Hart about how to build a high-performing, winning team that drives business success. The relevance of the topic could not be more pronounced for companies given the times.After all, 2023 has been hailed as the “year of efficiency”. With mass lay-offs, the collapse of SVB, and a decrease in deal flow - business leaders and people teams alike are figuring out how to do more with less. 40% of CEOs have reported that they don’t think their organisations would survive the next 10 years if they continue on their current course. As teams shrink and hiring decisions become strategic, learning how to reprioritise resources and optimise current teams has become mission-critical. You can watch a recording of the event here.Here’s a round up of Steven’s valuable insights:1. Culture remains king (and queen, and everything in between)Culture, Steven explained, is the environmental factors that determine how a group of people behave. This includes everything from the values, philosophy, incentives, disincentives and the expectations of behaviour. He explained that, as a founder, his job is to set the company’s vision, and then to get the values and the culture right, so that his team can achieve that vision. A strong culture, he affirms, can create a winning team because it can bind people together and make them as a unit greater than the sum of its parts (or, as Steven said, “make 1+1=3”).Steven states how he’s built his companies around a culture of kindness, which he believes to be the glue of community. “Because the culture is so strong here, there is no chance they could possibly behave in any other way than how we behave as a unit - which is that kindness, selflessness - and going above and beyond when we need to.”And great communities can, in turn, make people feel like they are doing the best work of their lives.This couldn’t be more aligned to what studies say about what employees are looking for today. If the 2019 COVID pandemic taught us anything, it’s that employees are reconsidering their purpose in the workplace more than ever before. Nearly two-thirds of employees McKinsey surveyed said that COVID-19 has caused them to reflect on their purpose in life. In fact, Leadership teams that advocate for a values or purpose-driven culture enjoy a net gain in productive employee behaviours of between 25 and 40%, and a similar uplift in retention. Resource: want to learn more about how to embed purpose into your organisation? McKinsey provides a useful framework.2. On hiring and letting goWhen it comes to hiring, people who are no strangers to Steven Barlett’s work would know how he has consistently said that recruiting top talent is a team effort. “Your best performers can be your biggest asset when it comes to attracting new talent. They can share their passion for the company and help to build a culture that people want to be a part of." By the same token, Steven also talks about relying on referrals from your top performers. After all, like attracts like. The strength of high-performing networks is very real in the business world - as seen with the PayPal Mafia and the Uber alumni network. CEOs who want to build winning teams might do well to tap on their top performers’ networks for referrals.However, at the event, he added nuance to this by stating that the way companies hire and the type of people they hire at different stages should change. The early stages of company building is what he and many others describe as “the cult stage” - where companies need to look for people that are all-in, and live and breathe the mission.Then companies go into the “growth phase”, where things grow very, very quickly if they are successful. Here, there's a greater requirement for processes and people in certain departments like HR. The third stage is “the enterprise phase”, which is the third life cycle of a company where processes are in place, though growth may no longer be 100% year-on-year. Here, companies are looking for a different type of leader, preferably one who has led another large organisation in the past. Hiring wise, he was clear that building a winning team requires both the employer and employee to have a self-awareness of which stage people best fit. “I think we all fit a certain dynamic, there's many of us, we're like zero to one people. For some of us. We're like one to two people in terms of where the company is at.” he says. At the same time, it is equally important for both parties to be honest and acknowledge when it is time to part ways.“Those people that raise the bar the most” are the ones you want to promote into leadership – this is “because leaders are the most contagious in terms of their cultural values”.Those that lower the bar either need training, other interventions to figure out the problem, or it may turn out there is a need to let them go. “Skills, knowledge can be taught”, but culture and values are more innate.“I think that if it's not right for the company, it's also not going to be right for [the individual], and they're really going to struggle at that phase. There's going to be continual critical feedback about unmet expectations on both sides. And so it's right at that point, to have an honest conversation about… how there's a mismatch."3. Communication is paramountSteven Bartlett says that you need to consider how you communicate in a relationship, and transfer those communication structures into your organisation.“Communication seems to be the way to avoid conflict, and I think having systems in place to have frequent and reliable outlets to communicate is super important.”If you encourage employees to give feedback, for example through regular surveys, or a comments box in the office, then you can build a culture of ownership and responsibility.Additionally, in order to thrive as an organisation, it’s important that everyone knows exactly what is expected of them in the workplace.“I think that's the worst thing in company culture in organisations is when people don't really know what the expectations are, I'd rather be crystal clear in communicating who we are, and why we have our culture, from the beginning.”4. Invisible PREvery interaction you have with people can either be compounded for, or against you. Steven calls this “Invisible PR” - the idea that an individual's or organisation's reputation is based on thousands of micro-interactions that contribute towards shaping how others view you.A positive interaction with one individual not only impacts that person's perception of you, but also rubs off on their entire network. Conversely, stories of a negative interaction are likely to spread far beyond those in the room. “In the moments where it matters most, your invisible PR will show up,” says Bartlett.Nobody is in active PR mode 100% of the time, but invisible PR is an ongoing process. Impactful leaders invariably realise that every conversation they have is a brand-building opportunity and should consider how they’re building their reputation in every touch point they have with another individual. 5. Employee wellbeing is leadership’s responsibilityYes, budgets are tightening. But as the pressure for profitability on your team mounts, so should the quality of care for your team. “I do see [employee wellbeing] as a founder’s responsibility and I always I think I always have understood that responsibility,” says Steven. “I think some organisations see work as like getting the ‘To-Do Lists’ done… It's all kind of transactional. But I think that organisations that will retain the best people, and get the best out of their individuals, will have the happiest individuals. [This will] provide much more than financial remuneration.”Employee wellbeing affects the number of sick days employees take, team performance, burnout and retention rate. It is estimated that the total cost of employee burnout globally is $322 billion owing to turnover and lost productivity.With 42% of employees saying they would be more likely to remain in a role if it offered good health and wellbeing benefits - senior level leadership should prioritise a wellbeing strategy to help retain team members. The rules are simple. Go back to the basics - invest in comprehensive health benefits (e.g., medical, critical illness and dental) using a provider that genuinely engages your team and helps you to build a healthier and happier workforce.We can helpAt YuLife, we use gamification and behavioural science to enable unmatched levels of employee engagement across insurance and employee benefits. YuLife’s proactive health and wellbeing offering was proven to drive 181% ROI over three years compared to traditional insurance. Our clients include Tesco, Capital One, Aon and Fujitsu, and we’ve been ranked the #1 employee benefit in the UK on Trustpilot.If you are embarking on a holistic wellbeing strategy with your organisation and would like to speak to one of our team members, you can do so here.