Steven Bartlett on employee engagement: it starts with culture, mission, vision

All managers want employees who are engaged, enthusiastic, work harmoniously and productively together, and are committed to the company. But how do you make that happen?

One person who knows a lot about this subject: Steven Bartlett. 

At just 30 years old, Steven is widely considered one of the most talented and accomplished young entrepreneurs. He's also known as a panelist on the BBC’s popular show Dragon’s Den (which spawned the US version, Shark Tank), and as the host of popular podcast, The Diary of a CEO. 

Steven chatted with our UK team for a recent YuLife webinar, and shared his views on how to generate a sense of belonging and loyalty in your workforce. We share some of his insights below, while you can watch the full webinar for free here.

Also, don’t miss our ebook on How to Build a Winning Team.

See employees as people, not as a resource

First and foremost, Steven believes that business is about more than just making a profit: it's about having an overarching mission. And that requires both a vision to work towards, and a culture that embodies that vision. 

Not every company follows this path, though. "I think some organizations see work as getting To-Do Lists done, and it's all kind of transactional," he says. But for true success, Steven believes a company needs to be more than just a money-making machine. And to achieve that, it has to focus on its key resource: its people.

"The organizations that retain and get the best out of individuals will provide much more than financial remuneration," he explains. "One of the big things they'll provide is a supportive community. And all the studies show that having a supportive community around you at work reduces your stress levels, making you more resilient as an individual."

What does culture mean?

Creating the right company culture, though, isn't just about being nice to your employees. It's also about hiring the right people, and instilling the right attitudes in workers.

And that may mean having to make uncomfortable decisions such as disciplining or even firing people, if they're not supporting those values and are diluting the culture you wish to create.

Steven stresses this doesn't mean everyone has to be the same. "It's important to value diversity of thought and experience," he points out. Nor does it mean that everyone has to be perfect at their job. "Skills, knowledge, all that stuff can be taught, and I think there should be a responsibility to upskill people and teach them," he stresses. 

The real problem comes, he believes, when employees are not embodying the right cultural values, as this can be contagious. He gives an example from early in his own career.

Don't be a coward

"One person leaving the company doesn't necessarily kill a company," Steven explains. "But I've seen many times where one person staying nearly did. My biggest mistake in business was knowing someone was definitely wrong for the organization and procrastinating on it. 

"I knew this individual was wrong for our company," he continues. "They were wrong in terms of every metric I really cared about: performance, cultural values, the way they made other people in the organization feel. But I was young, and instead of firing them I thought: 'Maybe I'll just move them to another country and make them managing director!'"

Steven is aware of how daft this sounds in retrospect. "Even at the time, I knew in my gut it wasn't right. But I was a coward… and I paid the price for that. It had a huge impact on our financial performance, and a huge impact on team members' satisfaction and happiness."

He realizes now that he should have had the uncomfortable conversation sooner. "And this is a story of our relationships in all facets of life," he muses. "If you don't address it, it doesn't go anywhere. It just grows, and the collateral damage increases."

Lessons from marriage counseling

To explain what he means, Steven offers up a parallel from the world of marriage counseling. "The American psychologist John M Gottman did a study on why couples end up in divorce," he recalls. "But it wasn't what you think. It wasn't because they argued, or even fought. It was this word called 'contempt'. And Gottman reached a point where he could predict whether a marriage was going to end in divorce, based on this one thing."

So what does 'contempt' mean in this context?

"Contempt is when your partner goes, 'Babe, come look at this thing out the window.' And you're annoyed because you're working, and you give that subtle little eye-roll. Because what that subtle eye-roll says is: 'I'm tired of your sh–.' It's the build up of subtle resentment towards the individual, because you haven't addressed it. You haven't had a chat about being interrupted when you're working, and how it makes you feel. You've just stored up the anger, and it's turned into contempt."

Steven believes the way to prevent relationships turning toxic in this way, whether at home or at work, is through constant course correction. 

"If a plane is one degree off and it travels for 60 miles, it will miss its target by one mile," he points out. "So I think about that, and how we can continually course-correct to avoid conflict."

The Kaizen philosophy

One way Steven course-corrects within his own companies is by following the Kaizen philosophy. Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning 'continuous improvement', and as a business practice it involves all employees.

"The Kaizen philosophy is a big part of how Toyota has beaten General Motors to become the number-one carmaker in the world," he explains. "It means they don't just rely on feedback coming from the top. Instead, the person on the production line also has an outlet and a system to suggest improvements. Because, of course, these are the best people to know that if that shelf was just a bit lower, for example, there'd be fewer accidents. Or that if anyone could pull a cord and stop the production line when they see a defect, there would be a higher quality of product overall."

Within this system, when employees see a problem, they work with their Kaizen manager to come up with a solution. This ensures that solutions are practical and viable. Crucially, it then becomes that employee's responsibility to put the solution in place. This means that when feedback is generated, it's not just aimless complaining ("We're not paid enough") but something that can actually improve things for everyone in the organization.

Being present

But if we're talking about culture and community, where does remote work fit in? Steven sees being together in a shared physical space, at least some of the time, as crucial. 

"There are a couple of bets I'm really sure of, and one is that human DNA is not going to change," he says. "We all still need connection and community. But here in the UK, many pubs are closing, social centers are closing. There are going to be fewer places to kick a ball around and those kinds of things. So that responsibility is going to be passed on to workplaces more than ever, especially for younger generations who haven't built their social circles in the same way. And I see that as a huge opportunity." 

He gives a real-world example. "There's this team of 30 people I work with, and they're best friends. No one's ever left this team, and it's about three and a half years old now. They're much more than just colleagues with each other: they cycle in together; they're in a beer group together. And that means that if one of them has a difficult time, they lean in and pick that person up. And they'll say, 'You take some time off, I've got you,' and they'll pull around."

Steven contrasts that with the idea that you should work wherever you want, whenever you want. "I see that as a real risk because it creates ambiguity," he says. "And I think the worst thing in company culture is when people don't really know what the expectations are. I'd rather be crystal-clear from the jump and say, 'This is who we are. And, most importantly, this is why we have this culture.' 

"That's why we wrote a letter to the team, explaining our underlying beliefs for our culture. Which were essentially: you'll do some of the best work of your life stood over there by the water cooler, and you'll do some of it in a coffee shop in Bali. We believe both those things are true.' And all of these beliefs then create the culture."