Create the right culture
Cbeyond doesn’t have retention problems. Because it’s not a problem, Geiger realized that he took this for granted, so he’s rededicated
his efforts to nurturing the culture.
One of the keys to creating a good work environment is to actually
make employees a priority for you personally.
“I tend to have close personal relationships with the people that I
work with,” Geiger says. “I’ve worked in many places where people
felt that was foolish, but I happen to believe that it’s something that
accelerates our success.”
Another aspect of creating a strong work environment involves trusting your employees.
“Give folks opportunities for growth, which involve, at times, stumbling a bit and maybe failing — and allowing people to be vulnerable,”
Geiger says. “In so many business cultures, any vulnerability was
viewed as a weakness, but here we try to stress that it’s not — it’s OK.”
He says when those moments of vulnerability reveal themselves, try
to be sensitive instead of chastising.
“Don’t pierce that sensitive area when it’s exposed,” he says. “In any
relationship, and these relationships are as important to me as my
friends and family, we spend a lot of time together, and we trust each
other for our livelihoods. I think that trust takes a lot of time to build
and a very short amount of time to tear down.”
Another element of a strong culture is one that doesn’t look to point
fingers at people when things don’t go as planned. Geiger says he and
his team work very hard not to create the “culture of blame” as others
call it.
“If people believe that at the end of any negative outcome, that the
leadership is trying to find who’s to blame, they’ll take less risk,” he
says. “What we try to stay focused on is not who’s to blame, but what
did we learn. It’s a much safer environment.”
Geiger says this concept is similar to being a parent. With two children, ages 18 and 21, he’s learned a lot from those relationships that
also apply to business.
“If you’re going to freak out when your kid is honest with you, you’re
going to learn a whole lot less,” he says.
He says that in order to develop these cultural characteristics, you
have to identify what’s most important to your company’s culture.
“It takes a lot of work,” Geiger says. “It takes sitting down and talking about what are the norms here. ‘Are we going to allow someone
to sit here and talk to us about another one of our colleagues without
them present?’ It’s a simple notion to hold up your hand and say, ‘Wait
a minute, wait a minute. Let’s get that person in the room rather than
allow foregone conclusions or gossip and cynicism to develop in the
company.’”
And lastly, you have to recognize that your culture is always a work
in progress.
“We don’t have the perfect culture, but we always work hard at moving it forward,” he says. “That’s painful. If you go looking, you’re going
to learn some things that pain you. Areas that you need to personally
change to be more effective. It takes a willingness and openness, and
it takes a lot of trust.”
