Build on your progress
Once ProQuest’s employees started to realize that the new management team was going to follow through on its promises, Kahn took the opportunity to build another level of trust by focusing on progress.
Progress can come in the form of something major, like landing a new account. Or it can come in the form of smaller gestures. Each demonstration of progress can help solidify the new culture.
At ProQuest, everyone at the company’s headquarters moved into a single, four-story building last year, a move aimed at, among other things, promoting interaction and teamwork throughout the company’s ranks.
Kahn wanted to celebrate the move as a victory, so when the flags were raised in front of ProQuest’s new building, Kahn gathered all the employees at the office together.
“We had new flagpoles installed on the grounds,” he says. “On the day we decided to raise the flags, the U.S. flag, Michigan flag and ProQuest flag, we had everybody get together, served ice cream, we made speeches and honored some of our longest-serving employees. We really wanted to celebrate the fact that we were now all in one building together as a success. When you have success, you need to bring everybody in on the success and let them celebrate with you. It’s something that solidifies a feeling among your employees that your company is making progress and that they are working for a winning organization.”
Beyond working for a winner, employees need to believe in the mission of their company. In the end, that is why you need to celebrate successes.
“You need to really encourage people to believe in the mission of the company,” Kahn says. “We serve students, scholars and researchers, and we make a big deal about the fact that this is an important mission. It’s not something that very many companies do. We talk a lot about what we do for the scholarly enterprise on a global
basis, and we encourage people to feel like what they do, and what all of us are doing, really makes a difference.
“People need to have the feeling that what they’re doing is important and what the company is doing is important. All businesses are doing something important, and you need to show your people that you’re proud of what they’re doing. You need to drive that home to them through your actions and celebrations.”
