Building a Thirsty Culture

Building a Thirsty Culture

As someone reading this blog you are already demonstrating your own willingness to grow and your ‘Thirst’ for improvement.  In a former blog post I related my personal experience with cialis my horse of what happens when someone is not thirsty and how it can be life threatening in some circumstances.  While this may be an extreme example, if you have struggled with inspiring people in your own organization you may be feeling a little thirsty yourself but not quite sure how to inspire it in others.

I thought I would relate an example of a favorite client we have worked with last year in the banking industry and how an innovative leader is creating a thirsty culture.  Alterra Bank is a leading bank in the KC lending market.  They are a business-focused community bank founded in 2010; by executing on their niche business strategy, the bank has doubled in size since 2010 with plans to continue a fast pace of growth.

We have been working with them on finding and on boarding relationship managers who just happen to be lenders and private bankers.  One common thread resonated with me as I interviewed their current team that has been responsible for their success to date – they are all highly competitive.   As we were looking for relationship managers to connect them to, we asked a few questions:

1)  What do you read?

2)  What last class/continuing education did you participate in?

3)  Tell me about your extracurricular activities.

The answers to these questions brought us individuals that who excel on a very fast paced, results driven team.  Did it weed out good people who would have been perfectly capable of doing the job?  Yes.  It did.  But it was more important to protect the culture and build the team than just to find someone who could do the job.

A great article was featured in Harvard Business Review a while back on characteristics of Top Performers.   You can find the article here. One of the traits that I have found to be present over and over in a thirsty culture is the achievement orientation.   This is how they are wired;, it’s not something you train (except as a child) into your employees.

Competitive nature, achievement orientation, call it what you will; if you have an aggressive growth vision, it starts with building the team to help you get there.    You can teach skills, but attitude is the foundation.  Recruit, support and engage these people in your vision and enjoy the ride.

Make it a great 2014!

Good Selling!