An Olympic soccer coach could develop an amazing, record-breaking game strategy. However, if they don’t have a team to execute it, then there is no possibility of winning and the strategy becomes useless. The same goes for any business strategy, idea, or plan. That’s why we need to invest in our teams and develop a workplace culture that prioritises engagement, happiness, and passion.

Since I joined Pierlite, we have developed a worldclass culture, with a near-perfect engagement score that has phenomenally exceeded the world standard. As a result, our work performance and productivity has skyrocketed. We are executing strategies and complex programs generating millions of dollars and excellent results, with the help of our passionate team. So, how did we get here? Because our team is more engaged, passionate, and satisfied than ever. This just goes to show that it’s not about the handful of executives at the top of a company. Without a strong team behind them, leaders have no value. Let me explain what I mean.

Finding your team’s “why”

CEOs and managers are nothing without their team. You could have the smartest CEO in the world creating strategies and plans, yet without committed and passionate people by their side, they have no chance of materialising the dreams they have for their company. But how do you extract this commitment and passion from your team? Many leaders expect their employees to be passionate about the company’s mission and the work they do every day. But let’s be realistic – not many people wake up every morning with the sole purpose of achieving their company’s vision and mission, nor should we expect them to.

At Pierlite, we have a no judgement ethos to ensure that everyone feels comfortable and accepted when they come to work. When people tell me what motivates them to get up every morning, every answer is completely valid and should be celebrated. Some employees are here because they want to enhance their career, while others are here because they want to support their family or buy fancy cars. Any answer is great! As leaders, we need to accept everyone’s “why” and understand that their work will help them achieve it.

Finding your team members’ motivating factors will enable you to work together in a way that benefits both parties. In business, we’re often focusing on the “who”, “what”, “when”, and “where”. But we cannot forget to factor in the “why” of what we’re doing as individuals and as a team.

The work that every company delivers is produced by its employees. Therefore, it only makes sense that your team should have a meaningful input in everything you do. This is what we do at Pierlite. Everything, from decision-making processes to brand definition is done with employee input.

When I became Pierlite’s CEO, we changed our vision, mission, and values to better reflect our team and company’s “why”. What better way to do this than survey every single worker in the company? We gathered insights and opinions company-wide and used them to create a company that is authentic and true to the people it is run by. These decisions should never be confined to the executives of a company. As a result of Pierlite’s employee involvement in these decision-making processes, we have reached peak engagement rates and our employees are enthusiastic about their contribution to the company.

Making workplace engagement personal

Workplace engagement isn’t just about throwing free snacks in the office or going out to a team dinner every month or so. It’s about genuinely caring about what your team needs to stay passionate and motivated, and finding activities that engage people.

One of my favourite ways to keep my team engaged is by participating in their hobbies. For example, one of our warehouse managers is passionate about helping people in need, so we’ve given him the green light to use our storage room as a place for people to donate food for vulnerable community members. Other businesses may refuse work property to be used for personal motivations, but instead our people are empowered to follow their passion, raise such ideas, and execute them at a local level, with their management buy-in. People are more willing to learn and contribute to their team when they know their leaders have the intention to help them advance their passion, position, and goals.

Another example is one of our employees who loves bees and beekeeping. We funded the purchase of 50,000 bees and associated hives and created a program that allowed people to purchase the honey produced for a price of their choosing. Pierlite doubles the proceeds from the honey and donates the money to charity. I bought the first jar of honey for $35, and before we knew it, people were purchasing jars at their chosen price point of $100 to go to charity. To maintain a chain of engagement and collegiality, people who purchased honey could pass it on to a colleague as a token of gratitude for being a great co-worker.

While we’re on the topic, Pierlite actually strives to emulate the culture of a beehive. Why? Because in a hive, every bee is equal. While a queen bee exists, she is not the boss. Rather, bees protect their queen because she produces eggs, but that doesn’t elevate her importance over everyone else. Each bee understands their role and responsibilities for pollinating the world and producing honey. This level of equality is what every workplace should aim for.

I have banned the word “boss” from the workplace because having a “boss” suggests that one person has more value than the other. We also avoid labelling people as the department they work in. Instead of thinking of ourselves as different teams with different values, we see ourselves as one team comprised of people with different responsibilities.

Managing energy and rest in the workplace

Focusing on employee happiness is crucial to their productivity and work satisfaction. One study conducted by the University of Warwick found that happy employees worked harder and were 12% more productive. The researchers also noted that when Google invested in employee support and happiness, employee satisfaction rose by 37%. Ultimately, happy employees will achieve a company’s strategy and mission more efficiently.

What creates a happy team? While different companies require different modes of management, our need for happiness chemicals are consistent across all teams. Scientifically, we need to focus on four chemicals in our body that contribute to wellbeing –dopamine, which involves eating food, getting enough sleep, and achieving your goals; oxytocin, which is triggered through socialising, bonding with people, and helping others; endorphins, which require exercise, laughter, and fun activities; and finally, serotonin, which involves sun exposure, walks, and a good diet.

At Pierlite, we consciously strive for healthy work habits that release positive chemicals in our bodies. For example, we encourage exercise and movement by hosting regular Zoom exercises and meditation classes. I also try to lead by example when it comes to physical movement by walking my dogs when I’m on a virtual meeting. This signals to the team that they are also encouraged to stay active and walk around during remote meetings. Additionally, we promote oxytocin through regular social events and activities that allow people to bond and socialise.

Socialising is also a productive form of rest, which is critical to a healthy team. Longer hours of working do not actually equate to more work being completed. Rest is fundamental to a strong workplace.

One way we encourage rest and morale is by hosting celebrations and announcing positive moments. I believe that no one celebrates moments more than Pierlite does. Just the other week, I got a call from Pierlite’s Western Australia General Manager saying that they were going to host a function. I asked what it was for, and he replied, “to celebrate the first day of summer”. Celebrations of small moments and wins like this uplifts the team, boosts their happiness chemicals, and gives them the opportunity to rest. As a result, we come back to work energised and ready to take on our mission.

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Pierlite is not just any business, it’s a transformative company. I am proud to be leading such a passionate and successful team. Our team is the reason why we have been able to exceed expectations and materialise business strategies time and time again. I could write down an innovative business strategy, but without the amazing people around me to bring it to life, the strategy will simply sit there looking good on paper, but never reaching its potential.

Humans are social creatures. Yet, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have gone from seeing our colleagues at work every day to working from our homes. Now, remote work has become business as usual. But how does this affect us and the work we produce? As leaders and managers, what can we do to maintain our team’s work performance and happiness without physically seeing them?

I became CEO of Pierlite Australia and New Zealand in June 2020 – not long after parts of Australia first entered lockdown, starting the mass shift to remote work. Despite quarantines and lockdowns suddenly requiring us to work from home over the past year, Pierlite’s financial performance and employee engagement levels are at an all-time high. One of the key reasons we are able to thrive as a remote team is because we adapted our work practices to cater for remote working situations fast. When it comes to the work from home life, many managers have a vision of their employees being more relaxed and slacking off, enjoying naps, or hanging out with their families during the workday. The truth is, working from home is hard! And as leaders, it’s up to us to acknowledge how remote work may be taking a toll on our team.

Keeping your purpose alive

A study by Deloitte found that employees need to feel engaged in meaningful work or they will leave the company. I believe that having clarity of your company’s purpose plays a huge role in creating meaningful work. While a company’s purpose is usually fresh in an employee’s mind on their first day at the job, we also need to focus on continually reminding our team of what we’re here to do and how all of us collectively contribute to our company’s purpose. In the office, these reminders of our purpose could come in the form of posters, noticeboards, team chats, and impromptu meetings, or even just from seeing everyone working together and accomplishing small wins throughout the day.

Maintaining a clarity of purpose in a remote team can be challenging, but it is certainly not impossible. An engaged team is driven by its purpose. Therefore, it’s crucial to ensure your remote team has opportunities to engage with each other and communicate amongst themselves to maintain a sense of team rapport and purpose. At Pierlite, we take every opportunity we can get to keep our team engaged. We’ve organised face-to-face parties and catch ups, between lockdowns, when it has been safe to socialise.

Team events don’t always need to be in celebration of anything in particular. In my personal life, I celebrate my loved ones whenever I feel like it – regardless of whether it’s a birthday, anniversary or Christmas. I’ll buy gifts or plan a dinner for a loved one on a random Wednesday in March when there are no special dates coming up. It’s about showing gratitude and appreciation when I feel it. The same goes for organisations. We need to celebrate with our team even on ordinary days of the year. We need to demonstrate our appreciation for them when it is not required of us. Many organisations wait for Christmas, end-of-year awards, or financial results to come through to have a party. At Pierlite, we celebrate our team whenever we feel like we should.

Nurturing your remote team

I’ve talked before about the four essential happiness chemicals humans need to function at their best – dopamine, oxytocin, endorphins, and serotonin. In the office, we encourage the production of these chemicals by hosting initiatives such as social gatherings, exercise activities, and fun events. But how do we manage our team’s happiness when they’re all working from their individual homes? For one, our exercise and movement activities haven’t stopped just because we’re not working in the office. Pierlite funds digital fitness classes for any employee that is interested. We also host meditation classes over Zoom. Our team also knows that during company meetings and calls, they are more than welcome to go on a walk or go outside and soak in some sun while on the call.

Not only do these initiatives improve our team’s happiness and wellbeing, but they are also a signal of the trust that Pierlite’s management team and I have in our employees. I have never believed in micromanagement because I trust my team.

With a remote team, some managers may be tempted to closely monitor their employees to make sure they’re being productive. However, some experts believe that micromanagement decreases a team’s morale as it creates a tone of distrust between you and your team. Additionally, contrary to the myth of employees slacking off when working from home, data has shown that remote workers are actually doing more work, not less. One study found that almost 70% of remote professionals did extra work on weekends, while a global study discovered that the average workday increased by 8.2% when the pandemic started. As a remote CEO managing an international company, I for one am definitely finding working from home harder than working in the office.

Rather than focusing on how your employees are spending each minute of their workday, check ins with your team should be about connecting with them, supporting them, and communicating openly. Working from home can be hard, and everyone wakes up with their own unique set of challenges. Whether your employees are trying to work with children running around the house or with noisy construction going on next door, our job as leaders is to trust that they are trying their best in their situation and focus on their health, safety, and wellbeing.

To nurture the wellbeing of our employees, Pierlite has banned meetings between 12 pm to 1 pm and after 4 pm. Why? Because this helps ensure that people don’t work during their lunch break and aren’t stuck in meetings that bleed into post-work hours. Reports show that in 2020 and 2021, time spent in meetings has more than doubled as we grapple with remote work life. Everyone needs a break to maintain work performance and reduce stress, especially when working from home where the boundaries between work and home time are blurred.

Digitising the remote workplace

It’s no secret that working from home means a higher dependency on technology. While most of us are familiar with messaging and video meeting platforms, we cannot overlook the importance of also having fully digitised work management processes that will support our team from home. In the modern world, successful organisations need to capitalise on advanced digital systems and metrics to help us understand where the team is at and align everyone’s activity on one platform.

Many companies purchase a subscription to a workplace organisation platform and leave it at that. However, simply having digital systems in place doesn’t guarantee their success. It’s up to your team to continually reassess what’s working for your employees and what isn’t.

At Pierlite, we’ve invested in a world-class CRM and digital metric systems that strongly support both our customers and team. To ensure our systems work well for our team, we have continually improved and reinvented our approach to online work management over the years and especially over the pandemic.

Incorporating digitised organisational systems and metrics isn’t an excuse to scrutinise your team’s shortcomings. When working remotely, there will inevitably be situations that your employees cannot control. I always aim to take over anything that others cannot control. For example, how can you measure someone’s revenue performance when the construction site is closed due to lockdowns? Instead, you can measure future projections and plans for the construction project. As leaders, we should be supporting our employees who are working from home by focusing on what they can do, rather than what they cannot do.

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After almost two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has become the norm for millions of workers around the globe. Yet, many organisations are still figuring out how to improve employee performance, engagement, and happiness. As a CEO managing hundreds of people from home, I understand your struggle! However, it’s clear that when organisations, like Pierlite, adapt how we work to better suit our team, our work performance can beat the odds and come out stronger than ever before.

 Restructuring your company for endless growth

At Pierlite, we’ve prioritised an environment of sustainable work performance to the extent that we reinvented our vision, mission, values, and workplace culture. Before I joined Pierlite, the company’s vision was to be Australia’s largest lighting company providing lighting solutions everywhere. When I became Pierlite’s CEO, I worked with my team to change this completely. Why? What could be better than being the largest lighting company? Well, the problem with Pierlite’s old vision is that it gave the company an endpoint. Once we became Australia’s largest lighting company providing lighting everywhere, what else would we be working towards?

 To ensure Pierlite is ever-growing, we changed our vision and mission so that it would have no expiry date. Today, our vision is “empowering our people, our customers and our community to make a positive difference for a brighter future” and our mission is to “continuously challenge the status quo to drive growth through the pursuit of innovation, excellence, and performance to service our customers and our community.” Now, that’s something we could do forever. It’s also a vision and mission that gives the team a purpose when they come to work as it provides us with a genuine intent to make a difference. Having a purpose and passion to improve your organisation is key to sustainable performance.

 Everyone wakes up with good intentions. As leaders our job is to empower their intent and help them to grow into high performers. Employees are driven by intent when working towards a company’s purpose, so how do you ensure your team is connected to your company’s mission? One study found that 61% of employees don’t know what their company’s mission is. How can they be driven by their company’s purpose if they don’t even know what it is? Reminding your team of the company’s mission can be as easy as mentioning it in emails. I send out company-wide emails three times a week, and in them I remind my team of why we’re here, what our values are, and the importance of our work. My team responds with enthusiasm, gratitude, and passion – a lot can come from a simple email.  

 As leader of Pierlite in Australia and New Zealand, I know just as well as every other leader that things get busy. It’s easy to put seemingly trivial tasks like company emails on the backburner, however, we must make the time to invest in our team. The only reason the lemon tree in my garden can grow is because I make the effort to water it. The same goes for your team – they can only flourish if you invest in the effort and tools they need to grow.

 Working with your setbacks

Long-term performance is not about trying to have zero obstacles or have your entire team be at 100% all the time. Rather, sustainable growth is about accepting your losses and working through setbacks so that your company continues to grow stronger.

 When managing setbacks, it’s important to identify what causes them. Without properly addressing the causes of a performance drop, you put your company’s sustainable work performance at risk. Leaders set the rhythm for their team’s work culture, so consider how your leadership may be affecting your team’s performance. For example, maybe you need to focus more on “walking the talk”. As leaders, it’s our job to motivate and inspire when we speak in meetings, but we also need to follow through with our actions. You could be the best speaker in the world, but if your daily actions don’t reflect what you preach, your team’s performance will suffer. Accountability starts at the top, and leaders need to be held as accountable as the rest of the organisation.

 Setbacks in performance can also occur with poor management. A study conducted with 2,872 employees across 27 countries found that 40% of employees are high performers, 40% are average performers, and 20% perform below average. Who would you focus on mentoring in this situation? If you picked the 20% of below average performers, you’d be making the same mistake as many leaders. Businesses often pour resources into low performers to catch them up to speed, but what happens to the rest of your team? They lose motivation, they stop growing, and they may look for better opportunities elsewhere. Therefore, it’s not sustainable to exclusively focus on one small portion of your team and ignore the other 80%. Growth and mentorship should be afforded to your entire team, allowing them to collectively improve and excel together.

 Rest and wellbeing

People often think that maintaining long-term high performance involves a non-stop, crazy paced work environment. However, sustainable performance requires rest and positive wellbeing. Overworking your team will only lead to burnout and dissatisfaction, which makes strong long-term performance impossible. If we all continuously strive to be “Superman” when it comes to work performance, burnout will be inevitable. Contrary to popular belief, I believe that burnout mainly occurs when we are disconnected from our purpose, not necessarily when we work too much. It can be draining to work without motivation and purpose, which is why it’s essential to allow for rest and reflection of why we’re here.

 There’s a famous Japanese proverb saying, “fall down seven times, stand up eight.” My view is that we can fall down seven times, rest, and stand up eight. Making time for rest will allow you to come back stronger.

 At Pierlite, our values include leading with empathy and kindness, which results in a culture of sustainable performance. Empathy and kindness are needed in any situation, including when providing criticism and negative feedback. Virtually every manager at some point will need to provide their team with constructive criticism and voice where a team member may need to improve. It’s important to communicate this feedback to your team openly so that we can all learn and progress. However, it’s crucial that negative feedback is provided with respect and kindness. It’s not about upsetting people by telling them what they can’t do but helping them grow in a supportive manner.

 Pierlite has a culture where losing is part of learning. Employees are encouraged to reflect and grow from their mistakes rather than stress about them, which is essential for sustainable performance as stress reduces productivity and stunts long-term performance. I have never been upset with someone simply because they made a mistake. Instead, I see it as an opportunity for growth, and my team has only ever come back stronger after learning from their mistakes.

 A good leader also considers an employee’s wellbeing when their performance drops. Give them the opportunity to explain why they might not be performing to their usual standards. Remember, it’s ok to not be ok. Perhaps they’re not meeting their KPIs because of factors they can’t control, like the COVID-19 pandemic. If there are reduced clients coming in due to lockdown, you can’t base employee performance on revenue or number of clients. So, change their performance metric to better reflect their work. This could include the amount of client outreach being done, or social media traffic numbers. Adapting metrics to suit the situation allows you to have a better understanding of your business, boosts employee morale and encourages sustainable performance as a result.

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Managing high long-term work performance doesn’t mean leaders need to be intimidating or expect non-stop work. In reality, the most sustainable work performance is built through a supportive work culture that cares for employee wellbeing and encourages kindness, growth, and purpose.

The mottos I bring into Pierlite reflect our mission, vision, and values. By interweaving my life mottos into our workplace, our team is reminded of our purpose and how we achieve it, every day. Our team is acutely aware of these mottos because I take the time to state them in our company emails, team meetings, and everyday conversations. This provides our team with a collective drive that enables us to become the best versions of ourselves, together.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

I’m sure that most of us have heard this quote before. This quote is often attributed to Albert Einstein, but its exact origin remains unclear. Regardless of its origin, how many of us actually apply it in business?

When I first joined Pierlite, I had no lighting experience. But at Pierlite, we do not judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. If you only focus on an employee’s weaknesses, you’ll never be able to see the best skills they have to offer; and who knows, maybe you’ll be missing out on a future CEO.

Leadership is not calling out people’s weaknesses. Leadership happens when you understand the gaps in someone’s knowledge and skills, and either help them grow in this area or empower them to work with their strengths instead. If you only focus on the weaknesses of your team, then you’ll never see their strengths or reach your company’s full potential.

“Hard to bruise, easy to heal.”

A great leader once told me this when I needed to hear it. I have never forgotten it, and to this day, I always remind my team to be hard to bruise but easy to heal. This quote embodies the Pierlite team’s resilience, endurance, and ability to come back stronger after any challenge.

How high is your adversity quotient (AQ)? In other words, how high is your resilience and bounce-back rate in the face of adversity? Having a high adversity quotient is linked to increased stability, creativity, productivity, and success at work. Even if you have a high IQ (intelligence) and EQ (emotional intelligence), you are still prone to failure if your AQ is low.

You are guaranteed to fall or have setbacks when you climb a mountain. However, if you simply give up after a minor fall when climbing the mountain, it won’t be long before elements such as wind and snow wear you down completely. Therefore, your survival is reliant on the perseverance and resilience you need to get back up and continue climbing. This is the same with any upwards journey. Whether it’s opening a business, expanding your company, or introducing a new project, you are guaranteed to experience falls and bruises along your journey to the top. The main thing is that you heal easily after a bruise.

 “Fall seven times – rest – stand up eight.”

You’ve probably heard the famous Japanese proverb, “fall seven times, stand up eight.” I like to add in the word “rest” in the middle, to remind us that rest is essential and not something we should feel guilty about. Ironically, working without rest may be the cause of some of your falls and setbacks. According to research from Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, working long hours without rest can actually decrease productivity and hinder creativity. Supporting this, Harvard Business Review also suggests that long work hours without rest can result in stress, burnout, and poor performance at work.

It doesn’t matter how many times you fall, so long as you continue to stand back up every time and face your challenges with resilience and persistence. At Pierlite, we see setbacks as an opportunity to learn and stand up taller than before.

“Don’t wait for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel, stride down there and light the thing yourself.”

This is a Sara Henderson quote that I relay to my team all the time. In business, there’s often someone to tell you what to do and someone to lead the way – someone to light the way. But who says you can’t be the light yourself?

At Pierlite, we have a culture of being opportunists and go-getters. I want each individual in our team to believe they are special because the minute you believe you can be a light for yourself, is the minute you change and transform into a motivated, proactive opportunist. As a result, the company as a whole is propelled forward through a dynamic team of purposeful and productive individuals.

When I first joined Pierlite, our performance metrics were at a low point. No one was going to save us but ourselves. So, instead of waiting around for a solution, we created it ourselves and redefined how we would show up and act. We subsequently created a culture where we believed we could achieve anything. The results speak for themselves – we are now exceeding every performance metric, have a near-perfect employee engagement score, and are more successful than ever before. See what happens when you light your own path?

“Inch wide, mile deep”

You may have heard of the saying, “mile wide, inch deep.” However, I prefer the variation, “inch wide, mile deep.”

By having a mile wide, inch deep philosophy, you could risk stretching yourself too thin and only having a shallow business. This could involve having a shallow business mission, having superficial relationships with your team or clients, and only having a knee-deep expertise and passion for your industry. As a result, your business becomes more fragile and vulnerable.

On the other hand, having a company with deep roots enables you to withstand adversity and be true experts in your field. At Pierlite, we adopt an inch wide, mile deep philosophy because we are a company that understands our niche and that what we have to offer is bottomless. Instead of providing customers with surface-level, quick fixes, we invest in strong, long-term solutions that deeply benefits both our customers and our company.

A Gallup study of almost 200,000 employees found that employees who are more deeply connected with their colleagues are more driven to take actions that benefit the overall business. I always strive to connect with each individual in my team and I am always eager to engage with them whenever I can. Whether it’s through face-to-face talks, lunch, coffee breaks, phone calls, messages, or video chats. By leading through this example, the rest of the Pierlite team is encouraged to connect with each other, help each other grow, and motivate each other to be the best versions of themselves.

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These are the five mottos that consistently motivate me to be the person I want to be. That’s why I incorporate them into the workplace, so that my whole team can feel the same drive and inspiration. By using these mottos to guide the team, we are rewarded with a stronger sense of collective purpose and intention in the workplace which, according to Macquarie, drives employee satisfaction and motivation.

It’s one thing to simply recite your mottos, but another thing to actually live by them. As leaders, we need to demonstrate how we live our mottos through our everyday actions, and soon enough, our team will follow our example. Whether you live by a motto, a value, or an idea, I want to know about it. Share it in the comments and let’s all learn from each other!

 So, why am I, a CEO who’s been out of school for decades, still talking about school? Because as leaders, it’s crucial that we don’t make the mistake of predominantly focusing on our employees’ weaknesses and shortcomings. All too often, people’s school careers influence whether they see themselves as intelligent or unintelligent. As leaders, we need to break this habit and create a culture that uses our team’s strengths to empower them.

 If someone isn’t performing well in one area, that doesn’t mean they’re a poor worker. You need to utilise your employees’ strengths and nurture their capabilities so that your team can grow even stronger. Whether it’s a student getting a low maths grade or a salesperson who isn’t keen on making calls, being a poor performer in one area doesn’t mean you’re not amazing at something else. As I’ve previously discussed in my article about bringing your life mottos into the workplace, “if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” The same principle applies in the workplace.

 How to play to your team’s strengths

Let’s go back to the salesperson example. I once had a group of salespeople that had an excellent technical understanding of our products. Their comprehensive technical knowledge made them a strong asset to our team because they could provide practical, expert assistance to both their peers and our customers about Pierlite products. However, they became a lot more interested in the technical side of things than actually liaising with customers and talking to stakeholders. So, instead of focusing on their weaknesses in sales, I celebrated their technical strengths and moved them into technical roles instead of sales. Unsurprisingly, they excelled in their technical roles and became much more engaged in their work because they could play to their strengths. 

An article from Yale cites that while employees have traditionally focused on correcting their weaknesses to become more successful, recent research shows that leaders, teams, and individuals who focus on their strengths are more likely to be successful than if they were to focus on improving their weaknesses. Supporting this is research from Gallup, which found that teams experience 17% higher productivity and 21% higher profitability when they focus on strength development instead of weakness improvement. The study also revealed that employees felt more confident, productive, and self-aware in an organisation that focused on their strengths, as well as being up to 23% more engaged at work. If you have a company culture that predominantly focuses on negative feedback, there’s a good chance that you’re preventing your team from reaching their full potential.

Think about the players in a sports team. Each player has their own set of strengths that the team utilises to help them collectively succeed. If you had a player who was a record-breaking goalkeeper, why would you force them to play a different position if they didn’t want to? You wouldn’t constantly highlight that the goalkeeper is a weak striker or midfielder when they don’t play those positions. So, why would you do this in the workplace? Whether it’s on the sports field or in the office, tearing down someone for their weaknesses instead of capitalising on their strengths can be damaging to your team. It will also stunt your team’s progress as improving someone’s weaknesses will take much longer than building upon their strengths.

Investing in both strengths and weaknesses

In saying all this, I’m not advocating that we should just ignore our team’s weaknesses. As leaders, it’s our job to identify the gaps and shortcomings in our team’s abilities and address these weaknesses with the goal of empowerment, not beratement. What I’m saying is, it’s essential that leaders do not fall into the trap of predominantly focusing on their employees’ weaknesses without celebrating and utilising their employees’ strengths.

At Pierlite, we invest in a phenomenal amount of training opportunities for our employees. Most of our team agrees that Pierlite offers the most training and development opportunities they’ve experienced in their careers. Why? Because actively investing in growth and development is endlessly more effective than simply calling out your team’s weaknesses and expecting them to manage criticisms on their own.

Importantly, our training and development opportunities are not just for improving on our team’s weaknesses. We also encourage employees to take training courses on areas they already excel at! After all, you can never have learned too much or be too good at what you do. Our training courses and engagement meetings are offered to everyone, regardless of their performance level. The participants of our leadership shadow programs are based on a first-in, first served process to ensure the selection process is fair and unbiased, further reinforcing that anyone has the opportunity to continue developing.

Offering growth and development to our highest performing employees boosts their engagement, which results in increased productivity and company loyalty. I believe it is critical that businesses focus on their high performers just as much as their medium to low performers. Many workplaces mainly focus on bringing their low performers up to scratch, however, it is essential to provide high performers with the same energy and attention. Otherwise, your high performers may leave your company for one that will offer them more attention and opportunities.

A Leadership IQ study that assessed data from 207 organisations discovered that in 42% of those organisations, high performers were less engaged than the company’s low performers. It was also revealed that the efforts of high performers largely go unrecognised where low performers were the ones receiving more positive reinforcement than the rest of the company. This highlights the fact that companies are putting themselves at risk by primarily focusing on low performers and forgetting to celebrate and utilise the strengths of their high performers.

In business, leaders often spend more time on performance management discussions and negative feedback, however, we need to be putting the same amount of energy into having discussions about our team’s wins and recognising their strengths. I always try to call at least five employees a day to celebrate their achievements with them, remind them of their value in the company, and discuss how important their work is. At Pierlite, we do not define people’s benchmarks based on their weaknesses, but their strengths.

Growing from mistakes

By building upon our team members’ strengths and not just their weaknesses, the Pierlite team is rewarded with more success, productivity, and engagement than ever. I never get angry or upset when a team member makes a mistake. There was one instance where someone else’s mistake cost us a large sum of money, and even then, there was no tension or anger between us. I focused on resolving the mistake, letting the team rest, and then discussing it with them in a way that helped us all learn and grow from the mistake.

Getting mad at your team for their weaknesses and mistakes can create a counterproductive workplace that damages your business. According to neuroscience research cited by Harvard Business Review, our brain triggers a “no go” signal when we anticipate something negative. In other words, if your team anticipates that their mistakes will be met with anger and punishment, they are more likely to freeze and avoid being transparent and open about their mistake, which can result in the issue worsening.

An employee that never fails has a poor adversity quotient (AQ), which means they are likely to struggle in the face of difficulty. On the other hand, an employee that has bounced back from multiple mistakes and weaknesses is more likely to have a high AQ and will be equipped to effectively manage future hardships, making them a valuable company asset.

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My executive coach once gave me a task where I had to list 10 of my strengths. While it was easier said than done, it challenged me to look inward and identify my strengths to empower me to continue building on my assets and recognise the value I can bring to the team. So, I challenge you to do the same in the comments – tell me, what are some of your strengths? Or, if you’d prefer, tag a friend or co-worker and list a few of their strengths! This way, we can empower ourselves and each other to maximise our success based on our strengths.

Despite idolising Superman as a kid, I’ve since learned that his flawless character and perfect image are actually not things we should be aspiring to. In my eyes, Superman’s perfection is ultimately his greatest flaw. It isolated him and deprived him of genuine human connections. The same goes for any of us who strive to maintain a facade of perfection – if you have no flaws, who will relate to you? Who will engage with you? 

Accepting your imperfections

After decades of career experience and personal journeys, one lesson has proven to be true, time and time again: my imperfections help me to soar, both professionally and personally. In a world where everyone seems to be striving for perfection, we need to understand that it is our imperfections that allow us to be the best leaders, partners, friends, colleagues, parents, and people we can be. 

I’ve faced significant adversity from my imperfections throughout my life. I grew up living in Indonesia with a Chinese background. As a result, I experienced racial biases from my peers at school. Not only was I ethnically different, but I was also underperforming in my studies and constantly found myself at the bottom of my class for most of my early schooling years. When I started working in Australia, English was my second language and I had to navigate the world through chipped communication. Even when I joined Pierlite, I had no experience in lighting, causing people to question my ability to succeed in a lighting company. Yet, despite all my setbacks, I managed to end up as the leader of one of Australia’s and New Zealand’s largest lighting companies while frequently giving speeches to boards and large audiences, despite my broken English. How did I overcome this adversity? By accepting my imperfections and not letting them hinder my opportunities. 

Despite the challenges that come with my “imperfections”, I always try to accept them for what they are. The minute you accept your imperfections, is the minute you open yourself to opportunities, growth, and stronger human connections. 

I’m not saying that we should all just accept our faults and leave it at that – I’m a big advocate for continually growing and working on our weaknesses. What I mean is that we must accept our imperfections, understand that it is ok to have weaknesses, and be open and transparent about them, while maintaining resilience and continuing to grow.

Strong leaders showcase their weaknesses 

It’s incredibly common for leaders to want to appear all-knowing and capable of anything. But the truth is that upholding a facade of perfection can create barriers between you and your team that can ultimately damage your business. 

Did you know that half of CEOs are lonely in their role? 61% of these CEOs believe their isolation hinders their performance, which can negatively affect business. Those at the top are often the most isolated because of outdated power dynamics between bosses and their workers.

At Pierlite, I try to diminish hierarchical power dynamics by being transparent about my weaknesses, struggles, and imperfections. There are no surprises between my team and I. They know when I’m frustrated, tired, or excited; they hear about both my highs and lows. As a result of being transparent and vulnerable, my team knows that I am no Superman – I may be CEO by title, but at the end of the day, I’m just like everybody else. The benefits are endless. Our workplace is balanced and our team is strongly aligned, which leads to higher productivity, stronger communication, and lower staff turnover rates. 

Sociologist Brené Brown explains that being transparent about our vulnerabilities is an effective method of building trust and boosting performance. Leaders set the tone for a workplace’s culture, which is why it is crucial for leaders to be open about their weaknesses and imperfections in order for their team to do the same. Why is this important? Because being authentic and open will create a psychologically safe workplace that encourages employees to speak up, voice concerns about their work, and admit when they need help.

In research cited by Harvard Business School, it was found that “psychologically safe employees are more interested in learning, excellence, and genuinely connecting with others than in looking good.” Therefore, by affording your team a workplace that allows them to feel psychologically safe through vulnerability, you are rewarded with stronger work performance and motivated employees. 

Leave saving the world to Superman. Your job as a leader is to create a work environment that allows for constructive transparency and vulnerability. 

Embracing our imperfections improves business performance

At Pierlite, we focus on empowering our team and supporting imperfection rather than ignoring or penalising people’s limitations. Pierlite values the fact that each of us carries weaknesses, which enables greater transparency and allows us to win and soar as a business. How? Because the more transparent we are about our imperfections, the more comfortable we are asking for help. 

Helping others can boost our oxytocin levels, which lifts our mood and self-esteem, as well as potentially lowering blood pressure. When oxytocin increases, so does serotonin and dopamine, which can help us feel happier overall. Not only is this highly beneficial for your team members, but employee happiness also results in a stronger business.

A study by Oxford University concluded that happy workers are 13% more productive and have higher sales conversion rates. Similarly, the University of Warwick found that positive emotions in the workplace are correlated with increased innovation, enhanced memory, and improved work performance. 

Imperfection is the glue between team members. As soon as someone makes the cracks in their perfect image visible, people tend to act as glue and are eager to help. I refer to this as the “culture glue” that strengthens our team’s bond. As CEO, I ask for help all the time. Letting people help you is the start of strong team alignment. By admitting that I am not perfect in all areas and need help from others to achieve my goals, I am breaking down the barrier between my team and I by allowing them to feel valued and important. 

There’s a Chinese proverb that goes, “if you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.” People love to help, it’s human nature! The rewards of helping others are backed by studies showing that altruistic acts lead to greater wellbeing, health, and happiness. Some people love helping others so much that they experience helper’s high, which is associated with improved health and increased longevity. It’s clear that we can all benefit from each other by being open about our weaknesses and when we need help. Therefore, by embracing our imperfections in the workplace, we also promote teamwork through collaboration and a stronger sense of rapport. 

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Have you been guilty of hiding your imperfections and not wanting to admit you need help? Did you ever want to be an indestructible superhero when you were younger? Or perhaps you idolised your parents, a teacher, or a celebrity before you grew up to realise that they’re not superheroes, they’re just like you. Whether you looked up to your mother, grandfather or even Superman, I’d love to hear all about your experiences of growing up and realising that it’s ok to not be perfect! Share your story in the comments below. 

 Every business is faced with uncertainty throughout its lifetime. From financial insecurity to an unexpected global pandemic, there’s no avoiding uncertainty as a business. At Pierlite, we are no strangers to uncertainty; just recently, we underwent an exciting acquisition that has put the company through countless changes. Despite the rising uncertainty faced by our business, we’ve come out of it stronger and more resilient than ever before. How did we do it? It comes down to two factors – investing in our team’s feelings and guiding our team through clear performance metrics. 

 Managing your team’s feelings and spirits through uncertainty

 “Happy employees ensure happy customers. And happy customers ensure happy shareholders – in that order.” 

–      Simon Sinek

 When uncertainty arises in business, many leaders focus primarily on the corporate side of things, such as securing finances, maintaining a public brand image, and managing business relations. While this is all crucial to the success of a business, it is vital that leaders do not disregard their employees during uncertainty.

 When Pierlite started discussing our transition to a new owner, there were understandably a lot of questions, concerns, and thoughts from our team. Everyone had different considerations weighing on their mind, varying from “will my salary change?”, “will I keep my position and title?”, and “are we moving to an office further from my house?”. You may think that these are the employees’ personal problems, not the company’s. However, that could not be further from the truth. 

 I believe that a strong leader addresses the worries and feelings of their employees as both a human responsibility and a business strategy. As friends, colleagues, and humans, we need to listen to each other’s concerns and thoughts in an effort to provide support and comfort. Not only this, but when your team is feeling unhappy and insecure in the company, your business performance also suffers.

 As I mentioned in my last article, happy workers are more productive and more motivated. Studies also show that happy employees lead to happy customers, with there being a “clear link between employee and customer satisfaction”. Therefore, maintaining employee morale and mitigating concerns and stress during uncertain times is essential to keeping your business functioning effectively. How does Pierlite do this so well? Through our investment in our employees’ feelings. 

 “The way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel.” 

–       Sybil F. Stershic 

 Pierlite is committed to creating an environment that encourages people to have open discussions with anyone in the team, including managers and executives. We also invest in professional coaches that nurture the team’s wellbeing, happiness, and mental health to provide support for people’s emotional and behavioural struggles. This allows our workplace to be an open space for people to voice their struggles, enabling us to address any issues and help our team feel happy and supported more effectively. 

 Transparency and communication are also indispensable during times of uncertainty. If your employees are kept in the loop and aware of any updates, good or bad, their uncertainty is alleviated. Throughout Pierlite’s transition to a new owner, virtually every employee agreed that the best part of the journey was Pierlite’s transparency and commitment to communicating everything that was happening. The results? Team alignment, boosted morale, trust, and the feeling of being valued. The uncertainty our business faced became an opportunity to build an even stronger team because we actively invested resources into addressing our employees’ feelings. 

 Countering uncertainty through performance metrics 

 “The idea of measuring what you are doing, picking the measurements that count, like customer satisfaction and performance… you thrive on that.” 

–      Bill Gates 

 One of the best strategies for mitigating uncertainty is by providing your employees with certainty where possible. At Pierlite, we do this by ensuring the metrics we use to measure success are clearly understood by our team, allowing them to maintain a strong sense of purpose and direction. 

 A McKinsey study found that 70% of employees say their sense of purpose is defined by their work. Therefore, if your employees lack purpose at work, they may soon feel directionless and unimportant in their role, leading to resignations and poor performance. Having clear, structured performance metrics counteract the risk of your employees losing their sense of purpose. Measurements of success, such as sales targets, incentive metrics, and customer satisfaction, need to be well-documented and delivered to your team to give them guideposts through uncertain periods. 

 Once performance metrics are understood by your team, leaders must ensure they deliver on their promises and stay connected to their employees. During Pierlite’s transition period to our new parent company, I applied myself to always be the best person I could be – this approach helped me support my team and deliver on my promises to them. To me, it was a small sacrifice to make to be there for my team when they needed me and to maintain the trust they have in me. 

 “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”

–      Henry Ford

 Regardless of what the business is going through, I stay fully connected to the organisation by frequently interacting with as many departments as I can, whether it’s our warehouse workers or office team. Not only does this boost team engagement, but also reminds them that we are invested in them and value their contribution to the company. Despite any uncertainty, we continue to stay connected as a team and work together to plough forward. Uncertainty can seem like murky waters but so long as your team is collectively rowing the boat in the same direction, you can navigate the journey forward together.

 Another way to maintain performance is to simply ask your team if they want to contribute and make a difference. You’ll be surprised how many employees put their hands up to take on new responsibilities because they are eager to make meaningful contributions. Our job as leaders is to enable the wider team to contribute to the company’s success through times of uncertainty by providing opportunities where they can step up if desired. When leaders facilitate an environment that allows individuals to perform at their highest as opposed to blocking their potential, the company wins. 

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 Throughout any uncertain journey, there’s always one thing Pierlite and our team understand for certain – our values of kindness, passion, authenticity, and courage. No matter what we’re going through, our values underpin all of our actions and keep our team aligned and inspired. Having a values-based organisation will provide guidance and clarity to help you thrive, regardless of the uncertainties you experience. Remember, it’s ok to feel stressed or scared in uncertain times. Your employees are only human. 

 What experiences have you had with uncertainty? How did you overcome it? Tell me in the comments below!