Andrea Simon, innovation, Leadership, Podcast

053: Andrew Sykes—The Secrets to Employee Habit Creation

Posted on by Andrea Simon

 Listen now to Andrew Sykes teach us how to create positive workplace cultures!

You know how much I love to talk about culture and culture change in business. In this interview, I talk with Andrew Sykes about his approach to helping companies build better habits in their employees to achieve better business and personal results. I am fascinated by the way he has built an entire business helping companies create cultures that reinforce positive habits and eliminate destructive ones, and I know you will be too. Andrew is awesome!

Andrew Sykes.jpgIn some ways, our habits become the essence of who we are. In other ways they become the limitations that keep us from seeing things with fresh eyes. And in life, in our jobs, in our relationships, it’s all about how we see things. 

Andrew empowers listeners to retake control of the design of their companies to ensure high employee engagement and performance through habit creation. He inspires teams to invest in their greatest competitive advantage: their people, and not just to talk about doing it.

He has spent over a decade building workshops and consulting systems that help organizations by:

  • Researching which habits make a difference for people’s health, happiness, security and performance
  • Curating a framework for habit change rooted in behavioral psychology and organizational design
  • Designing and deploying habit-based programs within companies of all shapes and sizes
  • Facilitating workshops for companies to build internal capacity for habit design

You will love Andrew’s ideas about bringing love back into the workplace by simply:

  • Being kind to someone during their first day on the job and showing them the ropes
  • Giving positive feedback to someone who reports to you, instead of being critical
  • Looking someone in the eye when you firmly shake their hand
  • Asking what customers really need and relentlessly delivering value to them
  • Actively listening to others and being generous with your time
  • Showing up passionately each day and having compassion for others
  • Expressing appreciation and gratitude, especially when you don’t have time
  • Demonstrating simple acts of kindness, like holding the elevator for someone or grabbing your co-worker a coffee

In this episode, Andrew Sykes and I discuss: 

  • Habits as the building blocks of who we will become as people
  • The habits employees need to create a better future for their company
  • Why leaders should invest in life-design of their employees
  • Engaging employees in relationships beyond work to create a family-like environment
  • Why investing in the wellness of your employees is an investment in your company
  • Owners taking responsibility for the culture and environment of their workplace
  • Rehumanizing and redefining work to create a place where people want to work while adding meaning and purpose to their positions
  • How practicing habits of love in the workplace can lead to happier employees, which in turn benefits your business