In any organization, niches are formed for better for worse. It is how leadership handles and controls these niches are what make all the difference. Your business niche is one thing, as this is what you do day-to-day. But what we are talking about is what type of niches are created inside the organization, or in simpler terms, what mini cultures have popped up!
Your organizational niche is what you complete day-to-day. You could be a landscaper, framer, accounting firm, heavy equipment operator, and so on. Your niche is what you market to the world and in exchange trade value to form your business. Depending on how big your niche expands determines how and when you hire staff to help in the expansion. With staff come many different challenges, but today we are talking about mini niches inside the company.
Inside of your overall business niche is a small group of environments that may have also been created. The more staff, typically the more environments. We have seen this situation occur in organizations as small as 5 staff, but it is typical in organizations larger than 10. Staff get comfortable working together and then start talking about personal life, form relationships and so begins the environment. When and if another tries to become part of the group, it can spiral out of control. Bonds are created and then others can start talking down to other people in the company. How does leadership handle these types of situations all depends on how all environments view leadership ability?
It is up to leadership to set the tone of how interactions occur at a company. One thing that leadership cannot be is weak in their approach on how to handle disruptive environments. Staff can be ruthless in an approach to make another look bad and if they have a congregation of people behind them, it can get quite bad. So how can leadership help in these types of situations? We have listed a few below to potentially help;
These types of environments need consistent leadership involvement. There are many personalities in a company and as a result, leadership cannot treat everyone the same. There have to be many approaches to various situations. If you need help, feel free to reach out to us at Future to Now Consulting to discuss how we can help.
