Would you wear a t-shirt with your company logo on it?

The answer for this question was necessary because people relate to what you believe in, not what you do. If we can build a stronger bond with a person, it is much easier to work with them.

At Brainattica, we sometimes met to talk about company culture. We shared the things we did and inspired each other to try out new practices in order to continuously improve.

A team has only really achieved an identity when people are eager to wear the symbols of that team. But how do we achieve this? How do we create a company to which people want to belong? How do we achieve that you want wear a t-shirt with our logo?

We need a new perspective built much more around intrinsic motivation. Around the desire to do things because they matters, because we like it, they’re interesting or part of something important.

We are going to think in three elements:

Autonomy. Autonomy as the urge to direct our own lives.
Mastery. Mastery as the desire to get better and better at something that matters
Common Purpose. And Common Purpose as the wish to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

When many of us think about innovation, we think about an “Aha!” moment. But we all know that’s a myth. Innovation is not about solo genius, it’s about collective genius.

Innovation it’s a type of collaborative problem solving, usually among people who have different expertise and different points of view.

In innovative environments the differences are amplified, don’t minimize them. Innovative companies don’t have brainstorming, where people suspend their judgment. They know to have very heated but constructive arguments to create a portfolio of alternatives.

Individuals in innovative organizations learn how to inquire, they learn how to actively listen, but guess what? They also learn how to advocate for their point of view. They understand that innovation rarely happens unless you have both diversity and conflict.

If we want to build a company that can innovative time and again, we must lead the way. Leading innovation is about create the space where people are willing and able to do the hard work of innovative problem solving.

The leaders focus on building a sense of community. Talented people don’t want to follow us anywhere, they want to co-create with us the future.

How do we define leadership? Leadership es about creating a company to which people want to belong.

How do we see our role? we’re a human glue, we’re a connector and we’re an aggregator of viewpoints, we’re never a dictator of viewpoints. We’re the social architects. We’re creating the space where people are willing and able to share and combine their talents and passions.

Very few managers are leaders. The difference between the two? A manager is someone who has people reporting to him. A leader is someone who people will follow, even if they don’t report to him.

When the leader establishes trust within the team, it truly shows. Team members feel secure in sharing their opinions without the fear of judgment or retribution, freely share information and openly collaborate on projects and know that if the leader pushes them, he does so with their best interests in mind. The result? Highly motivated and productive workforce.

A leader is only as effective as his team. But building trust takes time and conscious effort. People don’t trust words, they trust actions. Trust leads to loyalty. And loyalty leads to people doing their best to deliver results for you and the company.