PUBLISHER’S CORNER Culture is Habit WRITTEN BY TONY CORPIN | TONY@STNONLINE.COM J


uly 8, 2017 attested to the following characteris- tics: Excitement, energy, networking, innovative thinking and inpsirations all happened at the recent 2017 STN EXPO.


I sat in a room at the Peppermill Resort in Reno,


Nevada with over 100 industry leaders at the inaugural Transportation Director Summit. It was abuzz after the day’s first speaker Don Harkey challenged the audience to take a hard look at their organizational culture to not only improve employee retention, but also realize organizational growth. Harkey is the chief inspirational officer and co-founder


of People Centric Consulting Group, an organization that helps people thrive in the workplace. He took the audience on a wild ride, ripping apart the status quo of hiring and firing onboarding employees and shared why toxic employees are leaders--just not the kind you want. It was the “why,” Harkey told the directors in the room that school districts and companies must communicate to truly and positively enhance staff performance. “Student transporters need to understand the positive and neg- ative motivators for why people work,” explained Harkey. “Yes, people need to make money, and some appreciate potlucks and ping pong tables. But employee culture is much more than these.” Harkey demonstrated that


the positive motivators affecting morale and management to rec- ognize are what employees enjoy doing at work and their indi- vidual belief in the outcome of professional and personal growth. Negative motivators, however, compromise culture. In addition to making an earnest living, these employees don’t want to disappoint their boss or coworkers, or they remain uncertain of their purpose other than to reapeat their shift the next day. As I discussed in the July issue, staffing shortage for


department plays in this shortage? How does employee culture factor in? Do you even consciously work on culture? No time for it? You might want rethink this, since culture drives performance. Harkey cited through research that organizations that focused on culture can more easily benefit from systems and processes that help inspire their team to be successful. Harkey asked: “If the copy machine in the office


was only working 32 percent of the time, would your organization fix the problem?” I’m guessing the answer is a definitive yes, with the decision to do so made in less time than the equipment took to break down, in the first place. But according to a Gallup poll, only 32 percent of employees are highly engaged and firing on all cylinders. Ten why aren’t organizations addressing employee cul- ture similarly?


Harkey said “culture isn’t soft;


it’s hard.” Culture is more import- ant to an organization’s bottom line than sales, safety or any other business function because it ul- timately drives the organization’s success. Tis means employee cul- ture requires continuous attention from management. Harkey believes that “Culture is


A visual note taker captured Don Harkey’s perpective on employee culture on July 8 at the STN EXPO.


habit,” and if you don’t break the cycle of bad habits, your culture will suffer greatly, creating a trick- ledown effect. Considerably not everyone faces a driver shortage, as I learned at last month’s NSTA Annual Meeting and Convention in Indianapolis. Why? I’ll bet you it’s based on culture. “Your job as a manager is not


to make people successful; it is to help them succeed or fail quick- ly,” said Harkey, adding that the


best method to create a definitive workplace culture is by promoting accountability. I challenge you to take a hard look at your culture.


drivers and other skilled labor, which odds are your school district or school bus company is currently experi- encing, isn’t going away. In fact, it’s getting worse. It’s the same old conversation, right? Now ask yourself what role your transportation


50School Transportation News • AUGUST 2017


Look over the visual notes that inspired ideas at the Transportation Director Summit at STN EXPO. I hope you will join us at a future conference to be inspired. STN EXPO 2018 will be held on July 13-18. 


Tony Corpin, Publisher


CELEBRATING25YEARS


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