ScoutLogic Co-Founder and CEO David Garcia calls his company a “healthy family.” Throughout his 25-year career, David learned from positive and negative experiences and applied those lessons to create a close-knit culture in his own company. Today ScoutLogic has excellent employee retention and customer satisfaction, primarily due to its healthy company culture.
We recently spoke with David on the Forge Ahead podcast about practicing mindfulness, learning from both positive and negative relationships, and cultivating a positive work environment.
1. Practice Mindfulness
No matter what role you play in your company, take time to reflect on your work relationships. Consider how you could be more engaged with your colleagues and considerate of others. Build that mindfulness practice into your day to grow both personally and professionally.
David says frequent self-reflection is especially important as a leader. He says practicing mindfulness gives you a fresh perspective on your company and gives you deep personal happiness and satisfaction.
We learn from David that practicing mindfulness pays off—whether you’re in a leadership position or not. When you set aside time each day to self-reflect, you set an intention for personal and professional improvement.
2. Learn From Both Positive and Negative Work Relationships
You can learn something from every professional relationship you have. Your mentors will teach you what to do, and your anti-mentors will teach you what not to do. Combine the lessons from both kinds of relationships into your own professional development.
“I love my anti-mentors because I learned so much from them,” David says. He noticed his anti-mentors cutting back on employee benefits to slightly improve the bottom line, but that decision reduced employee satisfaction and retention. David resolved to do things differently when he started his own company.
David teaches that there’s value in every interaction we have at work. Whether it’s a positive or negative interaction, there’s something to learn in each that can make you a stronger leader.
3. Cultivate a Positive Work Environment
How you act at work influences the atmosphere there. Treat your co-workers with respect and consideration. This means sharing the workload, taking responsibility for your work, and striving for a better product together. When you’re engaged in a collaborative and supportive work environment, everyone benefits.
In David’s experience, cultivating a strong, positive work environment is critical for remote workers. Since remote workers don’t share the same space with their colleagues every day, the company needs to have a solid vision to encourage employees to do their best work. David recommends communicating your company culture in the hiring and onboarding process so that new employees can learn the expectations and norms from the get-go.
David shows us the power of a strong company culture and that each person contributes to that culture. Take responsibility for your own part in cultivating that positive work environment by holding yourself and your teammates to a high standard.
Visit the Forge Ahead homepage to hear the entire conversation with David.
