Without a doubt, leaders who prioritise “people and culture” at the heart of their strategies consistently build organisations that are both admired and exceptionally successful. Some business leaders, however, may find the idea of focusing on people or culture nebulous compared to driving their businesses through sales or other metrics alone because the impact of culture on tangible metrics like revenue and profit can be harder to quantify.

Sales figures provide immediate, concrete data that directly reflects business performance, whereas the benefits of a strong culture—such as improved employee engagement, retention, and innovation—manifest potentially over a longer period and are less directly measurable.

Additionally, leaders with a traditional mindset may view cultural initiatives as “soft” or secondary to the “hard” numbers-driven strategies of sales, potentially underestimating the profound influence that a positive, well-managed culture can have on long-term business success.

One question I would ask in these more traditionally driven companies is whether there is a clearly articulated go-to-market vision and sales plan anywhere because culture building requires the expression of a clear vision that binds all, usually emphasising in the most successful organisations, where and how to win in the market. The traditionally lead organisation, usually, in comparison, is one where focus on the current financial year, with attendant feast and famine, is the primary experience.

Culture building in organisational terms can be misunderstood. In what ways then, can a people first cultural building approach to organisational leadership help to transform not only the enterprise but it’s financial results?

Increased morale and engagement

When employees feel that their well-being and needs are a top priority, they are more likely to be authentically engaged and motivated. They feel valued, appreciated, and invested in. This in turn builds morale and commitment to the team and the organisation. An organisation which does not communicate well, and which lives month by month, quarter by quarter on the other hand, does not build long-term employee loyalty.

Also Read: Are you a human resource?

Stronger team cohesion

A people-first culture fosters a sense of belonging and camaraderie across team members and across organisational functions. When individuals feel supported, cared for, and heard, they are more likely to collaborate effectively and build stronger relationships within and across teams. Values such as “better together”, ensure ultimately that the customer is the winner, because cross functional priorities and goals are better aligned in the pursuit of stickier customer relationships.

Enhanced communication

Open and honest communication is a hallmark of people-first cultures. Team members are encouraged to express and share their ideas, concerns, and feedback without fear. Such transparency leads to better communications within the team, closely aligned to the goals of the company. Emphasis on creating a ‘psychologically safe’ space thereby enhances the productive bonding of diverse and passionate individuals towards one aligned goal of winning for the organisation and it’s clients in the market.

Improved retention and talent acquisition

Organisations that prioritise their employees’ well-being tend to have lower turnover rates, as people who feel that their personal and professional needs are being met, have less reason to look elsewhere. It also helps to attract new talent through personal recommendations and good reviews (such as Glassdoor), in the market. Remember, in sales, your folks have developed networks and it is highly likely that they will frequently meet the competition across the course of a year at various events. Become the workplace your competitors want to work at.

Higher productivity and creativity

Employees in people-first cultures are more likely to bring their full selves to work, which leads to greater creativity and innovation. They are also more bonded to the mission, meaning they are more likely to go that extra mile in achieving team and organisational goals.

Also Read: Why HR tech will make Asia’s next unicorns

Better problem solving

In an environment where team members are valued and encouraged to be heard, problem solving becomes more effective. Diverse opinions are welcomed, often leading to more comprehensive and creative solutions, usually and critically, with more widespread buy-in. This also ensures that good ideas are encouraged, and can come from anywhere in the organisation, as all have a unified understanding and mission around winning in market.

Reduced stress and burnout

Prioritising the well-being of the team can help to reduce stress and prevent burnout. When backed by resources and support, they will also feel better equipped to manage the challenges of their roles.

Positive impact on performance metrics

Organisations with a people-first culture often see great improvements in key performance metrics such as customer satisfaction, sales, profitability, and great places to work surveys.

In conclusion, embracing a people-first, culture-driven approach to leadership can profoundly transform an organisation and its outcomes. While traditional metrics like sales figures provide immediate, quantifiable results, the long-term benefits of a strong, positive culture—enhanced morale, team cohesion, communication, retention, productivity, problem-solving, and overall well-being—are invaluable.

These elements collectively drive sustainable success, fostering an environment where employees feel valued and motivated to contribute their best. By prioritising people and culture, leaders not only build admired organisations but also achieve exceptional and lasting business results, proving that the most successful enterprises are those that invest in their people.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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This article was first published on September 30, 2024.

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The answer is very easy: just get the sales function handed over to someone outside your core teams.

There’s a seductive temptation to outsource the messiest, toughest function in business: sales. It’s not hard to see why. You’re battling product development, raising funds, managing a team, and building infrastructure, so why not hand sales to the “experts” while you focus on what matters, right?

Wrong!

Sales: The heart of your startup

Outsourcing sales in a startup is like outsourcing your soul;  it’s an integral part of your business, your culture, and your lifeblood. You give it away, you lose touch, and you’re left with little control over the single most important metric: growth.

When you’re in the early stages of building a business, your product is a moving target. It’s evolving, iterating, and refining with every user interaction. Sales is the frontline of feedback.

Your core team needs to be embedded in this process to understand customer pain points, needs, and preferences. This isn’t something you want to delegate to someone whose only stake is a paycheck and who has sold only standard easy-to-sell packs of banner inventory. When you outsource, you risk missing the unfiltered, raw insights that lead to better product decisions.

Also Read: How to use the psychology of gamification to grow e-commerce sales

If your team isn’t hearing customer objections, pricing concerns, and product feature requests firsthand, you’re disconnected from reality. That detachment slows progress. Salespeople aren’t just closers; they’re data gatherers who are essential to product development.

The dangers of outsourcing sales too early

Outsourced sales teams thrive on process, repetition, and predictability. But startups, especially in the early stages are messy, full of unknowns and pivots. Your product isn’t standardised yet, your customer base is still being defined, and your positioning is evolving. Outsourced teams excel at selling standardised packages, not fluid concepts that are in the experimental phase.

Outsourcing before you’ve hit a point of inflection, before your product has matured, can result in poor customer experiences and lost opportunities. Sales is more than just pitching; it’s about teaching and evangelising. You need people who know the company inside and out, people who are passionate about the mission, not mercenaries who are just passing through.

Outsourcing can often attract gravy train artists – people who’ve spent their careers selling established products, with clear price tags, to clients who already know what they want. They’re used to hopping on the train after it’s left the station, and they’re not the kind of people you want on your team. You’re in the trenches, grinding it out, and they’re just trying to make a quick buck by riding your coattails.

Startups demand hustlers who are comfortable with uncertainty, people who can roll with the punches and think on their feet. The gravy train artists are uncomfortable with ambiguity and friction; they don’t understand the hard work of creating something from nothing.

Then there are the “advisors” who promise to bring in big deals or land major clients if you just give them a few percentage points of equity. Here’s the truth: if someone is willing to trade their time for a sliver of your company, they’re not betting on your future; they’re hedging their bets on you doing the hard work. These promises are almost always smoke and mirrors. No one will sell your company as effectively as you and your core team will.

Your equity is sacred, and giving it away to anyone who says they can deliver isn’t just dangerous — it’s reckless. Save your equity for those who are in it for the long haul and who actually contribute to your growth in a measurable, tangible way.

Also Read: How to attract the first thousand users to your marketplace

Sales isn’t just another function, it’s a core strategic lever in your business. Handing it off too early is like outsourcing your product development or your culture. At the heart of every great startup is a deep connection between the team and the customer, and sales is the bridge that holds it all together.

Until you hit a point where your product is standardised, your customer base is defined, and you have repeatable, scalable processes in place, sales belong to the founders and the core team. Only then, once the foundation is solid, can you think about bringing in an external team to scale the operation.

Final thoughts

If you’re building a startup and are not hell bent on killing it in the first 12 months, keep sales in-house. Own it. Live it. Breathe it.

Sales is more than closing deals — it’s about learning, adapting, and pushing your company forward. You can’t outsource that. Not until you’ve hit that magical point of inflection where the sales process is so refined that it practically runs itself. You will know when you get there.

Until then, keep it close and beware of those who promise shortcuts, they’re almost always detours.

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This article was first published on September 16, 2024

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As leaders, we are constantly bombarded by urgent tasks, strategic decisions, and the unexpected. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and find yourself sinking beneath a mountain of responsibilities. What if the key to unlocking better stress management and focus lies not in fighting against the chaos but in embracing the art of allowing?

Allowing (or acknowledging and accepting) what we cannot control in the present moment helps us shift our energy away from the clutter and bring it into focus. By consciously practising this mindset shift, leaders can avoid the constant layering of stress that often leads to feeling drained and burned out. Instead, you learn to surrender what is unnecessary and focus on what truly matters.

Here are five powerful ways leaders can harness the energy of allowing to manage stress and stay focused on critical tasks:

Acknowledge the noise, but don’t engage with it

It’s impossible to silence every distraction, every nagging thought, or every demand for your attention. As a leader, the first step to managing stress is to acknowledge the noise without trying to fix everything in the moment. This doesn’t mean ignoring responsibilities; it means understanding that not every issue needs immediate attention. Think of your possible flow with the Eisenhower Matrix at the start of your day.

How to Apply It: When your mind is overwhelmed with minor problems, give yourself permission to mentally “set aside” those issues. Trust that you can address them when you have the proper bandwidth to do so effectively. For now, focus on the task at hand and engage only when it’s truly necessary.

Allow yourself to prioritise

Leaders often feel the pressure to handle everything all at once, but this mindset leads to burnout. By allowing yourself to prioritise, you give permission to focus on the tasks that align with your long-term strategy and critical objectives, rather than feeling pulled into every small fire.

Also Read: Startup survival: Smart marketing moves for economic uncertainty

How to Apply It: Identify your top three priorities at the start of each day. Allow yourself to fully invest energy into these areas, while mentally postponing less urgent tasks. This will help you streamline your focus and increase your productivity.

Accept imperfection

Striving for perfection is one of the most significant contributors to leader stress. By accepting that not every decision or task will be flawless, you release yourself from the constant stress cycle of trying to make everything perfect.

How to Apply It: When tackling complex projects, remind yourself that progress is more important than perfection. Allow space for learning, growing, and adapting—trust that imperfection is part of the process, and stress will ease.

Surrender what’s out of your control

As a leader, you’re expected to have the answers. But there are always circumstances beyond your control, whether it’s a shift in the market or the unpredictable behaviour of others. By allowing yourself to surrender what you cannot influence, you prevent external pressures from eroding your energy and peace of mind.

How to Apply It: When faced with a situation outside your control, pause. Reflect on whether this is something you can impact right now. If not, mentally place it on your “later list” and redirect your focus to areas where you can make a difference. This energy shift will clear space for more effective leadership.

Acknowledge your stress without judgment

Leaders are often hard on themselves when stress builds up, believing they should be able to handle everything effortlessly. By acknowledging your stress without attaching shame or guilt to it, you can begin to process and release it more effectively. Stress is a natural response, not a personal failure.

Also Read: Hiring for your startup: The 5 key attributes of entrepreneur archetypes

How to Apply It: At the end of each day, check in with yourself. Allow yourself to feel the weight of any stress, and simply acknowledge it without judgment. Ask yourself, “What do I need to let go of to feel lighter?” By giving yourself the space to reflect and release, you end the day feeling more centred and ready to recharge.

Your key takeaway: Shift your energy to what truly matters

When leaders master the art of allowing, they shift their energy away from stress-inducing distractions and towards what truly matters. This practice not only reduces stress, but it also sharpens focus, increases productivity, and prevents burnout. This is crucial is helping you stay balanced and as your best self for you, your team and your loved ones.

By integrating these five practices into your daily routine, you can approach each day with a clearer mind, allowing for greater efficiency, more strategic decision-making, and a renewed sense of purpose.

Let go of what’s weighing you down. Allow yourself to lead with clarity and focus. Your team, your family—and your well-being—will thank you.

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This article was first published on October 7, 2024

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The business landscape — plagued by economic headwinds, trade sanctions, supply chain disruptions, and staffing shortages, amongst others — is a shifting terrain that demands constant adaptation. In this environment, a strong foundation in ethics and compliance (E&C) becomes even more critical.

However, navigating this terrain requires more; it demands a dedicated and ethical workforce. Employees are the backbone of every business, and their decisions and actions all have an impact on an organisation’s reputation, resilience, and ability to adapt.

Yet, a common misconception amongst startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore is the belief that ethics and compliance training is complicated and cumbersome and something that only larger, established organisations and multinational corporations need to deal with.

However, the reality is that E&C is crucial and beneficial to all organisations, large and small, including SMEs. Recent high-profile cases of bribery and corruption, false testimony and even degree forgery serve as a sober reminder that not adopting standards and strategies for E&C training can be detrimental in the long term.

In fact, LRN Corporation’s recent Benchmark of Ethical Culture Report 2024 found that companies with strong ethical cultures outperform those with weak ethical cultures by an average of ~50% across traditional business metrics such as customer satisfaction, employee loyalty, competitiveness, innovation, and adaptability.

Adopting a foundational E&C training programme can help organisations better navigate the legal and regulatory landscape, avoid fines and ethical pitfalls, and build a positive workplace culture where the business and its people can thrive by acting upon shared values. It also contributes towards the building of an organisation’s ethical culture – the values, attitudes and behaviours of individuals and organisations that influence ethical decision-making.

Proper E&C training and up-skilling are more crucial than ever, and building an effective and measurable E&C training programme will look different for every organisation. However, there are a few key concepts that are universal and can help guide organisations, big or small, to ensure a secure and well-supported programme.

Create a clear code of conduct

A code of conduct is a set of principles and expectations that employees are expected to adhere to, and should accurately reflect the organisation’s values, beliefs and aspirations. It includes codifying key policies on anti-discrimination, harassment, data privacy and more.

Serving as a useful guide for employees at various levels to help influence ethical decision-making, the code of conduct should be easily accessible, visually engaging and simple to parse. For instance, by making its code of conduct searchable, web-based and mobile-enabled, a company can ensure that employees can easily consult it regularly to check misconduct parameters or locate a reporting hotline.

Also Read: Empowering change: Singapore’s female-led startup success stories

The code should not just be a check in a box for leadership or employees. To make it a ‘living document’ practised across the organisation, leadership teams need to champion the code and demonstrate the right behaviours, including treating everyone in the organisation with equal respect, acting with integrity and taking a values-based approach to decision-making.

Further strengthen the code of conduct by regularly recognising and rewarding employees who exemplify the code’s values. This encourages a holistic, top-down, bottom-up approach towards E&C.

Identify and avoid cultural hindrances

The fastest growing cohort of workers, Gen Z, is making it known they won’t work for companies whose visible values don’t align with their own. Furthermore, LRN’s Benchmark of Ethical Culture Report has also revealed that 25 per cent of Gen Z and 45 per cent of Millennials surveyed in Singapore find it acceptable to break the rules if needed to get the job done. Such attitudes directly undermine the importance of an organisation’s code of conduct, perpetuating the notion that it’s irrelevant or unimportant.

To prevent this, organisations should also evaluate if a potential new hire’s values align with the organisation’s values and ethical standing. Additionally, retaining employees with strong ethical compasses can help foster and strengthen a positive and inclusive work environment. Ensure that E&C objectives and criteria are inbuilt into performance evaluations – making ethical behaviour a core job requirement while also recognising employees that contribute towards organisational culture.

The importance of relevant and effective E&C programmes

New ethical issues and compliance risks arise all the time. Regulations are constantly being updated with increasing regulatory scrutiny, and a heightened public awareness of ethical issues has put a spotlight on corporate behaviour. Outdated E&C training leaves companies and their employees vulnerable to lapses, penalties, lawsuits, and blowbacks.

Also Read: Navigating the AI maze in Malaysia’s martech: Striking a balance between efficiency and ethics

Organisations need to ensure that their E&C programmes are up-to-date and relevant — equipping employees with training and knowledge to handle new challenges and the latest threats ethically and compliantly.

Start by regularly measuring ethical culture and relevant qualitative key performance indicators, such as behaviour change to determine employees’ compliance and ethical standing against the current code of conduct; and revising training programmes where required. This can help organisations stay ahead of potential misconduct while identifying potential areas of improvement.

Model programmes should also foster alignment across relevant departments such as human resources (HR), legal, compliance, risk and information technology to ensure that all knowledge gaps are addressed. This should be done regularly to ensure that training is up-to-date according to evolving needs.

Additionally, employ the latest technology to make training more engaging and effective. For example, gamified compliance training – utilising points, badges, leaderboards and interactive scenarios – can turn a dry and tedious topic into an enjoyable and stimulating experience that encourages active participation. Pulse surveys can also be incorporated into the gamified training to track sentiment, identify problem areas, measure change over time and benchmark performance.

In today’s ever-evolving business landscape shaped by shifting E&C demands and compliance pressures, companies must mandate an effective E&C training programme that will help inculcate a strong, resilient and positive ethical culture and boost an organisation’s ability to stay ahead of growing uncertainties.

Far from just an optional extra adopted by MNCs, E&C training is crucial to success for organisations of all sizes, and the creation and upkeep of such programmes can empower sustainable growth and resilience.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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This article was first published on September 19, 2024

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