Seven Takeaways On Creating A Winning Culture

Excerpts from a Podcast with Mike Corkery, Deltek President & CEO.

Recently, Deltek’s President & CEO Mike Corkery was a guest on the podcast “We’re All In This Together,” hosted by Mike Robbins – author, thought leader and sought-after speaker who teaches people, leaders, and teams to infuse their lives and businesses with authenticity and appreciation. Their conversation, which you can listen to here, focused on Corkery’s thoughts on creating a balanced, employee-focused and customer-focused workplace driven by collaboration, innovation and authenticity.

During the podcast, Corkery discussed the importance of a company’s culture and how he and his leadership team work to create a winning culture at Deltek.

Photo Caption: Mike Robbins (left) with Mike Corkery (right) at Deltek’s Global Kickoff in 2019

Here’s a look at some key takeaways from the conversation:

1.  It’s more about what you do than what you say.
Mike Corkery: My dad used to always tell me this: ‘Listen, if you’re good enough, someone will find you. You don’t need to tell everybody. People will recognize that.’ People are going to appreciate that and what you get done; it’s more about what you do than what you say. That’s been a really important lesson for me throughout my life – that you can talk the talk, but you have to walk the walk, too.

2.  If your team feels good, they’re going to be invested in your mission.
Mike Corkery: If we have a team that’s really motivated, that feels good about what they do every day, that feels good about who they work with, then they are going to feel invested and attached to what we are all about. And I think that’s really important to be able to attract and retain the best people to be on our team. We want the best folks to work with us and we want great people who come here to stay here.

3.  If employees can get value from working for you, they will focus on developing and furthering their career. 
Mike Corkery: People are looking to draw from their work. It’s up to us to be able to say here’s what this opportunity is going to mean for you and here’s what you can draw from it. We’ve really focused over the last few years on articulating that value and developing what we call a culture of learning, where people can come here, build a career, and draw from their experience at Deltek. It’s a big, vibrant business with a lot of opportunity!

4.  It’s up to us to retain our employees.
Mike Corkery: It’s a competitive world out there and employees have options. So, it’s up to us – me and my leadership team – to make sure that it’s a great, vibrant opportunity for our team. Frankly, it’s weak to say, ‘Oh no, somebody else is poaching our people!’ But it’s up to us to keep our team here and for our team to want to be part of what we’ve got going on.

5.  Love what you do—and make sure your employees do too.  
Mike Corkery: You have to love what you do, because you get up and do it every single day. And, the last thing you want to do is look over your shoulder and say, you know what, I’ve been spending five years doing something that I’m just not bought into, that I don’t absolutely love and I’m not passionate about. When I think about Deltek, it’s up to us to make sure that our employees feel that way about it—that they are bought into what they’re doing, that it’s vibrant, that it’s something that they feel like they’re getting something out of it, which in turn is going to make them invest.

6. Make sure your leaders support your culture.
Mike Corkery: I’m really careful about who comes onto our Executive Team, because they’ve got to be bought into the notion of the culture that we’re trying to build at Deltek. The Vice Presidents and the Executive Team are really the people that are running the business, and they are setting the tone. It’s really, really important that we’ve got the right set of people in terms of their capability professionally, but also their ability to contribute positively to the culture. I think about it three ways: Can you do the job? Are you going to love us? And, are we going to love you? If you can get those things right, it’s going to be a healthy relationship.

7.  It’s possible to have high compassion and high expectations.
Mike Corkery: At the end of the day, we want to put people in a position to succeed so that they’re going to bring their best to Deltek—but, we still have high expectations. Rather than some of the cut-throat cultures out there, my way of thinking about it is we are low drama. The expectations don’t change as we’re trying to have a vibrant culture. I think it’s a matter of we want the best people, put them in a position where they can be successful, and deliver great results. Those three things should be part of the mix.

To hear the entire podcast, visit “We’re All In This Together.”

Our own CEO @mpcorkery recently discussed creating a winning culture on @mikedrobbins’ #podcast “We’re All In This Together" 🎙️ Check out 7 key takeaways: https://t.co/Z4Fq1NuzpS #DeltekProjectNation #TeamDeltek pic.twitter.com/wcmMLUxqWQ

— Deltek (@Deltek) May 23, 2019