All In: How the Best Managers Create a Culture of Belief and Drive Big Results

by Adrian Gostick, Chester Elton

To have any hope of succeeding as a manager, you need to get your people all in. Whether you manage the smallest of teams or a multi-continent organization, you are the owner of a work culture—congratulations—and few things will have a bigger impact on your performance than getting your people to buy into your ideas and your cause and to believe what they do matters. Bestselling authors of The Carrot Principle and The Orange Revolution, Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton return to answer the most overlooked leadership questions of our Why are some managers able to get their employees to commit wholeheartedly to their culture and give that extra push that leads to outstanding results? And how can managers at any level build and sustain a profitable, vibrant work-group culture of their own? These leading workplace experts teamed up with research giant Towers Watson to analyze an unprecedented 300,000-person study, and they made a groundbreaking managers of the highest-performing work groups create a “culture of belief.” In these distinctive workplaces, people believe in their leaders and in the company’s vision, values, and goals. Employees are not only engaged but also enabled and energized (termed the three Es), which leads to astonishing results—average annual revenues three times higher than for organizations lacking such a positive culture. And this was true during a period that included this most recent recession. Based on their extensive consulting experience and in-depth interviews with leaders and employees at exceptional companies such as American Express, Cigna, Avis Budget, Pepsi Bottling, and Hard Rock, the authors present a simple seven-step road map for creating a culture of define a burning platform; create a customer focus; develop agility; share everything; partner with your talent; root for each other; and establish clear accountability. Delving into specific how-tos for each step, they share eye-opening stories of exceptional leaders in action, vividly depicting just how these powerful methods can be implemented by any manager. All In draws on cutting-edge psychology and all of the creative genius that have made Gostick and Elton a must-read for leaders worldwide. This vital resource will empower managers everywhere to inspire a new level of commitment and performance.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Management, Nonfiction, Self Help, Professional Development, Cultural

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2012

About the author

See also Adrian Robert Gostick

Reviews

[Kitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspirational. The author focuses on companies that excel in creating a good culture for their employees. The book is riddled with examples, in detail of businesses in differing industries that are doing it right and how that has helped their successes. That is the best takeaway from the book, the practical examples. A great read for senior leaders all the way down to the lower level employees. Culture is everything.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has great information but I think it would be better to read it rather than listening to it while driving. I would have liked to take some notes and didn't have the opportunity so may read the print version soon.

[Kanchan Shine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book begins with explaing the important role 'culture' plays in an organisation. The authors use examples and anecdotes to explain how leadership's conviction in belief and values sets the path for an organisation and its employees. Very well written and informative. Towards the end I felt the chapters were preserving any new information, hence the 4 stars

[Jorge Antonettti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another platable perspective on how culture drives business. If you need a book to give out to all of your employees so they can feel like real change is taking place at your company this is it. It even has neat little summaries at the end of each chapter so people who didn't read the book can still feel like they read the book.

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I liked how the book was split up and the real life examples. It was good information, but was not all new information to me. Some of this was repetitive to other books I’ve read or even repetitive to itself.

[Victoria Fanning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had some good practical ideas about motivating staff so they (we all) perform at high levels of performance and engagement.

[Sardorbek Kurbonov]

i got really good insights from this book

[Brian Bowsher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains a particularly useful case study on culture building within the front office staff of Real Salt Lake of the MLS.

[MADONNA WILLIAM · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read if you are looking for reminders to better look after, equip your team and keep them engaged. I applied key takeaways and insights from the book within my team

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was like other business management books I have read. There are some good ideas in it, but overall, the book is one you can scan for the main points. The authors draw on extensive surveys and corporate examples to make their points. However, after a while, you get a bit tired of hearing yet another story from some corporation, and to be honest, at times, some of the stories seemed a bit "pie in the sky." When I read books like this, I am looking to see what I can learn in terms of leadership and management that I might apply to my profession in librarianship. I did find some applicable lessons, and I did take some notes. I may do a longer write-up in my blog later.

The main point of the book is getting managers to establish climates of trust and openness so you can then have a good workplace where your workers buy in to what you are trying to accomplish. To me, some of this seems like common sense, but I may well bring the bias that I have experienced some negative workplaces where trust in the management was a significant issue. The steps the authors suggest to improve things, for the most part are viable. Their list in the last chapter is uneven: there are some very good ideas, and there are other ideas that are corny to be perfectly honest. I suppose you can pick and choose what you as a manager think may work in your place. So overall, the book was alright; it had some good ideas, but all in all it was somewhat uneven. This is one to scan, pick the good things, and move on.

[John Gurney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A concise book of examples managers have successfully used to better engage employees. This work deserves credit for its appropriate focus on the fact your employees are your public face. People do not just work for the paycheck; virtually everyone wants to contribute to something bigger and better. But few companies inspire their workers to get psychologically "all in". Unhappy or uninspired employees don't delight customers. A small number of companies thrill customers. Most managers will find at least a few examples here that they can use with their own teams.

[Libbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is no different than any other management style encouragement book. Maybe I'm disenfranchised from my company's lack of ability to change - but they all just irritate me more than give me hope when my company assigns them to be read.

So, in terms of readability - it was fine. No major epiphanies, and no major flaws with writing style... neither was it particularly engaging. Its a normal middle-of-the-road for this genre type-book.

[Rick Patch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid. I will keep on my shelf and reference. It has some of the classic beliefs that I support. Much of it aligns very closely to books written by Patrick Lencioni (which I really like). I think this book dragged on too long to make the points. On the positive, anything that helps all of us be sincerely focused on people becoming engaged in their work is worth reading - everyone wins when culture is healthy.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. I was quite frustrated with my management team but I had a really hard time putting my finger on exactly why. Reading this book helped crystallize my feelings. Unfortunately I haven't yet had the opportunity to put any of those lessons into practice since I'm no manager. But I have added this book to my library and will pull it out and give it another read when it becomes more relevant. Highly recommended.

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the lessons and advice were obvious, i.e., why it's important to form partnerships, recognize employees, and create open lines of communication. The Accountability chapter was by far the most useful and one that is worth reading and re-reading. A lack of accountability, impacts credibility, stifles growth, creates insecurity, and lowers morale.

[Noreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The message here is to take care of your employees in many different ways. Enabling them with proper equipment, schedules, education, and staffing are just some of the ideas that will drive your business forward. Excellent idea to have managers work the front line for a minimum of 4 hours a week.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing really earth-shattering or new here. I was hoping for something a bit more practical in nature. I also didn't like that they seemed to only interview members of human resources and management, rather than the average employee in terms of gauging the success or failure of their practices.

[Richard Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book. An easy read with lots of ideas to implement to help change/encourage cultures. Lots of anecdotes gave context to the ideas which helped the reader either adopt or discard as appropriate or otherwise.

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book if you are looking for ways to change or improve the culture of your workplace, community, team or family. Excellent current examples of where these methods are working and examples of where the culture is failing and why.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some solid concepts. A little hard to find applicability for small organizations.

[Jiwa Rasa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boleh tahan. Tiada idea baru.

[Mike Wilkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many good ideas and concepts for the office.

[Rick Yvanovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several good and ready to use ideas that anyone who has to lead people ought to know

[Roma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sneezable book!
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[Michelle Cable · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some good ideas. Also reminds you that sometimes the simple is the way to go.

[Gary Hines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read - but one to review on occasion. I plan on keeping this one and adding to my reference shelf for future needs. Especially for Chapter 12.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the topics on belief and rewarding good behavior, which reinforces the desired behaviors over time and hardwires into the culture.

[Paiman Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well structured writing style. Yet summarizing key points, reminders etc which are very inspiring.

[Bill Donhiser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Business book like many a few good ideas a little too much filler

[Paula]

good reminder of importance of perspective