Walking the Talk

Today I read this article about Google and its presence in China.  Google is considering withdrawing from China completely because of the continued internet censorship and China-based cyber attacks on human rights activists using its Gmail service.  Google is the second largest search engine in China, and China has the largest number of internet users on the world.  A withdrawal would be a values based decision.  Google’s mantra is ‘Do no evil’, and they went through a lot of soul searching during the process of entering China in the first place.  The loss of immediate revenue would be considerable.

Values-based decisions such as this one make or break a company’s ethical framework.  All of us face our own similar dilemmas.  Values based decisions create incredible strength and well being amongst the employees and customers.  Both groups feel secure and proud to be associated with a brand that is based around a set of principles which it is prepared to stand by, even at the expense of short term profit.  Decisions like this are the opportunity to walk the talk, and the scale of the fall out increases the level of benefit in relation to brand loyalty and pride.

On the otherside, there is the revenue loss.  And the argument that Google might have more influence on freedom from inside China, even with censorship, than it will by being out altogether.  These decisions are never easy.

The discussions that are going on inside Google right now will be part of their on-going culture building process.  Any leader, or consultant, can facilitate a values based discussion which looks at all the options from the perspective of the principles the organization wants to stand for.  Encourage everyone to speak, and to express their views in values terms.  You will see that most things are not black and white.  But in the discussions of the shades of grey, the group comes closer to a common interpretation of their own values framework.  It’s a powerful exercise to schedule on a regular basis.

The New York Times this week had an article onTony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, an US on-line retailer with a reputation for excellence in customer service and a great culture.  The interview has great examples of how to use symbols to drive powerful cultural messages.  Culture is created by messages received through the behaviors, symbols and systems of the organization.  When leaders are seeking to change their culture, finding ways to change symbols is a way to build quick wins.  Finding out what other people are doing in this area can help generate ideas, so I think you will find this article useful.

Zappos was recently purchased by Amazon, another great organization, but with a different culture than Zappos.  At the time, I recorded a clip on YouTube related to the concerns I had about the promises that were made by both CEOs that the Zappos culture would remain untouched, a promise I believe will be hard to keep, given the nature of acquisitions.

Here’s a great practical tip from Seth Godin’s blog about how to increase a culture of accountability, and link this to your people’s targeted goals and achievements.  He suggests making it public knowledge that everyone knows who the person is who has set a particular policy, introduced a new service for customers or come up with a new idea.  Put there name on it. The name dramatically increases accountability.

I am often asked whether goals should be shared or individual.  I believe that the goals shared by a team are actually the goals of the boss, allocated to the team to implement.  In most cases it is the boss who is ultimately accountable for delivering those goals.  Therefore if you were to put a name on the goals, it should be the name of the boss.

On teh other hand, many times a boss delegates a whole goal or task to an individual.  At that moment, the name on the goal becomes that of the individual.

Even when “WE” feel accountable, we usually divide up activities so each person has their role.  This is the best way to get things done.  So taking a goal to the individual level sharpens up accountability and increases the likelihood that it will get done.

Experiment with putting people’s names of things.  If you are not able do it, accountability is probably unclear.  It you do not want to do it, accountability is probably being avoided.

Putting your name on something tells the world that you are willing to stand up and me counted.  People will knnow who to come to if they are unhappy, and who to praise if they are delighted.

I find my blog good in this way.  This is me talking to you.  If you like it or dislike it, I cannot hide behind the structure of a marketing department.  It makes me feel alive, and makes me do my best.  Ah, that’s what we call employee engagement!!

Have you noticed how many people these days are talking about culture?  It appears all over the media.  It is referenced in most corporate communications. It is in many business plans.  The culture in Washington.  The investment banking culture. The Silicon Valley culture. If you are reading this blog you are probably intending to consciously influence a culture through the work that you do and the way that you lead.  You will have an advantage if you are able to think and communciate very clearly about exactly what you mean by culture.  The tighter your understanding the sharper your interventions to impact.

Here are the simplist answers I can provide to some commonly asked questions.

 What is culture?  Culture is the shared operating style of any community – the values, behaviors and norms which are expected of any member of that group.  “How we do things around here”
Which communities have a culture?  Every group who spends a decent amount of time together and shares some common objective or identity.  A team, an organization, an industry, a sporting code, a religion, a country.
How is culture maintained?  People want to fit into the communities of which they are members.  We all look for signals about how to behave and what is expected of us to fit in.  We adapt our behaviour according to the messages we receive.  Those who really cannot or do not want to fit in either leave or are ejected.
How can culture be changed?  By understanding the sources of these messages, and changing them.  The most powerful messages come from what is done (the ‘walk’), not what is said (the ‘talk’). Messages are received from three sources – behaviors, symbols and systems. 
What is the most important influence on culture?  The behavior and decisions of its leaders.  When leaders walk their talk, culture changes.
Where do values fit in?  Values drive behavior and decisions.  Behaviors, symbols and systems are the outward manifestation of what is really valued.
How does culture impact performance?  Culture establishes the standards by which people behave.  Some behaviors enhance performance, others damage it.  A culture which encourages collaborative behaviors is usually more supportive of performance than a culture which encourages individual business units to act as an islands and not share information with others.
What is the link between culture and employee engagement?  Culture is a major contributor to employee engagement.  Some cultures are more engaging to work in than others.  Leaders who really demonstrate a commitment to walking their talk are able engage employees in the journey of changing the culture.

Do you have any questions you would like answered on culture?

Hi, I am back on line after a break in the sun over the holiday period.  Happy New Year to all.

Today my family said our goodbyes and set off to our various homes across the world, after 10 days together over Christmas.  As always, we remembered how much we love each other, how we click back into the family grove together, and how much we enjoy each other’s company.  I dedicated my book “Walking the Talk” to my children and the culture we created together.  Like any family, we have our rituals, our roles and our habits.  Underneath we have some shared values, and some of these originate from the years of personal development which established some good habits about how to hold real conversations with each other.

I was reminded that there are a few universal skills and values which, if practised regularly, will lift the quality of relationship, and of the culture built within a group of people.  Good communication skills and the desire to be open, to be honest with feelings, to express differences of opinion produces an environment in which everyone can feel supported and true to themselves.  On one level a family can hang out together and have some laughs.  On another level there can be undercurrents – resentments that build up over time, things left unsaid.  At first I find it easy to stay at the surface, and avoid the more difficult, honest conversations.  But then I start to feel that I am holding parts of myself back.  Everything feels somewhat superficial.  The effort put into having the real conversation pays back tenfold in the enhanced relationship that follows.

I find the same pattern in the workplace.  A culture which encourages real conversations produces a higher level of trust and engagement.  The stage is set for those moments where the business requires total open-ness.  Individuals feel that they can bring their whole self to work.  Leaders who can facilitate this level of relationship find that they can more easily build many other charcteristics into their culture, such as team work and accountability.  For this reason, I consider open communciation to be a universal value which should find a place in any culture plan.

Most of the posts on this blog focus on the benefits for the corporation of investing in culture.  Time to think about us personally! I have found many personal benefits for the individual HR professionals, business leaders and consultants who become involved in leading, supporting or managing culture.  It’s always good when something is good for the business and good for you personally too, right?  It’s more motivating!

My research has found that those who have successfully dedicated themselves to this mission develop three characteristics which serve them well across every aspect of their life.

1.  Values driven. To lead a culture requires the courage to take a stand for what you believe in and make decisions which may not be popular.  As you become more skillful at operating in this way, you become  guided by an inner set of standards, rather than an outer set of expectations.  You feel more ‘you’, anchored in your ethical framework.
 
2.  Responsible.  It is easy to point the finger at others, and adopt a belief that the culture would change if only they would change, feeling a victim to the behaviors and actions of others.  Influencing culture requires a different attitude, one which asks ‘in the face of the behavior of these other people, how do I choose to respond, what can I do to progress things?’  The skill to take this approach is useful to dealing with any adversity.

3. Open to feedback.  Feedback from others is a crucial piece of the process of growth and change.  When you learn to receive this feedback openly, without defensiveness, you learn a skill which is valuable across all your relationships.  What started as a project at work becomes a different way of operating in life.

Here is a good video from the Lemonade Group (thanks Chris Brogan for linking me to this one) about some people who used these three skills to turn their lives around after the trauma of losing their job.  They reached in and found the qualities of values-based, responsible and open to feedback and used them to recreate themselves.

Whatever the outcome for your company, the culture journey is worthwhile for your own personal growth.

Why do we do all this work?  What is the value in focussing on culture?  Everything, it seems to me, comes down to certain key behaviours that will make or break the organization’s strategy.  Culture is the container which supports these behaviors.  Values lead to them.  Bonuses reward them.  Appointments promote them.  Leaders role model them.

Knowing what those behaviors are is key.  They are the moments of truth.

• That moment when a sales person is with a client.  Do they push their product, or listen to what the customer is looking for?
• That moment when the operations guys are rushing to meet a quota.  Do they ignore that unsafe cable, or stop to make it safe?
• That moment when an idea is put forward that could cut significant cost.  Does the leader take time to encourage its development, or cut the exploration because it seems to vague?
• That moment when a product development person has the choice to involve colleagues or go it alone.
• That moment where a small favor to a government official will close the deal.

These are the moments that differentiate one company from another.  That impact performance. That multiply from the behavior of one to the norm for all.  The better we all become at making these links, the more powerful the argument becomes for investing in culture development. 

Have you read Trust Agents by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith?  Do you follow Chris’ blog?  I have been influenced by Chris’ writing on how to build trust with customers.  I think he models a paradigm shift in how companies and individual consultants can think about their customers.

For larger companies, a question remains as to how to build a culture which will support the type of trust-building activities Chris advocates.  In trust agents he describes how one of Microsoft’s employees was allowed to challenge Microsoft in the public arena.

Is your company ready to tolerate, even encourage such customer centric behavior from your employees?  Are you?  Customer centric sounds so obvious when it appears in a company value statement, but it actually challenges so many of our core beliefs about what is needed to be successful.  Why, after all, can it be considered customer centric to encourage your customers to buy any of your products unless they really are the best on the market on a key dimension which matters (quality, functionality, price, value, speed, ease).  How could that possibly be in the customers’ best interest?

Last week I worked with a professional services group whose goal is to build themselves into a truly global firm.  They operate now as a number of mostly independent local operations, collaborating and referring work to each other when opportunities arise.  As a percentage of total revenue, cross-border assignments are still quite small.  Becoming a global firm would give them the opportunity to match the globalization of their client base, and win more of the larger projects which these clients offer.  A strong business case.

A one-team culture would support this aspiration, as it would in many organizations.  A common complaint I hear when clients describe their organization is that it is ‘full of silos’.  Silos by geography, by function, and product line all limit an organization’s ability to service clients effectively, transfer best practice and save costs by undertaking specific work in geographies where it is most economical.  Rationally all this makes sense, but from the human perspective, operating as one team across boundaries is not a easy undertaking.

The further away we feel from someone, the harder it is to work effectively in a team with them, to look after their well being and support their successs.  ‘Us’ and ‘them’ thinking creeps in quickly.  I offer a few ideas to consider if you are working to build a one-team culture.

1.  “Who do I identify with?”.  Instincively, people will tend to identify most with those who are located closest to them because this co-location gives the opportunity to get to know colleagues on a personal level.  A one-team strategy needs to create lots of opportunities to build community, and build pride in the larger identity.  Technology makes this easier today, but it requires active planning because it won’t happen automatically.  The occasional conference call with half the participants silent will not do it.

2. Generosity.  Some people are willing provide opportunities and support to cross-silo colleagues without necessarily knowing how or when they will get it back. People with this mind-set build networks easily, and are likely to produce the early wins in a one-team strategy.  These are the heroes to seek out and reward, give them air cover while they show others how it works.

3. Aligned objectives.  I have found this to be the most important process to review to achieve a one-team culture.  The conversations about what should be measured, and how the objectives of one function can support those of another, surface the areas where people will naturally find themselves working against one another. 

In the group with whom I was working last week, I found a shared vision and a high level of good will.  Sometimes, especially if you sit in a position at the center, one can wonder why globaization is not happening more quickly, given these ingredients.  It is easy to underestimate the extraordinary effort required to overcome the natural tendency to align with those who are close by and to become overwhelmed by the local and immediate priorities.  Building a plan which specifically addresses the cultural element of the vision will help close the gap between aspiration and reality.

Yesterday I visited an organization whose culture was impressive in many ways. And what touched me the most was the way they had brought their customers into their offices. There were photographs everywhere. And frames showing their employees spending time in many ways with their customers. Their product is kidney dialysis, not a product nor an industry that I would naturally associate with loving your customer. I hear so many people talk about being customer centric, and I tried to put my finger on what it was that made this place real – walking the talk. I believe the answers lie in the heart. These people loved their customers. It radiated out of the photographs in the same way as it radiates out of photos of a happy family. I don’t think you can really be customer centric without engaging the heart.

The previous week I was working with a company whose main product is incontinence pads. We had a profound discussion about what it takes to feel proud of your product and your customers when your product is something that nobody acknowledges and talks about. How to feel proud of the dignity that your product gives to elderly people who can walk around without fear of embarrassment.  How to go into a nursing home in Russia, where the health service tends to be abominable and talk to the nurses who are trying to cope. So much potential for them to engage their people, engage with their customers, really understand what it feels like to be incontinent.  Think about that if your product is something fun and admired.

When you can touch your customers in that way, and empathize with them, and care, honoring them despite their lack of model looks. Then your business has meaning, and problems with employee engagement tend to melt away.

I myself feel honored that my vocation gives me the opportunity to be welcomed into these companies, and feel what happens when an organization connects with its customers.