Archive for the ‘Achievement’ Category

A "rainbow of honesty" how to use symbols to change culture

Here is an interview with the CEO of Ford, Alan Mulally, good all the way through, but especially from minutes 12′-16’30″.  He tells a great story of a highly visible moment where he found a way to use the traffic light system to get his people to know that covering up poor performance is a worse sin that the results themselves. You get to hear how quick it can be to change a cultural norm with the right leadership behavior.

Remember that culture is the patterns of behavior that is encouraged over time.  At Ford, the pattern of behavior that had been encouraged was to “look good” and make out that everything was fine.  So everyone presents their own area as doing fine, even though the culture was loosing $17bn.  To build an Achievement culture, transparency is the first step – you cannot improve if you cannot acknowledge where there are problems.

When a leader gets really clear on the behavior he or she is looking for, encouraging this behavior at every opportunity – and discouraging the opposite, sends the message very fast.  Every time unwanted behavior is ignored, the message is received that it is actually OK.  This is what it means to “walk your talk”.

Thank you to our client Christine Boulton, champion of the culture journey in the Water Corporation, Western Australia, for sending me through this link.

Why an effective culture counts more than a good one

I became engaged in a valuable conversation this week with a wise consultant during an accreditation I was running with a group who want to become partners of Walking the Talk.  She pointed out that I often used the word ‘good’ to describe a certain type of culture, and suggested that ‘effective’ might be better.  I think she is right.  A culture needs to be FIT FOR PURPOSE which means that it enables the organization to become more effective at what it is trying to achieve.  Think of it as a tool kit.

As employees, and as consultants, we are all biased towards companies which make us feel good and look after people well.  Speaking in terms of the Walking the Talk cultural archetypes, we have a bias towards a people-first culture, and might easily label this ‘good’.

There are many companies who have a strong achievement culture which many people do not find ‘nice’ places to work.  They are driven, tough and to some appear cruel, internally competitive and ruthless .  These companies are successful.  People want to work for them.  They are challenging, but rewarding (emotionally as well as financially). They fit the purpose of the company, and the purpose of the individuals.

My primary interest is in helping a company to be clear about what this purpose is, and consistent and honest in communicating this.  If the culture is working, great.  Find people who align to that.  The stronger the culture is, the easier it is for it to eject those who do not fit, and for these people to realise it is not for them.  It is easy to label a company according to our own personal value-set ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

The challenge for any change consultant, internal or external, is to play the role of devil’s advocate without labelling ‘bad’ which will inevitably create a defensive response.  Sometimes people think their culture is ‘fit for purpose’ and events show there were flaws (see BP and Goldman Sachs in recent blogs) and there is a role for those who can skillfully hold up a mirror without being judgmental.

Question 1: Does our culture help us achieve our strategic intent? (Fit for purpose?)

Question 2: Do other’s agree with this evaluation?(Feedback)

Question 3: How could our culture’s strength become overused? (Risks)

How to hold someone to account

I can talk at a theoretical level about a culture of accountability.  Or I can give you a small practical example from a conversation I had recently with a team leader in a retail organization.  It is the small changes in leadership behavior that send the messages that expectations are really changing.  These, added together, start to change the culture.

This is what he said:


“The outlets always submitted action plans but they didn’t really mean anything.  Now I have to monitor it because my boss was monitoring me.  I actually had to talk to my boss’ boss about one of my outlets. We put plans in place and then we asked what they had done and then asked again until it was fixed.  Before it was dealt with through weekly performance numbers and the underlying problems never got looked at.”

So what changed?  Turns out the boss’ boss was new, and he had strong values of accountability and people keeping their word.  He just hangs in there and does not let it go.  He isn’t aggressive, but he walks his talk.  And of all the team leaders in the organization he inherited, only one looks like they are not going to make it.  The others had just got accustomed to a culture of avoidance.  A culture can bring the best out of people, or the worst out of people.

Interviews are so valuable to hear the culture in action.  Pulling lots of examples like this together provides the suggestions when leaders are looking for ways to visibly walk their talk.  It is the small things that make the difference.

A promise culture

At times of economic crisis, any initiative that will increase short term performance is particularly welcome.  A few years ago, I studied the values and behaviors that were necessary to build accountability into a culture and built them into a change program.

What if you could build a culture where it was just not acceptable to keep your word?  A culture of making and keeping promises.  Remember every culture has norms of what is acceptable behavior.  In an accountable culture, the people take the giving and keeping of their word very seriously.  Because the cultural norm is that once you commit to delivering something, you do it.  There is also a responsibility for those who hold people accountable to negotiate goals which are stretch, but achievable.  Setting ridiculously high goals and then blaming everyone else when they are not met is no more a part of an accountable culture than giving your word casually and then failing to deliver.

The Achievement culture is one of the five I describe in my book.  Its contribution to the organization?  Achieving what was promised, over and over again.

Here is a clip where I talk some more about building a culture of Achievement and Accountability.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fijKaN6ROD8&hl=en&fs=1&]