Four Cultural Signatures

Recently I came across a book titled Corporate Cultures. This book, written by Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy, is a classic on the rites and rituals of corporate culture. The authors combine insights from anthropology, psychology, sociology and management into a work that outlines the effect of corporate culture on strategy and performance.

 Fig: Four Generic Cultures

In describing the various types of company cultures, Deal and Kennedy present four cultural archetypes.

•       Macho – A world of individualists who take high risks and get quick feedback on whether their actions were right or wrong

•       Work hard, Play hard  – Employees take few risks, with quick feedback. Culture encourages maintaining high level of low-risk activity

•       Bet-your-company – Years pass before employees come to know whether decisions paid off. Big stakes decisions. High risk, slow feedback.

•       Process – Little or no feedback, hard to measure what you are doing, so people concentrate on how it is done. When taken to extremes, it is bureaucracy.

Can you place your organization on this map? What kind of culture do you have? Personally, what kind of culture are you comfortable working with? When a person’s behaviors stick out as being different in your company, can you discern the cultural reasons?

About Purpose, Priorities and Alignment

Some of the healthiest debates in an organization are about its priorities. Here is an exercise your organization could do, to develop a better sense of alignment.

1. Define your purpose.

Answer these five questions briefly (typically in 1 line.)

1. Who are you? (This question is not as simple as it seems to be. This is a question about your organization's identity, its self-perception. Many times it is extremely hard to get the right answer. )
2. What do you do? (List the products or services you offer, or better, say what outcomes you help achieve)
3. For whom? (If you were not around, who would miss you? Would there be a tear in the universe? Where? Who will mourn you? This could be customers, community and other stakeholders)
4. What difference do you make? (Obviously you make some difference in a unique way for those who will miss you. What difference is that?)
5. Using what unique competencies? (What is it about you that helps you make that difference year-after-year? What is your unique strength? Your secret sauce?)

2. Define your priorities.

Use a table such as the one below. Too many priorities are no good.

Short Term (3-6 months)	Medium Term (1 Year)	Long Term (3 Years)
1.	6.	10.
2.	7.	11.
3.	8.	12.
4.	9.
5.

3. Check alignment.

Now answer the following questions

1. Are your priorities aligned to your purpose?
2. Have you allocated resources (time, people) in line with priorities?
3. Have you prepared yourself to change resource allocation as you transition to mid-term and long-term?
4. Do you feel you can make some changes to align yourself with the priorities?
5. What are those changes, if any?

Developing People in a Growing Team : Coaching

When an organization grows rapidly, its members must keep up. In the half-hour long one-on-one (O3) meetings discussed in my earlier posts, the last 10 minutes are reserved for the team member's development. The question is - how do you go about developing a direct. The answer is - you do it through coaching.

Some people sense a negative connotation in the word coaching. Somehow it is linked to fixing the wrong things. Or  even worse, it is seen as the last resort before letting an employee go. Nothing could be further from the truth. Coaching is a pro-active effort to develop the direct to the next level.

Here are the main steps in coaching that I have found effective. These are largely adopted from Auzenne and Horstman's Manager Tools podcasts:

1. Identify the next stage of development a direct needs to get to. This would follow from his/her growth path and next position you plan to promote the direct to. For example, your direct may be a frontline sales person who needs to learn campaign planning as one step towards becoming a sales manager.

2. Collaborate with the direct and get a buy-in on the development goal. This sounds easy, but may not always be so. The direct may have a different view of his or her own future. You want to be sure the commitment to development is mutual.

3. Again, collaborate with the direct and identify some good resources  that would help. Examples would be e-learning  material, training programs, books, webinars, expert consultants, budgets etc.

4. Collaboratively create a learning plan. The plan should have clear deliverables that can be discussed in each weekly o3. For example, the next week's goal could be to download two books to Kindle and to schedule an appointment with a consultant.

5. In every O3, follow up with the direct and find out how the direct is progressing relative to the plan.

That's it. Coaching is not training. In coaching you encourage the direct to improve effectiveness. You do this through regular, goal-oriented communication.

Do you believe a manager needs to be expert at a subject in order to coach the direct on it? Do you know the growth path for each of your directs? Do you have a coaching plan for each of your directs? Do you think delegating some of your own work to a direct is a good strategy to develop the direct for the next position?

Encouraging Effective Behaviors in a Growing Team : Feedback

Do the math. When you have a small team, you have 24 hours in a day to work with them, in the unlikely case you all work round the clock. The team doubles in size, and you still have 24 hours in a day. How does that impact the time you have for keeping each of them focused on the most effective behaviors?

In an earlier post, we reviewed the one-on-one (O3) meeting as a mechanism for regular communication that builds trust with directs, in a growing team. In this post, we talk about one aspect of O3 meetings that not all of us are very comfortable with – giving feedback - which encourages effective behavior in future.

Clearly there are two types of feedback. Positive feedback, which encourages observed behaviors, and adjusting feedback, which encourages changed behaviours.

The positive feedback is easy, but it does not come easily to all, so let's mention it here. When a direct does something that deserves encouragement, give positive feedback. Example: When you came up with that idea in our project meeting, it showed us a way to meet our timelines. Thank you.

Now, we come to adjusting feedback. Here, Manager Tools (the site I referred to in my earlier post) shows a couple of ways to deal with it.

1. Cite the behavior and state the consequence. Example: When you show up late for meetings, it wastes everyone’s time. Just thought you should know. Now let the direct interpret that and decide where to go from there.
2. The same as above, plus add the line: Can you do it differently? Or say: What can you do differently? Example: When you judge others’ ideas too quickly during brainstorming, they feel less secure and we miss some good ideas. Can you do it differently? Another example: When you bring a project in late, it makes us lose money. What can you do differently?

Notice that in both cases the format is nearly the same: When (behavior) here is what happens (consequence) Thank you / Can you do it differently / What can you do differently?

Auzenne and Horstman, the Manager Tools gurus, go to great lengths in clarifying that you must cite behaviors, not characterizations. Behaviors are observable. Characterizations are your interpretations. For example, ‘you show up late for meetings’ is a behavior, and ‘you are unpredictable’ is a characterization. So is ‘you are arrogant’ or ‘you are a nut’. Behaviors being observable, are undisputable. Characterizations being subjective, are disputable.

Can you see the difference between positive feedback and praise? Can you distinguish between adjusting feedback and criticism – or punishment?

Okay, so when do you give feedback? Three points to check.

1. Give it when you are sure about the direct's behavior. 
2. Give it during O3, during your 10 minutes. 
3. Give it when you are absolutely sure you are not angry. 

If you follow these simple rules, your directs will look forward to feedback (I’m serious) and you both will feel better after each meeting.

Strengthening Bonds in a Growing Team : One on Ones

As a start-up grows from a few dozen employees to several hundred employees, and then to thousands, the founding team needs to devise scalable and resilient ways to foster relationships up and down the hierarchy. In a small setup, relationships are natural – everyone is physically together, and feels together in the venture. Growth can change all that.

One-on-One (O3) meetings with direct reports encourage relationships through regular communication. The rationale goes to basic psychology. Relationship is based on trust and regular communication improves trust, particularly when it is about things that the direct cares about.

Mark Horstman and Mike Auzenne are co-founders of Manager Tools LLC, a management consulting firm, providing consultancy and training to managers around the world. Both co-founders are United States Military Academy graduates (West Point) and former US Army officers. I am impressed with their work in this area. You can access their free and premium podcasts at manager tools website.

In this post, I summarize some of the lessons learnt about conducting effective O3s with one's directs. These are based on my own experience for over a year.

Great managers build relationships with directs by communicating regularly. The O3 is scheduled as a recurring appointment in my calendar, every week, for 30 minutes. This appointment is rarely missed, never cancelled and only rescheduled when there is a conflict. The meeting can be over phone, IM or in-person, in the manager’s office.

Every time before the O3 the manager needs to tell himself or herself: This O3 focuses on the team member. Not you, not your work, nor your issues! This half hour belongs to my direct. The rest of the week is for me.
The suggested format of the 30-minute O3 goes something like this: 10 minutes for them, 10 minutes for you and 10 minutes for their development.

Preparation for the O3 can take about 30 minutes – sometimes more. Trust me, the prep time is worth it. Review all deliverables and communication. Decide what you need to tell. Write down positive or adjusting feedback. Figure out what to delegate. Write down questions you want to ask. The questions could be about their weekend, week, work, family, project, questions, worries, etc.

Auzenne and Horstman suggest you start with the same question each time, and write down the answer your direct gives. I have not always followed this. 

Listening: This is the most important skill for a manager conducting O3. Clear your desk, focus, stop doing other things, and listen. And remember, do not interrupt!

Take notes. O3 must be documented. The Manager Tools site provides a free O3 form that can be used for writing your notes. After about 10 to 12 weeks, you can review your notes and they will be a rich treasure of information on the direct’s work performance, behaviour and development. This makes periodic appraisals more powerful and real easy.

There are two aspects of O3 that need separate discussion. How to give feedback, and how to coach your direct. I will write about these separately at a later date.

Developing Young Leaders in a Growing Company

If the transition of a manager from tactical management to strategic management is big, an earlier career transition from contributor to manager is even bigger. A learning event at Harbinger, known as the Emerging Leader Workshop, brings home this truth to participants by letting them experience this transition in a simulated environment. Sort of like a sneak peek into their future as a leader.

Here is a quick description of the general format of the Emerging Leader Workshop.

This program targets junior staff members with three to six years of work experience, who have excelled as individual contributors in a certain function such as sales, engineering or tech support; and have a potential to get ready for moving up. They meet on six to eight Saturdays for the workshop, typically spread over three to four months.

Each meeting lasts three-quarters of a day and has five parts. The contents vary depending on audience background.

1. Situational response
Given a realistic business situation, how do you combine your prior knowledge,  skills and judgment to arrive at an appropriate response? A typical example could involve responding to a project crisis involving multiple parameters such as customer expectations and team morale.

2. Problem solving
Use your analytical skills (and lateral thinking) to get to a solution of a well-defined problem in your area of work. For example, allocation of resources against a complex work schedule.

3. Written communication exercise
Prepare business-quality documentation of various types. Examples could vary from software release notes to announcements appreciating team member contributions to a project.

4. Research-based presentation exercise
Use the Internet and other resources to find material related to a technical topic and prepare a presentation with a coherent theme, such as applications of a cutting-edge technology, or competitive landscape in a particular product category.

5. Discussion on company values
Understand company values and find out how they translate into decisions made when the management is faced with a choice. Internalize the values by applying them to decision making situations.

The method for teaching each part is different. Several formats have been used, including case study, individual exercises, group projects, group discussions and lecture sessions.

Previous graduates of the program act as observers, and rate the participants on their performance during the program every day. At the end of the day's session, they convey feedback one-on-one, helping the participant understand his/her strengths and areas of improvement.

Participants that form a learning team are not necessarily co-workers, and their observer may not be a superior at work. We mix them up.

Occasionally, a bonus session features screening of a documentary or a movie after which people socialize, dine and discuss what they saw.

Already in its 4th year, the results of the Emerging Leader Workshop have been remarkable. Participants report a much better appreciation of the manager's role, a greater identification with the organization as a whole, a desire to play a leadership role, a sense of learning something new and a mindset change. Some participants have shown a remarkable improvement in presentation abilities, yet others have developed a more positive outlook.

Many times individual contributors are too comfortable in the job they are good at, and there is no impetus to want to get into leadership. The Emerging Leader Workshop delivers just that.

Valediction usually involves participant's speeches and presentation of a bonus and a memento.

Anybody aware of other programs or has ideas that could be launched through Emerging Leader Workshop?

Strengths Deserve Attention!

Unfortunately, most of us have little sense of our innate talents and strengths, much less the ability to build our lives around them. Instead, guided by our parents, by our teachers, by our managers and by psychology’s fascination with pathology, we become experts in our weaknesses and spend our lives trying to repair these flaws, while our strengths lie dormant and neglected. What bigger injustice can we inflict upon ourselves, than to suppress our true potential this way?

- Marcus Buckingham, author of the bestseller Now, Discover Your Strengths

What causes us to stay unaware of our strengths? What is behind this mental paralysis? Have we given up the courage, curiosity and sense of adventure that we were born with, and lived with, as children? Do we lose the desire to continue our hero-journey into our own unexploited potential, as we start growing up and conforming to the world around us some time along the way?

Each one of us is unique. No two fingerprints match, much less thinking patterns, abilities and behaviors. Then why do we try to be “like each other”? What does it take to be different?

When you want to be different, where do you look for encouragement except to your inner calling? How to build confidence in that inner calling? How do you forge ahead with our inner voice, when outer life is erecting roadblocks everywhere? How to look at success and failure in such cases?

It takes courage to stand up and assert your strengths. When you say you will build on a strength and reach excellence, it is a bold statement you make, and you make yourself accountable. It is easier to admit weaknesses. By agreeing to repair them and stop there, you agree to reach a level of mediocrity which matches the “average” around you. Socially this may be more acceptable than aspiring to excellence, but do we really want to go there?

Focusing on your strength is not about being selfish. On the contrary, if you bring the best out of yourself, you can inspire others, help them and make a difference to the world in many ways.