Building culture starts with identifying an “end game”.  What is your company’s purpose?  What do you want to build and achieve together?  This isn’t just a “touchy-feely” question . . . it’s a strategic and critically important one.  Being part of something bigger than you are is inspiring and can yield great results.  The purpose can be really simple.  At Zappos, their higher purpose is to deliver happiness – to make people happy.  And, it’s turned out to be an incredible business plan.  The important thing for any organization is to have a clear purpose.  What is yours?  And, more important, if everyone in your organization was asked about the purpose, would they know what it is?

Next, building culture continues with identifying core values.  What guides your behaviors and decisions?  Values can help you make sure that your higher purpose is achievable and real.  At Zappos, there are 10 core values.  There is no magic number – you can have 3 or 5 or 12.  How ever many you have, you need to make sure you can live with them and commit to them and have some teeth behind them.  If you have too many, it’s easy to lose focus and ultimately, lose the meaning of the values.  If they are values you can commit to, and make hiring and firing decisions around them, then they are a solid set of values.  The values are the key expression of culture.  When you ask employees and customers to describe culture, it’s the values that they’ll speak to because your values are your culture in action.

Finally, building culture means building the expectation into the organization, through things like job descriptions and performance evaluations, that living up to the core values is everyone’s responsibility.  By living your values, you’ll build and sustain your culture.

I  love doing culture work with clients because it is inspiring and reminds me that there are fantastic possibilities to be explored if we only open our hearts to them.  What possibilities are there out there for you, I wonder?

I admit that I’m challenging some of my own belief systems by asking this question.  I have Tweeted a lot about the topic and the role of leaders in focusing on employee engagement as a critical business driver.  Nonetheless, I feel compelled to explore the ownership of one’s own level of engagement.  First of all, I don’t believe the message to employees should be, “Get engaged or get lost.”  Rather, I think the message is, “It’s a team thing.”  In other words, we each have a role here.  Leaders, you must create a compelling and inspiring workplace.  Employees, you must show up and commit.  I choose to focus on the employee in this blog post.  Let’s give leaders a break . . . for the time being.

Okay, team.  It’s time to show up.  Whether or not you have a leader who understands the importance of engaging employees, you have a responsibility to bring your best to work every day.  Sure, it can be challenging.  But, you are definitely not going to get the scoop on the new project, get a shot at that new job, or be able to demonstrate that you’re the person your leader should be considering for that next promotion unless you are present and accounted for.  So, how do you get yourself motivated to walk in each day with an open mind and heart?  On many days, we may feel inspired by an initiative we’re deeply involved with or by a team effort that is allowing us to work “elbow-to-elbow” with someone we enjoy.  That can be enough to bring us skipping into the office.  Too bad some days aren’t like that.  Sometimes, we find ourselves not so wildly fired up over that report that has to be written or managing the “scope-creep” of the project we’ve been leading for 10 months.  Ugh.  How do you get yourself motivated?  Strengths and discipline.

Strengths.  Marcus Buckingham talks strengths with a boatload of research behind him: “Years of research prove that individuals and teams playing to their strengths significantly outperform those who don’t in almost every business metric.”  You’ve got to find out what makes you feel strong and do that as much as possible during your work day.  Strengths are not just things that you’re good at.  Strengths are those activities that make you feel competent and give you the energy to want to do more.  Do you know what your strengths are?  If not, find out.  A great assessment is one that Marcus helped create when he worked with the Gallup Organization.  It’s called the Clifton Strengthsfinder.

Discipline.  Find a system that helps you bring your best to work even when you’re not particularly inspired to do so.  That might come in the form of professional coaching to help you get organized.  Or, it might be a goal-setting process.  One of the best support systems for discipline in my book is the bestselling book by the incomparable Dr. Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  For more than 15 years, this amazing book has helped millions of people bring their best to their daily lives.

Got any other ideas on how employees can own their engagement?  Drop me a line and let me know.

With respect,

Lynae

I really appreciate his perspective.  Now, I’m not saying that annual performance reviews need to be ditched, as Colbert suggests.  I think there is great value in having documentation of performance management activities.  But, the annual performance review is often treated like a necessary task dictated by HR instead of an opportunity to take a solid look at an employees strengths, accomplishments, and understanding of what he or she should do more of to be even more successful in the coming year.  I have been one of those leaders at the end of the year scrambling to complete all the boxes on all the forms for all my employees and having all those one-on-one discussions before the HR-imposed deadline.  UGH!  That process feels forced and fake, and it often translates to employee feedback that is not authentic, and worse, not actionable.  Colbert argues that performance reviews focus too much on what’s “wrong” about an employee’s performance.  Whether they are completed annually or not, I agree with him . . . they would be much more valuable if they focused more on what the leader/manager can do to help the employee succeed. 

So, what’s a leader to do?  In most organizations performance reviews are non-negotiable.  A leader doesn’t get to say, “In protest I’m not going to do them.”  Nonetheless, a leader can make the process infinitely more valuable.  To do so means having discipline and commitment to an employee’s development.  It takes time, thought, and a little planning.  Many leaders might argue they don’t have the time.  I respectfully reply, “You must make the time because employee development is one of your top responsibilities.”  Leaders are required to lead.  And, performance management is an important part of leading.  When coaching and training  leaders, I offer these tips for making performance management an on-going and routine versus a once-a-year-phenomenon:

Schedule 30 – 60 minute one-on-one sessions with your team members every week during which time you ask them a variation of the questions below.  Your objective is to get a sense of what makes them feel strong and effective.  You also want to discover what they need from you to perform at their peak.  Finally, you must listen to what they have to say and make sure they see you listening.

• How can I help you bring your best to the job at hand?
• What are the circumstances surrounding your work when you feel the most competent and the most effective?
• What tools do you need to be even more successful?
• How are you solving problems you encounter?
• What barriers or obstacles do you need help in overcoming?
• Who do you rely on and partner with to get your job done?
• What questions do you have of me?

Before you end the conversation, after listening intently and discussing different approaches to problems, it’s really important that you provide them some feedback on what you are noticing about their performance.  This kind of feedback can either be positive or constructive.  The key is that it is timely and genuine.  Your team members need to know where they stand with you.  What’s working and what’s not?  What do you want them to do more of?  What makes you proud?  What would you like to see them do differently (and how do you intend to help them do so?)  Finally, say” “Thank-you.”  This expression of gratitude is a great way to let them know you appreciate what they bring, that they care enough to talk with you weekly about their performance, and that you honor their commitment to continuous improvement.

So, as I already mentioned, this takes discipline and commitment.  When you do it, it will pay off every day.  And, it will pay off at the end of the year when you’re required to document the performance evaluations for HR.  You will breeze through them because you will have had weekly conversations with your team members that have kept them engaged and informed throughout the year.  The annual process will become more of a formality than a forced event.

So, is the annual performance review a waste?  Not if you do your leader work throughout the year and make employee development a daily priority.  When that happens, the annual performance review can be a time when you get to celebrate that your daily work has created solid results.

With respect,

Lynae

Reach.  Of everything he said, and believe me when I say it was all riveting, when he talked about “reach”,  I was inspired.  He talked about reaching into the future to attain your goals and reaching into the darkness with the belief that what you’ll find is exactly what you are meant to have, even though you can’t see what’s there.  And, he talked about reaching for the next ledge on a grueling climb to make progress, one small step at a time.  He reminded me that goals are achieved and visions are realized when we reach for them.  We can imagine all we want, but we must reach for what we want.  Very little comes to us if we just stand in place and wait.  Erik didn’t let his lack of vision exclude him from experiencing life with exhilaration.  That’s him in the picture, without goggles, standing on the summit of Mount Everest.

In leadership, on teams, and in life, we must reach for what we believe in and what we want.  It’s really very simple, and completely challenging.  Reaching takes an act of faith, and in the case of a blind mountain climber (and often those of us who can see just fine), it takes courage.  We must have faith that we will find the thing we are reaching for, and we must have courage that if we reach we won’t fall.  Of-course, sometimes we will fall.  And, that’s life.  We must reach anyway.  Because most of the time, when we reach, we’ll find something . . . even if it wasn’t exactly what we’re reaching for.  While the result might not be the top of Mount Everest, it may be a small victory that inspires us to reach further next time.

In my effort to “reach” to achieve my goals, as Erik has inspired me to do, I will take action . . . do something . . . try.  The point is to reach in some way and toward something.  There isn’t a right or wrong way to reach.  You just gotta do it.  Okay, so I might not get what I’m looking for.  I might get something more.

In awe,

Lynae

Approaching  the challenge with sense of curiosity and wonder can make it seem less like a challenge and more like an adventure.  Okay, I admit, as a Myers-Briggs type ENFP that’s how I look at most things.  Nonetheless, there is something exciting about discovering new cultures that most everyone can appreciate.  As Dr. Livermore points out in the book, it’s not necessary (nor possible) to master all the norms and values of every culture.  However, effective leadership in today’s culturally diverse environment means:

• Understanding diverse customers,
• Managing diverse teams,
• Recruiting and developing cross-cultural talent,
• Adapting leadership style, and
• Demonstrating respect.

In future blogs, I’m going to explore the concept of cultural intelligence in more detail.  I want to tap into my network of global business partners and gather some specific examples of how cultural intelligence improves a leader’s ability to achieve results.  In the short term, I’m going to study a bit about Culture and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).  In my recent certification course, I learned that the MBTI has been translated into at least 20 languages.  What that tells us, of-course, is that psychological type is universal.  But, what’s key is how type is influenced by culture and how those influences shape how type is expressed.  Understanding cultural type differences can be another key learning for leaders in the quest for CQ.

In the meantime, let me know if you have any recommendations for research or resources on cultural intelligence.  I welcome your suggestions.

Lynae

The scene reminded me of some great leadership development content I learned from the Senn-Delaney Leadership Consulting Group years ago.  I’ve used a lot over the years, and it never gets old.  It’s called “The Shadow of a Leader.”  The idea is that leaders shape their cultures through a powerful combination of message aligned with action.  Through actions, attitudes and messages, they cast a shadow that influences everyone around them.  The shadow a leader casts may be strong and inspiring, or it may be weak and dispiriting, but it always exists.  It is a reflection of everything a leader says and does. 

So, as I watched the FedEx Kinkos team, I noticed they were following their leader, doing as he did, matching his actions and attitude.  Without knowing it, he was setting a powerful example and casting a dispiriting shadow.  It’s that easy to do!  Leaders lead without knowing it.  All they have to do is be themselves, and walk their own talk.  That’s the beauty of leadership, and it’s the burden of leadership.  Your actions speak loudly, and someone is always watching.

Managing your shadow as a leader is a simple matter of awareness and intent.  Here’s a three-step process for better understanding your shadow:

1. Identify your shadow.  How do your actions, attitudes and messages influence the culture?
2. Develop a shadow improvement plan.  Once you’ve identified your current shadow, focus on your strengths and figure out how you can use them to improve your shadow.
3. Share your shadow.  Talk about this concept with your team, and ask them to help keep you on track and casting the shadow that positively influences the work culture.

As Warren Bennis once said, “A leader doesn’t just get the message across, a leader is the message.”

In gratitude for a great lesson learned from my local FedEx Kinkos manager,

Lynae

The assessment identifies four different preferences: Extroversion – Introversion, Sensing-INtuition, Thinking-Feeling, and Judging-Perceiving.  The first scale, E – I, identifies where you prefer to focus your attention: outward or inward.  The second, S – N, identifies how you prefer to take in information.  The third, T – F identifies how you make decisions.  Finally, the fourth, J-P, identifies how you deal with the outer world.

What I appreciate about this work is that it sheds light on the different gifts we bring to a group.  Each of us has unique behavioral styles that when matched with other styles makes our world dynamic and interesting.

Those of you who know me well, already know that my preferences are ENFP.  I  prefer to focus on people and activity (E), take in information by seeing the big picture (N), use my feelings in decision making (F), and live in a flexible, spontaneous way (P).  People with ENFP preferences are generally believed to “see life as full of possibilities”.  That’s me!  And, that’s how BWR Consulting approaches work with clients.  We look for what is possible instead of what is wrong.

There’s a lot to learn before my certification.  And, I’m really excited about how, once certified, I can help clients understand their preferences in order to achieve even better results.  I’ll keep you posted on the process, and let you know what I learn.

With appreciation,

Lynae

I’m excited about communicating with you via BWR’s blog, PRISM.  I got the idea to call the blog PRISM while traveling through Europe recently.  There, I was reminded of the beauty of diversity and how a single idea can be viewed from several different perspectives.  Like looking at a light through a prism and seeing it reflected differently, we’ll use this blog to present ideas and view them from varying points of view.  After all, there is no one way to solve a problem, make a decision, build a culture or lead a team.  That’s what inspires me about organizational development and drives BWR Consulting to collaborate with clients to help them achieve great results.

Going forward, you can count on this blog as a source for issues that are important to me, but most important, are important to clients:  employee engagement, leading through change, building respectful cultures, cultural intelligence, effective teams, and much more.  From time to time, I’ll interview clients, colleagues and industry experts to gather varying perspectives about current organizational challenges and to share ideas for improving people, processes and systems.

For starters, I’ll refer you to the BWR Consulting website for a list of some of my favorite resources.  Click here to see my favorite books, websites and professional associations for organizational and leadership development.

With gratitude,

Lynae