Telling All the Truth Series 5 | Culture Change: What’s the Buzz?

Sep 11

“If you think of it like this, you have a bank account and are either making deposits or withdrawals. Every interaction (email, text, conversation, meeting, note, water cooler chat, Slack message, etc.)”

Truth: Cultures can be changed, shifted, lifted, mended, or accelerated. It’s possible.

When I began this work almost 20 years ago, not many people were discussing “culture change” or “workplace culture” as much as they do now. After all, it was only in 1999 when Buckingham and Coffman wrote First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, where they captured the Gallup Organization’s Q12 indicators for how to assess an organization’s ability to support high performance by looking directly at the behaviors of the leaders. It was only in 2006 for Covey’s The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything that they shared data surrounding what happens in organizational performance when there’s trust and when there’s not. Now, you can do a search for “culture change” or “organizational trust,” and everyone has an opinion about it. The good news is that it’s no longer talked about as a “nice to have” element but rather an essential one. In my work, I often say, “No trust? All bets are off.” It’s that critical.

What I have noticed, however, is that people can talk about trust, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are willing to do the hard work of repairing or rebuilding. Frankly, it’s easier to be proactive about creating trust from the beginning of a relationship by being conscientious about the behaviors and interactions you are having. If you think of it like this, you have a bank account and are either making deposits or withdrawals. Every interaction (email, text, conversation, meeting, note, water cooler chat, Slack message, etc.) is for better or for worse. In other words, there are no neutral interactions. You get a chance, each time, to make a deposit or a withdrawal.

The thing that’s surprising is that if you sat someone down and asked, “What sorts of behaviors and actions would engender trust? And which ones would not?” most people know. They know! But there’s often a knowing and doing gap, as well as a focus on things other than how much we need these very strong, high-trust relationships to create the foundation for all the other things we want at work: higher performance, productivity, morale, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, increased sales, more targets attained. All the good things.

So, what’s the pathway to changing a culture that’s not supporting the business you want?

Fearless Self-Assessment. I was going to say “brutal” self-assessment, but in principle, I’m against any sort of brutality! “Fearless” isn’t accurate, either, because there’s nothing scarier than looking honestly, closely, at your own data and behaviors. In an organization, this means we ask for information, usually in small and large ways, and then we must look at it honestly. Surveys, focus groups, one-on-ones, and data around employee engagement, communication, customer satisfaction, performance metrics, etc., give us information to get curious, ask real questions, and, most importantly, decide how to respond.
Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Guess what? Like any other relationship, we don’t finally check all the boxes and say, “We’re awesome! We are DONE!” We are evolving, learning, and hopefully growing. We just surrender to that. This is not to say that we have unrealistic expectations about success, benchmarks, or celebration. It’s just as terrible to be in a culture of “never good enough” as it is to be in one that feels like it’s on a continual downward, dysfunctional trajectory. Burnout is burnout. But being uncomfortable invites us to be in a state of “eustress,” not so stressed we are paralyzed but not without stress (a lack of engagement or presence of apathy). Just enough challenge and commitment to change and to be able to be creative and innovative. That’s the sweet spot.
Commit to trying new things. I love using the words “pilot program.” Let’s pilot a new meeting format, a new recognition program, and a new sales structure. Let’s pick a fixed time wherein we will do our best to take some risks and try something new, talk about it along the way, assess, and recommit. Often, we get so caught up in the story of our working relationships or processes, buried under a lack of trust that keeps us from risking transformation together.
Get help. [1] Sometimes, as a leader or leadership team, you can do the above three things on your own, and sometimes, let’s be honest, you need help. If you’ve been struggling with some negative cultural elements or the impact of a team culture that’s just not working for you (how do you know? Turnover, loss of sales/customers, interpersonal strife, increased grievances, slower time to reach goals, inability to recruit talent, etc.), then stop trying to fix it yourself! Setting aside your ego to ask for help is often the most challenging first step. You need to be part of the solution, but you’re not always the best facilitator of the solution, and often, you’re way too close to the history and dynamics of that culture to do it.

[1] I’m always happy to talk things through. Reach out to me directly: libbywagner@libbywagner.com!

Missed the first 4 articles in this series? Catch up here…

Telling All the Truth: A Series

Telling All the Truth Series 2 | People Can Change

Telling All the Truth Series 3 | Mending What’s Broken

Telling All the Truth Series 4 | Performance: You’re Doing it Wrong

Learn more about the topics discussed in the Telling All the Truth Series…

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