Category Archives: Culture

What Do They Believe?

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“We have plenty of time to fight fires,” Jonas complained, “but never any time to make a plan of attack and everyone pull their weight. We are a bunch of individuals doing our own thing without the total picture perspective. We are the managers in the business. But we don’t manage, we fight the next fire, sometimes of our own creation. When other managers are not concerned with how their tactics affect the next process in line, the culture will not change. It’s a culture of, now that my part is done, I wash my hands of the problem and pass it along to the next manager to deal with. No ownership of the problem, so, no solution that benefits everyone. How can the culture change when the people in the culture don’t want to change?”

“That’s quite an analysis,” I replied. “And, probably accurate. As you watch this going on, what do you think is going through the minds of your management team? What do they believe? What are they trying to protect?”

“That’s easy,” Jonas said. Here is a list.

  • The most important thing around here is not to get blamed for anything.
  • The most important thing around here is to make sure, if you make a mistake, it does not get connected back to you, that someone else can be blamed.
  • The most important thing around here is that if you make a mistake, make sure it cannot be discovered in your work area, or your part of the process.

“So, are you surprised?” I asked. “If that is what they believe, why would they behave any differently? You cannot change the behavior until you change the belief.”
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Premeditated Culture is now available at Amazon.

Intentional, by Accident, or by Mistake?

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“You said every company has a culture. Some cultures are intentional, some are by accident and some are by mistake,” Sara repeated what she remembered. “So, how do we document our culture so we can make it something we do on purpose?”

“Culture has little to do with documentation,” I replied. “Culture is that unwritten set of rules that governs our behavior in the work that we do together. You can attempt to write it down, but writing it down doesn’t make it so.”

Sara was stumped. “Okay, I get it,” she said. “And, I guess writing it down isn’t any better than putting up a teamwork poster. So, how do we create the culture we want?”

“You can start by identifying the behaviors that you want,” I replied.

“But then, shouldn’t we write down those behaviors?” she pressed.

“Not a bad idea, but making a list doesn’t guarantee that is what you are going to get. Behaviors are always tested by the consequences of reality, and reality always wins. Culture is not what you aspire to, or write down, put on a poster, frame it on the wall. Culture is what you tolerate.”
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Premeditated Culture, now available on Amazon.

Start Small and Build

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“Why the long face?” I asked.

“I just spent my annual training budget on a re-engineering consultant,” Omar began. “I knew that re-engineering would require a reasonable amount of training to be effective”

“And?” I asked.

“I was happy at the beginning, the biggest bottlenecks were at the top of the agenda. In the re-engineering meetings, everyone was excited and enthusiastic. It’s only now, after the project was shut down and I sent the consultant packing that the truth begins to emerge.”

“The truth?” I said.

“I intended this process to bring the team together, to create trust, cooperation,” Omar looked down. “Tackling the toughest workflow issues seemed admirable. Only now, I find out about the different agendas within the team, some of which were hidden agendas, mistrust, turf skirmishes and blaming behavior. The team is worse now than before.

“Sounds like you had two large agenda items you were trying to solve at the same time?” I prodded.

Omar was quiet. “I figured that solving our throughput problem, attacking the bottlenecks would improve the way the team works.”

“And what do you think, now?”

“I think, before we tackle the bottlenecks that we need to work on the team. And pick something small to get a win before we tackle the biggest problems in front of us.”
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Premeditated Culture is available now on Amazon.

Costco Doesn’t Sell Cheap Toilet Paper

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“There are a lot of companies with low prices,” Curtis began. “But people don’t talk about Costco the way they talk about Walmart.”

“Why the curiosity?” I asked.

“We can debate the low prices, but what they talk about is the people,” Curtis replied. “Why is there such a stark difference in the people who work at Walmart versus the people who work at Costco?”

I nodded. “Tell me more.”

“When I visit, Costco employees seem happier. They’re helpful. They work there longer, turnover is less. Even though the carts are jammed full, the checkout lines move quickly,” Curtis explained.

“How do you know?” I pressed.

“I’ve shopped there. I’ve read stories. Friends tell me the same thing.”

“So, these are observable behaviors?”

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Both companies are in the category of low-cost-provider,” I said. “What’s different about what Costco believes about their team members?”

“Well, I know they pay their employees more,” Curtis was quick to reply.

“If Costco pays more, why isn’t that simply a higher expense? What does Costco believe about their team members that is different?”

“It’s not just about the money,” he stopped to think. “I think they believe that if turnover is less, recruiting costs are less, people gain more experience, experienced people make fewer mistakes, they know the merchandise better, that the total cost of personnel is worth the tradeoff against low wages. That creates a completely different working environment.”

“Do you think that different working environment has an economic impact on other things? Are customers more likely to renew their memberships? Are customers likely to buy more? If that’s the case, then is paying higher wages really an expense or is it just part of their business model? Do customers look at a visit to Costco as an adventure?”
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Premeditated Culture, now available from Amazon.

Independence

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In the United States, we are celebrating our 250 anniversary since our Declaration of Independence. In 1787, Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got here, a Republic or a Monarchy?” Franklin replied. “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

Stay safe this July 4th. We will see you next week. -Tom

This podcast just dropped.  All about Elliott.
KPI Fireside Chat, hosted by Keith Norris, guest Tom Foster.

Slow and Fast

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“I’m curious,” Millie announced.

“That’s a good mind-frame,” I replied.

“How come every time I get the team together to talk about a new method or procedure, when we are done talking, they go back to the way we did it before?” she asked.

“I assume you got some feedback and agreement at the meeting?” I replied with a question.

“Well, no one objected,” she said. “They nodded. At least they pretended they paid attention.”

“And, they pretended to do things the new way, while going about things the old way?” I smiled. “How long have they been doing things the old way and how long have they pretended to do things the new way?”

Millie pretended to think, but her answer was quick, nodding, “The old way, as far as I can remember. The new way, three days since the meeting.”

“And, so, what is your insight?” I asked.

“I can presume they haven’t had the time to assimilate the new way with the old way. But this change is so different, it’s not a matter of folding in a new method. They have to literally stop doing some old things and start doing some new things.”

“And I assume,” I continued to smile, “that three days is not quick enough for you?”

“Look,” she stared directly, “the new method will be slower at first before it picks up. Once they get used to the new method, it should double throughput. I want to get through the slow part as fast as we can.”

“I appreciate your impatience,” I said calmly. “Sometimes, you have to go slow, so you can go fast.”

This podcast just dropped yesterday, all about Elliott (53:00).
KPI Fireside Chat, hosted by Keith Norris, with guest Tom Foster.

Culture is Not a Poster

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Al Ripley arrived at Outbound Air on a Monday. The teamwork posters arrived the Friday before. He ordered them from Chicago, in the period when Outbound Air was simply the next assignment. One poster showed fifty people jumping out of an airplane holding hands. He used this poster before. It communicated, in a single image, the two things Ripley needed the organization to believe simultaneously, that everyone was in this together, and that they were all in freefall.

Premeditated Culture is now available from Amazon.

Vision and Mission

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Calhoun managed by proximity. He preferred to have his people close, to overhear, to intervene when necessary. He described the publication’s editorial philosophy with genuine conviction.

“We cover the new economy,” he said, “which means we cover people who are building things that have not been built before, where the rules are written as the game is played. That produces a specific kind of story, the founder ahead of the regulation, the protocol ahead of the infrastructure, the valuation ahead of the revenue.”

He leaned back in his chair. “Our job is to find those gaps and report them accurately. We have to gain access to the people inside, which means they have to trust that we will treat them fairly.” He paused. “And we will treat them fairly. Fairly does not mean gently. It means accurately.”

Premeditated Culture is now available on Amazon.

Hiring Talent

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Renata Voss was the firm’s head of recruitment and in her fourteen years conducted, by her own estimate, somewhere between four and five hundred candidate interviews. She sat in a small, dedicated conference room on the interior of the suite, no window, one door, designed to make the candidate feel the conversation was the only thing happening in the building. She developed, over fourteen years, a very precise model of who she was looking for, and a precise intolerance for candidates who did not fit the mold.

Her conversation with Gus opened with standard behavioral questions. “Tell me about a time when a project got stuck? What was the external obstacle? Resolution to the problem?”

Then, she watched him do something novel, not seen in five hundred interviews. Before answering, he leaned forward slightly. “Before I tell you this story, I need to make sure our conversation is confidential. I won’t reveal the names of anyone involved. But it’s important that you don’t share what I’m about to tell you.”

Renata put her pen down. Gus was about to say something that would require her to end the interview.

Premeditated Culture is now available on Amazon.

The Baton Pass

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Pruitt glanced at the other two shareholders with the brief eye contact of a shared understanding. “Documentation discipline,” he said. “Every document is right the first time. Every classification is accurate. Every valuation is current. The customs brokers we use on both sides know our paperwork before it arrives.” He paused. “You’ll want to get to know Carlos. He is our customs broker out of Nogales. He has an office on the US side. It’s his relationship that makes the clearance rate possible. Whatever he needs, he gets it.”

Everyone but Jarrad stood to leave the room. The clock on the wall showed 8:38. Jarrad stood and met their grip like a baton at a relay race. The handshakes were warm, but with a visceral quality of relief, an apology that none of them made explicit. Each finished their segment, it was Jarrad’s turn to be the runner. They escaped what all shareholders escape when they exit. They escaped the routine, the pressure, the obligations. The visible obligations and the hidden obligations now belonged to Jarrad.

Premeditated Culture is now available on Amazon.