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Insight and reflections from our work in the field
Don’t let your culture be an accident.
Look, it's not rocket science. If you need me to convince you that having clearly defined values is an important part of being a successful business then we're already off to a rough start. The debate isn't about whether values matter, or whether you need a culture to survive. Sure, you could likely get by without paying specific attention to these things for a period of time. But given the rapid shift in the workforce as millennial now make up the largest segment of the working population, and buyer behavior that's changing faster than ever before as a result of new technology, you absolutely need a cultural strategy if you hope to survive and thrive in the long run of today's competitive landscape. Your company has values and culture, whether or not you've taken the time to formally engage with them. The enacted values show up in the way things get happen in your business. Do you have a command and control environment where people have become dependent on a top-down sense of direction and approval? Are your players bound by directive to follow the
A discussion series on mindset and methodology for strategic organizational culture; Pt.1 – What’s your problem?
The problem with problems is that we often don't start working on them until it's too late. This is especially true of organizational culture. By the time an issue becomes big enough to demand attention and real effort, the symptoms have usually been coursing unchecked through the system and wreaking havoc for quite a while. It's not that we're negligent and irresponsible (I mean, we might be, but diligent, attentive people have problems too.) It generally has more to do with our capacity for strategic thinking and the efforts we invest in that process. We may be good at solving problems, we're just not so great at preventing them. Some problems are obvious and the solutions easy to recognize. Others may be more subtle, hidden within subsystems that generate indirect symptoms. In operations we can easily see when a conveyor belt isn't moving, a door is jammed or a process is breaking down and causing waste or inefficiency. With culture, we have to rely on a deeper level of insight and awareness in order to get to the true cause. What may initially seem like marketplace
Start where you are, and practice.
I was a bit nervous when I came into my first week of coach training a few years ago, feeling excited but self-conscious and wanting to make the right impression with this new community. I had come to this place through a long, meandering path of circumstances that seemed to be steering me along a path, but I still had some elements of fear and doubt about whether I would fit into this new arena. I'm intuitive and I pick things up quickly, so I have a tendency to slip into student-expert mode in these settings, to be the pupil with the compelling insight and demonstrate my competence in order to validate my presence. In effect, I trap myself in this space of feeling the need to be seen as expert even from the outset. Near the end of the first day we broke out into small groups to conduct our first supervised coaching sessions. We each took turns coaching one another using the techniques we had learned that day, receiving feedback from the other students and the instructor. Our particular group was supervised by
Lessons from the road: Where you look, you go.
I am not a perfect motorcyclist. I got a late start compared to many, first swinging my leg over a bike at the ripe old age of 31. Growing up, motorcycling was always something that other people did. It seemed cool but I had never been exposed to it or had an opportunity to learn, and it wasn't something that I was curious enough about to look into. When I finally did discover riding as the result of a three month staring contest with an old '72 Honda CB350 I found stored in the shed of an apartment I moved into, my life was revolutionized. It seemed to open a door to a part of me that I didn't realize had been waiting to come to life. It also filled everything with more possibility, more joy and depth. Routes I had been driving on auto-pilot for years suddenly became pathways to brand new adventures. The hour-long drive to visit my parents became a favorite weekend passtime. I would get out of work, fire up my bike and just take off with no destination in mind, riding only for
Watch your language
I was having lunch with a good friend the other day and he was telling me about a trip he recently took. We hadn't seen each other in a couple of months, so we were enjoying the opportunity to catch up and soon slipped into the familiar rhythm of well-acquainted banter. During the majority of the trip he had felt very much at ease and in flow. He was relaxed, happy to be one with those around him and everything just seemed to float along nicely. He met some interesting people and came home feeling inspired and renewed. But soon after returning home, he was troubled by the way this state of flow seemed to melt away upon reentry. Within a few days he noticed that he was no longer riding the wave of serenity that had seemed so effortless during his time away. He was sinking back into routine, and along with it some of the distractions and habits that he'd been free from on his trip. As he noticed this happening, he started paying attention and trying to figure out what it was that
Add value; subtract doubt.
Be authentic. There is no time for shallow pretense and self-obsessed insecurity if we’re ever going to get anywhere. This is about integrity: courage, truth and honor in all their many forms. It is said that our true value lies in being ourselves. I can’t think of a better way to put it. Make your self known. The universe needs you to complete the puzzle. You, exactly the way you are. You are not doing it wrong. You may have work to do to get to where you’re going, that’s fine - we all do. Just remember always to give yourself permission to exist, to be perfectly whole in your strengths and flaws. Allow your inner voice to speak through consistent action. Take a chance and give yourself a break, and always leave room to be imperfect. We are supposed to make mistakes and to fail ungracefully from time to time, because we need the lessons and the world needs examples. Trust the plan. Growth takes time, and it arrives quietly. Don’t waste your time questioning it or doubting the gift. Be valuable right now, in
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WORKING HOURS