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News Corp: values here, values everywhere?

My Kindle is full of stories of the demise of the British tabloid News of the World, closed down this week by James Murdoch when the practices used to obtain stories became fully exposed. The business pages talk of whether the imminant purchase of BSkyB by News Corp will now be in jeopardy. At the heart of this decision will be whether News Corp and its key directors are considered to be “fit and proper” to move into a more dominant position inBritish media. Under investigation is who knew what as News of the World journalists and paid private investigators paid police for information and hacked into private mobile phone voicemails, including those of a murdered school girl and the parents of victims of the London tube bombings.

In my experience, events like these are spikes within a background culture where certain standards and behaviours are condoned, encouraged or at least not eliminated. Individuals do not carry on such patterns of behaviour in organisations where leaders take standards of behaviour seriously. People pick up messages about how they are expected to behave through what they see around them. These incidents are part of a core process in media organisations – how information is sourced which allows them to break stories. Top leaders who do not ask questions about this whilst simultaneously putting pressure on their people to deliver more and more, are passively encouraging an “anything goes” environment. The higher the temptation to act unethically or illegally, the more active leaders need to be in setting standards and continually testing to ensure they are met.

The more senior a leader is – including directors who sit on the board – the more vigilant they have to be to explicitly and continuously hold their people to account for behavior as well as results. Without ever having worked at NewsCorp, I would consider that this responsibility lies as much with Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch as it does with the editors and journalists who were close to the action. By appointing and supporting key executives such as Rebekah Brooks, they are saying they are confident in her ability to run the business, and in doing so are revealing their own values hierarchy. These values would also be sure to influence other publications owned by News Corp such as The Times.

It may well be true that key individuals did not have specific knowledge of specific illegal events. But it was their responsibility to set and monitor behavior in a way that they would have known. This is what managing culture is about and it is a part of being a “fit and proper” executive.

As we watch how this series of events unfolds, consider the extent to which certain behaviors are actively or passively encouraged in your organisation. Do those at the very top understand the performance and reputation risks culture creates? Do they how to ensure that the level of pressure to behave to agreed standards is as rigorous as the pressure to deliver short term performance? These is do-able, but it requires awareness and discipline. Recent events at News Corp serve as a reminder of the performance impact of not managing these risks.

Update – finding our niche

It has been several months since I blogged in corporate culture and its contribution to organisational performance. At Walking the Talk we have spent this time further refining our products and testing them with our first clients from around the world. We have been training our first group of accredited local partners to incorporate the Walking the Talk culture management system into what they offer their clients. Above all we have been learning and correcting, finding out what the market wants, where we have a unique niche and how we can refine and improve.

We have learnt that culture does matter to executives and to HR managers, and that very few companies are confident that they have things in hand. We are finding an appetite to master the personal and managerial skills required to lead a culture which fits the organization’s business intent. We can provide the tools to achieve this. This blog is a small part of our intention to culture easier to understand and to share ideas which leaders can use in their quest to influence the behavior and values of their people.

Innovation: How Honda ‘kicks out the ladder’

There is always a challenge for leaders to learn the specific management techniques and behaviors they can adopt in order to build the culture they want. You’ve defined your target culture, innovation is one of your top priorities, now what do you actually have to DO as a leader?

I found a good video made by Honda in which the CEO Takeo Fukua describes a technique he uses called ‘kicking out the ladder’, similar to the English expression ‘burning your bridges’. By setting up a situation where not innovating will cause the team to fail, or to lose face, innovation follows. Here is the video.

I am often asked whether fear is a good motivator. My answer is that some fear, that adrenelin rush associated with being on the edge, does motivate and focus, (Think of the impact a deadline has on you). Too much fear will paralyse, or cause individuals to operate in a dysfunctional manner. A lot depends on the culture within which the people are operating. A culture of punishment and intimidation will increase fear levels and make normal situations fear inducing. A culture of support and encouragement, combined with a demanding stretch, will enable a healthy level of adrenelin flow.

Take a look at the examples Honda gives on how they manage this. I think they do it pretty well.

We found this video in a blog written by a consulting firm called Innovate on Purpose, who seem to have other good things to say about innovation.

The values hierarchy

We use a great exercise in one our training programs in which participants select and then rank their own values. The ranking process is the part I like the most. I have found that it is the HIERARCHY of values which is the strongest determinant of an individual’s behavior, and that of an organization. Most of us will agree that we hold a set of principles to be important, that we value integrity, and accountability, team freedom and respect for others. Most organizations will describe their values as including care for the customer, safety of their employees, innovation and performance. But it is idealistic to believe that every action can fulfil all of these. We have to choose, and in doing so our values hierarchy is revealed.

When a choice has to be made, which comes first? The hierarchy of values is seen most clearly when there are limited resources, and we have to choose how they will be applied. In Walking the Talk methdology, these choices become Symbols of what is really valued.

Time – there is only a limited amount, how do you use it? What do you prioritize? In those choices you show your values in action

Money – also limited, how do you spend it? Personally? And in budget allocations at work? Values in action again

Selection of people – only one space to fill. Who do you choose? What does that say about your values hierarchy? Which qualities in the possible candidates did you prioritize in your selection?

Office, car park space – how do you assign it?

Often, when leaders want to change or develop their culture, what is required is a realignment of the values hierarchy. In the past, new customers (sales effort) was valued more than existing customers (retention effort). In the future, looking after existing customers needs to become more important. In the past, we valued safety, but sometimes we cut corners in order to push through production volume. In the future, we will never compromise safety. These changes represent a change in the values hierarchy, and in the choices that are made at critical moments where it is not possible to fulfil both.

Thinking about the desird change in this way makes it more do-able. Often it is not necessary to introduce a totally new value (difficult), but rather to give more weight to an existing one (easier).

5 essentials to build a team culture

I could really not let this whole month go by without a reference to the World Cup. My sister-in-law tells me that what you need as a woman in business is to develop two very good sentences on every sporting topic. To introduce this blog I offer you mine on soccer.

As I watch different teams play, and read the commentaries in the newspapers which I get delivered each day to my Kindle, I remember the impact on performance that the culture of a team can have. France and Germany come to mind, for those of you watching the soccer. A lot of my attention is taken with working on the culture of larger organizations, but of course a team leader can create their own unique culture within their team. The team sits within the environment of a wider culture, and today the English newspapers have moved on to writing about the different cultures in the national football federations of England, and of Germany, who beat them soundly. They don’t use the word culture, but those readers familiar with the framework for building culture covered in my book will be able to spot the references to behaviors, symbols and systems. But, with the right leadership, individual teams can operate above and beyond the culture within which they sit.

So back to teams. What are the five essentials to build the culture you want in your team?

Set standards together and agree to be held to them. Standards need to be objective and observable. They can relate to behavior and to actions. ‘No interruptions’ is a standard. So is ‘Start and end all meetings on time’. ‘Be supportive to each other’ is not.
Point out examples when the standards are exceeded, and call it when they are breached. If people are not good at doing this, offer training. This is a learnable skill.
Line up the agendas of your meetings with the purpose of the team, which is the value the team adds as a team, over and above the value they add as individuals. If the primary purpose of the team is to share best practice, don’t spend most of the time reviewing last month’s performance results.
Select, promote and restructure team members with the team in mind. The culture of the team matters if it is delivering a value in excess of that which the individuals could add if you managed them one on one. A new team member whose behavior is out of line with the developing team culture can diminish the performance of the overall team.
Clear the air. Schedule time to resolve differences or unspoken resentments. Get help from outside the team if you need it. Internal Organizational Development people or external facilitators. This has symbolic as well as immediate impact. It shows that you value relationships as much as task.

If I had a third intelligent sentence to say on soccer, I would end this blog with a comment about the standards that I think England should have adopted. But I will have to leave that to you to work out.

In Portuguese – Cultura: é agora e somos nós

Today we launched our company in Brazil. In celebration, I offer a blog in Portuguese for the many people who are showing interest.

Escrevi um blog no início do ano e volto a publicar uma versão atualizada, pois hoje vi um artigo publicado na “Fast Company” , que enfatiza pontos valiosos. Quando escrevi eu estava visualizando o futuro. Desde que lançamos os nossos novos produtos no mercado, os quais tem como objetivo treinar os profissionais de RH em como liderar, gerir e apoiar a cultura, eu passei a ter tinha um veículo para fazer isso acontecer. Acreditamos que a gestão de cultura é possível, e quero oferecer estes produtos de apoio a organizações que pretendam desenvolver a sua cultura e tenham necessidade de construir uma capacidade interna maior para conseguir tal resultado. Esta capacidade permitirá que a área de HR consiga posicionar-se com uma contribuição de forma mais direta para o negócio.

A decada ’00s marcou a ascensão da cultura como um fator importante de desempenho do negócio. Nos anos ’60, ’70, foi a vez de marketing e gerenciamento de marca, com o correspondente aumento da importância dos profissionais de marketing. Nos anos ’80-’90 marcou o surgimento da tecnologia como fator essencial, do desenvolvimento do papel do CIO. Agora é a vez da cultura e o papel do líder de RH vem se transformando a partir do ‘velho gerente do departamento pessoal ” em um parceiro estratégico fundamental para o negócio com um assento no topo, sentando-se lado a lado com o “top team” nas empresas.

Existem alguns símbolos que apontam para essa tendência:

Em praticamente todas as principais empresas de consultoria, incluindo aqueles que um dia já “torceram o nariz” na hora de trabalhar com pessoas de RH, agora passaram a ter uma oferta na área “capital humano”. McKinsey, PWC, Accenture, etc. McKinsey, PWC, Accenture, etc etc. Etc Estes serviços foram o seu motor de crescimento nos últimos anos.
CEOs e as empresas que enfatizam a cultura e pessoas estão ganhando maior cobertura da mídia. Jack Welch na GE foi uma das primeiras, e outros lideres como da Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Google, Zappos, etc As pessoas querem trabalhar e comprar de empresas que colocam as pessoas e a cultura em primeiro lugar.
Gastar em desenvolvimento de liderança está aumentando rapidamente.. Segundo a ASTD, somente nos Estados Unidos, as empresas gastaram 109.000 milhões dólares em 2005, aumentando para $ 134 bilhões em 200. Deste último montante, 29.500 milhões dólares americanos foram gastos em recursos externos.

Vejo uma série de fatores que combinados provocaram esse aumento da importância da cultura:

Cultura tem sido identificada como a causa de muitos males corporativos, de falhas de concentração, às práticas antiéticas trazendo as empresas (Enron, etc), à crise financeira recente. Comportamento de liderança é o principal motor da cultura corporativa. Citação de Alan Greenspan: “O principal fator para prever se uma empresa vai ser honesta ou não é o caráter do seu CEO. Se o CEO estiver com o foco de seus relatórios de gestão em acompanhamento dos ganhos pessoais, essa atitude irá conduzir todo o regime contábil da empresa. Se ele ou ela insiste em tornar-se claramente um/uma representante objetiva dos valores da empresa, estando presente em negociações por exemplo, esse padrão irá reger os dados que são armazenados e os sistemas de auditoria”.
Com o envelhecimento dos baby boomers, há menos gente disponível para ocupar cargos de liderança. Um estudo de 2007 Bersin Associates mostrou que 53% das organizações enfrenta escassez de lideranças, nos níveis de gerência e diretoria de alto nível. Os talentos de uma empresa esperam uma cultura saudável.
Geração X & Y não tem nenhum problema de deixar a sua empresa se não conseguir o que quer. A era de lealdade do empregado e do desejo de segurança não existe mais.
O aumento do número de indústrias de serviços significa que a experiência de marca e os níveis de satisfação do cliente são muito mais intimamente ligados aos funcionários.
Novas tecnologias impulsionaram mudanças nos métodos de trabalho e tomada de decisão (por exemplo, equipes globais, a qualidade da gestão da informação, a complexidade do processo decisório, a velocidade da mudança competitiva) trazendo maiores demandas para os líderes. O antigo estilo de “comando e controle”não irá funcionar mais, e os líderes precisam de uma competência de nível superior em áreas como inteligência emocional, auto-conhecimento, habilidades de comunicação e construção de relacionamento. Essas habilidades podem ser aprendidas e incorporadas como característica intrínseca da cultura.
A ascensão das mulheres no mercado de trabalho mudou a “balança” mais para o colaborativo e reflexivo entre os elementos de gestão
As empresas de recrutamento abordam de forma agressiva os melhores talentos de uma organização praticamente todos os dias, e essas pessoas precisam estar muito comprometidas e alinhadas com o seu empregador para resistir às tentações que recebem. Líderes estão recebendo treinamento através de coaching, na tentativa de aumentar o seu nível de engajamento, ao aprender a lidar de forma mais positiva com as situações que frustração.
Fora do trabalho, tem havido um enorme aumento na atividade de desenvolvimento pessoal (pense no setor de livros de auto ajuda) e muitos líderes vem trabalhar já ciente de que existe uma relação entre a forma como eles pensam, como eles se comportam e os resultados que eles produzem . Essas pessoas querem o apoio ao desenvolvimento pessoal, incluindo treinamento, para ajudá-los a atingir um nível superior de desempenho.

Estou animada! Todos nós incluindo consultores, profissionais do setor de RH, os líderes empresariais – têm um papel para contribuir e ganhar com esta tendência, e provavelmente a responsabilidade de construir padrões mais elevados no comportamento das empresas. Estou pronta para explorar como podemos buscar esse objetivo de forma conjunta em sua empresa.

The future of leadership

How much more comfortable do most leaders feel doing the task side of their role, in preference to the human and cultural one? So often I watch leaders spending a huge amount of time focussed on the slides they are going to present in a meeting, rather then reflecting on the key personal message they want to deliver. Task is so much within comfort zone for most people. (Clue about comfort zone – when you are outside of comfort zone, you can feel it in your gut. Yes, it is physically uncomfortable. If you are not feeling that too often, maybe you are more in your comfort zone than you might imagine).

When I consider why many leaders spend so little time on culture, I conclude that it sits outside their comfort zone for two reasons. First, most leaders do not know how to systematically go about building the culture they want. And not knowing makes everyone uncomfortable. Second, changing culture means changing yourself, and that’s not the most comfortable arena either.

So it is always very encouraging for me to hear a CEO of a super successful company acknowledge culture as the most important role of the leader. Here is a Newsweek interview with John Chambers, CEO of Cisco. Its long, but some highlights

Minute 2.30 he speaks about how he has changed his view on the importance of culture
Minute 16.20 he gives a great example of how to walk your talk, and reinforce the behaviors you want in others.
The whole interview is peppered with other examples of the levers – behaviors, symbols, systems - he pulls to change culture.

Chambers has taken one-team/collaboration and obsessive customer focus, as his critical cultural drivers. He has done 137 acquisitions, and been very clear that the Cisco culture will be the culture of the new acquisition. And he has built revenues from $2bn to $36bn in 15 years.

My conclusion about the future of leadership. Culture will become seen as a critical leadership role. The skill of culture management will become more widespread (our company intends to help this process). And leaders who can sit comfortably outside of comfort zone, and work with their own behavior and that of others, will be the ones who succeed.

3 steps to show you are serious about culture

Are you a leader determined to change some elements of the culture of your business or team?

Or an HR professional who has been given the job of ‘making culture happen’?

Or a consultant wanting to give good advice to your client on getting traction on culture?

Here are some tips on how to get people’s attention and cut through any potential cynicism

1. Change a specific feature of your own behavior. Let others know that you want to make this change, and ask fo their help by giving you feedback when they see you reverting to old habits. In describing why you intend to change that behavior, explain how the new behavior will help the business achieve its strategic intent. For example: “I want to become better at asking others for their opinion. I think this is important for our business because people who report to me are closer to the customer than I am, and therefore their views will help us become more customer centric. If you see me slipping back to old habits of telling people the answers, please point this out to me”

2. Change the way meetings are run. Meetings take up such a large part of corporate life, so a change here is highly visible. Meetings are a microcosm of the whole.

Starting and ending meetings on time sends strong messages about accountability and discipline
Changing the agenda sends messages about a change in values hierarchy. For example, talking about safety before presenting financial performance numbers says safety is the most important agenda item
Having a stated objective for each agenda item sends messages about efficiency
Introducing a rule that all email devices are turned off sends a message about team respect

3. Make a significant change to your team. Bring in someone new whose approach would be seen to represent the aspired culture. For example, if you want to become more innovative, bring in a team member who previously worked at Apple. Or ask a team member to leave whose behaviour has continually undermined the desired culture. Any change in personnel is seen as highly symbolic by others.

These three steps are not expensive, send strong messages about change, and go way beyond words. Remember culture is changed by walking your talk. These three are ways that you can change the ‘walk’ fast and gain credibility that you intend to lead change.

Why an effective culture counts more than a good one

I became engaged in a valuable conversation this week with a wise consultant during an accreditation I was running with a group who want to become partners of Walking the Talk. She pointed out that I often used the word ‘good’ to describe a certain type of culture, and suggested that ‘effective’ might be better. I think she is right. A culture needs to be FIT FOR PURPOSE which means that it enables the organization to become more effective at what it is trying to achieve. Think of it as a tool kit.

As employees, and as consultants, we are all biased towards companies which make us feel good and look after people well. Speaking in terms of the Walking the Talk cultural archetypes, we have a bias towards a people-first culture, and might easily label this ‘good’.

There are many companies who have a strong achievement culture which many people do not find ‘nice’ places to work. They are driven, tough and to some appear cruel, internally competitive and ruthless . These companies are successful. People want to work for them. They are challenging, but rewarding (emotionally as well as financially). They fit the purpose of the company, and the purpose of the individuals.

My primary interest is in helping a company to be clear about what this purpose is, and consistent and honest in communicating this. If the culture is working, great. Find people who align to that. The stronger the culture is, the easier it is for it to eject those who do not fit, and for these people to realise it is not for them. It is easy to label a company according to our own personal value-set ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

The challenge for any change consultant, internal or external, is to play the role of devil’s advocate without labelling ‘bad’ which will inevitably create a defensive response. Sometimes people think their culture is ‘fit for purpose’ and events show there were flaws (see BP and Goldman Sachs in recent blogs) and there is a role for those who can skillfully hold up a mirror without being judgmental.

Question 1: Does our culture help us achieve our strategic intent? (Fit for purpose?)

Question 2: Do other’s agree with this evaluation?(Feedback)

Question 3: How could our culture’s strength become overused? (Risks)

Culture in a virtual team

Today a client asked me to help him think through how to build culture in a virtual environment. The business unit he leads is spread across the world, and employees physically sit inside the country organization. Communication is through email and phone calls, and meetings occur at most twice a year. Many leaders face this challenge, including those who are leading a functional group (HR, Finance, Marketing) who sit in a local organization but should also have affinity with the larger functional team. Working arrangements may mean that some team members may work from home, or spend much of their life at client sites.

Culture is so strongly influenced by identity, in the sense that individuals will want to fit in to the group they feel identified with. Peers are an important influence on behavior, and in a structure like this individuals may be unclear who they really count as their peers. Leading a virtual teams is like living without one of your five senses. One element of human communciation, rapport building and influence – the face to face encounter – is missing from the equation.

And, as with those who do not have use of their eyes, or their ears, the other senses have to adapt and become much stronger to compensate. What does that mean in practical terms. Here are three simple ideas I have found help with leading virtual teams and building a common culture.

Meeting etiquette and format matters a great deal because it serves to bring people closer. A ritual of having everyone say a few words at the start engages everyone (the ‘check in’). Starting and ending strictly on time (we’ve all been left hanging listening to music on conference calls where the leader is late). Asking people direct questions by name. Having an agenda. Being very clear on the purpose of each call. I think of these as the equivalent of speaking very clearly to someone who is deaf. Virtuality makes the nuance less effective. Everything has to be more deliberate.
Be human on email. Have you ever tried to read the emails you send out loud? If they don’t sound like you when you talk normally, you are missing an opportunity to engage with your virtual team. When email becomes the main form of human contact, it has to expand to show more of who you are.
Connect on Facebook. People’s Facebook entries show the person behind the name. For virtual teams, Facebook can become the equivalent to going out for a drink together.

Virtual teams who build strong cultures dedicate time to accentuating the mechanisms they do have available to them to build shared values, norms and connection. Do you have ideas to share based on what has worked for you?

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