culture

Living Into Values

We all have core values. They are the framework we live by. They shape our belief system and our way of doing things. Some of these values are more sacred than others. We would be hard pressed to waiver on the ones we hold the most dear. The most common stated values are integrity, honesty, kindness, spiritual faith and hard work.

Making this list is relatively easy. Acting it out, day by day, especially under pressure or when no one is looking, is the challenging part. These moments are the traps which bring out our true values, and perhaps not those we wish represented us. Our deepest values, the ones we're most committed to, are habitual. They show up in everything we do, whether we state them or not. They are the non-fiction version of ourselves. And, we don't need to think about them. We've practiced them so much, they merely happen.

Our values don't happen just because we believe in them. They happen because we practice them...we live into them. We aren't kind just because we want to be kind. We're kind because we act kindly. And the more we do so, the more we become the kind person other people see.

Our values are not static. They change as we change, through our experiences, our trials and through learning. Values are part of the growth process. They're an integral part of our journey, serving as the guideposts for who we are seeking to become. And, as we change, as our beliefs change, we need to develop new habits to support our evolving values. This takes intention and practice. If we hold punctuality dear (because we value another person's time), we can get better at it if we practice. Over time, if we form the habit of being punctual, we'll be seen more as a selfless person, and one who doesn't waste other people's time.

The key to living into your values is to make them habitual, so they happen without much thought. We need to turn pro at acting out our values. Like any other profession, start small, practice a lot, be honest with ourselves about progress, make adjustments, rinse and repeat. For instance, if we want to be seen as generous, we can start by making one person smile each day. Not two, three or four. Just one. If we do this well, one always turns into two.

All values are a possibility if we decide to live into them. Choose wisely.

You Only Live Once

Many things we do are permanent. Most of our life choices are indelible and create the fabric of who we become...how we’re seen. And, our choices also shape the world around us...how we’re all seen. Our own actions then come with great responsibility. Acting carelessly or too freely comes at a cost, both personally and culturally. Caring enough to act is if what we do will always make a difference rather than it probably won’t matter is a posture worth consideration.

Everything matters...to someone. And, as far as we know, there are no do overs. Our actions count. All of them. We each make our small dent in the universe. The size isn’t important. But, the impact is. Choose wisely.

Alignment

Think of the last ten separations, voluntary or involuntary, between your company and an employee. What was the cause of the failed relationship? Was it the lack of hard skills, i.e., competence? Was it not showing up? Was it a poor attitude? Or, was it failed company leadership, coaching and nurturing? Perhaps it was more than what's seen on the surface.

Most separations between an employer and an employee have little to do with the hard skills and competence. More often, just like a failed personal relationship, the root cause of these break-ups runs deeper, into the values and beliefs of both parties.

When someone regularly doesn't show up with their best self, it's rooted in the lack of care and commitment to growth. They don't care about the same things as much as we do. And, they don't value personal growth as much as we would like them to. They're not committed to forward motion, first on a personal level, which in turn fuels the organization they're plugged into.

The time to understand someone's values and cultural alignment is at the beginning of the journey together, or even better before the ship sets sail. The primary purpose of any interview then is for both sides to understand what makes the other tick, and how much alignment or misalignment there may be on a cultural level. More specifically, it should help us determine where we're going and why, who we will become, what we can contribute and what change we seek to make? The rest, the technical parts, experience and eduction are subordinate to the culture. They're important for sure. But, not the most critical. It's more important to understand dreams, passions, goals and why we're at the table...because that's what we get excited about. And what we get excited about is what gets us to show up fully everyday, even when we don't feel like it.

Alignment matters...a lot.

Safe Place

"These generous souls challenge me to grow while doing it safely and nurturing, never with intention to hurt or “fix” me.", Annette Mason

Helping others improve works best when there's common ground...alignment of values, beliefs and organizational direction. People here do things like this. It's also important we're all committed to better, to forward motion, to a growth mindset. But, none of it works if we don't feel safe. If we don't feel we can openly discuss our own challenges, concerns and ideas, we won't. If our flaws are seen as failure, something which can't be fixed, we've lost the chance to improve. The goal then is to remove the fear, to awaken, to help people see, in a generous and safe way, without fear of ridicule or embarrassment. The goal is to acknowledge we're all flawed, we're all human, and we're all here to help each other see our imperfections and get better. The only thing standing in our way is willingness to try. The culture takes care of the rest.

Boundaries

...create a common existence. They create a more certain future, reducing the chaos of an individually interpretive society. But, they come with a price...a common existence, and perhaps one we might not choose if it were up to us. Boundaries then, for the most part, aren't for us. They're for the others, the collective us. We give up freedom of choice for the benefit of making others comfortable.

The freedom to act how we choose, through the filters and lenses we use to see the world, is a selfish act. Offering up some of this freedom to others is selfless, a gift, and the price of being individual, of being both human and humane. The generosity of restriction might be the highest form of care. Choose both freedoms and boundaries wisely.

For or To?

How can she...

  • help me get where I'm going?

  • help me see things I'm not seeing?

  • help me get through the hard parts?

  • help me improve my work?

  • help me become the person others want to follow?

  • help me persuade the others?

Will she help me become more like her?

Most people don't want a leader to tell them what to do. They want someone to help them get there. We need to decide which leadership culture we're building, the one which does things for people, or to people. Choose wisely.

Unlearn with Purpose

We live within our boundaries. Some are created for us, like where and when we were born. Some we create for ourselves through actions and choices. And some we learn as we go along. We develop a point of view, values and beliefs through our ecosystem...the connections we make and the culture we choose to live in. And through these experiences we become biased. Sometimes, to our detriment. We tell ourselves stories about being the victim of circumstances, about how it's not for us and that it's too hard. We become prisoners of what we believe.

Learning through a flow of forward thinking helps us resolve some of this. We discover new paths along the way. And part of learning is unlearning, releasing our beliefs and sometimes our ideals in favor of something better, something provable, something more true for us now than a minute ago. Learning is a posture, which leads to a skill. So is unlearning. Actively keeping an open mind, which leads to a new possibility.

What can we renounce in favor of possibility? How can it help make things better?

HT to my friend Geo

Signals

The cleanliness of the employee restroom matters. Knowing the dreams of the lowest paid worker matters. Picking up trash when it's not yours matters. These things matter because they demonstrate care. They're signals we believe in a culture of doing things better with more attention to detail. They signal going out of our way to do the inconvenient thing for someone else's benefit. They signal what we really stand for.

How we act where and when no one is looking is a beacon of our integrity. And eventually, everyone is looking.

Southern Hospitality

Caring enough to be generous to strangers with a wave, smile or “how’s it going?” has little to do with location. Unconditional friendliness exists everywhere. But, it seems more prevalent in small, rural locations...places which move at a different pace and have somehow avoided the vortex of the world around them. Here the culture is different. Here people are neighborly because it’s the right thing to do. They act as if they might know you or might become a friend. A helping hand is always available here.

Of course, this culture exists in big places too. It’s simply harder to see it. Often the friendly signals are lost in the noise and stress of a faster paced and more crowded space.

Southern hospitality isn’t reserved for Southerners. It's available everywhere. We simply need to choose to see it, and more importantly, to do it...to act as if we see you. And yes, it does seem to work a little better with a Southern accent.

What Are Speed Limits For?

Rules keep a certain sense of order. They allow us to go about our lives without concern whether someone else is on the exact same page as we are...about safety, education, health, morality and so on. They also create fairness, a level playing field for everyone to work and play within.

Of course, we could choose to impose the rules on ourselves without being told to do it, without imposed consequences. But, we wouldn't, at least not equally. All of us have different views on almost everything...part of the uniqueness of being human. Our culture, our experiences, our education have shaped us to think a certain way...no matter the provable truth.

The challenge isn't whether to obey the rules or fight them, but to help make them better...especially for someone else.

Lead change, what a wonderful choice we get to make. Choose wisely.

Wir Geben Uns Mehr Mühe

Translated...We Try Harder.

I first heard this proclamation in my high school German class. It was the slogan of the car rental company, Avis. This was quite paradoxical since I was taking the class precisely because I wouldn't need to work harder (it was an easy way for me to get an A since I was already fluent in the language). But, lost in the translation was the profound nature of the point they were making. They didn't promise to be the best car rental company, have the best selection, the lowest prices or even the friendliest service. They simply stated they would try harder, implying they would give more effort. The focus was on trying, on approaching the work with more vigor...not the outcome. In this example, the extended effort directly benefited the customer. This implies a focus on the soft skills (real skills). I'm not sure how they measured this effort. I didn't care enough at the time to look into it...couldn't be bothered.

It's challenging to measure the results of trying harder, especially when it comes to non technical skills. How can we tell if more smiles translate into more sales? How do we know if being more approachable and caring for another person's feelings is serving our goals? The key is to first define our purpose and what  success looks like. How do we know when we tried harder? Does the recipient smile, tell us so, tell other people so, hug us, laugh and do a dance? The more specific we can be here, the more we can point to it and clearly say, people here try harder so we can make this happen. Of course, we need other guideposts to keep us pointed in the right direction. We need reminders like the one I saw at Zappos so many years ago. They had one number posted on the wall in the call center, how long it took for a human to answer the phone. They knew this was key to making the caller happy...which is ultimately what they cared most about. This was their "try harder" measurement for that group of employees. And, it was the only one. I found no others...and I asked. Zappos generated nine billion dollars in annual sales at that time.

Too often we get caught up in the measurements of the things easiest to measure, like profit and productivity. The harder work is to find ways to measure the levers which actually accomplish the change we seek to make.

Appearance

The universe is in a constant state of motion. Wait long enough and the star constellations will appear dramatically different than they do today. People of the distant future won't see Orion like we do. And it's likely, they won't see each other the same way either.

There's virtually nothing we can do to alter the celestial state. It will randomly become what it will become...entropy on full display. But, we can shift who we will become. We can choose to act in ways which might seem relatively insignificant now, but magnified over time, may cause a very different outcome, both for us and the world around us. Our poor eating habits aren't immediately visible. Our offensive language doesn't affect millions. Neither does helping an old lady cross the street. But, our persistent habits, both good and bad, change the culture. And, over time, our culture determines how the world, and perhaps the universe, sees us.

Our culture and appearance don't come from big moves. Rather, they're made with tiny steps...drip, drip. Each one counts, especially in the grand scheme of things. Choose wisely.

What Are The Symbols For?

The modern Christmas Tree has been around since the late 16th century. It was introduced to North America by Hessian soldiers in Canada during the Revolutionary War. Until the twentieth century, a live tree was celebrated almost exclusively as a private symbol of spiritual faith and family tradition. Then, as more and more commercial elements of the holiday were introduced, it took on new meanings, and has largely become a centerpiece of the season's decoration landscape, and a spot for gift exchange. Like top hats, a larger and more ornamented (often manmade) tree became a symbol of status and something to talk about...to show off.

Symbols are important. They remind us who we are and what we stand for. But, they also demonstrate our ability to engage in the game of status. Each one is an opportunity to better define our culture...and perhaps a chance to make our culture better. Inward and outward, they mean something.

People like us do things like this...choose wisely.

Taking Turns

Geese know they need to leave, to head South. And, they know they can't achieve the journey alone (they're too large and would exhaust themselves on the long trip). So, groups form. But, one goose needs to decide. One chooses specifically when to go...one bird leads. Once they set-off though, teamwork and instinct take over. The group's culture has formed through evolution. They've learned flying in formation significantly reduces effort (up to 30% less for each member) and increases the likelihood of the group’s survival and reaching the destination. The lead doesn't benefit from the physics of formation flight and tires before the others. But, the lead knows her turn will end and relief will take over. This method of rotation and spreading out the effort among the adult birds is understood. The culture isn't questionable. Everyone takes a turn and does some heavy lifting.

Leaders choose where and when to go. The team makes it actually happen. The key is to build a culture worth working for where it's understood eventually, everyone takes a turn up front.

Sum of The Unsung Parts

The guitar tech which ensures the notes ring out perfectly for every show, big or small.

The person who cleans the employee restroom like it was their own.

The dishwasher who inspects each plate as if every meal was a VIP dinner.

The Mom who puts a little surprise in the lunchbox.

The teacher who calls to check on us when we're out sick.

The convenience store clerk who greets everyone who walks in as if they were a personal friend.

The valet which cleans the bugs off the windshield.

It's often not the grand finale which makes the biggest difference. Rather, it's the small, unsung, and often tedious acts which add up to make the culture we seek.

Choosing to do the undercover, unnoticed and routine work matters. Of course, we don't have to do it. But, luckily we get to do it. Choose wisely.