In the movie, Talladega Nights, actor Will Ferrell incessantly cries, “I wanna go fast!” If you aren’t familiar
John Maynard Keynes was a famous economist in the 1930’s who predicted that his grandchildren would have a three-hour workday. He was wrong. In fact, some would say that it’s the opposite – work more and work faster in the same time seems to be the business culture - and the pace of our work is increasing. Whether this is a positive or negative may depend on your view. For example, more communication at a faster pace may support text over phone (great for those who prefer not to deal with people), or it may support more meetings (great for those who prefer relationships). More office space with no walls may invite interruptions or may support better collaboration. Without direction, culture can be a tricky thing.
I recently connected with author Jack Daly who said, “YOU CAN SMELL culture.” After consulting with companies around the world I can confirm that Jack is spot on, you can smell culture – or, your culture can smell. Jack wrote this:
How does your culture smell? Does it smell good, or does it stink? Do you have a culture by design, or by default? At times, it can be difficult to identify your culture, since you are part of it. Spend 30 minutes at a company, and you can describe the culture. Every company has a culture, so identify the key factors you seek and manage them accordingly. When I think of leaders and culture, Herb Kelleher and Jack Welch come to mind. In Southwest Airlines and GE, we have two companies where the leaders established a culture and worked to ensure it permeated the enterprise.
While both leaders and companies were effective in establishing their respective cultures and delivering solid bottom-line results, their cultures were different in design. But, designed they were. Culture headliners at Southwest have been fun, empowerment and teamwork. At GE, we see training and communication as the headliners. Companies that “manage their cultures well” over time consistently outperform companies that don’t. Here are the numbers:
I’ve identified three ingredients of their business successes: vision, key people in key spots, and culture.
Here are five ideas to jump-start your design of a winning culture:
Create a work environment that is challenging, satisfying, and fun. Storytelling can be the most effective tool to ensure the culture message resonates. People often forget concepts, but remember stories. So, spend more time sharing stories that underscore your desired culture. Stories are simple, timeless, and memorable. What percent of your time is spent on designing and implementing your culture? Don’t rush to the urgent at the expense of the important.
Many thanks to Jack for sharing the above insights. You may remember the 1986 Space Challenger tragedy and all the publicity about six astronauts’ travel to space – along with schoolteacher Christie McAuliffe. There was a culture within NASA that discouraged transmission of bad news to leaders. Engineers from Morton Thiokol built the solid rocket boosters and had expressed concerns for eight years regarding the integrity of O-rings, especially in temperatures below 53 degrees Fahrenheit. On January 27, 1986, Morton Thiokol engineers expressed grave concern to their internal management and NASA mid-management. The launch occurred the next day at 36 degrees Fahrenheit and the Challenger exploded midair due to O-ring failure. In the Rogers Commission investigation that followed, senior NASA leaders testified that they were never aware of the O-ring concern. Culture drives predictable outcomes.
Choose, create, communicate, and then cultivate the culture you want. Don’t leave this to chance. The long-term results are now predictable. When you begin to shout things like “Go Fast, Ricky Bobby!” or “If you ain’t first, you’re last,” you’ll be accelerating your team in the right direction.
Photo Credit: Flickr User Eddie Maloney, CC License