Possibly Your Most Important Week One As A Leader

Ensuring Calm Cohesion triumphs instead of Fear-based Fragmentation

By Karin Stawarky

What’s the “week one” that I am referring to? When all those across the world have returned to their physical places of work from this extended period of working from home or quarantining.

Why is it your most important week? Because at a time likely unparalleled in your career, the stakes now have never been higher because of collective threats to one of our most fundamental needs as humans: our need for safety – physical safety, financial safety, emotional safety.  

And less obviously, this period has magnified another essential human need – for belonging. As work consumes the majority of the waking hours, it is for many a large component of self-identity. Work also provides us with membership in a community, and these connections feed us in different ways. When we are prevented from going to the familiar physical structures of the workplace and engaging in routines, rituals, and interactions that explicitly reinforce belonging in the context of work, we can feel un-moored.

As we are sequestered to home over an extended period, our needs of safety and belonging can be satisfied on one level. For many we have benefited from being cushioned in our most familiar and intimate space, our nest. We may have family members or people we love together with us. We connect virtually with friends and family through video or voice. The experience is like being wrapped in a cocoon which muffles the emotions of anxiety, frustration, despair, overwhelm, and fear.

Proactively shape the climate

The atmosphere shifts when we come back to the office. And that atmosphere at work does not just happen; it is generated when people come together and interact.  The most powerful influence over the nature of that atmosphere is you as a leader. As a leader in an organization, you shape what the qualities of the atmosphere are through your presence, your words, and your actions. The nature of the atmosphere you create will make it easier or harder for the organization to rebound from the current crisis, a world turned upside down. It can be a powerful force that boosts or holds back an organization.

At the most basic level, there are two different kinds of atmospheres that can be created: Calm Cohesion or Fear-based Fragmentation.

When an atmosphere of Calm Cohesion prevails, people share the mindset that we are truly in this together. We look at the world through the lenses of WE and US.  We are aware of and speak about the reality we face. While being clear-eyed about the implications, we experience calm because of the confidence in our individual and collective ability to see through to the other side of this. When we act as a collective, we multiple our energy and effort, generating significant force and momentum.  We focus on what we can control and what we can influence. We don’t let concerns over which we have no agency consume our thought and action. What we see is the organization acting as one whole, one unit, where inter-connections are reinforced. This activates the organization’s ability to tap into the full extent of the energy, experience, and expertise that is present and available, producing innovative ideas, insightful learning and knowledge, considered decisions, and aligned action.

When an atmosphere of Fear-based Fragmentation dominates, the prevailing mindset is one characterized by the belief that I am alone. In this case, the lens is focused on ME. One feels disconnected from others and without support. In this state, our minds tend to anchor on what is out of our ability to control and we live in the world of worst-case scenarios. We see all that is not present, instead of all that is. The risk of being in a state of overwhelm is high. A feeling of fear escalates as a downward spiraling train of thoughts of “and then… and then…” takes hold. The consequence? An organization fragments into individual parts. We experience separation from others instead of connection. Forward movement stalls. In a state of paralysis, the best ideas are blocked from coming to the surface, decisions (if made) are made reactively and isolation, learning is neglected, and knowledge remains unexploited.

What can you do as a leader to foster Calm Cohesion instead of Fear-based Fragmentation in your organization?

Put on your oxygen mask first

Mirror neurons in our brains sense not only the actions but also the emotions and intentions of other humans we encounter. A high degree of interpersonal sensitivity exists below the surface of our awareness. We often think we can “fake it” to others, presenting an external face (e.g. of calm, of confidence) at odds with the emotions wreaking havoc within. At a subconscious level, other people can quickly and effectively read your inner state more accurately than you think. It affects how they resonate with you and influences whether they decide to engage with you or follow your lead.

Managing your inner self is then job #1. How do you not let anxiety get the best of you? Consider what you need to maintain your personal center of calm; this inner calm is a state of being that is present within all of us and available to us when we need it. You may already have personal practices that help to re-ground and re-center you. Such practices may include meditating, being out in nature (walking under trees or gardening), creating or building something, organizing, or spending quality time with those near and dear to you. If you have not identified what those are for you, this is a great time to start experimenting. Clues that will help you discern if that the practice serves you is noticing if your breath slows and quiets, or sensing if your body relaxes, with an absence of sensations of tightness, constriction, or rigidity.

Create an atmosphere of safety

A key differentiator between Calm Cohesion and Fear-based Fragmentation lies in the effectiveness of our collective adaptive response to the crisis we find ourselves in. Neuroscience research highlighted by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk outlines two factors which influence the effectiveness of this response to threat: (1) the ability we have to take an active role and demonstrate agency (become an agent of our own rescue, so to speak) and (2) the arrival at a place of safety within which we are able to tap our imagination and inner creativity to generate alternative solutions to address the situation.

Some things you can do to create a space which engenders feelings of safety include:

• Make yourself accessible to others. Let people know when and how they can talk with you.

• Listen deeply, listening to understand and not to respond. Play back what has been expressed to you (“what I heard you say is….”) to affirm you heard them.

• Establish a regular communication tempo. In your communications, follow a consistent pattern of sharing where you are at now, where you are going, what you know and what you don’t know, and when you will get back to them with more information and updates.

• Highlight accomplishments of what has been achieved and unexpected discoveries.

Engage others in co-creating solutions

By involving your organization or team in the “now what” strategizing and operationalizing, you provide them with a degree of agency in shaping the future as well as the now. You benefit from the diversity of perspectives, experiences, and expertise to get a better-informed grasp on the situation and innovative approaches to address them.

• With your team, create a list of issues, challenges, or problems.  

• Go through one by one and screen them by their nature:

  • What ones do we have control over and can directly affect the what and the how?

  • What ones do we have ability to influence?

  • What ones do we have concerns about but that we have no ability to influence (it is out of our hands completely)?

• Focus on the subset that you have control or influence over and prioritize these in terms of urgency and importance. Brainstorms options for how to best tackle the top priorities.

Reaffirm community

Stories inspire us and connect us to one another. Identify and share stories from your organization’s history that exemplify attributes which will help you now to successfully weather this current situation.

Look for and reinforce examples of the kind of organizational community you most aspire to be. Seeds of who you are at your collective best are present all around you. Shine a spotlight on those to the organization as a whole.

Mind your mind

As you navigate the days ahead, you may well feel the tendrils of anxiety, frustration, or overwhelm within. This is entirely normal. Interrupt those thoughts and feelings in your mind by seeing these as an opportunity for you to reground yourself. Simple affirmations, said aloud daily, are powerful tools for engaging your mind as a partner instead of an adversary. An affirmation that I often offer to my executive coaching clients is:

“I am doing the best I can in this moment with all the knowledge, experience, and tools that I have.”

This is indeed an extraordinary time in our history. And the time can be extra-ordinary for you and your organization. See and seize the possibility that lies within your grasp.

8 Common Traps about Culture (and How to Avoid Them)

By Karin Stawarky

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This familiar Peter Drucker quote has been heard on so many conference stages, in team meetings, and hallway huddles. Yet we still can’t seem to learn this lesson. I am fascinated by insights like these -- about organizations, about teams, about leadership – that we have ‘discovered’ over the decades yet fail to systemically respond to. We are surprised when we experience the repercussions of old ways of doing again and again.

In my career, I have worked with organizations across the spectrum – those with a handful of employees to those with thousands of employees distributed around the globe, from early stage companies to hundred+ year old entities. I witnessed the authenticity of attention and effort that is paid to culture – and the weight it is given by the executive leadership as a strategic lever – vary just as widely.

Beware of the Traps

There are some common traps about culture that I observed in organizations regardless of their size or maturity. Each trap is linked to quotes inspired by things heard in organizations:

•       Product is king: “We’ll figure out culture once we have a viable product.”; “Culture is the soft, fluffy stuff. Proving our product works is more important.”

•       Rose colored glasses: “We are all smart, nice people … I don’t see an issue in us figuring it out and getting along.”

•       Someone else’s job: “Our HR person will figure out the culture piece.”; “Culture is just something the HR team is responsible for.”

•       Checking the box: “We did an engagement survey – so our employees feel like they can influence the culture.”

•       Hopeful osmosis: “A lot of us are from Company X. We like that culture; I think it works for us.”

•       Values as the ‘end all be all’: “We’ve defined our values. Isn’t that sufficient?”

•       The perks mirage: “We have all the perks in the office for employees – free food, drinks, games, sleeping pods, cool music… what more do you need?” or “We have epic company events. That’s what defines our culture.”

And perhaps the most insidious one:

•       Incubating the bad seed: “Even though Person X is toxic to our culture, they are such a good [engineer, salesperson, analyst, etc.] we won’t address it or fire them – after all, it’s only one person.” or “Person Y is the best in their field but has a reputation of burning through teams… we need to hire Person Y because the Board believes they are necessary to raise the next round with investors.”

All of the traps are problematic.  While each is distinct, I argue that they all reflect flavors of the underlying assumption of “we’re different” and its twin: “it [everything bad that I’ve seen or heard happen elsewhere] won’t happen here”. But organizations are more alike than they are different. Organizations are human systems, just like families and communities (be they religious, academic, civic, social, etc.). From relationships and roles to rules and rewards, as humans we orient and act in patterned ways.

Mindset Mantras for Organizations that Thrive

What does it take to avoid getting caught in those traps? In part, holding following mindsets:

Culture is inseparable from results.

My mother often would tell me: “you get out what you put in.” Business outcomes are affected by the culture you perpetuate. How conducive is the culture to attracting and retaining the talent you need? Does the culture inspire people to give their full creativity and effort of their own volition, are they doing the minimum required, or even worse, are they operating from a basis of fear? The sustainability of performance is intrinsically linked to the health and vitality of organizational culture. 

How we describe our culture needs be meaningful and actionable.

Culture needs to be specific to the organization, sprouting from and aligned with the organization’s unique purpose and identity.  And words matter. Language must be clear and simple in describing the key cultural attributes; to be actionable, concrete supporting behaviors everyone can identify with need to be conveyed in order to create a practical daily compass.

We all own it.

We each contribute to the organizational culture of which we are a part; it is a collective consciousness that we adopt and adapt with --- or rebel against. Yes, the CEO and executive team have the greatest influence, but everyone’s fingerprints shape the culture.

We need to be in continuous integrity with what we say is important.

Unfortunately, the old adage of: Do as I say, not as I do is one that I have seen alive and well in organizations. Plaques of values hang in the meeting rooms, while decisions are made and actions persist that run completely contrary to them. This is true at all levels of the organization. From headquarters to the front line, there must be congruence between what we define as our compass, and our words, our actions, and our nonverbal behaviors.

Our work on culture is never “done”.

Among the many lessons I have learned ‘from the field’ – as an executive, a trusted advisor, and an executive coach are 10 universal truths I hold about culture. Two of these truths for me are: 

I think about culture like a garden, which needs to be continually tended and tilled. How do you approach the initial design so that it complements and respects the terrain, the climate, and your own needs and preferences? How do the parts help to nurture each other?

Then, as what you planted sprouts: What elements are thriving? What are not? What needs more of what kind of support or resources? What needs to be weeded out? How do you protect it from unwanted pests (or, destructive influences) and erosion?

Keeping the Beat

Strengthening and evolving culture needs to be intentionally woven into the rhythm of the company, just like regular business or operating plan cycles.  I think of this Culture Cultivation Rhythm™ has having the following “notes” or elements:

FRAME is where you draft the primary design principles for the culture you want to intentionally develop; this is typically done by the leadership team. You ENGAGE the organization in refining those and aligning to them. The leadership team will then TRANSLATE those principles into key systems, processes, practices, etc. – effectively creating the ‘wiring diagram’. The leadership team must collectively COMMIT to living those principles themselves and hold each other accountable to them. Employees throughout the organization INTEGRATE those principles and build our or refine the organizational elements identified in Translate. The leadership team and others MONITOR the principles in reality, engaging the organization in feedback mechanisms and dialogue. Based on these insights, a point of view is defined on how the principles or the systems need to ADAPT. That triggers a new flow through the cycle.

So, what three things can you start with as you head out into that garden?

·       Ensure the foundation is solid and shared. The core culture design principles (including what is important to you and how you show up to one another) are your foundation – the proverbial cornerstone on which a company is built and expanded upon. Don’t rely on your own opinion of how strong it is – engage different audiences to test people’s actual experience of it.

·       Define the Culture Cultivation Rhythm™ – and stick to it. The rhythm is as much about what happens and when is it is who is involved. In the early stages of a company (or a team), you may need to go through this cycle more often than you think.

·       Hold up a mirror to yourself – regularly. Everyone has an impact on a system. How are YOU living in integrity with the desired culture?

We seem surprised when the likes of a giant like Boeing and GE fall from grace. Any culture, if not regularly tended in a disciplined way, is susceptible to becoming overgrown and overrun with ‘invasive plants’, choking out the desired growth. We all need to be gardeners for the environment in which we all thrive.

What If Every Employee Was Your Most Strategic Employee?

Imagine how your business would benefit. Here are three key employees you’re overlooking and tips for tapping into their strategic potential.

By Karin Stawarky

All organizations have the potential to thrive in our uncertain, complex, dynamic world. However, the resources required to do so often are not recognized and therefore remain untapped. These riches lie in the minds and energy of all your employees.

How do you better tap that potential? Challenge the assumption that strategic contributors sit in the corner office, have lengthy resumes or hold multiple degrees.  Asking the question – what if every employee was your most strategic employee – can surface unique value from unexpected sources.

Three examples of employee clusters often overlooked:

The front line employees

Those on the front line, directly serving your customers, have access to a treasure trove of customer insights. They have the ability to detect changes in preferences, new product opportunities, service enhancements, or new competitors. While sometimes subtle, these “weak indicators,” when aggregated over time, offer valuable intelligence. With insights from emerging data patterns, companies can design low-risk experiments to evolve the product, service offer or customer experience – well ahead of competitors.

Consider how bottled water rocked the soda industry. Coca-Cola and Pepsi had to play catch-up to niche companies who, as first movers, established brands, captured market positions, and built loyalty. Yet, Coke and Pepsi had scouts who could have tipped them off that a change was afoot: employees who drive delivery trucks, visiting bars and restaurants each and every day to restock coolers and shelves.  If those individuals were asked to pay attention to what they saw and heard while in customer establishments, imagine what picture would have been revealed (e.g. observations of more young people carrying around Nalgene bottles of water). What can your customer-facing employees tell you about your customers in real time that no market research will be able to provide?

The youngest or least experienced employees

When young employees join an organization they are often rushed directly into training programs to provide them with tools and knowledge to accelerate their productivity. The flow of knowledge sharing is typically one way, with a view that they are ‘blank slates’ to be developed. But how many times do we ask them to teach us?

Finding ways to harness the Millennials’ technology savviness and energy can catalyze innovation. Milennials think innovation is essential for growth, yet few believe their organization’s leadership encourages idea generation and sharing regardless of seniority. Crowdsourcing innovation can be a powerful “two-fer”: sparking new product/service concepts and business improvements while strengthening engagement. The Millennial Action Project spearheaded Hack4Congress, three hackathons mixing millennial political thinkers with technology experts to address dysfunction in Congress. Issues covered campaign finance reform to facilitating cross-partisan dialogue and modernizing congressional participation; solutions included policy innovations to new digital tools, like Coalition Builder, a free, open source tool for Congressional members to search issues colleagues are championing.  Multi-national companies to non-profits are increasingly adopting this format –hackathons or ‘shark tank’ exercises – to unleash creative thinking and tap the collective passion of this generation.

MasterCard, where Millennials are 38% of the workforce, takes this concept a step further. MasterCard Labs plays host to numerous mini-companies spawned from innovation contests on new product / service concepts within the organization. An example is ShopThis, a 9 person company with a 25 year old at the helm, which lets people buy products directly from pages of digital magazines. The value goes beyond revenue generated from these ventures. Actions like this provide powerful ways to surface entrepreneurial talent existing within the organization – and act as a valuable platform to attract more of that talent. This is particularly critical for a generation where the majority would prefer to work for a start-up than a global behemoth.

The experienced new hires

Most onboarding programs for experienced new hires focus on defining ‘what we do’ (think: products, markets, customers), intended to help them “get up to speed’. But often ‘how we work’ – and the relationships needed to effectively get work done – is not explored. What if these employees could make contributions of value from day one while simultaneously accelerating their learning of the culture? Yes, it’s possible.

Experienced hires offer fresh eyes and no ties to established routines.  Giving them license to ask WHY, long-held assumptions and deeply grooved ways of seeing and doing are tested. They should be tasked to actively observe the organization’s practices: Why do we to do things this way? What problem are we trying to solve? Are there different ways of solving that problem? Or, is it even a real “problem” in the first place, one that is still relevant?

At Organic, a pioneering agency in digital advertising, the CEO frames this as the "CEO Challenge." This positioning underscores his belief that from day one a new hire has a significant opportunity to contribute value. In the Challenge, he deputizes new recruits to observe and tell him what they see the company doing (that should stop), not doing (that should start), and do differently.  The Challenge offers a forcing function to pause and reflect on how work gets done. In some cases, the rationale for why things happen in certain ways is no longer valid … or it didn’t really exist in the first place (e.g. “because Bob did it that way, so we just started doing it that way”).  What if you gave new hires license to observe and challenge the practices of your organization?

The key ingredient is creating a context where the organization actively asks for the contributions of all its employees. And when a contribution is made, it is acknowledged and appreciated. Such a reinforcing loop will encourage employees to continue providing contributions over time. So the next time you walk down the hall and pass by the college intern, or the newest recruit from your competitor, or the individual at the reception desk, ask yourself: what if she is my most strategic employee? What does she know, see, or experience that I could learn something from? I guarantee you’ll be surprised at what lies beneath the surface.