Culture Code Notes
Notes taken from the book The Culture Code.
Creating Safety Use expressions like I might be wrong, what am I missing here? What do you think? Here’s a dopey idea, crazy idea.
Inviting input is what you want
How do you invite input on things that are difficult to change? Do it earlier on in the process?
When people do give feedback, show you value it.
Preview future connections: showing people where they can end up if they continue to work hard. Showing them their work has a destination that they can achieve.
Thank you's are important, must be constant to encourage collaboration.
Providing people an incentive to quit. Bonus to quit at certain points encourages people to make the right decision if they belong with the group.
Create spaces that maximize collisions, coordinate break times, increase table sizes, funnel people through one doorway.
Threshold moments: pay attention to people’s first interaction with the organization and help them immediately feel like they are apart of something.
Have to give time for reflection, what didn’t work, how can we improve, etc.
Moments of vulnerability increase trust and increase cooperation. By increasing trust between two team members it will spread amongst others.
People just need to be able to think for themselves and not just accept orders blindly.
Deliver negative things in person: less chance for miscommunication
When handling negative news, how can you turn that into reconnection with the group.
When forming new groups there are two important moments
1. First disagreement 2. First vulnerability
Exploring things here openly from the beginning is best. “Maybe I’m wrong, why don’t you agree”.
Listening:
Need to basically ask 5 whys but in a creative way, asking the same question differently each time.
Separate professional development and performance review.
Flash mentoring: instead of mentoring people for years, just have them follow you for a few hours to understand your tasks. This helps to break down barriers and build better understanding in the group.
Disappearing at key moments: I don’t know how much I like how they described this being done, but basically allowing people to figure out their tasks on their own and become more independent.
Giving workers an idea of why they are working, what they are trying to accomplish. Good story of call center workers who were calling for scholarship money being shown the results of their actions, having students who received the scholarship come in and talk.
Light house method: sending a beam of point a where we are, to point b, where we want to b
Name and rank your priorities. What defines your identity? Usually greatest priority is maintaining the group itself. Usually five or fewer.
Be extremely clear about these priorities. Leaders think people see things as they do but it’s not the case. Creating conversations where you talk about what you are about helps solidify this.