jen briggs

I love this article from Fast Company. This idea is also powerful when incorporated across our life zones – personal and business. In companies with an open, purpose-centric, and responsibility focused culture it is important to teach the culture through the social system and perhaps a bit of formal learning for good measure. Helping people understand what will not be done, setting boundaries, is as important as the what-to-do and aspirational ideals.

Busy can easily take over productive in our daily lives. When people are in an open company, there will be a great deal of communication, and through this process, leaders can help set order and focus to keep the collective eyes on the prize. I prefer eyes on the prizes – plural with blended goals and scorecards vs. one, singular, overarching dollars only focus. All businesses need to set a minimum standard for financial stability, but goals related to the business character, culture, and brand image must not be lost in the pursuit of dollars or growth. Just like in our personal lives, in business, we can work on being our collective best as a community.

Vision boards or maps are a good tool in personal life and can also be used to develop a business community. Vision boards can help set a different measurement system to promote the achievement of qualitative goals.

For example, the social system we create will feel like __________________________ (insert your description) and we will be accomplishing ________________________ (insert). Images can represent or even be a substitute for words. Images are often more powerful than a sentance. The intention is to unify meaning between people, not to become wordsmiths.

For example, at New Belgium, at our best, the social system felt like tension was used to grow, healthy debate was occurring, we were respectful and vulnerable, and enjoyed our shared time. We were accomplishing the genuine combination of brand and culture and our customers felt, and purchased, the real, human-crafted spirit of our beer.

To get there –

• First, use a facilitated method to set the vision for the business – what will we look like and be doing in the aspirational version of our future? What will we not be doing? What are our weaknesses and how will we neutralize them? Just call them weaknesses – the euphemism “opportunities” needs to stop. Talk real, straight talk and call things what they are.
• Second, what habits/behaviors do we need to start, stop, or continue to get there?
• Third, cascade this start, stop, continue plan through the company so individual and team goals can be aligned with it.
  • Avoid annual timelines in general. Too far out and not tied to anything but a calendar. Develop steps and measure progress with attention and intention.
    • The harder the change, the shorter the measured timeline should be. The easier the change, the longer the time horizon can be.
    • The newer the person is to the change, more direction and monitoring is needed.
    • Don’t be wary of setting up group goals. We are looking for group change and group goals can set up a motivational network that keeps people unified.
    • Some people are uncomfortable with qualitative measures or soft goals. Get over it. Behavior change can be hard to measure, but it is no less important than quantitative activities. For example, perhaps there is too much gossip going on. Stop gossiping can be on your list. Don’t be too nit-picky on the measurement. The team knows. Better yet, figure out why people are gossiping and start the improvement there. If it is a social habit; just stop. If it is due to a barrier to reporting concerns or lack of respect for leadership, an image of what a better reporting or leadership system looks like can be created with an action plan for change.
• Fourth, Setup an accountability process. How will people be able to communicate their wins, stalls, and failure? Peer-partnerships? C-suite review? Manager review? Mentor/Coach review? Help people get comfortable with failure, so they can re-start and re-commit. But, be prepared to deal with patterns. From Vital Smarts we learn CPR. C = content, a one-time matter this is a relatively easy discussion. P = pattern, a concern of a repeated matter that has now become an issue. R = relationship, a person is potentially not coachable and trust is becoming an issue. Coach, support, and correct at the right level. The best coaches help us become the best version of ourselves and the best team we can be. The best coaches know we cannot literally become a different person and know it is about developing into our strengths.

There’s no perfect answer, but there is the common-unity of committed, responsible people centered around achieving something wonderful. Setting business goals and anti-goals sets the upper and lower boundaries, or swim lane, for attitudes and actions. Making a business-behavior start, stop, continue list open and repeating it as an organizational health check-in will help emphasize the unity and alignment.

Remember, every business has a culture. If you want to drive a culture of success with a strong organizational character it will be part of an integrated plan that is incorporated into the daily work of each person in the company.