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Changing Corporate Culture — the show about nothing

In January of 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded on take-off killing all seven crew, and grounding the American space program for two years. Of the exhaustive investigations that took place (that led to a significant number of changes for NASA, and how they conducted their business), perhaps the most important change was that for the first time, talking about changing corporate culture was fair game.

The engineers and investigators determined the technical causes of the explosion, but when they dug deeper to understand why those technical issues were not addressed in advance, they ended up in the uncomfortable place of changing corporate culture. It turns out NASA had a culture whereby many qualified people knew there was a significant risk of disaster, but none chose to voice those concerns, even if they would have been listened to.

I call this an “uncomfortable” conclusion because highly technical people in any organization want to discuss things they can see, touch and/or count. Changing corporate culture is something that nebulous and messy. It’s difficult to define, impossible to measure, and probably the most important element of performance in an organization — as NASA found out the hard way.

So how do you go about changing corporate culture?

You don’t.

Much like Jerry Seinfeld dominated television with a show about nothing, organizations need to get about doing what they do. I was recently in the NBC store in New York, more than a decade after Seinfeld left the air, and discovered that a significant portion of the wares were dedicated to Seinfeld’s “nothing”. The Soup Nazi, Vandalay Industries, and Kramer’s hair all testify to the enduring quality of Seinfeld’s “nothing”.

Changing corporate culture is a lot like the show about nothing. What people do, how they interact with each other, how they manage conflict, what gets rewarded, who gets promoted, how success is measured and a score of other things all add up to your corporate culture.

The silliest thing you can do is to declare a change in corporate culture to some virtue you read about at some other company. The culture you have now is a product of the things above. If you want to change your corporate culture, you need to address those things.

And don’t think it will happen in a hurry. It will be a decade more before Seinfeld is replaced at the NBC store.

Corporate Culture: Key Levers to Change or Strengthen Culture

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What can you do if you’re looking to change or strengthen a culture?

1. Start with Vision, Mission, and Values

Where are we headed?
What is our desired future?
What is our purpose?
Why are we here?
What is it that we do?
What business are we in?
How will we behave?
What’s important to us?
Who do we want to be?

2. How we Work

Org. Design/Structure
Office Space
Meetings
Power
Communication
Tools
Dress
Policies

3. What Gets Rewarded

Compensation philosophies?
What KPI’s do we focus on and reward?
What behaviors get rewarded formally or informally?

4. People

Who Gets Hired
Who Gets Promoted
What Training do we Provide
How do We Treat One Another

Avoid Procrastination — and Coffee Shops

Back when I was in University, I elevated procrastination to an elegant form of art. Around the time every semester when I was supposed to be producing term papers, I would find just about any excuse not to do them. I would do the requisite scheduling of time to get them done, and lock myself in either the school library or my bedroom so something would get done.

As it turns out, I would have been better off going to the pub (where at least I would have had some fun) because those long lock-down periods produced either:
a) a thorough reading of the complete poetry works of Ezra Pound (more fun than managerial economics) when I was locked in the library

b) the cleanest bedroom ever, if I was relegated to home.

Luckily, twenty-five years later I’m starting to understand procrastination for what it is: a total and complete lack of discipline. Dr. Piers Steel recently wrote a book called The Procrastination Equation to help further understanding of this systemic problem. According to Steel, procrastination affects 95% of the population (I assume the other 5% are buddhist monks who spent upwards of 20 hours per day in meditation).

Dr. Steel spent about 10 years researching procrastination for his book. He probably could have gotten the research done in five years, if he was more disciplined, but I’m sure his room was as clean as mine was as a university student. Interestingly, he tags coffee shops as a huge enabler of procrastination. Add to this ubiquitous internet, television, video games and other people, and it’s remarkable we don’t all live in a catatonic state that Captain Christopher Pike found himself in in the original Star Trek series.

On this week’s podcast, Jed and I talk about why you might find yourself procrastinating, and what you might do about it. Here’s a hint: Nike had it right – Just Do It.

I’ve also pasted in a video clip below that’s a bit longer than normal. It will be perfect if you’re putting something off, and you want a 3-minute reprieve from actually doing something. We know we have a loyal following at Wily Manager, and if we can’t help you with your challenges, we’d like to enable you having fun while you wallow in them.

Now… I better get back to my writing – before I head over to the coffee shop.

Procrastination – Later, Dude!

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Why Are You Procrastinating?

Priorities – You’re not organized. Other things seem more important.
Overwhelmed – The task or job seems just too big. You’re not sure how to do it.
Satisfaction – You know you won’t like doing it.

How to Stop Procrastinating

1. Priorities

Force rank your to do list
- Does it have a deadline?
- Think through the consequences to determine how important it is
- How important is it to others?
Take them from your to do list … and into your calendar
Delegate

2. Overwhelmed

Break the job down into smaller, more manageable tasks.
Track your progress.
Don’t assume you have to do it by yourself. Ask for help.
Make sure you’re clear on expectations.
Delegate.

3. Satisfaction

Eat the frog first.
Tell somebody else about your commitment and ask them to check on your progress.
Delegate.

The Project Post Mortem: A Good Investment

Every few years I’ll do a job or a project for a governmental organization. Given that I spend about 90% of my time dealing with private sector organizations, I always have to recalibrate when I enter a public sector organization. Most often in government, I experience generally hard-working people frustrated by a bureaucracy resulting in precious little actually being accomplished.

The public sector usually attracts people who are generally risk averse, and as a result, the idea of taking action without perfect information, or allowing oneself to make mistakes and then swiftly correcting them is a hard sell. I seem to spend a ridiculous amount of time just urging people to hurry up and move to action.

In some cases, my problem in private sector organizations is exactly the opposite. Getting people to slow down for just an hour or two to evaluate and document their performance is often branded as heresy. In the case of doing some form of “look-back” after a project or initiative, public sector organizations tend to do a much better job.

There are probably a variety of reasons for this, not the least of which is that public spending is subject to much closer scrutiny, and by a wider variety of interest groups. Nevertheless, private sector organizations would be well advised to take a look at how their cousins in the public sector evaluate and document lessons learned from projects and initiatives.

Most often, the reason given for failing to do a post mortem is, “we don’t have time, besides… everything went well.” When things go very well on a project or initiative is the most important time to do a post mortem. Do you know why things went better than expected? Can you repeat that performance again, or was it just good luck?

To spend an hour or two properly debriefing a project or initiative may be the best investment an organization can make.

Project Post Mortems

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What is a Project Post-Mortem?

A “look-back” from a specific project or course of action
Occurs after the fact
Documents lessons-learned for use in similar future circumstances
Compares expected results with actual results

3 Types of Post-Project Mortems

A full, comprehensive project post mortem for the project or action
Bundle the project with other similar ones and debrief together
No post project review will occur, but it will be a conscious decision rather than just not getting it done

Benefits of a Project Post-Mortem

Documents the wisdom gained through experience, and what could be done differently next time
Understand why things went well (or not), and why
A form of structured feedback
Improves communication

How to Conduct a Project Post Mortem

Decide on scope and who should participate
Establish ground rules, and meeting roles
Conduct Gap Analysis
- Review expected performance or results
- Document actual performance or results
Document action items arising as a result of the PPM

Questions to Ask at a Project Post-Mortem

What are the KPIs for this project?
Where the requirements and goals of this project clear at the beginning?
Did we achieve the business objective?
What went better than expected?
What did not go as well as expected?
How were specific problems overcome?
What changes would be made if we were to do this project over?
Which process or methods caused frustration?
What specific tools or techniques were useful on this project?
Next time we need more/better involvement from…?
Does a smaller group need to go offline and evaluate parts of this project further?

Tips for a Successful Project Post Mortem

Do it as soon as possible after the conclusion of the project or action
Do not assign blame, but rather focus the intent on learning
Talk about team performance
Keep the discussion focused, and do not allow digression to related issues
Look for an 80% solution

3 Things to Remember about Project Post Mortems

Don’t let the project post-mortem become bigger than the project it was meant to assess
Take the time to do it well
Make it a learning exercise – don’t make it about personal blame

Leadership Boot Camp

Find out all about the Wily Manager Leadership Boot Camp:

Why bother?
What it’s about
Who should participate
How it works
What’s covered

Listen to the ‘Leadership Boot Camp’ Podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Leadership Boot Camp Podcast Slides

Download the Leadership Boot Camp Brochure:

Wily Manager Leadership Boot Camp Brochure

The 80/20 Rule and the Office Martyr

As a society, we’ve decided that many behaviours that were acceptable only a few decades ago, are now completely out of the question. A careful viewing of any episode of Mad Men will confirm how much has changed in a relatively short time. Gone are the days of getting completely plastered at lunch, and then driving back to the office to finish up your day. Same goes for smoking, recreational drug use, gambling, gluttony, and virtually all other forms of excessive, self-destructive behaviour.

There is one glaring exception: workoholism. I am often bombarded on Monday mornings with tales of alleged heroism about how someone successfully avoided their family all weekend, so they could work right through to finish some insignificant office project. The same people will drone on about how they get to the office before 7.00am, and work past 6.00pm on a regular basis.

Here’s a newsflash: this is something to be embarrassed about, not something one brags about. Not many people entertain people at the water cooler boasting about their other self destructive vices:

“I spent the weekend gambling away my kids’ tuition money!”

“I ate 12 boxes of Krispy-Kreme’s in one sitting on Saturday. Then I purged, and did it again.”

“I’m pretty sure my eating disorder is serious enough now to warrant medical attention”

All of these sound as ridiculous to me as, “I work 80 hours per week on a regular basis”. Congratulations – you’re completely dysfunctional, and probably need to see a mental health professional – top speed.

Workoholism is the working professional’s last and only chance to be a martyr. These martyrs think the tales of their self-perceived heroics will place them in higher standing amongst their peers and boss. It doesn’t – the only thing your organization cares about is what you get done. Think of how many times in your working life you’ve seen the obsessively hard worker be passed over by someone else, who works significantly less, but gets way more done.

There are only two situations that I could envision someone working an 80 hour week:

1) The exceptional project, event or occurrence that will quickly pass to return to a more reasonable way of working, or

2) You are a farmer – in which case you have my gratitude and respect.

The rest of you need to wake up and realize this self-destructive behaviour for what it is. For thoughts on how to get out of workoholic trap, visit our site this week, where we talk about the 80/20 rule, and how to apply it.

The von Manstein Matrix

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Who Cares About von Manstein?

Career military man who finished his career advising the West German government
He assessed top performers on how they got things done
Provides guidance on how to organize our time

The von Manstein Matrix:

The Pareto Principle:

80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts
You need to work hard to identify the 20%

How to Get “Lazy”:

Don’t fall into the activity trap. Nobody cares how busy you are, they care what you produce
You need to do more than just work hard
Decide what NOT to do

Applying the Matrix:

Don’t try to keep all people happy all the time
Have a work plan
Practice saying “no”
Assess your direct reports on the matrix
Fire the hardworking, stupid ones

Office Design – Enclosed Offices vs. Cube Farm

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Office Types:

Enclosed Offices
Open Space Concept
Cubicle Farms
Alternative

Why Getting Out of Offices is Great:

More and better communication amongst team members
More direct contact – you end up knowing people better
Space can be modified quickly and easily
Usually people have more access to natural light
Some companies have found it reduces cost because you can put more cubes per floor than offices. (Cisco reduced costs by 37%)
It’s harder for employees to slack off

Why it Sucks:

Reinforces negative notions of hierarchy when some are in cubes, and others in offices
It’s not possible to close a door for privacy
Meeting in your “office” is more difficult
Constant noise and disturbances
To do it well, isn’t really any cheaper than building offices
It lowers morale and productivity
Unless the work environment requires a high level of interaction with others, the lack of privacy is a distraction that negatively impacts productivity

Making it Work:

Over communicate any office-space change. This is a very big deal to people
Be very clear about your reasons for making a change, and make sure you consider the pro’s and con’s
You need much more meeting space in an open concept than with offices
Hire someone to help you through the transition
Ensure white-noise
If you go open – everyone must go, from the CEO on down
Research it well – there is no shortage of information arguing both for and against open office space

One Solution:

If employees spend the majority of their time working individually, put them in offices
If employees spend a great deal of time collaborating, put them in an open office configuration. Perhaps in offices of four to eight people.
If you want you employees to spend most of their time reading Dilbert, put them in cubicles.

Last Word from Robert Probst:

Before his death, the inventor of the cubicle apologized for his contribution to “monolithic insanity”

Changing Corporate Culture — the show about nothing

Corporate Culture: Key Levers to Change or Strengthen Culture

Avoid Procrastination — and Coffee Shops

Procrastination – Later, Dude!

The Project Post Mortem: A Good Investment

Project Post Mortems

Leadership Boot Camp

The 80/20 Rule and the Office Martyr

The von Manstein Matrix

Office Design – Enclosed Offices vs. Cube Farm

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