Author: Tim Kuppler

A popular post I wrote for TLNT.com last year on organizational culture change is still on the first page of google search results for that topic.

I approached a training video company with course content based on that post and they felt culture is a topic best suited for top leaders. They explained that training video sales are higher if the content fits first line managers and individual contributors.

I explained the culture fundamentals that apply to top leaders also apply to work teams of any size since they are sub-cultures with behavior that’s also driven by cultural rules.

From that insight, the culture content was simplified and the WE WIN framework was born!

The benefits of the WE WIN framework

Leaders know culture is critical to business success but most don’t know how to translate that understanding to action and with a focus on results. The fundamentals about how to focus on both behavior and results are the key to uniting team members to make a meaningful impact in any type of organization and at any level.

WE WIN takes a broad and, what some might consider, soft topic and translates it to a straightforward framework that can be applied to most team challenges, problems, or goals.

W – WHY is the team approach being implemented?

The team leader or manager should assemble the team to review why an improved team approach is being implemented and the problem, challenge, or goal the initial work will be focused on to achieve results. Sounds simple but there are many culture fundamentals wrapped up in this first action:

• Results: Results are needed for any new cultural attribute to form. It doesn’t matter if it’s sales, drive thru wait times, parts produced, or some other area, but results for a shared goal must be able to be measured in some form.
• Purpose: It’s of course ideal if this problem, challenge, or goal can be connected in some form to the purpose of the organization. We all desire to make a meaningful impact in our own unique way.
• Importance of being part of a team: Most of us respond positively to being part of an effective team because 1) we desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves; and 2) teams position us to make a more meaningful impact than we can individually.
• Vision: What’s the leader’s vision for how the team can more effectively manage behavior and actions? Does the team share that vision and how can they add to it or refine it?

E – What are the expectations for all team members?

The team must define clear expectations they will coach and support each other to uphold. An excellent example of this came from an unlikely source. The Miami Dolphins football team was rocked by a bullying crisis last year but a group of team members united to define the “Dolphins Credo.” The Credo was printed on shirts in training camp and is now prominently displayed in the locker room.

Keep the following in mind with expected behaviors:

• Values must be translated to expected behaviors: We all interpret values from our own perspective (think about teamwork, respect, integrity, etc.) so it’s critical to define specific expected behaviors for a team to stay on the same page.
• Ownership is critical so team members should be involved in the process to clarify expected behaviors. The Dolphin players actually took it upon themselves to create the Credo. These behaviors shouldn’t be perceived as “coming down from the mountain top.”
• Focus on 1-3 specific behaviors to shift that need further reinforced or supported in order to effectively deal with the problem, challenge, or goal. Two behaviors in the Dolphins Credo that stood out to me as being in contrast to the bullying behavior are: 1) “If I see something — I will say something — I commit to call it as it is.” 2) “I am the change that I want to see in my team. I live respect and truth telling.”
• Commit: Team members must commit to coach and support each other to consistently show the expected behaviors. In the case of the Dolphins, it’s on and off the practice field–not just game time.

W: What improvement actions will we prioritize and manage?

Use basic feedback and prioritization techniques to engage the team in defining a few improvement actions to improve results with the priority selected in the WHY step AND to reinforce the expected behaviors from the EXPECTATIONS step.

Teams will naturally improve their effectiveness defining actions as they focus on the prioritization step. Some members may initially hold back their true feelings and ideas. Improvements may start from small ideas but the greater ideas and deeper feelings will emerge if initial priorities are constructively managed. It’s like building a muscle and effectiveness will improve as the “WIN” cycle is repeatedly followed.

It’s also important for the improvement actions to be documented for ongoing tracking.

I: Inspire and support each other through coaching and recognition.

Team members coach each other on the team behavior expectations and support each other as the actions are implemented. It may be appropriate to formalize an approach to peer recognition.

The Miami Dolphins players have formalized their recognition with the credo award. The award, symbolized with a gladiator holding a shield, is given to the top player – one on offense, one on defense, and one on special teams – after every week of practice, yes practice. It’s not the game ball or accolades after a great game but it’s the support of the credo in the work leading up to the game that’s recognized by the players.

N: Numbers – Focus on measurable results!

The team visibly measures a “unifying metric” related to the problem, challenge, or goal from the WHY step. Status on the actions from the “what” step are reviewed at a defined frequency, typically daily or weekly, and updated as the WIN cycle continues until the goal is achieved.  Team members openly discuss their progress on the expected behaviors, action items, and delivering results.

These reviews may range from stand-up meetings at a whiteboard where key measures and actions are tracked to more formal meetings with reviews of an action plan and measure(s). The team will begin to collectively understand what behavior and action leads to results. Remember that results are required for any new cultural attribute to form. Behaviors will be repeated and spread as the WE WIN approach takes hold and progress is made.

The Journey

The WE WIN framework is all about a team being on a journey together to make a meaningful impact.

Michael Jordan was famously quoted: “there is no ‘I’ in team but there is in WIN.”

It’s difficult for individuals to give up behaviors ranging from self-preservation to selfishness if there isn’t a clear team approach focused on both behavior and results.

The WE WIN framework is just a starting point for meaningful change but it’s packed with culture fundamentals that apply in a small work group or large organization.

What do you think of the WE WIN framework?  What team approach have you effectively utilized that’s focused on both behavior and results?

Editor’s Note: This post was a very popular post on Switch & Shift and was adapted to include Edgar Schein’s personal meeting room video.

It’s like being lost in the wilderness if you initiate any major change effort in your organization without specifically knowing how cultures effectively evolve or change. It’s one of the greatest leadership challenges, but few truly understand how cultures evolve.

Why don’t most people know how cultures evolve or change?

Culture is a hot topic and it’s all over the popular press whether it’s guidance on “creating” a great culture or coverage of the latest culture crisis. Unfortunately there’s a massive gap between the 86% of executives that think culture is critical to business success and the 51% of employees that think their “culture needs a major overhaul“ (Strategy& global assessment). This gap is further supported by the 13% of employees that are engaged (Gallup) and the 30% of employees that identify with their organization’s purpose (Deloitte).

Why does this “culture chasm” exist between awareness and effective action? I believe there are three reasons:

1. The popular press is flooded with “culture experts” of every form sharing their tips, keys, and levers for creating the culture of your dreams.  Sorry, culture doesn’t work that way. I was frustrated with the prevalence of that content so CultureUniversity.com was created with initial support from some of the top culture thought leaders in history.
2. Leadership development content does not adequately address the subject of culture. Leadership and culture are two sides of the same coin. Some providers of leadership development understand this and their content is packed with culture-related insights. Most miss the mark and the word culture doesn’t even make it in their marketing materials and detailed course descriptions.
3. Our educational system has failed us in producing leaders that understand the subject of culture. Once again, some institutions do a great job, but it’s extremely rare to run across any individual that has been taught the points we’ll cover in this article. #1 and #2 above aren’t helping anything. The common sense points in this article should resonate with most since we have all experienced the power of culture in many forms (as employees, consumers, etc.).

 We Need a Compass to Navigate the Culture Wilderness

You don’t need to be a survivalist like Bear Grylls to navigate the culture wilderness with confidence. He’ll even use a compass to make sure he is moving in the right direction. You need a general guide and it starts with understanding four specific insights about workplace culture:

1. Focus on business challenges, problems, or goals and how culture is helping and holding back results versus “general culture improvement work.” Edgar Schein, arguably the #1 culture thought leader in the world, said working directly on culture isn’t the best path because “culture can be a bottomless pit and a big waste of time.”  See Edgar Schein’s first “Personal Meeting Room” contribution to CultureUniversity.com where he explains what culture is and reinforces this point about being very specific regarding culture change.

2. Results are necessary in some form for any new cultural attribute to form. If the people in the organization don’t see results then they will eventually stop any new behavior associated with a change effort. There needs to be some learning, especially at the start, as part of any major change effort so people connect any new or revised behavior with results. It’s of course ideal if the results support the purpose of the organization and each individual feels a connection to that impact. You need to think about undisputed business / organizational results (growth, profitability, customer satisfaction, etc.) so that’s why the #1 point was focusing on a specific problem, challenge, or goal.
3. Be very specific about any values or behaviors you want to shift, change, or see more consistently. Ideally focus in on 1-3 very specific behaviors. Clarify the specific expected behaviors that will positively impact the problem, challenge, or goal (these could be in some area of collaboration, accountability, organization, or countless other areas depending on your unique problem and current behavior). You must be very specific.
4. A support structure is needed to sustain any new behavior so it eventually becomes imbedded in the cultural DNA. The ultimate test is whether the new behavior will stay in place as people come and go from the organization and new challenges and priorities emerge.  Culture change is like turning a ship on autopilot. Behavior is reinforced in countless ways across an organization and it helps if there is a “framework in which to operate” that reinforces the new and very specific behaviors (think strategy, structure, people, processes & rewards).

The Culture Lens

The culture lens may help with understanding how these four important insights connect as you refine your current strategies and plans to deliver improved results based on your unique culture.

• It starts with focus on a specific performance priority, challenge, or goal. This focus is far more effective than broad-based action and increases the likelihood results will be achieved.
• Define your specific behavioral strengths (how culture is helping) and no more than 1-3 very specific behavioral weaknesses (how culture is holding back performance) with how people work together on the specific performance priority, challenge, or goal.
• Revise your work related to the align and manage areas (strategies, goals, measures, management systems, communication habits and motivation) based on using extensive and repeated feedback and prioritization to support the behavior shift. This work is targeted on the performance priority, challenge, or goal and not general improvements.

Part two of this post will cover more detail on these align and manage areas because the work is obviously very challenging but the focus on a specific priority, challenge, or goal is critical. Leadership and the entire organization learns from the initial focus on a specific performance priority, challenge, or goal and applies the insights to work on other priorities or, in some cases, to broad-based improvements.

Culture Work is Not Simple

There’s an interest by many to make culture change sound simple. Even those that know better end up adding to the long list of articles on culture tips, keys, and levers.

The reality is that true culture change is hard and it requires sustained effort to have any chance of success. Most efforts will fail and will not include work that covers the four insights about how cultures evolve. It’s typically due to broad-based action versus initial focus on a specific business priority, challenge, or goal in order to deliver results.

The Culture Paradox

The good news is that a Culture Paradox exists: initial actions related to culture change are often the fastest route to performance improvement.  Huh, I thought sustainable culture change is hard and takes time? Absolutely, but the initial work to 1) focus on a specific problem, challenge, or goal and 2) repeatedly engage your organization in 3) identifying and changing specific things that have been “holding back performance” can produce rapid results.

It’s extremely motivating to “finally” begin addressing issues that likely have been a problem for a long time (since they were cultural in nature) and to go at it with extensive involvement in order to build ownership.

Do you agree with these insights on how cultures evolve and the importance of initial focus on a specific problem, challenge, or goal instead of broad-based action? What else have you learned that’s important to share? Please comment on social media.

Editor’s Note: read Tim’s most popular CultureU post: 8 Culture Change Secrets Most Leaders Don’t Understand

I was reading some amazing statistics from a Right Management report on talent management that covered global trends, challenges, and priorities. Much has been written about the reduced investment in talent during challenging financial times and the recent re-emergence of interest in effective talent management practices. Unfortunately the culture that currently exists in many organizations will be the single greatest impediment to sustainable talent strategies.

The statistics from a Manpower Group Global Survey of 38,000 employers

• 54% reported that talent shortages are impacting their ability to serve clients to a high or medium degree (it was 36% in 2012).
• Leadership development was identified as the primary focus of talent management investments with 46% planning to invest in that area (it may be part of the formula but will only be optimized if any cultural issues are addressed).
• 48% reported that the senior management team “sometimes sees the connection” between investing in talent management and business impact (what a disappointing statistic).
• Only 30% believe their senior management team is very confident that our talent management efforts pay off (an even more demoralizing statistic).
• 37% seek to develop the skills of every employee (these leaders may “get it” when they talk about “our people being our greatest asset” but why only 37%?).

Turn the talent management light switch on

I wish it was that easy and the statistics above show we have a very long way to go to overcome the culture and leadership issues that exist in most organizations. The lack of effective talent management practices did not emerge during the financial crisis but the recovery has fortunately led to many organizations re-examining how they attract, develop, and engage employees.

The advice from Right Management

They recommend a “three-pronged approach” to talent management:

Assess

• Strategically assess the talent you have and the talent you need to meet and exceed organizational goals. This assessment is necessary so you can “build a bridge between your talent strategy and your business strategy.”
• Assessing talent should involve a number of steps including competency modeling, organizational assessments, team assessments, and individual assessments.

Develop

• “Identify, develop, nurture and retain leaders as part of an ongoing talent development strategy.”
• They recommend a “targeted approach to development that builds capabilities in a variety of ways across all leadership levels.” Combine broad-based programs that support career development and employee engagement with “specific programs and coaching on the advancement of key talent.”
• They emphasize how the coaching can accelerate leader development and “deliver performance improvements that lifts the entire organization.”

Activate

• Companies need to recognize talent as “their main competitive advantage” and employee development and engagement should have a strategic focus. Engagement should include the define, listen, and engage elements.
• Define: Identify the right engagement metrics within the framework of business needs.
• Listen: Open up the communication channels and actively listen to gain the insights necessary to “tackle pressing needs and challenges.”
• Engage: Involve leaders and employees, especially key talent, in the process to build understanding with how employees impact the business and take action to implement improvements.
• They highlighted that effective engagement is about “creating a culture of high performance” that covers a clear vision and goals from leaders and the systems, processes, and tools necessary to succeed.

This is sound advice regarding an effective talent management strategy but how do you overcome the cultural dynamics that contributed to some of the dismal talent management numbers highlighted in the survey?

Sustainably effective talent management is a culture issue

Are talent management and maximizing the contribution of every team member absolutely critical parts of how your organization operates? My guess, in light of the survey results, is that effective talent management is not a deeply ingrained aspect of the cultural DNA in most organizations.

So what do you need to do to not only implement an effective talent management strategy but to do it in a way that starts the process to form a new cultural attribute? I can’t begin to adequately address that topic in one blog post but I will highlight one critical aspect. It’s the same culture fundamental that’s necessary for any new cultural attribute to form.

The key is undisputed results

Results provide the reinforcement loop necessary for any new cultural attribute to form. In this case, it’s positive results from your initial talent management efforts. Unfortunately, broad based action in many organizations leads to lack of clarity about whether the talent management efforts are truly effective (as indicated by only 30% believing senior management is very confident talent management efforts pay off).

Clearly connect some of your initial efforts to a top priority of your organization (growth, customer satisfaction, new products / services, etc.). Even if you have a broad-based plan, focus a substantial amount of energy on the one performance area you highlighted. Understand how your culture and talent management practices are supporting results in that one area and holding back performance.  Communicate extensively about your talent management plans in that one specific area and engage the broader organization in feedback and prioritization to repeatedly refine the approach so they feel a clear connection to the work. If you succeed in the one area then the entire organization will learn from the process and begin to see the value of your improved talent management focus as you expand the approach.  The key is undisputed results and building ownership as you repeatedly engage your team in refining the approach.

Your choices shape your life forever

I started this article with the quote from the movie The Bronx Tale.  The quote actually continues: The saddest thing in life is wasted talent, and the choices that you make will shape your life forever. Leaders need to make the choice to go at talent management in a sustainable way by applying the insights of talent management experts like Right Management and others.  Don’t allow the work to get spread out to the point where you lose a very clear connection to results and your entire organization will begin to learn the choices they need to make that will shape their lives forever.

How have you applied talent management approaches that built ownership and produced “undisputable results” in the initial stages? What can you add to the insights from Right Management and the need to deliver results? Please comment on social media.

Editor’s Note: read Tim’s most popular CultureU post: 8 Culture Change Secrets Most Leaders Don’t Understand

Leaders often struggle with managing approaches to improve engagement and ownership as part of a process that directly impacts results.  Company meetings, one-off engagement activities, and other approaches might work but there is a technique you should build into the fabric of your organization. It’s a relatively simple but powerful process that supports improved engagement, ownership, accountability, and results but some discipline and consistency are required.

The building culture muscle process

The concept of “building culture muscle” is extremely powerful and includes four very basic steps:

1. Engage a team in brainstorming specific improvements related to a top strategic priority, problem, challenge, or goal.
2. Prioritize the top ideas as a team with no big analysis.
3. Translate the top ideas to SMART goals for ongoing tracking.
4. Track progress as a management team but intensely focus on supporting actions related to the goals and visibly recognize positive progress as a team.

The first time the process is used there might be some hesitancy or even fear in some form about what issues and ideas employees feel comfortable raising.  Edgar Schein, a leading workplace culture expert, has highlighted that “upward communication is faulty in most organizations.”  This process helps build the environment to improve communication, focus, and ownership if leaders truly listen, take action on the top ideas from the overall group, and integrate the approach as a habit in the overall operating model.

Ruth Gordon said “courage is like a muscle; we strengthen it by use.”  If there is positive action in response to the first time the approach is used then participants are more comfortable raising deeper issues and more progressive ideas the next time around – it’s like a muscle.  This process is dramatically different than brainstorming a list of “ideas” and then leaders deciding what action to take.  Every participant ends up judging whether the “right” ideas are translated to the “right” actions.  The key is the prioritization step as a group to build ownership.

I have used the process hundreds of times and there are many details that help increase the likelihood you will experience positive results.

Different than brainstorming

My favorite approach to build this capability quickly is an “involvement meeting.”  The purpose is to engage the participants in clarifying priorities or plans as a team related to key strategies or goals.  An involvement meeting should include a few leadership levels of the organization at a minimum but the concepts works with individual leadership teams and other groups.  Some organizations have top 100 meetings or even larger company meetings to engage personnel from many locations while small businesses might engage all of their employees.

Break-out groups are identified to engage in feedback and prioritization as a team related to supporting goals or actions for a major strategic priority.

I like utilizing appreciative inquiry techniques with a focus on strengths and creating the future when defining the break-out questions versus problem solving approaches to “fix” various areas.  An example: it’s 12 months from now and we have dramatically improved our customer service.  What were the specific improvements we focused on as a team to achieve this result?

The following routine seems to work best to facilitate these break-out activities:

• Each team works together to answer a positively-worded question about identifying priorities to improve a particular area of the organization (a strategic priority or a major supporting priority)
• Each team brainstorms specific improvement options and lists them on a flip chart (no long debates).
• Each team then agrees, typically through a vote, on the top 2-3 priorities for improvement and identifies each on the flip chart (circle, identify with star, etc.)
• Each team briefly reports out on only their top 2-3 priorities (only 2-4 minutes per team)
• Feedback from all teams is consolidated on a few flip charts (only the top 2-3 priorities identified from each team)
• The flip charts are posted in a central area and all attendees vote on the overall priorities for improvement (using stickers or markers during a break or over lunch).
• Multiple strategic priorities or improvement areas may be covered in one meeting. It’s often effective to use one break-out activity to select a key priority and to follow it up with another break-out on the top improvement actions for that priority.

The leader’s role – listen, learn, and lead!

The involvement meeting approach isn’t giving up leadership and letting the organization run everything.  It’s very important for leaders to “set the stage” for discussion about each subject so the break-out activities have the right focus without crushing them with lots of boundaries and their own opinions.  The leader must listen, learn and lead.

I have attempted to think through the priorities I thought my organization would highlight as part of the process.  It never ceases to amaze me how this process naturally covers the obvious priorities but the participants typically go beyond the obvious and highlight new insights and approaches that make a tremendous impact on plans going forward.

Leadership must focus on translating priorities from the meeting to SMART goals and make sure habits or routines are in place for ongoing review, communication, and recognition as progress is made.  It’s important to note that these are not the “only” goals but they should be an integral part of improvement plans because the organization defined these priorities as a group.

Most of us have been in those “big meetings” where great actions were captured only to see them fade away with no real change.  The involvement meeting should end with the top leader clarifying the next steps about how the priorities will be translated to specific goals and plans.  They should also clarify how the organization will be updated on progress with a high level of visibility and focus.  We held an involvement meeting every six months and monthly communications meetings / webcasts to keep our team on the same page with overall priorities, plans, and our current progress.

The Payoff

Your work on these initial goals will develop the “culture-building muscle” of your organization and enable you to effectively engage your team on countless other priorities and goals in the future if it’s ongoing part of your operating model.  Groups at all levels of the organization learn how to brainstorm and prioritize quickly as they see it done successfully on your most significant priorities.  Tremendous pride is built when the organization successfully manages a major priority as a team and everyone learns from the journey together.

What do you think about the building culture muscle concept? What best practices have you used to quickly build ownership with a group?

CEOs continue to publicly proclaim their efforts to manage significant and meaningful culture change. Some miss the mark and show their lack of understanding this critical topic. Others, like Satya Nadella of Microsoft, share a much clearer vision and appear like they truly “get it.”  What separates the visionary and capable culture champions from the vast majority of leaders that don’t understand the culture fundamentals?

Evolve the culture at your own peril

It can be a bold move to tackle the challenge of evolving your culture.  Some iconic leaders like Steve Jobs and Howard Schultz focused on leveraging many aspects of the core of their culture they helped create as part of a new strategy when they returned to the top job. Others like Mary Barra of General Motors and Satya Nadella of Microsoft made it clear that change was needed and crafted a new vision.

There have been some visible failures to drive change, like J.C. Penney and Siemens, where a lack of understanding the culture was highlighted as a major factor. Many acquisitions fail to deliver their intended results and culture clash is often identified as a problem.

Crafting an initial vision

John Kotter said that most leaders under-communicate the change vision by a factor of 10X (or even 100 or 100X). A leader’s vision will give insight into how much they understand the subject of culture and this understanding is critical to their success.

Mary Barra highlighted in her most recent testimony on the GM ignition switch crisis that “the way that you change culture is demonstrating the behavior, making sure people understand what is expected and calling them out when they don’t.” This dramatically over-simplified and inaccurate summary of what it truly takes to evolve a culture is unfortunately too common. She is obviously doing far more to change the GM culture but her journey is more difficult that it needs to be due to her lack of understanding culture and how it specifically evolves.

Satya Nadella clearly has a much deeper understanding of culture and has crafted a much greater vision for how culture specifically fits in his overall vision. He shared his vision in a letter to all employees that included many important points related to culture that are important for any vision for change:

• Re-discovering our unique core: “At our core, Microsoft is the productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world. We will reinvent productivity to empower every person and every organization on the planet to do more and achieve more.” He went on to clarify the “rich heritage and unique capability” of Microsoft.    A leader’s vision should show some respect for history and clarify the strengths that will be further leveraged as part of his vision. This vision should include a clear purpose for “why” the organization exists and what value it provides. The vision can’t be too far of a departure from the current culture unless it zeroes in on a specific initial phase or area of improvement.

• A central theme or insight: “Productive people and organizations are the primary drivers of individual fulfilment and economic growth and we need to do everything to make the experiences and platforms that enable this ubiquitous. We will think of every user as a potential ‘dual user’ – people who will use technology for their work or school and also deeply use it in their personal digital life.”  “Microsoft will push into all corners of the globe to empower every individual as a dual user.”  Leaders often under-estimate the importance of clarity.  The vision will guide behavior and a central theme or common sense insight will often bring clarity to how the purpose, that unique “why,” will be supported

• The product or service focus: The letter outlined three major areas of focus – digital work and life experiences, cloud OS, and device OS and hardware. He outlined some of the critical products and services in each category along with some of the future plans.  The clarity drumbeat must continue when it comes to the products and services you provide. Don’t assume everyone truly understands your organization and what you provide. I also found it interesting that he limited their extremely diverse offerings to three categories.  There is an interesting “power of three” aspect of communication.  You’ll have a much better chance of building clarity if you limit the definition of major strategies, priorities, products, or services to three.

• The espoused culture: “Our ambitions are bold and so must be our desire to change and evolve our culture. I truly believe that we spend far too much time at work for it not to drive personal meaning and satisfaction. Together we have the opportunity to create technology that impacts the planet. Nothing is off the table in how we think about shifting our culture to deliver on this core strategy.” He went on to explain three areas (remember the “power of three”) of expected behaviors: 1) obsessing over our customers is everybody’s job; 2) new training, learning, and experimentation; 3) find ways to simplify and move faster.  He emphasized the importance of “courage in the face of opportunity” and the importance of transforming as individuals and highlighted a series of questions each employee should “ask ourselves.”  He did an outstanding job covering important culture-related fundamentals: emphasizing individual behavior change, clarifying expected behaviors, focusing on individual “impact” and the connection to organizational impact, highlighting learning that will be required, improving how work is done, and seizing the “opportunity.”

One Critical Insight

New cultural attributes will only evolve and be sustained through results. A grand vision is dangerous if there isn’t an initial area of focus or some other first phase of improvement from a performance AND behavior standpoint. Progress is critical in order to build momentum. The “culture link” of a specific performance priority and an expected behavior that needs to be further reinforced or more consistently exhibited would dramatically increase the chance of building some initial momentum. The entire organization learns from an initial area of focus and is then prepared to leverage new behaviors across other priorities and the overall organization. Satya Nadella’s vision was outstanding but lacked clarifying this initial area of performance focus and he identified many areas of behavior change without clarifying an initial focus.

Mary Barra has been forced to focus on a specific performance area, safety, and even the specific expected behavior of “speaking up” but she lacked the broader vision and understanding about all the areas that need to be addressed for her initial focus to result in meaningful culture change.

Dealing with Adversity

I don’t know if Satya Nadella will be successful.  He recently communicated their intention to reduce 13,000 positions as part of a note to all employees titled “Starting to Evolve our Organization and Culture.” He appears to possess a caring and transparent leadership style that will serve him well with this transformation and unite their team to overcome many obstacles.

The GM culture crisis has been a great live culture case study but I believe we’ll learn more about effective change from the Microsoft journey.  Satya Nadella recently spoke at their Worldwide Developer Conference and ended his talk with the subject of culture. If I was an employee at Microsoft it would be hard to disagree with his passion to “enable the employees at Microsoft to be able to bring their A game, do their best work, and find deeper meaning in what they do. And that’s the journey ahead of us. And it’s a continual journey.”  It sounds like the type of attitude any leader needs to take with his culture journey.

 Additional Author Note – I finalized this post and then one of Satya Nadella’s top leaders sent a note to employees explaining the major employee reductions.  It was criticized for a lack of sensitivity. It’s a good reminder that a leader must show they are competent AND they care for the vision to have any chance of being translated to meaningful change. It amazes me how some top leaders can shoot themselves in the foot after building some excellent momentum. It will be interesting to see if he responds and re-groups due to the widespread criticism about the communication.

What factors do you think are important aspects of a vision for the future, especially when there is a need to evolve the culture? What do you think about Satya Nadella’s vision?

Editor’s Note: read Tim’s most popular CultureU post: 8 Culture Change Secrets Most Leaders Don’t Understand