Patti Cotton

Executive Coach & Career Strategist

business leadership

Is Your Company Culture Too Nice?

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Is Your Company Culture Too Nice?
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Is your company culture “too nice”?

As a leader, you may think you are doing your business a favor by encouraging politeness. But sometimes, emphasizing this too much may send the wrong message entirely.

How can you tell if you need to toughen up your culture?

Larry was quick to share with me that the culture at his company was warm and friendly, with a “family feel” to it.

“People are very courteous around here,” he said. “But we are in trouble. That’s why I’m calling you for help.”

“What kind of trouble are you experiencing?” I asked.

“I’m discovering that what our people say in meetings is not what they are saying in the hallways. We have quite a few employees that are under-performing, and their supervisors are not willing to hold them accountable. Our deadlines are not being met and we’re not even working on priorities. What’s going on?”

After sitting with Larry and some of his key executives, I discovered what kept his company from being a healthy, high-performing business. And as I shared, Larry’s face showed its dismay.

“You mean the very thing that I emphasized has created the problem?” he asked.

“Not exactly, Larry,” I answered. “Being kind and polite is important. But you need to make sure they don’t take this to mean an unwillingness to set expectations, be transparent, and hold people accountable.”

“I thought I was motivating the staff,” he answered. “After all, you ‘catch more flies with honey than vinegar,’ as they say.”

“Unfortunately, leaders over-emphasize politeness for a variety of reasons, Larry,” I said. “Some may not like conflict. Some might think, as you, that it will motivate people. Others may feel this will foster inclusion. But look where we have wound up, here.

“In fact, I’m willing to wager that you have people agreeing with each other on decisions when you should have healthy debate with different perspectives. This means you are killing possibilities of innovating. You probably have some people who were hired at a high-performing level who have now slowed down their pace to ‘meet the herd.’ And you probably have hidden conflict because people aren’t willing to address critical issues that keep the company from moving forward.”

“You are right,” Larry answered. “I can see that, now. So, what do I do?”

Here are some key steps I outlined which reflect the work we did together over the next few months to turn around Larry’s poor culture.

1. Set new expectations.

When it’s time to shift gears to foster a healthier culture, know what you want – and set these expectations very explicitly. This means defining what your cultural norms are and how they appear in action.For example, if one of your cultural norms is “respect,” what does respect look like when people work with each other? Instead of avoiding tough issues, it can mean confronting these issues by providing timely, critical feedback that supports growth.

2. Foster psychological safety at every level.

There is no high-performing team without psychological safety. Your team members must have each other’s back, support differing perspectives, ensure that everyone has a voice, and more. These are part of team norms – and if you haven’t done this work yet, it’s time now. You will see a huge difference in the way that your team is motivated, how they produce, and how they work together.

3. Hold people accountable for the right things.

Most businesses hold their people accountable for deadlines and for goals reached. But they seldom build in the system and processes they need to support human behavior. What this means is that if you want your people to be respectfully candid and talk about real issues, you need to encourage and reward this.

How does your company’s culture measure up?

  • Are you happy with how motivated and engaged your staff are?
  • How well do they brainstorm to innovate?
  • Do you reward supportive critical feedback that fosters greater development?

Focusing on your company culture means exponentially increasing your business revenues. If you find, like Larry, that your company isn’t where you want it to be, commit to making this a priority.

© Patti Cotton and patticotton.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that attribution is made to Patti Cotton and patticotton.com, with links thereto.

Do Your Stakeholders Get in Your Way?

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Do Your Stakeholders Get in Your Way?
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It’s challenging to get things done, especially with the changes you need to make.

Removing obstacles isn’t easy. But when roadblocks turn out to be the people who actually need to help you move forward, this can defeat even the best of initiatives.

Are your stakeholders aligned? Or are they just getting in your way?

“I’m ready to fire two of my key people,” said Jan. “They are the main holdup with the changes we need to make. If we don’t move on these, we will lose out on opportunity – and on the credibility we need with our board.”

“How are they showing resistance?” I asked.

“They began by talking to other team members on the side and pointing out what they saw as shortcomings in the plan. I’ve addressed this with them, but they still show reluctance to climb on board. I need their energy and I need their commitment.”

“What are you doing to bring them along in the process?” I asked.

“Bring them along? They were part of the visioning process. What else do I need to do?”

“If you are meeting with resistance, Jan, I’m curious about your process. As you worked together, did you allow for working through objections and considering various perspectives?”

“Patti, we don’t have time for that. I’ve got to push these initiatives through quickly. Otherwise, we will seriously jeopardize our financial health.”

“Well, if these two executives hold keys to moving forward, then you can’t do this without their support, Jan,” I responded. “Let’s take a look at how you can ignite them to action instead of dragging them behind you. If you don’t take the time to do that now, it sounds as if you won’t have a company to worry about.”

Jan shared that the company had lost significant market share during the first six months of the year due to the crisis. In order to remain financially healthy, Jan and the team had come up with a two-phase plan that would cut costs and generate greater revenue.

“When we discovered we could not recuperate quickly without making some big changes, we had to act quickly. We went offsite for a day, came up with a plan, and here we are,” said Jan. “These two executives are not alone in having to make changes.”

“Jan, may I share some perspective, here?” I asked.

“Anything – if it will move us along,” she said.

“Jan, these two executives are key to your success, right? That’s what you shared with me.”

“Yes,” Jan responded. “Without them, we can’t make some of the key pivots we need to make to recapture revenue.”

“Well, as we talk about the situation, I can hear your need to move quickly and your frustration. I can also hear that the support of your executives is paramount to succeeding.”

“Yes,” said Jan. “You are right. But where are you going with this?”

“Jan, your executive team members are key stakeholders. If you want to succeed well, we need to see how we can invite them to partner with you. Stakeholder alignment is key.”

“What would that mean?” asked Jan. “They realize that we need to take measures and act quickly. What do we do that we haven’t done?”

“In bringing stakeholders along, you must first see where they are with your ideas and what their concerns are,” I answered. “In this way, you would clarify what the gaps are and how to address them. But in your case, it sounds like you already know what the concerns are – at least, you are telling me that they are objecting and not aligning with your plan. Am I right?”

“Yes, I’m well aware of their concerns,” Jan said. “And I thought we addressed these in the meeting. It’s apparent to me now that we did not dig deep enough to surface more.”

“Jan, bringing stakeholders along is a process, not an item on a checklist,” I said. “You are right – a strategy meeting is just the beginning. Since you are aware of their objections, you can invite them to resolve these and align with you in one of two ways – your preference.

“You see, in order to bring people along, you actually have to be open to having your own mind changed – not just changing theirs. It’s not a matter of simply telling them what the plan is. It means being open to examining other perspectives and input. It means realizing that their thinking might make your thinking even better.”

Jan paused and sat back in her chair. “I’m listening.”

“You have a short timeline, Jan. It sounds like you need to get back in the room with everyone as a follow-up. Invite further involvement – ask for objectives and perspectives, giving them the end goal or transformation in mind. And let them work through it with you. Be sure you cover three things: (1) fears and concerns; (2) what’s in it for them; and (3) how the changes will make the company’s life better.

“You’ll find, Jan, that if you spend more time on this, you will recuperate time on the back end. Your stakeholders will have bought into the plan and will commit to it full force.”

I followed up with Jan six weeks later. She was pleased to report that the follow-up discussions had been powerful. She admitted changing her own mind on one of the ways to recapture revenue, and to seeing the value of pooling minds to come up with best solutions.

Do you recognize the importance of your stakeholders? Can you share the vision in a way that invites feedback and discussion? If you will devote the time to create such partnership, considering all perspectives and pooling best ideas, the results will be a win-win for the team and the entire organization.

© Patti Cotton and patticotton.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that attribution is made to Patti Cotton and patticotton.com, with links thereto.

Why You are Responsible for Your Team’s Performance

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Why You are Responsible for Your Team’s Performance
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Many is a time when I have heard a leader say, “I just can’t get that executive to do the job I hired them to do!”

If you find you continue to complain about the performance of one or more of your own executive team members, it’s time to look in the mirror for the answer.

Because the key lies in one of three areas that you own.

You are responsible for setting the direction.

Jim, president of a large financial services organization, was frustrated.

“We are a tired company, Patti,” Jim told me. “And it really shows up in the executive team.”

“Tell me more, Jim,” I said. “What are you seeing on the team that tells you they are tired?”

“Samantha isn’t staying on top of the performance of her department. She keeps telling me that they are doing the best they can. Marc doesn’t meet deadlines anymore. He says his workload is heavy and that we need to reevaluate – or get him an assistant. I don’t know. It seems like people are distracted and disengaged.”

“So, when was the last time that you called a meeting to review your vision and direction?”

“Patti, we do strategic planning with the board every year,” Jim answered. “It’s not like we aren’t on top of where we need to be in 3-5 years.”

“That’s a great start,” I said. “But what do you do from there? I’m thinking your team may have lost their sense of purpose. By what you describe, the direction is either not exciting enough, or they don’t see how it relates to their work.”

“I don’t understand,” said Jim.

“Well, you may have a strategic plan, but your team needs to understand how this will make impact on your community, on the world. And then, they need to understand how their part in this plan will contribute to that success. Otherwise, you will have a group of people who will not recognize the relevance of their work to the bigger picture. You’ll wind up with a bunch of executives that have lost their purpose.”

Jim and I met with the team for some discussions and it did indeed become clear that they needed to reanimate their sense of purpose. Over the following days, we worked to do this and came away with a stellar action plan for the next 12 months that excited and inspired the team.

Some months later it was good to see that this had helped reignite the team. The organization went on to capture additional market share, which motivated the team to author an aggressive growth plan.

As a leader, be sure you are setting direction for your team and helping them to see the relevancy of their roles and responsibilities to this larger picture.

You are responsible for determining the norms.

Team norms are the rules or operating principles that shape team members’ interaction. It’s the agreed-upon way that team relates, gets the work done, and what team members can expect of one another.

Doug called me after their company had just lost a huge government contract.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with this team,” he said. “We are making poor decisions because we get into the weed so quickly. I get cut off at the pass when I mention a new idea. These are talented people – but we need to do something different or we will keep losing contracts with this kind of mess.”

“Doug, it sounds like you could benefit from determining a better process for making decisions – an agreement on the way you go about this. We would call that a team norm around decision-making.”

“I don’t care what you call it,” Doug shot back. “I just need for them to be open-minded about new ideas.”

“Go on,” I responded. “What else?”

“Well, I’d like for them to stay in the conversation at a strategic level until we agree on a direction. We can get into the tactics and details after that.”

“You just described two team norms around decision-making,” I answered. “Sounds like we need to have a meeting with your executives.”

We actually worked with the executives all morning to identify several key team norms. Decision-making was first, and it seemed to be welcome. But we then hit a major nerve around trust. We spent a couple of hours on this, determining what the team members needed in order to trust each other at a greater level. Not surprising – this is where I spend a lot of my time when rebuilding or reigniting team. We dealt with things like holding confidences, listening to understand, managing conflict, and more.

The morning was emotional but rewarding. The task was then to incorporate these norms or behaviors, which was something we worked on over the ensuing months.

Doug called me the year following to report that they had increased their revenue significantly due to the team’s new ability to innovate and their heightened trust.

“I didn’t know trust had an ROI,” he joked. “But I am a believer, now!”

As a leader, it’s your job to lead identifying and integrating norms for your team.

You are responsible for holding your team members accountable.

Diane reached out to me when she was ready to terminate two executives.

“I’ve had it, Patti,” she said. “They are at each other all the time. It’s not always apparent, because they are passive-aggressive. But they undermine each other in subtle ways, and actively try to downplay each other’s part in our success. The problem is, they are both so talented. And it’s hard to retain great talent.”

“You are right, Diane,” I said. “Finding and retaining top talent is challenging. And you are looking at many costs – overt and hidden – to the company, if you have to terminate them.”

“They wear me out,” said Diane. “I’m embarrassed to tell you that I’ve lately begun to tune them out whenever one of them begins to speak. I’m sure it shows.”

“Well, let’s talk about what we can do,” I responded. “When was the last time you held them accountable for their actions?”

“I met with them separately about 6 months ago and told them flat out that I expected them to get along.”

“Did that work?” I asked.

“No,” Diane answered. “It calmed down for a bit, then began to flare back up about 6 weeks ago.”

“So what did you do when that happened?” I asked.

“Frankly, I ignored it. I was so frustrated that I just didn’t want to think about it.”

“Diane, I know it’s frustrating. In fact, you must be pretty upset by now. If you think about it, their misconduct requiring your focused attention has cost the team an inordinate amount of revenue.”

“What?” she queried.

“Well, yes,” I answered. “Think about the cost of their conflict – of not doing their jobs properly, of having their teams feel the effects of this, and of your having to devote energy to the problem. Conflict has already cost your company wasted time, motivation, and I’m guessing that turnover in their respective areas might be headed upward.”

“So what do I do, Patti?” she asked.

“You own this, Diane. You confront it. The cost of allowing their misconduct has already decreased your company’s productivity and revenue. You hold them accountable.”

Diane admitted that she didn’t like confrontation, but she also realized that it was time to take things in hand.

The result was that one executive decided to leave. The other stayed on and Diane worked with him until he had shifted his behaviors to be supportive and positive of team contributions.

As a leader, you are responsible for holding your people accountable.

Is your team under-performing?

If your team is under-performing, it is probably due to one of these three areas. I invite you to make these areas part of your team discussions to discover your own growth opportunities.

HOW MUCH

DO OTHERS REALLY TRUST YOU?

​Learn the two vital parts to trust and how they can help you become a more highly effective leader.

GET THE INFOGRAPHIC

© Patti Cotton and patticotton.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that attribution is made to Patti Cotton and patticotton.com, with links thereto.

Strengthening Culture with a Remote Workforce

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Strengthening Culture with a Remote Workforce
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How do you retain your company culture when you have a remote workforce?

Retaining who you are and what is important to you as a company is more challenging when you aren’t in the same physical space on a regular basis.

Yet, many companies with international teams and other remote situations have been successfully enjoying solid culture throughout their organizations for years.

How do they do it?

Intentionality.

The best companies know that culture is what makes or breaks them. Culture defines who you are as a company – your corporate identity. It sets the standard and tone for the way your workforce works together. It’s what gives people a shared identity – team, a sense of belonging. And it’s the glue that holds people together when the going gets tough.

But when people aren’t in the same physical environment on a daily basis, adopting and sharing the same tone and standards in thoughts, behaviors and actions can be challenging.

A remote or hybrid environment calls for being more “on purpose.” And this is not a bad thing. Many companies have lost their culture because they have simply taken it for granted. Setting intentionality is what will revive this, whether there is a remote component to your workforce or not.

Here are some things to consider as you seek to reinforce culture with a remote workforce.

1. Add virtual ways to share the company story and tell it often.

As you revisit your values, norms, and priorities in light of considering a remote and hybrid workforce, realize that the way you do things may change, but it doesn’t change who you are and what you stand for. At the same time, you will want to seek to make your company story memorable in creative ways more frequently and in different ways to emphasize identity. Look for seminal touchpoints to share this, such as announcing company-wide changes, annual meetings, company marketing collateral, and key celebrations. Include virtual ways to strengthen this, such as online meetings, video interviews and story markers in communications and at the bottom of email messaging, shared drives, and chat mechanisms.

2. Define what it means to live company values.

Most companies outline their values, but they do not take the time to define what these look like in action. For example, if one of your company core values is creativity, what should that look like in behaviors, actions, work, relationships, outcomes, etc.? You and your executive team should be firm on what all of your core values look like in action. Further, take the time to discuss what these might mean and how they might show up in a virtual or remote setting. Test these thoughts with your employees for feedback and buy-in – this is key. Then decide how you can weave this into your communications, your meetings and other touchpoints, and how to integrate this into your performance standards.

3. Communicate with greater intention.

This means not only increasing your communication, but heightening the way that you connect, such as using video when touching base virtually. Be sure that you set expectations around your communication methods and protocols so that this becomes part of your shared “way of operating.” Place greater emphasis on culture during your onboarding of new employees and leave time for discussion around this. Consider building in an accountability component for the direct supervisor of a new employee, ensuring that they have discussions around what your cultural markers are and how they show up in and at work. Devote intentional time for listening to the employees as well, especially in virtual meetings. Take the pulse on what their challenges are, what they are learning, and opportunities they see for improvements and working better together.

4. Reinforce the importance of each employee’s part in the company community.

Help your employees feel known and part of the team and help them to see how they fit into the bigger picture. Systematize some teambuilding exercises that help everyone to get to know them personally and vice versa, and that identify gifts each brings to the table for greater outcomes. A sense of inclusion and contribution is paramount. Be sure to capitalize on ways to recognize employees in both face-to-face and virtual settings for visibility, appreciation, and teambuilding. Consider cross-training or mentoring with different people to get to know others more rapidly across teams.

In your planning and process to define, strengthen and reinforce culture, please also remember that including your workforce in discussions at key points in various ways will pay great benefits. Allowing the entire employee base to give input means that they will also feel ownership and responsibility for the outcomes.

© Patti Cotton and patticotton.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that attribution is made to Patti Cotton and patticotton.com, with links thereto.