Define the Culture

If there are two more people in an organization, there is a culture and there is a language. Whether we like it or not, we have a company culture and it develops with ever action we take and word we speak/type. Simple things such as do people bring their lunch or do they consistently eat out? Do people respond to email immediately or do they let emails linger or batch them? Is there a combative feeling that everything should be challenged or is it there one clear direction and the flow is always smooth? Our cultures can be shaped around a number of things, things that we don’t even realize are significant. So if company culture is so elusive and so mysterious and free flowing, how do we create the company culture we want our organizations to have?

1.) Leadership

2.) Moment of Crisis

The first part of the equation is leadership, no surprise here. The formation of company culture is not through words, although verbal and written communication are paramount, but through actions. Encouragement goes a long way to new people struggling with processes, it doesn’t necessarily matter what is said, it’s the action of uplifting them that counts. Do our company cultures exemplify what we want it to embody? Or has t spun out of control on it’s own tangent? If we keep a clean desk we set the expectation for new people to do the same. If we focus on our actions and be concise in what we do, people will take note. And if what we’re doing is admirable, it will get noticed by those unsure of themselves and they’ll begin to do as we do to build that culture: one action at a time.

Leadership sets the pace and everyone looks to that person or people to exemplify what do to in crisis moments or times of uncertainty. In those times when there is not a precedent and the lead must be taken, we have the opportunity to define the company culture with our actions. How would we handle a problem customer, calm and patient or smug and uncaring? What happens when people are in need of our decision making, do we stop and give them our full attention or do we brush them off with delegation? (They came to us to make the call, otherwise they could have handled it) When the company is faced with departures, do we downsize the issue hoping nobody will ask about it or do we attack it head on and show transparency to build trust in our remaining team? How we handle ourselves in moments of crisis define our culture. It gives people around us the opportunity to learn and to have something to strive for.

Culture is about actions, not about words. How would weconduct ourselves if we knew everyone was watching our every move? Act as if they, are and see how our actions change. Define the culture, don’t let it define us.

5 Whys

A top skill among leaders as well as managers, is problem-solving.

All too often we see organizations put what I call a band-aid on an ax wound. It may have stopped the bleeding, momentarily, but the fact remains that there is a hole the size of an ax with multiple layers of damage.

A good example of this is an attempt to “revive” company culture with a single picnic, on people’s time off… The issue of a shifted company culture isn’t fixed by hamburgers and bud lights. Instead company culture is much deeper and requires changes in processes, communication, and leadership.

So how do the best problem-solvers get to the root of issues?

Funny you should ask, because I experienced this yesterday when getting a massage for my injured knee.

The 5 Whys of problem solving helped me and the massage therapist visualize what was wrong with my leg. The 5 Whys are a practice that stem from lean manufacturing and the Toyota process developed by Taiichi Ohno and is a simple concept: ask “Why” five times to get to the root of any problem.

The process allows us to dig deeper into the root cause of issues, and not just jump at the first sign of a solution. Often times our first solutions are not the end-all to the issue, and if we jump to those conclusions without investigating all potential fixes we may lose even more time and have to revisit the problem down the road.

One of the biggest wastes of time in any organization is repeatedly fixing the same problem, it is also a sign of surface fixes and a lack of understanding on how to fix them.

My conversation with the massage therapist went like this:

Mike: My knee is hurting right here on the outside

1.) Why?

Mike: Because I run a lot and didn’t stretch and ice after one long run

2.) Why not?

Because I wasn’t patient and didn’t stretch after running

3.) Why would your knee hurt from not stretching?

Because my IT band was overworked and needs maintenance, it can’t handle that much stress apparently

— Enter early solution: get a massage today & rest it: PROBLEM SOLVED get back to running in a week, business as usual —

4.) Why is it so overworked?

Because I haven’t been icing and stretching it enough (just like an oil change for a car)

5.) Why not?

Because I was lazy and didn’t finish the run properly

*** Enter proper solution: massage today, rest this week, be sure to maintain stretching & icing every day to maintain healthy knee***

If we jump to conclusions because we’re impatient or even worse if we turn a blind eye to it because we don’t want to address hard issues, we are creating more work for ourselves long-term.Had I not resolved to ice and stretch every day, I would more than likely have run into the same knee issues in a month or so.

I have seen too many people and organizations waste time on band-aid fixes when they needed to get deep into the would and sew up the damaged tissue to heal properly. Do not waste time on simple fixes, be sure to get to the root of the issue and don’t settle for surface solutions.

What are some other examples of a band-aid on an ax wound? Were they ever given a permanent fix?

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Greatest Asset

As managers, we need to recognize early and remind ourselves often that our greatest asset is the teams we manage. You can call them employees, team member, happiness workers, or whatever your organization titles them, but the fact remains that they are the most important aspect of our jobs.

Without a great team surrounding us, we are useless. The very definition of a managerial title implies management, but not of things or objects, of people. The role of a manager should be (notice I didn’t say ‘is’) to get the most out of the assets we are given, maximize! I feel as though this comes easy to me because I discovered (mostly through StrengthsFinder 2.0) that I had maximizing qualities and my first instinct as well as my strongest attribute is to take an idea/person/thing and try to improve it somehow and make it better or stronger or more durable. All that being said, here are a few ways I know to help us improve the teams we manage.

What makes them tick – It’s easy to write, “care about people and they’ll care about their work,” however we all know that doesn’t just magically happen. However, investing time to get to know those around us goes a long way and helps us see what motivates them. If we know someone’s background, such as sports for example, we may be able to figure out that they are competitive and don’t want to ‘lose’ to their co-workers if their duties involve some sort of competition for widgets made or sales closed. Once we know what motivates someone, we can work backwards to find out how to get them to be their best, but it takes that investment of time to find out why they work.

Investing in them – This doesn’t mean personally matching their bonuses from the company, nor does it mean inviting each of them over to the house to meet the family on their first day of work. Investing in our people is something that is done over time and is a constant work in progress. One of my favorite exercises to do with my teams was to sit down one-on-one with them and go over their goals. I would hand out 1 page with an inspirational saying about goals on it, and 5 spaces for goals (30 days, 90 days, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years). I would do this every 6 months with them to see where they were, how they were coming along, new developments, to keep them accountable if their goals aligned with work,  and to overall give them an opportunity to talk to me. Often times these goal-setting sessions took a path away from goals altogether and went well over the allotted time, but they were always worth it. Where can we invest our time in our team? The best way to show your team what they mean to us is to create time for them, no matter what. One important aspect to note here is to be sure you remind the team that these goals are not held against them and that their honesty is what matters, don’t put something down just because they want us to feel good.

Reciprocation – Just as we would ask them to be honest with us about their goals, share some of ours with them first. I always start by telling whoever I’m meeting with one of my BHAG’s, right now it’s running a marathon. If you are asking them to be goal-oriented, be sure you are goal-oriented yourself in order to practice what you preach. People are smarter than we think and they’ll see right through us if we’re not open. 

Autonomy – DO NOT MICROMANAGE! I cannot stress this enough, it breaks down the morale of any team or person faster than termites on an log cabin. People will shock you with their capabilities if they are given opportunity, and this creates a sense of importance that their work matters. If you know your team and you know what their goals are, that THEY told YOU, than you can keep them accountable.  Simply by reminding someone that THEY said they wanted to make more money (always a goal for anyone who’s written them down) and that slacking off on this project will not earn them a bonus/promotion/accolades does wonders to get people back on track because you’re reminding them that THEIR actions are not aligning with THEIR goals versus telling them what they’re doing wrong. It becomes more of a lateral conversation versus a vertical one.

I am a big believer in transparency and the more we share with our teams the more they will trust us. Our greatest management asset is our people and nobody likes to be left in the dark on any subject. Be open, be honest, and invest in our greatest asset.

Thank them

Often times in our professional careers we have people who help us in some way, shape, or form. Often times they don’t even know it, they were just passing by and gave us an encouraging word. Other times they help us work through a sticky situation we’ve never handled before and still others mentor us for years. We don’t always know the impact of our actions on others, and so many times those small acts of kindness resonate with us beyond the givers scope. How will they ever know they helped if we don’t thank them?

Most people do not go out of their way to help for thanks we may give them, most people go out of their way to help because they care about us. Show them that it means something and be sure to thank them properly. This shows maturity in knowing that we needed them, and it shows humility when we allow ourselves to accept others’ help, something that is rare in business today. We are much more likely to receive their help again when needed, and yes, we will need them again at some point.

Be sure to give a proper thanks or don’t do it at all. Half of a thank you is much worse than no thanks. A half effort only shows your arrogance, because you didn’t really need them but you don’t want them to feel bad… that’s cute. If they really helped you, make it sincere. You don’t have to send 4 ft stuffed teddy bears every time someone lifts your spirits, but hand-written thank you notes go a very long way. I learned this from my coach my senior year at Charleston Southern University, Coach Staggs. He made us hand-write letters to 5 people that had helped us in our football careers and thank them. I wrote my with sincerity and I didn’t find out till years later that the words I wrote brought tears to the recipients eyes, some were even framed. That stuck with me and I learned a lot from him, if I ever get into coaching that is one thing I’ll implement immediately.

So why have I ranted about manners for 1/2 a page… Because that is how we build bridges. When we’ve got people around us who know we are grateful when they have the opportunity to help, they are much more likely to do it again. And we ALL need the right people surrounding us whether we’re in an office with 300 other people or we’re starting a business on our own, everyone needs connections. And on the opposite side of that coin, nobody wants to help an ungrateful, selfish person who thinks they don’t they can do everything on their own.

I’ll close with final encouragement for us to put ourselves out there and help people when needed, do not pass those opportunities up. We never know when that encouraging text changed someone’s day or when that group really needed insight from someone outside of their project. And just as we would thank someone with sincerity, help with sincerity. I met someone who gave a Christmas Bonus simply because he wanted to hear the person say, “Thank You” and be indebted to him for his “giving spirit.” I almost vomited on command. If we cannot help because we want to, we shouldn’t help at all. The only way I’ve learned how to be successful is to help the people around me accomplish their goals. Everyone needs “me time” but if we go out of our way to help someone every day or at least every week, we will have an army of people who want our success just as bad as we do.

Just Stop

As 17:49 passed on the digital screen ahead of me, my right knee began to feel tight and overworked. I rowed on for another 2:08 before I realized that I was overworked and I need a rest. It was actually 29 days since I needed a rest. I have been working out non-stop since January and began training for a marathon months before I should have, my body is tired. It was like I had just discovered gold in my backyard when it dawned on me that I need to rest my legs or I’ll damage them more than I already have. Our minds work the same way, without proper rest they don’t work like they’re supposed to.

We all have those days when it seems nothing makes sense, our timing is off, we can’t spell, and it’s just an overall cluster of a day. I hate those days, they ruin momentum. The next time this happens, take a break: JUST STOP! It doesn’t have to be for the rest of the day, it can be as simple as taking a walk around the building or dropping down for some library/office push-ups. But it lets the mind recoup, something it’s telling us needs to happen or we’re in for a melt-down. You can’t run machine forever without refueling it, it will burn out. Our minds are complex machines that need to be rested from time to time.

Below is a simple solution to protecting your mind from total burn-out. Learn to know yourself better and you can recognize exhaustion just before it happens.

(1.) Recognize your weariness

(2.) Stop immediately

(3.) Walk away & get distracted (yes, by anything)

This seems relatively easy, but it’s not. #1 can and will be misinterpreted, but only by those of us trying to skimp out on work, not by those who are truly exhausted. It is easy to tell ourselves that we’re tired, that we are hurt, that we can’t go on and we need a rest. But it takes a lot to push ourselves far enough to need that break in the action. I want to be clear, there is a difference between pushing through minor adversity and knowing that you’ll hurt yourself if you go much further. The key is to know yourself well enough to call BS on yourself and get over those hills in life while being able to pull the reins when you are on the verge of a collapse.

I can’t tell you where that threshold is, but I can assure you it’s farther than you realize*. Take my rowing example today, had I not had a moment of clarity today after a month of pain and trying to force myself to run, I finally realized I need rest. I have been pushing myself on this for a month before I realized it was time for a rest. Hindsight is always 20/20 but I could have taken a week off a month ago and it might have fixed the issue I’m having with my knee today. I can’t second guess myself at this stage, its too late and I don’t want to get used to giving in so easily. However, next time I will know what I felt like right before the pain began.

Look for signs in your life that show those mentally useless days are upon you and do your best to head them off. If you feel it coming on go out of your way to get a good night’s rest (no alcohol), stimulate your mind with something to read instead of the TV at night, and if you exercise take an afternoon off and just stretch for an hour or so. Each of these activities help me clear my head when it seems overwhelming and I can’t make sense of it all

When we step away, we need to do our best to distract ourselves from whatever it is that’s troubling us. We can try all we want, but that big project or paper or problem will still be there when we get back. And in reality it will never fully leave our minds. Subconsciously, all the details of that project will linger and when we least expect it,  the light bulb goes off and our solution is crystal clear.

*I want to attribute this life lesson to Mr. Toby Harkins who pushed me in more ways than he knows during my years playing college football at Charleston Southern University. 

Flywheel Effect

As my business partner and I were talking through our plans for how to build the community of our adventure travel company, we discussed the flywheel effect. A flywheel takes significantly more energy to get started in the beginning, but once it’s moving the inertia of what you’ve been doing previously takes over and the device is nearly self-propelling. It needs a push here and there to keep it going, but only in short spurts and not a constant push as was needed in the beginning stages.

Businesses can learn a lot from this idea, especially start-ups. There is often a great deal of work up front, but once the idea (a good one) begins to spread, it’s like wild fire and can’t be stopped!

With Epic Day we are looking to build a community around our website and it in the beginning it’s going to be building that community, reaching out and encouraging that crowd participation. However, if we can encourage it the right way, that crowd participation will take on a life of it’s own and the wheel will be self-propelling. Our jobs will be minimal and we can focus our efforts in other areas to continue to grow the business. The trick then becomes to not just “maintain” the community but to continually grow it while keeping that inertia.

The flywheel effect needs to be in place for many of our businesses. In sales based companies it comes through great sales people gaining referrals and return customers, providing “endless” amounts of leads for the company and themselves. In innovative companies it comes through encouraging the creatives to always be testing with little reprimands for their experimentation. Once the culture is set and the precedents have been laid, your innovators can do what they best.

How is the flywheel effect in place in your business?

Forgiveness

We are all wronged at some point or another, it happens. Humans make mistakes, offend, and upset each other on a regular basis. No one is perfect and we are going to get in each others’ way, it’s inevitable. But without forgiveness, we cannot earn each other’s respect. I have never met someone that is forgiving that does not have respect from their peers. When we learn to let things roll off our backs and move on, we gain a world of respect that cannot be gained through ideas or time on the job or even sacrifice.

Forgiveness is a sign of wisdom. Grudges held are toxicity in ourselves that take up valuable space. Space that can be used for building connections, faith in each other, and support for those around us. Nobody has EVER done anything of great importance all by themselves, we all need each other.

Many people perceive that forgiveness means weakness. Forgiveness is not weakness, in fact it is the opposite. Forgiveness takes so much more to expend than holding a grudge does, making it harder on us. If we learn to forgive we will be the better people, and we will gain the respect of our peers and loved ones.

Criticism Counts

Finishing a project is hard work. It requires focus, determination, foresight, and confidence. Seth Godin calls it shipping, a fitting term, signifying your project has left the building and is ready to be picked apart. It’s the time at which you’re no longer tinkering with a side project and your work is ready to be judged. We published our first 3 episodes of The Epic Day Outdoors Podcast yesterday and iTunes accepted them, we shipped for the second time in Epic Day history. The first was when we officially launched the website and asked people to come see it, judge it, use it, and ultimately pay us for using it (only 2 have happened thus far).

Until a project is shipped and you’re working on it behind the curtains it is only a side project and you’re just tinkering with it. Until it is out in front of people and your eyeballs aren’t the only ones on it, it’s not a valid business or idea. Once that side project is revealed and your masses are notified with your bullhorn (aka Facebook) that you have finished, that’s when the hard part begins.

Many people don’t ship because they do not want to be scrutinized. They do not want their efforts to be judged. What if their project sucks? What if it flops? What if they missspelled something? What is my best effort wasn’t good enough? What if people think your idea is stupid? People will break your project down, they will assess it, and some will try to break you down. 99% of the time those are the ones who never ship themselves.

Shipping does two very important things, two things that everyone in business needs to experience.

1.) Gives you practice – Many people don’t ever ship, they don’t know how to finish projects. They don’t know how to focus until the end and put the finishing touches on something. Or even worse, they finish and then they tweak it to death and ruin what they created because they were so afraid of imperfections. The most important part is that you get practice at having your work on display for the world to see. Get practice at taking criticism, good and bad.

2.) It builds confidence – When you ship often you get better each time: giving yourself deadlines, putting extra hours in, going down those rabbit holes (upcoming post), being humble enough to ask friends & mentors for help, learning to be more creative through distractions and music and books.

I learned a saying while selling furniture that I’d preach to my guys, “The more you sell, the more you sell.” This referred to the amount of referrals and return customers you would get from making sales, but also the confidence and practice in those prior sales to make future sales easier and larger; encouraging them to become masters at their craft of furniture sales. That same mantra is applicable here:

“The more you ship, the more you ship”