With all the research and resulting proof, much of it expressed in dollars, why is it so difficult for companies to execute good cultures?

There is no lack of advice and how-to help available and in a variety of ways, from consultants to books, blogs to videos.

Real-world facts show that good culture is still elusive; one of those ‘should’ actions that are frequently talked about, but often not done.

You create the culture in which those subordinate to you work, no matter your level of management, from team leader to CEO,

CEOs set overall company culture, while subordinates then create, intentionally or not, their own culture that either copies it, is synergistic to it or diametrically opposed to it.

The only guarantee is that whatever culture emerges will accurately reflect its creator’s thoughts, values, beliefs—in other words, MAP.

And therein lies the reason and the problem.

All the cultural intelligence focuses on good culture, with touchstones such as fairness, trust, authenticity, merit, etc.

If those attributes aren’t the bedrock of your own MAP then it’s impossible to implement a culture that embraces them.

So if you are looking to change a non-performing culture or improve a mediocre one, be sure to look deep inside yourself first to know what is possible and what won’t stick unless you change first.

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“There is no silver bullet that’s going to fix that. No, we are going to have to use a lot of lead bullets.”  --Bill Turpin (quote source)

Although Bill Turpin said this in reference to technical problems at Netscape, I see managers at all levels and across industries spending time looking for silver bullets with which to “fix” their people.

There are two reasons that this is a major waste of time.

First, I can categorically state that there is no such thing as a silver bullet. No matter what you are trying to do there is no tool or methodology that can be guaranteed to work in every situation and under every circumstance.

Second, No manager, past or present, has ever fixed anyone. The best that any manager can do is identify the problem, present the information and offer support, but any change or ‘fixes’ must come from the individual.

Lead bullets, however, are how most problems are solved and behaviors changed.

By some measurements lead bullets are expensive, since they cost time and effort over a longer period, but they typically have the highest ROI of anything a manager does.

So, time spent searching for a silver bullet fix or time spent chipping away at the problem with lead bullets?

As always, it’s your choice.

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It’s always surprising how often different sources address the same problems offering similar solutions, but in such different ways that at first glance you wouldn’t notice.

Within days of each other, both Fortune/CNN and BNET offered up good information on employee motivation. Fortune/CNN article was science-based, while BNET was experience-based, with a leavening of humor.

They both said essentially the same thing with one exception, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Motivating employees means providing real purpose in their work; it requires challenging them and encouraging them to learn and grow; and it requires clear communications, including well-defined plans, roles and responsibilities.

Pretty standard stuff.

Now for the exception; the science offered up a new twist that just might help your implementation.

Removing obstacles is not the flip side of providing purpose, challenge and clear communications.

In other words, this is not one of those times that removing the negative means the positive will automatically rush in to fill the void or vice versa, that having the positives will overcome the negatives.

In this case you need to address the two as totally separate subjects.

First, remove any obvious negatives.

Next, start implementing the positives.

Third, be on the lookout for new obstacles.

Fourth, and most important, be sure that you on the side of the angels and not one of the obstacles.

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After all that’s been written and discussed it shouldn’t surprise you to know that most people crave a positive corporate culture and an open-door policy, but would it surprise you that this desire isn’t a product of the US or even the industrialized west?

Yesterday I mentioned I would share a universal truth from an unlikely source.

A positive corporate culture (40% of respondents) and an open-door policy (100%) are the two key elements of an ideal workplace, according to a recent region-wide human resource (HR) survey conducted by IIR Middle East.

Employee engagement and transparency were also found to be essential to enhanced employee performance within an organizational culture.

One of the reasons I find this so intriguing is not so much the desires themselves, but the local in which they are found.

Granted, my knowledge of the Middle East is limited, but the prevailing customs and culture don’t seem particularly conducive to the development of that kind of MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) in management

(And this has nothing to do with an Islamic vs. Judeo-Christian sub-text.)

Workers all seem to want the same thing, whether in the Mid-East, North and South America, Europe, Russia, India or Asia.

Of course, the surface results of implementing those desires might look different, but the basic cravings that drive them are the same, as is the main stumbling block—management.

Changes in transparency, door policy, not killing the messenger, etc. require changes in managers’ MAP and those changes can not be ordered or implemented from the outside in.

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Does promotion cause deafness? Is that why it’s so difficult for bosses to hear?

Does it erase memory, so that new bosses forget the desires and aspirations of their pre-boss days?

These questions aren’t meant as a joke; decades of studies and surveys indicate there is some basis in fact.

How else do you explain findings such as these,

• Eighty percent of respondents who reported a good employee-supervisor relationship claim that the most important thing a boss can do to create a positive working relationship is to both solicit and value their input.
• Among respondents who claimed to have a poor relationship with their boss, 42 percent stated that one of the top reasons the relationship was strained was due to their boss’ failure to listen or take their input into account.
• Of the managers surveyed, less than 25 percent identified soliciting input as an area in which they wanted to improve.

What many bosses don’t get is that this desire isn’t a demand driven by ego, entitlement or insecurity.

It is simply a display of intellectual self-worth on the part of employees and what they are looking for is an affirmation of the boss’ trust, belief and reason for hiring them.

I got it, maybe because I felt the same way, and focusing on that desire put me in the top 10% of MRI recruiters for 12 years.

Think about it; if the people on your team aren’t capable enough to comment intelligently and offer viable input why in the world did you hire them?

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Yesterday was Boss’ Day and it reminded me of The Top Five Things To Remember If You’re A CEO cards my company gives out.

Although the handout says “CEO,” the content is applicable at every level of management—right down to team leader.

I thought I would share these five “if you remember nothing else” points, because doing them consistantly will change you and your group more than you can imagine.

Remember, the only position-based change is the scope and that’s easy to tweak.

1. Foremost, you are guardian of the big picture. You must clearly identify the goals of the company, then work with your people to turn them into specifics. Get their buy-in by making sure they understand how their goals, the company’s, and others’ interact. The biggest rewards at all levels should go to those who understand the company’s goals, and ethically do whatever is necessary to achieve them—especially when it takes precedence over their personal goals.
2. You set the tone of the organization. If you’re political, secretive, nitpicking, or querulous, that is how your organization will be. No matter what — your people will do as you do, not as you say.
3. People produce best if they know, and help determine, the range of their control. The parameters should be clearly defined and inviolate. Their decisions inside those parameters are final, decisions outside them require approval. Through discussion of their performance, the parameters will grow or shrink. Your company’s strength will increase in direct proportion to your people’s growth, so make those parameters as broad as possible.
4. Never criticize an employee in the presence of others. Praise in public, criticize in private.
5. Every successful company must have a competitive edge. Enhance your people’s ability to do their jobs by clearly defining and communicating what it is.

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The thing she [behavioral psychologist] taught me—and this sounds obvious—is that behavior is a function of consequence.  We had to change the behavior in the organization so that people felt safe to bring bad news. And I looked in the mirror, and I realized I was part of the problem.  I didn’t want to hear the bad news, either. So I had to change how I behaved, and start to thank people for bringing me bad news. –Joseph Jimenez, chief executive of Novartis

The behavioral psychologist was brought in after a consulting group was paid to provide “better, more robust process, with more analytics,” which changed nothing.

When we started RampUp Solutions in 1999, we spent a good deal of effort coming up with a tag line that easily explained the services we provide.

After several iterations we finally settled on “To change what they do change how you think”

Over the years, I’ve heard and read story after story of how all kinds of changes—from turn arounds to improved productivity to retention—all started with a change in the way the boss thought.

And that applied whether the boss was CEO, team leader or somewhere in-between.

Stories and discussions about change tend to focus on the actions that bring about the changes, instead of starting at the beginning with the hardest work,

Work that requires the boss, at whatever level, changing the way she thinks and then dispersing and embedding those changes throughout her organization.

So before you hire expensive consultants or seek help from advisors look in the mirror to determine how much of the problem is you.

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Do you believe it? 2011 is three quarters over already, but you still have plenty of time to learn.

In fact, no matter how busy you are and how many demands there are for a “piece of you” you can still learn.

Doing so is often a case of modifying whom you learn from as well as your learning methods.

It’s actually pretty simple,

• recognize that you can learn from everybody, not just those who are senior to you or who agree with your opinions; and
• take advantage of everything that happens to learn at least one thing you didn’t know—no matter how minor.

Today’s carnival is a good example. Rarely do you have time to read every post, so choose posts from unfamiliar authors and/or with summaries that run counter to your current opinion.

Do this with a truly open and watch how much you learn.

Leadership

Robin Schooling presents Successful Managers Have Two-Faces posted at HR Schoolhouse. Robin challenges you to break the paradigm of your assumptions about managers vs. leaders.

Gwyn Teatro presents Caring or Care-taking?~A Fine Distinction posted at You’re Not the Boss of Me. I think Gwyn makes better than a fine distinction, it was obvious which leader I would prefer to work for.

Seth Brink presents Coach or Command, How Do You Lead Your Team Members? | Daily Art posted at Daily Art » The Blog. The choice between coach and command isn’t always clear.

Steve Roesler presents Ten Life Lessons From Business posted at All Things Workplace. Paying attention to lessons learned in business can yield well founded lessons for life.

Laura Schroeder presents Brains in a Jar posted at Compensation Cafe. One company’s unique way of recognizing employees caught Laura’s eye or should I say – brain.

Page Cole presents 5 Actions To Take After a Huge Failure – Lead Change Group posted at Lead Change Group Blog. We all blow it. Here are 5 actions you can take to make sure you respond properly to major mistakes.

Mary Jo Asmus presents Learning to Trust the Unique Ways Your Team Members Get Things Done posted at Aspire-CS. This coaching conversation is an invaluable lesson for a new manager.

Jimmy presents To Be Great Leaders! Just Be Yourself. | My Life Architects posted at My Life Architects. Authentic Leadership stems from self-awareness and how you make it work.

Guy Farmer presents How to Deal with Difficult People posted at Unconventional Training. A difficult person can be frustrating, consider Guy’s ten reminders on how to manager it better.

Jennifer V. Miller presents 5 Reasons Leaders Fear Embarrassment posted at The People Equation. Here are a few tips to help you through those embarrassing moments. I use the first and second remedies.

Sri Subramanian presents Bullies at work posted at TalentedApps. What is the key to effectively stopping bullies in the workplace?

Jon Ingham presents Collaborative Leadership in Asia posted at Management 2.0 developing social capital. Important leadership insights to help you be more collaborative in the global world.

S. Chris Edmonds presents What’s Your Leadership Philosophy? posted at Driving Results Through Culture. What you ARE defines the leader you will BE – every day.

Nick McCormick presents Leadership Commitments posted at Joe and Wanda on Management. A character in David Cottrell’s book “Monday Morning Leadership” provides a list of his leadership commitments.

Coaching

Jailan Marie presents Finding out WHO can help posted at Innovative Solutions For Positive Change. A good reminder there is always a WHO in your life to help you.

Lynn Dessert presents Networking is not a Deal Breaker for Introverts posted at Elephants at Work. Let’s get to the real issue by not accepting the excuse that you are an introvert.

Management

Rodney presents Ask the Right Questions posted at Life-fficient. These three questions will help you make your communications more effective.

Eric Pennington presents Your People Are Smarter Than You Think posted at Epic Living – Leadership Development Career Management Training Executive Life Coaching Author. In this post, you will uncover the dangers of managers underestimating the intelligence and talents of their people.

David Zinger presents Employee Engagement and the 3 Word Theme: Stop, Focus, and Finish posted at David Zinger Associates – Employee Engagement. David defines the benefits of themes and how to develop a yearly 3 word theme to enhance your own self-management.

Miki Saxon presents Ducks in a Row: Supporting Progress posted at MAPping Company Success. It ranks high on employee motivation surveys, doesn’t cost money and is within the control of every manager. So why does it elude so many?

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I find it amusing to read about research that proves what most of us already know—things such as healthy food costs more or that managers play favorites.

While 84% of those surveyed say favoritism takes place at their own organizations, just 23% acknowledged practicing it themselves, and 9% say it was a factor in determining their last promotion.

Gee, who’d a thunk it?

But the most salient point was made in a comment by Robert Cucinelli,

“I think the really interesting point is that almost a quarter admit to practicing it themselves, but only 9% believe that favoritism played a role in their own achievements. I guess it is therefore safe to assume that the other 91% believe they made it strictly on their own merits and hard work. Now I would call that either delusional, or defying the odds, though more likely the former.”

I’d say there’s no question it’s delusional.

It’s the age old ‘but me‘ in yet another form.

Many managers who believe they are fair are influenced in ways in which they are totally unaware.

When I was a recruiter I knew a manager who would not hire a blonde; he wasn’t aware of it until I proved it to him. Another manager refused to promote a talented woman until he realized it was because  she looked like his ex mother-in-law.

Both of them worked through it, but before you can stop something you have to recognize that you’re doing it.

That means being aware of your personal prejudices and making a conscious effort not to let them influence you.

By the same token, you need to be aware when you’re playing to the boss-gallery because you figured out what floats his boat.

I’m not saying you have to admit it, but at least don’t kid yourself.

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