Several times a month, I find myself in an in-depth conversation about company culture.
There are compelling reasons why a company’s culture must be healthy. In fact, it’s hard to argue the counter point when talking about long term value of a company.
The most interesting part of the culture discussion is not whether you need a healthy one, it’s when do you work on improving it? When is that right moment to create a healthy culture? I will answer these questions soon.
First, when do most companies attempt to evolve to the right culture? Based on my observations, the most popular time seems to be during a merger or major acquisition. In this case, most popular aligns with worst time to change.
To illustrate my point, let’s talk about a major acquisition first.
For clarity, we’ll call the company being acquired as the “selling company” and the company doing the acquisition as the “buying company”.
In a successful major acquisition, the buying company will have the culture that remains for the combined company. Please note that I am only talking about successful acquisitions.
There are examples of failed acquisitions where the culture was expected to change for everyone. The important word here is “failed”. Think AOL and Time Warner, where AOL was expected to culturally reinvigorate the stodgy media giant, and Time Warner was expected to provide AOL with some maturity. It was described as “transformative”, which means “we’re messing with the culture at both companies.” Post-acquisition, the total value of AOL stock declined from $226 billion to about $20 billion.
In fact, a leading indicator of a successful, major acquisition is that the buying company culture is supported to win, quickly. This doesn’t mean that the buying company always has a better culture, it is simply the one that is chosen.
Why does this make sense?Because major acquisitions are about great change on a compressed schedule. It’s expected that the selling company will have significant adjustments to make.
If cultural changes are also made at the buying company, then the combined entity will see significant upheaval – and that’s not the point of an acquisition.
An acquisition is about creating competitive advantage in the market through the addition or strengthening of a team, product or service. Integration synergies are needed quickly so that the buying company maintains its growth momentum.
Now what about a merger? Isn’t that about two equal companies coming together?
Yes, and no.
Yes, there are two companies coming together. No, it is NOT equal, even if announced as such.
Winners and losers exist in mergers too, in fact they’re not much different than an acquisition.
The only difference I’ve seen between a merger and an acquisition is that the employees of one of the merged companies think they have as much leverage as the other, and it takes them longer to figure out that they don’t.
In late 2013, the largest optical distributor in the US merged with the 2nd largest. It was billed as a merger of equals, taking the “best-of” both companies to create a stronger whole. Sounds like a nice story, huh?
The team started with the intention of creating “best-of” processes, documenting them with detailed spreadsheets and flowcharts. Then, as a systemic and practical integration plan developed, most of the detailed changes were value engineered out of the process. Exactness was correctly replaced by expediency.
By the end of 2014, the culture, IT systems and management team of the largest optical distributor were in place for the combined company, displacing all of what the 2nd largest brought to the party.
Ok, I promised I’d get back to the right time for culture change. Ready for it? If you’re a company not in the midst of a major merger or acquisition, the time is now.
Now? You might respond:
“But we’re all working virtually, what about COVID-19?”
“Sounds good, we will start when things calm down.”
“Our culture is just fine, in fact it’s been fine for many years.”
My typical answer to this is “What market conditions do you need to see for you to start culture change?”
You’ll give me a list of requirements.
My next question, “When in the last twenty years have you seen these requirements occur?”
After a pause, a one-word response, “Never”.
Get started now evolving your culture. Be the healthy company that acquires sick competitors, knowing that your culture is the right one to support scaling to the next level of growth.
Please let me know how you’re doing evolving your culture.
As a leader it’s my job to shine a light on what’s going on around me, interpret it and influence others in a positive direction.
Using my sight, I notice what’s important to benefit my team, my organization and our world.
Sometimes, just like when a light image is projected on my retina, I’m upside-down in my view. Other times, I’m blind in one particular spot like where the optical nerve connects to the retina. (What can I say, I’ve spent a lot of time with Optometrists).
It’s only through noticing my upside-downness or blindness that I can process it through my nervous and emotional system to connect with the full picture.
Throughout my career, I’ve recruited and coached diverse business teams of talented individuals. Diversity of skill, viewpoint and relationship is critical as we create services for the complex needs of human beings. I could tell you that I started building diverse teams because it offered a way for everyone’s voice to be heard, and to connect to the humanity in each person, but that wouldn’t be true.
The truth for me lacked emotional and idealistic content. I believe in diverse teams because they outperform homogeneous groups. A 2015 McKinsey report on 366 public companies found that those in the top 25% for management ethnic and racial diversity were 35% more likely to have financial returns beyond the mean for their industry.
I led these diverse teams with “can-do” attitude and optimism. And with this optimism, I strode into action. I was ready to do something about a challenge, but not really connecting to the problem.
The problem was racism, yet I didn’t see it even when I was so close.
I shrugged my shoulders, remained positive and continued to move ahead. When I noticed racism, it was mostly in video news clips including reprehensible words of those looking to incite fear.
But racism was around me, and I was shamefully ignoring it.
A friend helped me realize just how blind I had been, like the spot on my retina.
“Imagine if you were kidnapped,” she said, “brought to another country, raped, beaten and owned as property. And if that wasn’t enough, your collective history was erased and replaced by white European culture, the culture of your oppressors.”
“Essentially, my identity was suppressed by the people who were supposed to be my neighbors, and I struggled in this life to find it.” She added.
Racism is real and alive every day in this country. For many, authority figures such as business leaders and police are oppressors instead of protectors.
These are not just beliefs. There are many verifiable facts about this. Facts that, up until recently, I have filtered out in my naïve, optimistic, and disconnected efforts to build diverse teams.
Let’s bring a real reason for diverse teams into the light – because racism exists and must be overcome at every level. I get to (not have to) see my team through empathy. And I get to put that into action. I get to feel the pain and responsibility too.
There is no room to hide the bigotry I have ignored, those who only want to work with “their kind”. I am ready to have that conversation more directly now.
As leaders, it is our responsibility to see and eradicate racism and bigotry. First by education, and if that doesn’t work, we cut it out like the cancer it is. The majority I am in has a moral obligation to serve and protect the minority.
A few articles ago, I challenged leaders to exercise ownership thinking – asking “What could go wrong?” I invite you now to look through your own unconscious bias and answer these questions:
What is upside down or in my blind spot?
What has gone wrong for so long that I might not even notice most days?
What can I do right now, tomorrow and for our future?
As leaders, it’s up to us. #BlackLivesMatter
How are you shining a light on racism, shameful acts and deeply disturbing elements of our society?
A colleague of mine told me about a recent Zoom meeting. This Zoom was with the CFO of a successful distribution company, calling from his mobile line instead of joining via video.
She asked him, “What do you worry about?”
The CFO talked about the slowness of his team to adapt to changing market conditions, and that he was disappointed.
‘Curious response from a senior business leader’ I thought.
After a few other follow-up questions, my colleague then asked “What are you looking forward to?” The CFO responded, “I can’t wait until we are back together again in the office so we can get some real work done.”
My curiosity began shifting to queasiness.
“How has the team responded when you’re talking with them face to face on Zoom?” her final question.
“Well, my set-up doesn’t have a camera, so we have frequent one-on-one calls.”
My queasiness shifted to full blown discomfort!
I’m sure you’re following this, but let me summarize anyway.
This CFO is unhappy with the performance of his team, but has not invested $100 in a camera to upgrade his technology so that he can more effectively lead his team.
I’m reminded of advice that my Stryker mentor, Jeff Paulsen, gave me:
“The speed of the leader equals the speed of the team.”
Jeff is a very, very smart person who provided lots of good advice. But this phrase I have repeated more than any other.
When my team isn’t getting the urgency of the situation. I look in the mirror. My sense of urgency (or lack) must be setting the pace for the team.
When my team isn’t adopting new processes or technology. I look in the mirror.
When my team isn’t finding problems, instead, hoping everything is ok. I look in the mirror.
How am I showing my team that all of this poor performance is ok? What example am I setting?
When I figure out how I am challenged in a specific area, and change my approach, the team usually follows.
Now, that doesn’t mean that I always know HOW to change my approach. That’s where colleagues, coaching, mentors and experts come in.
In order to make an effective change, I must know where I’m heading – what “great” looks like.
And then I start with “good”.
Because I also believe that “great” can sometimes be the enemy of “good”.
I’ve seldom gone from no experience in a particular skill, to “great” immediately. So I shouldn’t expect my team to get there instantaneously either.
Let’s go back to that CFO leading a virtual team. If he were interested in creating a great virtual team, he would purchase a good video camera, and he would reach out to thought leaders.
We happen to have a great thought leader here in South Florida – Nina Segura from Super Virtual Teams.
Nina has taught me literally everything I know about creating and leading virtual teams. It’s not something that I have been naturally inclined to do. When working in an office environment, I’m voted most likely to walk over and knock on a door before even calling.
So, virtual teams were initially a big stretch for me. Now my consulting business depends on them.
I wasn’t much different than the CFO we met earlier. Except, I was willing to seek out experts and learn, so that I could move faster.
Speed of the leader equals the speed of the team.
How are your business reopening plans progressing?
How are your teams moving to capitalize on market opportunities?
What’s your speed making these critical changes?
Are you actively demolishing roadblocks that stand in their way, or are YOU the roadblock?
You and I can be both the problem and the solution. We’ve created roadblocks, and we also get to clear them.
Please share your speed with me. I look forward to hearing from you!
Twice weekly, I head to the gym to challenge myself with Octavio Cifuentes, a South Florida trainer for world class athletes, who graciously agreed to work with me. He has a process and method, often not readily apparent, building my strength to be both durable and explosive.
Durable and explosive… that sounds like a great business attribute. We’ll discuss that in a moment.
In my third session, after dragging a 250lb sled up and down the gym floor, I caught my breath long enough to ask – “Octavio, why all this sled dragging?” He paused, looked up from his energy drink and said. “I know you can’t see it now, we’re building your core. A strong core is essential to overall health, strength and agility. Without building a strong core first, building anything else would only lead to injury.” Then, he said. “Rest time is over, twenty push-ups please.”
17, 18 , 19… and 20. Breathless once again, I looked down at my still extant gut. Octavio was watching. “Also, I want you to remember this hard work when you decide what to feed your core.”
Your business has a core. Is it durable and explosive, or flabby and indulgent?
Do you feed it healthy fuel, and exercise it? Or do you binge on junk food and work super hard in spurts to try to create the appearance of health? Does a business core workout leave you breathless and panting to recover? Is your business injured because you ignored the core? Do you know where your core is?
We’ve found that there are three actions key to a strong core, and resulting strong business results.
Action #1: Define Your Core
In this action, it is important to describe your basic business activities and their tie to profitability. Look for the twenty percent of the actions that contribute eighty percent of the profitability. Know how you measure these key activities. Are your mission, vision and values consistent with these activities? Which skills and processes are essential to creating these services and products for your customers?
Please also note that just as your personal core includes the gut, your business core will also include the ability to go with “gut” calls, pivoting and aligning quickly. Cores can change too. Make sure you’re revisiting your business core and appropriately changing or expanding it.
Collecting cash by managing accounts receivable is an example of a core skill and process. Without cashflow, companies will suffer serious injury possibly leading to death.
Action #2: Feed and Exercise Your Core
Time to get real here. How much focus do you put on your business core? Building your business can feel a lot like dragging that 250lb sled – a painful slog. Are you feeding it with nutritious and clean burning energy in the form of the right leadership, skills training, process and employee development? Do you have a continuous feedback loop with your customers? Are the basic functions of your company people or process dependent?
When you look at your company, do you see a bunch of heroes? Do you observe shouting, running, extreme last-minute adrenaline-fueled efforts? While this is interesting in a Marvel Comics sort of way, it shows me that more feeding and exercising of the business core is needed. In a company with a well fed and exercised core, it often looks like not much is going on.
Action #3: Notice the results. Be patient, they’re often just under the surface.
Companies with a strong core can be a bit stealthy with Action #3. Competitors may see a gut, when the real strength and power lie just below the surface, and at first you might only see a gut too. Just know that muscles are being exercised, teams are forming, skills are being built, profitable business results are supporting company financial health and agility. And when the time is right, the time that you decide, these results will show up in the market with explosive strength and durability.
Tesla is a terrific example of that latent core, ready to burst forth. For years, the company was a custom manufacturer of funky electric roadsters. Then over a few years, stepped into the light as the world’s leading maker of electric cars.
I’m reminded of the words of coach Gabriella Goddard,
“Connect with your core and you’ll find strength. Act from your core and you’ll move mountains.”
What’s your core? How to you measure it? Do your customers and competitors know it, or is it an industry secret?
Do you have an expert coach like Octavio supporting you on the path to building it? Let’s start a dialog.
“Email is dead”. That’s what I hear from the plethora of marketing/seo companies who show up in email accounts that I seldom use. Instead of attempting to build a relationship with me, they’re looking for a marketing spend “booty call”.
I have passed on the booty calls, but I was buying the message that email is dead. My email marketing had been, in a word, irrelevant. Impersonal, infrequent communication about topics that weren’t interesting.
Until…a few days ago when my view on email started to shift in a more positive direction. Why? I attended a course on effective email marketing and communication – LeeAnn Webster’s Lead Machine Weekend.
What I began to see was that email isn’t dead at all. It’s actually a timeless skill that has been relegated to the back row of communication methods, pushed out by emojis and omnipresent social media. As a result, our ability to write an email with heart and clarity has declined, especially over the last ten years. That’s sad.
So now when it comes to email, I more closely resemble a Mark Twain quote: “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
I’ve begun to revamp my email marketing communication using the following best practices. According to LeeAnn at Lead Machine, an effective marketing email has five components:
Engaging content– interesting, relevant to the reader and likely to elicit a response
Authentic voice– is written like the business or author would talk
Regularity– delivered on a routine basis – not too frequently or infrequently
Delivered with seamless technology– like a good friend, just shows up without any hassle
Contains valuable information (lead magnet)– this is free information that supports the reader.
Let’s compare these five best practices to a recent email that landed in my personal inbox on March 14, 2020.
It was a “Dear Family” email from a restaurant 200 miles from my home where I had cancelled a dinner reservation sometime in 2017. Since I apparently was “family”, they went on to tell me about their approach to cleaning their restaurant and that they were “closely monitoring the situation.”
Engaging content– “we’re cleaning our restaurant”
Authentic voice – if this is how they talk to their family, I imagine there are some strained relationships
Regularity – once since 2017
Delivered with seamless technology– like a narcissist friend showing up
Contains valuable information – none
The “Dear Family” email is a total miss on all five points. My response to this less than heartfelt communication was “unsubscribe”.
Since learning these best practices, I’ve been critiquing marketing emails – including ones that I have generated in the past. This disappointing result is not unusual. Most are a total miss.
Ok, now for the timeless part of email. Writing a great email precisely tracks the creation process of something that is quite uncommon these days – the letter. Illustrating this point, let’s review a typical letter that I received from my Grandparents, Honey and Poppa, circa 1982.
Engaging content– gave me a glimpse into their life in that moment and that they wish I were there too
Authentic voice– 100% authenticity, 100% of the time, they didn’t know anything different. Being a social influencer meant doing the right thing in the neighborhood
Regularity– every holiday, birthday and once a month in between
Delivered with seamless technology – just put a stamp on it, drop it in the mailbox, and it would arrive like clockwork two days later
Contains valuable information – telling me about their plans for our next celebration, which were always great
Kudos to LeeAnn Webster for using timeless concepts to bring email into a modern, relevant discussion.
How does your email marketing stack up against these best practices? Do you have heartfelt and relevant emails to share? Have you written a letter recently?
This website or its third party tools use cookies, that are required to provide functionality and to achieve the purposes stated in our privacy policy. By clicking close or continuing to browse, you agree to the use of cookies.
