The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups
Daniel Coyle
Description
An essential book that unlocks the secrets of highly successful groups and provides readers with a toolkit for building a cohesive, innovative culture, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Talent Code.
Key words: Culture, moral, growth, belonging, psychological safety
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My Notes
Culture, from the Latin word Cultus, which means care.
Introduction
We presume skilled individuals will combine to produce skilled performance in the same way we presume two plus two will combine to produce four. Your bet would be wrong.
We focus on what we can see - individual skills. But individual skills are not what matters. What matters is interaction.
Culture is a set of living relationships working toward a shared goal.
Skill 1 - Build Safety
A group succeeds not because they are smarter but because they are safer. Safety is not mere emotional weather but rather the foundation on which strong culture is built. The kindergarten story of the spaghetti.
Highly successful groups tend to call each other family.
Interactions of highly successful groups:
Close physical proximity often in circles
Lots of eye contact
Physical touch (handshakes, fist bumps, hugs)
Everyone talking to everyone
Lots of questions
Laughter
Belonging cues are behaviours that create safe connection in groups. They include; proximity, eye contact, energy, mimicry, turn taking, attention, body language, vocal pitch, and everyone talks to everyone in the group. Belonging cues are a steady pulse of interactions. Their function is to answer the ever-present question glowing in our brains: are we safe here? What’s our future with these people? Are there dangers lurking?
We used signals long before we used language, and our unconscious brains are incredibly attuned to certain types of behaviours.
Belonging cues possess three basic qualities;
Give people time and energy - make effort
Treat the person as unique and valued - important to our future
Future orientation - they signal the relationship will continue - future mission / vision (why)
The cues add up to one message - you are safe here.
Team performance is driven by five measurable factors:
Everyone in the group talks and listens equally
High levels of eye contact and gesture are energetic
Communicate at all levels
Back channel conversations within the team
Share information from outside the team with others
Group performance depends on behaviour that communicates one powerful overarching idea: We are safe and connected.
Page’s technique of igniting whole group debates around solving tough problems sent a powerful signal of identity and connection...
Germans & English in trenches @ Christmas - both sides shared a burst of belief and identity. In short, ‘we are the same, we are safe, I’ll go halfway if you will’. And so, they did.
...given a fleece sweatshirt embroidered with their name alongside the company’s name.
When onboarding a new employee give them a steady stream of individualised future oriented belonging cues. These signals will create the foundation of psychological safety that builds connection and identity.
It turns out that there are a whole bunch of effects that take place when we are pleased to be part of a group, when we are part of creating an authentic structure for us to be more ourselves.
Belonging cues are not to do with character of discipline but with building an environment that answers basic questions:
Are we connected?
Do we share a future?
Are we safe?
Building belonging:
San Antonio Spurs coach Popovich - walking into room to his players. ...he begins to move around the gym, talking to players. He touches them on the elbow, the shoulder, the arm. He laughs, his eyes are bright, knowing, active.
...that’s the way Pop approaches every relationship - he fills their cups.
When Pop wants to connect with players, he moves in right enough their noses nearly touch. Almost like a challenge of intimacy contest. As warm-ups continue, he keeps roving, connecting.
Pops style is ‘he’ll tell you the truth, with no bullshit, and then he’ll love you to death’.
With new players - he spends four days travelling with them, meeting family and friends, talking about everything, but basketball.
Pop asks questions - and those questions are always the same: personal, direct, focused on the big picture.
Pop makes sure everyone feels engaged to something bigger. ‘Hug em and hold em’ is Pop’s style.
He does all his communicating in person, close up.
Highly successful cultures are not always happy places. They solve hard problems together. This involves many moments of high candour feedback, uncomfortable truth telling, where they confront the gap between where the group is, and where it ought to be.
Giving feedback
“I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know you can reach them”
This sentence contains three cues;
You are part of this group
This group is special; we have high standards here.
I believe you can reach those standards.
These provide a clear message - this is a safe place to give effort.
These give an insight into Pops methods of communication, which consist of three types of belonging cues;
Personal - up close connection - I care about you.
Performance feedback - relentless coaching - we have high standards here
Big picture perspective - life is bigger than basketball
First, he zooms in close, creating individualised connection. Then he operates in the middle distance, showing players the truth about their performance. Then he pans out to show the larger context in which their interaction is taking place.
Pop is like the father of the bride at a wedding - taking time with everyone, thanking them and appreciating them.
How to design for belonging
Owner of Zappos - I try to help things happen organically. If you set things up right, the connection happens.
...he had a connection with everyone, and more impressively, he sought to build connections with others.
...he had a gift of making these connections seem utterly normal, and through that normalcy, special.
...he keeps things really simple and positive when it comes to people.
This place is like a greenhouse. In some green houses, the leader plays the role of the plant that every other plant aspires too. But that’s not me. I’m not the plant that everyone aspires to be. My job is to architect the greenhouse.
...You connect with all these people, and you don’t feel it in your head, you feel it in your stomach. It’s a feeling of possibility, and he creates it wherever he goes.
Highly successful groups have a knack for navigating complex problems with dazzling speed.
On group chemistry - visual contact between people is very, very important. If you can see the other person or even the area where they work, you’re reminded of them, and that brings a whole bunch of effects.
Interaction versus distance should be less than 8m. Our social brains are built to focus and respond to a relatively small number of people located within a finite distance of us.
Get close, and our tendency to connect lights up.
Closeness helps create efficiencies of connection. The people in his orbit behave as if they were under the influence of some kind of drug, because in fact, they are.
Ideas for action - Building safety
Creating safety is about dialling into small, subtle moments and delivering targeted signals at key points.
Listen - exaggerate you’re listening
No ego - ask question, listen and radiate humility. To create safety leaders, need to actively invite input. And it’s equally hard for people not to answer a genuine question from a leader who asks for their opinion or their help.
Embrace feedback
Powerful simple vision / mission
Lots of thank-yous - Pop thanks his players for allowing him to coach them. Thank the person at the bottom that performs the humblest of tasks.... Here is the unheralded person who makes our success possible.
Hiring process - Are you a Zappo?
Eliminate bad apples - No dickheads policies. It’s simple, that’s why it’s effective.
Create safe space that maximise collisions
Everyone has a voice!!! Leaders need to seek out connection and make sure voices are heard.
Create belonging by placing power and trust in the hands of the people doing the work.
Pick up trash - put dishes away, clean sink, take out rubbish. This models the team ethic of togetherness and teamwork. A mindset of simple ways to serve the group. It says, “we are all in this together”.
Feedback - ask the person if they want feedback (create safety) then have a learning conversation about needed growth. Then give praise.
Have fun!! Laughter is a fundamental sign of safety and connection.
Skill Two - Share Vulnerability
Anybody have any ideas? Tell me what you want, and I’ll help you - can unlock a group’s ability to perform. The key, as we’re about to learn, involves the willingness to perform a certain behaviour that goes against our every instinct: sharing vulnerability.
What are groups really for? The idea is that we can combine our strengths and use our skills in a complementary way. Being vulnerable gets that static out of the way and lets us do the job together, without worrying or hesitating. It lets us work as one unit.
...I know my guys are going to solve the problem themselves.
UCB was creating one of the most cohesive comic ensembles on the planet by spending huge amounts of time doing an activity that produced mostly pain and awkwardness.
When Del Close developed the Harold in the 1970s he wrote the following rules:
You are all supporting actors
Always check your impulses
Never enter a scene unless you’re needed
Save your fellow actor, don’t worry about the piece
Your prime responsibility is to support
Work at the top of your brains at all times
Never underestimate or condescend to the audience
No jokes
Trust. Trust your fellow actors to support you; trust them to come through if you lay something heavy on them; trust yourself
Avoid judging what is going down except in terms of whether it needs help, what can best follow, or how you can best support it imaginatively if your support is called for
LISTEN
Create cooperation in small groups
On SEAL leadership...he was one of us. He understood the bigger picture, and you could always talk to him.
...he is chatty and warm, with eyebrows that steeple together in concern when he listens.
Having one person tell another what to do is not a reliable way to make good decisions. So how do you create conditions where that does happen, where you develop a hive mind? How do you develop ways to challenge each other, ask the right questions and never defer to authority? We’re (SEALS) trying to create leaders among leaders. And you can’t just tell people to do that. You have to create the conditions where they start to do it.
After a leader presents an idea - say now let’s see if someone can poke holes in this or tell me what’s wrong with this idea. He steered away from giving orders and instead asked a lot of questions.
It’s got to be safe to talk - rank switched off, humility switched on.
The most important words any leader can say are, ‘I screwed that up’.
Cooper uses the phrase ‘backbone of humility’ to describe a good AAR. It’s a useful phrase because it captures the paradoxical nature of the task: a relentless willingness to see the truth and take ownership.
When we think about courage, we tend to think it’s going against the enemy with a machine gun. The real courage is seeing the truth and speaking the truth to each other. People never want to be the person who says, wait a second, what’s really going on here? But inside the squadron, that ‘is’ the culture, and that’s why we’re successful.
How to cooperate with individuals
...Nyquist by all accounts possessed two important qualities. The first was warmth. He had a knack for making people feel cared for; every contemporary decision paint him as ‘fatherly’. The second quality was a relentless curiosity.
...He drew people out and got them thinking.
When I visited groups for this book, I met a lot of people who possessed warmth and curiosity. They also possessed a deep knowledge that spanned domains and had a knack for asking questions that ignited motivation and ideas.
...She’s incredible skilled at unlocking teams, asking questions that connect people and open possibilities.
...Surface the solution together.
Ask the right questions the right way.
...and one of the biggest tools in her toolbox is time. She’ll spend so much time, being patient and continuing to have conversations.
In group communication questions comprise six per cent of verbal interaction, they generate 60 per cent of ensuing discussions.
When she speaks, she constantly links back to you with small phrases...maybe you’ve had an experience like this...you might be similar...the reason I was pausing there was...that provide a steady signal of connection. You find yourself comfortable opening up, taking risks, telling the truth.
...She’s unassuming and disarms people because she is so open and listening and caring.
In coaching or therapy - radiate a steady attention, a poised stillness. Hands folded on his lap. Eyes up and alert. React with small nods and expressions. The most important moments in conversation happen when one person is actively, intently listening. There’s no sense of yourself because it’s not about you. It’s about to connect completely to that person. When this happens, it’s like there’s an accelerated change to the relationship when you’re really able to listen, to be incredible present with the person. It’s like a breakthrough - we were like this, but now we’re going to interact in a new way, and we both understand that it’s happened.
Ideas for action
Make sure the leader is vulnerable first and often.... I screwed that up.
A leader should ask three questions;
What is the one thing I currently do that you’d like me to continue to do?
What is the one thing that I don’t currently do frequently that I should do more often?
What can I do to make you more effective?
Over-communicate expectations
Collaborate and make others successful: going out of your way to help others is the secret sauce.
Deliver the negative stuff in person.
Listen like a trampoline - listening is about adding insight and creating moments of mutual discovery. Most effective listeners do four things:
Make the other person feel safe and supported
Take a helping, cooperative stance
Occasionally ask questions that gently and constructively challenge old assumptions
Make occasional suggestions to open up alternative paths
Listeners are like active responders, absorbing what the other person gives, supporting them and adding energy to help the conversation gain velocity and altitude.
Find different ways to explore the area of tension.
Whenever you ask a question - the first response you get is usually not the answer - it’s just the first response. So, I try to find ways to surface things. You have a lot of ways to ask the same question and from different angles. Then build questions from that response to explore more.
In conversation resist the temptation to reflexively add value - most important part of creating vulnerability often resides not in what you say but in what ‘you do not say’.
Forgo easy opportunities to offer solutions and make suggestions. Skilled listeners do not interrupt with phrases like ‘here’s what worked for me, why don’t you use this?’ Because they understand It’s not about them. They use a repertoire of phrases to keep the other person talking. Say ‘say more about that’.
Use exit reviews and AARs
What were our intended results?
What were our actual results?
What caused our results?
What will we do the same next time?
What will we do differently?
Exit reviews are not just to figure out what happened, but also to build a shared mental model that helps the group navigate future problems. They open up vulnerabilities so a group can better understand what works, what doesn’t, and how to get better.
Before action review
What are our intended results?
What challenges do we anticipate?
What have we or others learned from similar situations?
What will make us useful this time?
Performance review - Move away from ranking workers and shift to a coaching model, where people receive frequent feedback designed to provide them with both a vivid performance snapshot and a path for improvement.
Skill Three - Establish Purpose
The 311 words of the credo orientated the thinking and behaviour of thousands of people as they navigated a complex landscape of choices.
What’s this all for? What are we working towards?
Pixar - technology inspires art and art inspires technology.
SEAL - shoot, move and communicate.
KIPP - work hard and be nice.
Successful groups are attuned to the same truth as the starlings: purpose isn’t about tapping into some mystical internal drive but rather about creating simple beacons that focus attention and engagement on the shared goal. Successful cultures do this by relentlessly seeking ways to tell and retell their story. To do this they build what we’ll call high purpose environments.
What matters is telling the story.
Stories create reality. The truth is in the brain scans: when we hear a fact, a few isolated areas of our brain light up, translating words and meanings. When we hear a story, our brains light up like Las Vegas, chasing the chain of cause, effect and meaning. Stories and not just stories; they are the best invention ever created for delivering mental models that drive behaviour.
...What happened, was replacing one story - these are average kids - with a new one - these are special kids, destined to succeed - serves as a locator beacon that reoriented the teachers, creating a cascade of behaviours that guided the student toward that future. The changes this story made were the following;
Warmth - teachers were kinder and more attentive
Input - teachers provided more material for learning
Response opportunity - teachers called on the students more often and listened more carefully
Feedback - teachers provided more
A beacon or symbol of purpose that links present effort to a meaningful future. This is why we work. Here is where you should put your energy.
Signals of highly effective teams:
Framing - the experience and give meaning
Roles - why you’re important
Rehearsal - of performance and preparation
Encouragement to speak up
Active reflection
All performed with the same vital function: to flood the environment with narrative links between what they were doing now and what it meant. Clear beacons of meaning.
Two basic challenges facing any group: consistency and innovation.
When you walk into a Meyer restaurant you feel ‘cared for’. This radiates from the people, who approach each interaction with familial thoughtfulness.
The number one job is to take care of each other.
People will respond to what their boss feels is important.
How we treat each other is everything. If we do that well everything else will fall into place.
Meyer became intentional about embedding his catchphrases and stating priorities in training, staff meetings and all communications. He pushed his leaders to seek opportunities to use and model the key behaviours.
You have priorities whether you name them or not. If you want to grow, you better name them, and you better name the behaviours that support the priorities.
Creating engagement around a clear, simple set of priorities can function as a lighthouse, orientating behaviour and providing a path toward a goal.
...He generates constantly, testing which one’s work. He seeks snappy, visceral phrases that use vivid images to help team members connect. All of a sudden, they’re not corny - they’re just part of the oxygen.
What he’s exceptional at is realising that people are looking at him every second, and he’s delivering those messages every second, every day.
Leading for creativity - Highly successful teams use the lighthouse method - they create purpose by generating a clear beam of signals that link where we are with where we want to be.
Creative leaders - spoke quietly, spend a lot of time observing, an introverted vibe, and like to talk about systems. I started to think of this type of person as a creative engineer.
Building purpose in a group is not about generating a brilliant moment of breakthrough but rather about building systems that can churn through lots of ideas in order to help unearth the right choices.
The goal needs to be to get the team right, get them moving in the right direction, and get them to see where they are making mistakes and where they are succeeding.
Now it’s up to you - let your teams solve the problems.
Proficiency - guide people to know exactly what to do.
Creative - guide people to it discover for themselves.
For me managing is a creative act. It’s problem solving, and I love doing that.
Story of Pixar and Disney takeover. We put in new systems, and they learn new ways of interacting. It’s strange to think that a wave of creativity and innovation can be unleashed by something as mundane as changing systems and learning new ways of interacting. But it’s true.
Ideas for action:
Name and rank priorities - if they get their relationships right everything else will follow. Drastically over communicate priorities until they become part of the oxygen.
Identify where the group aims for proficiency and creativity - Skills of proficiency - repeat the same task well. Machine-like reliability. Creative skills - empower the group to make something that didn’t exist before.
Measure what really matters - direct alignment to the group’s mission.
Use artefacts (beacons / symbols) symbolising this is what matters.
