How to Transform Work Culture (part 1)

As we discussed on my last post, a lot of business leaders are intimidated by the very topic of corporate culture. Culture is "squishy;" it smacks of Kumbaya. It's hard (if not impossible) to measure, completely impossible to chart on a graph and slip into a powerpoint for the board. That's scary!

Relax. No one's going to ask you to hold hands and sing around a campfire. Culture isn't nearly as mysterious or frightening as all that.

Culture is nothing more than widely-shared outlook backed up by widely-shared habits.

See? That's something you can sink your teeth into, isn't it? If you're still a little foggy, try these two phrases on for size:

"This is how we do things around here." and "That's not how we do things around here." (or "...on this team" or "...in this family" or "...in this platoon" or "...in this sorority." You get the picture.)

Look around your company. How are things done? What attitudes are common? What actions are routine? That's your culture, for better or for worse.

How is culture developed and shared with newcomers and reinforced among long-time members? Think of your own family. Rules are great and all, but is that what your family is really about? "Don't do this, don't do that?" Of course not. The way we indoctrinate new members (children) into our family is through the sharing of stories. Stories illustrate. Stories explain. Stories stay with us.

I can tell you every detail of a hundred Coine family stories by heart. Why? Because they're about people I love. ...Because they're a part of me. ...And especially because I've heard them a thousand times!

Now think of the culture shift you'd like to lead at your company. What values and habits do you want to instill or strengthen? Start celebrating these. Let the leaders share these stories with everyone across the organization. Let them start to publicly recognize, praise; maybe even reward those employees who are doing what's right. Let the other leaders farther down the organizational pyramid share and praise these same stories. And watch as new, maybe even better tales bubble up from the bottom to become your company's newest culture-building stories.

And now, time for an example. (I've got hundreds.)

If you're reading this blog from beyond the United States, you may never have heard of a department store chain called Nordstrom. If you haven't, suffice it to say that Nordstrom has built its five-star reputation on the often seemingly-ridiculous lengths its employees ("Nordies") will go to please their customers. They call these acts of unusual service "Heroics," and Nordies even enjoy an internal newsletter where they can read examples of some of the many heroics their friends and colleagues are pulling off each month around the country.

One such heroic begins with a very ordinary act, of a Nordie cheerfully wrapping a customer's gift one afternoon. "Hardly heroic" you think? I did, too. Until I learned that this was a customer of cross-mall rival Macy's, not of Nordstrom at all. It turns out Macy's wasn't able (or willing?) to wrap this customer's present for a birthday party, and the party was fast approaching. So, in a panic, the Macy's customer rushed down to Nordstrom, where she knew they were always ready to wrap a gift.

Stop right there. I don't know if that Macy's customer defected and is now a strictly-loyal Nordstrom customer or not. I wish I knew, but that's not the point. The important thing Nordstrom leadership wants all Nordies to take away from this story is that unbegrudgingly cheerful and amazingly helpful behavior is part of the very essence of Nordstrom. It's what Nordies do, and that's all.

Now I ask you: what stories do you share amongst your members and with your customers to show to each other and the world how you behave? And how does your leadership recognize and reward your heroics?

How do you transform an ordinary culture into one of immense profitability? One heroic story at a time.