Culture by Design LeaderFactor

During this episode of Culture by Design, we're continuing our four­-part series on the change management  principle, Behave Until You Believe. These episodes are focused on the practical application of each of the four stages of psychological safety and, this week, Tim and Junior tackle Stage Three: Contributor Safety. During the episode, they'll discuss our innate need to make a difference, the relationship between autonomy and accountability, and relevant examples and behaviors that will help you put contributor safety into actual practice. 
What is contributor safety? (04:04) In this third stage of psychological safety we give others autonomy with guidance in exchange for effort and results. This stage is all about the human hunger for meaning. While it’s great to be included, to learn, grow, and develop, that’s not enough for most people. Deep in our hearts we have a need to make a difference.
The balance of autonomy (12:35) Tim and Junior discuss the delicate balance between autonomy and accountability. If your teams want autonomy, they have to learn to love accountability. Ask yourself this diagnostic question: Do I gravitate towards transparency or do I gravitate towards ambiguity? 
Behavior #1: Communicate Tradeoffs (18:33) Everything in life is a trade­off. Effective execution and consistent innovation depends on our ability to effectively choose to do some things instead of other things. Tim and Junior explain the power that comes from deliberately saying no to good things to make room for better things. Do we celebrate and encourage that choice?
Behavior #2: Give People the Why (28:07) Urgency may get you started on an endeavor, but the deep "why" keeps you going long after that initial excitement has worn off. And this doesn't always have to be institutional! Your "why" can live at the individual or team level and be just as effective.
Behavior #3: Let Them Do it Their Way (33:51) When we increase autonomy in an organization, we increase risk. Many organizations believe that micromanaging will mitigate that risk, but that's not the case. If you give autonomy to employees who want to do their best work, you'll get their best work as long as they have equal amounts of autonomy and accountability. 
Important LinksThe 4 Stages of Psychological Safety Behavioral Guide

Today's lesson:Beware the Tyranny of Your Expertise

Key Points:Expertise is a double edged sword. On one side, it’s knowledge, it's useful, and it’s leverage. On the other side, you can become insulated and you can lose touch with context. "The danger of the expert is that he often becomes a prisoner of his own expertise." -Peter Drucker. There is no field of knowledge that is static or complete. Nothing is in a state of true equilibrium, so if you don’t move with the unfolding of knowledge in your field of expertise, you become increasingly obsolete and irrelevant. 

Today's key action:Next time you feel like you’re 100% confident in the answer, assume you’re missing something.

Today's episode is part two of our four-part series on the Change Management Principle, Behave Until You Believe. These episodes are focused on the practical application of each of the four stages of psychological safety and focus on the key principles and behaviors that will help you foster an environment of high psychological safety. This week, Tim and Junior talk about what learner safety is, the two domains of learning, why learning is error-driven, and their top 3 picks from the 4 Stages Behavioral Guide as actions we can take to “Behave Until we Believe” in Stage 2 Learner Safety.
What is learner safety? (03:26) As the second stage of The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety, learner safety is crucial to ensuring that innovation can  flourish in an organization. In this stage, fear is detached from mistakes, and mistakes are rewarded as part of the learning process.
Learning is error-driven (04:29) In order to learn, we can’t always be right. If our environment only rewards correct answers, the expectation will always be perfection, and learning will never be prioritized. 
The two domains of learning (12:27) Learner safety encompasses creating a culture of rewarded vulnerability across 2 domains: Formal and informal. As we get older, we lose opportunities for formal learning and rely on creating our own informal learning experiences. The goal in these experiences? Create learning agility.
Behavior 1: Share What You’re Learning (21:47) If nobody knows that learning consistently is encouraged and accepted, they won't want to appear ignorant. Model learning behavior as the first-mover. By acknowledging your ignorance you’re making it safe for them to acknowledge theirs.
Behavior 2: Take Notes (31:48) Your mind is not a steel trap. Taking notes is a physical manifestation of your intent to learn, retain, and improve. 
Behavior 3: Identify and Share What You Unlearn (38:57) If knowledge is learning things, wisdom is unlearning things. People and organizations have to let go of what worked before but doesn’t work now, and of what we thought was true, but isn’t.
Important LinksThe 4 Stages of Psychological Safety Behavioral Guide

Today's lesson:The 21st century requires Mission-type or mission-command orders

Key Points:Mission-type orders include a clear statement of the superior commander's intent and state each unit's tasks in terms of operational effects to be achieved rather than specific commands. A mission-type order only works when your junior officers have the capability to do the job, including the critical and strategic thinking capability. If they don’t, the mission-type order is more dangerous than a static “command order.” The whole concept rests on the ability of the junior leaders to interpret and respond to changing conditions. Let’s understand that a mission-type order is a very different form of delegation. You are mandating the outcome and delegating the tactics. 

Today's key action:Next time you assign a task, consider “Mission-type Orders”. Describe the what, delegate the how.

In today's episode, we're kicking off a new four-part series on the Change Management Principle, Behave Until You Believe. These episodes are focused on the practical application of each of the four stages of psychological safety and focus on the key principles and behaviors that will help you foster an environment of high psychological safety. To kick off this series, Tim and Junior will talk about what it means to behave until you believe as a principle, then move into Stage 1, and behaviors and environments that foster inclusion safety, the difference between bonding and bridging, and give you specific, real ways to create an environment of inclusion.
The goal of transformation (03:36) If we aspire to transform ourselves and our organizations, we must be willing to change our behavior. Tim and Junior set the stage and explain why this cultural goal, as daunting as it is, is essential for organizational well-being and growth.
Why the traditional approach to transformation is broken (05:12) Tim and Junior present the traditional, linear approach to cultural transformation, which is achieved through three categories and five stages. Those stages are (1) awareness, (2) understanding, (3) appreciation, (4) belief, (5) behavior.
What does it mean to behave until you believe? (10:50) In order to achieve transformation both personally and professionally, you need awareness, but you should work on behavior simultaneously. As Richard Pascale once wrote: “People are more likely to act their way into a new way of thinking than think their way into a new way of acting.”
Increase inclusion through bridging, not just bonding (28:10) While it may be easier to bond with people who are similar to you, inclusion comes through bridging the gaps with people who aren't like you. Unless we close the distance, our relationships stay superficial and transactional. Tim and Junior share three ways to put this theory into practice.
Be the first mover and share your story (30:52) One of the best ways to close the gap between yourself and a colleague is to learn more about them, and one of the best ways to learn more about them is through asking them to share their story.
Ask twice as much as you tell (39:32) Each of us has a personal inquiry and advocacy ratio. Ask yourself: "Am I in inquiry mode right now, or am I in advocacy mode right now?"
Express gratitude and appreciation (44:30) Are you showing gratitude and appreciation not just for performance in a team setting, but for effort? And remember: Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone.
Important LinksPsychological Safety Behavioral Guide

Today's lesson:Excavate Your Talents
Key Points:The National Endowment for the Arts tells us that the average person possesses 500-700 different skills and abilities. Yet, Gallup tells us that only 10% of people are able to identify their natural talents. Everyone has special gifts, talents, and aptitudes– areas where their potential ability is two or three standard deviations from the mean. The problem is, many of us can’t see them because they are not obvious. No one comes with a list of their talents. They’re all discovered. We all require additional self-awareness, awareness that only comes with additional effort, discovery, experimentation, or in short, excavation.

Today's key action:Go ask ten people who know you well this question: “What do you think I’m better at than 9/10 people?”

Write down their responses.
See if you can find a pattern in the responses. Drill down, excavate, and then put in the work.