I have the pleasure of working with people who never-stop-learning. A few of us meet every few months to discuss a book that relates to technology management. The current book is Culture Code: The Secret of Highly Successful Groups.  I read it when I could not sleep. Not that it was a cure for insomnia, but that it was those times when I could focus and read. I got to the end of it looking forward to reading more.

They split the book into three parts that give away what builds high-performing teams: build safety, share vulnerability, and establish purpose. I share my notes below, longer than it should be.

In the main, I was professionally raised with these values in my first unit in the Army. The NCOs were all veterans of Gulf War 1. They took an active interest in building a culture of safety, candor, humility and purpose. None of this is really new for me, but I will admit I've forgotten some of it.

In the Build Safety section, the author explains that teams with higher safety out-perform higher talented teams. One vignette supporting this came from Seal Team Six. Safety is a deep sociological need. The Gallup Q12 workforce survey captured this need in its question “Do I have a best friend at work?”, which is an often maligned question. As a soldier, I espoused the notion that of the 12 Principles of Leadership, “know your soldiers and look after their well-being” was the linchpin of the other 11. The inverse is bureaucracy and infighting. A phrase that bears this section out is “we are close, we are safe, we share a future.”

It may bear contrasting this section with the Jack Welsh era of General Electric. I recently read Light’s Out, which details how GE imploded after Welsh and was de-listed from the DOW after a century. He had aggressive rules for cutting the bottom fifth of the company every year, which led to infighting. Considering this book, that may have been a strong cause. Amazon managers specifically hire people to fire them to protect their own.

The author contrasts the USAF Minuteman missileers with their US Navy counterparts. USAF had a problem which could be explained in the “are we close, safe, share a future” paradigm. The Air Force’s missileers are isolated and have problems and the Navy’s who are proximate as they are on submarines.

In discussing how to design for belonging, Culture Code speaks of designing the environment, which includes essentially tearing down cubicle walls to increase interactions. One billionaire intentionally designed his headquarters to force interactions, himself moving furniture to increase the interactions. He wraps up with suggestions:

And he wrapped up with Abrashoff’s three questions:

The next part of the book explores how to build shared vulnerability. The stories are so much more powerful than anything I could write here. Through the book, he weaves in Pixar, Seal Team Six and a few other high-performing teams that model the behaviors reflected in this book. He spends a bit more time on the Navy Seals in this section, which speaks to how the methods of this book are not kumbayah. Creating vulnerability builds openness, which is necessary for cooperation and trust.

Shared vulnerability is part of servant leadership. The role of each member of the team is to serve the others on the team. This was true even of a high-performing criminal gang.

The author dedicates a chapter to how an officer pulling rank in 2001 saved the SEAL raid on Bin Laden in 2010. Pre 9/11, the future leader of the Bin Laden raid was ambushed, but released unharmed, because a leader pulled rank. In 2010, Admiral McRaven wanted them to use stealth helicopters. The SEAL leader cautioned the helicopters were unproven and put the assault at risk. Three times McRaven pulled rank and the SEAL leader was almost fired. To protect the team from an executive’s pulling rank, the SEAL leader required they crash a helicopter in every rehearsal leading up to the attack. Rather than be insubordinate, he operated on his assumption they would crash. Thus, when a stealth helicopter did crash, the team knew how to operate. This vignette was an anti-pattern of a leader not being vulnerable.

High-performing teams execute after-action reports, though the composition and name is slightly different. “The goal of the AAR is...to build a shared model that can be applied to future missions [instead of seeking truth or to assign credit/blame].” The continual chopper crashes helped build the model.

Group vulnerability takes time to build and intention to maintain:

This was a fun section, especially if you remember the Tylenol Scare. Johnson & Johnson had a credo written by its founder in 1943 that had become “the thing you parrot.” The CEO in 1975 challenged the workforce to change the Credo where there were scoffs about what they valued (profit). But, annual off sites helped inculcate the Credo’s values into the company. So, when the Tylenol Scare happened, rather than take the profit-first approach, the company followed its “we take care of our customers, employees, community and stockholders” (in that order) model. As a result, J&J ultimately increased market share.

The author focused on having short phrases that reflect a company’s purpose and values. This section focuses on ensuring that everyone has a shared model of why the organization exists. This is like the Value Proposition and Business Model Canvases, though those focus on objective confirmation of an organization’s value in society. Properly inculcated, the organization will act reflexively to stimuli. This differs from sloganeering. It includes creating a shared story.

Many high-proficiency groups focus on creating priorities, naming keystone behaviors, and flooding the environment with heuristics that link the two.

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-- 
Ben 
In tenebris solus sto