Beware of dinosaurs!

One positive from 2020 is more companies welcoming modern needs for work-life balance (WLB). Many CEOs recognize the upside in acquisition, retention, and performance.

Many see the impact on humans and care about that!

Not the CEO of #GoldmanSachs (GS) though.

Mr. Solomon said work from home (WFH) is an "aberration and we're going to correct it as soon as possible." Correct it!?!

In a talk last week at Credit Suisse’s annual virtual financial services forum, Mr. Solomon claimed WFH negatively impacts the GS culture of "innovative apprenticeships." If that were the case, couldn't they design ways to make it work? You know, since they are so innovative and all.

If GS were harmed by WFH, their financial results sure don’t show it. Their 2020 annual revenue of $44 billion was its highest since 2009. Their stock is up 50% YOY.

So, what’s the real problem? 

What are leaders like Mr. Solomon and cultures like GS really missing when their people are not in the office?

Their culture is missing things that put the “cult” in culture…

💥The ability to influence every aspect of employees’ lives from work to working out and networks.

💥Peer pressure to skate close to regulations, over-promise results, and work more hours. (George Costanza's car anyone?)

💥The influence of ego-feeding and self-aggrandizement. (Perhaps Mr. Solomon’s ego is not boosted at home as much as at the office?)

Companies and CEOs who care about their people are open to changes that empower people in their own lives. They do not want to “correct” those changes with antiquated rules.

Mr. Solomon is not the only leader with outdated thinking, nor is he the worst out there. Beware of dinosaurs! Don’t let them infiltrate your life or cause you to sacrifice your core values.

Beware of dinosaurs and don’t become one.

5 ways leaders can reduce culture tension and save their reputation

Fast, accurate, cheap: pick two.

When companies try to do all three, they create culture tension.

Aaron Kloch, Director of the HR Advisory Practice within Gartner, defines culture tensions as the “points of conflict or contradiction between cultural priorities (e.g., innovation and cost consciousness).”

When values, goals, and branding are at odds, it is confusing to people and creates tension between people.

The tension reduces productivity, increases distrust, and greatly diminishes performance.

Guess what percent of employees face culture tension daily, according to Gartner?

77%!   

Consider these three examples…

#1. A bank whose branding flaunted their tremendous service. Customers came expecting service from empowered, friendly people. Employees saw those commercials too and were eager to provide that level of service. But reality was different for the customers and employees. Service satisfaction was not measured on the annual performance review. Call length was. Call length determined raises, bonuses, and promotion potential, so it was the standard.

The incongruency between brand and their experience caused customers to distrust the company and leave. Employees distrusted it too. They wanted to provide better service but were penalized for it.

See the tension? The company valued service to its customers but call time to its employees.

#2. The tech company whose values include “innovation,” yet five signatures are required for a $1,500 purchase, even though it is within the innovative team’s budget.

See the tension? The company tells employees to value innovation, but the process is so riddled with red tape, it’s exhausting. It discourages innovation and performance.

#3. Nearly every company’s compensation plan is an example. Many companies proclaim their people are their greatest asset, yet the disparity in compensation proves otherwise.

See the tension? Mixed messages cause employees to distrust their manager, HR department, and company leaders.

Do the three examples feel familiar? Can you identify some of your companies culture tensions?

Culture tension is common. Every company has them, especially as they change and grow. Gartner found that 96% of companies are in the midst of organization transformations, so of course culture tensions arise.

The three most common tensions employees face are…

1. Emphasis on quality v. speed

2. Focus on customer v. employees

3. Pressure for efficiency v. innovation

When does your company experience each of those three common tensions? Recognize them so you can do something about it.

Here are five actions leaders can take to reduce culture tension:

1. Understand your culture beyond the words and promises. Really get to know what is happening so you can address the right tensions instead of irrelevant data points.

2. Align the culture with your operations and brand, then communicate this with employees to help guide their behaviors when conflict happens.

3. Arm employees with resources and guidance so they can make decisions when faced with conflicting values.

4. When you look at your culture data, don’t fix the numbers. Focus on the causes for the numbers.

5. Source culture solutions from your people, not just from HR. The solutions will be received better/faster when more are involved.

The key for leaders is to be aware of what is happening, inclusive about solutions, and deliberate about nourishing your culture. Without your attention, your company culture becomes meaningless.

Just last week, a local company’s employees slammed it on reddit in long, public posts that named the leaders who sabotaged the culture and treated employees appallingly. (Note the past tense—the leaders were terminated after the reddit posts went viral.) The company’s reputation is damaged, along with its revenue and retention, because the culture was left to people who did not care for it.

Would your company survive if your employees posted publicly about its culture?

If you are not 100% confident that it would, do something about it. Do not let culture tension get out of hand and damage your company and reputation permanently.

Voyage Consulting Group created the culture assessment that excavates below the surface much better than a survey. Our process includes qualitative steps too, and we synchronize the data so it becomes a more relevant and reliable foundation for understanding and action—better than numbers alone.

Schedule a call to discuss your culture and whether our assessment would be useful to you as you work to ease culture tension. We can help you align your culture, values, brand, and goals so you build trust, improve productivity, and boost performance. Plus, it gives peace of mind to live and lead in alignment.

The stench of Tesla’s culture is getting worse

Ten days ago, I wrote about a month’s-long look into Tesla’s culture and how there seemed to be a disconnect between the company and its people. There had been three emails from Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, to all staff, and all three revealed a culture with little warmth. Further digging (including a review of the website, job postings, interviews, and other articles) revealed a culture with minimal emotional connection between the company and its people. It was no wonder employees spoke negatively and there had been sabotage.

Like all CEOs, Musk sets the culture of the company he leads. On one hand, he and the company show very little emotional connection to their people. However, within a few days of that July 2nd blog, Musk, along with teams from Tesla and other companies he leads, were in the news for trying to help rescue the soccer team trapped in the cave in Thailand.

Musk received harsh criticism saying his help was just a publicity stunt. He responded to critics on Twitter about the sincerity of his team’s effort. I supported Musk’s effort via Twitter and a blog update. It was inspiring to see a company known for innovative technology and transportation working to help the rescue effort.

Also this week, Musk committed to fund water for residents in Flint, Michigan.

Here is a company which shows, at least to outsiders, very little emotional connection to its people. On the other hand, it made a significant effort to help the rescuers in Thailand and has committed to helping people in Flint finally have safe drinking water.

So, which is it? Does Musk and his leadership team care about people or not? Do they care about their own people, that is? My fingers were crossed that the answer would be a resounding, “Yes!”

The answer came in the form of this article on Business Insider today, and it stinks: Some Tesla employees say they were ordered to walk through raw sewage during Model 3 ramp-up

Four employees were so fearful of causing a production delay by walking around raw sewage on the inside of their plant, that they walked through it instead. They claim they were told to walk through it. Whether the plant managers told the employees to do so or not, it appears the plant managers knew people were walking through raw sewage inside the plant.

The linked article includes Tesla’s claim to care about its people and their denial of the report. Think about it, though. Four people said they walked through raw sewage inside their plant. The article does not say how many times, but it sounds like more than a few.

Any company that is not in the raw sewage business and has employees walking through raw sewage has a leadership problem.

There is so much pressure to meet production demands that employees are walking through raw sewage, and management knows. A company that cares about its people would not have a culture where managers believe walking through raw sewage is acceptable.

What are Tesla’s values? Without clear values to guide decisions and priorities, individual management relies on their own. The result is disconnection between company and people, as seen with Tesla. Additional outcomes when values are not the clear guides for decisions and priorities include sabotage (which Tesla also has experienced this year), turnover, secrets, lies, silos, poor performance, and competitive takeovers.

Tesla is going to be able to rest on its laurels as an innovative employer for only so long before the stench of its culture ruins it for good.

Have you been inside a restaurant or sports bar or home that allows smoking? After you leave the place, your clothes reek of the scent of smoke. I’ve strewn clothes on chairs on the back porch rather than put them in the closet hamper with the rest of the dirty clothes. Have you ever done the same? The stench stays on the clothes for a long time.

The stench of a culture that allows people to walk through raw sewage sticks around a long time.

Without culture correction and oversight, Tesla will lose the best thing it has: its smart, innovative, hardworking people. Obviously, investors, another stakeholder of concern, can make money without doing so on the backs of people walking through raw sewage.

Tesla might not have clear values, but a lot of people do, and they care who they work for, buy from, sell to, partner with, and invest in. They will find other places rather than have the stench of such a culture follow them.

I am rooting for Tesla to fix its culture so it can accomplish its mission with integrity. Right now, though, Tesla’s culture not only lacks warmth, as referred to earlier this month, it stinks!