photo credit: Steve-h

A healthy corporate culture must ultimately be owned and championed by the CEO and his or her management team.  At the same time, a corporate culture livesand breathes by the actions front-line employees take every day.  In our 20 years work to define and heal ailing corporate cultures, we’ve learned small changes can transform any   from finger-pointing and overload to winning. 

Great cultures are built at the level of project teams and employees. Some people are born to catalyze positive action, and don’t see position or title in their organization as a hindrance. Ghandi’s wisdom “Be the change you want to see in the world” is accurate: The best way to make change is to be it.

Here are four roles any employee can play to foster a healthier corporate culture:

1)     Truth Warrior. The truth builds trust. The willingness to seek and speak the truth without drama, blame or judgment gains respect. It cuts through the fog of fuzzy thinking. We avoid truth because we avoid conflict. This classic article “The Joy of Conflict” from Inc says it well. A business exists to win—culture is about how you play the game to win. Are you a good player? Culture change can happen in any part of the company when one person stands up for the truth. The truth can take the form of a simple question: “What is it we really want to accomplish right now, which will help us win?” Zero in on what’s within your control.

2)     People Champion. “Us versus them” is a common de-railer of success in business. Eradicate negative speak about others. We learned of a culture change in a 300-person department, led by one person who repeatedly asked ONE question whenever the team complained about others: “What do we think Joe (John, Mary) really intended and wanted to accomplish?” Until people gave a positive answer, he kept asking. Be the hero and gain tremendous respect. Consistently seek the positive, true intention. Even small-minded idiots and bad bosses have something positive they want to accomplish. Dig for that gold and watch the communication and spirit around you transform.

3)     Priority Focuser. A friend gave me the best diet wisdom: “You can eat anything you want. Just not all at once.” This translates to the “overstuffed plates” of work teams who simultaneously juggle too many work-streams. Teams must learn to make trade-offs. Try asking: “What’s the highest payoff and most important customer for us this week?” and “How can we communicate effectively and serve the customers who we must ask to wait?” (If you don’t know who your customer is, start there. Every team has one). Yes, you can do this. (see #1). We knew of a team who charted 10 weeks of wins and started every meeting by celebrating the past week’s wins. This simple method rocketed them to the #1 software team in the organization for on-time delivery, and transformed their culture.  Adopting the Scrum model from the software development team can be a highly effective method to trimming your bloated workload.

4)     Voice for Balance.  Winning in business requires a balance of diverse skills and flexible responses to change. Assess your organization’s balance v. imbalance in its culture to target areas in which you can improve work practices to strengthen your team’s playing strategy.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world.

Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.  – Margaret Mead

Listen up cube warriors! You-the-willing can enable your best corporate culture. If you stay committed in spite of the onslaught of culture-hindering behaviors around you, others will soon be knocking on your door wondering “What’s happening on your team?”

And regardless, changing one “cube world” is a worthy endeavor in the pursuit of happiness at work.

This is a guest post from Lisa Jackson and Gerry Schmidt. Lisa and Gerry are corporate culture experts with proven methods to enable corporate cultures to win more, innovate faster, and care about people in an unprecedented era of rapid change and transformation.

For free tools to enable better workplace cultures visit them at http://www.corporateculturepros.com/culture-tools/ or follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/corporatecultur

Related posts:

1. Why respecting the corporate culture of your new team is important
2. Employment Culture Counts: 5 ways to evaluate culture
3. Infomania Hits Cubicle Warriors
4. Poor job descriptions challenge Cubicle Warriors
5. SMART Goal Setting — Relevant for Cubicle Warriors

boss eyed by Johnny Hall

Wouldn’t it be great to tell your boss what to do? And not where to go, so get your mind off that approach; it doesn’t work.

Well, you can’t control what your boss does, but you can certainly influence your boss to get the decisions you want. Here’s three steps to getting your boss to do what you want to do:

1. Determine how your boss wants to make decisions

Most people don’t try and figure out how a manager makes decisions; they are simply pleased — or not — with the decision made. This fails across many levels, the worst being that you are always conflicting with how the boss wants to make a decision. And you can’t ask your boss how they want to make a decision, although that is a good starting point. Instead, you must observe how they really make decisions.

I had a manager once that told me I needed to “come into the office with suggestions for fixing problems, not just with the problem.” We’ve all heard that one before, right?

So I did. Every time I had a problem or a roadblock, I went in and asked for help, but offered two or three different ways to attack the problem. Then my review came and I got dinged for “having all the answers.” When I asked for clarification, he noted that I always walked into his office with answers. You know…..what he asked me to do.

After that, I stopped coming up with answers and just presented problems. You know what? He LOVED it. Now he could think through problems on his own, come up with masterful solutions and prove his managerial superiority by deciding on a solution!

Of course, his answer was always one of my answers — there are only so many ways to solve a problem and what you really need is an answer to which one to pick, but I digress. I had failed to see how he actually made decisions, not what he said about making decisions.

2. Match your managers decision style with what you want to do

You can see from the example above that it would now be easy to move my manager to the decision I wanted by contributing the right way during the conversation. Even though I went into his office not saying the solution I wanted doesn’t mean I didn’t have a direction that I preferred. I did and helped my manager come up with positive points about the stuff I wanted — and negative points about the direction he wanted. Subtle…

Or, I had another manager who never accepted an idea from anyone else. It had to have been invented here and here meant the inside of his head. I would make my suggestions and then move on, thinking all was lost.

After I did this a couple of times, my manager came up with this brilliant idea — the exact same one I had two months earlier. It was like enough time went by so that the idea could become his; he told me the idea with enthusiasm and I had the good judgment to not blatantly say that it was my idea. You get burned enough in a 30-year career to catch on to a few things, I guess.

Thus, once you know how your manager makes decisions, feed into the process. Know the decision you want and then use the manager’s decision-making style to get the decision you want.

3. Cubicle Warriors do not share this insight with their coworkers

There are two simple reasons why (and to not share comes off, somehow, as a bad thing…so overcome this). The first is that if your coworkers know this, they will try and execute the same process and fail. Second, someone will tell your manager this is what you are doing — and then all hell will break loose.

Simply, don’t tell.

Your manager has the most influence on your career right now

Because your manager has the most influence on your career right now, you need to work with your manager to get the results you need in your work. This all may sound like a formula to manipulate; perhaps it is. But business is social. In social situations, we need to know how people make decisions and we need to understand what influences that process. Just as a child tries to figure out how to get something from his or her parents — endlessly — we need to know how to influence what we need for our work.

There is no need to apologize for it; knowing how decisions are made in a social environment that involves your paycheck and making a living is a Cubicle Warrior job skill.

How do you get your boss to do what you want done?

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We lose our mojo. We all do.

Now, Pamela Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation knows we lose our mojo, but she also knows a bit on how to get it back:

When you are at the top of your game in any aspect of your life – relationship, career, business, finance, health, fitness – you don’t think you will ever come down.

But you do.

You get laid off. Hit a really rough spot in the economy and stumble in your business. Lose your marriage. Gain two pant sizes from stress and overwork. Get writer’s block. Lose a mentor. Get your heart broken.

And when you get through the rough patch and try to get back on your horse, if you stay focused on how great things used to be, you will give up before you even start.

Remember what you felt, not what you did.

I am guilty of this trap of remembering what I did compared to what I felt. Happens all the time. We attribute it to “getting older” and not wiser; we see the relentless work for corporations beating out the “outstanding” in all of us. And, if you are looking for a job — working or not — it is easy to put what you used to do on a pedestal and fear you will never get it back.

That’s when your mojo goes. You start wandering in the wilderness and just start going along to get along and you start to lose your soul. You question your ability and motivation to do the work that needs doing for the best in you. You stop fighting for you and, well, you just stop.

This happens to the best of us, Cubicle Warriors or not. This past September, Kate, my wife, and I took three days away from the house and had some long discussions about what it is we wanted to do in our lives. Part of that was work. Part of that was relationships. But all of it was trying to define what kind of life we wanted to lead — because that life was when we felt best about ourselves.

It is easy to avoid defining the life you want right now. There are a lot of excuses that support the thinking that it doesn’t make any difference anyway and you abdicate controlling what you can about your life. It is even tougher to start working and executing a plan to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

But you can start by remembering what you felt when you were at your best in all the different roles you have in your life — your work, life as a parent, partner and family — then see where you are compared to your best and start working on getting there.

Without defining what you felt like doing your best, you won’t make the right choices to start getting you there. Instead, you’ll make expedient choices and kick the can down the road because it is easier to do. And you’ll lose a little more mojo along the way and wonder what ever happened to your life.

When some surveys talk about 60% of us planning on leaving our current job when the recession is “over,” I’d suggest that, instead of waiting, you start defining what you do when you feel your best. Then go out and start working it now.

It’s what Cubicle Warriors do to get their mojo back.

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By learning and using Cubicle Warrior skills on the job:

Cubicle Warriors get better performance review ratings

The people you work with, for the most part, know how to do their jobs. But doing the job well and being smart about how you approach the job are two different things.

Cubicle Warriors understand that their SMART goals need to be negotiated to protect their interests. They know that having a task management system that organizes their work will give them the right work to do at the right time. They know how to track their goal attainment and their accomplishments. Then, when the annual performance review comes around, they know how to write their performance review in a way that realistically shows their accomplishments and gives their manager ammunition to defend their rating.

You get higher ratings and better pay and bonuses if you execute these skills well.

Better job opportunities through business networking

Cubicle Warriors spend time building their business networks and help others in their business network first. By connecting regularly with their network, they understand how business is changing and where there are possible opportunities for work.

When you build a business network and then totally disregard it once you have found a job, you fail. All jobs have endings and when you see the ending to your job coming up, you have no prospects because your network is gone.

Cubicle Warriors operate from a position of strength

When you work for corporations, corporations have all the advantages: they pay your salary and benefits, can move you to any job position in the company, can request that you transfer to a different city and can lay you off in one heartless minute.

Essentially, corporations want your job skills and work to achieve the corporation’s goals. And that’s OK.

Most people, however, abdicate any position to their manager and the corporation. Cubicle Warriors don’t. While corporations still have all the advantages, Cubicle Warriors have already thought through what work they like doing and what they don’t. They already know where they are willing to live and the parameters around which they would move their family. They have a year’s worth of take-home pay in the bank so if they get laid off, their Castle is not threatened.

In short, the corporation can have the advantages, but it doesn’t own your soul.

Invest the time for your career

One thinks that all this career stuff takes a huge amount of time. And, initially, it does. But the time is more about understanding yourself and your family’s needs, your skills, building a plan for saving, and knowing how you can work your plan.

After that, it is consciously making the effort to maintain and build your business network, judging how long your position will last and having the systems in place to track your work.

Most people won’t take even this little time to do the work. Cubicle Warriors will.

Give yourself an unfair advantage.

Related posts:

1. Cubicle Warrior – Networking
2. Cubicle Warrior — job performance
3. Working with Management: Five characteristics of a Cubicle Warrior
4. Cubicle Warrior – Conclusions
5. Are you a Free Agent Cubicle Warrior?

There is a reason there are performance reviews: they keep score.

Michael Jordan, in Golf Digest, gave out 10 Rules from Michael Jordan on Maximizing Competitiveness, and I’d like to adapt them to what is needed for Cubicle Warriors. Here they are:

Focus on the little things

Little things that make the Cubicle Warrior difference: capturing all of your commitments so you can see your full inventory of work. Communicating early when it looks like there will be difficulty in getting a task done. Saying “thank you” when you have received help with a project.

Little things build your reputation. Each time you talk with someone, you add or subtract from that reputation.

Have total confidence in what you can do

If you have the confidence you can do the work, most often you will. That confidence will give you a better shot at doing more with better quality than any of your coworkers who lack your confidence.

Don’t think about the prize; think about the work

Sure, in the end, it is about the performance review rating, the promotion, the pay and getting to the life you want to lead. But the way to get to accomplishment in each of those areas is to do the work in front of you today. If you do the work, think about how to do the work better and innovate new ways of doing the work, the result will be far better than dreaming about the perfect performance review.

Keep it simple

The world is a complex place and the complexity can overwhelm. To keep it simple, focus on what you can control and influence. Can you change the company’s strategic direction? For most of you reading this site, the answer is no, not close. So don’t fret over the company’s direction, focus on what you can control and influence.

Keeping it simple also means keeping your systems simple. Do you have a task management system that appeals to you, keeps your commitments and helps you prioritize your work? If you did, your work would be simpler to get done because you would choose the right work to do right now.

Control your emotions until the round is over

Well, in golf, as in all sports, the game is over at some point. But in business, it’s never over. There is always the next project, next year, the next strategy to implement.

One needs to “round off the edges” of your emotions so as to maintain your perspective in any given situation. Anger doesn’t do much in the workplace; neither do ugly confrontations. Figuring out how to control your emotions in an emotional workplace is a Cubicle Warrior skill.

Use tough losses for motivation

No one wins every game and not everything you do at work will be fabulous. Learning from our experiences is critical to achieving Cubicle Warrior status. If you make the same mistakes over and over, you won’t be on the job very long. It’s OK to make honest mistakes; it’s not OK to ignore the lessons of the mistake.

Competitors always want to have something riding on the outcome

Micheal says it best:

It isn’t the amount of money, it’s something to keep the focus at its highest. Whenever I meet people, they always have this idea that I like to play for big money. My line is always: I play for whatever makes you nervous. That’s enough to give me a competitive edge.

In most business situations, you are working with a team, not against a competitor. So look for what will motivate you to focus on the work that will give you the best outcome.

Nervousness is not a bad thing

When there is a lot on the line, everyone is nervous no matter how much experience they have. The key, according to Michael, is once you start the game (work), does your nervousness go away? If it doesn’t, it means you haven’t prepared enough so that the work becomes second nature to you. Nervousness then means you doubt your ability to get the job done.

At that point, you need to simplify your thinking so you can focus and regain your initiative.

Your personal finance discipline will keep you calm

Michael talks about trash talking in the article here, but trash talking has no place in business relations.

Instead, I’ll add that Cubicle Warriors know how to handle their finances: they live below their means, build for retirement and other obligations, and have one year’s take home pay in the bank. Cubicle Warriors do that because they know a solid financial backing is necessary to keep desperation away during the tough times that befalls their competitors.

Having strong finances means Cubicle Warriors can make the right choice in the moment that reflects their integrity instead of doing something just because it helps them keep their job.

Learn from Tiger’s competitiveness

Tiger is a nice enough guy, but as Michael notes: “he’ll do anything to beat you.”

Nothing illegal, of course. But the tough-mindedness of great athletes to persevere and win is something every Cubicle Warrior needs. Business is relentless and the challenges never end. Having the tough mindedness of a Tiger is necessary to continue to thrive in the workplace.

Getting to greatness working from a cubicle requires work, perseverance, effort and motivation. It’s not that you want the CEO’s job; you want to have satisfying work that helps you achieve your goals in life.

None of that is free.

Related posts:

1. Success Characteristics of Cubicle Warriors
2. Cubicle Warriors — Now is the time
3. Welcome to Cube Rules — Career Management for Cubicle Warriors
4. 30 Career Management Tips — Cubicle Warriors are Leaders
5. Cubicle Warriors Need Crankable Widgets

This five-minute podcast talks through the need for confidence when facing adversity like we are now in this ugly job market. The career tip gives you five ways to restore confidence.

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1. Career Management is About Confidence

CNN notes that today is “Bloody Monday” with over 71,000 layoffs announced. Yeah, 71,000. Whole cities are smaller than that.

Stay confident, focus on your work, and build your network. This is the time to be a Cubicle Warrior.

Here’s the list of companies that have laid off so far in 2009 — some 200,000+ — in what CNN describes as “body count.” We really need to figure out how to describe layoffs as layoffs and not body counts…

Ouch.

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Our intrepid Cubicle Warrior is charged with completing a technical document so that programmers can program the code to meet the important date needed by the business. It’s a critical document, so says the technical owner, and our Cubicle Warrior is under the gun.

Great first meeting, getting the parameters of the document down. Our Cubicle Warrior goes and works through all that can be worked through without some help on the details. Details like the exact definition of how the reporting numbers are computed. Details like which countries belong to which regions so the regional numbers add up correctly.

When our Cubicle Warrior needs the help from the technical manager, the technical manager is suddenly no longer available. The request to talk to the business — who is, after all, the owner of the reporting — is denied. They are too busy.

Now, if our Cubicle Warrior were an employee, this would be entirely disconcerting. Being shut out like that sends a big message. But, instead, our Cubicle Warrior is a consultant. A consultant specifically brought in to solve this problem by this company. This company that is paying good money for the services of the consultant.

And yet, this priority thing, is apparently not such a priority and time and money can be easily wasted because the company doesn’t have it’s management practices together. Will the business get the reporting by it’s critically important date? No, but apparently that doesn’t matter.

The result

This kind of stuff drives me crazy. The management team says that something is critical, we won’t succeed if we don’t get this done, and then — when you need the help to do the very task asked of you — it is suddenly no longer important.

Managers wonder why there is lack of employee engagement. You could easily start here:

If you want to get a haircut, you have to make time to get a haircut.

Have you ever experienced the “get it done now, critically important” task only to have it die on the vine?

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In 2008, the stock market dropped almost 40%, delaying the retirement plans of millions. We had twenty some banks fail, gave billions and billions to banks and insurance companies to pull them away from bankruptcy. And bailed out the auto industry.

Imagine, if you will, having your Social Security hanging in there right along with your 401(k) and IRA’s.

How would you think that would have worked out?

Related posts:

1. Social Security is not the problem – Retirement security is the problem
2. Employment security trumps job security

As a consequence, some 47 million are uninsured and an additional 16 million or so essentially self-insure with programs that don’t kick in until one incurs high deductibles, according to Business Week and their article on “Fresh Pain for the Uninsured.”

The article basically speaks to the fact that hospitals are outsourcing their receivables (not collectibles, receivables) to outside companies in return for a discounted payment to the hospital.

I’m becoming more aware of the multitude of tricks that the health care industry is doing to amp up the payments and revenue from consumers of health care here in the United States — and it isn’t pretty.

Nor are there any easy answers. Hospitals need to be paid for their services (that much?) and consumers need health care.

But, that’s not the point of this article — because books have been written on the subject. The question to me is this: Is one of the significant reasons you stay at a job or decision you make about taking a job revolve around the health care plan that the company may or may not provide?

I know I do. I don’t want to go one day without health insurance — bad as it is — because I can’t trust that I won’t get creamed by a poor driver on the day I don’t have insurance and end up going bankrupt over the result.

How about you?

Scot

Related posts:

1. The Health Care Cost Conundrum