15
Understanding the Importance of Culture and Strong Leadership in the Matrix
Debra's next session with Johann was mostly about a situation she was facing where she thought EI might be helpful.
Towards the end, however, Debra brought Johann back to a point they had touched on earlier – the importance of the manager and their manager and their manager's manager.
“In other words the culture,” Johann said. “Culture is simply ‘the way we do things around here’ or ‘what behaviours get rewarded and what gets punished’. So of course the culture is important. An intelligent person with high EI can attend every training course going, be mentored and coached and use these tools diligently. But if she constantly comes up against a culture where behaviours are allowed, or even encouraged, to limit people from using their EI tools for the good of the company, then eventually she will stop using them to the detriment of her work and the company. Or she may turn to ‘the dark side’.” Johann dropped his voice and impersonated a movie trailer voice-over.
“And although we're all responsible for culture I think it's true that ‘the fish rots from the head,’ so the senior management have a real role to play. If the boss's response to the most mild-mannered question is to start shouting and spitting or to ignore it then don't be surprised if people learn not to use at least some of the tools that build EI.
“And it's self-fulfilling – once that culture is there it doesn't change. Newcomers adapt to it – they get contaminated until that's ‘just how it is’ and nobody even questions it any more. And it's hard to get people to challenge culture but ‘that's just how it is’. Have you heard about the experiment with bananas and gorillas?”
Debra shook her head no.
“A group of seven gorillas were in a cage. The researchers would lower bananas into the cage and, when the gorillas made a move for the bananas, they started squirting the gorillas with cold water. Moreover, when any one of the group went for a banana they all got soaked. After a while, unsurprisingly you might think, they stopped going for the bananas.
“Then they swapped one gorilla out and put another one in. The bananas were lowered in and the new one went for it getting himself and the others soaked. Very soon it learnt not to go for bananas. They made a couple more swaps and, over time, the existing gorillas grabbed the new one before it could get to the banana and get them all soaked. Now the new gorilla didn't know why. He just got mugged every time the bananas appeared.
“Eventually there were none of the original gorillas in the cage and the researchers weren't using the water anymore. But still, whenever a new gorilla was introduced and the bananas were lowered, he would get mugged before he could move towards them. None of the gorillas, at this stage, knew why they did this, why they avoided the bananas. They just continued the tradition.”
“It was their culture,” Debra said.
“Precisely. It can be changed but the key skill in achieving change is to be able to talk about it and you need high EI and all the tools to do that effectively. I remember one guy I knew who joined from outside as a new head of department. The previous guy's style had been to keep information close, make decisions himself and shout when things went wrong. People had learned to stay quiet.
“Because he was new he could see what had happened and he decided the best thing to do was to arrange things so that people could feel comfortable asking him questions. He had an opportunity to put his very different philosophy across explicitly as well as through the changes he was going to make. He wanted to give people a chance to reflect and to see that he did as he promised. He also desperately needed them to speak up as, to be honest, he wasn't completely sure what he was doing on the technical side, and so he was relying on their expertise.
“The new guy got an external facilitator in to ask the questions anonymously and then interview him so that everyone felt comfortable. He had a chance to prepare and the format made it seem more intimate than the usual speech.”
“But he's unusual?”
“Unfortunately, I think so. It seems obvious that people could be working better together and so save themselves grief and time. Everyone agrees with that statement, but it's really only the great ones who actually put their time and effort into the work of improving how they and their team and their organization communicate, collaborate and manage better. A client of Patrick Lencioni says something in his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: essentially ‘people think it's beneath them’ and I'm sure he's right.
“But the great thing is that EI works. And it works for good reasons. It works because if you use these tools you become trustworthy and known as a good listener who thinks about the impact she has on others. Someone who can acknowledge different circumstances and change when appropriate. That is always going to be a good thing! Not that EI is a magic bullet! It's just the best thing I've found so far.”
“I always see culture described as ‘how we behave when no-one is looking,’ which links to your point about it being about behaviour. But it's about values too, right?” Debra asked.
“Yes, but values lead to emotions and emotions lead to behaviour. At least, real values do. Not the values that you see on so many company websites that are just words or, at best, aspirations. You said at some stage that one big issue in the matrix is people not knowing what to do because they are accountable to more than one person. Isn't that often the case? I mean, aren't we often forced to choose between different options? Between the customer, the boss, the spouse, the kids, the car or the holiday and so on. How do people know the right thing to do outside work? In my opinion it's about values and culture. How else could they know the right thing to do? If the culture is strong and leadership is clear on the values, then the behaviour is there and that is much more powerful than the ‘do what I say not what I do’ approach where everyone is talking about team work and accountability even though a blind man can see that those things aren't happening. And everyone knows it. Imagine the level of trust in that kind of organization!
“Managing culture getting people to behave differently, to use different tools is hard but you use the same EI tools:
“And you keep talking about it, reflecting on how you're doing and trying to think of new ways of getting better.”
“So you don't become the gorillas.” Debra suggested smiling.
“And the bigger you get the more important the culture thing is. If I work in a global organization where I'm constantly on different project teams then I'm likely to spend a lot of time in the storming phase of building a team and very little in performing unless the culture supports us all working together.
“Some of the consulting firms do it well – they don't start from scratch every time a new project or engagement starts. Instead, they invest time upfront so that everyone ‘speaks the same language’ and understands exactly what behaviours are accepted. They don't throw a newbie out into the field until they are absorbed internally, until they really live the culture. These firms understand how disruptive it can be.”
“And consultants are notoriously insecure people. Bright but insecure and so always trying to fit in. Maybe that's the key to high EI – wanting to fit in?” Debra laughed.
Johann let this comment slide. “So we can spend time on developing a culture that supports all the things we want and need when we're in a matrix. It supports us using the tools so that we can build an effective team across functions. Then we can train people so that they know what EI is and how it can help them. And we can give them some time to learn about the tools and to practise using them. After that it's up to the individual although if we're serious we can support her by helping to find great mentors. Maybe this can extend to helping peers and senior management to become great mentors as well.
“It's an iterative process and a messy one because the tools you use to improve your EI also need EI to be used effectively. This chicken and egg situation might help to explain why everybody isn't more focused on it.” Johann's voice trailed off as he pondered, yet again, why something so obvious and so useful wasn't better used by business and especially by matrix organizations.
Debra looked at her watch and, realizing time was nearly up, started to get ready to leave. Johann started.
“It's a conundrum,” he murmured before saying, in a louder voice, “OK. We need to practise using the tools – so during the week have a think about which you most want to focus on and why and we'll start doing so at our next session. Good luck! See you next week.”
“You haven't given me the list yet,” Debra protested.
“But I saw you taking notes.” Johann moved towards the door again.
“Yes, but that doesn't have all the detail that you talked about – how it can be used, top tips.”
“No. And I will give you that list. Just not yet. That would be too easy.”
“OK. Fair enough. But I thought easier was better and so I've played around with the 14 tools to try and make them easier to remember. I've tried to keep the meaning the same but change the words so that they make an acronym that might be helpful in remembering them. Here.” Debra showed the new list to Johann.
“Ah, it spells out BUILD CAREER ARC,” Johann exclaimed. “That's fantastic. Thank you very much! You're still not getting the full list though!”
Debra was still trying to persuade Johann as he closed the door and sat down again at his desk ready for his next mentoring session.
Key Takeaways