Creating a culture

June is Debugging Teams month on poseyblog. In this great book written to help engineers and other creators build soft skills, Brian Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman spend a lot of time on creating and maintaining a culture.

Fitz and Ben say, “The first mistake most team members make is to assume the team leader creates the culture of a team. Nothing could be further from the truth: while the founders and leads usually tend to the health of your culture, every member of your team participates in the culture and bears some responsibility for defining, maintaining and defending the culture.”

People who are happy on a team consciously and unconsciously protect the culture. As each person does this, the culture grows stronger and healthier. New people learn from everyone, not just the leader. And the culture grows and deepens with each person’s contributions to defining and defending it.

The leader does have a vital role in reinforcing the culture a team creates. When I led a large team, I focused on two things to nurture our culture:

• First, recognition! We gave a peer to peer award at every bi-weekly staff meeting. Anyone could nominate anyone on the team. I selected winners who embodied the values we prized on our team. When I explained why I had chosen that meeting’s winner, everyone saw a specific example of our values and culture in action.
• Second, modeling! Fitz and Ben tell us why this is so important. “. . . the leader is always on stage. This means that if you’re in an overt leadership position, you are always being watched: not just when you run a meeting or give a talk, but even when you’re just sitting at your desk answering e-mails. Your peers are watching you for subtle clues in your body language, your reaction to small talk . . . do they read confidence or fear? As a leader, your job is to inspire, but inspiration is a 24/7 job.”

Culture lives and grows through communication. Again, Fitz and Ben: “While getting the right people on your team and the right values instilled in your team is important, the overwhelming majority of effort that goes into a culture turns out to be communication. . .It’s often a surprise to people that it takes so much communication – including emotional time and effort – to build a strong team for the sole purpose of creating a product, but it’s true.”

When you communicate beautifully, you can create a beautiful environment for yourself and your team. Who wouldn’t want that?

Communication is the essential last mile in finding and motivating the right teams, acquiring strong allies, powerfully bonding with customers, and capturing mindshare with compelling stories. Nothing will serve you and your vision better than developing exceptional communication skills. Get a free copy of Six Things Every Great Communicator Does, a practical guide to help you master communication. Click to learn more »