Don't Give Them Donuts, Give Them "The Way"

I had a great conversation about hard and soft culture with someone this morning. Before I hit the high points for you, I'll give my definition of the two:

Hard Culture: How we go about doing what we do, what it's like to be a part of the organization, our "way"

Soft Culture: scooters to get around the office, donuts every Friday, free oatmeal in 10 different flavors, etc.

A client was expressing his frustration around losing good people, and was asking me to hear him out on some things he was thinking of changing and why he hoped it would help in his retention efforts. He wanted to do more things to bring people together, like providing lunch monthly, and catering breakfast every once in a while since people tend to come in early to start working. Nothing he was considering was a bad idea, but I could tell early in the discussion there were other issues below the surface. A few questions and answers into the conversation it hit him, and he came to the realization I was hoping for. He figured out he was trying to put a band-aid on the real issues rather than address them head on. "We may have a culture problem."

And with that, we have a starting point. Lot's of work ahead, but he's starting from the right place now.

Soft culture is good, but not all on its own. All the donuts and sandwich trays and catered breakfasts you can provide won't keep your team happy if there are problems with your hard culture. In fact, I believe if you ignore your hard culture problems (bureaucracy, politics, disciplines, etc) and try to cover them up with feel-good "perks", your best people will see right through the effort and begin to look for a way out.

As I said earlier, hard culture is your "way". It's the clarity everyone on your team needs in order to know what success looks like in their role and in the organization as a whole. It's your hard culture that makes people want to come along side you and do great work. And it's your hard culture that causes people to come together in times of great challenge.

This topic of culture is one I have a great fascination with, so as I was researching I came across a podcast by Patrick Lencioni where he tells the story of 2019-20 San Francisco 49ers players Ahkello Witherspoon and Emmanuel Moseley. Witherspoon was the starting cornerback all season, but as the team moved into the playoffs, Witherspoon's play was lacking. He was ultimately benched and Moseley was moved from special teams to cornerback. Now, as I was hearing the story, I was honestly waiting to hear that Witherspoon went on a rant and possibly created some on-field or locker room drama due to being benched. To my surprise, what he did was approach his coach about taking Moseley's responsibilities on special teams. But here's why. Witherspoon wanted Moseley to be successful at cornerback, and he knew if Moseley handled both duties, he would be more likely to tire out. Witherspoon wanted Moseley to only have to worry about cornerback so that he was fresh. He wanted the team to win. Team first, himself second.

That's hard culture. As a leader, that's the story you want to be told about your team. So give them all the donuts they want, but do it as a reward for following "the way".