Learning from Diversity of Experiences

“All experience is an arch, to build upon.” Henry Brooks Adams

The past three years have been an amazing journey for me. After eight year with my former company (kgb), I was fortunate to take what I had learned, apply it to a new company (Varsity Tutors), and learn a lot more in the process. As I near the end of this chapter of my career, I am taking time to reflect on what I learned and how I want to apply it in my next adventure. Here are some of the key concepts.

Defining, Measuring, and Communicating Culture

At the start, the journey we embarked upon was not defined in its entirety. Although I may not have realized it at the time, we were using principles from agile development and minimal viable product to move quickly and not let the great get in the way of the good. As we assembled a new executive team, we made sure to quickly establish the behaviors (aka competencies) we wanted each employee to exhibit. We started with seven. While serving us well, a year later, with much better understanding of the business, we took the time to relook at what we had laid out and realized we needed to redo the list and create a cultural manifesto (okay, perhaps we did not use that term, but maybe we should have). This was a vision of where we wanted to go. Not where we were, but something to which to aspire.

This document then became the blueprint for a full cultural assessment using the Competing Values Framework in the summer of 2017. One of the more interesting parts about this assessment is I was convinced/persuaded/cajoled into doing this by an ambitious Ross MBA who was a summer intern, Laura Allen. Her work laid the foundation for what has now become a deep look into where the company is versus our aspirations and something that is measured and then communicated to all employees. Like a vision, it is aspirational. We made it part of recruiting and on-boarding while embedding it into our engagement survey. This journey had provided me with a great appreciation of the process of defining, measuring and communicating the culture as part of an integrated human resources cycle.  

Impedance Mismatch

In the rapidly changing world of technology and the internet where you can quickly test and learn about new product features or user experience changes with tens of thousands of data points in a matter of hours, the tendency to expect instant feedback on every change is not surprising. However, when making changes internally to how people complete work or defining what is important (and thereby recognized and rewarded), the lag between the initial change, recognition of the change, moving through the steps of change management, and finally the impact on outputs, is often weeks if not months. If you are not aware of this “impedance mismatch”, you may not appreciate what changes in input resulted in desired or not desired changes in outputs.

The example that brings this to light outside of work, is most commonly water from a shower. If you have ever entered a shower (especially in a large hotel) and turned the faucet clockwise to get hotter water with no result and then and then moved it again and again, until the water finally come out scalding, you have experienced impedance mismatch. The initial input (turning clockwise) may have been enough, but it took time for the output (hot water) to reach you. Instead of waiting, you just kept turning until you overcompensated. 

The concept of impedance mismatch is an important concept to keep in mind when making changes and one I am not likely to forget whether it is in changing recruitment channels, hiring practices, training and development, variable compensation plans, or any myriad of processes involving people reacting to a change.

Besides the two aforementioned areas, I was also able to work with some new or reimagined tools including the use of narratives, storytelling, minimal viable product as a process, and  ensuring all employees had clarity on unit level economics. 

As I think about all the above and all of the great people I have worked with not only at Varsity Tutors but across all of my past companies (Honeywell, ARAMARK, kgb), I realize that I have been able to use the diversity of experiences (industry, geography, stage of company maturity, size, etc.), to grow and become a better person. 

Some years ago, I was asked at a leadership forum at a prior company what I was most proud of having created. I believe the person asking the question thought I might talk about one of the many leadership or bench development programs which I had initiated. I explained that any program or process that I had a part in creating would quickly become obsolete.  The true legacy that I left was in the people who I had a helped bring to the company. Each person would continue to build, refine, tear down, and recreate a better future. Each person had also influenced me. Each person made, and continue to make, me proud.

I can once again say, that as I start my new journey, the 500 people who are with Varsity Tutors who I had a hand in bringing to the company, will continue to move the company forward long after I am gone.  I have learned from them, and I am proud in having helped everyone learn as well.

May your journeys be diverse and full of learning.

“Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’ Gleams that untravell’d world, whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move.” Lord Alfred Tennyson