My eldest son recently celebrated his year 12 graduation – it was a day of mixed emotion made even more acute by his idea of moving overseas for a gap year. I am literally gulping as I write this. How did we get here so quickly? Every parent will relate – that moment when reality hits and your children are no longer children.
I would say business leaders have a similiar moment when the team grows beyond their direct control. I’ve observed many businesses hit this wall. Some bash through it quickly and for others the wall becomes their ceiling….a fork in the road that separates the survivors from the thrivers.
There are many things that separate survivors from thrivers but I will offer one that I believe is fundamental…..a self-regulating culture. For growth to continue cultures have to become less reliant on leaders and be willing to ‘challenge’ each other.
Craig Bellamy (Melbourne Storm Coach) has a saying, “see something say something”. This means if you are a player and see another player do something that isn’t a great example of the club’s values, there is an expectation to speak up.
Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool Soccer Club Coach) was once quizzed on why he is so successful at bringing youngsters through his teams. His response was that it had more to do with the team then himself. He shared a story of a particular academy graduate who came into the first team suffering from a bout of cockiness. The senior players made it their duty to take him under their wing and a respectful gentleman popped out the other end.
You hear these sorts of stories a lot in thriving teams. The culture holds itself accountable because they see challenging conversations as a gift to help each other improve.
The opposite applies as well. Cultures that see challenging conversations as a negative will never thrive because the truth never makes it to the table.
Does your culture see challenging conversations as a gift or as criticism?