The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups

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Where does great culture come from? How do you build and sustain it in your group, or strengthen a culture that needs fixing? You hear ‘thank-yous’ all the time in highly successful groups. They aren’t only expressions of gratitude; they’re crucial belonging cues that generate a contagious sense of safety, connection, and motivation. When we talk about courage, we think it’s going against an enemy with a machine gun,’ Cooper says. ‘The real courage is seeing the truth and speaking the truth to each other. People never want to be the person who says, ‘Wait a second, what’s really going on here?’ But inside the squadron, that is the culture, and that’s why we’re successful.’” Pg. 145 Professor Alex Pentland at MIT’s media lab found that if he observed people’s body language, he could predict the outcomes of negotiations within five minutes of starting a session. That’s because how close we are to our co-workers, whether we mimic their behavior, and look into their eyes, are instant tells of how safe we feel. One good way to make others feel safer is to confirm you understand what they’re telling you by occasionally interjecting affirmations like “uh-huh,”“yes,”“got it,” and so on. Just don’t interrupt them. In any interaction, we have a natural tendency to try to hide our weaknesses and appear competent. If you want to create safety, this is exactly the wrong move. Instead, you should open up, show you make mistakes, and invite input with simple phrases like ‘This is just my two cents.’ ‘Of course, I could be wrong here.’ ‘What am I missing?’ ‘What do you think?’” pg. 76

A mere hint of belonging is not enough, though. It needs to be continually refreshed and reinforced. So here’s how we’ll know if you had a good day,” Reinhardt continued. “If you ask for help ten times, then we’ll know it was good. If you try to do it all alone…” His voice trailed off, the implication clear—It will be a catastrophe.” Pg. 100Safety is not mere emotional weather but rather the foundation on which strong culture is built.” Pg. 6 So reflect on your own groups, your family, a team you belong to, your work environment, or perhaps even a school or society you belong to. Think about the culture and ask yourself if there's anything you'd change, and how you could make these changes. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says, 'Culture does not make people, people make culture.' If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know? The truth is, first and foremost groups succeed because their members communicate one powerful overarching idea: we are safe and connected.

What is one thing that I don’t currently do frequently enough that you think I should do more often?I realized that how we treat each other is everything. If we do that well, everything else will fall into place.” Pg. 207 the most effective listeners behave like trampolines. They aren’t passive sponges. They are active responders, absorbing what the other person gives, supporting them, and adding energy to help the conversation gain velocity and altitude.” Pg. 163 If we think of successful cultures as engines of human cooperation, then the Nyquistss are the spark plugs.” Pg. 149 AARs can be raw, painful, and filled with pulses of emotion and uncertainty. But they also build a shared mental model that can be applied to future missions. 5 Ideas for Action 1. Make Sure the Leader Is Vulnerable First and Often

That’s when I knew I had to find a way to build a language, to teach behavior. I could no longer just model the behavior and trust that people would understand and do it. I had to start naming stuff….started a conversation about values: What were they really about? What did they stand for? Who came first?” pg. 206 We focus on what we can see—individual skills. But individual skills are not what matters. What matters is the interaction.” Pg. xvii At first glance, the two sets of questions have a lot in common. Both ask you to disclose personal information, to tell stories, to share. However, if you were to do this experiment (its full form contains thirty-six questions), you would notice two differences. The first is that as you went through Set B, you would feel a bit apprehensive. Your heart rate would increase. You would be more uncomfortable. You would blush, hesitate, and perhaps laugh out of nervousness. (It is not easy, after all, to tell a stranger something important you’ve dreamed of doing all your life.)” pg. 103 Daniel Coyle is the New York Times bestselling author of The Talent Code, The Little Book of Talent, The Secret Race, Lance Armstrong’s War, and Hardball: A Season in the Projects. He works as an advisor to the Cleveland Indians. The Culture Code Answers The Oldest Question of All He suggests that leaders be mindful of how they build their teams. Leaders should be painstaking in the hiring process—they should hire for cultural fit and ensure all employees become well-versed in the organization’s cultural norms through the onboarding process. He also says they should be painstaking in the retention process by eliminating the “bad apples” before they spoil the barrel and negatively impact the group’s chemistry. Lesson 2: Share VulnerabilityMake the Leader Occasionally Disappear: “Several leaders of successful groups have the habit of leaving the group alone at key moments.” Pg. 167 Their interactions appear smooth, but their underlying behavior is riddled with inefficiency, hesitation, and subtle competition.” Pg. xvii According to Coyle, relationships have a physics. Safety grows over time, and like trust, it gets built and delivered by small acts, rather than grand gestures. Connection is established through good communication channels, listening, and showing that we're cared for.

I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.” Niklas Göke is an author and writer whose work has attracted tens of millions of readers to date. He is also the founder and CEO of Four Minute Books, a collection of over 1,000 free book summaries teaching readers 3 valuable lessons in just 4 minutes each. Fortunately, there’s a lot we can do as leaders to make sure our organizations succeed where others have failed in cultivating a positive culture. This is the topic of the book The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups. Brene Brown argues that vulnerability is a strength rather than a weakness. Traditionally, teamwork is viewed as something competitive, where people need to jostle for position. Contemporary thought-leaders argue that pitting individuals against each other, and hiding weaknesses, instills a toxic and ungovernable work culture.

Most successful groups end up with a small handful of priorities (five or fewer), and many, not coincidentally, end up placing their in-group relationships – how they treat one another – at the top of the list. Why do certain groups add up to be greater than the sum of their parts, while others add up to be less?